June 3, 2011
I can’t quite decide whether to keep my journal in English or Spanish or whether to handwrite it or type it but I figure for the sake of sharing it with the people I love most it will be more helpful to type it up.
I have just spent my first day in Cochabamba, Bolivia, where I will be for 78 days according to what I told the guy at customs, and I think it is right. I am totally exhausted and don’t think that I have had more than two hours of sleep since yesterday so I don’t know how long I will last. Today was a beautiful day and when I stepped of the plane in Cochabamba it hit me. I felt a rush of excitement and a relief for having finally arrived. It was a crisp morning and the sun was shining. Once I walked down the stairs and off of the plane I went to baggage claim with my companeras Betsy and Lise. It took a while to get our bags but was quite entertaining as the woman on the loud speaker announced flights with an incredible liturgical incantation. Luz Stella was waiting for us outside of the airport and it showed us to her old school colorful land cruiser that would be our ride home. We passed through crazy bustling streets but I didn’t pay much attention to the city because I was paying close attention to every word she said about MAP and their programs. By this point it was all Spanish so it required a good bit more attention than English. We made a quick stop at a roadside vendor for plantains and oranges and a few minutes later we were headed up the stone road to Chilimarca, hearing stories of the adobe houses and dirt roads that have now been destroyed as people have come in housing developments are occurring in the area. We passed by the library, health clinic, and school before reaching the adjoining lot where the guesthouses have been built. A dog greeted us at the gate and a few more followed as we were quickly oriented to the property and walked into our house to drop our bags before breakfast.
After a light breakfast of eggs and fruit with Luz Stella and the students from Eastern (not great Spanish speakers) we returned to our rooms for a quick powernap and then were back in action, learning about programs, visiting all of the MAP facilities and watching the children’s productions for teacher’s day. To honor their teachers they put on a couple of hours of beautiful dances for their teachers. From Kindergarten to high school the children performed various traditional dances and a few groups even threw in some modern reggaeton type dances. This was a true highlight of the day for me because I got to meet some of the children and get a good look into the day to day life of the kids and the energy that is behind the school. The children ran right up to me and hugged me and asked lots of questions, they are just adorable. Some were dressed in the most entertaining little outfits that mixed traditional clothes with more western styles. Spider Man was the only brand I recognized today, besides the harrah’s hat that a mother was wearing when she game to pick up her child. There are over 200 children at the school and they are responsible for their own education and are taught self-agency in a truly innovative Montessori type style. It is quite chaotic compared to traditional schools but I see how it could work well for children. I just don’t know that I could do it everyday. There are many things here that don’t seem quite as neat or tidy as I would have them but they are coming together and I am trying to just go with the flow. Things are relatively simple but far more here than most people in the community have. Hopefully photos will help illustrate my physical setting.
If I could wrap up the day in a sentence I would say that I ate, I met a lot of people, I listened, and I was super tired. On that note, I sleep.
**I am thankful for electric and running water, I am comfortable, I am tired, I miss Franklin a bit.
June 4, 2011
Today is Saturday, ie market day. This morning we woke up at seven and I tried to shower but the water was too cold for me to wash my hair so I decided to stick to washing the body for now. We later got the water problem resolved, I hope. I then went and drank some coca tea and had a piece of fruit before we went to the market with the whole group. We took a bus that was rented privately for our group but usually runs between the center of the city and here in Chilimarca. We spoke English much of the time because the group of students from Eastern University don’t speak much Spanish. Along with other students we were accompanied by Luz Stella and her daughters Navy and Marta.
As we entered the market we had two main missions. Our first was to try the typical breakfast of fried corn and a purple corn drink. The pastel tasted like a funnel cake with queso fresco inside of it whereas the drink was unlike anything I had ever had before. Served hot, it was like drinking water down sweet grits, but tasted much better than that sounds. We all sat in a group and ate the breakfast hot off of the press.
