Christmas in Bolivia

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

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

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

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

Below is a partial list of materials and tools that would be helpful. As I come upon other needs, I will add to the list:

Roughly, $1 is equal to 7 Bolivianos

All purpose screws: 3 per 1 Bolivianos

All purpose nails: 3 per 1 Bolivianos

PVC Pipe threader: 25 Bolivianos, different sizes available for slightly different costs.

Hammer: 75 Bolivianos

All purpose saw: 50 Bolivianos

Non electric Hand drill: 45 Bolivianos

Bits for drill: 15-50 Bolivianos depending on selection

Electric tools

Circular saw: 380 Bolivianos

Drill, Corded: 170 Bolivianos

Drill, Cordless: 370 Bolivianos

Bits for drill: 15-50 Bolivianos depending on selection

I thank God each day for all of you in our lives.

Peace,

Jeff

Imagine, if you will, the cost of doing business for 650 students. Providing for 50 students more wouldn't require much of an increase in supplies. Now imagine planning for 700 students, but losing funding of 50 scholarships, for a loss of $100,000. That is what happened to the UAC when Bolivian President Evo Morales, kicked USAID out of Bolivia earlier this year. USAID provided the funds to cover those 50 scholarships, plus funding for other projects including building dormitories, and other building projects, as well as the supplies to maintain those projects and buildings. The financial hardship spreads to other areas as well. Next semester, the English department has to cut their monthly contribution to the room and board of the 4 volunteer teachers to $25, down from $50. This may not seem like much, but for our family that is a week’s worth of groceries. When you depend on funds from donors for your survival, personally and institutionally, losing a major funding source like USAID is painful. Please pray that our two governments can find a way to get along. The people of Bolivia need places like the UAC to help themselves. It’s true what they say, that if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, but if you teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime. (Unless you fish like Delaney… J)

On the bright side, the students are doing very well. Smiles and “Hola”s are always fruitful walking around campus. My plan to blend in hasn't gone too well. When you are my size, that doesn't happen! Bus drivers, cabbies, even the newspaper guy in Coroico wave and beep horns or shout “Buenos dias!” For this, and so many other things, I am thankful. Friends, family, brothers in arms, even friends I have yet to meet, you are in my thoughts and prayers.

From the 3 of us to everyone out there, Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!

Jeff

Someone mentioned to us (Susan, Delaney, and me), that we have been posting “having fun, wish you were here” blogs and not explaining the needs and conditions here. The needs of these people are great still. The help is still necessary. Susan, Delaney, and I are more of a “make the most of it” kind of people, we apologize for glossing over some of the more unpleasant details. On the maintenance front, jobs are too numerous to mention. Each job that comes up has to wait for supplies. For example, the most recent task I was given required a bag of plaster, or “estucco.” A bag of plaster costs 28 Bolivianos, or about $4. I ended up waiting for 3 weeks for a bag of plaster. Normally, I would have just gone and purchased this, but we are not being paid to be here. We still have our “normal bills” at home, so we end up short at the end of each month, stretching our food budget until rice and beans look like gourmet food. I end up buying most of the tools that I use for the different projects. I will leave these tools when I am done here, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t more tools that are needed. Supplies are needed, skilled labor is needed, and tools are needed. In short, we are needed.

Earlier today, a friend of mine asked how she could come and do what we are doing. She wondered how hard it was to get down here, so I told her. The process of being accepted as a volunteer is not hard; the visa process is not hard. What is hard is leaving behind technology. Leaving behind reliable power/internet/phone service, easy access to convenience food… in short, our way of life. I have been off the Internet quite a bit recently due to computer issues, so I have been “cut off”. Little things, like finding peanut butter, become a success. Taking CD players apart, and making 1 working one from 3 broken ones, become a success. Finding a decently made tool, for a reasonable price, becomes a success. Having a friend ask how he/she can help becomes a success. Finding a teacher for the UAC is a HUGE success, and an even bigger success is finding the $50 a month to pay the room/board for that teacher(hint, hint). Next semester, every English teacher will have to fund half of their salary themselves($25), because the funding just isn't there right now. Now $25 a month doesn't sound like much, but consider the fact that that teacher is already here volunteering, not back home with a steady paycheck. The UAC can’t afford to pay $200 a month for four teachers, that’s the unfortunate downside to having four volunteers willing to teach. But thank God there will be four – there is certainly a need for them. For the first time, the UAC will be able to offer an English 3 class for students not in the Tourism program. J

I apologize for making things sound better off than they are here. For those that know me personally, you probably expected this. From here on out, I will try to temper my updates and mix the needs and the enjoyment of doing good works. No matter how hard things might get here, I wouldn’t change a thing. Seeing Delaney blossom in her library is worth all of the dental problems. Seeing Susan’s students respond to her teaching is worth all of the walking. Seeing plants appear slowly in my “gutter planter“ project makes up for the sweat and blood my many projects have cost me.

Next blog, I will try to list some tools that I could use here, and their prices. That way, if you feel moved by the spirit, you can donate to specific tools. For example, a manually operated hand drill (looks like an old fashioned hand crank egg beater) runs about $8. Many times my jobs don’t include power, so this would be helpful.

On a lighter note, we have spotted more unique wildlife this last week. Susan spotted a Capuchin Monkey at the local market, along with a Toucan bird in the wild, and I have spotted a large Spider Monkey in the wild as well as an Avocado tree!

I wish you all God’s Peace in this holiday season. It doesn’t feel like Thanksgiving yet, and there won’t be a tv on with football at the guest house while we gather to eat our meal on the 30th. Be thankful for what you have, be generous to strangers and friends alike. Cause someone to smile, without expecting anything in return. Smile at people you pass on the sidewalk, and always give thanks.

Bendicion!

Jeff

Baseball and other ruminations...

Hi everyone!
      I missed you all last time. We have been having so much fun in English class, though. Our Halloween party was a roaring success, and next comes the baseball game this week. I am really looking forward to this, and so are many of my students. It is a shame we have to hold it while so many others are in class, otherwise, I think we would have the whole campus there! We hunted and hunted for a ball, since they don't play baseball or softball here at all. We have found some wiffle ball style ones that will do the trick. Jeff came up with the idea of re-purposing a piece of PVC pipe for the bat -- turns out it is just the right size and weight for wiffle balls - and no gloves needed. I will try to get some pictures posted next weekend, depending on how fast the Internet connection is (sometimes I have to wait until our infrequent visits to La Paz to upload photos because the connection here is so slow the upload times out).
     We are official now -- we finally have our national ID cards, so we can stop carrying our passports everywhere. This is a relief because the ID cards are MUCH easier to replace if something happens to them.
     The weather has been so beautiful this week -- it is definitely getting to be summer. Every day has been warm and sunny, and the evenings are pleasantly cool (thanks Uchumachi!). We have been thinking of doing some stargazing, since we have no idea what we are looking at in the night sky here. Jeff found a great piece of software to download, but we haven't tried it yet. I'm hoping it will be clear again Sunday evening and we can go take a look then. In the meantime, six days of dry weather means the road to Coroico is MUCH better, which was nice for market day today. Most of the washouts are dry now and so you don't have to get all muddy everywhere you go. It's nice. We will be hanging all our bedding on the line tomorrow to freshen it (provided it doesn't rain!), the only downside to that is that the dust from the road has to be shaken out before we bring it all in. Can't win 'em all, I guess.
     Speaking of market day today, I saw an interesting sight this morning in Coroico -- a woman with a pet capuchin monkey on a harness, sitting on her shoulder prim as you please! It was quite a sight, and unusual enough around here that it wasn't just me staring in fascination -- I looked around and saw many of the Bolivians surrounding me were staring as well. It was a pretty cool thing to see.
     I know the holiday season is rapidly approaching, but it is kind of surreal to think about it here, with summer weather and NO MARKETING. It is quite nice that it is mid-November and no one is really even talking about Christmas. I think I like it, but I haven't decided yet. Stay tuned! Speaking of the holidays, I will make a shameless plug for donations. If you are considering making a charitable gift this year, please consider either the Carmen Pampa Fund, which directly funds scholarships and food for students here at the college, or our Bolivia Fund at St. Andrew's. Those funds go to support the three of us during our year here, including class supplies like markers, posters and baseballs. Thanks so much for thinking of us here in the sunny Southern Hemisphere, and may God's peace be with you~
     Susan

