my thoughts..

Hola!

It’s a nice day out today. The sun is out and for once it’s not too hot! Yesterday I  finished painting 150 chairs at the Guaderia for the kids. I must say, I started dreaming of painting in my sleep- so I am glad that the painting job is over! I had been painting one other worker for the past 3 weeks or so. It’s been a tedious job, but the chairs now look great!

It’s been a relaxing weekend so far! Last night Cesia, Marlenne and I went to the gym for the first time. Now this was quite the experience. We paid 5 Bs. (less than a dollar) to join a one hour aerobics class. I have never been apart of an aerobics class so this was all new to me. So we got there for 7 (the time the class was supposed to start) but of course we then start at about 7:20. Again, it’s Bolivian time here! So the music and we all just started following the instructors “moves”. I must say I had a hard time keeping up to the beat!!! I was laughing so hard and then Cesia (my host sister) was losing it because she saw me struggling to keep up! Oh goodness. The room we were in was really small, only one open window, and about 40 woman in this room. At the end of the hour, it was deadly hot! But a good work out!

 So I got up this morning and made my way over to the gym again. I realized after that I probably won’t go alone again, the gym was full of men and it was a bit intimidating. I am hoping to keep this up though!

I wanted to share a bit of my conversation that I had with Cesia last night after the gym. We got onto the topic of Bolivian culture compared to North American. It was quite interesting. I talked a lot about how here in Bolivia the abuse, poverty and homelessness is so much more visible here. We also have the same in North America, but here abuse is considered a normal way to discipline a child. For instance, I was the on the micro coming home and there was a woman and her child who sat down in front of me. The kid started crying and so the first thing the mom did was hit her child with her umbrella. It’s funny how at the time it didn’t really shock me to see that. I think that is because I have just seen it so many times where a child is getting kicked, smacking or hit by parents or others that it is almost “normal”. I don’t like admitting that I have become accustomed to this but it’s a fact that is so real here. So last night Cesia and I got on the topic of abuse etc. and brainstorming ideas of how someone who wants to help can come and stop that trend from happening. We then got onto the topic of teenage pregnancies. Now, here in Bolivia teenage pregnancies are completely normal. For example there is a girl at my work who is 15 and has a one year old. This girl explained to me that her mom had her when she was 16 years as well… and so that trend is just continuing. So me and Cesia where just brainstorming about HOW someone who wants to help can come in and try and change the trend. Cesia mentioned that she started a class with girls about these topics (especially pregnancies etc.) at our church and it started out well but Cesia was the only one who was enforcing the healthy ways of living, and when the girls went home their parents wouldn’t continue the reinforcing but instead did the exact opposite. Turns out one of the girls she worked with left the church and got pregnant at 13 years of age. So here is Cesia trying to help, but it’s not getting anywhere because the parents aren’t doing the same kind of help that is needed. I find this very interesting and frustrating all at the same time. If someone is willing to put the time in and change their life then I think it is possible, but how do you come in and try and change an issue that people aren’t willing to work at?? Cesia mentioned that I need to go back to Canada, finish my Social Work degree and come back to Bolivia and help to solve these problems!!! The thing is that here in Bolivia there are limited (very minimal) resources or places people can go for help. For instance if someone was shot here, people would try calling the police but it’s not likely that they would show up. I find that so confusing and so sad! Same with child abuse- there are limited resources of places someone can go and report child abuse etc. AH this is all so frustrating to me. I am so intrigued by all of this and want to solve everything but where do you start!!!

After our chat, Cesia asked if I could go back to Canada and ask for help. I am so willing to but where do I start? It’s frustrating to work with kids at the Guaderia who are in these situations, but I don’t have the words and ability to express my thoughts and  sympathy to them! If this job was in English I would be expressing myself SO much better! Another frustration of mine these days!

So those are my thoughts and ramblings for now. I know I will continue to ponder and question these topics. Frustrating but so real to me! I also wanted to share an address to the monthly newsletter than is written in English about Guaderia Moises (where I am volunteering). AND.. my picture is at the bottom of the newsletter. I am working with 3 kids- whom I love dearly! It says a bit of my job. So please if you have time check that newsletter out! Here it is: http://www.stansberrychildren.org/newsletter/pdf/2009-12-guarderia.pdf 

That’s all for now! Hope you are all well!

Much love! 

A much needed update!

