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
Monday, August 19, 2013
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
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
Saturday, August 10, 2013
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
Sunday, August 4, 2013
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
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
Monday, July 29, 2013
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.
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, July 22, 2013
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
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Well, it has been a long time since we posted anything, but that doesn't mean we don't love each and every one of you! We have been very busy, and haven't had access to the internet! We have gotten semi settled into our apartment, and have even been adopted by the neighbor's dog "Choco."
We have done a LOT of bird spotting, flower sniffing, and picture taking. So much in fact, that I am going to have to post the pictures in a few days when I hopefully have my computer back up to speed. It is currently dead. We have been busy, but we have also had fun. We just celebrated La Paz' Independence. That is the name of the district we live in. Traditional dress, traditional music, traditional drink, all added to a wondrous event! Susan and I will be in shape sooner rather than later as I don't remember the hill being as steep or as long as it currently is! I think they used a road stretcher on it or something!
Enough from me. Now I turn the blog over to Delaney, so you don't think we traded her for 4 llamas, a pig, and 2 chickens! (It was tempting!)
God's Peace,
Jeff
'Kay, so Dad talked about La Paz's Independence Day, and celebrating that, but the funny thing is the date that it was on. Hmmm.... what else happened on July 16th? Oh, that's right, my fifteenth birthday! Dad had loads of fun with it, proclaiming to every wide-eyed Bolivian that "all of La Paz is celebrating her birthday!" I found it slightly amusing, but not quite as hilarious as he seemed to think... That was the funny part. The most amazing thing that I have seen here is mostly the countryside, as it is gorgeous! The trees are large, green, and full of life, and the flowers are as vibrant as you could think! The birds are colorful, and often quite loud, with loud whistles and cackles, and sometimes what could pass for giggles. The first time we went down the hill to the lower campus, we had a follower. We suspect that it was a monkey that went crashing through the trees behind us, but we aren't quite sure. It's sure very fascinating here!
Delaney :)
Hi everyone, I'll be brief because I am very tired. :) Our first week here has been eventful, what with such firsts as the first night in our (2-bedroom!!) apartment, shopping for food and other necessities in Coroico, a trip back to La Paz today -- a faculty meeting for me and then more visa business in the morning before we head back to Carmen Pampa for a BBQ with the staff and some students. This week's keywords: ARRIBA and ABAJO. We live ARRIBA, which is the upper campus. The Guest House and the fiestas this week are both ABAJO. After a couple of long trudges up and down, I am quite familiar with ARRIBA and ABAJO!
I am excited to meet students and get started teaching soon. Today I met my colleagues on the faculty, and I was pleasantly surprised at how many of them were female. Mighty mujeres!!
More to come as we get our Internet working ARRIBA in the next few days. We miss you all!
Susan
We have done a LOT of bird spotting, flower sniffing, and picture taking. So much in fact, that I am going to have to post the pictures in a few days when I hopefully have my computer back up to speed. It is currently dead. We have been busy, but we have also had fun. We just celebrated La Paz' Independence. That is the name of the district we live in. Traditional dress, traditional music, traditional drink, all added to a wondrous event! Susan and I will be in shape sooner rather than later as I don't remember the hill being as steep or as long as it currently is! I think they used a road stretcher on it or something!
Enough from me. Now I turn the blog over to Delaney, so you don't think we traded her for 4 llamas, a pig, and 2 chickens! (It was tempting!)
God's Peace,
Jeff
'Kay, so Dad talked about La Paz's Independence Day, and celebrating that, but the funny thing is the date that it was on. Hmmm.... what else happened on July 16th? Oh, that's right, my fifteenth birthday! Dad had loads of fun with it, proclaiming to every wide-eyed Bolivian that "all of La Paz is celebrating her birthday!" I found it slightly amusing, but not quite as hilarious as he seemed to think... That was the funny part. The most amazing thing that I have seen here is mostly the countryside, as it is gorgeous! The trees are large, green, and full of life, and the flowers are as vibrant as you could think! The birds are colorful, and often quite loud, with loud whistles and cackles, and sometimes what could pass for giggles. The first time we went down the hill to the lower campus, we had a follower. We suspect that it was a monkey that went crashing through the trees behind us, but we aren't quite sure. It's sure very fascinating here!
Delaney :)
Hi everyone, I'll be brief because I am very tired. :) Our first week here has been eventful, what with such firsts as the first night in our (2-bedroom!!) apartment, shopping for food and other necessities in Coroico, a trip back to La Paz today -- a faculty meeting for me and then more visa business in the morning before we head back to Carmen Pampa for a BBQ with the staff and some students. This week's keywords: ARRIBA and ABAJO. We live ARRIBA, which is the upper campus. The Guest House and the fiestas this week are both ABAJO. After a couple of long trudges up and down, I am quite familiar with ARRIBA and ABAJO!
I am excited to meet students and get started teaching soon. Today I met my colleagues on the faculty, and I was pleasantly surprised at how many of them were female. Mighty mujeres!!
More to come as we get our Internet working ARRIBA in the next few days. We miss you all!
Susan
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