Back on Canadian soil!

Hello everyone, 

This is a long over due update, but realized that I left whoever is reading this on a lurch because I never said that I am finally home!! Sorry about that! So yes, I am home and happy to be back on Canadian soil! We flew back to Akron, PA on Wednesday July 21st and the SALT re-entry started July 24th. It was a wonderful time for reflection and sharing. What a cool experience! I flew home (Winnipeg, MB) on July 27th and am now in Calgary, Alberta reconnecting with extended family and siblings! I am very happy to be home and able to reconnect with friends and family! I also just wanted to thanks for all the support and emails that I have received this past year! I am so grateful and supported! So thank all of you! I am flying back to Ontario on September 2nd to move into my new home and get ready to classes starting September 13th! Looking forward to graduating this year and hopefully getting into the Bachelor of Social Work program for the following year! Very excited for all of this! Thanks again everyone! 

Much love! 

Adrienne 

June!!

I am writing this as I am watching the World Cup, Germany vs. Australia. I have been hooked ever since the first game on friday! We had a tv set up in the biblioteca and all the kids and I watched the opening game. Pretty exciting!

There is really no excuse to me not updating my blog in months! Things have been going by very fast! A lot has happened since I have written last. For example, my parents came to visit me! They flew in on a Saturday morning (May 22) and left the next Sunday(May 30). It was so wonderful to see them! Me and my host parents came and picked them up from the airport. We were able to spend some time in Santa Cruz.. I showed them around different places that I have come to know well. We then flew to Sucre (which would normally be a 14 hour bus ride... or more) which only took about 35 minutes. We arrived on a beautiful day! Sucre is probably my favourite place that I have traveled to yet this year. We stayed in a hotel (recommended by our taxi driver) from Tuesday until Thursday. It was beautiful weather each day so we got a chance to really tour around the see the city. It's beautiful! There are so many old churches and museums that we got to see. Along with that, we arrived on the 201 Anniversary of Sucre, so there was a huge parade and activities going on all day! Pretty neat! We headed back home in thursday afternoon (which here was Mother's Day), so my host family and us went out for dinner together. My host sister had just had a baby about a week before hand so we were able to meet Kayla for the first time. Friday night we headed to a futbol game. Usually the two teams here (Blooming and Oriente) play against each other, but the day we went they had a game off. So instead we watched a game between Blooming and Universidad. It was really fun! A good cross-cultural experience for my parents!

I never realized how stressful it was to tour around my parents for the week. I have never really had to plan a week away in some foreign country. So this was a good experience for me. I definetly had to translate a lot... which was good practice for me. And we made it through! I am very thankful to now have them see where I have been living, my work situation and Santa Cruz. They now have a reference to when I talk about things! I am so thankful they could come!

So the weeks are just flying by! I have approximetly 4 weeks left of work. My last day is on July 14th. Gosh time is going by so quickly! I have been doing really well... things at my host family are awesome, my work is going really great and I am just feeling really good. There are SO many stories that have happened, and I know it is going to be hard to explain them over an update. But the time will come when I come home (June 27th- to Winnipeg) and can share more easily. My 22nd Birthday is coming up on June 30th! I am excited to experience a bolivian celebration on that day!

I hope that I will keep on top of things and update more regularly before I leave. I will try my best! I hope this update finds you all well!

Much love,
Adrienne

catching the bride's bouquet!

It's about time for an update! I have been putting this off for too long and realize that I should have updated a lot sooner. Lots has happened since the last time I wrote, I feel like I forget half the things that I did.

Work is going really well. This past week has flown by, and I find myself realizing that I only have 3 more months left here. Also, in 28 days my parents come to visit! Very exciting! These past few weeks I have been writing up the kids home visits that we have done so far. I finished writing up 45 home visits on Wednesday, and we have about 16 more home visits to complete. It gets pretty busy when we have 2 home visits in the morning and another 3 in the afternoon. But I really enjoy the work!

This past weekend me and my family went to a huge wedding! This would have been the 4th wedding I´ve been to this year, and it was the fansiest one yet. It was a bunch on fun! The bride went on IVEP last year to the States, and met a guy there. So the wedding was both in English and Spanish. I was such a nice break to see gringos around!! And to speak English! The time came when the bride (Graciela) threw her bouquet to a bunch of us girls standing behind her. And guess who caught the bouquet. Yes indeed, I had grabbed the bouquet by the ribbon that was on there while another girl held on. But then she just passed it off to me. hahaha! It was hilarious! Then the groom did the same with his flower and a guy named Fernando caught it and then we have to dance in front of everyone to Shania Twain- Who´s bed have your boots been under. It was totally embarressing, but a good time!

