What a crazy, hectic, tiring, FUN week it has been. We are in the midst of our first really full, normal week here in Cochabamba. We had last weekend to relax some more after our Thursday and Friday off. Saturday we went downtown, walked around the parks and the city a lot, got some amazing ice cream at Dumbo's, and had a fun day together. Saturday night we went to Kathryn's (another missionary/team member) apartment. She went to culinary school before coming to Bolivia to serve, so she offered us homemade brownies and ice cream. :) We had a GREAT night of playing games (Evopolio...Bolivian version of Monopoly!). It was fun to be able to laugh and relax with some good friends here in Bolivia. Sunday we went to church again, which was great as usual, and then we returned for a day of relaxation and rest. We had another great night of conversation with our host family. I'm continually blessed by the Quiroga's.. what a wonderful, funny family to be a part of during this summer. I couldn't have asked for better people to spend my summer with! David, the father, is always joking with us about trying to set us up with people and that we need to get married (especially since we know how to cook!). We have had plenty-a-good laughs with Isaac, the 15-year-old, as well. He is HILARIOUS and always keeps us on our toes. (We do tease him a little bit, too) ;) I am sure he just LOVES living with four 20-something ladies. :)
Our newest (and last) team member arrived just yesterday morning! Emily is a college student from Minnesota who attends Wheaton (in Illinois). She is a sweetheart, and she fits in well with the rest of us and we are so glad to have her! It has been fun getting to know yet another girl here in Bolivia. I have been blessed by the friendships and unity that has already been forming amongst the team of people we have here.
Monday we went on a little adventure to a park...really shouldn't have been much of an adventure, but it sure turned into one! A little boy told us we couldn't go in.."umm, okkk, it's a park? why not?" Turns out he had reason! A teenage girl was like "yeah, go for it.." So we entered. It was a beautiful park that was recently built. The park had a large grassy section full of exercise equipment..yes, actual exercise equipment! Outside! So cool! When Joana said there was a "gym" there, I didn't actually think there was a "gym" in the park! What a great idea to get your exercise done right outside! I mean, the weather here couldn't be more gorgeous. There is NEVER any humidity. It is really dry and each day gets up to probably lower 80s..just GORGEOUS weather. At night it can get down to 50s probably I'd say, but it is expected to get colder as the winter goes on. Anyways, we played around on the exercise equipment, explored the park for a good 20 minutes when we started walking past the pool that was there and everything. A man then approached us and said that the park was closed and we needed to get out...OOPS. So, yes, the little boy was correct when he said we couldn't go in. However, it wasn't REALLY our fault because there was no signs and the gate had been left unlocked and even open. The lady who escorted us out wasn't quite as friendly as the nice man who told us we need to leave and return on a day that isn't Monday. :)
Tuesday was my day to go with Kathryn to the Cancha (the market) to help her shop for her women's cooking classes at El Centro. It was a fun morning with her! We did a lot of walking (especially since finding a trufi home was difficult when a random parade that was blocks long popped up!). It is interesting being two blonde, American girls walking around the Cancha. We had to be especially careful as to not get robbed and got a lot of unnecessary attention from people. We survived, though! After, we ran some more errands and had lunch at her house. It was great getting to know her more on a one-to-one basis as well.
The past two days we have spent the mornings at El Centro doing construction. They have been LONG days, and we are very exhausted by the end of them! We are cleaning up the grounds a lot to make it look nicer and so that eventually maybe the kids will have more space to actually run around and play. For the most part, they handed us shovels and pickaxes, set us on top of a dirt/rock pile, and we got to work! (I couldn't help but think..RyderBoy would be in HEAVEN here....he coulda been busy "stoopin" all day!!!) It was hard work, but it felt good to get some good physical labor in and work up a sweat! By the end of the morning, we were tired and very dirty and ready for lunch. We would head back to the house, which is a trek in itself, shower up or clean up, eat lunch, and then on back to El Centro it is for teaching/working with the kiddos! I will explain what we do at El Centro more in another post and hopefully share some photos..this one is unfortunately getting quite long..sorry!
As for me now... my muscles are sore, my mind is tired, and I need some rest before my first Spanish lesson tomorrow!! A few prayer requests before I go..
1. Continued safety
2. Health...that we stay healthy; I have also been struggling a lot lately with my allergies here..a lot I think because of the amount of dust here and everything..but it would be nice if I could get some relief from that.
3. Sleep..I haven't been sleeping SUPER well..mostly because of the insane amount of bad/weird dreams I have been having. I know that my malaria pills are to blame, and I have been seriously considering stopping taking my malaria pills so I will have to decide what to do about that exactly.. (there are NO bugs here, so really there is no need for them..)
4. Continued relationships at El Centro. I feel as if the kids are super eager to meet us, get to know us, etc. but at first it still was hard to get to know them/remember their names/feel a part of The Center/etc. So pray that relationships would form, we would continue to get to know kids/remember their names, etc. Those relationships are why I am here..to spread Jesus's love to these kiddos and love on them while I can!
Sorrrry for the super long post :)
Adios y vaya con Dios,
Breanna
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