Challenges

Challenges. They come in all shapes and sizes, yet they seem to be the theme of my last few weeks. (including the challenge of finding time to write this blog)

About three weeks ago, on the 21st, we had a big festival for Amanecer, a Kermesse, on Sunday where all of the houses came and were serving a dish (for about 20bs) to promote and raise money for the organization. It was an absolutely gorgous day for an outside event - blue skies and hot - not hot enough to be uncomfortable, but hot enough for this gringa to get a good sunburn and have every other Bolivian tell me "Ahh!! Has quemado en el sol!! Estás roja!!" and be very concerned...they didn´t believe me when I told them that in two days it wouldn´t be a problem because they NEVER get red red from the sun so to them my burn was like the end of the world. It was an amazing day - kind of like a church festival but with DELICIOUS food, live music (really good live music), and beer. Spending the day with the boys from Jersualen outside of the house really improved alot of our relationships and jumping back and forth to help with the Solomon Klein tent and spend time with the mama´s and nurses that I usually only see during work was also very rewarding.
However, let´s not forget that the theme of this blog is challenges.
Towards the end of the event my, then very recent, boyfriend stopped by for a few minutes on his way home from lunch with his parents. Upon seeing him a few of the boys from my house gave me a hard time saying "No nos has dicho que tienes un chico!!" (You didn´t tell us you had a boyfriend!!) and pretended to be heartbroken, which was actually quite entertaining. However, one of them took it a little harder than the others and proceeded to tell me that I had broken his heart when he saw me with Diego because he liked me etc etc. Challenge number one. Attempting to explain Fernando that I was profusely sorry for having hurt him, but that I didn´t view him as more than a friend and boy from Jersualen and that we could never have the potential to be more than that. Seeing how much I had hurt him and how he had confused my friendship for mor than that really hit me hard. It made me question my relationship with all the boys we had spent the day with - if Fernando is one of the ones I talk to the least, what do the others thing?? Is it possible for me to really be friends with these boys and help them without somehow misleading them? I love that Hanne and I are really forming relationships with the boys, having inside jokes with them, playing baseball with them on Saturday afternoons, eating meals with them and I truely enjoy passing times with them, but how much is too much?? Where do we have to draw the line between friends and educators? I´m still working on that answer, but I´m definitely much more conscious of all of my interactions with the boys.

Challenge 2
Being away from home for the holiday weekend of Thanksgiving and my birthday. We had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner with over 40 people - for which I made some very creative hand-turkey centerpieces if I do say so myself - but eating Thanksgiving food without family and in 70+ degree heat really isn´t the same.
And everyone here was really great about celebrating my birthday- we had a little party on Saturday night and then went out to dinner on Tuesday after dance class (yes, I am taking a traditional Bolivian dance class every Tues and Thurs night) - but I couldn´t help wishing I was bouncing around with Katie Smith and my parents and Tim like last year or singing my heart out at 23 with the McG girls (although this year would have been much better because we would have been at Corby´s and not 23).
Tuesday day itself was a little difficult at first because I was working with Albertina and she was doing everything she possibly could to annoy me that day (although I don´t think it was on purpose...just my luck) and no one said Happy Birthday or anything...and then the mama´s from the other days (Sabina and Mariam) came in at lunch and surprised me with some homemade cake and Coca Cola and gifts - telling me how thankful they are for everything I do and how even though I can´t be with my family they are my family...a really really moving and powerful experience.
But THANK YOU to everyone who sent bday cards and contacted me on my birthday - it made it a little easier to know that even though I couldn´t be with everyone, I knew you were thinking about me. I also apologize if you sent a card and it hasn´t made it...give it some time, it might take until Christmas. Also a challenge - the Bolivian mail system.

Challenge Three
This weekend we traveled to Santa Cruz and Samaipata for a long weekend of relaxation. It was a fabulous weekend, we only spent a few hours in Santa Cruz (where I almost died of humidity and heat) but I fell in love with Samaipata. Samaipata is about 2.5 hours in taxi (5 hours in bus -we found out the hard way after taking the bus TO Samaipata and 5 hours and two flat tires later we finally made it - and promptly decided we would pay the extra 10b´s to take a taxi back instead of the bus) from Santa Cruz. It is in the middle of the jungle and there are a million different day hikes and excursions to do every day. We hiked 13km on Saturday to see Inca ruins and a gorgeousssss view of the entire valley and on Sunday we hiked down a secret trail to a hidden waterfall where we were the only 6 people around - swimming in a lagoon and sunbathing on a giant rock. Absolutely amazing.
However, upon our attempt to return to Cochabamba last night there was a landslide about 100km from Cochabamba that closed the road between Santa Cruz and Cochabamba. There are no alternate routes in Bolivia, no detours, no other path to take. As a result, we spent the night in a local church center (that our friend Johnny was connected to) and they have been more than hospitable giving us free shelter and food while we wait for the passage to open up again so we can get home. We are going to try to head to the bus station at 4 and trying to leave again tonight - keep your fingers crossed for us - although the extra vacation isn´t all that bad :)

So there have been quite a few things keeping me busy and occupied and sometimes stressed - but moments like when André sees me across the cafeteria and comes runnnning towards me and crashing into my lap make it all worth it. For all the challenges there are rewards and I wouldn´t trade it in for an easier experience any day.

Jordan, if you´re reading this, you can come back now...

