A Bolivian Wedding

This weekend I got to attend a Bolivian wedding. Two Bolivians (Jimmy and Christina) who work with SAM got married. It really wasn't a completely typical wedding, but there were some aspects that were very typical! Most Bolivian weddings take place at night - they start about 7 or 8pm and usually go until after midnight. This wedding was supposed to start at 10am on Sunday morning. Laura and I rode with Jeff and Beth Hause, who were participating in the ceremony so they had to be there by 9:30. We were the first to arrive...and the only guests for a long time. Finally, around 10:30, most of the guests had arrived and were starting to seat themselves at the tables. A very harried woman suddenly rushed around the room, setting numbers on the tables. Then she started going up to each guest and telling them which table to sit at. She had this huge list (there were over 200 guests) and you were supposed to tell her your name and she'd find what table you were at. I know, doesn't seem like the most efficient way to do things does it? (Joy, I can just picture you cringing and rolling your eyes). Laura and I were told we were supposed to be at table seven. We found tables five, six, eight, and nine, but no seven. Finally I found the number way across the room...on a table that also said number fifteen. The woman grabbed the seven and scurried over to a table marked "Familia de la novia" (Family of the Bride) and set it down. None of us were family (in fact we were almost all North Americans), but we sat down anyway.


The whole wedding was pretty much that way. The ceremony started at 11:30, and took place in a little garden behind the reception room. There wasn't room for the guests to stand in the garden, so we just stood and watched through the french doors.

After the ceremony we all sat around and waited some more while they went to take pictures (fortunately there was the novelty of a chocolate fountain to keep everyone entertained...until they ran out of plates. Then people used napkins, with rather disasterous results). Finally the bride and groom came back, and they started serving lunch (by now it was 1:30). Toward the end of lunch they started the special music, which included several songs and a dance number by an adorable ballerina. After the boquet toss (which I thankfully did not catch...who invented that crazy tradition anyway?) we passed out bubbles and lined the exit to send them off. This was a very non-Bolivian thing to do. Usually the newlyweds are the last to leave. However, Jimmy and Christina had a plane to catch that left at 4pm...and planes don't wait, even for newlyweds, even in Bolivia. I think it was 3pm by the time we sent them on their way...they still had to drive to the airport, and they hadn't changed clothes yet (hopefully they had their luggage with them).

It was a shame to rush through everything, but I don't think anyone really felt concerned except for Dana Wilson, who was trying to be the coordinator (Paul Kiensle started calling her"DayLo"). She did a great job...considering what she was up against.

Virginia, Laura, Dana W., Katie, and me

After the Hause's dropped me off I went into my room and slept for two hours. The experience was really fun over-all, but I think one Bolivian wedding is enough for me!

Old Miss Sterling had a farm...

So I decided to totally sell out as a kinder teacher and actually develop my own unit. I mostly did this because I had a ton of extra time on my hands when I had a student teacher, and I thought it would be fun to try. It was...though way too much work to do all the time! Thank goodness for wonderful teachers who post their ideas on the web - most of my unit was pieced together from other sources.

Mauricio, Carlos Andres, and Kailey pose in front of our barn...the kids helped me decorate the scene with torn tissue paper. We'll add animals this week.


I got the idea to do a farm unit from a song that I wanted to teach my kids called Color Farm. The song is to the tune of BINGO, but it talks about a farmer and his animals which are all named after different colors. These animals are not your typical garden variety...the horse is named Green, the duck is Orange, and my favorite, the cow, is Purple!

Here are Clara, Santiago, and Joash adding their own artistic touches to our barnyard animals.


Even my centers all had a farm theme...in the dramatic play center the students pretended to be farmers or farm animals, the book center was filled with farm books, and in writing students decorated their own farm counting book. Here are Sofia, Alexis, and Raquel in the block center, with their original design for a barn (I didn't have any plasic animal figures, so they used our counting bear instead).


Mauricio and Raquel enjoying the book center...their favorite reads are Click Clack Moo, Cows that Type, Down on the Silly Farm, and The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash

In addition to being Farm Week in kinder, it also turned out to be birthday week! Tuesday was Andre's big day...he's now 14 (going on 25). His basketball team also won their second consecutive Championship trophy that day. Go Eagles!