Our next mission was to buy things for the week ahead. There was a terrible accident yesterday involving the husband and the son of the cook at the MAP center. Therefore, the duties of preparing food have been handed off to Luz Stella for the next few days. We roamed the market and helped her to find all kinds of fresh produce, meats, cheese, and dried goods. Our only non-food purchase was the toilet paper. The market was rather calm and well organized which made the entire experience much more pleasant for me.
Upon our return around noon we began preparing for the barbecue. We cooked a ton of food and I was in charge of the potato salad, which I made like a good southern girl and others pitched in where they could. We grilled out under a tree and the MAP family and the students all shared the meal we had prepared together. The whole undertaking took a few hours and it was four o’clock before everything was said and done but overall really pleasant and enjoyable.
After cleanup the Emory group attempted to head to the library to use the internet but to no avail. Thus, it will be a while longer before I can update the world. After swinging for a while on the school playground we returned to our house for a while before our meeting with Jose Miguel and Luz Stella, and here I am, writing, a bit tired, and ready to just relax for a while.
**I am still thinking a great deal about Franklin, and about the relationship that we have. I think we can do this really, and I am coming to realize more each day how wonderful it is to be around him. I love the man, I really do. I think it will be important for me to continue on my adventures and keep doing all of these things that I find important, and I have faith that it will all work out for us, just as it should.
June 5, 2011-Sunday
Today has been a rather calm and peaceful day thus far. Betsy and I started our day with a little yoga and sun salutations in our dining room before showering and going to make tea (mate de coca) that we took to the open chapel as we watched the sun come up behind the mountains. We sat very peacefully listening to the birds chirp and watching little animals playing in the tall grasses beyond where we sat.
We next went to the school and found that the internet was open for us and used that for a bit before going down to the festival at the school. It was used as a type of fundraiser for the school and the were probably around a hundred people there or more. The children put on some dances similar to the ones they had done on Friday and there were also traditional bands and singers providing entertainment while everyone ate at the different food stations set up by parents from the school. I had the opportunity to try the sopa de mani, or peanut soup. It was different than I had expected and contained a lot more cream and even noodles which surprised me. I sat at the tables under the tent at my station but admittedly didn’t talk much or try to meet new people and instead focused on the entertainment and took a few photos. After eating I roamed around a bit to take photos and then went to sit in the shade near the MAP folks and the Americans. I enjoyed the company of a few of the school children and then went to play with them on the playground and had fun swinging and playing house.
Since then I have just had a quiet and relaxing afternoon reading outside in the sunshine and enjoying a day of rest.
June 6, 2011
I am having a really interesting time. For the most part I am glad that I am living in such a peaceful place and that I get to see the mountains all the time but I think it might get a little boring so I will surely be in need of some traveling. Today was really interesting at my first day of work and we had a meeting all morning long to learn about the team based system that they have here but it also involved a lot of praying and singing hymns and stuff which was a little strange but most everyone had really important things to say and seem to have a really dedication to the work that they are doing and care so much about the people that they help. This afternoon we had a long presentation on how the organization thinks about children and about teaching versus facilitating in the process of learning. Most things I tended to agree with but it was very very heavily theological and there were some points of contention for me or things that I wasn't really convinced about and felt like I was being preached to a little bit. They talk about the ability of children to discover things for themselves and explore but it seems like their explorations are still supposed to lead them to Jesus so I have a lot of questions to ask. Jose Miguel and Luz Stella seem to be very open to questions though which is great. Anyway, things overall are going really well and I am sure that this is going to be a good learning experience.
June 7, 2011
Overall I would say that, today has been a pretty good day. Lunch was a little oily because we ate at the school but I told them I was a vegetarian so I didn't have to eat the sardines and I got a deep fried egg instead. I am thinking about being a vegetarian while I am here and maybe eating a little bit every now and then but it looks like it is going to be a lot of chicken feet and whatnot if we are eating with the kids in the school so it might be much more pleasant to pass and get extra vegetables and some beans or an egg.