The last two weeks have been a blur. Last week was spent completing Jordan’s Bucket List and having despedida (farewell) dinners and parties for Jordan before he left on Tuesday. Friday night before he left we went to a “first Friday” – in Bolivia they have big parties the first Friday of every month because they have made fresh batches of chichi (an alcoholic drink made from corn) and you drink it out of a big jug with a little bowl. You dip the bowl in the jug, invite someone else to drink by saying “te invito” (I invite you), you drink the bowl, then fill it up and pass it to them. For those of you who are familiar with one of my favorite past times, “Drink, Okay”, it’s a much cooler/classier version of that game because when someone invites you to drink you can’t say no. But it was really cool because they had a big fire outside and a band came to play some traditional music. Overall a very cool experience.

Saturday Jordan and I went to Nazareth for his last Saturday lunch of Sopa de Mani. I gave the boys my camera to take a bunch of pictures for Jordan and ended up with about 150 pictures of them (and random things around the house – such as the garden, the floor, a random bush, etc). After that we went downtown because there was an entrada (parade) for the university students which was a lot like the first weekend I was here and we went to Urkupina, but all of the people dancing were students and really enthusiastic. That night we had a little going away party for Jordan at a friend’s house too.

Sunday we went to a pueblo outside of Cochabamba called Tiataco for a festival that was to celebrate the end of Dia de los Muertos and Dia de los Santos where they send all of the spirits back to the afteworld. It was really cool because one of the traditions at this festival is that traditional Bolivian women (called Cholitas) have to swing and sing a song and when they’re done singing the song they try to grab a basket from a line of baskets up in the tree with their feet. Nowadays pretty much anyone can swing if you pay the 30-40b’s to do it (and you get to keep the basket that you catch) – but when the tradition originated the cholitas would pick a basket and in the basket would be a boys name and then that would be the boy that they were supposed to date. I really wanted to swing, but I didn’t know that anyone could do it so unfortunately I was not appropriately dressed and was wearing a dress – and since I didn’t want to scare any Bolivians I decided I would spare them from being flashed by a gringa on a swing.

Monday they had a going away dinner for Jordan at Nazareth where all of the boys went around and thanked him for his work and he gave them all little sacks of candy and toys that he’d bought for them at the Cancha (and I’m sure their teachers were all super excited about it the next day seeing as about ¾ of them ate all of their candy at once). Afterwards we had a few people over to say final goodbyes to Jordan and, because I can’t do anything the boring way, I made him do a scavenger hunt through the apartment to get his farewell card and presents.

Tuesday morning Hanne and I woke up bright and early to help Tom take Jordan to the airport at 6am. It was nice to get to see him off at the airport and I think made the goodbye a little easier because I was too tired to really comprehend what was going on. I was struggling when I arrived at work on Tuesday morning, but it’s impossible to remain tired or sad for too long when you arrive to 25 little people fully of smiles, laughs, and my daily besos (kisses) on the way out of the bathroom.

Probably my highlight of the week came from our favorite chivalrous knight, Gonzolo. On Tuesday when we were out for our daily pasear (walk) in the park Maria Leonore didn’t want to come out of the Sala to come for the walk and I was calling to her “Maria Leonore, ven! Vamos a caminar! Ven!” (Come Maria Leonore! Let’s go! Come!”) and she wasn’t budging. So Gonzolo waddled/ran, in the way that only he can, from my side to the gate of the Sala, pushed it open, did the hand motion for “Ven!” to Maria L, looked at me, looked back at her, did it again, and when he realized she still wasn’t going anywhere I told him not to worry and just come back with me – so he waddled/ran back over to me and I made sure to say gracias for his help. Times like that that I really wish I had a TV man following me around at all times at work – to catch the little nuances and personalities of the kids that are impossible to express in words.

I even improved my relationship with Albertina a little this week when we did a special lunch on Wednesday that involved Albertina bringing in boiled eggs, Maria Luz bringing in potatoes, and me bringing ensalada (salad) to make our own little lunch. It was a nice, basic, meal – BUT they didn’t tell me that it is actually prohibited for us to bring in our own food, so when we were done we had to bring our plates out for the lunch they were serving because they couldn’t know that we’d eaten in the Sala. So I had to eat TWO lunches on Wednesday and thought I was going to explode because another Bolivian rule is that you HAVE to finish your plate or else they think you’re wasteful and impolite. Good thing lunch was just a few French Fries and a tomato/cucumber salad.

Other than that things have been fairly uneventful. Hanne and I did a big clean of the apartment all day on Saturday afternoon for like five hours. I know it sounds like a lot and that we probably had never cleaned before, but I promise we had. Not quite to the extent that we cleaned on Saturday, but the dust here makes it impossible for anything to stay really clean for too long. It was a long afternoon, but it’s definitely really nice to have a spic and span apartment.

I guess it’s about time that I start looking at flights to come home in May and finally pick a day. It’s weird to think about leaving. For how homesick I get sometimes and jealous that I’m missing ND reunions and family holidays – I really am happy here. The people are all so nice and the culture is just amazing. I can’t believe I’ve already been here for 3 of my 9 months. I can’t wait to see what the next 6 months bring.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!

I promise that there is a post coming tomorrow afternoon, but in the meantime I wanted to give a shoutout to my mom and wish her a FABULOUS, AWESOME, AMAZING day because she is turning the big 5-0 (50 that is) today!! I really really realllllly wish I could be home to celebrate with you at PF Changs and over a glass of wine on the front porch - but know that I´m thinking about you and love you and can´t wait to see you in 42 days!!! (yes, i have a countdown)

¡¡¡¡FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS!!!!!

