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).