Hello everyone! I am finally in Bolivia! I can’t believe I have been here for two weeks. Time does fly by fast here!
When I first arrived, I was greeted by Madre Mikaela. She is a nun from the orphanage I served in last year in Montero. I didn’t really know where I was going to be this year until the day before I came. So I rearranged to be picked up by the Hogar to be safe. It’s a good thing she did, because I had a lot of clothes for the girls at the orphanage and the people at the airport were going to take the clothes away, because they thought I was bringing the clothes to sell. It all worked out so that’s good.
I arrived at the Hogar later that day. Nobody knew I was coming. Eventhough it was posted up on the calendar and I had told several girls the date. The volunteers knew and made me a cute poster. It was nice to catch everyone by surprise. Being at the Hogar was really weird for me. My emotions were a rollercoaster. It was so weird to be at the hogar knowing that I wasn’t going to be serving there. I lived there for a year and I got so used to everything and everyone that it felt like home. I almost wanted to throw a fit and fight to stay there no matter what. However deep down I knew God was calling me to something different.
Being with the girls was so nice. They were all so wonderful to me! I really missed them. I missed everything about that place; The smell of sweat and fungus on the girls, the constant need of my attention, the poking and grabbing of any part of me they could get a hold of, the millions of questions they ask, the hugs that are so tight your breath leaves your body, the wet kisses, the winey tone in their voice, the way they say my name, the look of sadness in their eyes, the way they make my heart melt, their brutal honesty, their beautiful smiles, their capability to love me, the way they run to me with open arms, and so much more.
Yes it was hard to leave all of that. Those girls became my girls for a year, but will stay in my heart forever. For those who know specific girls that I was really attached to, I will update you on them. I didn’t see Choca or Avi for the first day. When I finally saw Choca she was really embarrassed and would not even look at me. I was expecting that. Every time since then she hides from me. So I haven’t gotten a chance to talk to her. I know she must be going through so much emotionally. Avi said hi to me but acted like she was too cool for me. I was also expecting that. I knew she would come around and talk to me later. She did and we are ok now. The older girls from Laura Vicuña all ran to me when they saw me. That was so wonderful to see!
The next day I was picked up by Marcos and the volunteers from Cochabamba. It was nice to see my brother bear. I had never met the volunteers but they were so nice and wonderful to me. We all headed out to San Juan de Yapacani, which is where I currently reside. The next day all the volunteers from Bolivia got together to celebrate Thanksgiving. It was really nice to meet all the new volunteers. They are a great group this year. However I didn’t really feel like it was thanksgiving, because it was hot and I was still all over the place emotionally. But I still had such a great time with everyone.
I live in a Japanese colony. Yes there are Bolivians here but I am more in contact with Japanese people. I have my own house. I live alone but the landlords live on the same property. They are the sweetest older couple ever. They constantly check on me and give me food. The Man’s name is Eio and the lady’s name is Asako. The first night I was invited over to their place for beer, tea, and water. We stayed up until midnight. I was ok cause it was 8pm in California. They told me to sleep in the next day so I could be rested.
5:30 am I get a wake up call from Eio. He told me to wake up and go for a walk. I was so tired but I just did it. He wasn’t inviting me to go with him, he simply stated that I needed to walk because I was overweight. LOL! I love Japanese people. They are very nice and like things a certain way. Eio also told me to put my pants up. That was my first taste of what expected me here.
At 7am I arrived at the Sor. Maria’s house. She is the nun I will be working with all year. She is a very interesting person. The closest I could get to describing her would be… she is similar to the character of Sofia on the Golden Girls. She is 70 years old but she works like she was in her 20’s. She is Japanese also. Her Spanish is not so good. My Japanese is not good at all. So communicating with her is always a bit of a struggle. I have gotten better at interpreting her grunts. She is tough and very independent. At the same time she is caring and compassionate. I am very fond of her. I look like the guy from “The Blind Side” next to her. She is tiny and petite. Yet she has more energy than me.
I have found that I love Japanese food a lot. I had never eaten anything Japanese. For starters I had never tried fish in my life. I was invited to lunch at one of the Japanese family’s house and the two main dishes were fish. I could not say no because that would be extremely disrespectful. Plus the Host had already cut half a fish and put it on my plate. Without a way out I had to eat it. OMG I loved it!!!!! I don’t know why I had never eaten it before. It was cooked soooo good! Then out came another dish of Fish that was cooked very differently and once again I loved it. When I told them that that was my first time eating fish, their tiny eyes open to their maximum capacity and huge gasps came from their mouths. At first I thought I had said an offensive word. Later other people joined us and I couldn’t understand what was being said, but by the reaction I could guess.
The week that followed I was invited to lunch after lunch and yes I would purposely serve myself fish. I love it now. On one of the lunches raw fish was served. I was a little skeptical about it, but given my first experience I decided to try it. The flavor was really good. However the texture was a little too much for me. I felt like a dog eating raw meat. I skipped on that plate and went for the fried fish instead. Every meal I have had with Japanese people 5 or more courses are served. It’s great, cause I could choose or eat them all. I don’t even miss Mexican food.
The first time I tried sushi I loved it also. The reaction was not quite as bad when I told them as it was at first with the fish, but it still made everyone go into a Japanese rampage. I decided to just keep my “firsts” to myself. However every time I put something into my mouth everyone at the table stares at me and asks, “Good Good?” I always bow and say yes thank you very much! I have even learned to use chopsticks since nobody owns forks of spoons. At first I would get cramps on my fingers from using them. It has become easier now. Yes I did practice with beans!
My job here is not set yet. It’s summer vacation so everything is out of whack. However I am told this is the calm before the storm. I have started to slowly teach English to some students. Japanese people are very smart and dedicated to studying so that makes my job a lot easier. Even the 8 year olds listen and learn quickly. Last year when I tried to teach some of the girls at the Hogar English, it would turn into a disaster. All they really wanted was attention and they didn’t care if they learned English or not. The kids I work with here are the opposite. A girl who 4 months ago had started English classes, is more advanced than the girls at the Hogar who had taken them for over 4-7 years. I was impressed.
Overall my experience here has been very good. Very different but little by little I am learning to surrender to what God is calling me to do, and to do everything the Sor’s way and not my way. I am slowly learning Japanese and the culture.
I thought coming here a second year was just going to be a continuation from my first year. Now I see that I cannot even link the two together in any metaphor. That is also a little challenging because I go between my two experiences every weekend. I spend the weekend at the Hogar and come to San Juan on Monday. It’s hard to make the transition sometimes. The hardest thing is leaving the girls when they don’t understand why I don’t just stay there, another year.
Being without a community here is also difficult. I spend most of my days in silence and alone. I am taking advantage of this time to do everything I wanted to do but never had time. Like learning another language, reading, writing, working on my inner-self, cleaning, and following a set routine. This is good for me, because last year was so busy I didn’t even have time to write blogs. On the other hand I miss Liz, Margaret, and Jenna. It’s weird to be here without them. It feels like coming home and part of your family being gone. I shared so many memories and good times with them.
Alright well I have so much more to share but I don’t want to make this too long. But thanks for everyone’s prayers and support. Please keep in mind that I have no internet at my site and so getting back at everyone will be really hard. But I hope to keep you updated more frequently. Please keep all the volunteers in your prayers. Happy Thanksgiving! Love everyone around you!
Carmen