Terrible, no good, very bad blogger

So I’m a terrible, no good, very bad blog writer these days. I really promise I’m trying to improve the frequency of my posts, it just seems there are never enough hours in my days for everything I want to do. And while I’m disappointed that the weather is crappy outside today and it kept us from spending the day at the pool, and as much as I hate to admit that I’m spending copious amounts of hours inan American establishment (Burger King) instead, I’m also thrilled because it means I finally have a day to update my blog and skype everyone I’m missing so terribly.
Where oh where to begin…
Last weekend Hanne, Jordan, Julia and I traveled to Sucre – what the Bolivians consider to be the capital of Bolivia, even though the government is located in La Paz. It is a truly gorgeous city, known as the “white city” because all of the houses are white. Granted not quite the same as the Grecian houses, but still a beautiful8 city nonetheless. And although its beauty makes Sucre a “must-see” in Bolivia, its small size makes it very do-able in one weekend. We took a 10-hour bus ride from Cochabamba to Sucre overnight on Friday (for only 30 bolivanos – aka 4 dollars) and arrived bright and early at 5:30am – and then promptly took a 3 hour nap in the hostel until about 9. We spent the weekend more or less aimlessly wandering around the city, occasionally getting to glance into a church or museum, but unlike the US and Europe, everything in Bolivia is closed (or has limited hours) on the weekends. It was a very enjoyable weekend and we played lots of cards in cafes while drinking coffee, went to the local market Sunday morning and had a delicious breakfast of passion fruit juice and freshly made bread, and spent Sunday afternoon at the Mirador – a café that overlooks the entire city – reading and writing in our journals. We left Sucre at 6:30 on Sunday night and arrived back home around 5:30 am – which made work on Monday a real treat. One thing of note though, although bus travel is very popular in Bolivia, the roads the buses travel on are something I might equate to off-roading and can be quite bumpy – definitely terrain that coach buses were not built for – but the off-road adventures often provide breathtaking views of the beautiful Bolivian landscape.

(Hanne and I at the Mirador overlooking the city)

My favorite boy, Andres, got moved up to Sala 2 in the past week or so. The day that it happened I didn’t notice that he wasn’t in the Sala (because he had been there at bathtime and I was involved in bathing the other kids and then putting towels out to try, etc etc) until lunchtime when he wasn’t sitting at our table and I asked one of the mama’s why and she told me “Andres ha pasado a Sala 2” (Andres has passed on to Sala 2) and I saw him walking through the cafeteria with Sala 2 and almost started to cry. Pathetic. I can only imagine what this means for when I have to leave. But I’ve been able to see him at least once or twice a day since then and make sure I get a good hug and a kiss whenever I see Sala 2 around.
I don’t know if it’s all in my head or not, but Albertina particularly annoyed me this week. I think that I’ve narrowed down part of my dislike of working with her to the fact that she can be very bossy at times. For instance when we’re all sitting folding laundry during naptime she will ask if I can get up to give a kid who is crying some more water (when she is closer to the door), or will ask if I can go get the rest of the dry laundry (when I’m still folding clothes and she’s out of panales (diapers) to fold), or won’t come out and play with the kids in the afternoon and instead takes her time cleaning whatever needs to be cleaned in the bathroom at a much slower pace than Sabina (who always manages to make it out to play with the kids in the afternoon). It also doesn’t help that on Friday Albertina yelled at Maribel because she had given one of the university students a cold towel to put on one of the boys with a fever and the student put it too close to the diaper so it got poop on it and it was supposed to be a towel used for bathing – so she was yelling at Maribel (in front of me) about how Maribel needs to be more responsible and how she doesn’t want to get any “mal atención” (bad attention) from Emma because of what Maribel is doing, etc etc – all just very unprofessional and could have been handled very differently, in my opinion. BUT alas, there is good news – because Tuesday is a feriado (Dia de los Muertos – Day of the Dead) I don’t have to work, which means that in a period of 9 days (Saturday to next Sunday) I only have to work with Albertina ONCE because she works Tues/Thurs this week.
This was also a birthday-filled week because it was both Leena and Hanne’s birthday (Leena on Thursday and Hanne on Friday). For her birthday, one of Hanne’s best friends from college is in town with her boyfriend for the long weekend (Fri-Wed) on a stop on the three month tour of South America. So I made deep dish pizza to celebrate on Friday night (it seems to be a reoccurring request for birthdays) and then went to a party for Leena’s birthday that was Halloween/costume themed. Jordan and I won most creative costume with him being a bottle of Fernet Branca (a herb-based alcohol) and me being a bottle of Coca-Cola – because Leena’s favorite drink is Fernet and Coke. I was pretty impressed with our creativity, especially because we made our costumes out of things we already had and the paint/string/paper the magic cupboard in our apartment provided for us.
Overall although I’m feeling like I don’t have enough time in my days to do everything I want, I’m very happy. Right now I’m a little homesick for my McG girls and jealous of Hanne having one of her best friends from home here – but other than that I really can’t complain. This is definitely going to be a busy week or so because Jordan leaves on the 9th so it will be a week packed full of trying to complete Jordan’s Bucket List (which mostly revolves around food). I can’t believe he’ll be gone in a little over a week, I think I’m still in denial, but luckily Hanne is really awesome – and I realized the other day that out of all the volunteers the two I get along with the best happen to be my roommates, which, considering rooming is randomly assigned (more or less), I am extremely grateful for.

