Days 125-136

This past week has definitely been an interesting and exciting week. I got to celebrate both my birthday and the Christmas holidays with Bolivian customs and traditions. I've also been continuing helping my mom during the day, going to tae bo classes, and hanging out with my cousins. (Luciana's family is here now too so I've been spending time with her younger brother, sister, and Nico as well.) My friend, Shadia, and I made cupcakes the day before my birthday for all my friends to try but sadly they didn't turn out as good as last time. I also had a chance to make the "chocolate chip cookies" again for Christmas! 

For my birthday, I had lunch with my family, Abuelita, Luciana, and her family. After we ate my picked meal (mashed potatoes were included of course!), mamá brought in a cake that she had bought. They all stand up and sing to you and then you make three wishes and blow out the candle. Then they sing their "We want you to take a bite of the cake" version of "Happy Birthday" where you have to put your face in the cake and take a bite. That was different and fun too. (: They all give you gifts but you don't sit there and open them like we do in the USA. You just say thank you and you can choose to open them later whenever you want. Later in the afternoon, all my friends from school came over to watch movies and eat supper. After we ate, they all sang, I blew out the candle and made my three wishes, and then I had to bite the cake but this time one of my friends pushed my head down a little so I got a nice big face full of cake and frosting! Once again, the presents were just given, you say thank you, and you open them later when you choose to open them. I had a blast spending the day with all my family and friends and it was fun to celebrate Bolivian style! (:

Christmas Eve and Christmas were equally as fun. Picking out some of the presents I was going to give was a little difficult but I always love wrapping and giving gifts. I didn't have the chance to go to church here for either day like I normally do with my family in the USA but I had LOTS of family time. On Christmas Eve, family started arriving around 8:30pm and we turned on music to dance to and passed around snacks and drinks. Once everyone had arrived, my host Grandpa dressed up as Santa (with sunglasses so the little kids wouldn't know it was him) and took the huge bag filled with all the gifts to wait in the street. We opened the balcony in Nico's bedroom and "Santa" started to ring the little hand bell he was holding so when all the little kids heard it, they ran to the balcony and got all excited. "Santa" then came upstairs and sat on a chair near the tree. All the relatives had a chance to take a picture with him and then we began handing out gifts. "Santa" with the help of papá, would pull out some gifts from the big bag and whoever the gift was for would have to dance the Chuntunkis in order to receive their present. Chuntunkis is a very simple dance which is kind of like skipping to the beat and when you're done, you can choose to do a somersault if you want. I was happy that I never had to dance alone in front of all 30ish of us, I always had a cousin or relative dancing with me! After the presents from the bag were all handed out, my host dad's side of the family all left and the rest of us went up to Abuelita's house. We opened some more gifts from underneath her tree and then danced more Chuntunkis while playing little clapper instruments. At exactly midnight (one of the few things that's actually punctually on time here), I heard fireworks go off in the Plaza and we all went to stand around a little Jesus manger set up to say a short prayer. Then we went around giving hugs, kisses on the cheek, and holiday wishes. It felt a little more like New Year's to me since it was right at midnight. Then we all sat down to have supper. We had picana with corn on the cob which is a traditional Christmas dish, here in Sucre at least. I'm not sure about the rest of Bolivia. Picana is a soup type dish with veggies, chicken that's still on the bone, pork, spicy sauce stuff, and other ingredients. The corn on the cob is also very different. The kernels are a lot bigger and aren't as sweet as the Nebraska sweet corn I love and miss so much! After supper, around 1:30am, we were finally able to head to bed. I was exhausted! 

On Christmas Day, mamá woke me up for breakfast and we had hojarascas (two fried cookies filled with a caramel/dulce de leche filling), the cookies I had made, buñelos (a sweet pastry in the shape of a ring that you usually put syrup or powdered sugar on), and some little cakes with either coffee or tea. After breakfast, I headed down and helped get ready for lunch. Lunch was set for noon but since this is Bolivia, all the family showed up after noon and we ate around 1:30. We ate oven roasted chicken and pork, white rice, bread, homemade applesauce and pineapple sauce, boiled potatoes, corn on the cob, and some other sides as well. After lunch, I had the chance to skype with my family in the USA and the rest of the day I spent watching movies with Luciana and her family. 

It had been raining EVERY DAY for about the past two weeks but ironically, we were blessed with sunny warm weather on my birthday, Christmas Eve, and Christmas. I enjoyed the holidays SO much even though it was a little sad to be away from 1) my aunt's AMAZING Christmas cookies and 2) my awesome family from the US! However, I've learned new customs and had new experiences that I know I won't ever forget! 

My cousin, Luciana and me in the Plaza decorated with TONS of Christmas lights

The cute 'cookie monster' cupcakes my friend Shadia and I made

Enjoying my "bite" of my birthday cake and trying to clean my face afterwards (:

"Santa" (my host Grandpa) arriving at our house on Christmas Eve 

Santa and my host dad handing out Christmas gifts after relatives danced the Chuntunkis

Mamá and Nico dancing the Chuntunkis right before midnight

Picana and the corn on the cob we ate on Christmas Eve night (or Christmas morning I guess since it was past midnight?) 

Days 115-124

I've been spending a lot of my time helping mamá out in her salon and stores, as December is the busiest month of the year for her, making earrings and even selling some to the ladies from the salon who asked me for special designs, going to my tae bo classes, and helping the maid out before lunches. 

Last Sunday, I had a really relaxing day. Sundays are always my favorite here but this one was especially relaxing. I spent the morning with Luchiana (my host cousin), had some delicious fish for lunch with my family, and went to a movie with my family later that night. 

I'm enjoying spending more time in the salon lately because I've had lots of great conversations with the ladies about traditions and customs back in my home in the USA, and learning about traditions and customs that they have here for the holidays and other special occasions. I'm also loving how the fruit is HUGE here because it's summertime! 