So this past week is has been freezing here. And by freezing I mean about 18 to 24 degrees outside. I am currently wearing pants and a sweater. There will definetly be some climate shock when I come back home. So last friday, it was pouring rain outside. So my dad decided to drive me to the place where I catch the micro to go to my work. As we were driving there we saw my micro pass by quickly, so we sped up (by sped up I mean like 15 km/hr) and started chasing this micro. Then my host dad started honking the horn. But our horn is not the regular sound most cars make. It sounded like a dying cow in some serious pain. So we honestly chased this bus for about 2 blocks while holding down the horn. Then as it was turning I got out and rain around the bus, but as I came to the other side of the bus I bashed my head on the rear view mirror that was sticking out really far. So that mirror went all out of place and they had to readjust that after, and then when I got on the bus everyone was snickering and obviously found that really amusing. I then got a seat next to the driver and he joking said ¨How´s your head?¨ Turns out when I got to work no kids show up. I have learnt that when it rains here it´s like having a snow day back in Canada. When it rains everyone doesn't want to go outside in the rain.

So I guess a countdown to when my parents come is in progress. I officially have approximetly 25 days until they arrive. Maybe it´s too early to start a countdown, but I am just so exicted to see family again! Also, having less than 3 months left here is pretty crazy! Our tickets are all bought... I am leaving Bolivia on July 21st and then will be in Akron, PA for 3 days. July 27th I will offically be home in Winnipeg, Manitoba!! Quite exciting, but will be very hard to leave my host family and work. I´ve made some pretty amazing connections here that will be very tough to leave. I already told my family that I am returning... and they said that I must return with a husband. haha! One day.. one day.

That's all for now! Hope you are all well. I appreciate your emails, thoughts and prayers!

te cuidades

dreaming in spanish

I had a dream in Spanish last night. What does that mean?? I was once told by someone that once you start to dream in Spanish you are really starting to know Spanish well. I sure hope that is true!


Things are going well here. I´m just on my lunch break and have a chance to write a quick update. Well wow, middle of March already! I have had a good couple of weeks. Work is going really well. I have been telling some kids that I am only here for 4 more months... maybe I´m thinking way too far ahead. But I honestly think time is just going to fly by! The kids I am working with are incredibly cute! I am really enjoying working with them each day! I have gotten in a habit of buying chocolate for this one boy Eduardo... he's probably my favorite kid at the Biblioteca. I have also gotten the kids to get their homework done with the incentive of receiving a piece of gum afterwards. Of course not everyday, but on a random occasion they love receiving a piece of gum. I feel like I have gone through endless amounts of ideas on how to get these kids to get their work done. The 6 kids that I have in the morning are angels! They listen so well and get their homework (without the incentive of gum). But the kids who come in the afternoons after having school in the morning are absolutely off the wall. These past few weeks there has been a bug going around and getting all the kids sick. So last week I actually had 2 kids fall asleep while doing their homework... although I do not blame them.. I would have loved to do the same.


It's the season of dengue here... so I have seem numerous trucks go past that spray the entire street with pesticide or something to get rid of the mosquitos. I have been very bad at applying bug stray on, so I won't be surprised if I will end with dengue one of these days. But overall my health has been pretty good. I am very surprised that I have not gotten sicker with my lack of washing fruits when I take them right off the trees. Maybe my stomach has become prone to all the bad things I have been eating. I am a bit worried about when we made our trip to Santiago and I drank the waterfall water because I was just so thirsty. Kind of dumb of me but people told me it was safe to drink. I might regret that in the long run!


So this past weekend in church Walter (my host dad) was trying to plan our fathers day (which was this last friday) service at our church. So we were all in church and suddenly Walter starts choosing people to do things for the service. And so Walter asked me to sing a song in English (yes.. another solo.. with no instruments).


So I have taken about 3 days to write this blog.. hoping that something more exciting would come up. And it did. So like I was saying last night we had a church service. At supper I asked my host family how long this service would be... and he said until 5:30 am. I literally started laughing thinking it would be absolutly impossible to have church from 9 pm until 5:30 am. But I was wrong. We showed up to church a bit before 9 pm and Walter had a list of acts that would take place that nice. So I sang my solo... it went pretty well! Other people sang songs, we did lots of praying, Walter preached 3 times... 1 hour each time! Gosh! We also had a drama. By midnight we had a break and drank coffee (but honestly they load in the sugar so it didn´t even taste like coffee) and had crackers. It was funny because Walter kept informing all of us 15 people who stayed the whole night that there were only 4 hours left. I was also definetly counting down the hours left. So by the end of the night we ended with a bible study on John. We were split into groups and each group had to count the amount of times it said a specific work. I could hardly read by this time at night because I was so tired! But we made it through and we were done at 5 30 am. To my surprise we then we served breakfast. But oh this is not the typical breakfast you would have in North America at 5 am. We were served soup that was made from the pigs head. Everything is put into the soup including the eye balls and ears. I only asked for a little and with each bite I had to say to myself `only 4 more bits`... it wasnt the fact that is tasted that bad, but just the thought of this head being boiled and having these pieces of the pig in your soup. To make a long story short, after we ate we went home and slept. But then my host parents wanted me and Cesia to help them with something at 9 am... so overall not much sleep that day!

