December

December has been a month with many changes and I am learning to be more flexible with each day that comes. My new baby host brother was born on December 8th, and having a new baby in the house has been lots of fun. With this addition to the family there are now 9 of us living at my house, and there have been many visitors and relatives over to see the new baby. His name is Jatniel, and he is a very healthy baby who loves to eat. When he is not sleeping, he always wants to be held. I am learning more about helping with the baby, and I have not had that much experience with babies because when my little sister was born I was 3 1/2 years old and don't remember life with a new baby in the house.

December also brought summer vacation with the after school program. The second week of December was our last week with the students. Then we spent a week of just the teachers clearning and organizing materials in the Biblioteca. Now that there is a break, I still go into work at the orphanage but it is a much more relaxed schedule. I have been helping paint windows or hang lights or hang out with the kids. The after school program starts back up again the 17th of January, and I am sure that by then I will be ready to get back into a routine.

Christmas felt very different to me this year. In Goshen I am used to having snow and very cold weather for Christmas. I also realized all of the traditions that my family has for Christmas and all of the activities that my church back home does for Christmas, because I did not have those familiar traditions and activities this year. I enjoyed seeing how my host family celebrates Christmas in Bolivia. We gathered with all of the relatives on Christmas Eve for a Christmas supper that we ate around 10:30 at night and then at midnight everyone in Santa Cruz set of fireworks. We got home around 1:30 AM, and then Christmas Day we went out to the country to celebrate with my host mom´s side of the family. However that day was rainy, and our truck got stuck in the mud for 2 hours until another car pulled us out. I enjoyed all of the delicious Bolivian food that we ate both days, but with the over 90 degree weather and the fire works, it reminded me more of the 4th of July then Christmastime!

The day after Christmas brought a surprise from the government to all of Bolivia. The prices in gas doubled all over the country and the transportation organizations called a stop to public transportation for Monday. On Monday I did not got to work as there were no busses running. However Tuesday the busses were running again, but charging a higher price. Right now there is another call for a stop to all transportation tomorrow. There are also some places that have road blocks and protests right now. People are very upset as this drastic price increase will affect everything including the price of food. I had plans to travel with some of the other SALTers to visit Sucre, Potosi, and the Salar de Uyuni (these giant salt flats that are beautiful) and we were going to leave tomorrow. However with the unrest that it is going on, and the unstableness of all public transportation, we are postponing our trip and we will see how things look for traveling next week. We do not want to get into trouble or get stuck/stranded somewhere because of traveling while people are protesting. We will just need to wait and see what happens each day.

My Birthday and Hiking Trip

Last monday, November 29, was my birthday and it was quite a memorable day for me. To start with, I woke up and it was pouring rain. When it rains all day on your birthday that means that you are "llorona" or someone who cries and whines a lot. I don't think that is really a description of me, but I heard many comments all day about how hard it was raining and how that means I am a llorona. The micros (buses) here do not all run when it is raining because the streets can become rivers and it is hard on the buses. I ended up waiting under the overhang of a store roof waiting for my micro to come and it never came. Eventually some friends drove me to work after they drove by twice and I was still waiting for the micro to come and holding my birthday cake. I bought a birthday cake to share with the other profes/teachers who work at the after school program. They told me that it is tradition to bite the cake and when I hesitated, they insisted that I had to do it. They also told me to take off my glasses first...I am sure that some of you see where this is all going...and then when I went to bite the cake they pushed my face into the cake. I was not expecting this and my face went practically to the bottom of this layered cake! Another memorable event from the day was when I received a call from some Bolivian friends who were pretending to be the U.S. Embassy calling me on my birthday. I am fairly gullible and really thought that the Embassy was calling me until they started laughing and confessed to it being the 3 of them who wanted to wish me a happy birthday. In the evening 3 other friends showed up at my house to surprise me and take me out for ice cream to celebrate my birthday. Overall it was a very special day and it is a birthday I will always remember. I also appreciated all of the messages, cards, and e-mails that people have sent me for my birthday.

