Mi Vida en Boliva

2007-02-19T04:39:00.000-08:00

Here are a bunch of pictures from Christmas. Stacy and I went hiking in Bolivia, then camping in Brasil with Tracey and Luiz. I've never seen christmas decorations like I did in Gramado, it was literally vomiting decorations! Enjoy the photos!

2007-02-19T04:25:00.000-08:00

I wish I had some hi tech sound equipment so that I could record the sounds I wake up to each morning here in Bolivia. It is like I have pitched a tent in the middle of a bird sanctuary. There must be 20 different birds flying around my yard in the morning. Some I really want to see because they don't sound real. They sound like noises made by a bird whistle, the kind that hunters use. I'm up earlier that usual for a day off so I'm going to head outside in a bit to see if I can spot some of these birds. It really is such peaceful music to wake up to each morning.

Today is Monday of Carnival so no work. It is actually cold here!! I slept with my wool blanket last night and need to go put more warm clothes on right now. It has been raining here for about 3 weeks straight only it hasn't been cold. The cold front hit this weekend, it is a nice change. It sort of messed up the carnival festiviities. The big corso, parade, that was suppose to start Saturday night was postponed until Sunday afternoon. So many people have so much fun here during this carnival weekend. I'm holed up in my house avoiding the water balloons, foam and whatever else is going on. I'm not bothered, it is nice to just be at home for a few days.

2007-01-17T03:43:00.000-08:00

BACK TO SCHOOL

Today is the first day back to school after a nice long vacation. Our vacation was actually extended a bit. Yesterday was suppose to be a civil strike (the 4th one of the year). It was cancelled last minute but the school had already sent out a parent email cancelling school. So while we didn't have the day off, we had a second, much needed, work day.

I won't lie, it was hard getting up for school this morning. But I'm ready to be back and looking forward to a new semester.

Happy New Year to everyone!

2006-12-20T06:34:00.000-08:00

Vacation has been good so far. Stacy arrived on Sunday after a ton of delays on LAB. Whatever you do, DON'T FLY LAB!!!!! They are slim shady! We have been just relaxing and running errands. I've attached some pictures from the end of the school year. Rebecca has headed off to Rio and will be getting married on December 29th. We took the students to Aqualand on the last day of school and had a blast. Even my glamour girl students (in the glasses) hit the waterslides. I haven't been on waterslides in ages so that was a good time. The next batch of pictures and posts will be iin the new year. Have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah and wonderful New Year!!!!!!

2006-12-16T17:08:00.000-08:00

I had the chance last weekend to play mom. My church supports several orphanages and one of them wanted to close for two days to plan for the upcoming year. That meant that all of the kids had to have a place to stay. So I had two girls, Juana (15) and Yeraldine (7) come and stay with me. It is usually a family that takes kids but I thought it sounded like a neat thing to do, so I was my own family.

Now I have stayed with kids, babysat, nannied, hung with my nieces and nephew, but none of that compares to having your own kids so I have to give props to all the moms I know. Their job is never ending. I only had their job for one night and it shed a whole new light on things.

I picked the girls up after work on Friday. We came home and I was beat to say the least. A week before the semester is ending and I had about as much energy as a dead battery. Go moms, I know you are tired way more than you realize or admit! We did our nails and talked. I have a fooze ball table downstairs and that was a hit. Then Julie called and invited us over for Harry Potter. She had the projector from school so we watched it on the wall in the living room just like the movie theater. Big hit! The girls slept late on Saturday and when they got up we had pancakes and continued the conversations. Even Yeraldina, all 7 years of her, bless her heart, helped me find words I didn't know in our talks. We spent the afternoon at the zoo and then had a picnic in the plaza. All in all a great two days. The girls are so polite and enjoyable to be around. Just cute as can be. It is hard to imagine they come from families who are unable to appreciate such loving little girls.

My time with the girls got me thinking about adoption. Don't worry, I won't be coming home with new kids this summer or anything, but I'd really like to provide a home for kids that need it. Yes, kids, I realize two might be a little easier than one. Maybe it is because I come from such a big family, but I can't imagine just one kid and me. Two for sure. The single biggest challenge was language. I know I have learned a lot in the last year but I'm nowhere near fluent. I'm like a 4 year old, if that, more like a 3 year old in my vocabulary. But I'll tell you, not an ounce of impatience passed from Juana or Yeraldine. Patient souls for sure. I think the sweetest thing was Juana praying at bedtime, thanking God for opening up my heart and home to her. Now if that doesn't make you want to keep them, I'm not sure what would!

Pictures:
-Yeraldina playing with Jake (Julie's dog)
-Standing on my patio
-Lighting the barbeque with Julie
-Watching Harry Potter on the big screen.

2006-12-16T08:06:00.000-08:00

Sucre for Thanksgiving

Clearly it has been a while since I've posted anything as I'm about to put up some pictures from Thanksgiving. Even in my second year running, it is odd to have a hot Thanksgiving. We celebrated the weekend before over here at the compound I live on. Three turkeys and all the fixings. Yum, makes me hungry just thinking about it. It is nice to celebrate the holiday with my family down here. All of us away from home but give us a little turkey and nostalgia starts flowing. It is like we are all back with our families eating, it was a lot of fun.

For the actual time off, I headed to Sucre with Mike and Julie. It was my 4th time there and I just can't imagine ever being sick of it. It is a small college town with old colonial history. The small cobble streets are lined with white buildings and it is a nice slow pace of life. People even talk slower which is great for me. It makes me feel like my year and a half of spanish is paying off! We went out to see the dinosaur tracks but it was really dissapointing. When I went in June with my parents, you could walk right up to the tracks. I'm sure that made archeologists around the world just sick! Now there is this view point but even with binoculars, you can't see how big the tracks really are. Having seen it before, I could still appreciate it. But if it was your first time, like Mike and Julie, I have to agree that it was a bit lame.

Aside from the dinosaur tracks we didn't do a whole lot. Long meals, naps, books and TV movies. It was a nice time. I can't wait to take Tracey there.

2006-12-01T10:03:00.000-08:00

Strike 3

Today is the 3rd strike of the school year. Five states, not just Santa Cruz, are involved so this one is pretty big. There are a lot of issues in Bolivia at the moment, land reform being probably the biggest. This is what today's strike is about. Evo's land reform act involves taking private land and giving out to the indigenous poor of the country. Obviously the people who currently own the land do not want it siezed and given away. Can't really blame them. This is also causing a lot of serious environmental problems. In an effort to make their land look used, in hopes of not having it taken away by the government, thousands of acres of land are being deforrested. It is all a very sad and devastating business. So as nice as it is to have the day off work, it isn't worth it when it means bad news for the country as a whole.

2006-10-27T05:31:00.001-07:00

Halloween

PICTURES:
-Wendy and I
-The snake picture minus the snake. Lucas, Michael and Jonathan instead
-Rebecca and Heath on gate duty
-Maureen
-Lucas and I before the 8th grade dance (can you see his wig?)
-Analia, Ximena, Heath and I watching the dances
-7th grade girls

I'm sure I have mentioned before what a huge event Halloween is at our school. Dance competitions, costume prizes, dunk tanks, food, animals......