Two for One Special

I apologize for the lack of posts this week. I wrote one last weekend (which I’ve posted below) but had trouble finding an internet café with a USB outlet for some reason. Apparently the Bolivian internet gods didn’t want me to update my blog.

So now that I’ve been here for two months I thought I should compile a list of the things I take for granted/no longer think twice about/are unique to Cochabamba and Bolivia in general:

1. People sweeping and water sidewalks. We used to make fun of Notre Dame for watering the sidewalks instead of the grass, but people here take after the ND grounds keeping department in that they are ALWAYS sweeping/watering their sidewalks.
2. Families on motorcycles. It is not unusual to see a family of 4 piled onto one motorcycle…all without helmets or any form of protection.
3. Dogs wandering the streets, sitting in the middle of the street, sleeping on the sidewalk, and dogs in coats (yes, stray dogs wear coats).
4. That every meal includes rice and/or potatoes.
5. Not having to check the weather in the morning because I know it’s going to be in the 80s and sunny all day – even if there is an occasional rain shower.
6. Not seeing white people. We went out to a bar the other weekend and there was a group of about 8-10 gringos from the MaryKnoll Center who were out together and I felt very uncomfortable around such a large group of white people who were not interacting with Bolivians.
7. Getting whistled at. Even by the boys in my own house. But always by complete strangers as I walk down the street.
8. Mountains. Cochabamba is located in a mountain valley so everywhere you look you are surrounded by huge mountains. Nothing like this exists in Delaware or South Bend and I almost forget what it’s like to not have them.
9. Amazing mass transportation. I’ve never had such an extensive mass transportation system before – you can travel over an hour away on mass transportation no problem.
10. Being asked if I’m married or have kids. And then having them drop their jaw in amazement that I don’t even have an “enamorado” or boyfriend. Doña Sabina has taken to telling everyone that I don’t want a boyfriend (false) and my security friend that I see on the way to work every day thought that David (a boy from my house who has started working at Solomon Klein) was my marido (husband) and when I relayed the information that I am, indeed, not married – he proceeded to tell me that time goes by fast so I should get married soon.

Other highlights of my week include that Doña Albertina came back to work and I was reassured that I am not crazy for thinking that the kids act out more around her because on Wednesday they switched all the mama’s around because Albertina shook one of the kids at breakfast and Emma saw and didn’t like it. So then on Friday Doña Emilen worked with Albertina (instead of working with Doña Sabina like usual) and discussed with me how she thinks the kids cry more around Albertina too and then went to talk to Emma about how she doesn’t want to work with Albertina and shouldn’t be punished and have to stop working with Sabina just because Albertina screwed up. This discussion occurred right at the end of the day so I don’t know how it went, I guess I’ll find out on Monday. It was also funny because Doña Sabina came in for a meeting on Friday and came into the bathroom when it was just Emilen and I and was like “Katy, who do YOU like working with more?” – kind of jokingly because she knew my answer – but it was funny nonetheless. Needless to say my favoritism of days when Doña Sabina works has been restored and cemented even further. Thank God she is working MWF next week.

It has been over two months and on Monday I will FINALLY have my visa process complete. Americans actually only have 30 days to complete the visa process on their tourist visa, while everyone else has 90. When I asked the Rita, the lady organizing our visa stuff, why that was the case she said “because Evo (the president) doesn’t like Americans.” Awesome. Thanks Evo. Now I get to pay 20b’s of a fine for every day over 30 days it took to complete my visa (35) – none of which was my fault for being delayed, all because the Bolivian government loves to take their time with things. I’ll just be glad when it’s all done.

My relationship with the boys downstairs has also gotten a lot stronger in the past week or so. Hanne is good about interacting with them and kind of gives me the courage to do so too. I’ve always wanted to do interact with them more, but I was timid because of my lack of confidence in my Spanish before, but I think I’m pretty good now. It also helps that I have an “in” with David because we walk to work together every day. I even gave him some of my music this week and I woke up on Saturday morning to them playing “Kids” by Chiddy Band and “Shark in the Water” (both songs I have to give credit to my brother for giving me, but the boys don’t have to know that…they just think I have awesome music taste). I will take full credit for getting all of Bolivia up to date on the music scene.

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(older post below haha)

Going into this week I was convinced that at the end of the week I would be unsatisfied with where I’m working and what I’m doing here after getting to visit all the other Amanecer houses. That I would have to sit down and talk to Tom and Melissa about how I really don’t belong at Solomon and should be working with the street kids at Yaycuna or the girls at Madre de Dios. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Usually when they do the tours of the Amanecer houses they don’t stop at Solomon Klein because having a large group of visitors around a bunch of kids age 5 and under is usually a recipe for disaster. However, when we began our tour on Wednesday and Melissa told me that we were actually going to make a stop at Solomon I got this feeling in my chest that I can describe as nothing less than love and pride and pure jubilation that I was going to get to show off my kids to everyone. We were only there for twenty minutes or so, but I wanted nothing less than for all of the other volunteers to get to know my kids like I do, to see how absolutely amazing they are. Instead, as we were leaving the general consensus was “I could never work there, how do you do it?!”

How do I do it?

Twenty-three screaming, crying, always fighting 1-3 year olds for eight hours every day. Twenty-three baths. Twenty-three (at least) dirty diapers. Twenty-three little voices shouting “Mama! Mama!” and raising their hands to be picked up. Twenty-three screaming cries as soon as you put one down to pick the other up. Jonaton constantly headbutting other kids just to get attention. Omar constantly biting other kids for attention. Benjamin generally creating chaos wherever he goes.

