election campaign promises: free first aid kits and hotdogs

Monday morning of last week was a meeting for all the teachers in the district. It was at a school in Pailon, underneath a giant roof (a sort of gymnasium here). It was all in Spanish, with no interpreter, so here’s what I think happened:
-          [Set the mood] As we all are milling around, waiting for it to start, there is very Latin American sounding music being played loudly
-          Greetings and prayer from a Catholic man, in the robes with the big arms
-           Literally every school was greeted by name (and there were probably 50 schools there)
-          Words from some people, they may have been on a board of some sort. Sounded like a pep rally.
-          Bolivian anthem, department (province) of santa cruz anthem
-          Every school gets a free first aid kit!
-          Very soulful music from a guy on a guitar
-          Everyone gets a hotdog!


This is Bolivia. Following this really informative meeting, some teachers from my school and I went to walk around and do some shopping. Along with the only other teacher who doesn’t speak any Spanish, we bought things like fruit, a fan, some thrifted clothes, for the first time INDEPENDENTLY. We’ve had babysitters with us all the other times, so we felt quite happy with ourselves, we even got ourselves back to Villa Nueva in one piece.

How meat is sold in the market!

One person I talked has seen the store owners spray Raid all over their meat, because they were tired of the flies. Needless to say, I do not buy meat in the market.

Bolivia Tip #4: Being female and white attracts a fair amount of attention (as in many places, I hear)

 More teaching workshops (at my school) on Tuesday and Wednesday. A team meeting with most of the missionaries with MEM in the area Thursday afternoon, this was a great chance to meet people that I hadn’t yet, a time to talk about what’s happening in the various areas, and a time to pray together. They are all very welcoming! Friday was spent mostly in Santa Cruz, signing more things at the lawyer’s place, going to Interpol, having one paper done incorrectly, back to the lawyer, then to Immigration, then back to Interpol. I believe my resident visa is in the last stages now, I’m just waiting now! Here’s one the photos from Interpol.

 Bought Mennonite cheese here in the village! It is wonderful. And so much cheaper than cheese in any store here, I paid 16 bs (bolivianos) for 1 kg. I will be eating this every day

Also bought this juice, we think it says green apple flavour. Like all juices here, it’s very very sweet.

It’s also very green.

I have weaned myself off of bottled water and am now drinking tap water, with no negative side effects! (Such is not the case with everyone.)
One fun thing here is that when a group of people aren’t happy with the government, they set up bloqueos. Blockades. Some taxes have been raised for transportation, so this week truck drivers were blocking any major road to most cities, including Santa Cruz. They go and park their trucks, for looong stretches. These are very angry men, violent enough that police won’t do anything, other than keep people away. You can walk through them, if you stay away from the fights. One taxi driver tried driving through and was shot. Some people went on back roads, doubling the travel time. Things like fruit and veggies and meat became quite expensive, or they simply ran out this week. Luckily for us, most of these drivers wanted to party this weekend (with Carnaval) so Friday morning when we were going to the city, a lot of the bloqueos were opened up.

This is a bloqueo in Santa Cruz, but the trucks on one side of the boulevard were gone. Our taxi is going the wrong direction down that lane. This bloqueo probably had 30 to 50 trucks in it, 3 lanes wide. Many of the drivers and families had hammocks and a little household set up underneath their rig (they’d been there for 4 or 5 days).

In between all this, I’ve been working hard on setting up my classroom, thinking of how I want my class to run, what I want to teach, academically, socially and spiritually, and now I’m down to T minus 2 days! Scary. And exciting.
Prayer for:
-          Clarity and wisdom and peace as I and other teachers prepare
-          That I would seize any opening to build relationships with students, teachers, and neighbours
-          That I would rely on HIM who is able – he is my strength
Thankful:
-          The guesthouse I’ve been in for the past week, it’s wonderful! And I now have a house, I will be moving there in March, and it’s even fully furnished. Perfect
-          Friendships that have already started
-          It’s really nice to find a common language with someone. I’ve found a few different people that are from Germany and I can have conversations with them in high German.
-          Team praying meeting and the encouragement from them
-           Cheese!!