Another update. Yesterday (Monday) I went with one of my co workers to do some home visits! We went to 2 houses and it was honestly such an eye opening experience. I was just struck by the poverty and how 5 people can live in a room and share the same bed. I told my parents (my bolivian parents) this last night and they just laughed because they know a person who lives in the same place with 36 people and share ONE bathroom. So we ask the parents a number of questions about their kid and their relationship with them. It is so interesting to hear how these parents disipline their children. Either it´s through yelling or hitting them. I just wish I could take that all away, but it is happening everywhere and it´s almost considered a normal way to disipline.

Anyways so I definetly took a lot out of those 2 home visits. I will continue to complete a home visit to every kid here in the Biblioteca, which is 100 kids. I have defintely found my passion in what I want to continue to pursue as I finish my studies back at home! I really enjoy the challenge that these home visits have on me and I thrive to build strong relationships with the kids. I´ll update more as I finish more home visits.

Well thats about all! Again I´ll update once I have more to write. And thanks to everyone who are sending emails etc. I really appreciate it! I am so blessed!

Much love,
Adrienne

searching for a cow..

Hola from Santa Cruz,
I have a few minutes to update on my past few weeks. Things are going well. Its a soaring 35 degrees today, the sun it out but thankfully there is a wind. I am actually in my lunch break right now. This morning went by smoothly with having 6 kids ages 5 and 6 finishing their homework. It gets a bit hectic some days! I am thankful when it goes by with no one punching each other in the face. Although that usually happens with the afternoon group. Pray for me!

This last week flew by! On the weekend me and Cesia went and bought the movie Julie and Julia and watched in on my laptop in our room! Saturday morning I did a bunch of errands and then in the afternoon the church needed cleaning so we walked over and the guys started cutting the grass with their michetties (spelling?) and me and Cesia trimmed the bushes and trees with scissors. haha it was pretty hilarious. Other than that my weekend was filled with going to Church 3 times and then Sunday afternoon me and Walter and Mary got in the car and drove around looking for a cow for us to get some milk. I had no idea where we were going to find this cow, but they seemed to know where it would be. Turns out, we never did find the cow. After asking around to 6 different people who all gave us different directions of where this cow would be, we gave up and went home! So.. no fresh milk for us!

There is a wedding this Thursday at our church that we are all going to. Mary is making dresses for all the girls who are apart of the wedding. I might see if she can make one more me too.

I cant believe that its already March! Wow! Time has flown by. My parents are planning on coming to visit at the end of May. I am getting very excited. Mary as already asked me what food we should serve and saying that we are going to have a grande fiesta! I am very excited to have visiters come to see where Ive been living and where I work etc.

Yesterday (Monday), I went about choosing courses for University of Waterloo when I return in Fall 2010. I did this by waking up at 4 30 am... having Walter scare me at the door with his flashlight and completing it on my laptop. What a whirlwind of emotions!! Already thinking about going back to school etc. Although it gets me a bit excited! I now have 5 more months to go. Although its not like Im counting down the days yet! Me and my cousin were reminising about meeting me at the airport in July etc... although that is getting a bit ahead of ourselves! But exciting!

Well I should be off! Just wanted to give a quick update!
Much love,
Adrienne

Carnival in Moro Moro!!

Moro Moro! 

(Carnival in Moro Moro) 

Wow it's almost March! Time has flown by here! The last time I wrote was about 2 weeks ago after I came back from Santiago. Work is just great.. I now have my own classroom with 7 kids in the morning and about 10 kids in the afternoon. These numbers always differ because of either rain or no homework. In the first week back after the vacation I had only 2 kids in the morning. It was actually quite a nice break just having them two, and so the following week more kids started to show up. The new place in Stansberry is so beautiful. It works out so much better to be in classrooms than being in one big room with kids ages 6-14 years old. That got a little crazy! 

So this past weekend me, Allyn and Corrie headed off to Moro Moro for the Carnival weekend. Now here carnival is a HUGE deal. It consists of a 4 day weekend (Saturday till Tuesday) where everyone parties and goes crazy before lent starts up. This past Wednesday (Ash wednesday) was a day where people would stay in their houses and pray and ask God for forgiveness for what they did over the weekend. Kind of odd, but that is how it goes here. So anyways, heading off to Moro Moro was a good decision but difficult at the time. Here in Bolivia it is not illegal to drink and drive. And everyone here (especially over Carnival) drinks and drives. And that includes the bus drivers. So I was very worried about our bus driver being drunk as we travelled. Saturday morning I was thinking that I wouldn't go to Moro Moro but instead go out to the campimento (country) with my family and church and send the weekend there. But last minute I changed my mind and decided to go to Moro Moro. 

So Saturday we left around 2:30 pm all ready to go. It was about an 8 hour bus ride through the mountains. Beautiful!  Our bus driver seemed fine, but it was still a bit nerve racking! So we arrived late Saturday night and then Sunday morning we walked about 2 hours to a lookout (I forget the name now) which was absolutely gorgeous. We actually did a lot of hiking over the next could of days. We were also able to experience Carnival in Moro Moro which included being thrown ballons at and sprayed with foam. Monday night we walked to Natan's house (an MCC who was a SALTers 4 years ago and has lived in Moro Moro ever since) which is located in the most beautiful spot ever! I'll try and post pictures. 