Another memorable event happened the weekend after my birthday. The grupo de jovenes that meets every Saturday night at my church decided to go on a hiking/camping trip out to Espejillos. On Friday night we met at 7:30 to ride out to the entrance of the road to Espejillos. At 9:30 at night we started our 17 km hike to where we would spend the night. We had to carry our sleeping bags, clothes, and all food and water for the trip. We also had to cross a river in the dark and I saw two dead snakes on the road and one LIVE tarantula. The hike out is on a dirt road in the middle of a forest. It is pretty remote, but I felt safe as we were a large group of 15. After hiking for over 3 hours we were still not there, and as we were lying and sitting in the middle of the road because we were exhausted, along came a truck that was willing to take us the rest of the way for 2 Bs per person. Once we arrived at the cabin where we were going to spend the night, we layed out our sleeping bags to finally go to sleep for the night. Nobody had brought a tent or a tarp and the cabin was basically a roof and a cement floor, there were no walls. I thought that I would sleep great because I was so tired from working all day and then hiking 3 hours, but there are little bugs called "mariwi" that are like mosquitos except when they bite you can't feel them and they leave bites that itch worse then mosquito bites. So I was scratching all night long! The next day we spent a fun day at Espejillos. Espejillos means little mirrors in Spanish and this place is called that because of the waterfalls and little pools that they flow into. We were able to do some hiking and to swim by the waterfalls. It is a really beautiful place and I enjoyed the chance to be out of the city and to be in nature again. On Sunday morning we got up and got ready at 7 AM because the truck that had brought us on Friday night was going to come back and drive us on Sunday. However at 8 AM we realized that the truck was not coming and began the hike back. It was a very hot day with a bright sun and we hiked for 4 hours until getting back to the entrance where we could take a micro back into the city. This was a weekend in Bolivia that I will never forget!

I can't believe that it is already December 9. These months have gone by very quickly. I also can't believe that Christmas is in a couple of weeks. We are experiencing summer and it doesn't feel like it should be Christmas time. Right now it is dark outside and it is over 90 degrees. I am so used to Goshen where it is cold and snowy in December. When I see the Christmas trees, tinsel, and decorations in the windows here they always catch me off guard because I keep forgetting that it is December. I am looking forward to celebrating Navidad this year with my host family and experiencing the Christmas traditions that they have.

November

My time in Bolivia is going by quickly and the weather grows hotter as we start to move from spring into summer. I no longer suffer from being cold all of the time like I was in the States. Rather, I am usually hot here during the day, and at nights as well if it doesn't cool off. Here are some of the highlights and learnings since I last wrote:

• We had our first MCC retreat at the end of October in Buena Vista. We stayed at a beautiful place out in the country and I had the opportunity to hike in a forest and eat a mango that had just fallen from the tree (it actually almost hit me on the head and made this huge racket as it fell that made me jump out of my skin). The retreat was a really nice time to meet and get to know the other MCCers. It was also refreshing for me to be out in the country and away from the noise and activity of the city for a couple of days.
• I learned that cockroaches can fly! What?!?! I learned this when the giant cockroach that I was watching climb the wall suddenly opened his wings and took flight. You should have seen the look on my face! Why would you give a cockroach wings? They are gross enough without worrying about whether they will fly at you.
• The beginning of November we celebrated Dia de los Muertos (day of the Dead). This is a big holiday here and there was no work or school. Families got together and went to the cemetary to put flowers on graves. My host family and I went to visit the relatives in the country where the grandparents are buried, and it was a really great time of getting to know the family better.
• I have been to two Bolivian weddings in November. At first it seemed strange to me to have weddings in November...but it is the end of spring and getting into summer and this is the time when there are a lot of weddings. November is basically like the month of May. The weddings here are very much the same as those in the States. However there are definitely some differences. For example, both weddings started an hour or so after the time we were told to be there.
• I am starting to learn my way around Santa Cruz and I love when I am able to get somewhere on my own. It feels like my world here is expanding bit by bit and I love feeling a little bit more independent as I go places.
• This past week was the last week of school for many of the students that I work with. It was a rather crazy week with many students needing help studying for exams or finishing up projects. This next week should be an easier week. The after school program will still be open for 3 or 4 more weeks, but the kids will come to do reforzamiento and some other activities rather then studying. I am looking forward to a lighter work load this coming week.
• One of my biggest learnings has come from things that I struggle with here. I find that I really need to rely on God to help me through the days and weeks. In the States, it was so easy for me to rely on my own abilities and my own strengths. In Bolivia, I cannot rely on myself, and there are many things that I struggle with. I have learned that it is in these areas and during this time that God can really work in my life. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12:9 and 10 that God said to him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Why does God work in our weaknesses and not in our strengths? I think it is because in our strength, our focus and trust is in ourselves. Whereas in our weakness, our focus and trust is in God. In the States, I could rely on myself and my abilities to succeed in my job of teaching Kindergarteners. In Bolivia, I find that I need to rely on God for the patience and energy that I need to understand what my students are rattling off to me in Spanish and to figure out how I can help them with their homework. In the States, I could rely on myself to get to places safely in my car. In Bolivia, I need to rely on God for protection when I feel vulnerable walking in the city and for guidance when I feel lost or confused. In the States, I could rely on my friends and family to help me when I felt down. In Bolivia, I rely on God to help me when I feel alone or exhausted. It is a very humbling experience to be here, but it is also such a time of growth as I realize that I need God to make it through the day and as I ask him to change me and use me here where I am at. Paul also writes, "I delight in weaknesses...in hardships...in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." What a new way of looking at weaknesses and struggles--as strengths, as opportunities for God to work in your life and for change to happen. To delight in difficulties, rather then to complain. To boast about weaknesses rather then try to hide them or cover them up. To be present in hardships rather then trying to escape.
  

