Christmas greetings to all on this fine summer day!
Well, it's summer here in Bolivia, anyway... :) Warm, sunny mornings and afternoon showers and thunderstorms are the pattern for our weather this week. Unfortunately, this means that our power and Internet have been even more on-and-off than usual, so we apologize if you haven't heard from us when you hoped to.
It's very pleasantly cool in the evenings, when it usually clears off and we can see every star in the sky. Seems like it, anyway! Very little light pollution here makes for fantastic stargazing. We hear our friends and family in Iowa had a snowy Christmas -- we miss you all! We never thought we would miss snow, but Delaney in particular has had trouble "feeling Christmas-y" with no snow. She is definitely an Iowan.
Our Christmas was delightful here. You'll have to forgive me if I double up on some of what has happened, but our posts have been hard to get out with the Internet being on the frizt so much this past couple of weeks. We walked down below to spend the night, then spent a little while filling the flour, sugar and rice bags for the village families. Then we hung out and ate yummy homemade pizza for supper before the Christmas Eve mass -- we have to thank Ursula, the current volunteer from Germany, for the pizza. She says she used to make it for youth group stuff for her kids all the time, so she got pretty good at it. It was delicious! Then we went over to the chapel to wait for mass to start, and I realized I knew a Christmas carol in German, so Ursula, Delaney and I spent a wonderful few minutes singing Stille Nacht. Once mass started, there were village children all dressed up who marched and danced up front in the traditional style. It was a nice start to the evening. Then we had our mass, led by the local seminarian, Fr. Alejandro. He did a good job for his first time, although he was visibly nervous. He was smiling by the end, though!
We all went back to the guest house and had a great time playing cards and singing carols in several languages. Cookies, fruitcake, leftover wine and Jeff's homemade Bailey's were all served, and it was a fun night for us all. We got up fairly early on Christmas morning. Delaney did have a couple of presents to open (thanks to Nana and Sally for sending those!!), so she did that over Hugh's Christmas bread, more fruitcake and leftover pizza. A little bit later Delaney and I made Christmas cookies by rolling sugar cookie dough balls in chopped Brazil nuts, then pressing them flat and sprinkling little candy Christmas trees on the tops. Everyone liked them, and we left a big plate when we went home after lunch. Lunch was prepared by the students who stayed on campus, it was a yummy traditional meal with potatoes, chicken pieces, bananas, etc.
We hung around playing games and socializing after lunch, then eventually Hugh loaded us up in the campus SUV and gave us a ride home. It was nice not to have to carry our stuff back up -- thanks Hugh! We did receive a wonderful Christmas gift the next morning -- Sr. Cris, Hugh, and some students showed up with our new fridge! The Volunteer House had a newer, bigger one donated, so we got the one they had before. It will be very nice to have all that extra space, since it is twice the size of the little dorm fridge we had before. We are very thankful.
The rest of this week has been quiet, as we are gearing up for our trip to the Bolivian Amazon, which will probably happen next week. Thanks again to St. Andrew's for the wonderful Christmas gift, and we love and miss you all ---
Susan
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Merry Christmas to all
Well, as promised, this time I will tell you a bit about what the Christmas season has been like for us so far. The first thing to tell you about is that the seasons have definitely changed here! Most of November was dry and sunny and warm -- beautiful weather in the 80s every day, very much like April or May back in Iowa. Last week, the weather changed. The rainy season is upon us -- it rains every day and every night. Not all the time, but enough that it is hard to find a time to hang laundry or bake bread (at this elevation, it is hard enough to get bread to rise properly. Add a cool, rainy day and it's nearly impossible!) The good news is that it is still warm in the afternoons, so you don't really mind having to go out in the rain too much.
I think we have mentioned before that they don't have the big Christmas shopping season that we have in the States. That is not to say that there isn't one, however. A couple of weeks ago, a few decorations began popping up in the shops of Coroico and we began to see the festive red boxes of fruitcake (the local version is more like a golden spongecake with candied fruit baked in) stacked in many shops and at the kiosks of many street vendors. As a matter of fact, the San Gabriel fruitcake boxes are probably the most visible sign of Christmas in Bolivia! LOL
Seriously, though, a few places are decorated a little bit. It was a little different in La Paz when we were there earlier this week -- there are towering artificial trees in every plaza and along the main boulevards in town. Many businesses are decorated, and Christmas music of various origins plays in some shops and restaurants. It is not as saturated as in the States, but it was nice to remember that Christmas is near.