Hello everyone!
Happy New Year! Updating my blog has been on my list of things to do. I apologize from my lack of effort! Well I do have a lot of things to express, many stories to tell! Christmas here was great! It was such a mix of emotions with not being home with my entire extended family in Calgary. I definitely missed that, but realized that I am only going to experience one Bolivian Christmas here. So Christmas came and went... we had a nice celebration at our church- I played Noche de Paz (Silent night) as our church sang. I played horribly! I had to read the notes by candle light... didn't turn out well! Hopefully they won't ask me to play piano again!!! We then came back home around 11 pm and me and Cesia then set off some fireworks in our street. Honestly people were setting off fireworks till about 4 in the morning. We had a nice little family gift exchange. I am so lucky to be apart of such a great host family here. Christmas day I made my family pancakes. They had never had them before... they loved them!

On the 28th in the morning me and Cesia went and bought our tickets to La Paz. We got in line around 5:30 am and waited till the bus station was open. I was amazed at how many people were in the bus station at that time. So that night, me, Cesia, Corrie, Kim and Dia (Cesia's friend) got onto our flota (bus) and began our trip to La Paz. It was about 16 hours of travelling. Stopping once in the middle of the night for our bus driver to have a break and then we kept going. We got there and I couldn't believe how COLD La Paz was compared to Santa Cruz. Now when I say cold I am talking about 5 to 10 degrees celcious.... which really isn't that cold back in Canada but it was cold to all of us! We were lucky to have 2 bolivians travel with us to help us make our way around, find a hostel and then figure out what to do for our first day there. La Paz is beautiful! You are surrounded by mountains and moutains. It was huge city, lots of people and noise but beautiful! We managed to find a street full of Andian Markets... we got some really neat things to take back home.

We were able to tour around a Cocoa Museum. It was very interesting. There is such a long history of where the Cocoa leaves come from that everyone chews here and it's relation to the drug cocain and history about that. I will write more about that once I get more info. We also got to see a part of the city that is full of different objects and dried animals (sounds gross) that are used for sacrificing. Pretty interesting to see. I found it a bit challenging at points to travel with Bolivians because Cesia and Dia had both travelled to La Paz before, and their idea of shopping was going to a mall and our idea of shopping was going to the different markets. It was a bit challenging but in the end it all worked out. We were planning on going to go see the famous Ruins that were about 4 hours out of La Paz, but it turned out to be really expensive for us to go. We were able to go to a very cool look out that overlooks all of La Paz. Very cool!

We then made our way to Copacabana located on Lake Titicaca! It is beautiful! I have pictures posted on facebook, for some reason posting pictures on here takes a very long time. So we were at Lake Titicaca over New Years. We were able to take a boat to the Island of the Sun. This Island has a lot of history related to people believing that this Island is where the sun was formed. Pretty interesting. We wanted to get the best seats on the boat so we got to the very front, top level and thought we would have a great ride. Turns out the boat ride was 2 hours long and it was a freezing day so it was windy and cold. So after about 1 hour we decided to go back downstairs to warm up. I feel like I have so many stories to tell but don't know where to start.

Copacabana was full of tourists from all over the world. Apparently Bolivia is the place to go for New Years Eve! It was very interesting to celebrate it with random strangers but a very unique and interesting experience. Overall a very great trip in La Paz and Lake Titicaca! I hope to go back some day!

This past Monday I started work again! It was a wierd feeling to be back, but a good thing. I was working in the Stansberry homes with the kids. This place is located on the same campus as the Guaderia and After school program. So I had to look after 2 girls (ages 6 and 8). So in the morning's I helped them take showers, did their hair, fed and played with them. A pretty relaxing job. Both of them have head lice, so after this week my head is starting to get a little itchy.. hopefully it's all in my head!

Yesterday was SO muddy! I was walking to my bus to go to MCC and slipped and fell in the mud. My legs and clothes were full of mud. I then decided that I didn't want to wait for one hour to get to MCC so I decided to take a taxi. So I was walking to the taxi and some woman walked past me and looked at my like I was completly bonkers for being so muddy. It was hilarious! The taxi driver was also not so impressed but I had a good laugh out of it!

Last night I was about to go to sleep but my feet were still so dirty so I went to wash my feet in the sink. Turns out I accidently bumped the sink with my foot and then entire sink fell apart!!!!! Our dog then started barking cause it made a huge bang and so both my parents got out of bed and ran outside. So here I was holding the sink together and then my host mom started laughing so hard. In the end the sink was fixed and we all had a good laugh out of it. Another moment that I will cherish with my host family!

So that's my update for now. I hope everyone is doing well! I am doing well here and finding joy in each day!
Much love to you all!