Hasta Pronto Bolivia!

My first weekend in Bolivia back in August of 2010 was the weekend of the 2^nd biggest parade/festival of the year here in Cochabamba. My last weekend December 2011 there was also a big parade of all the university dance clubs to celebrate the end of the school year. Today, Sunday, is also Dia de Peaton (Day of the Pedestrian) which means no cars (not even public transportation) from 9am to 5pm. Although in some ways the lack of transportation today made Fri/Sat a bit more stressful, I really can’t thank Bolivia enough for sending me off on a weekend full of music, dancing, culture, and tranquility – everything I’ve come to love about this country and more. I’m still not quite sure how I’m going to handle heading off to Santa Cruz tonight all alone or my trip back to the States tomorrow – but I couldn’t have asked for a better despedida (goodbye) from this beautiful country.

Hasta pronto Bolivia (See you later/soon Bolivia)!

But they're just like any other baby...

It’s a well-known fact that I’ve absolutely fallen in love with my babies. I think they are quite possibly the cutest kids in the entire world, they’ve completely stolen my heart. But over the last few months in the process of falling even more in love with them I’ve forgotten the cruel worlds they’ve come from – to me they just seem like any other happy kid most of the time, but my last week Christopher gave me a stark reminder of the harsh, challenging pasts they all come from.

There are always a good handful of volunteers working at Solomon, more recently than I’ve seen almost my whole time here. When I first arrived last August I was the only volunteer and now there seems to be a surpluss – which I consider to be a great thing. However, about 90% of all volunteers at Solomon are girls – there are currently two men – one in his 20s from the US and another in his 50s from France. Juan, the French man who comes every year with his wife Vivi for 3 months, is the handyman around the house – always going from one sala to another looking for broken door handles, water pipe problems, and any thing else that needs some fixing up. The other day he was working on something in the comedor (cafeteria) while Sala 2 was eating lunch and Christopher spotted Juan and started screaming “Papaaaaaa!” with a look of pure terror on his face (just like all women are “mama” all men are “papa”). This repeated the following three days – every time Sala 2 was eating and Juan would pass by Christopher would go into hysterics. It about broke my heart. There are other men who come around the orphanage – the gardener, one administrative staff, and visitors – and I’ve had Christopher in my sala for over a year and never seen him react this way to a man before. There are some kids who have a general fear of men (especially in the newborn sala and Sala 1) – but Christopher was never one of them. The mama’s working said not to give Christopher the time of day because one day they had taken him into the sala to calm down and he didn’t want to come back out again – apparently if I held him and removed him from the table I would only be encouraging him to do it again in the future. They all said it was just due to his wanting attention, but the look on his face was one I’d never seen before, like he was having a flashback of a memory of a man who looked similar to Juan who had maltreated him in his past. Knowing that Christopher most likely had this bad memory just broke my heart. So, seeing as it was my last few days anyway, I ignored their advice, picked him up, hugged him, told him it would be okay and took him into the sala to sit with him while the others finished lunch. Maybe it will make it more difficult for the mama’s in the coming days, but I just couldn’t resist the urge to comfort him. After all, every kid deserves to be spoiled every so often.

MIA

So I’ve been terrible at writing recently. Most of my lack of updates are due to the fact that there haven’t been any updates to give. I’ve spent the last two weeks being ill with some sort of stomach problem – still yet to be officially diagnosed, but mostly likely parasites of some form or another. It’s been a bit of a bummer because I feel like I’ve lost out on two weeks of being with the kids – but I just found that I never had the energy to put into work. There were days when I went crazy spending 24+ hours in the apartment, most of which in my bed, and wishing I could muster up the energy to go say hi to my babies or go swimming with the boys at Nazareth. I guess this is what I get for bragging that I’ve never had any stomach problems in Bolivia! Looks like I’m not super-stomach-woman after all!

But after seeing three different nurse/doctors who can’t seem to quite pin-down what’s wrong with me I’m going to get some blood/stool tests done on Monday morning which should hopefully give me at least enough energy to make it through these next three weeks before I head home. Wish me luck!

Spending a week with my Alums

Although it's been a bit rough getting back into a routine this week, I've had a nice change in routine to keep things a little different...

Since Jen was still on vacation this week and there is another volunteer in my Sala, I worked in Sala 2 this week with all of my babies who have grown up: Gonzalo, Lucas, Blanca, Edson, Adriana, MARTIN and many more. It was wonderful to get to spend the day with them again - usually I'm resigned to just saying hi when they pass by - but this week I got to be with them all day long!

It's amazing how much they've grown up. They're so freaking smart! I know Jen tells me all the time about how they talk and the different things that happen in the Sala - but getting to see how they've grown and matured since leaving Sala 1 was absolutely incredible. How some of their characteristics have stayed the same and others have completely changed. They're truly becoming little people.

However, although I LOVED spending the week with my alums, I did miss the babies in Sala 1 - even if they are newer, they've managed to capture my heart just the same. I have no idea how I'm going to say goodbye to either group in 5 short weeks. Last time was hard enough and I only knew about half of the kids and I knew I was coming back...

Cell Phone #3

Bolivia is the place where my cell phones come to die and get lost.

If memory serves me correctly, I've only ever broken or lost ONE cell phone in the US (small incident on my birthday freshman year of college where i decided to go swimming in a puddle...) and in the 14 months I've been here I've lost/left my cell phone in a taxi/trufi 3 times and, today, put one in the washing machine. Luckily it was returned 1 of the 3 times I left it somewhere - but, today I had to buy my third cell phone in 14 months.

Good thing this bad cell phone seems to hit me in countries where my cell phone only costs $15.

Salar de Uyuni

So it’s back to work today after 5 days of vacation. From Tuesday to Sunday I was traveling with Jen and her friend, Chris, who had come to visit her from England. (Note: Friends you have approximately 5 weeks left to visit me…) Tuesday was a pure travel day – 5 hours on bus to Oruro and then 7 hours on the train from Oruro to Uyuni where we spent three days traveling the Salar de Uyuni and surrounding areas. The Salar is the largest salt flat in the world – absolutely beautiful. But let’s go to the very beginning…

Going to the Salar is a very, very popular stop on the tourist route – if not THE most popular in all of Bolivia. There are a bunch of different companies with whom to do the 1, 2, 3, or 4-day tour with. Most people pick their group as they get off the train or bus because it tends to be cheaper. However, because we have had a few friends with bad experiences (crazy drivers, getting ripped off, bad accommodations, etc) we decided to book ahead of time with a recommendation from a Bolivian friend of Jen’s. Each tour takes approximately six passengers – being as we were already three we had three spaces for other travelers. Originally, according to the list of the company, we were traveling with two Canadians and a boy from Holland…that then changed an hour later to three Mexicans…and, when we finally loaded up the car, it turned out to be a boy from Holland, a girl from Belgian, and a woman from California. Typical Bolivia. And, also true to Bolivian fashion, although the company claims to have Bilingual services, our guide, Abraham, did not know any English and thus Jen surrendered to being our translator for the tour. (Note: Although I could have also done it, Jen was lucky enough to be seated in the middle row of the car – while I was upfront – giving her a better position to be heard by the rest of the car. And did some amazingly animated translations at that.)