Anyways, overall a very good weekend in Moro Moro! We all had a fantastic trip and am thankful to have returned safely. Here are some pics from my trip! 

Trip to Santiago!

Santiago de Chiquitos
Waterfalls located about 2 hours out of Santiago!

(from left to right: Allyn, Me, Corrie, Arelis, Laurie, Kristen and Kim)

Wow! Time has flown by. I think it´s about time for another update on my end. I am trying to think back to where I left off. I feel like a lot has happened in the past couple weeks. I should have updated earlier to make it easier to remember what all happened!

Basically these past couple of weeks have consisted of getting the new place at Stansberry ready to the kids to come on February 1st (last week). It was a lot of work, consisting of painting, cleaning and more cleaning! The week before the kids came back was pretty relaxing. We had everything ready to go by Thursday so Friday was a nice day to relax. It was nice to see the other Profs that I work with again! It had almost been a month since I saw them all last. Last Thursday I went to see the movie called Avatar with my friend Patti. We say it in 3D.. awesome! It was in English which was a nice change but when the movie was finished I had to remind myself that I was in a spanish speaking country. It caught me off guard a little!

This past Saturday me and about 9 other people who all live at Stansberry went to Espejillos Waterfalls! It was amazing! We spent the entire day there jumping off cliffs into the water. I think I screamed so loud that it startled a lot of people! But it was such a good time!

We just got back this morning from out trip to Santiago de Chiquitos. It was beautiful! It was about a 12 hour bus ride through the night. We left last Thursday and came back this morning at around 5 am. Kristen, another SALTer here in Bolivia is living in Santiago, so it was nice for us other SALTers to go and see where she lives etc. It's a beautiful place! We managed to get to the waterfalls, about a 2 hour walk out of the town. On Sunday morning we woke up early and climbed up to the top of this hill overlooking Santiago. It was beautiful! We learned from the day before to not walk during 10 am and 2 pm because it is the hottest during those times! So we actually ended up leaving around 6 am. A good start to the day.

So last week was the first week where the kids are back! It was so incredibly wonderful to see the kids again. They had all grown so much since I last saw them. I didn't realize how much I missed them during the break! Such a good feeling.

As for now, I'm catching up on sleep. I realize that I have so many stories to tell I don't know where to start! I'll try posting some pics.

I have been doing really well! The time is just flying by!!! Can't believe it's already February!

Much love.

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!

FELIZ NAVIDAD!

Hola!

Just wanted to send a quick note wishing everyone a Merry Christmas! We have a big day planned here in the Sanchez household. Lots of cooking and eating! Tonight we open gifts and then have supper at midnight. I think tomorrow is a pretty relaxed day so I am making breakfast for my family! We'll see how it turns out. Anyways, I wish you the happiest Christmas! I am leaving next Monday for La Paz with my host sister and 2 other Salters. We are then traveling for a week and heading over to Lake Titicaca. Apparently it's beautiful! I'm excited! 

Much love everyone!

Feliz Navidad!

Adrienne 

The Countdown till Christmas!

Hello everyone!

I am sitting in a very hot room fanning myself because it literally feels like it's about 40 degrees. This past week has been blazing hot!! It's almost too much to handle! I haven't updated in a while, so here's another.. 

Things are going really well here. I am trying to remember what has all happened in the past two weeks or so. Well for one thing, tomorrow is the last day of painting the new place for the kids. I am amazed at how much work we got finished in the past two weeks. Presently, I am very thankful to have one more day of painting left. There are no kids around these days, which makes me sad, but I am excited to have a bit of a break and spend time with my host family etc. 

 Well I had a great weekend... Kristen (the other SALTer living in Santiago- about 12 hours away) came in for our MCC Christmas party this past friday. We all had the day off and I went over to Laurie's place to help her make lunch for all of us. After we had lunch we went over to MCC and we had a christmas party with all the workers from MCC. We had some games to play and then had a great meal together.  

This past Saturday was cookie baking day!!!! It was such a great day. All of us SALTers got together in the morning and went over to a shopping market and got ingredients to make 4 different kinds of christmas cookies. We definetly went overboard on spending money on these cookies. Every member participating was supposed to triple their cookie batch so we could have a cookie bake exchange. So we started cooking around 11:30 and I make "Jack frost Mint Chocolate Surprise cookies"... I named them that because I put huge chunks of mint and chocolate in each one and so if you can one it was always a surprise to see what you got inside. haha I thought it was pretty clever. I made a total of 113 cookies to exchange. I don't think I've ever made that many cookies before. Now each salter made about this amount so we had over 400 cookies made.  So I came home having this huge try of exchanged cookies to bring to my host family. They LOVED them. I seriously brought home about 50 different kinds of christmas cookies in total. What a day! 