We had perfect weather this year. There wasn't an ounce of humidity in the air (Ok, so that isn't possible in Bolivia but there wasn't the normal amount for sure) a light breeze was keeping us cool and overall it was a pleasant night. Much to my 7th graders disappointment, the 8th graders won the middle school dance. It was fun to see the kids dancing and performing on stage. Some of them are real naturals, others simply try so hard it is a kick to watch.

The National Junior Honor Society, the club I sponsor, was suppose to have a big fundraiser. We arranged to have a boa constrictor from the zoo come to the event. We spent last Saturday paining a jungle scene and for 10b's ($1.50) you could have your picture taken with the boa. Sounds fun, right?? Well, the snake never made it to the party. We aren't sure why, could be the flaky zoo guy or could be one of my flaky students. I need to get to the bottom of it. We were all very disappointed that the snake didn't come. It would have been a hit for sure. Oh well, maybe next year.

Speaking of next year. I have no idea where I will be. Tracey and I are waiting to hear about available positions at my school. My director has said that if a position opens it will be Traceys for sure. We just need an opening. Hopefully we will find out in a few weeks.

2006-10-27T05:29:00.000-07:00

Voting from Bolivia

Thanks to the help of my voting guru Brian Cavagnolo, I was proudly able to send in my absentee ballot this week. I suppose I was a little in the dark about the low voter turnout in the states. Being friends with Brian meant that almost everyone I knew was a registered, active voter. Boy was I living in a bubble. I was the only absentee voter at my school. How crazy is that. No worries though, I really gave everyone a good talking to about the importance of our vote. I think what drives me the most is that there was a time in our country when so many people didn't even have the right to such a thing as voting. So many people have fought for so long to bring about voting changes. It just seems irresponsible not to do it.

My message to all of you:

REGISTER!
VOTE!

2006-10-27T05:27:00.000-07:00

Olimpiadas Especiales

I had the chance to take a group of students to the Special Olympics last week. We went as volunteers for the day and it didn't take long to realize what a truely special event it is! All of us were amazed by the excitement, happiness, encouragement and sense of community we felt.

We were not sure what our volunteer experience would be like. It was an overcast, rainy morning when we arrived at the stadium and there was garbage EVERYWHERE. There was a big soccer game a few nights before so the place was a mess. The first job we were assigned was the long jump pit. It didn't sound like too hard a job until we actually saw the pit. It looked like a small pond and our job was to get it ready for the jumpers. So we gathered some helpful garbage (2 liter coke bottles) and began getting the water out. It seemed an impossible job but an hour later, with the help of some buckets we found, the pit had been cleared and was ready for jumping (see the pictures). I was so impressed with the good attitude my students had. I admit, we thought that our job would be timing kids or something similar, not cleaning out a dirty long jump pit. But even that turned out to be a fun time together and we all talked about how we prefered pit cleaning to a day at school. I guess we all needed a break from school!

We decided that we are going to put together a team for the next special olympics. My students said they felt they could help better by coaching a team and spending the time to get to know a team of kids. That is the plan, I think it is a great one so I'll keep you all posted.

The pictures were taken throughout the day. At one point, one of the althletes asked Karla what place he came in. She told him last place. He asked his coach if this was true and his coach said "You didn't come in last silly, you came in fourth". There were only 4 runners but it didn't matter, the comment made the little guy beam with delight!

2006-10-17T18:47:00.000-07:00

More News from Santa Cruz
I can't believe how fast this school year is going! We just finished our first quarter and so much has been going on. Tracey came last week for her October break. We had a week of relaxation and catching up. It was cool for her to come back here as she came last October as well, so the city was familiar to her.
We spent a night up in Samaipata, this tiny little town about 3 hours away. We layed around sancking and having a movie marathon.

In school news, the middle school has been having a cleaning supply drive to support a local orphanage. Our goal was to collect a years worth of supplies in one month. It was a really successful event. The highlight was taking a group of students to deliver the goods to the orphanage. It was a real shock for most of the students who ahd never seen such poverty in their own city. My students are pretty sheltered so it was good for them to get out.

This year I am the rep for National Junior Honor Society. We have adopted the local zoo as our community service project. The students will be translating all of the signs into English making it a more international zoo. I saw my first sloth that day. The central plaza use to be full of them but when they redid the plaza they put the sloths back into the jungle. One of my students put this one back in a tree. Cute little things. We all got a laugh out of the uncaged horse at the zoo. We thought they were being really humanitarian like and letting it roam. We were informed by the director that, no, they were not aiming to let more animals roam free but that the horse was jaguar food. They go through a horse a week. We all got a kick out of that.

We celebrated Santa Cruz day last month. Rebecca, Analia and I got into the spirit with some Santa Cruz iron on patches. Reminded me of my tshirt making days with Tracey.

I will never get sick of the produce here. It is all so juicey and fresh. And have you ever seen such big basil leaves? I was so shocked I had to include a picture.

This month marks a big decision to be made. Contracts have to be resigned for next year. In a few weeks I'll know what my future plans are. I will either be here for a while longer (with Tracey) or we may be heading to Asia. Either way will be a great adventure.

2006-09-26T17:57:00.000-07:00

Aprendiendo Espanol

I have been getting so frustrated with my lack of spanish skills. I can get by in present tense, but God forbid I need to talk about anything I've done or plan to do! It occured to me recently that I was just as frustrated a year ago and I couldn't even begin to get by even in the present tense. This helped me realize that I have indeed learned a lot. There is a ton more to learn but poco y poco, right?! I'm not nearly as frustrated when I put it into context.

There is this time factor that I'm seeing and really appreciating. There is only so much you can learn at a time. You have to practice and focus on a few things, then once those are under your belt, you can move on the the next bit. Working on the past tense isn't so hard now that I know the present. And those direct and indirect object pronouns are way easier now that I know the actual objects. Last year my spanish teaher would throw in a Le or Lo and I'd freak out. Now, sometimes I wonder what she is talking about, but I am way quicker on the uptake.

Those are the little things that I remember and am encouraged by. Who knows what will frustrate me next year but I'm guessing it won't be what frustrates me now. That puts a smile on my face!

I even told a joke the other day. I took a taxi somewhere and when I got out I got the taxi drivers number so I could call him the next time I needed a ride. He said his name was Juan and I said "ah, Juan, un nombre unico en Bolivia!" (for you non spanish speakers, that translates to, Juan, what a unique name in bolivia). He looked up at me ready to correct me, then saw my smile and gave a little chuckle. I told my students about my joke experience and although they thought it was cheesy they gave a little laugh.

2006-09-08T12:10:00.000-07:00

Back in Bolivia (with strike #2)

I have enjoyed a very peaceful Friday here in Santa Cruz. There was a paro civico (civil strike day) here today so the city was shut down. There is a lot going on in Bolivia these days with Evo rewriting the constitution. You never know what to expect which can be good and bad. This is our second strike in 5 weeks so who knows what will come next.

I can't believe that I've been back here for 6 weeks already. It seems like just yesterday that I was hanging out with my family in Davis, sailing on the bay with Jeremy in Oakland, enjoying city life in San Francisco. I got to see the newest of the Rosendales, baby Zoe, who is just as cute as her sisters and brother. What a fun time!! It has been nice returning to Bolivia without the drama associated with being new. I already have a place to live, a bank account, I know how the school works and where to find things for my classroom. It has been a nice transition returning to Santa Cruz. I think what I will miss most this year is the visitors. I had 10 people visit over the course of last year and I loved that. It helped a lot on the homesick front, basically taking any homesickness away completely.