Christmas trees are not unknown here, but they are not something most people have in their house. Most people in our area do not even decorate. We felt the need to have something, so we bought a string of Christmas lights and put them up on nails in the shape of a Christmas tree on a wall in our apartment. Cookie, our cat, promptly bit the plug off the cord, so the lights don't work, but it is still a nice wall hanging.
Most of the students and many staff members here at the UAC are gone now, home to family or on vacation (yes, this is the summer vacation from school). Some will stay, and there are events next week that I will tell you about next time we post. The staff party was last Thursday -- we had a nice Advent mass in the little chapel here on the upper campus (Padre Freddy's message was about really caring about the answer when we greet someone by asking how they are, and about how we should use this as a tool to share the love of Christ with others, and this isn't something we should just do at this time of year. Sound familiar to anyone? Suzanne's Christmas People Throughout the Year sermon came to mind...)
The mass was followed by a delicious Bolivian meal (a bowl of fragrant mildly spiced broth, cut up pieces of chicken and beef with the bone still in, carrots, two different kinds of potatoes and onions) that was shared with the students still present and the Bishop. Then the staff retired to a meeting room and exchanged gifts in the Secret Santa style. When it was your turn, you stood in the center of the circle and described the person you were giving the gift to, so that people could maybe guess, then revealed the name as you went to them to give them their gift. It was fun! We gave a pliers set to the Sister who manages maintenance, some small files to the carpenter, and a set of decorative candles to our friend Hugh (with a reminder that he was a light in the lives of so many). We received a fancy scarf, a Corocio coffee mug, and a Coroico knit cap. Plus, the UAC gave away a San Gabriel fruitcake and a nice bottle of table wine to each staffer/volunteer. It was a fun party, and we really enjoyed it.
St. Andrew's, our home church, was very generous in their Christmas gifts this week. They raised enough money to buy the entire list of tools that Jeff posted, plus a nice monetary gift for us that we will use to travel to the Bolivian Amazon in a couple of weeks. We are so grateful for their financial support, and for the love and prayers that they and many others have shared with us during our time here. Thank you so much, all of you, for your caring support. We know you are all here with us in Spirit, and we thank you for sharing that with us.
Christmas blessings and peace to all, and stay tuned for more news from Bolivia!
Susan
I think we have mentioned before that they don't have the big Christmas shopping season that we have in the States. That is not to say that there isn't one, however. A couple of weeks ago, a few decorations began popping up in the shops of Coroico and we began to see the festive red boxes of fruitcake (the local version is more like a golden spongecake with candied fruit baked in) stacked in many shops and at the kiosks of many street vendors. As a matter of fact, the San Gabriel fruitcake boxes are probably the most visible sign of Christmas in Bolivia! LOL
Seriously, though, a few places are decorated a little bit. It was a little different in La Paz when we were there earlier this week -- there are towering artificial trees in every plaza and along the main boulevards in town. Many businesses are decorated, and Christmas music of various origins plays in some shops and restaurants. It is not as saturated as in the States, but it was nice to remember that Christmas is near.
Christmas trees are not unknown here, but they are not something most people have in their house. Most people in our area do not even decorate. We felt the need to have something, so we bought a string of Christmas lights and put them up on nails in the shape of a Christmas tree on a wall in our apartment. Cookie, our cat, promptly bit the plug off the cord, so the lights don't work, but it is still a nice wall hanging.
Most of the students and many staff members here at the UAC are gone now, home to family or on vacation (yes, this is the summer vacation from school). Some will stay, and there are events next week that I will tell you about next time we post. The staff party was last Thursday -- we had a nice Advent mass in the little chapel here on the upper campus (Padre Freddy's message was about really caring about the answer when we greet someone by asking how they are, and about how we should use this as a tool to share the love of Christ with others, and this isn't something we should just do at this time of year. Sound familiar to anyone? Suzanne's Christmas People Throughout the Year sermon came to mind...)