On Wednesday, I spent time with one of my friends and we made homemade cupcakes, sugar cookies, and frosting to decorate them with. All my friends here want me to teach them how to make a bunch of desserts! I just liked being able to bake something again! I don't have as many chances to do that here and when I do, it's really expensive to have to buy all the ingredients I need.

In the afternoon this Thursday, I took a 5 hour bus ride with 10 of the Roteract members (the 18-30 year old group that is a part of Rotary) to Sopachuy (a small pueblo/town of Sucre). We had brought along about 13 giant bags of clothes, shoes, and games to give to the poorer people of Sopachuy. We spent all of Friday in Sopachuy, in the morning giving out the clothes in the main Plaza to the people that came, and taking other clothes to the poorer parts of Sopachuy, and in the afternoon, going to the river and walking around the town. It was really eye opening to be doing the service project. I so often take for granted what I have but seeing these people be 10 times more excited about receiving these clothes than a child is receiving candy was just, wow. I can't even put it into words. But seeing the smiles on their faces and the gratitude they showed for us put a smile on my face. We gave away EVERYTHING that we had brought along. Later, some little girls from the town came up to me and told me all about how much they liked my hair and begging one of the other Roteract members and I to take pictures with them. They were so cute. (: We walked a long ways down to the river, which was tucked away in a little valley in the mountains, to swim and spend some afternoon time. It was on and off sprinkling rain the whole time, but it was so beautiful and some of the others even went swimming in the river. That night, we planned to go play billards after dinner, but most of us were so tired that we just went back to our hostel and headed to bed! This morning we were up by 3:30am to catch our 5 hour bus ride back to Sucre. I was so sure I was going to sleep when I got home today but I didn't. I'm just having a kind of lazy day after being tired from Sopachuy!

My friend Shadia and me decorating our yummy cupcakes and cookies

Giving out clothes to the little boys in Sopachuy

Giving out clothes to the people of Sopachuy

The little girls that insisted on taking pictures (:

Some of the Roteract girls and me by the river in Sopachuy

Enjoying the afternoon at the river

One of the poorer parts of Sopachuy

A beautiful view of the river between the mountains...I wish a picture could capture the real beauty of it all!!

Days 107-114

Before my flight to Santa Cruz last Wednesday morning, the ladies in the salon made sure I had my nails cleaned and painted all nicely for my trip. Over my weeklong "vacation" to Santa Cruz, I enjoyed a big Thanksgiving meal with the other exchange students. Normally, Thanksgiving is not celebrated here in Bolivia. Only people who have some kind of link to Thanksgiving actually do something for it. Therefore, I spent my first night at the exchange director's house and I helped her prepare the salad, mashed potatoes, turkey, stuffing, and veggies. She has a Thanksgiving meal every year for the exchange students and each person has to bring something. Some of the things that were brought included crepes, a Canadian potato/corn dish, pies, Danish cookies, and tons of other yummy foods! 

After the meal, I left with the exchange student that is staying with José Pablo's parents (José is the exchange student with my parents in the USA right now) so I could meet them and spend the next few days with them. They were working on Friday, so a few of the other exchange students and I went to 'Catching Fire' in the movie theater and hung out to watch more movies and get ice cream afterwards. On Saturday, José's parents took their exchange daughter and I to Buena Vista (a little town a few hours drive away from Santa Cruz) for a night. We went to a family friend's birthday, enjoyed a nice day at the pool in the hot weather, and I got to try several new fruits and fruit juices which were especially refreshing in the afternoon heat! Some of the fruits I got to try included the ocoro (a spiky yellow fruit with big seeds and a tangy taste), acerolas (a kind of cherry, this juice was my favorite and one of the family friends I had met gave me some homemade acerola jam to take back to Sucre!), and the caju (a fruit with reddish skin and a orange/yellow colored inside, the juice was good but it made your throat feel a little dry). 

We got back to their house in Santa Cruz pretty late on Sunday night so I didn't do much else other than helping José's mom clean and put away the fruit they had brought back from Buena Vista. Meghan (that's their exchange daughter) left for the Bolivia tour, that the majority of the exchange students are going on here in December, before I even woke up Monday morning. (Adrianna, me, and 6 students in Santa Cruz will be going on our two week tour of Bolivia in January.) Then I had a nice lunch with Vivi and Alfredo (José's parents) before being given a bag filled with acerola jam, acerola berries that we had picked, a caju fruit, and some ocoros and being taken to the airport for my flight back to Sucre. 

I was a little scared to return to Sucre because I had enjoyed Santa Cruz and being with Vivi, Alfredo, and the other exchange students so much, but once I got home, mamá gave me a letter from home that had arrived while I was gone, Nico had decorated the house with Christmas decorations and there were Christmas lights throughout the Plaza (this made me sooo happy! I love the Christmas season!), I met my 13 year old cousin, Luciana, from Cochabamba who will be staying with us all summer, and Nico gave me a mango that he had brought back from his trip to Santa Cruz and had been saving just for me. (: 

This week, on Tuesday, I went to one of my classmates' birthday parties where we had lunch and watched movies all afternoon, I picked up my tae bo classes again, and I watched a drama movie with Luciana. It's nice to have someone living here for awhile who will actually watch drama movies with me!  Then on Wednesday, I went to the dinosaur park/museum with Nico and Luciana. It wasn't the most exciting but I still enjoyed it and I liked being able to get out of the house for awhile! 

In Santa Cruz, it was in the 90s and it was so hot being outside even for a few minutes. Here in Sucre, it's still pretty warm, 70s and 80s, but it's not so hot that I don't enjoy going out for afternoon walks or sitting on the terraza to enjoy the day. However, I REALLY miss my lovely Nebraska snow and biting cold! It's weird to be getting into the Christmas season with the weather warming up instead of cooling down! 