Pictures
-Jia-min and my parents with Charlotte
-Lela and Ethan playing with Chris
-Sadler Family (Markel, Stacy, Kobe, Kira)
-Jeremy on Pura Vida
-4th of July, Colleen and my mom with lela and ethan
-Jaclyn and Bruce in SF
-Cindy and Michael at Sudwerks
-Kristen, Shaelyn and baby Zoe
-Lela and I
-My balcony in Bolivia
-SF park dinner
-Brian and Jeremy on their B-day with Zack
-Walkway from my living room to my bedroom (sort of fun to walk outside to get to my room)
-Backyard at the compound I live on.
-Kitchen
-Balcony
-Bedroom/Bathroom
-Liviing Room

I'm really into my new place. It doesn't offer the views of last years 7th floor downtown apt. but it is so peaceful here with a beautiful yard so I'm glad of the move.

2006-05-13T10:58:00.000-07:00

Pictures
-Michael and Kayra singing at Karoke
-Walking in the forest, this looked just like California!
-One bus couldn't make the drive, so we all had to pile into one!!
-View from the rock we climbed
-Me climbing the rock
-One of the Baroque concerts
-If you only knew this kid!!! Jose Miguel Gutierrez, so crazy, yet apparently will dance!
-Cheese at this small cheese store we went to
-Lucas, Juan Pablo and Jonathan at lunch
-Karoke Bar
Aaahh, the 7th grade trip. Four days in Concepcion for the baroque festival with 28 12 year olds. It was a tireing weekend to say the least. Overall it was a good time. The kids are so funny away from school, out of their uniforms. The were not as into the boroque concerts as I was but that was sort of to be expected. Every other year, the baroque festival comes to Bolivia. The heart of it is in Concepcion, one of 7 Jesuit missions constructed in the mid 1700's. The church is beautiful and the music was fantastic. At one point, I felt like I must be in some European city listening to a concert. The charm of the church and the stringed instruments were mesmerizing. It was only when I left the church and faced the dirt roads that I remembered where I was. But that reminder wasn't a bad one with the beauties of bolivia and all of the toborochis in bloom.

We also had the chance to spend some time in this forest. I felt like I was right in Northern California with all the trees and nice trails. I could have stayed there all day long!! I'm not sure about next years trip. Should I go with these kids when they are in 8th grade or take my chances with the new 7th graders..........

2006-05-13T10:18:00.000-07:00

Toborochi Trees

Last month the toborochi trees started blooming in Bolivia. Overnight they turned things so beautiful. The trees themselves are pretty interesting even when they aren't in bloom. The Argentines call them boracho (drunk) trees. Personally, I think they look more pregnant than drunk. From my bedroom window I count 14 pink toborochi tops. These pictures are from the plaza in Concepcion. They make it seem like spring here in Santa Cruz!

2006-03-07T17:12:00.000-08:00

Carnival in Santa Cruz
Pictures:

Rebecca got drenched
Parade backup (truck broke down)
Me just getting started
Tribal dancers
Comparsa
Group Shot-we rented a riser to watch the parade
Cristin's sweet Mohawk
Julie and Ximena at war
Picture of the night: Bob the librarian covered in foam.

Basic rules of Carnival in Santa Cruz Bolivia:

Don't wear anything you don't want ruined.(balloons are filled with ink)
Watch for flying objects (Water balloons get frozen and empty cans of spray get tossed)
Don't even think about trying to stay clean!

I just finished celebrating my first ever Carnival. Quite the experience. I'm pretty sure no city celebrates it the same so let me tell you what it is like in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

The last 5 saturday's have been carnival kick-offs. My street has closed down for mini-parades, bands and dancing. It has been fun, completely safe and relatively calm. This weekend has been anything but calm, mostly fun and the safety thing would be argued differently by everyone down here. There was a huge parade on Saturday night. A bunch of people from work got a riser along the street to watch the parade from. The way it works is the parade goes down one side of this street (think a long street, at least 8 kilometers before it turns). The center of the street is blocked off and you can rent places to sit then the other side of the street is full of people walking and venders. The parade started at around 6pm. When we left at 2am there were still about 4 hours of the parade left. I'm not exaggerating!

The parade was a mix of dance groups and comparsas, or fraternaties of people walking together all in the same outfits. It was pretty cool actually. These groups all wear the same I guess you would say smock. Some of them have floats some have bands, some just walk all together. On the side lines we, well everyone actually, was armed with water balloons and spray foam. Most of the gear we used on each other, the rest we used students from school who tried to attack us from across the street. It was a good time for sure. We all ended up covered with foam and water and by the end of the night ink, which is what people start filling the balloons up with. We had old clothes on so we didn't care but I still have ink on my arm that I'm hoping comes off by Wednesday. Aside from the foam and balloons which is all good fun it was pretty chill. It isn't until around 2am that the people in the parade and on the streets start getting dangerously drunk which is when we called it a night. By 2am I wondered how many months we would be walking around in carnival garbage, the streets were filthy!! To my complete amazement, by 10am the next morning the streets were more spotless than I have ever seen them! Pretty quick turn-around.

The rest of the weekend I haven't ventured out. I have no desire to get covered in ink. Thats is what 90% of the balloons are filled with now. It was funny driving home from the movies tonight and seeing all the kids in their smocks just covered in ink. Faces and all! I am positive that most kids from my school will have ink stains on their faces for weeks to come. Unless of course they covered themselves with baby oil which is the trick down here. You rub it all over any exposed skin and no ink or shoe polish or whatever will stick to you. Gross right? All of the buses and taxi's are covered in mud. The drivers spend all day Saturday getting their cars ready so that the ink from the weekend won't stick to them. Anyone outside is a target for carnival "fun". I don't mean for it to sound bad, because it isn't. Saturday night was really enjoyable and it has been a long time since I had that much fun with water balloons and foam. I'm just not leaving my house until work on Wednesday (ok, so I went to the movies tonight but the taxi driver wouldn't let us keep the windows down becuase he didn't want any junk thrown in his car). I will attach pictures tomorrow so you can see the fun of the weekend. I think the highlight of the parade was when the comparsa that most of our students were in walked by. We had a big teahcer-student foam and water fight. Pretty fun.

I'm thinking next year will be Oruru (also in Bolivia) which is suppose to be second only to Rio for carnival celebrations. Or who knows, maybe I'll meet Tracey in Brazil for some fun over there.

2006-02-27T11:39:00.000-08:00

CLUB COBRA

So when I got back from vacation in January I joined a new gym. It is called Santa Rosita and is pretty near my school. My friends (Rebecca and Debrorah) and I are the only foreigners there which is nice, it is a completely Bolivian scene. That is nice because sometimes it feels like we are really separated from the community we live in. I speak English all day at work and have mostly non-Bolivian or English speaking friends so it is cool to spend a few hours at night in real Bolivia.

The gym is a pretty big scene. It is about the size of two basketball gyms. It has two raised wooden stages in the middle where the wrestlers, tae kwon doe and karate groups practice. The boxers and kickboxers (I'm in one of about 5 kickboxing group) are sort of scattered around the periphery of the gym. Some days there is a boxing ring set up, some days not. There is a big, official ring set up now because there was a competition last weekend. It was great. I have never been to a live boxing match and was worried that it may be a little too bloody and gross for me. I'm not really into watching people fight. It turned out to be a lot different than I thought. Because it was kickboxing, there didn't seem to be so much face/head punching as I expected. And given that most of the fighters were really good, they seemed to block most of the punches and kicks that came at them.