However, of the many Bolivian-isms of the trip, the best was that after the first day, of a three day tour, part of our car fell off…well, a bolt went missing. And I don’t know much about cars so I can’t be absolutely sure, but I think it had something to do with the suspension. And in the US they would have panicked and called back-up to come with a spare part or something, even in the middle of no-where. But no, Abraham tied it on with part of the rubber cord that strapped all of our bags to the roof. He was embarrassed when Jen took a picture of his solution, but we assured him it was just to celebrate his creative solution. And celebrate indeed, because we made it all the way back to Uyuni after two days of it being broken, with no other problems.

All in all though it was an absolutely beautiful trip. A bit on the cold side, considering I’ve been escaping winters both in the US and Bolivia the past year and a half, but definitely worth it. How our driver knew where to go still astounds me, there were times when I couldn’t make out one path from another or even guess in which direction we should go – but he always knew. Granted, he has been doing tours for the past 15 years, so I suppose that could have something to do with it.

It was one of those trips that after a while I just had to stop taking pictures because everything around you is picture-perfect. The white of the salt flat creating reflections so that it looked like the mountains in the distance were floating, the bright pink of the flamencos on the lake in contrast to the crisp blue water, and the stunning mountains that you can see for miles around. The only thing I couldn’t capture on film were the most amazing stars I’ve ever seen – going outside at night was like being inside the dome at the science museum – incredible.

I know there are stunning sights to see in the US as well, but the range of different geographical wonders I’ve seen in Bolivia astounds me. And I still have more to see!!

My babies all grown up

So I'm a terribly Mama. I have a favorite child at Solomon. I think I've admitted this before, but for those of you who are unaware, Martin has stolen my heart 110%. He has been in my sala since the day I arrived last August and I was surprised he was still there when I got back because he's one of the more intelligent and advanced (and also mischievous) of the group. However, since returning he has continued to capture my heart by being one of the first to call me "Mami Katy" and generally just being absolutely adorable.

I've been saying for weeks that he needed to move up to Sala 2 - he had gotten to the point where he was being the big brother in the sala - bring over the younger ones when I would ask him to help me because they were hitting the windows with toys. But I could also see he wasn't getting enough stimulation in the sala and had A LOT of pent up energy (I wish I had gotten a video of the way he would BOLT out of the gate every time we went out into the park or went for a walk...it was as if he was saying "FREE AT LAST!!!").

...alas, seeing him go to Sala 2 last week still killed me a little inside. Granted I still get to say hi to him at least twice a day, but it's not the same. (Although on Friday he came running up to me after going for a walk with Sala 2 with their toy cars on a string and screamed "Mami Katy! Mami Katy! Auto...BEEP BEEP!!!" aka "Mami Katy! Mami Katy! Car...BEEP BEEP!!") I don't get to catch the little moments I did before. But, perhaps it will make leaving this time a little easier. The ones I've been super attached to have pretty much all moved on to Sala 2. And even though I absolutely adore the babies I have now, it's not quite the same. Perhaps this is God looking out for my heart a bit. Keeping it from breaking too terribly when I have to say goodbye in December. But if only I could find a way to fit Martin in my suitcase...

Never thought I'd see the day...

Life at Casa Nazareth is very orderly. There is a schedule for every day - planned down to the minute (as much as possible as in Bolivia...). Three times a day they are all required to do

"oficios" or chores around the house. And pretty much 90% of the time that involves some grumbling, slowwwwwly going to retrieve brooms and mops, and generally just complaining. However, today everyone was asked to clean the pool (which, is DISGUSTING because they leave it uncovered during off-season so it's full of mud, dirt, random articles of clothing, lemons, bugs, and every other gross thing you can think of). As soon as it was mentioned that they would be cleaning the pool after homework time today they all started screaming and clapping out of EXCITEMENT. Never thought I'd see the day when the mention of oficios was met with cheers of excitement. They all took off their shoes and shirts and enjoyed every minutes of brushing, scrubbing, and de-trashing the pool. But truly, I've never seen a group of pre-adolescent boys so excited to do some chores. If only I could figure out a way to get that reaction every day....

TIPNIS

I'm not sure how much, if at all, Bolivia makes international news - but I thought I'd update all of you on the recent events down here.

There has been a huge uproar over a road being built between Beni (the jungle region) and Cochabamba because it cuts through an indigenous territory (TIPNIS - El Territorio Indígena y Parque Nacional Isiboro Sécure). This area has been a national park since the 1960s and a declared indigenous refuge since 1990. Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia, began the project without the approval, or knowledge, of the TIPNIS or any other citizens of Bolivia. They have already begun construction on the 2/3 of the road - leading from Beni towards the TIPNIS and from Cochabamba towards the TIPNIS - but haven't actually started the construction within the park. The people are furious, especially the indigenous whose simple lives (they live in the "wild" more or less - still rely heavily on hunting and fishing for food and live very simply) will be destroyed as a result of the heavy traffic that will run through their home.

The TIPNIS people have been marching from their territory to La Paz, the capital, since August 15th (43 days) on foot to protest the destruction of their homeland. While this in and of itself has been big news for the past few weeks, it intensified over the past few days when the Bolivian police brutally attacked the group, who were peacefully marching, and it was caught on film. Women and Men alike were rounded up, beaten, and forcefully removed from their children and families. Many children have gone missing as a result and their are reports that one may have died. This brutality has fueled a fire within the Bolivian people that had been burning for a while now. There are vigils and marches going on practically every major city in Bolivia in protest to what the government has done. The minister of defense resigned because she was not in agreement with the treatment of the TIPNIS by the police. And people are angry.

Having a discussion with Diego about this last night, I came to realize just how grave this situation is. Evo has "paused" construction, although practically everyone knows he will go through with it because he has already paid a large sum of money to the Brazilian company to do the construction. People are angry that a Bolivian company wasn't contracted to do the work, but instead it was outsourced to Brazil. The excuse is that there aren't any companies within Bolivia who have enough money to finance the operation or are worth over 1 million dollars. But people are angry. And even though people are angry at Evo, angrier than I've ever seen them, Diego tells me that he still wouldn't be surprised if Evo manages to survive his next 3 years of office and go on to serve another 5.

Why?

Corruption. In the smaller towns of Bolivia, if you don't vote for Evo in the elections, they kick you and your family out of your house, take your car, and basically all your possessions and leave you high and dry. Although no one likes Evo, they don't know any other candidates, so they vote to abstain, but Evo discards those votes and therefore comes out on top.

It makes me angry. So angry. And I don't know what to do. This is such a beautiful country with beautiful people and so many opportunities, but it's being held back by a corrupt government. I can only hope and pray that they will find a way to overcome this. And in the meantime, I ask you all to keep the TIPNIS people in your prayers.

Games

So now that my kids are getting bigger and older and talking more - we've started playing some games that I really enjoy. In particular, I've recently taught them hide-and-seek (covering their eyes with their hands and me asking "Donde esta ____" and them taking their hands away and saying "Ahi esta!"). Although once started it usually lasts for ten minutes with them screaming "KATYYY!!" until I do it with them and then someone else screams my name, etc.