New pictures posted

Click on these links to see some new pictures:

Casa Padre Bertram

Delaney and the Children's Library

Hello all!
Susan isn't feeling well, so I get to control this weeks post!
This past week was interesting. Halloween came and Susan and Delaney shared some of our traditions. First, they both dressed in costume. Susan went as a witch, tall black hat, broom, and thanks to Cookie, a black cat! Delaney went as a pirate. Everyone agreed with me that she should have had an eye patch, but she refused. I did get to tell my pirate joke. I enjoy telling it, so: What is a pirate's favorite letter? You might think it would be Arrrrrrrr, but it's the sea! Ok, all groans aside, the students really enjoyed the whole experience. They even got treats. Delaney made Banana bread, and they each got some. They listened to many halloweenish songs including Thriller, Monster Mash, the theme from Jaws, I put a spell on you, etc. A good time was had by all! Susan will post the pictures tomorrow night when we are in La Paz to pick up our visas! Yeah!!!

Delaney is doing well in school, and in working around the campus. She is in great demand from all of the kids for the library. I have had kids come up to me in Coroico to ask when the library will be open. Kids from other communities are aware that the library is open, and word is spreading. Delaney is even checking books out to children for their parents to read. Literacy is a beautiful thing!

Well enough for now, but know that each and every one of you is in our prayers, as we hope that we are in yours!

La paz,

Jeff

Wow, what a ride! 

We have been so blessed to have this experience.  I know we are only around 4 months into our year, but I am just so incredibly happy to be here! Now that I have had the two teeth that were causing me the most trouble pulled, I can finally get going on the several jobs that have been laid before me. For someone that is rarely sick, I have been ill several times in our short time here. Teeth can really mess you up!

The most recent addition of my “Jeffy do” list is the Casa Padre Bertram. This is a retreat house the Catholic Diocese of Coroico allows the UAC-CP use for simply maintaining the buildings. The main house has 17 bedrooms, a kitchen, 3 big bathrooms, a large multi-purpose room, and beautiful sidewalks for contemplation with benched areas for small group activities. The smaller building is the big kitchen and eating area. The pictures that Susan will post will show you all what I am talking about as far as the outdoor stuff. What a beautiful setting for retreats! The lists of things to do were plumbing, carpentry, screen repair, and glass work. As some of you know, I hate plumbing. So, of course, that is what is giving me headaches. I managed to accomplish 2 of the 3 of the plumbing tasks, but one is still a mess. The glass was easy, and I didn’t cut myself once! The carpentry consisted of a board that I think had dry rotted. It was responsible for holding up a shower stall door, so it had to go! Taking it out of the wall revealed that when it had been put up, it had had nails driven into it on the back, and then the exposed nails were pushed into the wet concrete on the wall. I’ll use anchors, thank you very much.

We continue to find joy over most hills, and we also continue to share God’s peace with everyone we meet. We pray that you are all well, and if not, that God will make you well. Please continue to pray for us and those that we share with you.

Shalom!

Jeff

Hey guys!

A while ago, I was blessed with the chance to be able to run a library for the children down on the lower campus. It’s something that they all really enjoy, and it’s awesome to see them get an opportunity that they normally wouldn't! The library is open from 12:30-2:30 Tuesdays and Fridays for checking out/returning books, and 2:30-3:30ish on Thursdays for reading only. It took me a while to learn all of their names, but there are about 159 people who've ever been there to check out a book, and out of those, I normally get about 40-50 kids every Tuesday and Friday, and about 20-30 of the whole number are adults/parents/teachers/siblings. It’s amazing to see these kids checking books out for their parents! I have all ages, anywhere from 4 or 5 to grown adults. On Thursdays, the reading day, I try to get someone (other than me) to read, and these past few times, I’ve gotten one of the other volunteers to read for me. Her name is Mai, and she’s from Vietnam. She speaks both Spanish and English fluently, so we can talk, and she can talk to the kids fluently, which is something I sometimes have trouble with.

It’s amazing to come walking down the hill into the campus and start walking over to the library and hear this several times, “Vas a abrir la biblioteca?” Which, for our non-Spanish speakers, means, “Are you going to open the library?” I also hear excited screams and yells when they see me coming that make me feel very appreciated and gives me a good feeling about what I’m doing for these kids. I have several girls (Usually Valeria, Mayerli, and Melanie with the occasional show of Karen or Maria Fernanda) who like to help me clean up, and there’s an older German volunteer who likes to come and read, interact with the kids, and help me clean up afterwards. Ursula and the girls are a very big help, and I’m thankful for all we’re able to do down here, with help or without it.

Peace,

Delaney

Party, party

Hi everyone,

     It's been a fun couple of weeks. Last week was the Fiesta Universitaria -- always a fun week filled with competitions between the carreras (sort of like departments, except a student takes all of his or her classes within the carrera, so more like majors) and party after party. We enjoyed the dancing, singing, sports and more all week and had a wonderful time! The carreras gain points throughout the week based on their finishes in each event, then at the end, a champion is crowned. This year's champion is Agronomia! This carrera is here on upper campus, and one of my classes is there. Also, the boys from this carrera are the ones on the other side of the wall from our apartment that we have told you about a few times. They had a big celebration the last three days, including a pig roast, a formal gala dinner and dance, fireworks (at 5 AM!), parade and lots of singing and music. It has been a fun few days. Tomorrow I will post a video I took this afternoon of the "parade" in front of our apartment. All of my Agronomia students were there, and they were having a blast!

     A couple of things to watch for this coming week: a link to the YouTube video of the volunteers and guest house residents dancing on stage last Saturday night (yours truly included! Watch for Delaney up front, and Jeff's new signature dance move near the end), plus we will be posting the English II student projects where they wrote to/about the future, for themselves, the UAC, and Bolivia. Also, this week my Education students will be baking banana bread on Wednesday morning, so taste test judging will happen that afternoon. I will post the winning team's photo and recipe as soon as I have it.

     The weather here is warming up, although it seems the rainy season may have started a little early. Prayer of the week: Lord, please let our clothes dry!!! But seriously, we would ask you to pray for our little 4-year-old neighbor girl Nathaly, who fell off the stair landing in the girls' dorm yesterday afternoon and hit her head. She has six stitches and a big bandage on her head. She fell about 10 feet onto concrete. Ouch! She is resting comfortably at home, apparently no broken bones, but YIKES! Thank God little kids bounce!

