Our friends and
neighbors here on upper campus had one last blast before school started… we all
loaded up the kids and went to Coroico for Las Alasitas – the Aymara festival
of miniatures, where they all buy tiny reproductions of what they want for the
year, then take them and make little shrine to the good-luck god, Ekeko. After
the fiesta, we went to the waterfalls (Las Cascadas), two of which are large
enough that they have cemented in the pools at the bottoms for swimming (and to
prevent the road from eroding away!) See our photos for some great shots!
This week, first
semester classes started here at the UAC. This is quite the production, as I’m
sure you can imagine. Carmen Pampa is a tiny speck of a village, and Coroico is
not all that big either (about 5,000 people). The crowd that descends on the
area for registration weekend is truly an awesome sight. Many parents come
along, and you will see pictures of some whole families if you follow the link
to this week’s photos. http://tinyurl.com/p3wnlhj
Never mind the
traffic! At one point over the weekend, Jeff and I observed with amusement
while about 25 people tried to get into a microbus headed back to Coroico. The
bus had come from the village below, so there were already probably a dozen
people on it. Here’s the fun part: these are 15-passenger vans with a luggage
rack on top and a little extra space behind the front seats because that’s
where the edge of the engine compartment is. It was like watching clowns crowd
into a Volkswagen!
This time our job
at registration was to check-in the students. There is a behavior covenant they
had to sign, then more paperwork if they were new, or a check-off form to take
along to the next station for existing students. This means we got to see the
face of every student who registered. We really enjoyed the chance to meet all
of them, even though the place got pretty crowded a few times. We just kept our
heads and worked the best we could. It was a lot of fun! I wish we could be
here for that weekend every semester.
So, a new semester
means new classes, and lots of new faces and names to learn. My two classes are
both English 1 this time, so they have a few words they have picked up here and
there, but for the most part they are brand new. Most of my students this
semester are in their third year of studies, although there a few who have been
here more or less. Both classes meet during the 11am – 2pm lunch break, and we
may end up combining them once the registration finalizes next week. Currently
there are about 22 students total, so one class would be manageable, and it
would allow us to do some things that the two classes are too small to do alone
(for example, maybe another baseball game project??) We will have to see how it
all shakes out. New this semester is a survey that I have given to all of my
students to fill out. It asks them in English and Spanish about their home and
family, what they are studying, what they would like to learn this semester,
the ways they learn best, other ways they have learned English (if they have),
etc. I am very much looking forward to reading these and getting some insight
into my students much earlier in the semester than last time. (Last time I was
halfway through the semester before the interviews where I learned more about
my students than what I had learned in the classroom. The good news is that
they had enough English by then to tell me all about themselves in English!)
We have not yet
made the trip to La Paz for school supplies and to finish up the tool shopping
from the collection the St. Andrew’s Godly Play kids gathered in December, so
if anyone would like to contribute to the fund for notebook paper, poster
supplies, Scotch tape, and a new music player/USB drives for the upper campus,
we (and the students) would certainly be appreciative. Thanks in advance to
anyone who can do that.
Jeff has taken a
LOT of pictures of the flora here. We don’t know what most of them are, so if
you do, comment on our blog and then everyone can know! http://tinyurl.com/p3wnlhj
I will leave you
this week with my kitchen-tested recipe for one of our favorite Bolivian foods:
chicken salad sandwiches! Chicken salad is VERY different here, and so is
bread. For an authentic sandwich, buy a big (Quarter-Pounder-sized) hamburger
bun and squash it a bit and let it dry out so it’s a slight bit stale, then
layer about ¼ cup or so of the salad inside the cold bun while the salad is
still warm from the stove. Betcha can’t eat just one!
Blessings,
Susan, Jeff and Delaney
Bolivian Chicken Salad for Sandwiches
2 cups leftover roasted chicken, preferably white, shredded
small (de-boned, but a little skin is OK)
4-6 medium carrots, peeled and grated (use the ¼” side of
your box grater)
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and grated (use the ¼” side of
your box grater)
2 large garlic cloves, minced
OPTIONAL: 2 small beets or 1 medium, also peeled, grated ¼”
WARNING: SALAD WILL BE RED/ORANGE
1T chicken bouillion granules + 2 cups water OR 2 cups
homemade chicken broth
¼ cup canola/soya oil
Salt to taste
Combine chicken, carrots, onion, garlic and beets (if using)
in a large saucepan with water/bouillion or broth. Bring to a boil and simmer,
stirring occasionally, 10 minutes or until all veggies are soft. Remove from
heat, drain. (I save this flavorful broth to make yummy rice later in the week.
It will keep for 7-10 days in the fridge if well-sealed.) Return drained
mixture to saucepan, add oil, and heat to medium. Saute 5-10 minutes until
mixture is a little drier and more separated. Remove from heat, salt to taste.
Serve immediately on a sturdy bun or toasted slices of French or Italian bread.
Add-ons:
Toasted sunflower nuts
Melted cheddar cheese on the toast (doesn’t work so well
with the bun!)
Fresh-ground pepper
Rings of uncooked sweet bell pepper, one per sandwich
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