This past Sunday is Walter's 60th birthday! A big milestone. Mary had the whole kitchen cleaned out and people from church came and painted it and the ceiling... and it was all for his birthday. here birthdays are pretty extreme. So we had a big party in our backyard. It consisted of eating and more eating! 

This weekend we are heading out to the country... now Walter wants to leave at 5 in the morning- I'm still confused as to why so early. But I will just tag along and make it seem like I know what is going on! I've gotten quite good at that! Sunday should be another choir practice- I'm doubtful if many people will show up! And then next week I will start helping out in the Children's homes at Stansberry. I am looking forward to being with kids again! 

The countdown to Christmas has started! I can't believe that it is already next week! It doesn't even seem like Christmas. There is definitely a lack of snow here!  

I hope this update finds you all well! 

Much love!

December is here..

Wow. It´s December 5th. What a LONG week! I have been meaning to post something earlier with some pictures but the computers here are so slow. I will try again when I get the chance. Things are very hot here! Today it´s a scortching 40 degrees... it´s almost too much to handle. So these past few weeks have been busy and lonely! Last weekend my family and I drove 2 hours out into the country to a wedding. We got there and of course we were the first to arrive. The worst is not really knowing when the wedding really starts, it mostly depends on when they ¨feel¨like starting! The wedding was very interesting. It was a couple of our church that got married. Anyways, so we had to leave early because we had to head back to be at my host parents grandson´s (Lucas) kinder graduation. And WOW is all I can say! This graduation was hilarious and way over done. They take Kinder (kindergarden) graduations SO seriously here. There were about 100 people there, all dressed up, and sitting at tables with food. Then they called up each of the kids and they all had gowns and hats on!!! So then they all got certificates and then afterwards they showed an hour long clip of each graduate from when they were born until present. It was a long night! My host parents loved it though! Then we went to Talita Cumi (where Lucas´s parents work) and they had a big fiesta. So by this time it was about 11:30. For some reason we drove there and talked to people for about 5 minutes and then decided to just go home. I am never too sure what my host dad is thinking all the time. I´m hoping I´ll understand soon. So that was a long day.

Sunday afternoon was my first choir practice. Oh boy! So six out of the 14 people showed up. So I did the practice anyways and I must say we NEED practice. For some reason here the tendancy is to sing really out of tune...

The kids at the Guaderia are on summer holidays so this past week all of us (the profies) starting sanding and painting the new place in Stansberry that will be the extension to the program I am working in. It was a LONG week of hard labor. I was able to get my hand checked again at the hospital... there is seriosuly something wrong with my skin. I won´t go into details but it is apparently from the sun so they gave me a creme but it is definetly not working.

This next week is more or less the same... just cleaning and painting. This next friday is our MCC Christmas party. I´m really looking forward to that! It´s wierd to be away from family and friends during the holiday season.

I hope you are all well and I´ll update again.
Much love.

New bolivian puppy!

Hello everyone!

I have some time to quick send an update. Well last week was a bit rough with being so far from family during my Grandma´s funeral. I am happy to say that I am really starting to feel at peace with what happened. This weekend was very relaxing and I was able to really believe that this was best for my Grandma.

So last wednesday before I left for work, my host mom came running over to my room and started talking SO fast and I had no idea what she was saying. Turns out that our dog got out and got hit by a car and died. I honestly felt so terrible for her. She was just balling her eyes out. I was thinking, first my Grandma, now my dog.. what next! So I went to work and then came home around 6:30 and guess what... we have a new puppy. They sure got over that one fast! It is honestly the cutest puppy. His name is Pelusa.

On a different note, my mom had sent my CD from Conrad Grebel Choir that I was in this past year. We recorded a CD in May and so I was very excited to be able to finally listen to it. Anyways, I showed my host parents it, and guess what... I am now conducting a choir in my church for Christmas day! I honestly was laughing so hard... first a sermon, then a solo and now conducting a choir. I can only imagine what is in next door for me. My host dad is really good at getting me involved. I appreciate that! So I now have 14 people singing in this choir. We have our first practice next Sunday. Walter wants us to sing 1 or 2 songs spanish Christmas songs, so it shouldn´t be too bad.

This weekend was very relaxing. I had church 3 times... I am sure making up for the times that I couldn´t go to church back in Canada. Nothing else really happened this past weekend. So this is the last week for the kids to come in for help with their homework. The school system is different here than in North America. December and January is their summer break here. So when the kids come back they will be starting a new school year. So now, because it is their last week they are going absolutly bonkers. I don´t blame them... So Saturday we are having a goodbye party for them in the morning. Starting next week we are getting ready to expand the biblioteque.. we are now having 70 kids in the morning and then in the afternoon. A big difference from 30 in the morning and afternoon. So we will be painting and moving furniture until December 18th which will be the start of my holidays.

Also, Saturday I will be attending a Wedding here for a couple from my church. Innitially they asked me to sing a solo at the wedding, but we now have to leave early to then go to my host sisters son (Lucas) highschool graduation. Now usually back in North America they would give out wedding invitations a while ahead of the wedding. Well that is definetly not the case here. For example the wedding is on Saturday and we got the invitation this past sunday. So a week in advance. And then asked me to sing a solo yesterday for the wedding. I was getting a little worried about the limited time to pracitce! So thankfully I got out of that!