I'm in Club Cobra. Yes, that is for real. We have black shirts with gold iron-on. It is a big cobra with the words Club Cobra on the front. The back has two people fighting and it says Full Contact Kickboxing. We have to do pushups if we don't wear our shirt to practice. Hard core! Each group in the gym is their own club with their own name. I have not actually had any full contact fights and don't think I ever will. I do it for the workout. People at work say they would pay money to see Rebecca and I in the ring together but I don't think we will ever entertain their desires. Two of my teachers fought last weekend. It was a big tournament and a ton of people came out to watch. It wasn't too crazy because you had to pay 5b to get in. That really curbed the mob. After about 6 matches our assistant Frank went got into the ring. He is the one in the club cobra shirt in the pictures. He didn't win. He isn't so fast on his feet. Renaldo went next and it was great. It was definitely the fight of the night. He fought "Jumpin' Jack Flash". Not sure that guys real name but he is quick. It was a good fight and they were evenly matched. Lots of punch and kick blocking so I liked it. In the end, my teacher prevailed and won the title. It was pretty exciting.

I think the highlight of the whole thing was the huge sound system set up that played Eye of the Tiger at the beginning of each round of each fight. So by the time our professor fought, we had heard the song about 28 times. It was like being in the movies and as cheesy as it was, it really got everyone pumped for the matches, fighters and audience alike. What an international song!

Pictures
-Renaldo, our teacher, when he won (he is on the left, Jumpin Jack Flash is on the right)
-Renaldo getting ready to fight, Frank in Club Cobra helping him out.
-Frank getting ready for his fight. He was bummed to lose!

2006-02-12T20:51:00.000-08:00

The Micro

Last week I introduced the Micro to my commute. It is the system of local busses that go all over the city and into neighboring cities as well. It started as a budget issue. After my expensive vacation to Argentina I decided to buckle down on my spending. Not only do I want to save money but I want to fund some more vacations down here. Because the Boliviano goes so far it is easy to spend money on things and justify it as being cheap. But as we all know, a lot of cheap things turn expensive really quick. So the micro. I thought I would take it to church on Sundays since I'm not on a time schedule and can experiment with different lines. A trip on the micro is 1.5 b's (roughly 25 cents). A taxi ride to church is 15 b's so there is a 13.5 b savings one way. That adds up to a lot of b's let me tell you. As the week went on I decided that 1.5 b's beats taxi fares enough that I needed to take the micro any chance possible. I have saved about 125 b's this week alone. When a meal out is 10b's, you are talking a significant savings. It is also a reminder of what a high end thing a taxi is when it is that much more expensive than public transportation.

But this has been more than a money saving change to my week. It has been a humbling experience. I see first hand the poverty in this city as I drive through the many markets. I see women who sit with their little kids all day long (7am-10pm) 7 days a week selling anything from fruit to soap to batteries. I see people struggling on an hourly basis to sustain the life they have. There is so much in this country that is just eye opening in an unexplainable way. The separation between rich and poor is so vast and just being a foreigner puts me in the rich category. It is not a pleasant place to be as the rich in the country don't do a lot to help others. So taking the micro has been a good start to a more normal lifestyle in Bolivia, a good way to see the need first hand, a good way to appreciate the health I have and a good way to start thinking about how I can become a more useful part of the community!

Another micro perk: There are no bus stops so you get on and off where ever you want!! For those of you who have ever begged a muni driver to let you on at a corner and been denied, you know how great this is.

2006-02-12T18:49:00.000-08:00

Montevideo, Uruguay (January 3-January 4)

Two words: Yerba Mate

We only spent two days in Montevideo which was enough time to see the obsession with Yerba Mate tea. So of course, we had to partake. I got supplies at the store (a thermos which they filled with hot water for me and tea). Then Ian scouted out the street market for a good cup and we all headed down to the water for some Mate time. Stacy loved it and is making it his new East Bay thing. Ian, Tracey and I weren't too sure about it. You are suppose to soak the cup in hot water for several hours which we didn't do so I think we were tasting some of the wood from the cup which was not so good.

Cold Mate as made by my friend Analia
Make a jug of crystal light juice.
Add ice
Pour the juice over a cup of mate (it can be any old cup)
Drink it with a filtered straw
Soooo good.

Pictures
-Mate Supplies
-Montevideo 9pm Sunset
-Stacy, Ian and I drinking Mate
-Stacy and I
-Mate Prep

2006-02-12T18:23:00.000-08:00

Christmas in Pinamar
-Stacy and I on the bus to Pinamar
-Tracey and Stacy at Christmas dinner
-Jeremy, Tracey and Stacy on the beach
-Christmas toast

2006-02-12T17:59:00.000-08:00

A few more pictures from Argentina
Tracey, Sabrina and I in our matching sweatshirts (it was a chilly day when we arrived)
Playing in Buenos Aires
Streets of Buenos Aires
Tracey and I out to dinner
Stacy and Jeremy doing Math homework

2006-02-12T17:11:00.000-08:00

Argentina (December 22-January 3)

These pictures are a long time coming!!! I have been back from my vacation for a month now and can't believe it has taken me so long to share the pictures.

Jeremy flew down on the 17th of December and we had a few rainy days full of election excitement. Evo won and we left for Argentina (more on Evo later). We met up with Tracey in Buenos Aires along with my friend Stacy who teaches in Oakland and Sabrina who teaches in Valencia, Venezuela. Tracey's cousin Ian and his girlfriend Linnea also joined us. What a group! It was so nice to be in Argentina. The roads are so nice and smooth, the streets are clean and things are just beautiful. Of course I don't want to dog out Bolivia because I love it here but it was a refreshing break to be in a more developed country.

Our group headed out of Buenos Aires right when we got there to spend Christmas in a small beach town called Pinamar. It was like being back in Northern California. There were pine trees everywhere, nice paths to walk on, a cool, well develped downtown. The 5 hour bus ride down there was even nice. The seats reclined all the way and we got food and movies. Not bad! It was nice to lounge on the beach on Christmas day. We ate good meals and had the chance to celebrate the holiday with a ton of others. Christmas isn't a closed up family thing down here. People go out to eat and shoot fireworks off and are out and about with their families. It was different but really nice! The highlight was the grandma who stood up to toast the entire restaurant on Christmas Eve. She just gave off the most welcoming, sincere and loving attitude. It was comforting to have that being far from home. I thought of my family as Tracey had us tell all sorts of christmas memories over our meals. Mom, Roger, Johnny, Jia-min, Annie, Michael, Cindy, Kurt, Eric, Charlie, Kristen and kids, I missed our morning pajama time together!!!!

After swimming in the Atlantic for a few days we headed back to Buenos Aires where we had an apartment for the week. Apartment travel is the way to go! We just lounged around reading, drinking coffee and hanging out each morning before heading out on the town. Buenos Aires has a great metro system and a cool bus system as well (although unlike Bolivia there are bus stops so you don't get the luxury of door to door service like you do in Santa Cruz). Because there is a bigger middle class in Argentina, sitting and having a coffee at a cafe feels normal and not so elite as it does in Bolivia. It was nice to just roam the streets and be with friends. On January 3, Jeremy left and Tracey, Stacy , Ian and I headed to Brazil via Uruguay.