One of the tables during our huge Thanksgiving feast!

My "chocolate chip cookies" that I had made for the Thanksgiving meal... I guess they turned out alright because I didn't have any leftover and everyone said they liked them!

Marie-Gil (Canada), Mille (Denmark), me, Victoria (Michigan, US), Kate (Canada)

Caju fruits

Ocoro fruits

me, Vivi (José's mom), and Meghan in Buena Vista

The pool in Buena Vista with an AWESOME mountain/forest view

A toucan that we saw in Buena Vista... It was so beautiful! 

Michael (Canada), me, Danielle (Pennsylvania, US), Ethan (California, US)

Nathaly (a friend from school) and me at our friend's birthday party

First Week of Summer Vacation! (Days 100-106)

This week has been a nice week of relaxing and being lazy as it was my first week of summer vacation. The weather is getting warmer here but thankfully where I live, in Sucre, it won't get too hot. I won't have to dread going outside because of the heat! It's not usually humid here either, so the weather will be almost perfect! Even thought I personally prefer the cold and snow... (:

I don't have too much to say for this week but I've been filling my free time with making earrings, helping the maid clean the house, going to tae bo classes, walking around the Plaza and the markets, and talking to the ladies in the salon. My family was on a trip pretty much all week with the exception of my host dad returning home for one night, and my host mom returning on Friday. I also enjoyed going to a concert with my Abuelita on Thursday night, the night before the Day of the Musicians. (Abuelita means Grandma, I don't know if I've ever mentioned that before. Sometimes I forget that not everyone knows the Spanish words I use on here! Sorry!) There was several groups who played traditional Bolivian music. The only bad thing about the concert was that it rained during part of it so we were squished like sardines underneath of an overhang and there were TONS of people there!

The weekend was pretty rough as I wasn't feeling good once again, but thankfully on Sunday I felt well enough to hang out with one of my friends from school. We went to her family's extra house in the country where we rode horses, played a few volleyball matches (with her family and family friends), had some AMAZING grilled steak her dad had made, and played some more volleyball. Then we went back to her house in town and Shadia (that's my friend's name) and I talked and watched a show on TV. Her dad is originally from Palestine and she has traveled there a few times. I got to try some gummy candy made from rose petals that comes from Palestine. It was definitely different but it tasted good! When I got back from her house, mamá, Abuelita, my uncle Miguel and I walked around one of the markets and ate a late supper at the Chinese restaurant here! I still prefer my orange chicken and crab rangoons buuuut the Chinese food here was pretty good too. (: However, afterwards, I started to feel REALLY sick so I waited outside until my family had finished eating and then we went home and my Abuelita made some tea to help my stomach and gave me some medicine. 

After waking up this morning, I felt better but Abuelita made sure I ate rice, potatoes, water and other bland foods all day to assure that I would be healthy to travel to Santa Cruz on Wednesday for Thanksgiving. I'm getting super excited for that! The thanksgiving meal is at the exchange director's house for all of the exchange students. She has one every year and each student is supposed to bring one thing to the meal. Therefore, tomorrow I'll be making some of my chocolate chip cookies to take for the meal. I'm hoping they turn out alright! It will definitely be hard with an oven that I'm not used to, not the right cooking utensils, no brown sugar, and replacement "chocolate chips". I could not find chocolate chips ANYWHERE! And the candies similar to m&ms that I will be using costed waaaay too much. Oh well, it'll be nice to be able to bake again, even if it is a complete fail! (:

A few of the tons of pairs of earrings I made

One of the groups at the concert I went to with my Abuelita

Me riding my friend Shadia's horse, Fantastico (:

My friend Shadia and me with her horse (the horses they have are HUMONGOUS because they are competition horses for jumping) 

Feeding a carrot to Fantastico... Shadia made it look so simple but she and her family had a good laugh when I tried! 

Days 92-99

On Tuesday, we finished up those flower art projects and all my friends seemed to like mine. My teacher also knows how awful I am at drawing but he thinks I loooove painting since my picture turned out alright. After my afternoon classes, I picked up some bananas and the vender gave me 3 extra for free just because I told her how much I liked bananas. (: Then I had my tae bo class and walked home with Shadia (a girl from my class who is also in the tae bo classes) before heading to bed.

We watched some really cute little videos in philosophy on Wednesday because there was really nothing else to do. We got out of classes 10 minutes early which has been normal for the past few school days but we still had to wait for papá to come so it was a long wait in the hot sun. And you aren't allowed to wear shorts to school (boys or girls) as part of the dress code that was created this year along with adding the uniform shirts. That afternoon, Adrianna came over so we could work on some Spanish and hang out for awhile and then she left when I had to go to tae bo. I met the instructor, Fernando, personally tonight and he's one of those comical, good humored kind of people, so that's always nice. 

We had 2 tests in biology on Thursday, but knowing they were my last biology tests for the year helped me out a little bit. Plus, I had done my homework so the teacher was on good terms with me. I went back to my history class in the afternoon and had 2 more tests! But the teacher gave us a lot of time to look over our notes in class so I actually did pretty good. After my tae bo class, I was in a great mood and I spent some time talking to the ladies in the salon before heading up to my room.

On Friday, we had a group test in math but I can never think well when working in a group and the two people I was working with weren't too sure on any of the problems so I don't know how that went. That afternoon, I walked to the Plaza for awhile where I saw one of the high school girls that works in the salon, so I ended up walking back to the house with her. That night, I had my Rotary meeting where I met a few people from other Rotary clubs who were visiting guests. We had a seafood type supper and I normally LOVE seafood but this was definitely not my favorite. I hope I can find other seafood (other than fish) that tastes really good here in Bolivia, but we'll see!