    We miss you all and may God's peace be with you~

     Susan

Cloud forest ruminations

     Two things that are fascinating about living in the cloud forest of Bolivia are the colors and the smells. The colors are hard to describe, being that I am a man, and therefore only able to see a limited number of colors. Those married men in our circle of readers will understand this statement without explanation. For those that are unmarried, men see red, blue, green, etc, while women see dusty rose/pink/fuschia/magenta/red, vibrant midnight/teal/baby/royal/electric/blues, chartreuse/forest/sage/pea/greens, and the list continues into oblivion. That being explained, I will begin my description! Looking out the window of our apartment, or the window of a bus to Coroico, one can see 300 different shades of green. This may sound like an exaggeration, but it seems as if each different plant you see is actually a different shade than the identical plant sitting right next to it. One can also see incredible reds, yellows, oranges, blues, and any other color that you can imagine. This is all before going to the market. If you go to the market in La Paz, you see flower markets with every color of the rainbow, and a whole lot more.  The fruit and vegetable market is a smear of colors that the human eye has trouble has trouble interpreting and differentiating. My words fall well short of the mark in trying to describe this to you all, so please look at the pictures that Susan posts to our Photobucket account. I have taken a bunch, and will continue to while we are here.

     The next items to fail at describing are the smells. The smells here are also of a wide spectrum, like the colors. Some smells are intoxicating, some are revolting. I will start on the revolting end first. Even though this country has changed so much in the past 13 years, it is still developing. Some homes here still don’t have indoor plumbing. Walking by can be a minefield. The nose cannot sidestep around the odor as the feet can miss the cause. Next in line would be the animals. Dogs, goats, sheep, chickens, pigs, cows, etc. add to the aroma as you walk through the countryside. The market place has the aromas of different meats and sometimes over ripe vegetables left out to the elements as the vendors hawk their wares. Dried beef, dried fish, beef, chicken, fish, pork, llama, papayas, mangoes, pineapples, bananas all mix into an aroma that sometimes smells like an exotic salsa, sometimes a smell that would have you leaving the market early to get some fresh air! The exhaust smells mingle with all of this to create an environment that keep you light-headed, and not just because of elevation. From here on out, the descriptions won’t be noxious! Walking around, you smell wonderful flowers. The trees here take turns blossoming. I say this because it is unusual to see identical trees waiting until the tree next to it blooms, and then fade before starting the process for itself. The coffee and orange trees are probably the most intoxicating. Simply walking through them can lift spirits, and make you crave the fruit, or the beverage! There is a section of the road to lower campus and the village that smells like there should be millions of bees in the air. The 20-foot section of roadside smells like honey. The smell is so strong, that Delaney and I investigated to see if they had hives behind the bushes. There is just something about the way that the different hedge flowers mingle that creates the intoxicating aroma of honey mead!

     The sights and smells of this country are incredible. I know that my descriptions are weak compared to the original, but I have given it my best shot. Next time, I will talk about the children around the campus.

Benedicion y la Paz!

Jeff

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This week's update

Delaney has decided to make Snickerdoodles this afternoon, and she has lots of short help. She came home from working at the Children’s Library on the lower campus to find children from here on the upper campus waiting for her. They wanted to exchange their books because they missed their storytime yesterday for a school event. By the time she had opened the library for them, a few more kids had shown up, so she spent a little time with all of them. Then the boys took off to play, and one at a time, the girls have shown up at the door to ask if they could learn to make cookies. So right now there are three little girls “helping” Delaney bake, chasing the cat, and generally making a joyful noise. What fun it is to have an apartment full of happy children’s voices!! And it is a real treat to listen to Delaney interact with them all, as they chatter along in Spanish and she does her best to keep up. Since I have the most contact with people on a daily basis, my Spanish is improving much more quickly than Jeff’s or Delaney’s, so she occasionally calls out to me to ask for a word. I really enjoy listening to the children speak, because they speak more slowly and clearly than many adults, and they make the same mistakes I do, so we understand each other! The girls’ names are Nathaly, Oriana, Sara, they range in age from 4-7, and Sara’s big brother Sergio just showed up to join the fun. He’s 8, and is just fascinated by all this. There is much laughing because Delaney drew Sergio in to help and he dumped about 5 times too much vanilla into the dough! Baking with small children is an adventure no matter what language they speak…

We have been concerned about Cookie because he is so painfully shy around any other humans besides us, but he is tolerating the kids just fine. As a matter of fact, he allows them to pick him up and carry him, pet his tummy, and even approach him while he’s relaxing. Amazing that he likes kids, when the mere sight of most adults sends him flying under the nearest piece of furniture in terror. I told Delaney we need to have the kids in to visit more often, so that Cookie can work on getting over his fear of people.

This week has been a little bittersweet. There has been a lot of fun as everyone practices whatever they are performing for the big fiesta next week (it’s the 20^th anniversary and there are competitions of every kind, including dancing, sports, acting, poetry, and even Miss/Mr). Sadly, however, it was rainy for days and that causes rock and mudslides. It makes traveling especially dangerous on our mountain roads, and we lost a student on Monday. A large rock came down and crushed the driver of the bus, killing him instantly. The passengers tried to get out, but I gather only one made it. 19 people died as the rest of the landslide took the bus over the edge while they were trying to escape. The survivor was hospitalized for a couple of days, and she was a UAC student. Another UAC student was among those killed. So we held a mass for her on Wednesday afternoon here in the upper campus chapel. While Mariela was not one of my English students, many of my students were friends of hers, so they were pretty subdued this week. This is usual a very vocal, joyous group, so it was very troubling to see them so down. With the big fiesta coming next week, I told them all their homework was to have fun, and I sincerely pray that they will.

Blessings to all!

Susan and company

Hello great big world!

Well, things have been interesting the past couple of weeks. First, I had a tooth pulled 2 weeks ago. I have another one that gets the same treatment Thursday. The alternative was root canal and crown for both, but that was a bit out of our budget. The dentist I have is awesome. He studied dentistry in Boston, so his English is great, and he got addicted to classic rock and roll, so instead of hearing Kenny G’s version of some pop song, I get to hear Bob Seager sing “Turn the page!” He is good at what he does too, which is a bonus!

Second, I had another QBE event. We are gearing up here for the 20^th Anniversary of the UAC. During this time, we will have activities every day for the 1^st week of October. Alumni, Donors, Fund Board members, and friends of the UAC, will be here seeing what has become of the campus, and celebrating the past, present and future of the UAC. The students have a competition with the other departments, or carreras. There are athletic events, talent shows, and many other events, like theater.  The reason that I point out theater is another amusing story of locking the dorms at night. I went up to quiet some of the Ag students that were practicing a tradition Bolivian song that they will perform. This involves a big Bass Drum, a Snare Drum, and a number of various sized Pan Flutes. These kids were playing and singing so loud that we could hear them through the wall and feel it in the floor. They were sorry for being so loud, but they were really enjoying themselves. So I locked up that dorm and came back to our apartment. I had just gotten into bed when I start hearing shouts and noises from that same floor. I thought the band had reformed. As I walked to the door, I realized that it wasn’t the band but the room next door. I heard the Spartan cheers from the movie “300.” I would hear the movie version, and then I would hear students copying it. When I pounded on the door, it swung open. The first thing I saw was a student standing on a wooden foot locker, waving a machete. I thought that I had gotten there just in time to see bloodshed. Then everything slowed down as my gaze moved about the room to see where the nearest threat might be. Being observant, I took in that everyone had a machete, or a wooden sword. I also noted that everyone was wearing a cape of some kind.  But when I saw the painted on beards, that was when I decided that there were no threats here. They were thespians practicing for their production of “300.” I actually laughed out loud in the room as I told them to quiet down for the night. Never a dull moment!