Pictures:
Tracey and Jeremy at the airport in BA
Stacy, Jeremy and I visiting Evita
Cooking in our apartment
Jeremy's last night
Jeremy, Sabrina, Stacy and I at a local cafe

2006-01-06T05:13:00.000-08:00

Evo Takes Bolivia

Sorry this update took so long. If any of you followed the Dec. 18 elections in Bolivia then you heard about the victory of Evo Morales. And a victory it truely was. He is the first man in Bolivian elections ever to get an actual majority of the vote. He had 51% of the vote which was enough to secure the presidency with no conflict from congress. If no cadidate gets more than 50% then alliances are formed with different candidates and congress selects the new leader, always sort of scandalous as no one ever seems to get more than 30% of the vote. Evo has a 2 big platforms. Coca production and natural gas. The US wants him to completely erradicate the coca production. Evo isn't feeling that so much. He agrees that it needs to be cut back but as a former coca farmer and one who sees it is the livelyhood of many, he isn't willing to cut it all out. As for the natural gas issue, it is privatized at the moment so only a few really rich people seem to be enjoying the success of living in a country with such an abundant natural resource. Evo wants to make it public in hopes of allowing the rest of the country to benefit from its natural resource.

Bolivia is a poor country to be sure and at the moment it would seem that we have a president who represents the majority of people here in Bolivia. It wasn't getting any better with the previous presidents so I'm hoping that Evo can turn it around. The country needs someone who can! The last 3 years here have boasted 4 different presidents, certainly with that kind of turnover not a lot is happening to stabalize the country. This could be the time for some real change.

I haven't been in Bolivia since the 22 of December, but when I left things were really chill and peaceful. Pray that it continues and that some really positive change starts happening!

2005-12-14T07:26:00.000-08:00

1st semester down, 3 to go

It is hard to believe that my first semester down here is over. My students just walked out the door for a month!! Time really flew this semester and I can only imagine how fast the rest of the year will go. So far this job has been really great. I am super thankful to have moved down here. Aside from being so far away from my friends and family back home, this place is pretty darn cool!

I have a few days left here at school (without kids) to get ready for the new semester so my vacation officially begins on Friday afternoon.

It will be a busy weekend down here in my landlocked country. My 5th visitor, Jeremy, arrives on Saturday night. Then Sunday Bolivia holds Presidential elections. This is a pretty big deal and there is a lot of tension and divide about who people think should run the country. Votes will be in on Sunday night, however, for automatic presidancy a candidate must get 50% of the vote. That is not expected to happen so congress will end up deciding who to put into power (and it doesn't have to be the one with the most votes). I guess what typically happens is some of the top candidates form alliances and add their votes together. It all sounds a bit shady. Roads will be closed on Sunday so the streets will be empty. This is the 4th presidential election in 3 years. This country really needs some longterm leadership so be praying that this Sunday's election can be the last one for at least a few years.

I hope all is well back at home! I miss you all!

2005-12-10T11:03:00.000-08:00

End of Semester

It seems like just yesterday that I was boarding the plane on my way to Bolivia. I now find myself at the end of my first semester of teaching at SCCS. My how time flies. Technically I am a quarter of the way through my 2 year contract. That makes me feel like I don't have a lot longer down here yet my travel itinerary is huge, so I'd better be making the most of my time off! Who knows, maybe I'll need to stay more than 2 years to really see everything!

Ending this first semester makes me think a lot about my last job. There are several things that I don't miss a bit. For example:
-I haven't had to break up a single fight down here. Not because someone else did, but because there haven't been any!
-No one pulls the fire alarm for a prank. Now that could be because down here in Bolivia there aren't any fire alarms to pull. But somehow I think that these kids wouldn't pull them even if it was an option.
-Kids don't cuss at me.
-I can actually send a student to the principal and I know the kid will get busted.
-No parents call me a liar
-For the most part, all the teachers want to be teaching and actually work together to make that happen.

To help illustrate what I miss about teaching in San Francisco, I have attached some pictures. Here are some things I miss:
-Ashley McMillian getting busted for talking up a storm, then coming in the next morning with a big smile saying "What's up Ms. Rosendale", all anger from the day before forgotten.
-Having lunch with Stacy Heniser everyday and talking about life
-Damon Wilson, who in the midst off all the chaos that surrounded him, got his agenda out and wrote down the homework every day, all year long!
-Seeing my students at Safeway, or walking down Fillmore. I see some of my kids here but it isn't nearly as fun.
-The sass that Takia brought to my room. I hated it at the time, but it makes me laugh thinking about her dancing her way into my classroom.
-Being quick whitted at work, never knowing what my students would say.
-Working with kids who really I feel like I can actually make a difference with. My students here have so much accessible to them because of their wealth. I'm just one more person there to serve them.
-Kevin Vu, being bad, wanting to fight, but SO OPEN to doing the right thing. That boy had no problem admitting his wrong and apologizing.

Pictures:
1. Students posing. My students here aren't nearly as into posing for pictures
2. The united colors of Ben Franklin:Luis, Michael, Nestor and Ammar representing Guatemala, Eritria, Peru and Yemen. That is some diversity I just don't have at my school here.
3 Jerroco and the girls. I had that picture up in my classroom last year and it just makes me smile.
4. Stacy, Sabrina and I at Dawn and Richard's wedding. I sure do miss working with those people.
5. The annual Walk-a-thon. Kids here wear uniforms so I don't get to see sagging pants, funky headbands and jerseys from every basketball team.

So I guess as much as I love it down here, there are plenty of things I miss about the chaotic, unstable, crazy school I worked at in San Francisco. I hope everyone in the teaching world has had a good semester and is looking forward to a nice break. I'll be in touch.

2005-11-27T07:52:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving in Bolivia

I just got back from a nice Thanksgiving getaway. Since our school follows a somewhat American calendar, we had Thursday and Friday off for Thanksgiving. I certainly missed being at home for the holiday. It is a pretty big event in my family. Not just because we have such a big crowd but because it is one of the few times during the year when ALL of us get together. My niece turned one and her dad, my brother, turned 28. Those are the things that make being so far away hard. No weekend birthday parties or Thanksgiving feasts! But there is certainly a lot to be thankful for. I am really thankful for the health of my family. I seem to know so many people at the moment suffering with a lot of illness and I so often take my health for granted. I am thankful for all of you who keep in touch, it really makes my day to get your emails and phone calls.

Bolivia actually turned out to be a very relaxing place for Thanksgiving and while I didn't have turkey and stuffing, I had some really good chicken and rice. Rebecca and I headed out on a 6 hour bus ride after school Wednesday to a town called Concepcion. It is one of 6 towns that has a huge Jesuit mission dating back to the 1600's. The town is super small! It has a big plaza in the middle (all towns in Bolivia do) surrounded by red dirt roads. One side of the plaza has the mission, one side a restaurant and a craft shop, one side a small store and the side opposite the mission, a hotel that we stayed in. It was a neat place to see. Two German priests run the mission now and we went to their evening service. I realize how much Spanish I am starting to comprehend when I sit through 45 minutes of pure Spanish, very cool.

