Walking to ballet

My ballerinas, Santusa, Belen, and Sylvia

My room...a work in progress

Anna, baking a cake

Noellia and Elaina, saying goodnight

Rosa, dressed for her Bolivian dance

A dance performance to celebrate Sr. Mikaela´s birthday

Our premier dancer, Maribel

A day off and coffee at my favorite cafe

The streets of Cochabamba

This week I have asked myself the question….when you are writing a blog, do you only include what is good and positive or do you give a holistic picture of what it is like to adjust to living in a culture so very different from your own.?  I´ve decided it´s important and certainly more honest to share all of it. 

This was a week of extremes for me.  Last Monday, as I was riding the bus into town, taking the girls to their ballet lesson, I felt so proud of myself and experienced a feeling of really belonging.  I helped an indigenous woman adjust her load of watermelons and kept them stable with my feet as we travelled over the bumpy roads.  She was very grateful and chatted with me a bit in Spanish.   More importantly, I actually understood what  she was saying.

Later in the week, Angela and I went into town again, for probably the 16^th time since we arrived, to deal with visa issues.  I can´t tell you how frustrating it is and on days like this, you feel  very unwanted and are inclined to wonder what the heck you are doing all this for.   But then you come home to the girls, who are so genuinely happy to see you and kiss you and hug you as though you have been gone for a very long time and not just a few hours.

Wednesday, was a particularly rough day for me.  I was feeling homesick, my little five-year old charges had been very naughty that day, and we volunteers were feeling  not quite as supported as we might like in that regard.  To top it all off,  one of the girls decided to play a couple of practical jokes on me and well, let´s just say, I wasn´t laughing.  During the rosary that evening, I could feel the tears about to spill over, when of my darling, favorite girls, reached over, held  my land and gave it several gentle squeezes.   Of course, that really made me cry, but they were good tears. 

The next day was our day off, and it was one of my best days ever.  Emotions are very fickle, I´ve learned.  We had a wonderful time in town and the week ended on a very positive note.  The girls make it all worthwhile.  They are so special, and, best of all, they love my singing.  They are always asking me to sing a song for them and I´m teaching the five year olds how to sing Twinkle Twinkle little star, which they will perform for the sisters sometime around Christmas.   I  also made the mistake of doing a witches voice one day for the girls when I was reading them a story and now they are constantly asking me to do the witches voice.  I´ve had to tell them, I will only do at night before they go to bed and only if they are very good.

In the daily activity trivia area,  my handmade curtains are almost done, the garden is coming along nicely and the girls are going to teach me how to use the foot pedal sewing machines they use at the hogar.    Making bedspreads  for my bed will be my next project.  Next week I will start Spanish lessons on my day off at the cultural exchange center.   I´m really pleased with my progress in learning Spanish, but I think the lessons will be good for me.    It´s almost time to take the girls to the park, so until next week…

Love,

Judy

One Month in Bolivia

Hi Everyone,

I continue to struggle with photos.  Each photo takes about five minutes to load and the time I have online is very limited, but I was at least able to upload a few this time.  Today is exactly one month since I arrived.  You know how it is; in some ways I feel as though I´ve been here forever and in other ways the time has flown by.  I had a great week this past week.  We have had visitors from Germany and so our lunches have been extra special and yesterday the other  volunteers and I were allowed the afternoon off to show them around the city.  We had a wonderful  time and ended the evening at an outdoor café.  It was such a beautiful warm night, with great conversation.and the huge chocolate éclair wasn´t bad either.   Today the German couple is making all of us baked apples , which we´ll eat after we take the girls to the park.    I´m currently sewing curtains for my room by hand.  After mass this morning, we all sat outside working on various crafts and I put some of the girls to work on my curtains.  Anna and I have also been working very hard on the grounds and clearing an area where we can plant a few things of our own.  Our tools are minimal and most of the girls looked at us like we were crazy.  I think I may have mentioned this in my last my blog.  It is really coming along though, and  two more girls pitched in yesterday to help.  I´ll try and send pictures of the finished project.  You should see some of the spiders we encounter.    Anna and I scream and dance around and then get back to work.  They really are horrible and about the size of a quarter!   Time to go to the park now, so  until next week….Love,  Judy

Grounds of hogar, Andes in the background

Girls making First Holy Communion

Their beautiful faces

For my cousin Stephanie, mi bano, hot water included and great water preasure!

Another Week Comes to a Close

It has been another full week, and the days just seem to fly by.  I still have so much to learn.  As some of you already know,  I dealt with spiders and mice this week, but I´ve come up with a system for dealing with it.  First of all, I asked the girls to please not leave food for the dogs anywhere near my room and I am straying my bathroom daily with RAID.  That seem to have solved the problem.  We had extra ballet lessons this week, as the girls are preparing for a recital.  I can´t wait to see it.   Today I worked for several hours in the rose garden and it looks great.  The girls helped me and one little girl, ten-year old Elaina, worked so hard beside me she had blisters.   I felt bad, but she seemed to think nothing of it and kept right on working.  I cut a rose for my room everyday and have started putting one in our little dining room table as well.  I´m in flower heaven.  Anna, thevolunteer from Germany and I, are also working on clearing out an overgrown area where we can plant a few thing of our own.  We work hard here, but it feels so good just to move again and not be stuck behind a desk all day.  I wash all my cloths by hand and washed my sheets today.  It´s so wonderful to smell the sun in my sheets again and reminds me of my childhood.  Before I came, I thought I might pay someone to do my laundry, but once I got here, somehow it just didn´t feel right.  It´s actually a great time for socializing and I enjoy it.  Tomorrow is our day of rest and it´s really honored here.  There will also be no cars or buses on the road, as they have several clean air days here a year. It´s a great idea.   Well, I´ll close for now.  I´m still having problems with pictures...long story, so I was only able to post the one.   Until next time...

My Blog is Finallly Up!

Hi Everyone,

Finally!  I had several problems getting the blog started.  The strangest things happen here online.  As with so many things, I´m learning to be patient and go with the flow.  We had a very busy weekend.  After I took my shower in the morning (Thank you God!), the water went ran out.  We have been without running for two days, but it finally came back on this evening.  This meant hauling water in buckets from outside for all our needs, including bathing and washing the hair of around 30 girls.  Needless to say, I was beat at the end of the day.  Today we went to mass and after mass we took about thirty of the girls to the botanical gardens.  They were so beautiful and it gave the girls an opportunity for some space and freedom.  Yesterday was Angela´s birthday (one of the volunteers) so Anna I baked a chocolate cake and a gentlemen friend we met at Bible study took Angela and I out for a nice lunch.  The foot here is so good.  On our day off, Thursday) Angela and I discovered a charming little Mexican restaurant and had had the happy hour special...three tacos and a delicioso margarita for two dollors.  Just as an aside, I want you to know that as I write this, Emilia, a five year old, has so far fixed my up with a pirate patch on my left eye and arranged what she refers to as my big hair behind my ears.

Dinner time is approaching, so I need to close.  I´ve learned so much these last two weeks.  My Spanish is improving daily and I´ve learned how to wash clothes by hand, navigate the bus system, pick lice out the girls´hair and my own , I might add, and so many other things.  I still need to figure out how to post my pictures, but they should be coming soon.   Love to all of you!

Judy