ORIENTE VS. BLOOMING!!

Hello All!

It´s been a good amount of time since I´ve written, so here´s my latest update. This past weekend was packed with many things to do! It was a long weekend (Monday was a holiday here in Santa Cruz), so I was thankful to have another day to rest. It has been raining here off and on during the day, which makes the weather much cooler at night... which means that I can sleep better! It´s pretty difficult to sleep when it´s 35 degrees outside! Either way, the coolness is a nice break from the deadly heat during the days!

This past Friday Cesia invited me to go to this festival for her friend. Her friend is in the hospital with cancer and can´t hear anything right now. So people decided to have a fundraiser for him to raise money. So we got there and there were a bunch of different dancers etc.. very cool. Cesia and her friends did a dance together. I was asked to present an award to one of the dancers. I didn´t have to say anything- just present the award and take a picture. so that was pretty funny.

Saturday morning we had a basketball game. I have been coaching the girls here how to play basketball. So this past week we practiced during our refreherio (snack break). So we got there on saturday morning at 9 am and it was a skorching hot day... about 40 degrees out. Everyone was not in the mood to play and we didn´t think the other team would show up. But then at 10 (honestly it´s the bolivian time here- always come late) the other team showed up. So we started playing. I took a bunch of pictures. So the girls played for 10 minutes and the guys played for 10 minutes and we just switched on and off. I honestly thought that I was going to have to ref the game, but then this old woman shows up and has a whistle in her hand, so she took over! I was glad about that! I was very impressed by her knowledge in basketball rules!

Sunday was the big day because it was the 22nd Anniversay of our church. So we went to church in the morning. It lasted till about 11:30. After I was able to sleep a little.. and then at 1:30 we went over to one woman from our church´s house for lunch. It was her sisters birthday so we have a huge meal to celebrate with her! So that was a good time. Then at about 5 pm we headed over to our church for the celebration. I got there and there was a band playing and so I followed them as they walked around the neigbourhood trying to get more people to come to our service. I handed out flyers to people as they came out of their houses to see what was going on. Again, it was about 35-40 degrees out... so everyone was just sweating! Then the church service started. It was 3 1/2 hours long. And I sang!!!!!! AH!! I got up there and was so nervous. I sang ¨Jesus help us live in peace´ in english and then translated it into spanish after. It went over really well. My first time singing a solo and with NO accompliament. I had no time to find anyone to help me out. So I just sang a solo. Everyone loved it. I was pretty proud of myself! After the rest of the service we had supper (at about 9:30) and then headed home! So that was a big day for me, but I am glad that I did it!

Monday, me and Cesia and some people from the church went to the Rio for the day. I got pretty burnt... it was again about 35 degrees. But a fun afternoon. Oh and last night we had some left over bananas so I made banana bread in our kitchen! It turned out to be the best banana bread I have ever made. My host family had never had it before and they really loved it. I was so happy it turned out. I oven has no timer and the heat is really screwed up so I was lucky to check it when i did! Anyways, that was my proud moment yesterday!

So last night was so great! I was invited by someone from my work to go to a futbol game with the two Santa Cruz teams, Oriente vs. Blooming! So we left after work, got something to eat and went to the stadium to get a good seat. It´s not assigned seating so first come first serve. Anyways, we got there about 2 hours early, and right when the game started it started pouring rain!! Everyone went crazy! Then the people cheering for Oriente started lighting fire works. I have to say that I have never been that close to fireworks in my life! We were at the top level and these fireworks felt like they were 2 feet away from my head! Everyone was going crazy! People here take futbol very seriously, they honestly don´t mess around! So he first 5 minutes Blooming scores and then 2 minutes later Oriente scores. Again, it´s still pouring rain... everyone is cheering and screaming! Anyways, to make a long story short, Oriente won the game 1-1... Blooming had lost the game before, so because Oriente tied this automatically put them into the next round. I have honestly never been around fans who scream, spit and swear at these games!
Other than that there is nothing much else that is new here. The After School Program is planning to expand in December, so we are getting ready to move things around and find more space to have more kids come and do homework. Right now there are 30 kids that come in the morning and then 30 kids in the afternoon. So now in February we are expecting 70 kids in the morning and 70 in the afternoon! It´s going to get a little more hectic!

Well that´s it on my end. I will continue to write and post when I can! Again, keep me in your thoughts and prayers!