Anyways, that´s all for now. I hope you are all well!

Much love,
Adrienne

christmas tree shopping

Time for an update! Things have been a bit challenging these past few days with the loss of my Grandma. Today is the funeral and I have yet to talk to my parents about how it went. There is so much to catch up on. For the past few days it´s been quite slow around here. I took the day off work today which was definetly needed on my part. My head is not in the right place right now to focus on kids doing their homework.

This past weekend was quite hilarious. For some reason my family loves going to this river right by our house. Honestly, I find it quite amusing how excited they get about it! So Saturday morning we headed over to the river. Of course we took our beater of a car and I am still confused why my host dad drove right down beside the river because when we tried to back up we got stuck in the mud. This is honestly the third time this has happened. Cesia told me that she thinks her dad likes getting into these situations because its happened so many times before. So anways we all had to get out of the car. Then of course people start crowding around and we all try and push the car out.. but we can´t. Then a buldozer (sp?) drove past and my host dad started flagging it down but it wouldn´t stop. That would have been pretty funny if we got it to pull us out. Long story short, we finally got out by about 10 guys trying to push our car. So afterwards we started driving away but then turned into this windy road in this huge forest. My host parents were looking for something and I had no idea at the time what it was. So I asked and apparently we were looking for a Christmas tree. I was thinking, ¨honestly people it´s only november¨. And this is definetly the typical christmas tree you would get in North America. We ended up finding this little stick of a tree. So we chopped it down with a machette knife. My time is running out on the computer so I have to cut it down. So we get home and my mom cuts off all of the leaves and then starts glueing cotton balls to the tree to make it look like snow!! I was impressed at the creativity! So now (November 17th) we have ourselves a christmas tree!

I do have to get going. But I will update again when things starting getting back to normal! Hope you are all well!
Much love.

Grandma Roth

Hi all, 

It's been a sad two days here in Santa Cruz. I found yesterday afternoon that my Grandma Roth just passed away (November 14, 2009) at about 12:30 pm. This news came as a shock, but knowing that she is now happy being with my Grandpa I am reminded that I also need to celebrate her life. She was 86 years old. This has been quite a difficult time for me. The funeral is on Tuesday, and my parents are driving out today (from Winnipeg) to be with family. It's at these moments when I really wish I could be with family but I know this is where I need to be right now. Both my siblings (heather- in china; clare- in africa) will be missing the funeral as well. It's difficult mourning for someone when you are so far away. She was an amazing Grandma with many words of wisdom. I will miss her dearly. I ask for your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. I will update my blog soon. 

Much love, 

Adrienne 

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!

Crazy Dance Moves!

Hola from Santa Cruz!

It´s been wierd weather here in Santa Cruz these past few days. Yesterday it poured rain all day, the kids at work went completly crazy!! Today it´s just muggy and hot. Well it´s another week at work... tomorrow we have the morning off because we have some SALT banking things to do. This past weekend was good. My host dad just had Hernia surgery, so he has been at home recovering. So my host mom and dad have been travelling to the hospital numerous times for check-ups etc. He is doing much better, which is so great. Saturday morning I headed off to meet my co-workers from work. We ate Saltañas and drank Coke at 9 in the morning. Sick! I don´t think I´ve drinken coke that early in the morning! We then headed off to the pool for the morning. It was quite fun. Saturday night me and Cesia headed over to church, I was assuming we would have a normal church service but we got there and everyone was painting the church. So, in my church clothes, I helped paint our church. We then scrubbed the floors until we could basically eat off them. After we were finished we got home and it was raining. My host dad is the only person in the household who can drive and we needed chicken after church. So Cesia asked her dad if I could drive the car to pick up the chicken. Now I was thinking that he would say no, but he graciously passed over the keys to his little beater of a car. I think I said this before, but honestly this car goes about 15 km an hour. No joke! So the first trick was trying to turn the car on. It´s standard so I thought I knew how these cars work, but because this car is so old it needed time to heat up. So we waited in the car and after stalling a few times I finally got out of the drive way. There is only one windshield wiper, so I turned that on full blast but it didn´t help at all. So... I just continued driving (very slow).. cars honking. Cesia is telling me where to go, and thankfully this chicken place was only about 5 minutes away, so we got there. When we drove back I had to turn left so I started turning the wheel but honestly I had to put all my muscle power (with is a lot.. haha) into turning this steering wheel. It was ridiculous! It was the hardest thing to turn! Finally we got over the bridge and made it home OK! I got home and my dad prayed a long prayer thanking me for getting home safely! He then asked me after if I had a drivers licence here in Bolivia... I don´t.... I think he forgot to ask that before we left to get chicken. I think that will be the last time I will be driving that car, but I can now say I have driven in Bolivia!