I had the honor of being a "tourist" for one of tourism students. Eddy had to give me the tour of the upper and lower campus. I dressed for the part, as you will see in the pictures that Susan posted. It was a great honor to be selected by Eddy, and I appreciated the effort that he put into showing me the campus, and telling me all the ins and outs of the UAC!

I have been working on a new project. Susan will post pictures of it the next time we are in La Paz. I am building a railing that is attractive, with ferns and flowers planted in 2 liter bottles and old gutters. It will keep students and children from falling 5 feet onto the concrete floor below, and be aesthetically appealing at the same time!

Things have changed here so much in the past 12, years that I have seen. I can’t imagine what the first students would think of us now! I am just so glad, and blessed, to be a part of this wonderful mission. The students and faculty here are just so thankful for the assistance that we provide. It is always a good feeling to know that you are making a difference.

It is also very comforting when I am having a bad day, fighting with the projects I have, or being sick, to feel a light but solid weight in the middle of my chest. The cross given to me by our home church has been a wonderful touch of home.

That is all for now, but know that each and every one of you is in our prayers, as we hope we are in yours!

Peace,

Jeff

Mail call

Today I am going to tell you about mail call. It was very reminiscent of my days in the Army when Sal (the mechanic/driver here on campus) knocked on our door to deliver some mail. He sorted through a whole handful of postcards, airmail envelopes and assorted other items. I felt like a little kid waiting for my first letter from the grandparents! There were items for everyone in the Guest House, which we took to pass along, plus a note for Sister Jean, but nothing for us. I was a little let down that we didn’t get anything. I didn’t realize I missed getting mail. I think most American adults would agree that we don’t really look forward to receiving mail usually, because it’s often just bills and advertising circulars. That got me to thinking about mail in the US versus mail here. At home, we kind of take our mail for granted. The carrier brings it to the door (or at least to our mailbox) every day, and then we glance through it and, if you’re like me, throw most of it in the recycle bin. Here, mail is nowhere near so routine. For one thing, we only get it when someone goes and picks it up in Coroico, which is 30 minutes away by car at best (one way). On a rainy day like today, it’s more like 45 minutes because the drivers have to go slower on the muddy, slippery road. For another thing, nobody in our whole area, even in Coroico, gets mail delivered to their home. All of the mail for our area goes to this lady’s living room, where you go and pick it up whenever you have time and space, and she has to be home for you to get it, which is not always a given either. The mail is not really much of a service here, and people don’t use the mail the way we use it at home. Most people don’t even really have an address, even in the city! This makes finding a new place interesting, to say the least. But think about the implications for communication when everything is done either by phone or in person. For example, we have to go back to La Paz in a couple of weeks to pick up our visa cards (these are permanent ID cards sort of like a green card in the US). This is a 6-8 hour round trip that costs about $10 per person. At home, these would just be mailed out to you. Heck, they even mail your passport! In Bolivia, very little seems to travel by mail. No advertisements, no party invites, no political leaflets, no bills! It is a very good example of just how different life here can be from home. And I’m not saying it is necessarily a bad thing or a good thing, just different. That’s your nugget this week – each day, when you get your mail, think about it. Just stop and be intentional about it for a few days. Think about your mail while you’re handling it. Maybe you will experience some sort of epiphany, maybe not, but it is certainly an opportunity to change how you think about the ways in which we communicate with each other. And, while we are thinking about mail, please consider sending us a note or a postcard, if you feel moved to do so. It would be very cool for there to be a few items for us the next time there’s mail call! Here’s how you address it:

     The Cornforths

     UAC-Carmen Pampa

     Coroico, Nor Yungas

     La Paz, BOLIVIA

     South America

Blessings to you all and peace,

Susan

A week in the life...

   I have to tell you about our class project for my Education students, because it is already so much fun! Delaney and I have made many, many loaves of banana bread since we got here. Why not? Bananas are cheap and tasty, and the bread is easy to make. They make a variety here that is a bit more cake-y (in fact, they call it cake). So we came up with the idea of baking banana bread as an English learning lesson. The students were a little stunned (their last project was much more 'academic,' so they weren't sure I was serious), but they are really on board with the idea now. We divided the class into four teams (there are 18 students), and this week they picked names for their teams and created a team poster that's blank in middle for now. I love the team names they chose: The First, Bad Boys Blue, Star Girls, and Crazy Guys. This class is such a fun, creative group. Their four posters are very different, but all delightful. They are all on black backgrounds, one has all the names formed by punching holes in neon colored paper and gluing the 'holes' in the shapes of the letters, one has stars and glitter and ribbon (guess which team that poster is for?), one has brightly colored blobs of paper with fancy lettering on them glued strategically on the poster, and one has shaded chalk drawings of local tree varieties (very beautiful!) We rolled them all up carefully and stored them for later in the department office. Next week they will choose among four recipes -- CALLING ALL BAKERS: if you have a recipe you'd like for us to consider, please email it to me at jsdcornforth@gmail.com by Monday, September 16 at 10pm. One of the choices will be my recipe, but I would love to use yours for a couple of the others!! I am also hoping to get a local recipe for the banana-bread-like cake they make here.

   I will keep you posted here as our project progresses. Baking Day is currently scheduled for October 9, and there will be a Taste Test starring some of the other staff/faculty from the UAC. I'm hoping some of them will dress up as celebrity chefs for fun! The winning team gets 5 bonus points for their project grade and bragging rights, of course. :)

   My other class (Agronomy majors) very much likes music, so this week they submitted songs in English that they would like to learn. I have a model I have been using with songs I have chosen before now. We listen to the song while gathering every day for the week, then after the weekly quiz on Fridays I give them the lyrics either with some words missing or an extra word on numbered lines, and we listen to the song twice for these words. Then we go through the song again to check our answers. After that, I help with new vocabulary (using the Eng-Span dictionary as necessary) and help the students tease out the meaning of the lyrics and, ultimately, the meaning of the song. The students are really looking forward to doing this with their songs. We will do one of theirs each week between now and the midterm, by which time I expect their vocabularies in English (and mine in Spanish) will probably have doubled!

   Our weather here has been beautiful the last few days, and very Spring-y. It's noticeably warmer, especially in the afternoons. We've had a couple afternoons where that warmth has translated into thunderstorms (no tornadoes here, but the lightning is impressive), but all-in-all it's been very pleasant. The change of seasons is definitely upon us, although the summer rainy season is still over a month away.

   We love and miss you all, and you are never far from our thoughts. Our prayers are with you!

         +Susan

Happy Godly Play Day!!

Hola everyone!

     Our adventures continue… There are so many things to tell you about this time, I’m not even sure where to begin. Firstly, our residency visas are finally almost done. We did the final paperwork on Monday, and now we must wait 4-6 weeks to get our cards (they’re called carnets here). The government just automated this process somewhat, so we can check online, and when the website says they are ready, we have to go to La Paz one last time to pick them up. Not that this will be the last time we go to La Paz, just the last time we have to. It will be a great relief to get that done. We ended with having to pay a pretty hefty fine, almost $100 each. This is because it costs 20 Bs. per day once your temporary visa expires, which ours did on August 10, so 20 Bs. times three people times almost another month equals about $300. It was a little painful, but not totally unexpected. Of course, it wasn’t anything we had any control over, either, which made it that much more painful!! Most of the extra time was in waiting for Interpol to issue the certificates saying that we aren’t wanted international fugitives. I wonder how that would have been handled if the NSA leaker dude had sought asylum here? Hmm…

     Secondly, Jeff developed a mighty toothache a couple of weeks ago, and Hye-Jung recommended a US-trained (and English-speaking!!) dentist in La Paz. Jeff saw him Monday while we were in town, and he needs 3 root canals! Even here, where medical and dental care is so much less expensive, that is a budget-buster, so we will have to take the alternative route and get the three teeth pulled. This will only cost about $150 US, rather than almost $1200 with root canals and crowns. It is a shame to remove teeth that could be saved, but that is the only fiscally sane option.  Please pray for him on Monday, when he will travel back to La Paz to have the first of 3-4 appointments to get this taken care of.

