No school today - and it's not a snow day

Woke up today, went to school like normal at 7 (actually I was running late so 7:15). School starts at 730, but today there were only 5 teachers at school, instead of the normal 18 or so. Another bloqeo (road block, truckers on strike) popped up, between my village and 2 towns away, Pailas. So that's at least 5-10 miles of trucks. All our teachers that live anywhere far away from the village couldn't make it in, so school was cancelled. Me and two other teachers walked a mile or so to see the edge of the bloceo. Not as bad as it could be, there was one lane up right there. But in some spots further down it was completely blocked up. Bolivia!

high school soccer competition and bolivian reputations

Well last week, I taught all of 5 periods at school. Monday and Tuesday were holidays. Tuesday was also the high school track competition. We had 7 or so girls, and a few guys. Our girls dominated everything that they entered it, taking 1, 2, 3rd place in long jump and 100m, 1st in javelin, shotput.. and some others that I can't remember. Boys were respectable, but only a one will be moving on to the next level of competition. Wednesday through Saturday were spent at the high school soccer competition. I am the assistant coach for the girls team, or else I wouldn't have been there quite so much! (I just taught a few classes on Friday because our game was in the afternoon.)

3 games in regular play, 2 wins and 1 tie. Won semis, and won finals. That is the farthest this school has EVER gotten, everyone is beyond excited. This was the equivalent of zones in Manitoba, like a district/municipality. It was called Plurinacionales. The next level, where we go away for a week, is regionals. Then provincials, then nationals. We have lots of time to practice before then, I think that's in August.

Something that I think is different than in North America.. here your reputation and the respect you get in the community is based on accomplishments and belongs. And status is very important. What this means for soccer is: coaches will do almost whatever it takes to win. To lose a game is not necessarily a reflection on the players, but the coach must be a cheap, lazy bum. We had high school coaches getting into actual fistfights. Bribery is a possibility. One of my students told me "if you pay the ref 100bs we'll win the game." When you WIN a game, those players are celebrities. Everyone wants a picture with the players (seriously people were treating them like celebrities). I did a radio interview, through a translator. Now the head coach of our team, who is known in the community from athletic events over the years, is a very respected man. Also, there were no female coaches, in the 30 plus teams there, except for me. Apparently as soon as anything gets competitive, there are no females. I am white, blond (ish), yelling in English, AND female. So I was a weird one.

Another interesting thing I observed was how EMOTIONAL everyone is. Yes I guess it's Latin America culture, but it still caught me by surprise. When we won semis (in a shootout, one shooter more than the starting 5!), the girls looked like they lost. They were bawling, and not happy/laughing. It was weird. My North American colleague was asked if she cried, and she was like.. ummm no? Why? Ha so there's that.

 We're yellow and blue and red. Go Villa Nueva

 In addition to track and soccer this week, there was also pingpong and chess competitions. The two boys in red and white stripes are from Villa Nueva as well. Made it to semis.

After winning semis in a shootout. I wish you could see the tears!

 Playing in finals, on a much bigger field. (This one would be regular size at home)

 Our audience at the beginning. By the end it was jam packed.

 Winning finals.

 The team

 One of our team member's mom and grandma owns a bakery and had us over cake. Bolivians don't make naturally 'moist' cakes here, they're all dry. So they bake them, pour sugar water over them (for moisture), and then freeze them. So the moistness is... interesting. But they were beautiful and delicious.

Sleep is amazing

Well, last Wednesday the dentist did indeed remove 2 of my wisdom teeth. The process here is slightly different than in North America. I first went to a radiology place, with no appointment. Walked in, told them my dentist's name, that I needed xrays of my teeth. 5 minutes later they took my xrays, 15 minutes later I was out the door with the xrays in my hand. Nice that it could be so little hassle! Once at the dentist's, she didn't want to do all four at once (looking back, that's a good plan), so we did the two most painful. They don't put people under here for this, so just a lot of needles. Numbing always takes a long time for me, so the first half hour or so was extremely painful, my clothes were completely soaked in sweat and they were holding me down. Then they decided to give me some more needles, and worked on the other tooth while the other area numbed some more. The top tooth seemed to go really smoothly and quickly (only in comparison, the dentist said), probably about 20 minutes, with no extreme pain. Back to the bottom tooth. At one point the dentist said that I would probably die before we got it out, because my roots/teeth were so big! With the double dosage of needles and more time, the bottom was a lot less painful the second time around, and within an hour and a half both teeth were out. People say that it's really painful afterwards, but really my teeth feel amazing. I've been able to sleep through the whole night, every night. I'm not talking or singing much, or being active at all, which is hard on me personally, and my job! But necessary so they can heal properly. My other two wisdom teeth will come out eventually as well.