I want to end with a quote by M. SCOTT PECK: "The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers."

October

I can't believe that this is the last week in October. This month has gone by really fast for me and this next week I will be going to my first MCC Retreat. It will be at Buena Vista with all of the other MCCers and I am excited for this change in routine and a chance to get to know some of the other people on the MCC team. I also wanted to write about some of the highlights that have happened in October.

• I celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving Day with the SALTers and an MCC couple from Canada. We had pumpkin pie with whipped cream and it was such a special treat. We also had mashed potatoes, chicken, stuffing, and jello salad. It was such a classic Thanksgiving Dinner and it was a wonderful afternoon of conversation and laughter.
• Bolivia celebrates Día de Mujer (Women's Day) in October. The males at my work celebrated this day by going around with a guitar and serenading each woman and giving her a flower. It was really sweet, and I don't need to worry about what to do for Día de Hombre (Men's Day) because it doesn't exist.
• This month the Alasita (a fair with ferris wheels, games, food, and things to buy) was open close to my house. I went several times with my family and friends and from my church. The favorite thing to do was to play futbolín (foosball). We would have tournaments and play against each other. There would be 20 foosball tables and you would pay a couple of centavos to get chips to put into the table so that you could play.
• I helped my family eat a pizza that was 71 cm wide! That is not a joke. We went out for my sister's birthday and bought this giant pizza that was as big as the table. And I helped by eating several pieces! Pizza is something that I really miss from the States and that I am willing to eat here every chance that I get.
• The mangos are getting ripe and mango season is starting. The other day I was helping one of my friends from work try to get mango's to fall out of the tree. The way to do this is to throw rocks up into the trees and try to get the mangos to fall down. I had no idea how complicated this was until I tried it and failed. We ended up just picking up some of the little mangos that had already fallen on the ground because we couldn't get any out of the tree.
• Drinking watermelon juice! It is the best drink and sooo refreshing! You just blend watermelon, water, and sugar and add ice. It is my new favorite drink...I don't know why we only drink lemonade in the States.
• Most of you know that at home in Goshen I am cold most of the time, but here in Bolivia I am hot most of the time. I didn't realize though how much my body has adjusted to the temperature here until Friday night. It rained a little and cooled down and there was a light wind. We ate supper outside and I was freezing in my t-shirt and capris. I wondered what the temperature was because I felt so cold and was wishing for my jacket. There was a thermometer in the window and it said that it was 74 degrees F! I couldn't believe it that that felt cold to me, but when my body is used to 90 degree plus temperatures, then 74 is almost 20 degrees cooler and feels cold.

My job continues to bring me both joys and challenges. Some of the joys are the cards and hugs that I have received from my students. We have also had a lot of fun playing games together at recess and having them teach me games and songs from Santa Cruz. The challenges continue to be the language and not knowing how to help with their homework at times. I really enjoy the other teachers that I work with, and we had a Friday evening where we cooked supper together and then had a meeting and hung out. All of the other teachers are college-age and work at the after school program part time and then attend university the other half of the day. It has been really fun to be a part of their group and I have learned a lot from hanging out with them.

Each day continues to bring me blessings and also opportunities to learn and grow.