     On a brighter note, the weather is definitely changing here. Spring is in the air! It is always green and beautiful, but the nights are not as cool, and the afternoons are getting nice and warm. Today there was a delightful breeze, so we opened all the windows, set up Jeff’s screen door contraption in the doorway, and hung out our sheets and blankets to freshen. It was also a very nice day to hang laundry, as it will undoubtedly be dry by morning – rather than the 4 days it took a couple of weeks ago because it was rainy and cool for 3 days and nights in a row!! Tomorrow looks to be much the same, so pillows and towels will get the same treatment. It is especially nice to have that warm, dry wind and sunshine, as it does a great job of eliminating the musty smell things get when they’re damp for days or weeks on end.

     Next, a few words about our daily lives… Our Spanish is getting much better. Mine is improving the fastest, mostly because I have daily interaction with my students and I get much more opportunity to communicate with people than Jeff and Delaney do. Delaney is having a wonderful time with the kids and the library, and is beginning to feel as though she understands her patrons and they understand her, at least some of the time. Plus her two weekly storytimes are really helping with her pronunciation! She will also be taking on some administrative duties in the main offices over the next few weeks, and most of the staff there speaks limited English, so she will have many more opportunities to improve her skills. Jeff spends much of his time working with a very specific vocabulary in his daily maintenance tasks, but he is building relationships with the machine, woodworking and construction staff, so his Spanish is coming along. We finally have our home all settled in and comfortable, so that we can all start and finish our days pleasantly, and we can all rest well. A special thanks to Hugh and company for getting Jeff and I a much better bed!!

     Finally, I just wanted to thank everyone for their prayers and support. It is wonderful to have our faith community at home always there for us, never underestimate how important that is to us, and to the people we serve here. We have been welcomed with open arms, and we will always have a family here, but none of this would be possible without the physical and emotional support we have gotten, and will continue to get, from all of you. As we work to build bridges here, we are always mindful that a bridge is nothing without its solid foundation. We are very much enjoying the calendar that was a gift from St. A’s (special thanks to Mark D.!!) It says that tomorrow is the first day of Godly Play. Enjoy! We will be thinking of you and hoping for a very special morning filled with little voices and busy hands.

Blessings and love to each and every one of you,
Susan

Poverty and hunger

Hello everyone,

I thought I would talk a little about poverty and hunger in rural Bolivia in this post. We have spent a lot of space and time on this blog discussing our experiences here in Bolivia, but there are some things that are hard to talk about here. Bolivia's standard of living has visibly improved tremendously since we were here in 2001. However, that does not mean that poverty and hunger have been eradicated. There is still a long ways to go. There are still beggars and homeless people throughout the streets of La Paz (the mothers with small children are particularly heartbreaking when they cover themselves and the children up with a thin piece of fabric for the night and huddle in a closed doorway to sleep). There are still many poor and hungry people in the Yungas as well. They are far from invisible, in fact, many work the transportation network selling food or other items to passersby all day and well into the evening. Many live in rickety shacks clinging to the lip of a hill or along the dusty roads. There is power and water available, but one must be able to afford it. There are homes along the road to Coroico and in Carmen Pampa where there is no power. Clean water is still a concern, although here on the upper campus our water is mildly chlorinated now.

Most people here live without common items we take for granted, such as a washing machine, an oven, a hot water tap, TV, heat, the list goes on. Many people, even the poor, have cell phones, largely because they are ridiculously cheap and easy to get. It seems like every house has a sign up advertising that they sell the recharge cards, as most cells are pre-paid. I would guess you can make enough selling cards to pay for your own, they are so ubiquitous. 

The food here is simple and cheap, but there are plenty of people eating only lunch still (this is considered the main meal of the day). The cooperative here on campus feeds students, who must contribute financially and help out in order to eat there. This is in addition to their mandatory community service and the extra hours of service that scholarship students must work. The good news is that this program does feed students who otherwise could not afford to eat and pay for school, so it is no longer necessary to eat behind closed doors. The loss of fifty scholarships when USAID was ejected from the country in June means 50 fewer students to feed and house, but it is also 50 fewer students attending classes.

That all being said, I want to tell you about my students' first set of projects, which they completed this week. If you stopped any student on campus here and asked them why they are here, they would all say either that they are here to help their family/village or that they are here to improve Bolivia. This can sound like a pat answer sometimes, but it is very true. My assignment to them was to think about themselves, the UAC and Bolivia 20 years from now, in the context of the approaching 20th anniversary celebration of the UAC in October. What would change? What would be the same? Then they were to condense their thoughts into a Six Word Memoir in English and turn it in. The variety of dreams represented by what they turned in is truly astonishing. Some of the dreams are very big, some are very personal. Some could never have been condensed into only six words!! (This doesn't count against them in my grading process.)

The English Department will be sharing these both here at the UAC and on Facebook as part of the anniversary celebration in the coming weeks, so you will get to see them all, including those from the other classes. Please watch for them, as they are all worth reading!

Ciao!

Susan

Our home away from home

     If you would like to receive an email whenever we have a new post, please click the FOLLOW button and there will be directions. ALSO: I am labeling our photos and adding more today and tomorrow, so I will comment at the bottom of this post with a new direct link to the album when they are ready. Please check back!! 

     So, many of you have been asking about our living situation. In this post, I will tell you a bit about that. In the pictures we posted, you can see a three-story brick and concrete building with an exterior stairway going up one corner. That is where we live. The rest of the building is a boys’ dorm, but there are three staff apartments on the end closest to the road. We live on the second floor, so we have a nice little balcony of sorts where the stairs landing meets our door. When you enter, there is a main room with the bathroom off to the left, then at the back are two bedrooms side-by-side. Jeff and I share the outer one, Delaney uses the inner one. The main room has three areas: the entryway, the dining/living area, and the kitchen. The entryway is sort of defined by the bathroom Wall, then the kitchen is around the corner. We have defined that space by pushing our two long skinny tables together and making them into the central work/life area of the household. The kitchen side of the table is more used like a countertop, where food prep, baking and serving happen (unless we have guests, no one usually sits here unless they are sitting while chopping veggies). There is a vinyl table cloth over the tables so they are easier to keep clean. We have one of the ubiquitous Bolivian frazadas to throw over it when we have company, as it is in pretty tough shape in places. Our frazada is purple, with red, green and blue veins woven into it. The dining/living room side of the table is where non-cooking action happens. I work here where I can spread out, because my desk in my office space is very small and the office is shared with two others who both see a lot of students so it’s not a very good place to concentrate during the school day. Jeff does his various projects here, and this is also where we play cards, listen to music, etc. There are little wooden chairs to sit here. There is one cushion, but we are going to look in La Paz this weekend to see if we can find more so that we can all have a more comfortable seat.