The Basketball star poses with some adoring fans...Lidia's childhood friend and her husband




Wednesday was Laura's special day...at least I hope it was special. I threw a surprise party for her in kinder...craziness let me tell you! I was so busy rushing around making sure it went smoothly I completely forgot to take pictures! Wednesday was also SAMair's 30th Anniversary celebration at the hanger...again no pics (sorry, I'm a slacker) but it was really neat to see a slideshow of all the people who've been involved with and helped by SAMair over the years. We have one plane right now and two pilots that keep busy flying back and forth to hard to reach rural locations all around Bolivia.

This weekend was a much needed break from traveling. It was nice to spend time at home, though I felt a little guilty for not checking something else off my list! Oh well, there's always next weekend.

Fancification

So, the thing about living in Bolivia is that you feel hot/sweaty/dirty/messy most of the time. So when the opportunity presents itself to get all dressed up and "fancified" you jump at the chance. That opportunity came Saturday night - Junior/Senior banquet. I won't go into a detailed description of what happened, because you've all been there - the video, the slideshows, awards, speeches, songs, etc. I'll just give you what you really want...pictures!

Here we are...in the DRESSES! Sorry mine is kind of hard to see...but Dovanna's makes up for it! Yes, it is gold with glitter...but doesn't she look classy in it? And yes, mine is (gasp) strapless!

We teachers clean up nice...if I do say so myself! From left to right: Dovanna, Emily J., me, Emily B., Katie, Molly, and another girl (not a teacher) whose name I don't recall.

Lidia's girls: Me, Laura, Dovanna

Here's Hans with his two ladies...since I didn't have a date he generously offered to take me too...sweet of him huh? I'm pretty sure he was the envy of every other freshman guy.

One last shot...gotta show off my sexy shoes. They were the highest heel I've ever worn...I'm pretty sure I was at least six feet in them. But you've gotta admit they look good!

So ends the banquet...all that prep, and it's over! Oh well, getting ready for it was half the fun I think. But now I definitely need another occasion to wear the dress (and shoes)!

Of course the real story is the adventure I had getting back from San Javier to make it in time for the banquet...scroll down for the scoop!

Further Bridge Adventures

My most exciting (that is, dangerous) adventures always seem to involve bridges. Case in point: last weekend's trip to San Javier.

By Wednesday afternoon I was feeling pretty nervous about the upcoming trip to San Javier, because I'd been told by several people that the one-way bridge that is the only way across the Rio Grande (the Bolivian river that runs northeast of Santa Cruz which must be crossed in order to get to San Javier) had recently been closed for hours at a time. Getting across it would be chancy at best, both going and coming back. This was especially a problem because we were supposed to get back to Santa Cruz Saturday afternoon, in time to get ready for the Jr/Sr banquet that night. Katie and I had a long discussion about the possiblity of being stuck on the wrong side of the bridge, and came up with a plan that included life jackets, long knives, and belly-crawling through mud (okay, so we let our imaginations run just a little bit wild).

Anyway, praise God (why do we ever doubt?) we had no trouble at all getting across Friday morning, and made it to San Javier without incident (though we had a close call with a little girl who almost darted across the road in front of us, and we also passed a horrific accident that involved two double-trailer semi-trucks). We had a great time hanging out with Elliott, and also met another single American guy who works for the Peace Corps who is living in San Javier (his name is Geoff - you can pray for Elliott as he witnesses to him and that Geoff will be open to the gospel).

Here we are, the two Danas and Katie in front of a blooming toburochi tree (also know as a pregnant tree) in the plaza downtown San Javier.

We left "bright and early" Saturday morning...or at least that was the plan. It was a little after 10 when we actually got on the road, but we had smooth sailing all the way to the bridge. Again we didn't have to wait at all, just drove right onto the bridge. Now, let me describe this "structure" to you. It's actually a train trestle that they adapted for cars by laying boards horizontally and vertically across. The problem is they didn't actually attach any of the boards to one another, so everything's loose.

Things were going okay until Dana drove up onto the end of a board and the other end flew up in the air, and her tire got stuck in the hole. She carefully backed up off the board, but it stayed up. Katie got out to investigate, and discovered that there weren't any cross-beams underneath that particular board, and if Dana tried to drive over the hole her tire would fall through the bridge. Katie tried to move the board, but it was too heavy for her to lift by herself. Her struggle was observed by the two Bolivian men in the jeep behind us, who enjoyed it immensely and made no move to get out and help her.