Thankful:
- a dentist who speaks English
- that a good friend could drive me in and around so I didn't have to worry about taxis 
- a relatively cheap price, less than a quarter of what it would cost in Canada
- sleep and real rest, don't take that for granted!

having nothing, yet possessing everything

^...sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything. 2 Corinthians 6:10

 This was part of what I read this morning. It's following a passage of the hard things that Paul and his coworkers are going through, and what they REALLY have, in light of eternity. I can't say I'm being persecuted at all, or that my life is really terrible, because it's not! But obviously there are times when I feel down, or alone out here, or frustrated. And the last part of that verse really struck me -  having nothing, and yet possessing everything. I am so RICH in God. Ah what a good reminder!


Today's business:
Well first of all I had a really wonderful grade 1 class. This class is generally really difficult, and it's slowly been improving but is still hard. The more Spanish I can speak and understand, the better! And the more I pray for my students, the better:) So I am really thankful for that today, and I am energized rather than drained as a result.

Second, now I am off to Santa Cruz to HOPEFULLY get my wisdom teeth removed (if there's no complications). They've been bothering me on and off for the past year, in the last 2 weeks or so I haven't slept more than an hour at a time because of pain. With drugs maybe 3 hours. My days have been full of pain, and headaches as a result of not sleeping. I've never been a headache person, now I know how it feels to live with one, for a couple weeks at least! I am thankful for that perspective, really. Now I know. So hopefully I can report back to you all in a couple days feeling much better!
 

trump advertising, peanut soup, and the zoo

My love of thrift stores hasn't disappeared. Here's one of the 'treasures' I found at a thrift store in Pailon. Somehow Trump shirts have already made it to South America.

 Peanut soup. The broth has ground up peanuts in it! Actually quite tasty. It's in a very interesting place, a long cement building with 10 booths on each side. Each booth is a little kitchen area, different people make their specialties in their booth. 5 bs for a full bowl ($1). Not a place to visit if you like it to be clean and smell nice, etc! I went with one of the teachers, and 3 of our students (who are brothers, and good friends of hers).7

Yes, that is a massive cow bone in there.

 This is the barn like building with the food booths.

Saltenas! A favourite food among Bolivians. This was my Sunday breakfast last weekend, on the way to Santa Cruz for an English church service and the zoo.

 monkey isalnd

 turtles everywhere

 2 friends I was with, they NEEDED to have the deer lick their fingers

 pigs/boars

a crocodile!

This zoo just had local Bolivia stuff: turtles, birds, jaguars, other various cats, snakes, monkeys, boars, anteaters, other massive rodents I don't recognize.

Chapel time

Every Wednesday morning we have chapel from 7:30 to 8:15, and all the classes just get backed up and shortened. It's split into different ages, me and 3 other teachers are in charge of the grade 8 to 12s. Every 4th Wednesday I preach a message (ha!) and every 4th Wednesday (alternating with the preaching one) I lead the musical worship. So tomorrow I am on the schedule for music. Here's a couple samples of the songs I've picked for tomorrow:

Here I am to Worship (in low German)

Chorus: 

Hia sie ekj toom baeden, Hia sie ekj toom preisen,

Hia sie ekj toom sajen Du best mien Gott

Du best gaunz voll leew Har,

Ganzu entgoa so Werdich, 

Du best wundavollich goot toa mie

La Alegria (spanish)

La alegria esta en el Corazon

De aquel que conoce a Jesus

La verdadera paz esta en aquel

Que ya conoce a Jesus

No hay sentimiento mas precioso

Del que viene de nuestro senor

Es el amor de aquel

Que ya conoce a Jesus

 This song is talking about joy... not sure of all the details.

Chapel is usually all in Spanish, as all the teachers are Spanish (except for language teachers for low german and English). So I often do a mix of languages for the songs, but then they have to help lead too! And obviously my messages are in English.