     Our little bathroom is compact, but nice. The floor is tiled, and that continues about halfway up the walls. This makes it easier to keep clean, and serves another practical purpose because the floor is wet much of the time and a rubber scraper (sort of like the blade on a squeegee) is used on the floor to push the water into a central floor drain so that it has some chance of being clean and dry. The shower is in one corner, with a wrapround shower curtain covering the two sides that are not walls. It has a lip about three inches high that helps keep the water from just running onto the floor, and the showerhead is an electric on-demand water heater. This is a wonderful thing when you live where there is no heated water – the only downside is that the temperature of the water is controlled by the water flow rate, so the harder you turn the water on, the colder it gets. It can be quite the balancing act to get the water hot and have decent pressure to take your shower at the same time, but it is SO much better than the cold showers one took before these were installed! In Bolivia, you toss your used toilet paper in a little trash can when you’re done with it, because the plumbing can’t really handle flushing it, so every bathroom, no matter how primitive or fancy, has a little trash can for this purpose. There is also a little pedestal sink and Cookie’s sandbox.

     In the kitchen, there is a small stove with three burners and an oven, all powered by a propane tank. We have two tanks, that way hopefully you always have one in reserve, although when we got here one was empty, which is why we ran out of cooking gas last week when the truck was late. The propane truck is definitely a QBE (quintessentially Bolivian experience)… the truck comes lumbering down the gravel road to the campus driveway right outside our door and stops. Everyone grabs their empty tanks and stands in line to exchange them right off the truck – it’s a panel-sided truck like you see farmers emptying the hopper on the combine into during the harvest at home. You pay your 27 Bs (about $4) and get a full tank. This was at 5:30 am last Saturday, so it was dark and kind of surreal. J

     There is a sink/drainboard combo in the kitchen (cold water faucets only since there are no water heaters), then a small counter and a small fridge that is about 20% larger than a regular dorm fridge. It has a little freezer in the top, so Delaney’s new experience here has been her first ice cube trays! We have had the ice-and-water in the door her whole life, so this is a new thing for her, although she has used them a few times at Nana’s house before, she has never lived with one. She is a bit obsessive about making sure there is enough ice, although she has discovered that the cubes all melt together in her little bowl and then refreeze in a mess whenever the power is out. LOL!

     There are two sliding windows in the main room that face up the mountain (Uchumachi), and one in each of our bedrooms that face the yard alongside the classroom building that stretches that direction from the boys’ dorm. They have screens, although a couple of them are in bad shape. Jeff sewed one up a little, but the fabric is old and brittle, so he had to stop. We hope to get these replaced soon, we just need to find where to get the fabric.

     The floor of our apartment is concrete that must have been painted a soft baby blue at some point, although it is pretty spotty now. I have some throw rugs picked out in La Paz, one each for the bedrooms and the main room behind the table, but I have to save up because they are a little pricey. The walls are plain white with a maroon trim around the bottom. We have been busy hanging things on the walls wherever possible, both to get stuff off the floor (we don’t have many shelves to put things away, and there are no cupboards or chests) and to brighten the place up a little. There are curtains at the windows, yellow in the main room and blue in the bedrooms. It is nice to have some privacy after dark. Since we are in the tropics, it gets dark here by 6:30 or so, and the sun comes up about the same time in the morning, although we don’t actually see the sun at sunrise and sunset because of the mountains.

     One of our great joys here is getting up early and listening to the birds. By midday, they are much quieter, but in the morning there is the most wonder cacophony outside! It is often punctuated by the group cawing event of the Andean Guans, who sound a bit like crows but look a bit like quail or pheasant who perch in trees. Some of our favorite birds are the ones with the yellow bellies that you can see in our pictures. We haven’t figured out what they are yet, but with their color pattern and size, we wonder if they aren’t some kind of oriole. There are also red canaries nesting nearby, swallows, and some little wren-like birds with mohawks who have the most beautiful song. The trees out front are always full of birds in the morning, and the hummingbirds are a special treat with their bright emerald or sapphire bodies suspended by their nearly invisible wings.

     You will see many pictures of Uchumachi from our “balcony” because it is often the first thing we see when we go out the door in the morning. It is such an incredible view up the mountain, and it is constantly changing. We enjoy observing the many moods of our mountain.

     I will work on titling our photos this weekend while we have the high-speed connection in La Paz, so please enjoy and share with your friends!

Paz,
Susan

Hey everybody! I’m gonna tell you about what I do every day! On a daily basis, there are so many things to do, but it’s not always the same. Getting up at 5:30 to go use the internet for school on Tuesdays-Fridays is probably the hardest thing I have to do. It may be hard, but it’s also a cool experience to see the sun coming over Uchumachi  (the mountain by us) and come down the valley in the sunrise. At that time of the morning, it’s always cold, and a lot of the time, we’re in the clouds. It’s a really beautiful sight to see. When the college computer opens at 8, I have to go home. As you can imagine, I’m pretty tired, so I usually sleep for an hour or so, and at nine or nine-thirty I get up and eat breakfast. On Tuesdays and Fridays I work at the Biblioteca Del Los Ninos, (the children’s library) from 12:30-2:30, so I usually find something to occupy myself with until a little before 12, when I head down to the lower campus. The children love the library, and are usually eagerly waiting for me when I get down there to open the library. When I go down at other times, I get kids asking, ”Biblioteca?” and their faces are so sad when I tell them no! On Thursdays, we have a story time for the children with a special narrator. The first one was last week, and my dad read. The kids seemed to really like it, and when the reading was over, I decided to let them play games and read books for another forty-five minutes or so. The library has been a real success, and the children are very enthusiastic about it. With this library schedule, my Wednesdays and Saturdays are pretty free. (Sundays and Mondays are the weekends) On these days I usually do some chores around the house (sweeping, washing dishes, taking out the trash, etc.) and then, when I'm done with what my parents want me to do, I do my thing. I watch a movie, dance around my room listening to music, read a book, or maybe write a little. I like to sometimes go out on our balcony to read or write, and just take my computer or a notebook and go sit on the step. It's a really fun way to spend my free time. Sometimes, on these days, we head into Coroico to do some grocery shopping, and that's usually a cool experience. I don't think that, even if I could drive down here, I would want to. The people drive crazy here! The streets uphill are sometimes so steep that I feel like we're on a roller coaster! It's an interesting experience. Another one is our upstairs neighbors, Carlos, Gladys, and their four-year-old daughter Nataly. Every two weeks, it seems, we've gotten into a sort of Bolivia-America food war. The first Monday that we did this,

More QBEs and a few new things... (Susan)

Hola to all!

Sorry to have been off the air for awhile! A power outage last weekend put a damper on our Internet activity, since we share the connection in the office with someone who is there usually the entire business day, leaving us to try to get over there after dinner or waiting until the weekends. Anyway, we are back now, and I have many things to tell you about.

First, a new QBE for you. Jeff and Delaney and I sometimes "eat out" for supper by heading to the kiosks on campus. It is 10 Bs (about $1.50) for a plate of rice, fritas, fried bananas or plantains, and whatever the meat of the day is (chicken, an egg, or a flattened piece of heavily seasoned "hamburger") laid on top. It is simple, local food fixed by campesinas who live right here on or near the campus. Many are relatives of staff and/or students. This week, many of the staff/faculty who live on campus (ourselves included) ran out of gas by Thursday or Friday (it had been more than two weeks since the truck came), so Friday night we all found ourselves eating at the kiosks, and there was a part-like atmosphere as we all sat there at our little tables in an oasis in the dark, chatting and eating and visiting. At the kiosk, the kitchen is inside, and a window opens out onto a covered porch that stretches the length of all four kiosks. A picnic table sits lengthwise under each window, plus chairs at the end. When you go, you step up to the window from the side (sometimes over the back of whoever is sitting at the table) and let Dona know how many plates you would like, then you find and take your seat. While you are waiting, others come and go, and most people who walk past greet you. Some stop to chat. It is a very pleasant, sociable experience, and so very Bolivian!