I woke up in a really good mood on Saturday, and had the entire morning to relax (as I'm never able to sleep in past 8:30). After lunch, I walked to El Mercado Campesino with Nicolasa to buy food for me for the week. Food meaning bananas, mangos, and peanuts. (: Papá was headed out on a business trip for a few days, and mamá and Nico were headed to some tennis camp for a week so I would be staying with Abuelita and Miguel for awhile again. At 6, I walked to a bible study group/event thing at my church where I met a lady who I think is from Brazil. She was speaking Portuguese because she doesn't know much Spanish but she was extremely outgoing! Of course, she had to take a ton of pictures of our little group too. After the bible study, I took a taxi to the movie theater where I met my friend and we went to Thor 2. I love going to the theater here!

When I woke up Sunday morning, I headed up to Abuelita's kitchen to make cheese empanadas and meat empanadas with Abuelita and Paula (another high school girl who works in the salon). None of us had ever made them before so it was a fun little experience for all of us. They still turned out yummy but we're going to improve on them next time. (: I spent the afternoon relaxing and watching some movies until eating dinner and spending some time with Abuelita and my uncle Miguel.

On Monday, the reinforcement list came out at school. If you're on the list, it means you have really low grades in one or more of your classes and you have to continue going to school for 2 more weeks. If you don't show up to school, I'm pretty sure you get kicked out or get in some serious trouble. If you're not on the list, your summer break starts. I don't even have overall grades in most of my classes and I had permission to leave so my summer break has officially started! No school again until February!! :D That afternoon, I spent a few hours talking to Nicolasa and getting to know her better. We're both so used to having each other around and we enjoy each other's company. Before my tae bo class, I bought some beads to make earrings when I get bored this summer and after my tae bo class, I was going to take advantage of my first night of vacation by staying up late watching movies but ended up falling asleep at 10:30....

Today (Tuesday), I tried to sleep in but failed miserably and ended up watching cartoons instead. Then I had lunch with Nicolasa and now I have the rest of the afternoon to relax until my tae bo class.

My finished flower painting from art class

Ara, my friend from school, and me being silly during down time at school

The empanadas we made on Sunday before we fried them (: Gotta love baking/cooking!

Days 86-91

I apologize now for any spelling or grammar errors! I don't have autocorrect on the device I use to type my blogs and my English gets sloppier every day. 

On Wednesday, I woke up feeling good and in a great mood. Working out is the best feeling in the world and that Tae Bo class from the night before really boosted my mood and energy! It was also such a beautiful day so I did my laundry and hung it up outside while talking to Nicolasa. Then I walked to El Mercado Campesino to get some cheap buys for my party on the weekend. I love the deals on clothes but I always feel super out of place when I go to that Mercado. Even more than I normally do walking through Sucre. I'm finally getting used to the stares, the whistles, the flirting, and the honking but I don't think I'll ever feel like I completely blend in. Because I won't. I'll always be "the gringo". Some of my friends even call me their "gringita". (: Later that night, I headed to my second Tae Bo class. We had a different instructor but he's the guy in charge so he's who is normally leading the class. He REALLY pushes you. 

Thursday, I was physically tired from the Tae Bo classes but it was a weird, good feeling. School was normal, but walking back in the afternoon was AWFUL in the afternoon heat. Especially wearing jeans. After classes, I went home to relax before my Tae Bo class again.

On Friday, we had a small class because the more advanced German class had their test today so half of them were gone. The whole school day consisted of playing games on our phones, talking, watching movies, and eating food that people had brought. I wasn't gonna complain. Better than having to do school work! That night, I headed to the CBA (the place where my friends have English classes) and sat through the graduation of some of my friends. (Others still have more classes and years of English.) After that, everyone stood around talking and having mini salteñas from El Patio and then I went to one of my friend's houses until it was time to head home. My friend is teaching her 80 some year old grandma to play the piano. I'm so impressed!!

Saturday was a lot of fun. In the morning, I left for my Tae Bo class but once I got there I found out that it didn't start until later and that it was an additional cost for Saturdays. ): So instead I just walked around the plaza and some different stores for about an hour and a half. Back at home I relaxed for the afternoon until it was time to get ready for my party. The ladies in the salon curled my hair and did my nails and mamá did my makeup. Thankfully she didn't go overboard with the makeup!! (: At 9, papá and Nico took me to my friend's house where we had supper and hung out for her birthday. Then around 11:30, we went to a Quinceañera for a girl from my school! It was soooo cool! A Quinceañera is a big, birthday party celebrating turning 15 that is very common and traditional in Spanish speaking countries. Not everyone has a Quinceañera and all the people in my class are already older than 15 obviously so I was lucky to get to go to one! We got there later than it started so I didn't see everything but I did get to see Cecila (the birthday girl) dance with her parents and a boy from her class (the birthday girl usually dances with her parents, her siblings, and her boyfriend or a boy friend), the pictures, other dancing which I had fun taking part in, and the dance and ceremony type thing that took place before the dances with her parents. It was at a restaurant and her dress, the decorations, and everything in general was just absolutely gorgeous!!! 

I was out super late on Saturday so I didn't go to church with my grandparents on Sunday morning. Instead, when I woke up, I cleaned and relaxed until it was time to leave for lunch. We went to Cumaná (the place where I've eaten different cow parts) and afterwards to get some ice cream. Then around 5, I went to a youth event at my church where I met a TON of people and had fun playing games and doing different activities. It lasted almost 4 hours! I was exhausted upon returning home but now I have some more new friends to spend time with!