Christopher, although not the oldest in the sala, has taken to talking up a storm! It's awesome. I took a quick video in the sala on Friday with him "finding" the other kids in the Sala. I don't know if you'll all find it as adorable as I do, but I hope you enjoy!

Constructive Criticism

So this is a really hard blog for me to write. Probably the most challenging since I first came down here. I contemplated not sharing it, but I think it’s an important part of my growth, development, and experience down here.

Thursday when Jen and I were out for our daily lunchtime walk she mentioned to me that Sylvia, the nurse for that rotation, asked her to speak with me because she thought I wasn’t being as “carinosa” (caring/affectionate) with the kids. Jen immediately said that she didn’t agree, but that she felt she had to tell me because she had told Sylvia she would. As she said the words I felt a flood of emotion hit me. How could I possibly be doing anything to give the impression that these kids don’t mean the world to me?! It completely crushed me.

Jen and I went on to have a conversation about how the longer we’ve been here we find ourselves acting more the roles of the Mamas than that of a volunteer. According to Emma, the director, volunteers are meant to just give as much attention and love and extra stimulation to the kids as possible. However, after we have been there for a while not only do we change our own roles in the sala to be a bit more hands-on/helper than solely playing with the kids – but the staff also come to expect more of us as well.

I’m aware that my frustration level with Albertina has remained the same since I’ve come back (Clarification – Sylvia works the same days as Albertina so only sees me on Albertina days and not on Sabina days). Albertina days are always longer. More kids cry, more kids act out, more kids don’t listen, and more kids don’t sleep than on Sabina days. I try my hardest to still be 100% like I am on Sabina days, but I find that trying to stop temper tantrum #17 of the day doesn’t elicit the same enthusiasm as #3 or 4. I’m just plain exhausted by the end of the day. And as I have advanced my role to trying to help in the bathroom and with “crowd control” in general, I now also get chastised for letting a child cry who is having his/her own temper tantrum #3 of the day, instead of picking them up and trying to quiet them (although, with a handful of kids – Julio and Camila being the worst – even when you pick them up they continue to scream at a pitch that is definitely off the charts…and they only calm down with time).

After my feeling of devastation that Sylvia could think I didn’t love the kids enough, came a feeling of anger. Anger that she had only seen me in one moment and was judging my entire attitude for the children. Anger that I knew the instance she was talking about when I had let Camila cry instead of picking her up, but also remembering that what Sylvia hadn’t seen was my previous attempts to calm her (without success) and the other 10 children who I was expected to keep an eye on who were throwing their lunch all over the table. But mostly, anger at myself.

It really weighed me down for a day or two - poor Diego had to deal with my breakdown on Thursday night and I was just a bit off for a least the rest of the day. I probably even overreacted a bit (who me?!). In the end, I can give a million and one excuses as to why I did what I did and why Sylvia is mistaken in her judgment, but when it comes down to it, I’m grateful for the criticism. If nothing else, it will keep me more alert and aware of my actions. There is always room for improvement, especially when it comes to caring for and loving my kids.

Dear Mr. Weatherman

I would just like to know who decided to pull a 360 on me and make the weather in Cochabamba miserable. Really, I know I miss South Bend sometimes and maybe have been thinking about all the football I’m missing a bit too much, but it really is not necessary to send the South Bend weather to Cochabamba. It has been rainy, cloudy, and COLD for the past three days. I didn’t pack for this weather! I’m only supposed to be here for Spring and Summer weather…

Dear Mr. Weatherman, please send Cocha’s weather back. Thanks.

**To be fair, I wrote this last night at home and am just now uploading it, and it's a beautiful sunny blue-sky day :)

Admiration and Gratitude

This isn't going to be a long post. I just wanted to express my gratitude and admiration of the women who work at Solomon as Mamas. Due to the global economic hardships we are all facing, Amanecer has been behind on paying the Mamas their monthly salaries. Just today they were finally paid for last month - and we're almost at the end of September!! Yet, even though they had gone three weeks without pay, they continue to show up for work and take care of the children every day.

Their monthly salaries aren't very much - 600-800 bolivianos depending how long they've worked there ($85-115). I would just like to put out there for anyone who is interested in a charity to help this Christmas, to consider donating to Amanecer. They have offices in the States and your donation can be tax-deductible. The foundation in general is struggling greatly, but if you feel so inclined you can also specify that donations go to salaries for the Mamas at Solomon Klein.

I generally don't like to ask for help like this, but I know as the holiday season approaches (okay, maybe I'm at bit ahead of myself...it is only September) people often look for alternatives to the commercialism we as westernized citizens have been swept up in. The work these women do on a day-to-day basis is incredible and truly admirable, they deserve to get their pay.

Checks can be sent to:

AMANECER
c/o Daughters of Charity
330 SEATON AVE.
EMMITSBURG, MARYLAND 21727

OR

AMANECER
c/o Sisters of the Most Precious Blood
204 N. Main Street
O´Fallon, Mo. 63366

Relearning the Basics

So as you may or may not know - may know because I've mentioned in a blog, but may not know because I never write about it - I'm working two days a week at a home with older boys from 6-12 years old. At first I struggled finding my sense of purpose there, working with older more independent kids I didn't feel as "needed" at first as I do at Solomon with the babies. But over the past month I've truly begun to find my rhythm there and am really enjoying the change in scenery two days a week.

After working for a while with the kids helping them with homework, I've come to have a whole new appreciation for my parents helping me with homework as I was growing up. Having to remember how to do long division by hand after YEARS of using a calculator and doing more complex math seemed almost impossible. Fractions? Forget it. It didn't help that they have a different method of setting up their equations in Bolivia, so that confused me on a whole other level. Slowly but surely it's all coming back to me and I'm relearning how to do long-division all over again. But man, there's nothing like some 3rd grade math to make you feel stupid.

Lets just hope they don't start to put me with the 5th and 6th graders...

Enjoying the Moment

There are some moments when watching my kids that I really wish I had a camera on me at all times. I know I've probably said this before, but it's so true! I think I finally understand why so many parents have thousands of pictures and home videos - you want to capture every moment of growth, every "first"- step, word, bike ride, etc, and every special moment.

I had one of these moments about a week ago. I was out in the Sala with the kids while the mamas were changing diapers after naptime and they would send 5 or so kids out a time. The first set of 5 kids included Gisel, a girl who has been in my Sala since I arrived last August and who has a deformed jawbone that leaves her smile a bit cooked. I'm not really sure I remember how it started, but I remember looking over at Gisel and she was moving the mats so that half of the mat has against the wall and the other half was on the floor. She then dragged one of the other kids over by his hand and stood him against the mat and repeated the process with 2 more kids. She then stepped back and started waving her arms like she was conducting a choir - getting them to dance and clap and "sing" along to the song. As soon as the song finished, she took each one by their hand and led them off the mat, as if to say "show is over!". And as soon as the next song started she would put them all in place again. It was absolutely amazing to watch them play together inventing their own game. And each time new kids would could out of the bathroom one of the kids lined up against the wall would beacon to them "Ven!" ("come!") with a wave of their hand and have them join in the activity. This had to have continued for at least ten minutes, all the while I just sat in the corner, desperately wanting to spring to my locker, grab my camera, and catch this on film, but knowing that if I left I'd miss just enjoying the moment.