My Job

I have been working at my job for 2 weeks and thought that I should post and let you know how it is going. I work in an after school program at the Guardería Moises. From 8:00 to 11:30 I work with my first group of students. There are 11 in my morning group, but not all of them come everyday. Most of them are in second or third grade. For 2 1/2 hours we work on their homework and then there is a snack and an hour of recess. There is a group that stays for lunch and then after lunch I usually have an hour break before the next group comes from 2:00 to 5:30. There are also 11 students in my afternoon group, but usually not all of them are there at once (although this thursday afternoon they all were present). These students are in third or fourth grade. It sounds like my job is not too hard...just help students with homework and then give them some practice pages to do if they finish early. However, I have found many challenges in working with my students. The main challenge is the language. The students speak a lot faster, less clearly, and have more slang words then I am used to. It is difficult for me to follow their conversations. It is also a challenge to get them to follow my directions and to complete their homework. I don't know the Bolivian curriculum and sometimes it is hard for me to know how to help them with their homework. This job is very different from my teaching job in the U.S. Despite the challenges, there are several things that I do enjoy about this job. First of all, the other teachers who help the students are all really great. Most are around my age or in college and they have helped me out a lot and really included me in their group. Second, I enjoy different moments that I have had learning with the kids as they teach me how to play soccer or play games. And third, I am learning a lot, and it is only when we are challenged that we grow.

I am living with an amazing host family here in Santa Cruz. Ona and Lucy (my host parents) are family friends who know my parents well. Ona is the pastor at one of the Mennonite churches here and so I find myself once again a PK (pastor's kid). I have 4 brothers and sisters who range in age from 16 to 1 1/2 years old. There is also a cousin that lives with us. When we sit down for a meal there are 8 of us and I love that I am part of a big family. I grew up with only 1 sister and my parents and I have always wanted to part of a big family. We do not have any pets, so there is no dog (yes!), but there are sadly no pet cats. Some of my favorite evenings are when we all sit outside on the patio furniture and hammock and talk about life. I have been shown so much love and hospitality here, and this family has been a real blessing to me.

One last thing I wanted to write about was that last weekend I went to a "Campamento de Jovenes" (a camp) this involved youth and young adults from a wide range of ages. We went outside of Santa Cruz to Don Lorenzo which is more in the country. There were several dorm rooms that we stayed in and we spent the weekend going to woship sessions, talking, and playing many games. When we first arrived we were each given a colored wristband which divided us up into 4 teams for the weekend. We played some familiar games like volleyball and tug of war, but on the last day we played "juegoes extremos" (extreme games) which involved rolling over people, crawling through mud, walking like a duck, and hopping in a sack with 5 other people, among other things. It was like a random obstacle course/games that you had to complete as a team. There are some pictures posted of me playing these games on facebook. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, although the frogs that lived in the toilets of the bathroom gave me quite a scare (not joking).

Santa Cruz

For the last week I have been in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. I finished my 3 weeks of language school on September 10, and our group took a night bus from Cochabamba to Santa Cruz. I was not feeling very well and did not sleep much on the bus. We got to Santa Cruz on September 11 and moved in with our host families on the 12th. Then this past week we have been having a week of orientation to Bolivia with our SALT group, and we have also been visiting everyone's worksites. On Monday (tomorrow!) I will be starting my job at the Guardería Moises.

There are many differences between Santa Cruz and Cochabamba and I wanted to list some of them that I have observed in the past week.

• The weather--Cochabamba is much cooler, and at night and in the mornings I would need my blue fleece jacket and sometimes a vest because it would get cold. I also slept with 5 blankets on my bed. Here in Santa Cruz it is hot! I do not wear my jacket anymore and at night I wait to feel a breeze so that I can sleep.
• The two cities are very different in the way they are set up. Cochabamba was set up like a grid with different street names and blocks and also a point 0 that all the other street numbers would build off from so that you could never get lost...Santa Cruz is set up as rings around the city and then there are streets that connect those rings. I am having a harder time orienting myself here in Santa Cruz then I did in Cochabamba.
• The highlands/lowlands. There is a split in Bolivia between the highlands and the lowlands in the geography, people, and culture. Santa Cruz is in the lowlands and has a very different feel from Cochabamba. Cochabamba is considered to be more in the highlands because of the mountains and many indigenous people that live there. Santa Cruz is also a more wealthy city and is growing very fast.
  
• There were more scary dogs in Cochabamba then there are in Santa Cruz. It is nice to walk down the sidewalk here and not have to worry about passing by 30 dogs. (That was a little bit of an exaggeration).
• Traffic--I didn't think that the traffic would get any crazier then it was in Cochabamba, but it definitely is crazier here in Santa Cruz! There are several times when I thought I was about to witness a traffic accident but at the last minute the micro or taxi would somehow squeeze into the ongoing traffic.