Next, some have asked about our daily schedule, and details about our home. Classes are held Tuesday - Saturday. I teach three classes, one Tues-Wed-Thurs, one Tues-Fri, and one on Thursday nights. All except one are one-hour classes. Weds morning is a two-hour class. I usually prep about an hour per class hour, including grading time and dictionary time (I use my S-E dictionary a LOT to make sure my students understand some of the concepts I don't have the vocabulary for in Spanish). Plus I have 5 hours of posted office hours each week, an English department meeting once a week, and various other meetings and commitments that keep me busy during the day and sometimes the evening as well. I usually get up about 8, and I generally go to bed about 11-11:30. My classes are during lunchtime, so I often find myself grabbing something after the lunch break is over -- sometimes I have leftovers from dinner at home, sometimes one of the kiosks has food left. I try to be home to fix supper every night, although sometimes Delaney or Jeff fixes it instead, which is nice. Everything is from scratch, so dinner prep can take an hour or more. We try to do baking on the weekends or if one of us has an afternoon off. So, my days are usually busy, but the bright spot is always my students, whom I love very much!

In my next post, I will talk some about our apartment, our neighbors, and what life is like for us here.

Abrazos to all ~
Susan

We have been having several more QBEs. For those of you new to our blog, a QBE is a "Quintessentially Bolivian Experience."

First, we have been placed into the rotation for locking the dorms at 11 each night, and then unlocking them at 6 in the morning. I got my first experience with this a week ago Friday. We had been having a fairly quiet evening at home, punctuated with minivan "bus" horns letting us know when people were coming and going, and when there were seats left on the bus. Around 8ish, there started a fairly loud commotion on the other side of the wall, which is one of the guys dorms. We aren't supposed to interfere unless we think someone is hurt, or smell smoke. :) When 11 finally came around, I went on my rounds. When I got to the 3rd floor, I checked each room, saving the loud room for last. When I knocked, the door opened to reveal about 20 young men playing a bodily game of Uno. (or maybe they call it "One" here?) Each time someone would lay down a card, everyone would cheer like a soccer (futbol) goal had just been scored. Some would be happy, other would boo and attempt to tackle some of those cheering. When  I told them that they needed to quiet down, you would have thought I had just whipped a puppy in front of them. I explained that families lived on the other side of that wall, and they finally, begrudgingly, went off to their bunks and went to bed. Susan's first experience only showed her a bunch of young ladies studying for a test. Not nearly as fun as mine!

Some people have asked for daily schedules, apartment details, and of course more stories! I will post my schedule first and then let Susan and Delaney post their own with a story or 2 thrown in.

I get up around 6 each morning, and report for work at 7. I have coffee (of course) before, to lift the fog from my mind, if not the clouds from around our apartment. I work until around 8:30, when we take a break. At 9, we continue work until 12. We take a 2 hour lunch, then back at it again until 6 pm. It makes for a long day when I get distracted with a project and miss the break, sometimes even working straight thru lunch. I try not to do that too often, as the food here is incredible! I do this usually Monday thru Friday, with an occasional Saturday thrown in. I have been a continual source of discussion among the others. I continue to amaze them when I construct things like our clothes line. My first attempt failed, due to a deterioration in one of my bamboo pieces, it failed, end of that story. My 2nd attempt has so far been a BIG success. We now have 70 feet of clothes drying pleasure! I did reuse some of the original attempt, but only after thoroughly inspecting each piece. I believe that Susan is posting pictures, and I think there is one of my apparatus. I will turn the computer over to Susan now, but don't worry. Many more stories of QBEs will be coming!

La paz y amor,

Jeff

English students

Just a quick update for now during school hours, then I will post something bigger tomorrow or Monday with some other news from the week, plus continue uploading and labeling pictures...

Last night a couple came from the US Embassy in La Paz and held a workshop about learning English using music, and I was pleasantly surprised at how many of my students showed up and participated. We all had a great time singing along -- the SDSU Engineers Without Borders are here finishing up the water project (we have clean drinking water -- yay!) and they came too. It was a blast!! Songs included Country Roads by John Denver, Summertime by Billie Holliday, We Ain't Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister and Fireworks by Katy Perry. Students were given lyric sheets with some of the words missing, and we all sang the songs for them to figure out the missing words, then everyone joined in singing once they guessed the missing words. Students who answered questions in complete sentences got a chocolate!

This week my students will begin their project for the UAC's 20th Anniversary celebration coming up in early October. They are writing Six Word Memoirs (in English) about the UAC, themselves or Bolivia 20 years from now. Google Six Word Memoirs -- there are some very cool and interesting examples out there in Internet-land. This has really caught the students' imagination and I am very much looking forward to seeing what they come up with. I will post a link to the final version on our blog in October. 

More later!

Susan

My list of quintessentially Bolivian experiences

This week was a busy one here at the UAC, as classes are now in full swing and Jeff has been helping to prep the sleeping space for the Engineers Without Borders from South Dakota State Univ. (go Jacks!), who will arrive on Tuesday. Despite all the busy-ness. we found ourselves in the middle of a few quintessentially Bolivian experiences (QBEs) that we have to share with all of you!

So, our first QBE happened on Friday. Friday was the Dia Del Campesina Boliviana here. Campesinos/as are the rural and mountain people of Bolivia. In our area, they are mostly Aymara, and they are the group that the UAC was founded to serve. So, we got up early Friday morning and got dressed in our faculty/staff uniform -- beige button-up shirt, black pants, black shoes -- and rode down the mountain to the village. First, there was a mass, officiated by Padre Emilio, the Vice-Director of the UAC. It was beautiful, especially the music, which was led by a traditional band, complete with the pan pipes! Very cool. We were led to the front of the crowd to a couple of rows of chairs. I kind of felt bad about that at the time, because there were so many others standing, but that was before the parade. Plus, the chairs were in front, facing into the sun at the edge of the roof, so we got quite a bit of sun before mass was over.

After the mass, we all went to the Lower campus to wait for the parade to start, the students in their gray shirts milling about snacking and chatting and having a wonderful time. After a while, everyone began to line up for the parade. We had been waiting in the Guest House, so we didn't see everyone start to leave (note to self: next time, appoint a lookout!), so we had to run to catch up, but we were just in time to march into the covered sports area of the high school all in line, faculty/staff first, then students. There were many bands, schoolchildren decked out in costumes or in their school uniforms, the high school marching band, complete with flags and baton twirlers. It was a very noisy and colorful group! We all stood there for a while and listened to various speeches, plus schoolchildren did some very animated recitations. Fortunately there was abundant shade, due to the new roof over the area. Then, we all marched back out and over to the Lower campus. The bands and schoolchildren marched up to the edge of the village, then turned around and marched back down to the sports area again. Our students lined up by department this time. There was a protracted wait as each group marched proudly past the reviewing stand set up at the stage on one side of the roofed area. We marched through again to loud cheers from the crowd (every group got loud cheers, which was very cool), then we were done. By the time we got home, it was 1:30 or so. We needed cat food and lunch, so we were going to Coroico, but every bus that passed was full. By 3pm, we gave up and decided to feed the cat tuna. Jeff and Delaney had another QBE when they walked down to the village to get a few essentials to tide us over, as they had to visit 4 tiendas (shops) to get what we needed. Also, on the way back up, they stopped and visited Gladys at the coffee plant, where they got us some dried coffee berries to make tea from and helped process some coffee while they had a bit of a tour. In the meantime, a couple of the kioskas (these are little outdoor snack bars here on the Upper campus where you can get a homemade hot meal and sit at a table outside the cook's window to eat) were open by then, so we just ate there. It was a good thing we didn't go to Coroico, because Jeff and Delaney both started to feel a bit unwell and spent the rest of the evening lying down.