I've always been eager to take pictures and videos to remember every moment of vacations, nights out with friends, and especially with my kids. But if anything, watching this event, just being able to sit and take it all in, I think, maybe, I've finally learned how to just enjoy the moment. And I am so grateful for all the moments my kids have given me this past year. Both the ones I've caught on film and the ones that will forever be in my memory.

Proud and Happy Mami Katy

This week has been a rollercoaster of emotions for me at Solomon - I feel like I should write more about Nazareth, but most of my stories still seem to come from Solomon.

I had talked with Emma on Friday about moving Edson up to Sala 2 and about bringing some kids to the Monetssori. She had said Edson could move up to Sala 2 over the weekend and that the pedagoga would work on a schedule for me to work one-on-one with some of the handicapped kids. I was thrilled. However, I arrived on Wednesday to absolutely zero change. Edson was still in my sala and there were no signs of any special schedule for me. However, I did get to take Edson on a bit of a fieldtrip to go horseback riding with some of the kids from Sala 4/5 - although unfortunately there were no horses by the time we arrived. They had forgotten we were coming and had send the horses on a walk with their trainer - so instead it was an hour playing in the park. But either way it was a great experience for Edson to get to leave the house and experience some of the outside world. I mentioned something to the nurse about Edson moving up and she said Emma hadn't said anything to her about it. So I left a bit disappointed on Wednesday.

Thursday was hell with Edson. I arrived to him crying and throwing a fit because had wanted to be pulled in the little car that they use for one of the other kids who can't walk instead of using his walker. He continued to cry for 30 minutes non-stop and then started banging himself against the door to the bathroom while we were inside trying to finishing bathing some of the other kids. At lunch he refused to eat. And at naptime he refused to sleep. I was getting fed up because I KNEW if he was with older kids he wouldn't be having these fits and it could totally be avoided. But when I mentioned something to the nurse for the day (different from the nurse from Wednesday) her response was to tell me to be patient and they would get around to it maybe by Monday. I was fuming all day after that because I knew they could move him up, there was just a lack of communication between the nurses and Emma. I hated feeling like I was being annoying, but when the solution to the problem was so easy for me to see, I could feel myself starting to lose patience.

Today, Emma walked up to Sabina (the Mama in my sala) and asked why Edson hadn't moved up to Sala 2 yet. Highly entertaining because the Mamas have NO say in when the kids move from sala to sala or even which kids get to move. But the good news is Edson is now in Sala 2 and even from just one day with older kids I can see he is calmer, happier, and just thoroughly enjoying being around kids a bit closer to his own age. And that was all I needed to see to make the past few days, weeks, of frustration worth it. Even if I might have stepped on a few toes along the way.

Finding My Role

So I suppose I´ve finally started to settle into a real routine here, although with all the new volunteers that have arrived my schedule has been a little different every week.

At first I really struggled with working part time at Nazareth, not because I don´t love the boys, but because it´s not quite the same go go go tiempo as at Solomon - and aside from the hour of computers and hour of homework help, I felt almost unneeded. But as I´m there more and more I start to feel like I have a bit more of an important role in the house. My favorite part being watching some of the youngest boys light up as they accumulate points on the Math games - boys Hermana Katy has told me were written off as special-needs and potentially incapable of processing much when they came to the house to begin with. And it´s also nice to finally feel like I know how discipline works and to feel a bit more respected. Although the boys new me from before, I´d always just come to play and eat sopa de mani, and had never really been an authority figure before - so it´s been a bit of a challenge attempting to switch roles, but so far so good.

Although really my heart will always be with my babies. I don´t think I´ll ever get tired of Martin or Christopher poking their head up from outside the window and screaming "Mami Katyyyyy!!". But my current mission is Edson. He has always been old for the sala, but he will turn 4 in December and is in a group of 1-2.5 year olds (with the exception of Jose Carlos and Julio who are pushing 3). It´s probably the thing I´ve noticed the most since coming back, that he has both advanced incredibly in both the sense of how much he can speak and how much he understands and at the same time become incredibly more frustrated. He throws more crying spellings than he ever did before, each time with less and less reason. Last week he decided he didn´t want to eat and then once he finally started eating I said "Muy bien, Edson" and he burst into tears and refused to eat again for another five minutes. It just breaks my heart to see him making such strides, but knowing he could be making so many more if he just had a bit more stimulation.

I actually had a really good conversation with the Psycologist today about it. I wanted to talk to her because I wasn´t sure who to go to about really pressing the issue of moving him up one or two Salas - Ive never quite pinned down who makes those decisions, although she informed me today that it´s mostly the nurses and Emma. But we had a great conversation about the possibility of getting Edson and Jonoton (one of the boys from Sala 2 who was in my sala but also has been held back by being put with younger kids and could benefit from more stimulation) into the Montessori in the mornings. They had been talking about doing this when I was leaving in May, but the problem is that there aren´t any volunteers helping in Montessori and it would be too much for the teacher to take on herself. I´m looking into exploring some options of changing around some of my work placement (because we have a new volunteer coming next week who could potentially work full-time in my sala and then I would be free to help in the mornings with Monetessori). There is still a lot of work to be done, but it really gets me excited to think I could really be helping two (or more) of my kids advance in ways they wouldn´t have the opportunity to do without me there. That´s what I love about being here.

Bolivian Cell Phone Curse

I really don´t understand how I can go my whole life in the US never having lost a cell phone, and leave my cell phone in a taxi/trufi THREE times in the past year here. Luckily once I got it back, but the one I left in the trufi on the way to the airport on Wednesday will not be coming back. The worst part was I realized as soon as I closed the door to the trufi that it had fallen out of my pocket, but I couldn´t stop it in time and just watched as it drove away. As Jen said, that´s the most annoying thing about losing cell phones in Cocha - even though you know exactly where you left it people are so eager to re-sell cellphones on the blackmarket that you might as well have absolutely no idea where it could be.

Also, man who has my phone, if you wanted to sell it and keep it, why did you answer it the first time we tried to call it and then hang up once you realized it was me asking for my phone back? Did you think you would make a new friend from a friend of the person whose cell phone you weren´t planning on returning? Really. I think not.

Mami Katy

It’s amazing how quickly I can fall back into a routine here. I’ve been here one week officially and I can’t believe it. Part of me can’t believe a whole week has already past, while the other side can’t believe I’ve ONLY been here a week. I suppose they’re both sign that things are going well.

It’s been a great week at work. The kids have taken to me like no time has passed. Although I feel right back at home, I can’t help but notice that although it feels the same, so much has changed in the past two and a half months.

