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