Today, Monday, is exactly 3 months that I've been in Bolivia. Time sure seems to be going by fast! School was normal and I spent the afternoon relaxing but around 4, my host family and I left to go visit my great grandma (grandma of papá). Today is her birthday and she is 87 I believe! We spent a few hours there (lots of other family showed up too) and enjoyed some cake and visiting. By the time my family and I left, it was already past 7 so I couldn't make it to my Tae Bo but I had really enjoyed the time with family and meeting my great grandma!

Camila, me, and Karla at CBA after their graduation (both are in my class)

My mom enjoying doing my makeup for the party

Mamá and me after I'm all ready to go to the party

My nails that one of the ladies from the salon did for the Quinceañera

Rafaela (in my class) and me at the Quinceañera (someone had given me the tie to wear... it wasn't supposed to be part of my outfit :P)

At one of my friends' houses celebrating her birthday but she happens to be taking the picture. All the girls in this picture except for one are in my class at school.

Days 78-85

Tuesday was normal and I enjoyed painting our cool flower designs in art. Then in my afternoon history class, my teacher gave us a "reward" test because she was upset that a lot of people hadn't come to class. We got to choose and answer our own questions over the notes and I got my best grade yet this year. (: During that class period, it turned into a massive storm outside so it was nice to have a warm cup of tea and a movie after walking home.

Wednesday wasn't anything too exciting but I learned about a game that all the younger kids play during our recess breaks. It's called Liga or something like that and two people have this HUGE string/band thing that they hold behind their knees while the other kids do different jumps/routines with the string. All the girls in my class used to play it too so they kind of explained the different levels of the game to me but I'm still a little confused.

In biology on Thursday, my teacher was impressed with my homework (that I had spent 2 hours working on the day before!!) and I actually enjoyed biology because we were more into the physiology part of it. Physiology was one of my favorite classes in the US. In math, we had a test over some algebra stuff and I was one of the first ones done. I think I did really well on it because I'm actually starting to remember my algebra. It was nice to be able to understand things like I want to again! For lunch, we had mondongo because Saturday is El Día de los Muertos and the traditional dish for that day is mondongo. Mondongo is boiled potatoes and a kind of pork covered with a semi-spicy sauce, with mote (the huge kernels of corn) covered with some yellow creamy sauce as a side. Apparently it's mamá's favorite dish. I liked it too but I like other traditional dishes better. Later that night, Nico had a halloween party at the place he plays tennis. Mamá offered to make me look like Barbie since we were going to go but I said no and it's a good thing I did because there wasn't any older kids there. Mamá and I didn't have anything to do so we ended up helping alll the other parents with the party and we walked around selling raffle tickets for some prizes. It wasn't the halloween I'm used to, but I still enjoyed seeing all the different costumes!

It's crazy to think that Friday was the beginning of November! Wow, time flies! My host parents and Nico were flying to La Paz in the morning so I stayed with Abuelita and Miguel over the weekend. Mamá made sure that they had stocked the kitchen with bananas for me before they left. (: The half of my class that I have German class with were taking their huge German test in some other place so there was only about 12 people at school from my grade today. We did nothing! Most of the day was spent playing games on our phones and talking to our literature teacher about food for an hour and a half. The other half of my grade in the other German class has their test next Friday, so that will probably be a boring day for me too. Later that afternoon, I hung out in the Plaza with one of my friends until I had to leave to get ready for my Rotary meeting. I enjoy the meetings but they're so long and there's lots of talking so by the end of the meeting, I'm always half asleep.

Saturday was El Día de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead). It's always November 2 and celebrated November 1 and 2. Business are closed so going outside felt like a Sunday because there was hardly any cars around. Abuelita was still working all day though with some people who had asked to come in so I kept her company and read magazines part of the day. However, around 11, she told Paula (the 18-year-old who works in the salon and was the only other one working besides Abuelita on Saturday) and I to go to the cemetery. We took a bus up to the HUGE and only cemetery in Sucre and it was absolutelly beautiful! In the cemetery, there a big morgues for the loved ones of wealthier families but not all the morgues are for a certain family. Many of them are set up based on occupations. For example, there's a morgue for the soldiers from a certain battle, teachers, transportation workers, children, religious groups, etc. For the loved ones of less wealthy families, there's walls among walls of little compartments for the ashes or remains of the person. On the front of the compartment, there's a little gass case thing that the family has the key to so they can come put flowers or other things in it. For the loved ones of the least wealthy, they're buried in the grave, with a grave marker that kind of looks like a mini dog house. On El Día de los Muertos, families come and put pictures, cookies, flowers, pop, and other reminders of their loved ones on the graves or in the glass cases. For the families that follow the tradition the closest, they put the stuff on the graves on November 1 and the next day they have all the favorite meals of the loved one in their house, they leave their door open, and people can come pay their respects to the family and have some of the food. There's a special hot pink bread/pastry that's made only for this day, but I didn't get the chance to try it. Each color is a symbol for something different. The most common colors that I saw were purple (pain, suffering, grief, and mourning-used by families to acknowledge their loss of loved ones), black (death), pink (celebration of the "returning of the dead" and reunion with family members), and blue. Afterwards, Paula and I walked home to have a late lunch with Abuelita and Miguel and later that night, Abuelita and I took advantage of some free time and went to the movie theater. We didn't know what movie we were going to see but when we got there, we had to wait an hour for the movie we decided on so we got some pizza to share. The movie was really good and it was nice to spend time with Abuelita again.

I went to church with my other host Grandparents on Sunday, and afterwards, just relaxed for the afternoon. We were supposed to pick Nico up from the airport at 4 but he wasn't arriving until later so we decided to have our lunch. We had mote (the corn again) and some amazing meat! Then Abuelita and Miguel left to get Nico so I watched the movie Elf on TV. Once they got home, Nico had his supper and I had some tea. It was super cold so tea was a nice treat! 