Seven of the twenty-one kids I left behind are no longer in my sala. That’s 33% - and will soon be eight of 31 in the next week when Omar leaves with his adoptive parents (to Barcelona, Spain). Luckily, five of them remain in the hogar and have only moved up to Sala 2 – Gonzalo, Lucas, Jose Armando, Blanca, and Antua are all now alumn of Sala 1 and off with the big kids in Sala 2. Although I miss them terribly, I can’t say I don’t love that I only have to deal with the positive interactions with each of them every day. When Antua’s face lights up and he stretches his small arm out with full force, almost as if to grab me, every time I walk by. Or when I’m feeding my sala at lunch and I turn around and Lucas has run away from his Sala to come say hi. Or how Blanca yells “KATY!!” every time she sees me. Along with seeing all the other faces of the alumni from my sala – Jen, I think all but 3 or 4 of the kids in your sala were once mine!! David has gone to live with his dad, who I remember visiting a handful of times. This makes me happy that he is being reunited with his family, but also a bit worried considering most of them are taken from their families for a reason, so there is always a chance they will end up either back at Solomon or a different home. And last but not least, Julieta has gone in adoption to La Paz. This adoption absolutely thrills me because it’s the FIRST adoption I’ve seen from within Bolivia in my whole time at the home. Evo keeps restricting more and more who can adopt Bolivian children (the adoptive parents of Omar have told me that although Europeans have been able to in the past they are phasing it out and not accepting any new applications at the moment) and I get worried that so many children will lose the opportunity at a loving family – but Julieta’s story gives me a bit of a spark of hope.

So while there are 7 absent faces in my sala, there are also 6 wonderful new little people quickly working their way into my heart. Johanna, Maria Eugenia, Marilen, Antonia, Christian, and Moises. And while I am getting to know the newbies to the sala I’m also noticing how much the other 14 have grown up (there are now only 20 in Sala 1) since I’ve been gone. They are all talking more and more every day. They can say “nariz” (nose), an attempt at “zapatos” (shoes) – although it comes out more like “zapatatos”, and now make attempts at each others names – Anaida is “Ananana” and Camilla is “Cami-ya” and so on. Although, I have to admit that my favorite advancement, with a bit of a bias, is that the older ones have now taken to calling me “Mami Katy” – which, if their screaming my name didn’t do it already, completely melts my heart. It’s also just amazing to watch how their cognition desire to communicate has advanced. They are truly turning into little people.

While it has been a great week at work, it will be my only full week at Solomon. When I came back I knew that I wanted to do something a little different than when I was here last time and, although it kills me to spend less time with my babies, I took the opportunity to fill a void in a part-time position at Casa Nazareth where about 20-25 6-12 year old boys live. I used to spend many a Saturday there eating sopa de mani and washing my clothes so I already know a good portion of the boys living there and am excited to work with some older kids. I went for lunch on Thursday just to say hi and talk with Hermana Katy (yes, she is also American) and was thrilled how may of the boys remembered me – although for most of them it was in relation to Jordan and soon started asking me if I’d seen him, if I’m still in love with him, and then only calling me by his name instead of my own. Either way, it was another wonderful welcome home.

It’s been a great first week, but I still feel like I don’t quite have a routine yet. Sure I’ve had work every day this week, but I’m looking forward to subscribing in the gym again and giving myself some structure. The one thing I still really feel like I want to work on is getting to know the kids at the house I’m living it at now – where boys come directly from the streets before being put in other Amanecer homes – which I haven’t had the opportunity to do yet. I know I won’t be spending loads of time around the house because I’ll most likely be fairly busy, but I am looking forward to learning a few names and maybe playing a few games of futbal or futsala (fooseball).

All in all, I’m very happy to be back. It’s wonderful to see familiar faces and feel like my days have a true purpose once again.

Bienvenida de nueva!

I made it. I survived the summer living at home without much purpose to my days - Mom and Dad, thanks for not killing me. I loved all the reunions and visits, but overall I was really just couting down the days to August 11th when my life would come back to having a purpose and I would be reunited with the wonderful people and city that I fell in love with exactly one year ago.

It was a long trip back to Cocha, the longest of which being the 3 hours of delay for my flight from La Paz to Cocha, knowing I was thissss close to being back and yet still a full plane ride away. Diego and Jen were real sports about waiting for me and dealing with the delays - they both were eagerly awaiting me at the airport with an attack hug from Jen and roses from Diego. I couldn´t have asked for a better reception.

It´s been a bit of whirlwind of a return because my cousin Liz has come to visit on her South American tour before heading back up to the States. It´s been great to show someone else around this wonderful city and let her meet some of the people in my life here.

Yesterday we went by Solomon to bring the walkers and to see my kids for the first time since coming back. It was amazing. Granted I think my kids were slightly overwhelmed because I walked in with Liz, Diego and his brother - but after two seconds Christopher´s face LIT up and Edson screamed "KATYY!!" and came crawling toward me a full force. The others took a bit longer, but by the end they were all having a blast with all the attention, and I even got a bit more recognition from Barbara and Martin. Edson absolutely took off with the walker - he was walking all over the place, with speed and agility, so proud of his newfound independence. Truely one of the most amazing sights I´ve ever seen.

This is a short post, but I just wanted to let everyone know I´ve arrived safely and everything is going well. I promise to write more soon.

Let the Despedida´s Begin.

Today was my despedida (goodbye party) at work. They made a special chicken lunch and had the older kids dance for me and gave a small speech. It was really nice. But when they asked me to say a few words I about lost it because from where I was standing the comedor (cafeteria) I could see the window into my sala and 4 or 5 of my kids on their tippy-toes peering out into the comedor looking at me. I know I´m coming back in two month, but I really, really, really hate goodbyes.

Also, today was my last Albertina day - her goodbye to me was a handshake and kiss on the cheek. Sabina also was at lunch (because all the staff had been in a meeting earlier in the day) and I gave her a hug as she was leaving and we both about lost it before she said not to worry she´s coming in tomorrow afternoon to say goodbye - even though she´s on vacation.

Antua

Next week is my last week. I can hardly believe it´s actually here and I have had quite my share of emotional ups and downs (which I´m sure will continue into next week) recently. The thing that really hit me yesterday was that over the last month or so Antua - one of the 8 kids who has been in my sala the whole 10 months I´ve been here - has taken to following me to the door every afternoon when I leave and bursting into tears when I have to shut the door behind me. Even the days when I´ve tried to say goodbye to him when he´s outside, he always knows when I´m leaving and is waiting at the door when I´m trying to leave. It breaks my heart a little bit every day to leave him, but I´m consoled by the fact that I can tell him I´ll be back tomorrow. Next Friday though, that won´t be the case.

I originally thought it might be easier to leave my kids than it would be if I was working with older kids, because they don´t understand that I´m leaving and there is no need for explanations. However, as the countdown begins, I´m starting to realize that maybe this will be a little harder than I ever expected. How do you say goodbye to the little people you´ve watched grow up - learn new words, learn how to climb up and down from their cribs, learn my name, learn how to run, learn how to dance, learn how to drink out of a cup instead of a bottle - over the past 10 months and who have completely stolen my heart? Obviously I will miss every single one of my kids, but Martin, Antua, Omar, Jose Carlos, Julio, Jose Armando, and Gisel - who I´ve spent 5 days a week with for the past 10 months are going to be the hardest.

I just consider it a loan...

Well as the days and weeks wind down I find it more and more likely that Martin will be returning to the States with me in two short weeks. I know it´s a terrible, no good, very bad thing to have such a favorite in the sala - but every day he does something to make me want to steal him away a little more.

