Finally!

Well, I've been here for three weeks now. It's kind of hard to believe! Time has passed by so quickly and I know it will only get faster. Sorry I haven't been updating as often as the beginning. I will try to do better!

My first week of school went well. I met all 11 of my first graders, and they all speak Spanish as their first language! Looking at this in a positive light, I guess it will be good for the students because they will get more practice speaking English with me, and I will have lots of practice with ESL instruction. This does not help immensely with practicing my Spanish, but I am taking Spanish lessons with an instructor at school twice a week. She is very patient and encouraging, despite my lack of understanding and poor memory :)

The students are all pretty good, and my cooperating teacher has a wealth of knowledge for teaching first graders. I was also pleasantly surprised with the relatively large school library, and the teaching resources available! Just another reminder not to have many expectations!

The second week of school, I moved into my apartment (Monday). It is just across the street from where I was staying, so it was nice not to have to move very far. I have slowly begun to settle in, and am learning the quirks and strange things that have given my apartment quite a reputation.

For example, on Friday I was home from school (a story I will share later on) and when I woke up, there was music BLARING through my wall. Pretty much, I have my own personal Bolivian radio (though sometimes it is kareoke, sometimes Spanish, sometimes English, sometimes... who knows). Ha ha! I am still experimenting with the volume of my music that will sufficiently mask the personal radio :) As another example, sometimes cats prance their way accross my tin/plastic roof, creating quite a commotion. But, thankfully I have a hot shower, running water, a bed, a couch, a kitchen, and a "skylight" (the plastic part the cats run accross). Really, it's a pretty nice place to have all to myself, and thankfully I am a heavy sleeper, as some of you may know... Here are a few pictures of my place:

Here is part of my living room

This is my kitchen (excuse the mess - my table is acting as a cupboard because there's no pantry)

And this is part of my bedroom (the door is the bathroom), there's also a wardrobe

Monday night we had girls' Bible study, with the females (most of them teachers at CCS) from the surrounding apartments. We are beginning to study James. What a huge blessing to have fellowship with sisters in Christ!

Tuesday I went to my SIM Life Group (I think this is a monthly Bible study). It is nice to get to know some other missionary families and study the Bible together.

This was a pretty crazy week, despite the fact that I was not teaching yet (though I am picking up little classroom routines here and there).

Okay, now for the story of the week:

On Wednesday all of the teachers arrived at CCS, but by the end of our morning staff meeting, we discovered that there was a bloqueo (blockade in English), which means that a road was blocked, and in this case it was the main road that leads to CCS. Therefore, the school buses could not get through. The "principal" (though that's not the title we use for him here) cancelled classes for the day, so the buses turned around and dropped the students back off at their homes, and the students who had managed to get to school because they don't live on the blockaded side were sent home. The teachers were not able to leave because most of us live on the blockaded side of the road, so we ended up staying at school until about 12:00 in the afternoon. Basically a bloqueo is when people block off a road (or more), sort of like a demonstration or protest, until they get what they want. In this case, the people wanted the road to be paved, so they blockaded it until action would be taken. (Later that night an agreement was reached that when there is a sunny day, construction will begin.)

Eventually we were able to leave on the "teacher van" (the vehicle the school graciously supplies for us to safely get to and from school every day). However, we had to take an alternate route, resulting in an hour long trip, rather than the usual 25 minutes. It actually ended up being pretty neat because I got to see a whole other part of Bolivia that I have not seen. It was basically like the "countryside" of Cochabamba, with farms and fields and animals and such. It was beautiful (but smelly and muddy). Here are a few pictures from a friend's camera:

Here we are about to go over a one way bridge to a one way road

Here's part of the road

A farm house (the animals are tied to a stake in the ground)

The woman in the background is wearing an "aguayo", a brightly colored-woven cloth that they use to carry bundles of goods or babies

Well, on Wednesday we also learned that the president decided to declare a national holiday on Friday, in honor of the new Bolivian name and his swearing in (or whatever it is called).

So, we had two days off of school this week, which was nice, but that means I won't begin teaching until Tuesday (Math). Here I go!

Thanks for all your prayers! I love hearing from you!

KP