“All around you, people will be tiptoeing through life, just to arrive at death safely. But dear children, do not tiptoe.
Run, hop, skip, or dance…
just don’t tiptoe.”
I’ve read many, many books since arriving, as there’s not much to do
in my free time! Currently I’m reading Irresistible Revolution by Shane
Claiborne. It’s amazing, and disturbing. It hits home, but then I have
to do something about it. This quote is from this book, I think it was
from his college professor? About living LIFE.
photos in no particular order:
This is a traditional food here, from the
Mennonites I’m guessing. My hosts for the last month had this for Sunday
lunch a couple weeks ago and invited me to join them. It’s called geesu
(that’s how it’s pronounced, not spelled!) and is prepared in caste
iron pots over the fire. Delicious.
Tuesdays and Thursdays are ‘long’ days at
school, 730 to 230, so lunch can be purchased at the school on those
days for 10 bs. This particular lunch was very good, the deepfried bread
looking thing there is jietzkuaken. Amazing!
People
drink a lot of pop/sugary drinks here, partially because the heat
drains your energy and partially because they just like to drink them. I
do as well, when I need a quick energy pickup. This particular pop was
pineapple. Not bad. And on the right in an imported item, dark chocolate
covered raisins – pomegranate flavoured. Love this in Canada, so when I
saw it in one of the big grocery stores here I scooped it up! However
it didn’t have a price on it, so when I paid for it I was in for a bit
of a shock! 168 bs for a bag. PRICEY. It’s a good thing that store is
far away and not readily accessible.
This it the money here. Bolivianos.
Everyone calls them ‘bs’ (pronounced bees). 5 bs equals about 1 Canadian
dollar, 7 bs is one American dollar. I’m getting better at doing the
exchange in my head on the fly!
I purchased a phone a couple of weeks ago,
which is quite an experience. It took 4 different people to get it
registered, 2 days, and 3 shops. What you see in this picture are the
phone repair shops/tech shops. They just set up a little booth covered
in tools and parts and they’re ready for business.
Life has picked up in speed here! In
addition to school, I’ve joined a worship team at the church here in
Villa Nueva. We played for the first time last Sunday. There was a
funeral in the community, I played for that as well. Spanish classes
will be starting this next week on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, so I
am VERY excited to learn EVERYTHING. Ha, we’ll see! If people come to
register, I will also be teaching English on Wednesday evenings after
Spanish. I’ve taken on piano students as well, I think about 8 so far.
AND track and futball/futsal teams are starting up and need to be ready
to compete at the Games in one month! It looks like I’ll be coaching the
elementary teams. It is a bit crazy, but doable, hopefully.
One thing that is very exciting is that
TOMORROW I will move into a house, where I will stay for the rest of
this year! I’m extremely grateful to all the people that have hosted me
in the last 6 or so weeks, they’ve been wonderful. It will be nice to
have a place to call my own, and have a kitchen and all that!
Prayer:
- There’s still a few things to iron out
with lesson planning (although it’s getting much easier to plan!)
particularly with the grade one class and also with curriculums
- That I would be organized and disciplined to accomplish everything I need to in the next month!
- Sleep has been difficult for me, mostly
because of my wisdom teeth. I was looking into getting them pulled
before I came but didn’t have the time or finances. Here it is MUCH
cheaper, but still costs money! So that I would be able to get them
pulled, and also that I could find ways to rest in the meantime!
Thankfulness:
- a house!
- more and more independence in grocery shopping and doing business
- visa paperwork is in the very last stage (currently being processed in La Paz). Interpol okayed me!
- opportunities to mingle with people in the community
- building relationships with students
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