Saturday morning, Delaney was still unwell, but Jeff was feeling better, so he and I got up early to catch a bus to Coroico. (If you don't go early, all the buses are full from the village before they ever get to us.) Little did we know we were headed for another QBE. The first bus was full, then the second bus was full as well. The driver stopped and told us (and the 4 students waiting) that there were no more buses in Carmen Pampa. Jeff and I decided to walk up to the intersection with the road to Trinidad Pampa. Buses also run back and forth to TP, so we thought we could catch a bus there. It was a very pleasant 10-minute walk, and when we got there, a couple of campesinos were standing there waiting too. They asked us what we were doing, so we told them what the driver said and they nodded. It's amazing how much communicating you can do with broken Spanish when you have to! About 5 minutes later, an empty bus coming from Coroico and head to TP came by. The men flagged him and explained what was going on. He thought for a moment, then motioned us all to get on, then he turned around and went down the Carmen Pampa road to the UAC! When we got there, the group of students waiting for us had doubled in size. They all climbed aboard, we turned around, and off to Coroico we went with a full bus. I love these people! Can you imagine public transit like that anywhere in the US?

So, Jeff and I did our shopping and decided to take a taxi home. Another QBE!! The taxi costs a little more, but is quicker because they don't make all the stops to fill the seats. AND because the guy drove like a bat out of hell!! He was drifting around the corners, I swear. You have to understand the road to Coroico is like many in the Yungas. It's dirt/gravel, heavily rutted and full of potholes. Plus, it's one lane wide in many places, full of blind corners and crumbling edges that go off the cliff... you get the idea. I just held on and kept thinking that the guy does this every day, makes his living doing it, so he must know what he's doing.I was glad to get home, though. 

I am still uploading pictures, and I will add captions to them as soon as they are all uploaded. Take care all, and peace be with you.

Susan

Jeff's back online

Hola everyone!!! I am back on my computer!!! The only issue is that now all of my computer controls are in Spanish! It will definitely help me in the language department!

Well, Susan has now taught several classes, Delaney has started her on-line schoolwork, and
I have been given my first of many missions. My first job is to rehab some old dorms into clean living space for the “Engineers without Borders” crew coming down in 2 weeks from South Dakota State University (Go Jackrabbits!). This kind of reminds me of the Bible when God made the heavens and the earth in 6 days, except that God got the easier job! All kidding aside, I will have a small army of students providing the labor, and I will provide the expertise. 

We have taken a BUNCH of pictures and these can be seen at: Bolivia 2013 Slideshow Susan has been busy getting them uploaded (this is in progress, so keep checking back on that link, there are about 400 pictures, so she is having to upload them in groups.) I have been busy taking more! I think I have the easier job, as there are so many breathtaking views around our quiet little campus.

I am reminded of the presence of God every day in the smallest of things, the insects, to the largest, some of the Andes peaks we can see from Coroico. I am so glad that we have been able to come here and just be God’s presence in the lives of the students, and have them share in our lives as well. We are truly blessed to have friends out there that are thinking about us, praying for us, and just being there for us. We could not have made this trip without so many blessings having first been bestowed upon us.

We will try to post more often, now that school has gotten under way. We will probably only post pictures once a week, due to the bandwidth required for that operation!

We love each and every one of you, and ask for continued support in prayers, thoughts, and continued sharing of this mission through our blog, Face book posts, and pictures!

Benedicion y la paz!!

Jeff

Monday, 9:20am

It’s a rainy morning here in the RAINforest. I’m sitting in the girls’ dorm waiting to check students into their rooms, but not getting a lot of takers. I think they are hoping the rain will let up later so they can move in without getting their things all wet. Of course, mud will still be an issue! Anyway, school is starting tomorrow and I am very eager to begin my classes. I will be teaching two sections of English 2 this semester, both 4 hours per week, one each for the Education and Agronomy departments. Everyone here has been so welcoming and helpful, it already feels like home. As I have helped with the dorm check-ins Saturday and today, I have had the opportunity to meet some of my students, and they seem like a fun bunch. It promises to be a great semester!

So much has happened since we arrived that we have hardly had time to stand still, never mind keep our blog updated. Our previous post was during an evening we spent in La Paz last week, back for more appointments for our visa process. However, we do now have Internet access here on campus, so we will be posting and checking email more regularly, so please do check back for updates! Also, we have tons of pictures we will work on posting over the next few days – of La Paz, of the drive here, of the campus and our apartment, and of our new friend, Cookie. More about him later…

Jeff has decided he is doing a photo study of the many moods of our mountainside, so he will be creating a photo album online and adding to it periodically, although right now his computer is down, so we have to get that fixed first. Also we have found many beautiful birds and plants to photograph, and we would love for those of you who are interested to help us identify them. In particular is a fairly large black bird with a parrot-like head. They are plentiful here and noisy – they often wake us at sunrise with lots of loud squawking!! Maybe it’s a variety of rooster? (LOL)

So, about Cookie… His full name is Coquito, and he is a tiny, adorable ball of black fuzz with a BIG kitty personality. He likes tuna, people food leftovers, and being anywhere Delaney is, preferably ON her, if possible. He came to us Saturday as a gift from Hugh and Hye-Jung, and he is already a member of the family. His little jingle bell is a welcome sound of home in our little apartment.

Jeff and I spent yesterday morning at the market in Coroico shopping for this week’s groceriess, and looking for a few special things to make our place more homey. (A teapot, potato masher and some sugar topped the list.) Our refrigerator isn’t working, apparently some of the freon channels in the freezer rusted through and let the freon out, so it has to be repaired and recharged. In the meantime, I have to buy one big thing of meat (last week it was our chicken, Bob, whom we ate on all week) and keep cooking it every day so it doesn’t spoil. It helps that is “winter” here, so it’s chilly at night and not so hot during the day. Keeps stuff from spoiling so quickly! This week I bought 2 kilos of hamburger, cooked it up in the big soup pot with some onions and garlic, then put all that would fit in a plastic container that our upstairs neighbors put in their fridge for us. (Gracias Gladys y Carlos!!) Then I chopped a bunch of tomatoes (there are lots of Romas at the market) and cooked them with crushed oregano, pepper and salt, using my new potato masher to crush the mixture up. Then I combined it with the hamburger I kept and stirred it all in the big pot with some little macaroni-like pasta I found at the dry goods store in Coroico. It was yummy, and there was enough left for breakfast this morning. Bonus!

Delaney informed me that the power is out all over campus (I understand this is common when it rains really hard like it was a little while ago), so I don’t know when I will get to post this, but please know that we are thinking of all of you and holding you in prayer. Please remember us in your prayers and think of us when it rains!

Abrazos y paz (hugs and peace),

Susan