Dough doesn´t rise in Bolivia

I think the mosquitoes here officially hate me. I sleep under my mosquito net every night and I still manage to wake up at least every other morning with new bites in places I’ve never been bitten before…such as: the top of my right hand, the side (under my pinky) of my left hand, my right heel, the toe next to my big toe on my left foot...thanks guys I really appreciate it.
Aside from a few new bug bites it was a fairly uneventful weekend. I made Bliss’ deep dish pizza recipe on Friday, with a few Bolivian modifications: pepperoni/Italian sausage doesn’t exist here, so I had to pick the least hot-dog-esq sausage to use for the pizza; they don’t believe in any spices (oregano, red pepper flakes, etc) so I had to settle for the “pizza seasoning” I found; and finally, the yeast packets here are not the same as the US and I had some issues with the bread rising, or I guess I should say, not rising. All in all thought it was pretty delicious and a great start to the weekend. We also had a few of the volunteers over to our apartment for a “party” (there were only six of us, so it wasn’t too much of a wild party) Friday night and called it an early night when everyone left around 1am.
Saturday I spent a few hours at the internet café and then a few hours reading in the park, overall a very uneventful day. Sunday I woke up early, made some rolls with the leftover flour and yeast from the pizza dough (still didn’t really rise – but still taste delicious), cleaned a bit, went for a run, helped Melissa set up Ancilla’s room (my third roommate comes on Tuesday), and then went out to the benches outside our house to read. As I was reading Fernando and a few other boys walked by on their way to go play futbol (soccer) and invited me to join – I insisted that I didn’t have the right shoes on (I was wearing my flipflops) but went to watch and hangout with them anyway. I ended up watching as they played 4 on 4 with a group of other boys who had been kicking a ball around at the canchita (field) until I felt a few raindrops – and seeing as I didn’t want to be soaking wet I pardoned myself and went home. Who knows if they’ll ever invite me to play soccer with them again, but next time I sit on the benches I’ll be sure to wear my sneakers.
Monday was a very interesting day at work because they changed up the mama’s in the Sala because, according to Albertina (the mama who stayed), they thought the kids were crying/acting out too much so they switched Paula (the other mama who used to work in Sala 1) with a mama from Sala 2. Apparently this doesn’t happen very often, unless a mama is on vacation so they switch up who works in what Sala then to make sure all the rooms are covered. While we were folding laundry Albertina was asking me if the kids cry for the other mama’s (which they do, but looking back on it not nearly as much as with Albertina and Paula). I have to agree with Albertina that two mama’s are definitely not enough for 23 kids, but Maribel and the other mama who work the opposite days don’t seem to have nearly the problem Albertina and Paula had. While this change-up might help in the long run it made Monday a lot more hectic because the new mama from Sala 2 didn’t know the routine in Sala 1. Also, as I was leaving, Emma (the director of Solomon Klein) called me into her office and told me to make sure that if I see a mama not giving enough love to a kid that I should call them out on it – aka if Albertina is treating the kids bad I need to tell Emma and tell Albertina to treat them better. I’ve been here for two weeks and she’s telling me to tell the mama’s how to do their job?? Yikes. Although I agree with her that the kids are all fragile and need as much love and support as possible considering they’ve come from such devastating backgrounds and have such sad stories, her comparisons to them becoming alcoholics and criminals if we don’t show them enough love every day in Sala 1 might have been slightly over the top. So I guess that leaves me torn between feeling sympathetic for Albertina that there is never enough hands with 23 kids and understanding Emma’s desire for the kids to be treated well and for them to be happy. It will be an interesting mediating role to play, I guess it puts my conflict resolution skills to good use.
Today was less hectic and fairly uneventful. I brought my camera to work with me and snapped a few pics of the kids in the afternoon – although they aren’t used to cameras like kids in the US so trying to get them to smile for the camera was nearly impossible. Also impossible, apparently, is getting the internet to upload my pictures - I´m gonna try to throw them up on facebook and if that doesn´t work you´ll just have to hold your breath and wait for them in a bit! (But please, don´t actually hold your breath, Bolivian internet is SUPER slow)
Our third roommate arrived today – or at least she was supposed to, I have yet to see her in my brief stop at home after work before I came to the internet café. I’m excited to meet her!
Sorry it´s been so long since my last update! But at least they´re getting shorter...kind of...