How do I do it?

Because they are also: twenty-three sources of unconditional love. Twenty-three smiles that could brighten any day. Twenty-three laughs that ring in my ears. Twenty-three little people climbing up on my lap. Twenty-three besitos (kisses) every day after I put their shoes on and send them out into the play room after bath time. Brittany’s ability to mimic a scrunched nose or shrugging of shoulders. How Maria Leanor runs full force into my legs, looks up at me, and giggles. Gonzalo knowing exactly when he needs to be chivalrous and bop another boy on the head for being mean and then looking at me and smiling, know he’s saved the day yet again. Omar’s love of dancing. How Benjamin has taught Juan Carlos to snort out his snot and then giggles every single time. Andres’ ability to completely melt my heart with every look.

Sure, there are times every day (and sometimes entire days) that I don’t think I can take a single minute longer of the crying and screaming. But the number of times I am completely and totally 100% head over heels for my kids outweighs these not so pleasant moments 10 to 1.

Coming down here I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do, that working with these kids was just a short-term thing and when I got back to the US I would move right back to working with older kids and not think twice about anyone under the age of 5 until I was some day having kids of my own. Now though, I’m not so sure. Hearing the stories of my kids who have been abandoned, tortured, and generally maltreated and knowing that they have absolutely no voice of their own is overwhelming at times.

I have officially been here for two months and I am simultaneously 100% certain that this is where I’m meant to be and what I’m meant to be doing and 100% lost as to what this means for my future. But I’m okay with that. I met some really great new people this weekend too and had some fascinating conversations that I look forward to continuing in the future – but what I took away from all of it is that just when I was expecting nothing, expecting the worst, life has a way of surprising me and reassuring me that everything is happening for a reason. I can’t believe it’s been two months already, but I can’t wait for the next seven.

Oh, and Andres, Brittany, Navian, and Maria Leanor are probably coming home with me in my suitcase. Mom, I hope you’re ready for a few more kids around the house.

Health vs Communication

Make that three people who think my español is pretty good. Carlos, my trainer at the gym, told me on Monday that he was impressed with my Spanish for how short of a time I’ve been here. He also has taken to saying how many sets I should do in both Spanish and English - (“cuatro de quince” and then “four of fifteen”). Overall, the gym has been a really positive addition to my days – I go every day after work and have done both spinning and aerobics classes (including one on trampolines!). Although it is a good addition for my schedule and general health and happiness, it means I’ve been spending less and less time at the internet during the week. I generally quickly check my email every day, but once I get home around 7:45 or 8 I’m pooped and ready for dinner and bed.

On Sunday last weekend we went downstairs around 2 to investigate why the boys hadn’t called sancho (for lunch) yet and although it turns out they had already eaten and just chosen not to announce it for us, we did end up playing a spontaneous game of catch with the boys for a few hours. It was a lot of fun and I finally learned a few more names, so now I’m up to about 10 names for the boys in the house. It was just what I needed that day too because I had been feeling a little homesick – it’s been kind of amazing how every time I’m starting to question what I’m doing here something happens that completely reassures me and gives me the reassurance I need to continue to feel like I’m where I’m meant to be.

Work was fairly uneventful for the week. I had some really good conversations with the mama’s during naptime about their lives and telling them a bit more about me and what I want to do when I get back to the US – it was also really nice to have Dona Sabina tell me that they’ve already gotten used to having me around and will miss me when I leave (in another 7 months haha). And although it was a relatively uneventful week there were a few big events

1. Liseth got to move up to Sala 2 to be with her boyfriend, Juan Carlos (the two who sit on their basins in the morning and have makeout sessions). She has a fairly significant mental disability and throws a lot of temper tantrums, but the day that we told her she was going to move up to Sala 2 to be with Juan Carlos she was happy and calm and tranquil ALL day.

2. On Friday the kids broke into the cleaning cabinet. We were in the baño changing the kids after naptime and one time we opened the door to let some of them out and everything was fine and the next time we opened the door there was white detergent ALL over the floor and it looked like the kids were all playing in the snow. It was a bit of a panic at first, hoping none of them had eaten any of it, but luckily they all had just rolled around in it and slashed around and not thought to put it in their mouths. So we wiped them all off, sent them outside, and cleaned up the mess. Needless to say, both the kids and the floor were very clean for the rest of the day.

Our new roommate, Honne from Belgium, arrived on Friday night. She had been traveling around Peru and Bolivia with a friend from home for a month before she came, so she’s fairly well adjusted and has been a lot of fun to talk to and get to know. She is also 22 (turning 23 at the end of October) so it’s nice to have another person my age and know that once Jordan leaves I’ll be set with a great roommate and not have to worry about that. We also have a fun connection because we both studied in Salamanca, Spain (at different times and she was there for longer than I was), but it’s been fun to reminisce about some of the different places and our time there.

It’s hard to believe that Thursday will be two months. I have to admit that although I love my kids to death and have no idea how I’m going to leave them behind when I go, sometimes I wish I was working with the older kids. I feel like working with babies, although it improves my patience, isn’t making as much of a difference as working with older kids might. And hearing that Honne gets to work with some of the older kids at the shelter for street kids and hearing Leena talk about her work at Madre de Dios (the women and children’s shelter) makes me a little jealous. I definitely have made a commitment to go to Nazareth on Saturdays and hang out with those boys for 4 or 5 hours which I love doing, but hopefully once I get the tour of all the different Amanecer houses on Wednesday maybe I’ll be able to get more involved in work with some of the older kids too.