The rest of the weekend we walked around the town (that didn't take long since the entire town is only about 5 square blocks) and caught up on some reading. Got back last night and am enjoying a nice, bright Sunday morning. Holidays are always a fun time because they mark another year of time and allow me to reflect on what I was doing last year, or the year before. I spent last year with the Bollingers in Hawaii. And while I would have loved to have joined them this year, I couldn't. However, Bolivia is a lot like Hawaii this time of year. It is around 90 degrees and humid. The only thing missing is the ocean front, but with all the swimming pools in town it is just like being at a beach in Hawaii!

I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving and are able to find many things to be thankful for this year!

Adria

2005-11-19T06:23:00.000-08:00

30 in Bolivia

This past Wednesday marked my 30th birthday. I can say without a doubt that I am ready to be 30! It feels like just the right age. That is a good thing because I'm sure there are years all of us dread. It was quite a celebration at school. During silent reading, my 8th graders brought me a HUGE chocolate cake. The frosting was pure liquid and just dripped off the top of the cake. Not 20 minutes after devouring that, my 7th graders brought me a strawberry cake. I thought I would be sick! I managed to wait to the end of class to cut into that badboy in hopes that the chocolate cake would digest a bit. (it didn't). I finished off my birthday with a bunch of teachers from work. It was a good day. I missed celebrating with Tracey as has become our tradition, so I look forward to our own belated birthday celebration in Argentina in December.

School is winding down for the semester. Only 4 weeks to go which is nothing considering we get this Thursday and Friday off for Thanksgiving. All the American teachers are having a big feast today since most of us will be traveling during our time off. I'm not eating any food today until I get to the house for dinner, there are going to be some good meals. It is raining here today so it actually feel like November back home, the only difference being that it is about 80 degrees out (cool for here).

I'll be heading off to a town called Concepcion next week. My friend Rebecca and I will be braving the Bolivian bus system, should be fun.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.

Pictures
My Bolivian birthday card from Deb
Deb Cristin and I
The girls at the party
My 7th grade girls at the big Halloween performance

2005-10-22T22:11:00.000-07:00

Every year the Bolivian teachers host a Buricamba. I'm not sure if this has an exact translation, but it is a time to come celebrate being Camba, or from Santa Cruz. You are suppose to wear a traditional costume and apparently there are several place to rent these. I opted for a Santa Cruz T-shirt courtesey of Ellie, the woman who owns the market across the street from my house. I'm thinking next year I will get done up for the event. It was a fun time with all the crew I work with! Usually the staff is pretty split between local hires and foreign hires so it was nice to have a party with everyone from school.

Pictures:
The Bolivian teaching crew
Analia and I
Nicolaas and Analia
Rebecca, Gina, Lottie and Lottie (in Buricamba outfits)
Cristin and Rebecca, Cheerleader coaches at school this year

2005-10-17T18:30:00.000-07:00

When Tracey was here we had the chance to head out to the sand dunes. It is pretty crazy. You drive just out of the 5th ring of the city and it looks like you are on the set of Return of the Jedi. Sand everywhere! There wasn't much water, but since it was late in the day it was nice and cool out. We had a picnic and watched the sunset. It doesn't matter where in the world you are, watching the sun go down is an amazing view!

2005-10-16T22:18:00.000-07:00

I will never get tired of having visitors!! Please, come down whenever you want! Tracey just left after a week stay here in Santa Cruz. We spent the week catching up on life, hearing about each others schools and lives in a new country. Even though we are learning different languages (She is in Brazil learning Portuguese) it was fun to talk about the whole process of language learning. We both have learned from our friend Laura to have no pain! You just have to speak and not worry about messing up. As a result you say some pretty silly things, but you learn a ton.

We stayed in Santa Cruz for most of the week. On Friday we went in search of some waterfalls but after about 3 hours of 4 wheeling through the foothills of Santa Cruz, we were unable to find them. It was fun none the less and we had a good time bouncing around in the car taking in the scenery. It was a trip to be at he top of a mountain, to look around and see nothing but green covered hills then tucked away between some of them, a huge mansion. Not sure how those folks get to their houses or how they get supplies once they are there, but whatever. A lot of money is involved either way and there aren't too many legit ways of getting that kind of cash down here if you know what I mean!

I was sad when Tracey left but we will be meeting up for a Thanksgiving/Birthday weekend at the end of November. I'll meet her in Sao Paulo, Brazil for a weekend. We had a fun time reminiscing of our meeting at Middlesex University in England and had fun recounting the many trips we have been on. From Scotland to Egypt, California to Bolivia, we have many more trips planned and I can't wait!

Pictures:
Analia and Nicolaas watching the Bellydancer at the CANADIAN BAR??!!
Tracey at the Volcano...never say the volcano or found the waterfalls.
Anna, Tracey and I at La Casona, a restaurant in Santa Cruz.
Tracey and I in the foothills, the Sierra of Santa Cruz.
Motorcycle Taxi stand outside of Santa Cruz.

2005-10-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

September in Santa Cruz has one big theme: La Feria! La Feria is a huge expo with anything you can imagine for sale. There are petroleum companies, tracktors, electronics, tanning beds, cows, hot tubs and much much more. It is a really popular place to go. The whole town shows and many more turn out for this 2 week event. It is the talk of the town and the talk of the school. All my students go! I am already planning to go several times next year. I only made it one night this time round. Just imagine a very clean, very fancy state fair. That is what La Feria is.

Pictures: Nicolaas, Analia and I having dinner at La Feria.
A group of students playing a game during our school's friendship day celebration.
Crowds of people at La Feria.
Otto, one of the guards at my apartment. He keeps me up on my Spanish.
Nicolaas and I with a cow.

2005-09-30T16:45:00.000-07:00

September in Santa Cruz

Well I can't believe that September has already come and gone. It was a busy month down here in Santa Cruz. I had 3 visitors this month alone. My cousin Kathleen and her fiance Chris came down at the beginning of the month. They spent a week in Brazil before heading over here. It was so cool sharing my scene down here with them. We did a lot of eating and could have done more if their trip had been longer. The three of us took a weekend and headed south to this small town called Samaipata. It is this really tiny sort of ghost town. It has a quaint central plaza and a few restaurants but that is about it. We spent our days lounging at the compound we stayed on. It is called La Vispera and is a few houses spread out around these great vegetable gardens. All the food is made fresh from the gardens and tastes as fresh as it sounds.

I was sad to have them leave, but the sorrow only lasted a day as Kim came down 2 days later for a weeks visit. Another fun adventure with her. Instead of heading south, we went north for the day to Buena Vista. Not sure what usually goes on there, but it was pretty much cleared out when we were there. No joke, not a single person was in the plaza and everything was closed down. There was a wedding in the Jesuit Mission so we crashed that for a while as a source of the days entertainment. Kim and I also enjoyed the food of the city and even got some dancing in.

This month is pretty huge for Santa Cruz, and really Bolivia as a whole because there is a two week expo that goes on. People down here said that it is like a state fair, but that really doesn't paint the right image in your head. There are no rides there and it isn't the least bit dirty. Everyone dresses up and it is the place see and be seen!! There are exhibition halls for different countries and tons of animals. Just about every bar, cafe and restaurant in town has a booth set up so there is plenty to eat and drink. I only went for one night but my goal for next year is at least 5 times!! It is a good time.