1. Sabina told me that this weekend when I wasn´t at work he would put his fist up to his ear and say "Hola, Katy!" and "Katy, ven!" (Katy come!) which made my heart melt just a little

2. Last Friday we were playing with cubes that had holes of different shapes and he was trying to fit each shape into the hole. I had to point out which hole went with which shape, but he eventually was able to get about 80% of the shapes in the hole and then look up at me, clap and say "Bravo!" - and the times that he wasn´t so successful he would slowly sink sideways to the ground and then look up at me as if to say "Okay, I´m tired...do we really have to keep doing this?"

3. He´s started copying almost ALL of my facial expressions- including one of complete shock where he opens his mouth wide and his eyes sparkle.

4. His new dance. Where he throws his entire body into it, falls over (every time because he´s lost complete control over his body with excitment) and looks up at me - not crying - as if to say "look what you made me do!"

So Mom and Dad, when I get off the plane in D.C. don´t be surprised if I tell you to handle my backpack with care - Martin could very well be stuffed inside. I just consider it a loan since I´m coming back here in August after all...

KATY!!!

A little sneak peak into the wonderful welcome I get every morning when I come in to work :) Although this is an awesome video, nothing can fully grasp the amazingness of the experience.

March: The month that stole me away from my blog

I think I’ve set a new record for length of time between blog posts and completely and totally shot my New Years resolution of at least two posts a month. My bad. Good news is that the reason I’ve been so MIA is that I’ve been SUPER busy and loving every minute of my time down here. Because it’s been so long since I’ve written I’ll try to make this as brief as possible, unfortunately leaving out some of the more intimate details, but I think the bigger picture is better. Either way, this is going to be a novel, so grab a cup of coffee and make yourself comfortable if you’re planning on sticking through until the end.

The first weekend of March I went to Oruro for the biggest Carnival celebration in Bolivia. It was an absolutely amazing, overwhelming, and ridiculous experience but I’m definitely glad I went. We had a fairly large group (about 70 people in total) with the majority being gringos from a group called Bolivia Sustanible. BUT the good news was that we slept in two different houses, the 50 people from Bolivia Sustanible in one and the other 20 of us (mix of gringos and Bolivians) in the other. We got in late Friday night and immediately went into the center to see the festivities. The streets were jam-packed with people, the music was blaring, and the atmosphere was completely contagious and unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. Kind of like the high of a Notre Dame football weekend but with traditional Bolivian costumes, music, and dancing. Saturday we woke up early and went to the stands to watch the parade from 11am until 4am – a LONG day, but an incredible day nonetheless. Although I’ve been to other entradas while I’ve been down here, nothing will ever compare to the atmosphere and the costumes and energy I experience in Oruro. Sunday was the same entrada, but they reversed the order of the dancers, although there were significantly less people in the stands and MUCH more water-balloon fights. Also a ridiculous experience. We arrived back in Cochabamba at 1am Sunday night and luckily had Monday and Tuesday to recover because they were holidays.

The following weekend was Carnival in Cochabamba, but I didn’t go to that entrada (although we did walk around a bit) because I was still recovering from a cold I caught as a result of the festivities the weekend before. I think my greatest relief was that once the Carnival in Cochabamba was over I no longer had to worry about getting hit by water balloons while walking around the city, although generally they weren’t as much of a problem as people prepared me for.

March really was a month of festiviites because the weekend after all the Carnivals ended we had a wedding celebration for two of the volunteers from Amanecer. It was an absolutely beautiful wedding that the priest said in both Spanish and English and they had invited some of the older boys and girls from the houses the two volunteers work at.

After all of these different festivities I surprisingly still had the energy to take a 10-day trip to visit my cousin Liz in Chile. I flew to Santiago at 2am – who knew flights existed at these times? But apparently that’s the only hour you can get to Santiago for a reasonable price from Bolivia…which has it’s advantages – like the booth for charging Americans $120 to enter Chile being vacant and me somehow avoiding that fee. We spent two days in Santiago and then flew south, with her parents, to Patagonia and did 4 days of hiking/camping/glacier-seeing in the Parque de Torres del Paine. I really had no idea where I was going or what I was getting myself into because Liz was good enough to be the travel agent for our trip and arrange everything – but it was an absolutely unforgettable experience. We saw rainbows 3 of the 4 days, experienced wind, rain and snow and hiked for over 4 hours every day (my body was kind of hating me by the end of the trip). I owe Liz for asking me to come with her because if it wasn’t for her I never would have made my way down there. I had another 2 days on the other side of Patagonia in Santiago – being in a big city in South America really disoriented me because I felt like I could be in Chicago or another big US city. The positives of this being that I got to fulfill my salad, Diet Coke, and Starbucks cravings that I’ve had for the past 8 months.

Although I had an absolutely amazing time in Chile I was definitely ready to come “home” (Mom, I’m putting that in quotes for you…don’t worry I still consider the US my real home) and back to Cocha at the end of the trip. I even went into visit my kids for an hour the day I got back because I had missed them so much – and that was only after being gone for 10 days! The best feeling was coming into work on Monday morning and walking into the bathroom to all of them screaming “KATY!!” – which they have taken to doing almost every day this week and warms my heart every time. I took a video of it on Friday and I”ll try to upload it here so you all can see a little of what I experience every morning.

Things are going really really great here and I can’t believe I come back to the US in 44 days. That’s less than a month and a half! But, for those of you who don’t already know, I’ve decided to come back in August for another 4 months as a result of deciding not to go to WashU in the fall and instead apply to VCU for the fall of 2012. I’ve really found myself down here and I can’t imagine doing anything else with at least part of the next year free I have. Although when I come back I’ll try to change up a bit what I’m doing – helping with volunteer coordinating, fundraising, and working at one of the homes with the older kids (that’s if I decide after being home for 2.5 months that I don’t miss my kids terribly and want to go back to seeing their smiling faces at least twice a week while I do office work the other days).

I’m sorry this is just a snap-shot blog of the last month or so, but I promise to try to add some more detailed posts the next few weeks as I experience starting to get ready to come back state-side.

And I’ll leave you with this brief video of the 21 beautiful children who brighten every one of my days down here and have stolen my heart…and my name (because most of them respond to “como te llamas?” with my name instead of their own…whoops). - Okay the first upload attempt didnt work, but I'll try again soon when I have a better connection!

And they call this summer...

Well it´s supposed to be summertime, but I think I´ve worn a sweater and/or scarf every day except one this week. They say it´s unusually cold this year - that usually during rainy season although it rains it is also sunny and warm the other half of the time. Not true this year.

It was actually a fairly eventful week - on Thursday Albertina and Martha got into a fight when we were bathing the kids in the morning. More like Albertina decided to start screaming at Martha about not putting an undershirt on the kids after she bathes them while they are waiting for Albertina to put the rest of the clothes on - instead of saying "maybe next time you should put an undershirt on them" Albertina instead started screaming about how she didn´t want "mala atención" (bad attention) from the director and nurse and she NEVER leaves the kids sitting like that. To which Martha started yelling back to defend herself that indeed Albertina HAS left them like that ocassionally and she doesn´t always leave them sitting like that but she was trying to bathe them quickly because they were all running around the bathroom. So they didn´t talk to each other for the rest of the day and then got called into the office at 3:30 and were there until 5...leaving me with all the kids (and eventually a helper came in when it was time to take them to eat) for an extra hour than I´m supposed to work. And to add on top of it I was the ONLY volunteer in all of Amanecer working on Thursday because the strike was still going on and no one could get to work and the two other girls that work with me at Solomon were sick. Needless to say when I got to Diego´s house after work I was not in the best of moods and promptly passed out for about half an hour.