Super Bien

So I’ve been told twice this week that my español is really good. Granted once was by a boy who was trying to be nice/impress me and he said my español was “super bien” (super good) to which I said he was lying – BUT to my credit, the other was by one of the nurses at work and although I think she was still just being nice and appreciated that I can understand everything they say, I count that one as a real indication that my Spanish really is improving.

This week was fairly uneventful, which I’m not complaining about. I spent Saturday at Nazareth playing lots of jump-rope (which apparently is a gender-neutral game down here because the boys love it). Although spending Saturdays at Nazareth keeps me from my afternoons at BK, I generally find it really rewarding, so I’m hoping to make a habit out of it. Also, the boys there think that every girl who comes to Nazareth is Jordan’s novia (girlfriend) although the number of times they’ve asked him if I’m his girlfriend got to such a ridiculous point that we just started to tell them that we’re married…which, they actually believe. We can’t decide if when Jordan leaves we should tell them it was all a scam or if we should stage a dramatic divorce haha

Sunday we went to this really nice place called Casa Campestre that has an all you can eat lunch buffet and a pool for the equivalent of about 4 dollars. It was nice to lay around by the pool and get some sun because I’ve definitely lost 100% of the tan I had when I came down here.

Tuesday was three holidays in one: Dia del Estudiante, Dia del Amor, and Dia de Primavera (Day of the student, day of love – aka their Valentine’s day minus the insane amount of Hallmark cards and valentines, and day of spring). They had a party at Solomon Klein where Salas 4 and 5 did some adorable traditional Bolivian dances and they served the most delicious cake I’ve had since I’ve been in Bolivia (granted I’ve only had one other piece of cake and that was at a birthday party at Nazareth). All the festivities led the mama’s to ask me about holidays in the US and what kinds of festivals we have – when I made a comment about the fact that we only have a fifth of the number of holidays they have, Dona Sabina jokingly told me that the reason Bolivia is so broke is because they love any reason to have a holiday/party – I kind of believe it though…

Updates on Sala 1 include that we are now eating our meals in the cafeteria with the big kids instead of in our Sala. Apparently on Tuesday after I left and they were transitioning between dinner and bath time, Gonzolo (the same knight in shining armor that brought chivalry to Sala 1) managed to land a table on his foot and fracture two of his toes. So they’ve moved our tables out to the cafeteria and we eat out there now – which is nice because it gets the kids used to eating in the cafeteria (even though there aren’t any other kids in there when we eat) and it means less cleaning we have to do in the sala after meals. We’ve only been doing it for two days, but I’d say so far so good.

I also mentioned last week that three of our kids moved up to Sala 2 – but what I didn’t mention was that one of them, Juan Carlos, left his girlfriend, Liseth, behind in Sala 1. I used to wonder about the amount of PDA (public displays of affection) down here in the parks and generally walking around – but now I know where it all begins. When we would put Liseth and Juan Carlos next to each other on their basins (toilets) in the morning about every other time we looked over Juan Carlos would have his hands on the side of Liseth’s face and be giving her big kisses. Quite possibly one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen. But now that Juan Carlos is in Sala 2 apparently Liseth is missing her make-out sessions and on Tuesday when we were watching the older kids dance she kept trying to escape over to where Sala 2 was sitting (to find her boyfriend, of course) and on Wednesday morning when she was seated next to one of the other boys, attempted to place a big kiss on him to which he just started shrieking and crying. We’re all rooting for Liseth to move up to Sala 2 so she can be reunited with her pareja (pair/mate).

In other exciting news, I finally found and joined a gym! As some of you have already heard I’m probably a little overly excited about it – but it’s a really good deal. For the equivalent of 120 dollars I get 6 months of membership which includes: a cardio room (with treadmills, ellipticals, steppers, and bikes – all generally impossible to find in Bolivia), a weight room with more machines than the YMCA, instructors (aka personal trainers) in the weight room who will show/tell you what exercises to do every time you go in and what part of the body to focus on for the day if you want, free access to all their Body Pump/Body Sculpt/Cycling classes, AND free internet. I can hardly contain my excitement. I’ll probably never find a deal this good again, so I’m going to take full advantage of it while I’m down here. Granted the downside is that it’s a 30 minute walk from my house and a 45 minute walk from work, so I generally take a trufi/taxi from work to the gym and then use the walk home from the gym as my cool down. I have a pretty good record for making random friends at the gym, so I’m hoping maybe this new part of my life will also enhance my social life (and at the very least my stories for the blog).

And the most exciting news of the week – MY FAMILY IS COMING FOR CHRISTMAS!! My parents and my brother are arriving in Coche on Christmas morning and leaving on the 30^th. So while it will be a short stay I’m SUPER excited to see them and I’ve already started a countdown calendar on my desktop (90 days to be exact).

As for the weekend, it’s been fairly uneventful so far. Last night Jordan and I stayed in and invented Jersualen bowling using the 2-liter bottles left over from soda as our pins and a plastic jar of honey as our ball. Our thin hallway is perfectly designed to act as a bowling alley and while the honey-ball isn’t ideal, it definitely adds to the challenge. I’m planning on spending my Saturday at Nazareth with the boys again, although it means I won’t be hanging around BK all day on gametracker, I might head to BK on Sunday to attempt some epic Skype catch up dates with people.