You would think by now I would welcome a break from visitors, that not so! Please, come visit, let me share Bolivia with you. Tracey is coming over from Brazil a week from tomorrow. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Time is moving fast down here. I had my first formal evaluation this week and it went well. Some days I feel like I am on one big vacation and other days I am so busy planning and prepping for school that I may as well be back in San Francisco plugging away at Ben Franklin. Crazy how that happens.

Hope all is well back home. I miss you all!!

2005-08-31T17:30:00.000-07:00

I thought you would get a kick out of my morning commute. I am the last person on the carpool (aka School Bus). I ride it with two other teachers, one high school student, 3 middle school students and 3 elementary students. It is a chill morning and only takes about 10 minutes to get to school. Plus it is free and you can't beat that. Eduardo, our driver, is amazing at navigating the city streets.

We had an exciting day yesterday for two reasons. First, some students found a scorpion in their English class. So the whole class came to the science room (that would be me) to find a container to put it in. All I could offer was a water bottle. They got it in the bottle pretty quick and then carried it around the rest of the day as their pet. All the students warned us to look into the shower before stepping in because scorpions crawl out of them all the time. Apparently I have nothing to worry about on the 7th floor, but don't think I didn't check my shower before stepping into it this morning.

The second exciting event was the rain. It was the first rain in over a month and now it is actually cold. It is a nice change from the gusting wind and heat. I'm guessing it is in the high 60's which feels like -30 south of the equator. It continued to rain overnight and there was plenty of lighting and thunder!

Oh, the last picture is from the backseat of a typical taxi in Santa Cruz. There is a huge market here for used Japanese cars, so all the taxi's have very peculiar looking passenger seats. There is a dashboard there the speedometer and other gauges, only the steering wheel is missing. It has been moved to the other side of the car. It seemed so odd at first, but now it is just normal!

2005-08-27T12:08:00.000-07:00

Tres Marias

Over the years I have given Colleen a lot of grief about her middle name. You see, she shares the middle name Ann with her sister. For some reason I find it amusing and odd that they have the same middle name. I have even asked her dad why he decided to give both of his daughters the same middle name. None of his sons have the same middle name. He says he liked the name Ann and it was easier to give them the same name. Well......I will no longer give Colleen a hard time about her shared middle name. Nice of me right? Not really when you hear why I will stop harassing her. I have found something even more amusing here in Bolivia.

I have an 8th grade student who is the middle of 5 kids. She has two younger brothers (Juan Alfredo, and Josue). She has two older sisters and this is the funny part. Their names are Maria and Maria. Yes, all three daughters share not a middle name, but a first name. I actually laugh every time I think about it. So I have Maria Edith in my class. Her 10th grade sister is Maria Carmen and the oldest is Maria Jose. Does anyone else find humor in this?

I am actually struggling with some of the names in my classes. In San Francisco I had maybe a handful of kids who shared a first name. I also had a lot of interesting names from Shu-yi to Gerrine, Jamila to Unique! Down here I have a ridiculous number of repeat names. I have three Andreas in one class. Two Jose Miguels and two Jose Manuels who I am forever confusing. I have 4 Marias (not related to previous mentioned Marias) Maria Fernanda (goes by MaFer) Maria-Cristina, Maria Valeria (goes by Valeria) and of course Maria Edith. I have a Michael and Johnathan in one class who I confuse to no end as I think about my own two brothers. I have two Daniels and a Daniella in on class, all of whom answer when I call on any one of them. When parents came in for back to school night, I had to really think about who their kid was as several faces popped into my head at the mention of one name. One parent told me that my name is very Latin. How cool, I have a Latin sounding name even without the ana to the end of it!!

2005-08-20T10:37:00.000-07:00

The Pictures Have Arrived

The internet company just left my house so I can finally show you all some pictures of Santa Cruz. I haven't figured out how to put a caption with the pictures so I will do a few posts with some different pictures. I'm going to start with my school. I said before it is a beautiful campus and it really is. I am still in awe of how green it is and what a pleasant place it is to work.

2005-08-19T08:30:00.000-07:00

Some Funny Things at SCCS

I remember back in High School how there were t-shirts for everything; Homecoming, "Class of", Football stuff. Well the Class of 2006 at Santa Cruz Cooperative School has taken the school t-shirt to a whole new level. So far the seniors have 3 different shirts. There is a super trendy button down blue and white stripe they all wore yesterday. Of course, girls don't want to wear a boys shirt so theirs is the same fabric but with the female cut, you know, tighter with more shape to it. Of course they also wear them in about a size too small so there is some major skin showing. They also have a polo shirt, also blue and white stripes with a patch sewn onto it that says Seniors, Class of 2006. (Also in a boy/girl cut option). And finally they have a brown t-shirt with this paint splatter design that says their class as well. I don't know why I am so fascinated with this shirt trend here. I suppose it is just different than when I went to school, and maybe this is what high schools in America are doing now as well, as a middle school teacher I have no idea. I will have to snap some pictures of the shirt fad here and maybe you will see why I find it so curious.

2005-08-18T08:45:00.000-07:00

Espanol has begun

I had my first spanish class last night. Somehow this class finally made things sink in with me. I no longer feel as though I am on vacation. I actually feel like I live here now. It is pretty cool. The classes are at school on Monday and Wednesday. I am in a beginning class with 4 other new teachers. So far we have simply learned how to pronounce the letters of the alphabet. Seems simple but it turns out be pretty darn useful....especially since i sounds like e and you have the whole double l thing. Our teacher is the sweetest woman and I think she is just the person I need to teach me another language.

I also had my first Bolivian Sushi experience last night. It was soooo good. I can't say that it beats some of the San Francisco sushi I have had, but it was tasty all the same.

So let me remind all of you that it is never too soon to come visit. My cousin Kathleen and her fiance Chris will be here from September 7-12 and Kim DeHope has her ticket as well. She is coming from September 13-20. There is a lot to do down here so just get a ticket and the rest of the trip will be sorted out for you! Come on, start building your American Airlines miles, what are you waiting for?!

2005-08-11T16:00:00.000-07:00

Christmas in Bolivia

The greatest thing happened today! All of my lesson plans and all of my books showed up at my school! I mailed them back in May via the US Postal Service only they never arrived at the school's office in Miami....or rather, some postal worker never scanned them in. I was really sick about this a few months ago so I am relieved to have this stuff appear. I was ready to teach without it and had already started putting new information in my computer, but having it will make things a lot easier!

Lessons Learned: USPS is not very accurate with information, I need to back EVERYTHING up on a disk, worse things can happen than losing some dumb files.

I could have lived without my stuff but it is great to have it.

2005-08-08T16:35:00.000-07:00

. The First Day of Escuela

Well it has been a very cold first day of school here in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. It reached a high of 17 degrees celcius (about 62 F) with GUSTING winds. I have to remind myself that it is winter in the southern hemisphere! So I am taking the bus to school in the mornings, which is great since it is front door service and free. I am on a route with two other teachers and about 10 students. I don't know if it was the weather or what, but only one student was outside to be picked up so we drove around the city for nothing really. My schedule is really nice and I feel sort of spoiled after the first day.

