bus ride and cow liver

Well it´s probably the hottest day here in Bolivia. I am sitting here with a wet towel on my head because my host mom insists that it will make me cooler. She is right! So I think it´s about time that I get caught up on things and let you all know how I´ve been doing. The last time I wrote we were just about the meet our host families. My host family is so great! Very kind and considerate, and my host mom (Mary) probably has the most hilarious laugh ever! I share a room with my host sister (Cesia, age 27). So last week was a whole bunch of orientation to Santa Cruz. During the days we would meet and have different sessions on touring the city etc. We were each assigned a tutor that helped us go through the micro routes from getting to work and back home and then to the MCC office. We then went back to our host families for the evnings. This past weekend was the first one spent with my host family. Saturday was pretty relaxing, read a bunch and then got together with Corrie in the afternoon. Sunday I went to church with my family. I have to inform you that my family goes to church about 5 times a week. Actually the first day I arrived with my host family I went to church with them. It was quite an interesting and challenging experience. My host dad (Walter) is the pastor there an this little Evangelical church called ¨Filedelphia¨. So that night I was expecting about an hour and a bit of church service... but no it lasted for more thatn three hours. I wasn´t expecting to have a rock band play for us, communion, confessions, offering, sermon and then my host mom taking me up front and introducing me and then passing me the mic so that I could say something. At the time I had just ogotten back from Cochabamba so my spanish was there but very limited... so I told the church who I was and where I come from. So that was quite a neat experience for my first day, a little overwhelming but nice.
So back to this past weekend. I have to say that Bolivians eat alot of fried food, son on Saturday me and my host sister went for an hour long run in a park near by. Initially I wanted to go around the block, but apparently because of all the stray dogs it wasn´t a very safe option. This past Sunday we went to church in the morningand then went to a fiesta in the park in the afternoon. They had a lot of traditional dances from Bolivia so it was neat to see that.
So work at Guaderia Moises started this past Monday. I was very nervous to start work, not really sure what it would be like. I got there ( without missing my bus stop) and was quickly crowed by a bunch of kids from the After School program. The first day was a bit overwhelming because I was given a block of kids to work with, and they were all speaking so fast and I had no idea what they were saying. I was very thankful though because even though there was this language barrier the kids were so affectionate that it realy didn´t matter at the time. So my days look like there. I get to work at 8 am, and get ready for the kids to arrive at 8:30. We then do homework from the day before and get them ready to go to school in the afternoon. So they do homework from 8:30 till 10:30. Then we have a recess with snack till 11:30. During this time I have been playing soccer with the kids and my moves are getting pretty sweet. Then the first group of kids leaves for school, some stay back because they can´t go home so we have lunch with them and they then get to shower and leave for school in the afternoon. At 2:00 the group of kids who had school in the morning come to Guaderia to do there homework until 4:30. They then have recess and a snack and are out the doors and back home around 5:30. I have really enjoyed this first week at work. I feel like this job fits really well into what I want to do in the future with my Social Work career. Which is very exciting!
One funny story that happened 2 nights ago. The teachers (the kids call us Proffy) at the After School program took me out for a welcoming dinner. So we ended work around 5:30 and then had to clean the classroom that lasted until about 8:30. So by the time we were done we were all starving. So we had dinner and then they took me back and waited with me to get on the micro to take me home. So I got on the bus and before I knew it everyone was off the bus except me. My house was still about 20 minutes away. THEN.. the bus driver pulled over and turned off the bus. He then turned back to me and asked where I lived. Now seriosuly I had no idea where my house was except that this bus gets me to the stop that I need to get off at. The bus driver explained that his shift was over... Well I´m thinking that he should maybe end his shift once everyone was off. Anyways so he aksed me again where I lived. I fraintically started going through my bag trying to find an address or something that would direct him to where my stop is. Thankfully I had bought a cell phone that weekend so I wipped out that and called my host sister. I explained to her that she needed to talk to the bus driver to explain where I live. So I handed the phone over to him and he talked to her. I think at this time he was getting pretty angry that I first have no idea where I live and secondly, he´s talking to someone who is explaining where I live. So after he hung up he said that I needed to get on another bus because his shift was done. Ok so now I´m thinking, please just drive me home. So he thankfully waited for me to get on the 76 micro and I hoped on. At this point I am almost in tears beacuse I have no idea where this bus goes. Then Cesia calls me again and explains that I need to tell the bus driver to drop me off at this certain stop. I insisted that she tells him because he probably wouldn´t understand with my limited spanish. So while the bus is driving, I handed my cell phone to him and he talks to Cesia about where I need to get off. Anyways, long story short, I got off at this gas station and there in the distance in Cesia running towards me and my host dad standing there with his hands raised in the air thanking God for bring me back safely.
On a completely different note, I have to add that yesterday I ate cow liver.. I had no idea until one of my co-workers told me.
So thats my update for now, I will write again once more things unfold. Hope you are all well!

Meeting the family today!

It's a windy day in Santa Cruz. We arrived in Santa Cruz yesterday morning after a long 10 hour bus ride! The bus that we rode on was a double decker bus, and we were on the top level. During the night it was SO hot on the bus. For some reason the heater was on the entire night, so along with that the humidity was terrible! The whole night I had my window open but was asked a couple times to close it. Overall a long sleepless night but I am glad to be back in Santa Cruz. Our overall trip in Cochabamba was so great. We met a lot of great people from around the world at the Spanish school we were at. About 3 nights ago we went Salsa dancing!! It was probably the funniest thing ever! So I'm hope that through the next few months I can find a place to take Salsa lessons! It is so great! 