Finally one got out, only to offer to drive Dana's SUV over the spot for her, since we were obviously silly women who didn't know how to drive over a bridge. It was only after we pointed out the huge hole and the fact that no one could possibly get over it without the beam in place that they finally helped move the board back. We breathed a huge sigh of relief as we made it to the other side. I don't think I'll try crossing that bridge again in a hurry! Anyway, all's well that ends well...praise God for watching over us.

Escape from Santa Cruz

Greetings dear friends and supporters (and curious strangers)! I hope you all had a very blessed Easter. Mine was unusual, but wonderful. SCCLC had Thursday, Friday, and Monday of Easter weekend off, so Laura and I made plans to escape the city for a while. We were originally going to take an all-night bus cama (bus w/beds) to San Ignacio, but found out that there weren't any going Friday night, which was when we wanted to leave (Laura's church had a paseo all day Friday that she wanted to go to). So we decided to really live it up and use some of my orientation money to pay for a SAM Air flight instead.

We left Saturday morning from the airstrip (only a few miles away from SCCLC). Greg Dahl, one of the main missionary pilots, flew us. The flight was only about an hour and a half long (compared to an all-night bus trip) and the weather was nice and calm so I didn't have any motion sickness (it was my first time up in a small plane, and I'd been told horror stories so I was expecting the worst).

Don't I look so official and ready to go?

Here's Laura and I after a safe landing in San Ignacio - notice the very red dirt that got all over everything

The weather was perfect...very hot, but that was okay because our hotel had a pool! I tell you, missionary life can be so rough sometimes. Our room was right off the pool, and we even had a shower tub (with almost hot water) and cable TV! Did I mention I really didn't want to come back to Santa Cruz?

After checking in to the hotel Laura and I walked out to the church where she had spent most of her time working last summer (she helped lead a summer team of college students for six weeks in San Ignacio). She saw a few people who remembered her from last summer, and we had a very nice visit with one woman in particular who filled us in on all the local news. After our long, hot walk we decided to find moto taxis back to the market. (A moto taxi is actually just a motorcycle which takes one passenger at a time. Most of the small towns have them in place of car taxis or micros). So we flagged one down and I had my first ride on a motorcycle. It was great fun...I felt really adventurous! I didn't trust my balance enough to ride side-saddle like many of the women do, but fortunately there was a metal rack behind me that I could hang on to instead of the driver (I think that would have been a little awkward). I missed the photo op, but hopefully when I'm in San Xavier next weekend I'll get another chance.

Easter Sunday was very different from any I'd had before. The Bolivian idea of a sunrise service is to get up at three in the morning and sing and pray for three and a half hours until the sun comes up. Since Laura and I were on vacation we really didn't feel up to that. Instead, we got up around eight and walked down to the represa (not as impressive as the one in Concepcion, more like a reservoir) and had a silent retreat for a few hours. It was wonderful...uninterrupted time with God. I spent a lot of it just reflecting on my experience here and thinking about the lessons God has tried to teach me - which I haven't been very good at learning. God really convicted me about loving others - not with my selfish, half-hearted love, but with His pure, compassionate love. That's the love that's been modeled so much to me during my time here, by both the Bolivian people I've met and the missionaries I've gotten to work with. I wish you could meet them. I know we think of missionaries kind of as super-Christians, like they're somehow on a different plane than us "normal" Christians. They're really not. They're just ordinary people, the kind that live next door or go to your church or serve on PTA committees. They have the same struggles and trials as anyone, and react the same way that all humans do. They're living their lives...just thousands of miles from "home."

I signed on to do this "missionary thing" for a year. But to most of the missionaries here it's not a "thing" they're doing, it's their life. Bolivia is home. Sure it's a lot harder to live here...and they don't have any special powers that make it easier. It's just a choice they've made in obedience to God's call.

Okay, I know I've gone off on a tangent. Anyway, we spent most of Sunday afternoon just lounging and napping (I took advantage of a hammock that was hanging near the pool). That night we attended a service at the church Laura worked with. I think everyone had partied out with the "sunrise service" though, because it was pretty empty, and only took about an hour (definitely the shortest service I've experienced since coming to Bolivia).