8-9:30-prep
9:30-9:55-coffee break (how cool is that)
10-11:30-7th grade science (such cute kids)
11:30-12:30-Technology (no plans were left so I am open to suggestions)
12:30-1 Lunch
1-1:30-silent reading (and they actually read!!!)
1:35-3:10-8th grade science

As you can see I don't have a first period so I don't see my first students until 10am. Not bad. Oh, and the best part of all...I only have 16 students in each class. Oh yes, you heard me right, SIXTEEN!!!! It is amazing to have such a small number of students. I am so motivated to do a lot of cool new science stuff. Other people at school are saying just wait, the kids will get bad, but with only 16 of them in my room, I will be able to tolerate a lot I am sure. Not to mention, after a year with Jamily Brown and Takia Thompson I am pretty much ready for anything! So anyways, I ate a piece of bread during the break this morning and thought something was stuck in my teeth. Turns out I chipped a filling so I have a sharp piece of metal sticking out against my tongue. For those of you who don't know, I am a die hard fan of Dr. Belgum, the only dentist I have ever had, and am actually a bit scared to see anyone else. In fact, I decided to postpone a crown I need until next summer as my dentist needed to refer me to someone else (If it had been to Dr. Cavagnolo I would have been fine!). I figured I wouldn't have anything to worry about until next summer when I came home. Guess I'll have to move onto plan B. There is a dentist all the teachers are raving about just around the corner so it looks as though I will need to get over my fear of random dentists (Sorry I have to cheat on you Dr. Belgum!)

All in all it was a great first day. Turns out middle school students are pretty much the same all over the world. These kids here are very kind and polite. There was no mean streak in any of them. One girl, who is a spitting image of my student Elene (from Georgia, who gave me the bling-bling necklace for my birthday last year) asked me if I had all of my people sorted out. I asked her what she meant and she said "you know, someone to do your nails and hair". I said no and she recommended a woman who comes directly to her house for only 30 B's (that is about $4). Guess I will have to get on that.

My home and cell phones are up and running so feel free to call. Pictures will be on their way. Enjoy your week. -Adria

2005-08-07T12:45:00.000-07:00

Last day of summer vacation

Well today is officially my last day of summer vacation. It is sort of my last day of vacation in general. I feel as though I have been on a two week trip somewhere but the reality of actually living here hasn't hit me yet. I'm sure that as I continue going home to my apartment, showing up at work each day and getting into an overall routine, the fact that I live here will actually sink in. I met some other cool people at church today. The man who gave the sermon has a son in 7th grade. They are homeschooling him so he won't be my student but he is really into exploding things in science (pumpkins, soda bottles and other non threatening stuff). You see, his older brother is a science teacher and does a lot of stuff like that in his class. So my new 7th grade friend has said that he will show me how to do all this stuff so I can wow my students. Should be fun.

I can't wait to see what the first day of school will bring. I am sort of anxious for it to come and go so that I know what to expect for the rest of the year. Being that my average class size is 16, I am thinking that things should run pretty smooth. However, the returning teachers have said that the kids talk so much you really can't handle more than 16 in a class. Should be interesting.

Another cold front came in last night. It is about 65 out today and is suppose to get colder over the next few days. It is a nice break from the 90 degree weather we had all last week. Keep in mind it is winter here so it is bound to get really toasty come summer time. Hope all is well back home and that you are all enjoying yourselves.

Adios,

Adria

2005-08-03T18:41:00.000-07:00

I bought my first lavadora automatica on Friday. It set me back $200 (American) but it is totally worth it. I have already done 3 loads of laundry. That may sound like a lot since I have only been here for 12 days, but you have to keep a few things in mind. The machine is smaller that we are used to in the States,and it is really dusty here so your clothes (and you) get dirtier a lot faster! I have a small room off my kitechen where my new appliance lives and there is rope above it to hang my stuff to dry, plus a big window that lets lots of fresh air in which dries the clothesat a fantastic rate.

I have also made a few new friends...both in and out of school. The entire staff started back on Monday. There are a lot of cool people at this school. Several couples as well as singles. Some are on their second year of a 2 year contract and others are starting their 3, 4, 5, and even 8th year in the country. That speakes pretty well for the school I guess. Santa Cruz Cooperative School (SCCS) is the first international job for a lot of us while others have made a carreer out of this scene. There are people who have taught in Italy, China, Korea, Thailand, Columbia, Ecuador, Honduras, and England. Its pretty cool.

I also met some really cool people at church on Sunday. There is only one English speaking church in Santa Cruz, so that is the one I went to. It is a small group (about 40) of people from all different places. I met a cattle rancher from Kansas who just moved down here with his family. His kids will be going to my school. What a crazy accent he has, I can't wait to see him again next week to hear about why he moved down here. There are some other families there who have kids at my school and the rest seem to go to the Christian Learning Center, also a US accredited school here in Santa Cruz. I had chinese buffet after church with a family who has been down here 15 years. The mom, Becky, grew up down here as her parents were missionaries out in the jungle. Her and her husband came back after college and teach at the school. I dinner with another family last night and some other teachers from their school. Apparently our sociallizing will have to end during soccer seasons as our schools are huge rivals. Overall,it was cool to go to the church. We even sang some of the same songs that my church in San Francisco sang. It reminded me that even though I go for spiritual growth, it brings a lot of comfort in an emotional way. Its a good place, I'm excited to go back next week.

I have a phone number now if anyone wants to call. Go to nobelcom.com and you can get an online phone card for $20. It gives you over 200 minutes in calls to Bolivia. What are you waiting for, sign up for one quick!!

cell 011-591-7002-9189
home 011-591-3339-3809

2005-07-29T10:10:00.000-07:00

A week ago today, I left for Bolivia. It feels like I have been here for a month which is great because I pretty much love it here. It has been like a week at sleep away camp. There are 11 new teachers and after a short nap upon arrival we headed out to find places to live. You can live in just about any situation here. Andy (the math teacher) got a 3 bedroom house with a yard the size of half a football field...treehouse included. Analia and Nicolaas (elementary and p.e.) are in a condo a block from school. Matt and Kirk (physics and social studies) are on a compound that occupies a full city block. There are 2 other houses on the compound that other teachers live in and they all have shared access to the pool, outdoor bbq and thatched cabana style sitting area. I found 7th floor 2 bedroom apartment downtown on the main avenue. The area is called El Cristo, named after the HUGE statue of Jesus located on the main circle. The street is lined with cafes, banks and shops. Finding our places involved driving around in a shuttle then filing in and out at each house. Once we all had places we all went to the bank to open our accounts and get money for our landlords. The school has been great about getting this set up for us. When we arrived at the bank we just signed for our credimas (atm card) and left. So easy. Then it was on to the lawyer's office to sign our lease contracts. These were of course in Spanish so we were all a little unsure about what we were signing. The lawyer assured us they were simple contracts with nothing hidden in them....we'll see if that is the case in 2 years when we need to move out. Yesterday we went to this huge indoor market to get household stuff. My apartment is completely furnished so I only needed a coffee pot. We have also started meetings at our school. It is a beautiful campus full of trees, grass and flowers. You basically walk off the street and into paradise when you pass through the gates of the school. Unfortunately, until I have internet access at home I won't be able to send any pictures. Hopefully that will happen soon. I am excited to get started on school stuff next week and to meet the rest of the staff, but I'm going to enjoy these last few days of going out and living large before the stress of work hits. Oh, the food. There is a ton of Argentinian beef here and it is not only cheap, but super tender and tasty. We get lunch at school everyday and no joke it is restaurant quality food. That is all for now. I am off to get a cell phone with the rest of the group. I'll pass that number along when I have it. Talk to you all later. -adria