I was really glad for the opportunity to see Cochabamba before starting my time here in Santa Cruz. There are things that I really like about both of the cities. My orientation this past week was great and I am really ready to get started at my job and to get into a routine again.

Also, I know that this blog is getting long, but I wanted to write a couple of highlights of this past week. I rode a micro (that is what they call the buses here) by myself! That felt like a huge accomplishment because you have to walk out to the main street, flag down the bus, and then know when to get off. There was one time this week when I was riding the micro by myself and I wasn't sure what to do because we were so packed into the bus that I couldn't see out any of the windows to tell the driver when I wanted to get off. So after panicking for a little bit, I decided just to get off and walk because then I could see the landmarks. And when I got off I found that I had gone a block past my house. I'm glad that I got off when I did otherwise I would have had to walk for a longer amount of time! My other story is that on Friday it was sooo hot. And several people told me that it had gotten up to 40 degrees Celcius. However, I only know Farenheit. So I would alternate between saying "Do you know what that is in Farenheit?" and "Wow!" Then that evening, my host dad got out his cell phone which can convert Celcius to Farenheit and I found out that 40 degrees Celcius is 104 degrees Farenheit. And I said, "So that is why I have been so hot today!" The nice thing is that after feeling how hot 40 degrees Celcius is, everything less then that feels a lot cooler. Yesterday it was 32 degrees Celcius and I thought that it felt so much cooler. One last thing, yesterday when I went into the bathroom I found the cutest, little, light pink lizard in my shower. He was about as long as my pinky.

Cochabamba

I am in the city of Cochabamba and studying Spanish at the language school of Runawasi. I am here for 3 weeks of classes, but I am now halfway through with my time in Cochabamba. I have 4 hours of Spanish classes in the morning and then I have the afternoons free. Usually I walk around the city with the others in my group in the afternoon. Our classes are all one-on-one with a different teacher each day. We study different verb tenses and Spanish grammar, but my teachers also like to talk about different issues of Bolivia or the history of Bolivia. I really enjoy these classes although sometimes after 4 hours of studying/listening to/reading/speaking Spanish my head hurts! Cochabamba is a really neat city with mountains all around it. There are also lots of random dogs walking around my neighborhood and some of you know how much I like to see strange dogs looking at me as I walk by them (for those of you who don't know, I do not like this at all). I am living with a host family for these three weeks and my host mom is an older woman whose children are all grown up. She is so sweet and loves to take care of me. She cooks amazing Bolivian dishes and also gives me fresh squeezed orange juice every morning. She greets me by calling me 'mi amor' or 'mi hijita' (my love, or my little daughter). I have enjoyed my time spent with her and her family. She likes to tell me stories, and we also watch 'Little House on the Prarie' in Spanish everyday. So far I am enjoying my time in Bolivia as I learn more about this country and the people who live here.

SALT Orientation

I left Goshen on August 12th, and since then, I have been living out of a suitcase and going to many orientation sessions. My first week of orientation for SALT was in Akron, PA where all of participants in the SALT program were together. This also included those young adults who were in the IVEP and YAMEN programs. I made friends with people from all over the states and from other countries. It was such a fun week. There were sessions in the mornings and afternoons, but there was also free time to talk and play games. My roommate was a girl from Columbia and it was fun to speak Spanish with her. This week went by so fast. On August 19th, we left orientation in Akron to fly to Bolivia. There are 7 others in my group and we spent 24 hours of traveling to get to Santa Cruz and were in 5 different airports. We arrived here in Santa Cruz on the 20th and have spent our time here at the MCC center and having orientation sessions that are more specific for Bolivia. Tomorrow (Sunday) we will leave on a night bus to go to Cochabamba to take 3 weeks of Spanish language study classes. There I will live with a host family and I will write more about it once I am there. For right now, I just wanted to post that I made it to Bolivia and I am excited to be here. I will try to post some pictures next week.

August Orientation

I am packing today and leaving tomorrow! On Thursday, August 12th, I will fly to Akron, PA for a week of orientation at MCC. This orientation will include everyone who is participating in the SALT program this next year and also those who are participating in IVEP and YAMEN. After a week of orientation and many activities, my group of 6 will fly to Santa Cruz, Bolivia on August 19th. We will have a period of orientation to Bolivia and language study before beginning our service assignments.

I am really excited for this adventure to begin. It feels like I have been preparing for this for forever. However, this anticipation is bittersweet as it is also hard to say goodbye to family and friends who I will not see for the next year. There are so many people that I will miss.