So Sunday was a pretty relaxing day. Sunday nights church service was hilarious! We had a regular church service, but then suddenly this band of trumpets, drums and saxaphones came into the church and started playing songs for us. They played about 3 songs and then right when they were about to leave one old man from my church yelled for them to play another song. I think he requested his favourite song because once they started playing he starting running around the church and started doing some crazy dance moves... I was really impressed... and he honestly didn´t stop until the song ended (the song lasted about 10 minutes). Everyone was taking pictures of him. He loved it!

This Sunday my dad has asked me to sing a song in church. So.. if you have any suggestions let me know!

Anyways, this week is another week of work. I have to get going! Hope all is well!
much love

Opposite ends of the world..

Things are going well here in Bolivia. It rained for the first time in a while today... the kids here went crazy! We had a bit of a water fight, which was fun. We just finished lunch and I have a bit of a break before the next group of kids come in. So a bit of an update is needed on my end. Last week (Tuesday), I did my sermon. Now I was thinking that I would be preaching in the church... but no... it was on the street about 2 blocks away from my house. So a lot of people from my church came and sat in this persons driveway. So I got up there and was hoping to have something to hold my notebook, but all they had was a chair. So they told me to sit down and preach. So here I am ¨preaching¨and it was just such a funny setting because taxi drivers and cars would drive by and stop, stare and then keep driving. I don´t think they are used to having foreigners preach.. especially on the street. For some reason my host dad sat in his car the entire time, but still was able to shout out haleluiah when he got the chance. My sermon was about loving your neighbour and what that means when doing service (like SALT). I think it went over really well. It was pretty nerve racking and I told my host mom that I was nervous and she just started laughing so hard! My host sister Cesia taped it so now I have a copy of my sermon. It will be interesting to listen to it next year when I come back home and see how much my spanish has improved. My host parents both said that it was ¨bonita¨, so that was nice to hear.

This past weekend I went with the youth group from my church to this river that we had been to before. Again, it´s not a real river... more like a stream. So we decided to play mud futbol. It was really fun! By the end we were just covered in mud. We then went 4 wheeling again... they didn´t let me drive it- but I think it´s Ok because I think it would have been a disaster if I did.
This past Sunday was pretty relaxing. Sunday night we went to church, and Walter (my host dad) was preaching about reading the bible. Anyways, when he was almost finished he randomly called me up to the front and asked me to sing a song in english. Now honestly I was really put on the spot and I had no idea that he was going to do this. My mind went completly blank. I couldn´t think of one stinken song to sing. So I told my church that I will sing for them another day. So I guess I have to start practicing for that.

This week has gone by fairly quickly. I have been trying to find places where I can go for runs, but honestly everywhere you turn there are stray dogs. Two nights ago I got on my micro and was heading home from work and guess who I saw? The same driver that was driving the one night where he said his shift was over and then had to have my sister talk the bus driver on my cell phone! I hid behind some woman the entire ride home. I found it pretty hilarious though!

So this weekend there is not much planned. Starting next week I have been asked to coach the girls on how to play basketball. There is another school that is wanting to play against us, and apparently they are pretty good, so I am supposed to teach these girls (who know nothing about basketball) how to play. So our game is supposed to be next Saturday at 9:30 am. It should be interesting!

I seriously am lacking in clothing here. I only brought one big backpack for the entire year. I don´t know what I was thinking in just bringing one pair of jeans for the entire year!!! I think next week I am going to check out this used clothing place and hopefully find some bargains.

Well I should get going. I hope this gives a bit of an update on how things are going! My sister Clare is leaving for Africa on Sunday... so I´m here in Bolivia, my other sister Heather is in China and Clare in Africa! My mom is getting a little worried!!! It´s pretty neat though!

Anyways, much love to you all!

Four Wheeling, Samaipata and much more..

Hello!

Well I think it´s about time that I gave an update on how things are going. We returned last friday from Samaipata... a beautiful small village about 4 hours out of Santa Cruz. This was where our MCC retreat was held. We left last Wednesday morning and arrived there in the afternoon. It was such a rewarding and much needed time to get away. All of the MCC staff in Bolivia came and spent time together. I feel like I have so many new and funny stories to tell. While we were there, we had a lot of time to get to know the other MCC workers who are in Bolivia. I met some pretty great people, and am looking forward to continuing to get to know them. We had 2 days of meetings, a very interesting but challenging topics to talk about. On the last night we were there the mosquitos were so annoying at night. I woke up in the morning and found that I have 46 bug bites on my face and 64 on my left arm. It is ridiculous. I look like I have chicken pocks. Anyways, I think they are bed bug bites or from a spider. We had a talent show at the retreat and all of us salters sang a nice song for everyone. It was very nice! It was a cooler temperature in Samaipata compared to Santa Cruz.

I have a pretty scary but funny (now) story to tell. Last week (Tuesday- the day before we left for retreat) when I was at work I was eating a piece of bread and I ate it too quickly, so I drank some water to help it get down... but THEN I started choking. It was so scary! I was by the sink and I started to choke and I couldn´t breath for about 30 seconds. So then people started surrounding me and no one knew what to do. But then one of the cooks came and did the hymlick remover (don´t know the spelling) on me and I then was Ok. but it was really scary. It was funny because the thing that was going through my mind was the movie Ms. Doughtfire when the guy starts choking and then Ms. Doughtfire comes and saves the day. Anyways, it was a scary experience. But I am fine now!