Other than the incident on Thursday everything has been going well. Two more of my girls moved up to Sala 2 this week - Nadia and Adrianna. Adrianna was one of my favorites (she´s in my Facebook picture) and was also an avid fan of shouting my name. So it´s sad not to have them around anymore, but great because now when I pass by Sala 2 BOTH Johnothon and Adrianna shout my name and I feel loved. Now that Jen has 3/4 of Sala 2 filled with kids from Sala 1 I sometimes get jealous and feel the need to proclaim "They were mine first!!"

I don´t know when my next blog will be - it´s a crazy few weeks coming up. On Friday I´m traveling to Oruro for the 2nd largest Carnival celebration in the world and then the following weekend is Carnival in Cochabamba. I´m excited for the next two weekends but I also think they´ll leave me quite exahusted. Just giving my fair warning as to why I wont have updated in a while - that´s mostly for you Mom.

No hay mobilidad en Cochabamba

Today is Day 2 of the transportation strike in Cochabamba. Aka there are no trufis or micros (the public transportation system) throughout the whole city. On Wednesday all of the drivers protested because they want to raise their prices from 1.50bs to 2bs. Although 50 bolivano cents doesn't seem like a lot, seeing as it is a third of the current price it's causing quite a commotion. [Sidenote: They also can't raise it any less because there is a problem with change in Bolivia and particularly among any coins less than 50 cents - 20s and 10s exist, but are very rare. ]The people do not want the prices raised because they are convinced that if they raise the prices of public transportation they will raise the prices of other things as well - such as milk, bread, etc. Unclear how the two are related, but in the minds of Bolivians there is no question to the link.

The protests started on Tuesday with the people protesting the rising prices with marches in a nearby town called Quiacollo. I actually was unaware this was going on except that I noticed it took a particularly long time for a trufi to pass that would take me to the gym after work - soon came to find out it was due to the fact that since all of the trufis I usually take come from Quiacollo they were blocked from getting through the masses of people. Wednesday the trufi drivers responded by marching through the city - starting out peacefully - on all the main roads and creating blockades and, eventually, starting fights and throwing chairs, stones, and other related objects. Luckily though I was relatively unaffected because I always walk to work - for my roommate Hanne though it was a different story - she had to walk over an hour to get to work.

Today the strike continued, although more or less without the mass marches, just without running transportation. It was also announced that it will be an indefinite strike and tomorrow will be even more dangerous because there will be marches by BOTH the people and the trufi drivers - aka lots and lots of fighting.

It's fascinating for me to watch this whole process go underway because it's something I would never experience in the US. I personally don't understand why the trufi drivers are striking when they could just raise the prices and see if people still use the transportation or not. The first day I was confused about who was striking - why would drivers strike if they could be making money and driving their trufis?!

I've been warned to stay far away from the city tomorrow, but part of me will be urging to join the march on one side or the other just to see what goes down. Don't worry Mom, I won't actually do it, my curiosity will just be peaked.

Rain rain go away...

It´s officially rainy season. And I can already tell it will be the test of my patience at Solomon.

This past week it was rainy and cold (granted nothing compared to the cold in the States right about now – although the Mama´s love to dress the kids like it´s negative fifteen degrees outside with sweaters and hats and pants when it´s a mere 50 degrees outside) EVERY day from Monday-Friday and by the end of the week I was dead. Which is saying a lot considering it was a Sabina MWF week. The poor kids were going stir crazy because they had to stay inside every day all day – eve when it wasn´t actually raining, if there was the slightest bit of water or puddles around we had to keep them inside for fear of them wreaking havock. I understand that 21 one to two year olds and puddles and mud doesn´t paint the prettiest of pictures, but by the end of the week I was ready to risk that havock for my mental sanity.

Although my main memories of the past week are of crying, screaming, insanity there were also a fair share of adorable moments as always. Probably one of the biggest highlights of the week for me was seeing that Edson, going on 4 but not moving up to the next sala because of his inability to walk, could do the “Chu chua” dance – something a little like the Spanish version of the Hokey-Pokey where they add a body-part action ever verse and end with ¡lengua afuera! (tounge out!) so that you end up singing “ la la la la la la la la la la” instead of the words. The second-to-last verse goes a little something like this…

¡compañía!
brazo extendido (arms out)
puño cerrado (fists closed)
dedos arriba (thumbs up)
hombro fruncido (literally means “puckered shoulders” )
cabeza hacia atrás (head back)
cola hacia atrás (but back)
pie de pingüino (feet like a pengin)
Chu chu uá, chu chu uá
Chu chu uá, uá, uá
Chu chu uá, chu chu uá
Chu chu uá, chu chu uá

I also went climbing on Wednesday after a bit of peer pressure from Jen (who works at Solomon with me) and Diego to give it a try. The last time I climbed was at summer camp when I was twelve. I envisioned the climbing walls I´d seen in the States – with the multicolored fake rocks – but instead ended up climbing a cement wall with cement knobs in the middle of the soccer stadium while all the venders were setting up for the nights game. Hilarious. Although I did manage to make it all the way to the top – after about ten minutes and about 4 descansos (rests). I´m told I was held back by not having the propper shoes which was why I had such difficulty and that I did better than most people on their first try – I still think they were just being nice to me and Diego was doing his boyfriend-duty of flattering me. Today Jen told me they installed some new cement knobs in the wall so it´s a bit easier…who knows maybe I´ll give it another try sometime soon. The next thing on their peer-pressure list for me to do is paragliding…which I was initially 100% against (I have nightmares about the free-falling feeling in my stomach) but when we swung by the office of the place that we would do it with after climbing and there were pictures on the wall of people doing it AND I was reassured that there was no free-falling involved…I´m starting to get convinced.

This week has also been a bit rainy and cold, which has kept us inside more than I would like but less than last week. So hopefully, considering this is now an Albertina week, it will continue at least at this rate if not with some nicer days.

Also, today Johnoton, the notorious peleador (fighter) in our sala finally moved up to Sala 2. And even though we´ve all been saying for months that he needed to move up, taking him over to the Sala 2 lunch table and leaving him there was not an easy task. He was also probably the most avid of the kids in my sala of screaming my name all the time, so when I saw Sala 2 on my way out this afternoon and he walked over to me and took my hand and said Katy! my heart melted. Although it was also hilarious to see all the kids in my sala accepting the new girl to come up from recien nacidos (new borns) and standing around her in a circle pointing and screaming ¡wawa! ¡bebe! (wawa is the word for baby in quechua which is the language spoken in the campo) even though she is about the same age and size as all of them.

Spanish Speaking Countries: 2 Katie´s Teeth: 0

So I´m writing this in the internet cafe tonight so that I can say that I´ve made my two-posts a month goal that I´ve set for myself in the new year...you could say I´m calling it kind of close.