Me and Laura in front of one of the really intricately carved collumns in front of our hotel

Here's an arial shot of SCCLC as we passed over it in the plane

We reluctantly boarded the plane Monday morning and returned to Santa Cruz. It was such a wonderful break, too short of course, but great. Now I'm back in the classroom, teaching again after my three week break (thanks Denise!). I'm really enjoying getting back to teaching...I really don't know what I'd do if I couldn't teach. Just three weeks and I was going nuts!

Next Friday I'm driving with Dana 1 to San Xavier to visit Elliott (I tell you, I'm making some great progress on my list!) and then going to Jr/Sr banquet Saturday night. I'll have some great pictures to post next Monday, I'm sure!

The Road to Samipata

I know this post is a long time coming...blogger has been experiencing technical difficulties (or maybe it's just the Bolivian internet). Anyway, last weekend I had a grand adventure that I want to share.

Saturday morning Dana 2, Dovanna, Jarrod and I piled into Virginia's truck to make the long trip up the mountain to Samipata, a kind of "mountain resort" town about three hours from Santa Cruz. It was a pretty calm drive for the first hour or so, until we started up the mountain. Keep in mind that we've had severe flooding in Bolivia for the past three months. The towns beyond Samipata were hit pretty hard, and in fact Dana 2 and Virginia drove out last weekend to deliver a load of food and clothing to some of the people who are still without permanent shelter. For several weeks the road to Samipata was impassible. They've been working on fixing it, but it still narrows to one way in several places. Our first glimpse of the flood damage was enough to instill a renewed respect for the power of water.

This house had been well back from the river bank before a flash flood bulldozed through the riverbed. It looks like the house nearly ended up in the river! It's all dried out now, but at the height of the rains the river was flowing right past this home (they showed pictures on the news).

As we continued up the mountain we saw a lot more evidence of the rains' destruction. Rocks and mudslides had washed away the road in several places. Here you can see where the road just literally fell off the mountain.


Fortunately vegitation covered the drop-off side, so the road didn't seem quiet as scary as it probably was. There were no guardrails and it was very steep, so Virginia had to take the curves at a pretty good clip to make it up. If we met a truck coming down where the road narrowed to one way things got very exciting! Thankfully on the way up traffic was really light. About halfway up Virginia pulled over and pointed to a rather ancient looking bridge and informed us that the first time anyone goes to Samipata they have to walk across the bridge. So we dutifully filled out of the truck and carefully made our way across.

I don't know if you can really see how thin the bridge is, but it's basically 2" thick planks strung together with wire. I felt like I was crossing the swinging bridge on Tom Sawyer's Island and Disneyland, and I had to remind myself that I am in Bolivia, where building codes do not apply. I have some great shots too through the holes in the wood where you can see all the way to the river below. Have you ever seen Romancing the Stone or Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom? Yeah, now I can say I've lived it.

We eventually made it back off the bridge safely and continued the trek. A few miles outside of the town we stopped to see some waterfalls. I was told you had to hike in to get to them, so I was expecting a scramble over rocks and through overgrown vines, dodging snakes and lizards...it was actually just a really easy walk down a very clear trail, and we didn't even see on snake, just lots of butterflies (one landed on me!). There were two sets of falls that we saw. We were going to hike back further to the third set, but it started pouring and we decided lunch sounded better.

The Danas and Jarrod posing in front of the falls - before we realized that the heavy mist was actually rain.

We finally made it into town and stopped at a delicious German restaurant for lunch (we were the only ones there, but I still can't say much about the service. The food was scrumptious though). After lunch Virginia took us on a driving tour of her favorite sights and places to stay (Samipata is her favorite getaway spot). We ended the day at a mini-resort run by a German couple. Jarrod, the only guy in a group of women, got to experience his first tea party (it was mint tea with fresh honey and warm-from-the-oven scones...it hit the spot).

Virginia, Dovanna, Dana 2 and Jarrod ending our day of adventure with - what else, tea and scones!

I'm happy to report a safe return trip (though we had a few close calls with some micros and trucks). And...I've crossed the first thing off my list of things to do before I leave! Next weekend I'll kill two birds with one stone...Laura and I are going to fly in one of SAM Air's planes out to San Ignacio to spend Easter weekend. The adventures continue!!