Monday morning, I woke up to Nico laughing super loud and found out my Tío Fernan (mamá's oldest brother) had arrived from the airport. He was staying until Wednesday but he's super fun to be around. For lunch, we had some super tasty soup and mashed potatoes. I love my mashed potatoes. (: I didn't do much the rest of the afternoon but that night, Nico and I had our supper together and I felt like the big sister I should be! It's kind of weird being a big sister, especially when my host parents aren't here. 

Mamá and Tío Fernan picked us up from school on Tuesday. Mamá had arrived that morining but papá wasn't going to arrive until the afternoon the next day. For gym class that afternoon, we had to do a ton of running because I guess some people were being lazy. Or maybe our teacher just wanted us to run. I'm not sure but I needed a nice run anyways. Later that night, I went to my first class of Tae Bo. Some of my classmates are taking classes there and they told me about it so I went too. It was actually really fun and I enjoyed it more because my friends were doing it, you can decide the days you want to go, and the instructor is very encouraging. Afterwards, I walked home and had supper with mamá, Tío Fernan, Miguel, Fabiola, Nico, and Abuelita. It was fun to be able to sit down in a big group of family and have dinner. (:

One of the walls with the little compartments in the cemetery. 

Some of the fancier graves surrounded by walls of conpartments in the cemetery. 

The morgue with some of the soldiers from a battle in Bolivia. 

A pretty view of Sucre from an area near the cemetery. 

Days 71-77

Right now, things are starting to get to the point where not everything is new or different to me anymore. 

Tuesday, all the girls in my class were super excited that I had finally been able to get What's App on my phone. Now it'll be easier to talk to them outside of school. (: In art, we drew a really cool design on this big piece of wood/cardboard but we're going to paint it next Tuesday and I'm not the best at painting. I just hope it turns out well! After lunch, I headed back to school for gym and history. I always have the most fun in gym class and I'm one of the people who talks the most. I'm not really sure why I'm not the same in all of my classes. We took a "test" on gymnastics and then played soccer for the rest of the period. I'm enjoying soccer more and more every time we play it but that definitely doesn't mean I'm going to be going out for a team anytime soon! Later that night, I went to a Roteract meeting with Adrianna and we got tickets to go to a "Feria de Pastel" that Roteract was having to raise money for something. A lot more people have joined Roteract since the first meeting I had!

Wednesday after school,  I actually had homework (in math) so I finished that before watching a movie on TV. Then around 8pm, mamá and I headed down to the Fexpo (fair) to watch her models model shoes for her store. She really wanted me to model but thankfully I got out of it. I can't walk in stiletto heels very well (especially on a runway in front of hundreds of people) and I definitely cannot model like the other older models!  Before the show started, I walked around all the booths, set up for different businesses, with some of mamá's employees. We ended up leaving the fair after her models were done but by this time, it was already midnight.

It was really hard waking up on Thursday because I had gone to bed so late the night before for a school night. After I was done with alll my classes for the day, I went to Karla's house to hang out for awhile. It was nice to have tea and talk to her Great Aunt who had lived in New Mexico for 58 years and just recently moved back to Bolivia to be with family. Aunt Albertita (her great aunt) is super sweet! Later, we went to the CBA (the school where lots of my classmates go to learn English) so Karla could pick something up and I talked to the director there. The director asked me to come in next year and help with a class so the students can hear a native English speaker. She also told me she can give me prep materials so I can take the SAT at the CBA before I leave if I want to. Finally, I walked home and it had rained super hard all day so it was a perfect night to be outside with the cool, fresh air.

I had a math test first thing Friday morning, and I was actually prepared for it. I'm finally starting to understand the way my teacher teaches and remember what we're learning about from my classes in the US. In literature, our teacher wasn't there so we got to watch the movie "The Blind Side". For lunch, we had charque (dried meat), mote (the big corn kernels), and some othe stuff, so it wasn't my favorite lunch but I managed to get it down. Then at 3, I walked to Karla's house where we watched a movie with her sister and had tea with her Aunt and Mom. I really like her family and Karla and I get along really well. We talked a lot about how our accents in the opposite language differ even when we think we sound pretty good. (: Around 8, she walked me halfway home and once at home I ended up going to bed pretty early for a Friday night because I was really tired for some reason.

I had a lazy day Saturday. I woke up extremely early and couldn't fall back asleep so I watched cartoons, cleaned my room, and got some other needed stuff done and by then, it was time for lunch. We had some really good soup! After lunch, I watched a movie and did a little bit more cleaning until I got hungry for supper. When I was done eating, mamá and Nico got home so we sat in the kitchen talking about Christmas for awhile. It was nice to joke around with Nico the way we had the first month I was here. That was always so much fun. He showed me the dance you have to do in order to recieve each Christmas gift and mamá said that we will probably make some Christmas cookies so I'm super excited for that!

I woke up bright and early to the usual Sunday "alarm clock" of the paper boy yelling EXTREMELY loud through the streets "Correo!!!" (that's the name of the newspaper). So I watched Sunday morning cartoons until mamá came to get me for breakfast. I was kind of surprised that she had made breakfast for us but it was nice. It makes me miss mornings in the US when I would wake up to the smell of one of my parents making pancakes and eggs. (: Anyways, we had eggs with ham, green peppers, and cheese on some fresh bread, with a nice warm cup of tea/coffee. Afterwards, I did my normal Sunday chores and watched more cartoons until noonish. Then I met Adrianna at the Glorieta Hotel (where we have Rotary meetings) and we walked to the Feria de Pastel to have lunch and a bunch of desserts. Then her host mom picked us up and we went to Eduardo's house (he's my youth exchange officer and also Adrianna's host grandpa) to hang out and spend time with her host relatives. Her cousins had brought their dog along, Mara, and her 7, month old, adorable golden retriever puppies!! I wanted to take them all home with me! Then Adrianna and I went to my house to hang out, watch a movie, and have supper. Afterwards, I walked her home and then came home to get ready for bed. 