This past weekend me and Cesia and my host dad went to the river. Now this is not the type of typical river I thought it would be. Honestly, it was a huge area full of sand and then there was a little place where the river was.. I wish I could show you pictures. So anyways, we stayed there for a while and then my dad let me drive his car. Now this car is pretty hilarious. It only goes about 15 km an hour so while we are puting along, cars are honking and letting us know that we are going too slow. So anyways in order to get out of the river we needed to get up this huge muddy hill. So I started driving up the hilll but then we got stuck. So me and Cesia climbed out and started pushing the car up the hill. But we were too weak so then 5 random guys come and help us push the car up the hill. It was so hilarious. So finally we got the car up the hill. But then the car overheated. So we had to wait until the car cooled down. But during that time a guy on a 4 wheeler came by and my host dad asked him if I could go for a ride. So me and Cesia climbed on (I was in my church clothes) and we went for a ride ... in the river. We got totally soaked and muddy but it was probably the funnest thing ever. I have some pictures that my host dad took that I will send when I get the chance. So it was a pretty fun afternoon.

This past tuesday the After school program went to the picina (pool) for the day. It was so much fun! So we swam around all day in the pool, played futbol and volleyball. I got completly burnt though!

My host dad Walter makes these booklets that are sent out to Argentina, Columbia, and over places down here, and he showed me his latest booklet for October and my picture was on it, and there is a whole page about me in the booklet. So I guess my face will be all over down here. I thought it was pretty funny!

Yesterday, the SALTers went to a Mennonite Colony about an hour away from Santa Cruz. It was quite an interesting experience. We had time to ask them questions about their life and beliefs and then had lunch with them. I took some pictures so I am going to try to upload them onto here when I get the chance.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving... my first holiday away from home this year. The Canadians who are here in Santa Cruz, all got together and made a huge meal! It was so great! We were going to buy turkey but it was too expensive, so we had chicken instead! I definetly missed being with my family in Calgary this year!

So tonight is the big night were I am preaching! But I figured out last night that it´s not in the church but ON THE STREET! It´s pretty interesting to have a church service on the street, and we light firecrackers to attract more people to come. So wish me luck! It´s in spanish I am continuing to practice my pronounciation! I´m a little nervous though!

Ok well I should go practice my speech for tonight. I kids are coming in an hour so I need to get going! Please keep e-mailing. Honestly, I have enjoyed checking my e-mail and seeing what a big support network I have back at home! I must say that I am lacking in my responses to e-mails mostly because I don´t have much time on the internet. But just know that I continue to think of everyone a lot and I will reply to e-mails when I can!

I love you and miss you all!

an update

Hola!
What a hot day here in Santa Cruz.. 35 degrees! I am sorry for not updating the blog in a while. Things have been moving a long quite quickly and I didn´t seem to get much time to update. Things are going well here. My family bought me a fan today.. thank the lord.. so I will finally be able to sleep better! It get´s pretty intense here at night with the humidity. This past week flew by. Work is going well, although I am completly exhausted at the end of the day. The kids are great, but they really take advantage of my lack of spanish and don´t listen very well. It gets a bit frustrating sometimes! Yesterday the SALTers got together and we had a meeting in the morning and then went to an organization connected with MCC called ´Pronats´. This organization works with children who are working on the streets. It was very interesting to hear about their way of working with the kids and preventing them from using drugs etc. Last night as I was on my way home on my micro, we hit another car. So here, when there are crashes no police come and so people just keep driving when they get into a collison. So we hit this car pretty hard and then we just kept driving. But then the car drove up beside us and the men inside the car started yelling at the bus driver. Then the one guy got out of the car and started punching the micro. In the end the car sped away and so our micro started chasing after the car. Thankfully the car was long gone before we could catch up to them. I have to admit I was pretty terrified after that.

I feel like I have seen many challening things this past week. One including a women beating her 2 year old kid with a stick. People keep telling me that this is normal and I shouldn´t make a big deal about it, but it is a big deal to me. So it´s challening to turn my back and walk away from situations like that. There was one thing that the director at Pronats said yesterday that really stuck with me. He said, ¨You can´t tell a child that God loves them when they are hungry¨. I think this verse is very true, but it´s a challenging thing to think about.

So, my host dad (Walter) asked me the other night if I could preach in our church at the end of October. I willingly accepted and so now I am trying to prepare a sermon... IN SPANISH! I think I will actually learn a lot, but it will take some time to put everything together.

This next week all the MCC workers are heading off to Semiplata for our retreat. It´s about 4 hours away from Santa Cruz... and it supposed to be beautiful! So we´ll all be away this next Wednseday till Friday! Looking forward to it!

Well I need to head off for lunch. I feel like there are more stories to tell but I have no time! I hope you are all well!