SO much has happened since my last post. I wish I had had time to post again earlier, but I guess it's a good thing that I've been busy! There has been so much going on and with me only being in Bolivia for 15 days, I have been wanting to use EVERY minute to explore, spend time with the ones I love down here, and soak it all in. I will try to pack everything I've done in the past week into one (probaby long) post.
On Tuesday, it was the first day I was able to visit El Centro. I showed up and was told "you're subbing for 3rd grade today!" Ooook! Here we go! Because David was in La Paz with Mama Toti to get their stuff figured out to be able to visit Joana in England, I was going to teach his class. He had told me I might be helping in that class, but I wasn't exactly aware that I was in charge. ;) I don't know what they do in 3rd grade, who the kids are, there is a language barrier, and it is only my first day but let's do this! Luckily there is a 6th grade helper in the 3rd grade (Paola) and she helped me figure out a little bit of what they do. However, the 3rd grade class at the center is quite a bit naughtier than any of the other classes. I winged it a little bit, and we made do. :) Besides the kids being quite naughty, we read a Bible story which is how I was told they start, and then I was told to do homework with them. When all the kids got there, they told me they didn't have homework as they had a test tomorrow. OH BOY. So NOW what do we do?! I put together a quick review game to review multiplication for their test and we made it work! They seemed to have a lot of fun, and I hope at least they got some good reviewing in for their test the next day. :)
The next day, I was told again that I would be helping sub as the 2nd grade teacher would be arriving a little bit late. These students however were MUCH more behaved, and they were a fun crew. The teacher arrived after about 20 minutes, but I was able to read a couple of stories to them and spend the rest of the day in their class as well. It was a lot of fun because it was 2 of the boys' birthdays that week, and so the teacher had brought a cake to celebrate their birthdays together. I was able to stay for the celebration. We went around the tables and shared one thing each about what we appreciated or liked about the boys and then wished them happy birthday before all sharing the birthday cake.
The last day at the center this past week, I helped in 3rd grade again. It was much easier with David there as well. The students acted out a Bible story they had been learning about and then we worked on multiplication again. I sat with a couple of boys and helped them complete their multiplication problems. It has been a long time since I've done multiplication like this! The center is such a blast, even though I don't know many of the kids because the majority of the students I had 3 years ago already have graduated from the program. The center is grades Kinder-5th. (Last time when I was here, they served grades 1st-6th). I am getting to know them, and I worked really hard at learning all the names of the 2nd and 3rd graders. After a few (actually many) mistakes, by Friday I could say I learned them all. Some of the names are very different from any names in the US, so it's a lot harder to remember them. There are a couple students there that I do remember from my time here three years ago. I was able to see Veronica, who is the sister to Arminda, who I will share about later! I was also able to see the siblings Gabriel and Mariana. I remember those 3 students, and even though they didn't remember me as they were quite young when I was here three years ago, I was able to show them photos of us 3 years ago as proof that I truly was here and remember them! They were pretty surprised!
One day this past week was a holiday. (There seems to be lots of holidays in Bolivia, as there is one this week, too!) That means there is no school and no Center. Instead, David accompanied Kate and I to Parque Tunari!! I went to Parque Tunari last time as well, and it is BEAUTIFUL. We were only going to climb to kilometer 5, but decided to keep going..and keep going... and it ended up being quite a long hike. Most of the time we stuck to the road that winds back and forth up the mountain. But after some time, we decided to take the "stairs" that are carved into the mountain to sort of make it go faster. However, at this elevation (we started at about 10,000 ft elevation) it is VERY difficult to climb stairs when you're up that high. It's a lot harder to breathe and I am not exactly in great shape! It is safe to say my legs were KILLING me (and still are!) after that long hike. After getting to about kilometer 8 or 9, we decided to turn back home. We didn't bring any food with us and we wanted to get back somewhat at a decent time to eat lunch. We got home around 2:30, so we hiked for a total of about 4 hours. It was a wonderful time spent with David, though. We were able to talk, hear more about him and his life, and just have some good quality time together. He is a great dad, and I love spending time here with him!
One night last week, we sat at the kitchen table after supper and talked with Mama Toti for about 3 hours! She shared her life story, more about her family and the Quiroga family, and just lots of different things about her life. It was a special time to be able to sit and have time with just her and Kate. It is also great practice for my Spanish! The next night, we did the same but with Papa David. He shared more of his story, more about his family, etc. I really appreciate that time to sit and share and hear more about their stories, their lives, their work at the Center, and more about Bolivia. I am glad I am getting that time with them while I am here.
On Saturday morning, Isaac took us to El Cristo de la Concorida!! This is the largest Christ statue in the western hemisphere. (Yes, it is larger than the famous one in Brazil!) We went on the "teleferico" to the top and then decided to walk down. Yes, this was a bad choice, after our legs were still KILLING after walking so far up and down Tunari just a couple days prior. But, going down we figured was better than going up. No joke, my legs felt like jello after and wouldn't stop shaking! There are so many steps down! But when you're up there, the views are incredible! The statue opened to be able to climb up inside while we were up there as well, so climbed up until the point of the statue's arms. It is really dark inside, but so fun to look out through the small holes over all the city. It is a special experience, and something I am glad I was able to experience again!
Sunday we went to church again. Church is quite long on Sundays. We go by taxi and arrive at about 9, but don't get out of there til close to 12:00 probably. The church is held at El Centro. In the middle of the service, after singing, prayer time, and communion, everyone goes to different rooms for "Bible Study". I went with the young people's group that is basically middle and high schoolers. We went through a chapter of a Bible Study book they have been using. After that, everyone gets back together in the main room for more singing and THEN a message. They asked me to come to the front so that they could pray for me as it was my last Sunday with them. I will be leaving next Sunday, but SUPER early in the morning. It is a long morning, but it goes quite quickly with all the moving around and everything. It is a different church experience, and I really enjoy it.
Today, Monday, I have been not feeling super great. My stomach has been a little off since Sunday night, so please be praying that I don't get MORE sick and that I get over this little bug quickly. Despite me not feeling well, I was able to go to la cancha (the market) with Mama Toti and Kate to buy some souvenirs and do a little shopping. I wanted to buy a little treat for all the kids to give them my last day at the center. After that, I took a nap and felt a little better. We had lunch and then Kate and I ventured off to a park. We took the trufi and David and Toti went along but just dropped us off and explained how to get back. It was a beautiful park. We walked around a little bit then took the trufi back home. We decided we didn't want to sit home all night, so then we took the microbus G down to Avenida America, found a place to sit down and decided to order some pizza. It was delicious. After that, we walked to the supermarket and looked around some and bought a couple things. Then we successfully found the microbus G to return home. Everything was going great, right?! Until the bus broke down in the middle of the road.... oh great. It sounded AWFUL but then we saw another one coming down the road so we quick ran off the bus to catch the other one. That one was almost full and as people were trying to pile on, the driver started driving away!! So we had to wait another 10 minutes or so for another bus G to show up to bring us home. What an adventure! We made it, though. :)
Be praying that my stomach would start feeling better and that I could enjoy my last couple of days here! I will be flying back to the states super early in the morning on Sunday. I am ready to go home, but also ready to soak in these last Bolivian moments.
Adios y vaya con Dios,
Breanna
Will pray for a healthy you to enjoy the rest of your stay. Really nice you share this.
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