We finished "We Are the Nobles" in religion class today (Monday) and the rest of the day was pretty normal for me. After lunch, I spent the afternoon relaxing, doing my laundry, and wasting time on Pinterest (of course!).

Some of the models (not my mom's) from the fashion show. 

Karla and me 

One of the ADORABLE little golden retriever puppies and me

Some of the other golden retriever puppies running around

Days 64-70

Sorry this entry is going to be really short without a day by day explanation but all I've really done was go to my classes at school and lay at home not feeling well over the weekend. 

However, on Tuesday I had to say goodbye to Tía A because she was heading back to Chile. She had been here so long that I was so used to having her around and it's weird without her here. On that same day, for lunch before she left, we had cow stomach with spicy sauce. It was actually really good but once again, I think I would've liked it better if I wouldn't have known what it was! Later that night, I finally got a chance to talk to the ladies in the salon salon again and show them all my pictures from my previous trip so that was really fun. 

Wednesdays are always the most boring days at school for me cuz they're classes I don't exactly have to take or the teachers just done give me work or tests. That night, I went to one of my classmates' house with a few other girls from my grade to make a low calorie meal (salad), medium calorie meal (suuuuper delicious meat with mushrooms and sauce with a side of fries), and high calorie meal (pizza) for our biology class the next day. We had a lot of fun and Shadia (the friend whose house we were at) had a Yorkie that reminded me of my sweet Yorkie in the USA, Dolce. 

Thursday, we tried the other 5 groups' food along with ours and did some work with the calorie count in each dish. That afternoon, after my afternoon classes, I had Spanish classes and afterwards is when I started to not feel good. It wasn't my stomach this time!! But my whole body ached really bad. This lasted until this morning (Monday). 

On Friday, I had Spanish classes for 4 hours in the afternoon and then a rotary meeting that lasted later than normal. I got home from it at 1:15 in the morning! Adrianna (other exchange student here) and I were both almost falling asleep durning the meeting!

I finally finished up my 2 weeks of Spanish classes (remember I had started in September), that were interrupted by all my trips, in the morning on Saturday. My teacher and I ended up talking about some more personal things rather than reviewing other stuff but I really enjoyed talking with her. When I got home from my classes, I was supposed to model for my mom's salon and shoe store at the fair thing that's going on in Sucre right now and then hang out with my friends but I literally felt like I could not get up. 

Sunday, I did some major cleaning in the morning before heading to eat salteñas with my family. After salteñas, they dropped me off at church so I could meet my grandparents there. After church, I went out to eat with everyone (mamá, papá, Nico, Abuelita, and Miguel) and I got my craved mashed potatoes! I had been wanting them for so long! The rest of the night was sitting around trying to get rid of a headache. 

Today, Monday, we watched a movie that I liked during religion. In English it's called "We Are the Nobles". The rest of my classes were normal and boring. During the afternoon, I walked to buy some art supplies for tomorrow, pick up some papers from the Spanish school I had attended, and buy a Spanish bible! Then I just relaxed the rest of the night hoping to actually get some sleep!

The adorable Yorkie, Shusha, that my friend Shadia owns. 

MaJo, Ara, and me while we're bored at school

Days 57-63

On Tuesday, school was boring as usual but at least we got to watch a movie, The Red Violin, during music. For lunch we had pique and I can't wait to make it for my family back in the United States! It's one of my favorite meals. I went back to my afternoon classes and we didn't do anything but walk for about 20 minutes and then stand around talking. We actually had a test in history but I haven't been there for so long that I didn't have to take it. After classes, I was going to hang out with some friends but I got a call from mamá saying I needed to come home right away. When I went into her office, she told me I had a trip over the weekend with the other exchange students! I had no idea about it and neither did Adrianna so we almost missed it but I'm soo glad we didn't! Mamá and I got everything organized for that. The trip was to a place called Concepción, about 5 hours from Santa Cruz, for El Festival de las Orquídeas.   

Wednesdays are the worst, most boring days at school for me because I only have one 45 minute class in which I have to SOMETIMES do something. The rest of my classes are ones that I'm not expected to take. At least not for the rest of this school year. Finally school was out and I went home to eat lasagna with my family plus Abuelita, Tía A, and Miguel. After lunch, I went with Tía A to El Mercado Campesino so she could buy some things she needed. I didn't have anything else to do the rest of the night, so I watched TV until I fell asleep.

Nico and papá had left early for Nico's tennis camp in Tarija on Thursday, so I didn't actually have to be at school at an unnaturally early time! In biology, I listened to my classmates give presentations and then was added to one of the groups to make food for a project for the next Thursday biology class. I'm pretty excited for that. After the second break, I got to leave school to meet Nelly, the girl that works with papá, at the ID card place. I finally got my ID card and I'm done with all my visa/citizenship stuff for the year!! Thaaaaank you! After lunch, I packed and got everything ready for my trip and mamá took me to the airport at 4. My plane ride to Santa Cruz was only 30 minutes (compared to the 14 hour bus ride!) and it was the worst and most fun plane ride I've ever been on because there was SO much turbulence! Marlene (the Youth Exchange Chairman for Bolivia), one of her sons, Gabriel, and the only exchange student in Oruro, Brock, met me in the airport and we had AMAZING cinnamon rolls from Cinnabon before driving to Marlene's house. We had some burritos for supper and just sat talking for 2 hours. I also met Marlene's other son and one of her family friends. After supper, Marlene, her friend, Brock, and I went to La Plaza and they showed us around a bit. We also listened to some big concert going on and took a picture with a humongous Saint Bernard named JimBo. (: At 10, we went to a café and I had some really good icy berry tea drink. 