The last few weeks have been fairly uneventful at work - which I´m not complaining about. Albertina and Martha continue to work together but they´re both doing a MUCH better job and I´ve actually quite taken to Martha and we get along really well.

I even have gotten Edson, Johnoton, and Adrianna to be able to say "Katy!" when they see me which is super cute - although maybe questionable considering the only other two words they know are "mama" and "caca" (poop). Today they decided to give all the kids (minus the newborns) Coca-Cola for a little celebration - genius idea, caffinated two year olds - and when I walked into the sala mid-way through naptime when three-quarters of the kids were awake and Johno and Edson started screaming my name so did about 4 others who had never said it before...it was awesome. I want to give them Coca-Cola all the time now.

I´ve also recently taken to taking a few of the older kids in my sala out to read picture books (with picture of animals and "my first words" type books) in the afternoon for 15 minutes each or so. My goal is to do a little research on how exactly to best go about helping a few of these three year olds who still only know how to say three words (mama, caca, and Katy) how to start saying more - but in the meantime it feels really rewarding when they can repeat "mono" (monkey) and "gato" (cat) and point out the eyes, ears, mouth, and legs on all the animals.

It was a nice short week at work last week because I donated blood on Monday - one of the boys from Casa Nazareth had heart surgery on Friday and in order to recieve the blood for his operation he needed people to donate the equal amount - and when I called Emma to tell her I would be coming into work late her response was "No vas a venir hoy - tienes que descansar y tomar leche - nos vemos mañana¨("you´re not coming in today, you need to rest and drink milk - we will see you tomorrow!"). So I had a nice lazy start to the week and a fairly uneventful week until...

I guess the biggest news is that my teeth and Spanish-speaking countries really have it out for each other...last Thursday when I was opening a little bag of milk with my mouth/teeth - yes the dentist in Spain told me I should not be biting into hard things or opening things with my teeth - my Spanish tooth went flying with the corner of the bag and I was left toothless in Bolivia for about 15 hours from Thursday afternoon until I went to the dentist on Friday morning. The second time around being rendered toothless in a foreign country was much more entertaining and less stressful than the first time. And hey, now I have one Bolivian and one Spanish tooth! Who wants keychains, tshirts, and manillas when you could have Bolivian teeth??

The end of the rope

This week I reached the end of my Albertina rope. I didn’t really realize before this week just how much of a difference there is between Sabina and Albertina, although I’ve known there is a difference, because there is always a mama I like working with Albertina to balance her out. This week however a mama I don’t really know worked with Albertina on Tuesday and Thursday. While Doña Martha doesn’t yell at the kids or do anything particularly bad, the problem is that she doesn’t do anything. She is a very passive, quiet, and reserved person. Having Martha and Albertina together was probably the most challenging days at work I’ve ever had.

Thursday I even left work enojadiiisima

Angry that Albertina and Martha had basically ignored me all day long – talking between themselves during baño and while folding laundry in the afternoon as if I wasn’t even in the room. Angry that they hadn’t tickled, laughed with, or kissed any of the kids while bathing them and getting them ready in the morning – that they had treated the kids like a process in a factory, just going through the motions. Angry that the kids could tell these mama’s didn’t care as much and took to revolting and walking all over the baño with their basins. Angry that I couldn’t handle every other kid crying when I tried to manage the sala by myself all afternoon. Angry that they hadn’t spent a single minute playing with the kids either in the morning or afternoon. Angry that they had disappeared for half an hour, nowhere to be found in the baño or sala, after changing diapers in the afternoon. Angry that I was letting them affect my mood. Angry that when I left in the afternoon they were going to be left for three hours without someone to give them the love and attention they deserve and more.

Generally 100% pissed. Pardon my language.

So in that mindset I went to a travel agent to ask about flights home – supposedly there was a direct flight from Santa Cruz to Washington DC, but apparently “direct” means a stop in Panama and Dallas. So instead I went to the internet café and booked a flight with American Airlines for May 22^nd from Santa Cruz to Miami and Miami to D.C. I guess it was better for me to do this at a time when I was angry and ready to leave rather than when I couldn’t bare the thought of leaving this beautiful country I’ve fallen in love with.

When I had first arrived at Solomon Klein in August the director, Emma, had told me if I ever saw a mama not giving the kids enough love or treating them well that I should say something. While I’ve always had a slight problem with the way Albertina treats the kids, I knew that Emma already knew she was difficult to work with because several of the mamas had told me of conversations they’d had with Emma about how they would work at any time of day in any sala with anyone BUT Albertina. However, after Thursday I knew I needed to talk to Emma myself, even if it was just to reaffirm what she already knew.

Friday I walked into the baño in the morning to smiles and laughter with Sabina and Emilen and the kids rather than the stoic faces and chaos of Thursday. It was casi imposible to believe that it was the same place I had been yesterday and that the change of two people in the room could make that much of a difference. Friday was an absolutely amazing day at work. There is no other word to express the day. I saw Sabina chasing the kids around the sala, tickling them, stimulating them, and generally enjoying every single one of them. After lunch I went to Emma’s office to talk to her and that conversation was also amazing. She knows and agrees with the fact that Albertina is no longer a good mama and that she tends to treat the job like factory work. The problem, she explained, is that Albetina is one year away from retirement and there are laws protecting women workers in Bolivia from being fired right before retirement. Mostly to make sure they aren’t getting denied pensions, but in this case making it impossible for Emma to fire Albertina now. So instead we discussed how maybe Emma would keep one of the mama’s who had worked in my sala before and had said last week that she wanted to quit to go back to school, but this week had come back to Emma saying she wanted to stay because her family needed the money. Emma had told her that it wasn’t a game – to decide one week to quit and the next to stay – but told me that maybe she would keep her on to work with Albertina because they had worked together before and not had too many problems and she treats the kids really well. Someone who won’t butt-heads with Albertina and will also be able to balance out Albertina’s stoicism. After that discussion we went on to talk about Emma’s family (she has a daughter my age who has been studying medicine in Cuba for 6 years and she hasn’t seen her for that whole time), how she never gets to rest , how she studied in North Carolina for a year when she was preparing to take over as director of Solomon, about how great some of the other mama’s are, and other topics for another half an hour.

Perhaps the most amazing thing I took away from this whole experience is how although education is extremely important and can make all the difference in a person’s life, there are some things that education cannot teach. Albertina and Martha are both professionals – a nurse and a dentist – who studied for years with specialties in caring for kids. Sabina has never even learned to read and write. Yet the innate difference in their spirits is astonishing. Emma told me that she has been paying for Sabina to go to night classes so she can learn to read and write so that she can better help to educate the kids and read with them – an initiative that I find truly inspirational in a woman who is just learning to read at over 50 years old for the sake of 21 kids who aren’t even her own. That passion is something I will definitely take with me. Some people could blame the fact that Albertina has been working at Solomon for almost 5 years as to why she is burned out (but has been working in general for over 14 and she needs 15 years for pensions/retirement), but Sabina has been working at Solomon for over 20 with a passion and love in her eyes stronger than ever.