The school is really sweet and they are apparently doing some pretty radical things for here but it seems a lot like the school that I worked at back home, especially when I was with the kindergarten kids using a lot of manipulatives and hands on materials, and teaching a lot about how to be healthy including healthy foods, healthy habits like brushing your teeth, and healthy behavior. It is a little bit strange to me at times that they are talking so much about diversity and being open to so many different people and allowing children to discover their own spirituality but they still say the lord's prayer at lunch. On a really positive note, the kids are so cute that I can hardly stand it. They are really sweet and friendly, they come up to give hugs, talk, and tell me all about what they are learning. I haven't done much with the higher grades yet but the younger ones are rocking my world and appear to be really smart and know a lot. Today I did some observations from age 1 until grade three and they were all super sweet. Some classrooms are MUCH cleaner than others but it more of less functions well. I also spent a couple of hours in a presentation today that didn't really tell me that much that I hadn't already been told by the director but it was interesting to see how everyone is saying the same things essentially.
I am not exactly sure how it came to be or how this information was created but in many ways it seems like they all supporting the same ideas, theories, and methodologies and it seems to be really positive and helpful.
Everyone seems really invested in the work that they are doing here and they seem to care tremendously about the children that they are working with and working for.
I spent the afternoon writing some commentaries about the work that they are doing here and some of the materials that they have shared with us this far and had us read. It was nice to be able to sit at my house and do my work and then go out to the open chapel and enjoying reading for a bit in the sun. I am having a nice little break now until I have my first Quechua lesson at 6:30. I hope all goes well.
Yesterday was really beautiful and interesting as well because I was at the center for the abused kids and we didn't really see kids much but we talked a lot with lawyers and coordinators about all of the work that they are doing. It was also great because I felt really really comfortable for one of the first times and I got to spend a while with some other employees of MAP. Cube is a lot closer to the city center so we went down to the plaza and I got to walk the streets, feed the birds, try some chicha, and experience a lot more. We walked through some of the very small market stalls in the area where they sell a lot of books and jewelry and handicrafts. I even saw a couple of places where they do nose piercings but they weren’t using the right kind of needle so I will have to keep looking and have to make sure I feel comfortable with it. I spoke so much more Spanish and I think a lot of that was because I felt so comfortable and was able to relax.
Across from the plaza de 14 de Septiembre is the big old catholic church of the conquest and we went in to visit and it actually made me miss St.David's. I spoke to Julia who was showing us around and I told her how different and how beautiful that little church is at home. I have never been anywhere quite like it and if I ever live in the area any time soon I think that will be my church. I explained what the services are like, the size of the church, and the sense of community that I feel there. I also tried to explain how simple, kind, and sharing everyone is. I think it is in many ways the same type of story that I tell to people in the United States that seems just as unusual to them, that you leave church and have to take some vegetables, flowers, or garlic from the bench that Chad has filled with stuff from his garden. I tell them about the homemade bread and the soups and dinners that are really made with love with food from people’s gardens at home. Of course the list goes on with Michael’s songs, recognizable voices when we are singing, the sense of calm and peace that is in there, etc. but I usually don’t have time to explain all of the little things but I think I get the message across. Maybe it serves more as a way to get the message across to myself. I think this is appropriate space and time to reflect some on spiritual and religious issues given the setting that I am in, it only seems appropriate.
Now, back to Cochabamba. I also had a great Indian/Bolivian vegetarian lunch buffet that was full of delicious vegetables. It was a really great day and I can't wait to go back to that area and see more. I hope that I get to do some more work with CUBE and to know that part of Cochabamba better. A ver.
Today was also a really wonderful day and I went to one of the more rural areas called Molinos that isn't actually far from here at all but you can see a major difference in the town and also in the school and in the children. We went with a nurse from the clinic to do a checkup that they do every few months to check from mal or undernutrition. Most had a really good weight today but some were pretty short and there is one that we think might have Kwashiorkor. I spent my morning weighing, measuring, and giving vitamins to little kids. I tried to talk to the mothers that brought their children with them but it was really difficult with some because they didn't speak castellano (Spanish), they only spoke Quechua. I am learning, but there is only so much that I can do. The nurse spoke a lot in Quechua and that made everything run smoothly.(See facebook for more information) :-)
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