Early Friday morning, Marlene took Brock and I to the place where we met the other exchange students and loaded the bus. Altogether, there are 24 of us Rotary exchange students here in Bolivia. The 3 from Cochabamba couldn't come, there's one in Oruro, two in Sucre, and 18 in Santa Cruz. Of the 21 of us that were on the trip, there was 1 from Belgium, 1 from Denmark, 5 from France, 3 from Canada, and 11 from the United States (2 from New York, 2 from California, and 1 from Alaska, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Oregon, Michigan, Texas, and Virginia). We drove 4 hours to San Javier where we had lunch, were given a tour of the beautiful church, and learned how to make cuñapes! Then we drove one more hour to Concepción (a small town) where we settled into our hotel before heading to the church for mass and then a violin/choir concert afterwards. It was very humid and hot but it still doesn't beat the heat in Trinidad! After church, we had a buffet supper where we got barbecue meat and then we all went swimming in a pool across from the hotel before bed. I love all the other exchange students. It feels like we're all just one big family and I have NEVER been in a group of people that have so much in common. Even with the groups of exchange students before I was leaving for Bolivia. 

Early Saturday morning, we had a nice breakfast from the hotel (with lots of mango juice!) and then headed to the church where we went to mass the night before so our tour guide could tell us about it. It had the same structure as the church in San Javier but there was a lot more gold and red in the design and it was just absolutely beautiful. We also went to a museum of the Jesuit missions that were here a long time ago and that was really neat. When we were done, we had some free time to walk around. We saw a little dance thing in the center of La Plaza and a lot of us went to some tables of vendors that were set up and bought some souvenirs. At noon, we drove to a different hotel for lunch and then after lunch, we drove 2 hours to an area with mountains to go hiking. We hiked for about an hour and a half and it was so much fun! It wasn't the best trail and it was really steep going up (we even had to use a rope to drag ourselves up) but from the top the view was outstanding! We took all of our group and solo flag pictures at the top too. I thought going up was crazy but going down was awful! Especially for a clumsy person like me. I was just hoping I wouldn't slip and go rolling down the hill taking out everyone in my path! There was lots of gnats on the hike but surprisingly, there weren't mosquitos. Back on the bus, we got juice boxes and it was probably the best juice I've ever drank in my life. It was so hot and we were all tired! We drove 2 hours back to the hotel to rest until our buffet supper, and after supper, some people went to the pool while others just stayed up late talking. 

I got sick really early Sunday morning so I must have eaten something weird and I couldn't eat any breakfast, but after taking some medicine and laying down for a bit, I was ready to go to the lake with the group at 9:15. We didn't swim because there was piranhas and we didn't want to take risks, but it was all really beautiful. When we were done at the lake,  we drove to a little village to see how the indigenous women work. We got to help grind some special kind of rice, learned and helped weave part of a scarf, and saw the ladies turn cotton into string. It was so cool! We could also buy beautiful woven scarves or purses and some had purple or yellow orchids painted on since orchids are indigenous to this region of Bolivia. (We had seen lots of orchid plants while we were here but we didn't actually see many of the flowers themselves.) Then we went back to our hotel and packed up all of our stuff to leave. We drove to the other hotel to have lunch where we all traded our pins and business cards. Our lunch was cut short by pouring rain though and we got back on the bus to drive 5 hours back to Santa Cruz. Mille (from Denmark) and I ended up being able to sleep really well because we were leaning on each other but not everyone else had that much luck! We woke up when the bus stopped for a snack break, and of course being exchange students, we bought a huge load of junk food to share around the bus. That's what we've been doing all weekend. We finally got to Santa Cruz at 8 and I was so sad to tell all of the other exchangers from Santa Cruz goodbye! Marlene picked Brock and I up and we went out for some super delicious, best I've ever had, stuffed crust pizza for dinner with her and her sons. 

Because I was sleeping in a dark room and I was so tired, I slept in until 10 today (Monday). What a miracle! I only woke up when Marlene came to get me and tell me that she was taking Brock to the airport. I was sad to tell him goodbye too! Then they left and I was alone at the house for about two and a half hours so I got ready for the day and caught up on some stuff. When Marlene got back, we went to a café to have a nice healthy brunch. I had a nice, cold, strawberry smoothie and a teriyaki salad. Then we went to her office so she could get some work done but instead of work, we ended up talking about previous exchange students and the pets she used to have until we needed to leave for the airport for my flight. Marlene waited (and bought rolls from Cinnabon of course!) my flight was called to go through security. Then I waited to board my plane and was surprised when Adrianna showed up. She had been staying with her aunt and uncle and I thought she was staying in Santa Cruz until later in the week. She sat next to me for the flight and we had a nice 30 minute flight (with complimentary peach juice, wow, they're fast) to Sucre. I took a movíl home and gave mamá and Abuelita a HUGE greeting. I hadn't realized how much I had missed them! I went upstairs to unpack until mamá came up to have empanadas filled with meat for supper that Tía A had made earlier today. I told mamá all about my trip and possible upcoming trips and she was so excited to hear all about it!

Brock (from California), me, and Marlene in La Plaza in Santa Cruz

Hanging out with some of the awesome masks at a museum.

Joanna (Texas), Perrin (Virginia), Victoria (Michigan), me, and Mille (Denmark) in Concepción

Showing my pride in my country on top of the mountain 

Watching the women in the village turn cotton into string 

Grinding some of the special rice in the village 

My big, goofy group of exchangers (minus 3 who are elsewhere....) 

At the airport in Sucre when I finally returned home

My big goofy group of exchangers again

The whole group (minus 3 of the French) showing pride in both our countries and Bolivia on our hike in the mountains