¡Oh, cuán lejos llegarás!

Danielle was nice enough to send me a package with the book “Oh, the places you’ll go!” in español which I picked up on Saturday – along with cards from my mom and Emily – at my first visit to the Correo (there is only ONE post office in ALL of Cochabamba). But now that I know where it is and how it works I’m going to attempt to start sending some mail of my own!

And indeed, oh the places I’ve been this past week. The quest to fix my Bolivian cell phone took four days and multiple hours. It all began when I went to the Viva store (Viva is the name of the cell phone company) downtown to activate my phone on Tuesday (strategically timed so because Dumbo’s – an ice cream place- has a 2x1 deal on Tuesdays and is located two stores down from the Viva store). When I told them that I needed to activate and register my phone the man at the desk told me I needed a code from the store where I’d bought my SIM card – none of the other volunteers have ever needed a code. But, nonetheless I believed them. False. I do not need a code. So because I already had plans to meet Angela (a fellow ND grad who is down here doing service until next fall) for dinner on Wednesday night, my journey picked up again on Thursday. I returned to the store and told them such code did not exist, to which they replied of course it didn’t (I think the other guy was having some fun pulling a joke on the gringa) and they attempted to get on the phone with the operator to register my phone, but it wouldn’t work. So they send me to the oficina central in another part of the city because they don’t know how to handle it. They tell me to bring my phone, my SIM card, and a copy of my passport. So I go to the oficina central, all my things in tow, and no sooner have I explained to the guy at the door that I need to activate my phone than he says that all extranjeros (foreigners) have to go to the store in the CINE CENTER (movie theater) to activate their phones. So on Friday I venture to the Cine Center after work and no sooner have I walked up to the desk to say I need to register my phone than they ask for my passport – to which I give them the photocopy, but alas, they say they need my actual passport. I attempt to argue that I’d been to the oficina central and they just told me I needed a photocopy, but the lady at the desk, not so kindly, informs me that that’s only for registering my phone – for activation I need my actual passport and if I would like to get on the line with the operator they will tell me so themselves. So I return home, defeated. On Saturday I return to the Cine Center with my passport and everything else I thought I might possibly need (200 Bolivianos – a ridiculous amount, all numbers given to me by previous stores, passport AND photocopy of passport, and a mental attitude that they were going to reject me once again, so just be prepared…) and although it took 17 calls to get through to the operator, I FINALLY left at 2:30pm on Saturday with a working Bolivian cell phone! And that my friends, is how things are done in Bolivia.

In terms of work the week was pretty good, nothing to complain about, especially since my favorite mama’s were the ones working MWF – it’s amazing how even when they are missing a mama the kids behave SO much better for this set of mama’s than for Albertina. The highlights of my week were that
1. They got a new music CD that has 25 songs instead of 3 – although I’ve almost memorized the words to “Quiero un Herrmanito” and “Pinata” and all the other songs on the CD, 25 is a much better selection than 3.
2. On Wednesday I got about 7 of the kids to all hold hands and dance in a circle. Probably the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. And slightly concerning that the highlight to my week was dancing in circles (we also attempted to do hands on shoulders and be a tren (train) – but that wasn’t quite so successful, a few of the kids took it to be more than a slight invasion of their personal space and ended up crying…one thing at a time I suppose).

It was really nice to have dinner with Angela and have someone from ND down here to relate to. I even met up with her and another girl who graduated from ND two years ago at Burger King on Saturday for the “gamewatch” – it’s nice to have a little community down here – although they’ll be working starting in October so I have to take advantage of these gatherings while I can.

I think that I’ve found the way in which I’m going to become rich – there are multiple establishments in Bolivia that have ripped off chains from the States (or maybe the States ripped off the Bolivian store…) and I’m thinking that if I take pictures of said copyright violations and identity thefts that perchance I could make a bit of money from the companies in the States…that or end up with a lifetime supply of Chiptole. Yes, there is a restaurant down here called Chipotle – and they even stole the red circle with a pepper in the middle logo from the chain in the States. Jordan and I did our American duty of checking out this fraudulent store on Friday night after my frustrating day #3 with Viva and although it is not set up the same as the Chipotle in the States, they do have a very delicious burrito AND most importantly they are the first establishment at which I’ve found Coca Cola Light in this city. I’m thinking about going back and asking them who their supplier is and if they can order me an extra crate every month.

It’s back to just Jordan and I again. Ancilla moved out on Saturday to live at Solomon Klein (where both she and I work) because she wanted to work and live in the same place and said she felt “safer” there. I still don’t understand why she wants to work and live at the same place (especially bc the rooms at Solomon are in the cafeteria and SUPER loud when the kids are out and about and it can also get really hot because they’re close to the tin roof). We’ll be getting another roommate in the beginning of October – but for the next three weeks at least, its just us two again. Poor Jordan will have to get a reward for having to put up with me for so long.

I’ve also taken to dealing with stress/homesickness by baking. I think Jordan and the boys downstairs are really going to start wishing for me to be homesick if this keeps being the maner in which I choose to deal with it. On Saturday I made Maria’s famous Oreo balls (mashed up Oreos and cream cheese balls covered in white chocolate). I had made them as a little “surprise” for when we had a few of the other volunteers over on Saturday night, but seeing as there are only about 6 of us and there were about 30+ oreo balls I brought about 15 of them downstairs to the boys when we went down for dinner – I think I’ve safely made lots of new friends.