I've realized that I need to update on what we did this past weekend in Cochabamba. Our MCC reps (Lynn & Laurie and their three kids) came from Santa Cruz to Cochabamba and we went to different organizations, the first called "Fundicion Ghandhi". This organization works on peace building and education in schools etc. We got there and learned a lot of Bolivia's history. We watched a video on the conflict in La Paz in February 2003, where there were taxes on salaries which led to confrontation between the Military & People against the Police. The video was very graphic and hard to take all in. In the end 35 dead and 200 injured in 2 days. There was also another conflict in September 2003 where there were protests in gas sales to Chile and through this there was conflict that resulted in dozens of deaths. We were told briefly that the President at the time was willing to kill humans because it involved the topic of Neoliberalism. There are four pillars that follow the topic of NeoLiberalism. 

Pillar 1 - Economic Monopoly 

This economic monopoly was a consequence of Neoliberalism. This was not just between the rich and the poor. Those who controlled the vote didn't create work for other parts of the population. So therefore, the control of money didn't create work. So the money actually was not given to the people but instead sent out of the country. Bolivia is one of the biggest producers of gas and because of the exports and money sent out of the country a majority of the population was dying of hunger. 

Pillar 2- Land Monopoly 

The land monopoly in Bolivia was one of the most unjust land situation in the world. 32 million hectares of land was good for agriculture. But 96% of the land was owned by 13 families which produced only 13% of the food. On the other side the rest 4% of the land was producing 80% of the food to sustain the country. Neoliberalism increased the size of the gap. 

Pillar 3- Monopoly of Gas 

In Bolivia there is 54 trillion cubic feet of gas. This is the biggest natural gas producer in Latin America. 18% of the wealth stayed in Bolivia. The rest 82% was exported. 

Pillar 4- Political Monopoly 

This political monopoly had the ability to make public decisions that effect people. The congress decided who was going to be president. in 1989 the person was became president placed 3rd in the votes. A plurality required for the win. In NeoLiberalism, 23% was most votes won. According to the constitution, congress would elect. Laws were made without public vote. Democracy was understood as the ability to vote every 5 years. 

In 2000 there was the "Water War". Since 2000 Bolivia has been living in tension. So there is now talk about bringing out a new model- which is unnamed. The Right side supports the old model, which was to continue to support the four pillars. And now the Left side supports the New Model which involved transformation. This New Model is trying to Democratize those who have historically excluded, to have a stronger say in the decisions made. So now there is an election in December 2009 to elect a new President. There is a man named Evo  (I don't know his last name)who is running in the election that is for this new change in the system. It is very interesting to see who is for Evo being president and who isn't. 

So there in a nut shell is a little bit of the history in Bolivia. I am missing a lot of different bits and pieces, but I hope this makes sense of what has happened and what might happen in the future. 

After going to Fundacion Ghandhi I definitely have a better sense of what Bolivia is going through and what they went through. We also managed to go to another place in Cochabamba called The Democracy Centre. Here we also learned more about the history and where able to get some questions answered. 

So here we are back in Santa Cruz. This morning we had brunch at our MCC reps house. Pancakes and fruit! So wonderful! This afternoon we are meeting with our host families. Right now I am filled with excitement and fear! My host family names are Mary and Walter. I think they have one daughter named Cecillia. I will update as soon as I can when I have time! I won't be able to update this week.. our schedules are packed with visiting our work places and getting to know the city. But I hope this gives a bit of information about Bolivia and about how things are going with me. I will try and post pictures on here.. hopefully I can figure that out! I hope you are all doing well! 

Much love!

Cold day in Cochabamba..

Well I think it´s about time I updated my blog! This week has flown by so fast! We have 2 more days left in Cochabamba and I must say, my spanish is hitting a rut right now! This past weekend Lynn and Laurie and their three kids drove up to Cochabamba to be with us. We went to many interesting places where we were informed on some on Bolivia´s history and different organizations that run through Cochabamba. I will update on those a bit later when I have more time. I have learned a lot this past week regarding the election that is coming up, I believe on December 6th. It´s very interesting to hear the different view points on the fact that Evo might get elected again. Again, I will elaborate when I have more time.

So this past week has been just a lot of spanish and more spanish learing! I´ve definetly had some pretty embaressing moments where I say the absolute opposite of what I am actually trying to say. There have been some pretty hilarious stories that have also happened during the week. This past week we were trying to catch a micro (bus) from the city to our home stays. I suddenly saw an X10 bus and they didn´t see us flagging them down, so before I knew it was chasing after the micro for about a block... I jumped in and everyone looked at me like I was nuts for chasing after the micro. Long story short, we did finally make it back home.

Our bus on Friday leaves at 9:00 pm which means that we will get to Santa Cruz at about 7:00 am. I usually don´t sleep on these trips for some odd reason but hopefully this trip will be different. Cochabamba is a great city- one that has much history and beauty. I will be sad to leave but hopefully will come again sometime when I get the chance! I hope all of you are well! Again, your thoughts and prayers are appreciated!

Much love!
Chau Chau!