The mass was followed by a delicious Bolivian meal (a bowl of fragrant mildly spiced broth, cut up pieces of chicken and beef with the bone still in, carrots, two different kinds of potatoes and onions) that was shared with the students still present and the Bishop. Then the staff retired to a meeting room and exchanged gifts in the Secret Santa style. When it was your turn, you stood in the center of the circle and described the person you were giving the gift to, so that people could maybe guess, then revealed the name as you went to them to give them their gift. It was fun! We gave a pliers set to the Sister who manages maintenance, some small files to the carpenter, and a set of decorative candles to our friend Hugh (with a reminder that he was a light in the lives of so many). We received a fancy scarf, a Corocio coffee mug, and a Coroico knit cap. Plus, the UAC gave away a San Gabriel fruitcake and a nice bottle of table wine to each staffer/volunteer. It was a fun party, and we really enjoyed it.
St. Andrew's, our home church, was very generous in their Christmas gifts this week. They raised enough money to buy the entire list of tools that Jeff posted, plus a nice monetary gift for us that we will use to travel to the Bolivian Amazon in a couple of weeks. We are so grateful for their financial support, and for the love and prayers that they and many others have shared with us during our time here. Thank you so much, all of you, for your caring support. We know you are all here with us in Spirit, and we thank you for sharing that with us.
Christmas blessings and peace to all, and stay tuned for more news from Bolivia!
Susan
Sunday, December 15, 2013
12-14-2013
Well, it is
officially Summer Break here now. Some students are still making up homework
and final exams, but for the most part, the campus is getting quiet. (Yeah!)
Some folks
have requested more financial information about the students here at the
UAC-CP. Tuition for students is set at 1500 b’s or $215 per semester while the
actual cost to educate a student is around $1000 per semester. For the meal
plan of 3 meals per day, students pay 160 b’s and the UAC-CP contributes 100 b’s
for a total of 260 b‘s or around $37 per month, or around 1300 b’s or $187 per
semester. These prices cover the basic needs, but do not include any extras
like school supplies or bus fares to town or home. The bus fare to Coroico is 5
b’s each way. I will leave it to the Godly Play Instructor to remove the
American dollar amounts to give a budding accountant the opportunity to
practice math skills!
Students of
the UAC-CP come from all walks of life. We have students from the big city of La
Paz, to students born and raised right here in Carmen Pampa, and every size
town in between. It is kind of fun watching the students interact from their
various backgrounds. Watching the students from the city get their hands dirty,
and the rural students getting dressed up for their presentation of the thesis
project shows a transformation that can only come through education. I am just
proud and humbled to be here assisting them in getting that education.
I would
like to congratulate 4 people in my post today. First, I would like to send a
BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my grandson Diego! Sorry it couldn’t have been on your
birthday! He is a whopping 7 years old as of yesterday!!! Second, our upstairs
neighbor Gladys Rivera successfully defended her thesis this past week. She is
officially an Agronomy Engineer now. Third and fourth, my oldest brother Fred
Cornforth was recently married to his beautiful bride, Jill Middag Cornforth. Welcome to the
family Jill, and CONGRATS to both of you!
Delaney has
started her own blog (finally! :) )The web address for that blog is: murmersfrombolivia.wordpress.com.
Check it out and let her know what you think!
I think I will end for now so I can try to
upload this post. The Internet for the campus has been down since earlier yesterday,
due to rain. I will add some more tool
prices from things that are useful and needed here later this week.
Remember to
smile at someone, if for no other reason than to make them wonder what you are
up too! Also, remember that we should be Christmas People throughout the year!
God’s Peace
to each and every one of you!
Jeff
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Here are some additional items: I will continue gathering items and their costs!
The
abbreviation of Bolivianos is simply “b’s”
Electrical
Lineman’s Pliers: 28 b’s
Toilet
Plunger: 15 b’s
Soldering
Iron: 28 b’s
Extension
Cords
Short: 14 b’s
Long:
Around 100 b’s (I don’t have an exact amount)
Door Knob
Sets: 75 b’s
Electrical
Tape: 14 b’s
Peace!
Jeff
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