On Sunday Jordan and I laid low for the most part – I’ve been reading Sense and Sensibility and am hooked and furiously reading until I finish. We also went and at in the park for two hours and got LOTS of good people watching in (mostly these three kids attempting to run up a slide and failing every single time and making a “WHOMP!” sound as they hit the slide). I’m telling you, I was meant to be a kid in Cochabamba. At the park they had trampolines out, a MOON BOUNCE (for all of you who don’t know this about me – I have a sliiiiight obsession with inflatables…), horse/pony rides, the motorized kid jeeps, cotton candy, a train ride that played music and rode around the park, a makeshift mary-go-round, and playgrounds. And this is just a regular old Sunday! I felt like I was at a carnival!

This week will be long because it’s the mama’s I don’t like as much that work MWF, but Tuesday is a feriada (holiday) - the bicentennial celebration of Cochabamba (their phrase is – America is free because Cochabamba wanted it to be so! – maybe giving themselves a little too much credit…) which means I’ll have the day off and get to go downtown and see all the different celebrations. Who knows, maybe there will even be a moon bounce for grownups! A girl can only dream.

I ALMOST FORGOT. I thought I would share a picture of the infamous chicken-foot-soup that we had for dinner last week. It´s not unusual for the soup to have a chicken foot in it, but on Tuesday I won the prize and got the chicken foot in MY bowl. Oh lucky me.

Chivalry is alive and well in Sala Uno

Well I guess it’s a good sign that I’m not posting more than once a week – must mean I’m busy or something.

So indeed our third roommate did arrive last Tuesday – Ancilla from Holland and super nice. I’m still getting to know her because she had a bit of jet-lag for the first few days and then her work schedule is Wednesday-Sunday so we don’t have the same off-days. There is a chance she might be moving to Solomon Klein to live because she’s going to be here for at least a year, if not longer, and she wants to work and live at the same place. We’ll find out tomorrow or sometime later this week if she’s staying here or not.

The weekend was pretty good – Friday night we slept outside for this fundraiser called “Noche Sin Techo” (Night Without a Roof) for another organization in Cochabamba that works with teenagers of the street. We slept outside in a plaza – me, Jordan, Leena, Julia, and about 50 other people altogether. It was a little chilly and only Julia and I were able to actually get any sleep out of our group (I accredit my ability to sleep to the fact that I just graduated from college where you learn to sleep through almost anything…). We also met a group of kids from the MaryKnoll center who are down here for 6 months at a language institute – two of whom graduated from Creighton and knew Mike Pogge – which was a super exciting small world realization for me. I love how small the world is, even way down south here.

Saturday was a great day – I sat in Burger King mooching off of their WiFi from about 2:45-6:45 attempting to “watch” the ND game on gametracker and get updates from friends on Skype. Getting to talk to Emily, Katie Merriam, Maria, Bliss and my parents really put me in an amazing mood (that and the ND win of course!) – I still find myself struggling with not feeling connected to everyone when I’m down here, so getting to talk to them really lifted my spirits.

Sunday was fairly uneventful, but for as generally lazy as I was I have to admit there wasn’t much I could have done because it was a national pedestrian holiday – which meant that only people with special permits could drive their cars (I saw about 20 cars all day). Jordan and I walked to the big super market, IC Norte, and bought flour so I could make bread again and the walk was really cool because it’s a good 20-25 minutes each way and there were NO cars on the street – just people and bikes. I think I was particularly fascinated by all the people/bikes in the streets because I’m fairly certain that a national pedestrian holiday (where even public transportation is closed) would NEVER fly in the U.S. – but maybe that’s the pessimist in me.

The work week thus far has been fairly uneventful – although I am definitely noticing a difference between how the kids behave, particularly in the morning during bathtime, with the different sets of mama’s. They are much calmer and generally more well-behaved with Maribel and her partner than with Albertina and the new mama. I haven’t really been able to pick up on what exactly the differences are between how the mama’s act towards the kids – but it seems like they respect Maribel and her partner more than Albertina and the new mama (I really need to work on getting all their names down…).

Best story of the week so far happened on Monday in the afternoon about an hour before I was leaving. The mama’s and I were sitting in the playroom with all the kids playing with the jugetes and Johnoton (who is always causing trouble with both sets of mamas) decides to start pulling Adrianna’s hair and generally beating up on her. While the mama’s and I are yelling at him to stop, Gonzalo took it upon himself to run (as much of a run as a one year old can do) over to Johnoton and start bopping him on the head for hitting Adrianna. At this point the mama’s and I loose it and start cracking up while cheering Gonzalo on – turns out chivalry is alive and well in Sala Uno because then a few of the others came over to bop Johnoton on the head as well and eventually he got the message and left Adrianna alone.

Thursday will be the one-month mark of my time here. Time has flown. I cannot believe it’s been that long and I’ve taken it upon myself to do some self-reflection of my time here. I definitely think I’ve taken it a little easy on myself in terms of sheltering myself with English and generally not going out on a limb. Even when I am around people speaking Spanish I’ve found that I’m very shy – it’s hard for me to initiate conversation with people I don’t really know because I don’t have any of my personality in Spanish – I’m still working with the basics. Even Melissa, who has been here for a year already and spoke Spanish fluently before coming down here, says that it’s hard because you are definitely a different person when it’s not your native language – you don’t have the sarcasm or the jokes and other conversational tactics you can fall back on in your native language. I definitely need to challenge myself more in the next few weeks – I’ve given myself my adjustment period and now I’m ready to dive in full force. Ready or not, here I go.