Tuesday, December 29, 2009

hola from la paz

hope everyone is having a wonderful break for christmas and new years. i traveled up to la paz, seriously up 3500 meters, with some friends. there are mountains everywhere, its cold, and its rainy! so like michigan but with mountains! tomorrow we plan on visiting tiwakanu, incan ruins, and will great the new year in copacabana and by lake titicaca!

last week didn´t start out so great. i got robbed yet again, losing my purse, rainjacket, flashdrive, and my cell phone. yup cell phone numero dos. but vacation started on wednesday by going to my host bro´s wedding in the morning and then the pool with my host mom and sister in the afternoon. christmas eve is the big celebration here, so we had a huge party at my host sister´s house - complete with plenty of food and papa noel! and my host mom and sister surprised me by getting me yet another cell phone! so let´s hope 3rd time is the charm. on christmas day we hit the pool again, then afterward i was able to skype with my family and with wyatt. not the same as being there, but at least technology let me see my cousin gerrit´s magic trick! on christmas night we went out and wandered the main plaza that was all decked out for christmas.

i am so incredibly blessed with my family and friends in north and south america! and am so glad i am here in bolivia!

krol fam countdown: 17 days

Monday, December 21, 2009

although its been said many times many ways...

its been pretty busy the last couple of weeks. had a christmas cookie exchange with fellow mccers. us SALT girls made over 350. a little overboard? i think not! definitely necessary because right now it does not feel like December, let alone 4 days til Christmas.to help get in the christmas mood i decorated centro menno and play christmas music i find on youtube. and i sing out loud - gives the colony mennonites a little show. we also had a christmas party with all the MCC bolivia staff. somehow i was on the planning committee and ended up in charge of games. so we had a snowball fight with newspaper and a pinata :)

wednesday was my host mom's bday, so late tuesday night a bunch of people from work came over to serenade her. i got home from walleyball around 11:30 and they were in the middle of serendaing. we ate a little dinner afterward and everyone left around 12:45am. My host dad sang the first song he ever sang her outside her window when they started dating. Apparently the boys in her neighborhood didn't like him, so they threw rocks at him and chased him when he was on his bike. He told another story that he took her on a date to a movie, but when it was time to go home he only had 1 boliviano, not enough to take her home to the 3rd ring. So he went and bet his 1b on a street game, hoping to make enough cash. He lost it all and they had to walk in the pouring rain :)
christmas came a little early on friday...the mail finally came!! i received a package and letters from friends and family back home and it just made my week! recieving mail here is a huge waiting game - one letter was mailed back in early november. but now i have more letters to read, cards to hang on my wall, and dark chocolate m&ms to eat and not share (thanks wyatt!)
my last day of work for the year is tomorrow! my host bro is getting married on the 23rd in the morning, so that should be a fun day. and i'm excited to experience christmas bolivian style. but i think to me it will just seem like a new holiday and not really christmas - i definitely miss the christmas songs on the radio, traditional christmas food,etc. but not snow :) we had a christmas program last night at church that was cute - but went over 2 hours long. one skit was of a parrot flying around looking for i think love and peace for christmas and was cute. and while a parrot is appropriate for bolivia, i kept thinking of the movie "love actually" where there are lobsters and octopuses at the nativity, so i had to try really hard not to laugh.
but then hey, what is christmas? although nat king cole says "turkey and mistletoe help to make the season right" (and there is no turkey here) i have to remember that i'm celebrating the same thing with people from bolivian and old colony cultures - God's love is so great and amazing that he came as "a babe in the straw to save us all." merry christmas!
The serenaders.

The cookies! Finally showed my host family I have some useful skills.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Dutch Bingo

My last post was cut short, so I thought I would add a little more. On Saturday I went out with my church to El Turno, a pueblo 16km outside of Santa Cruz. Everything was so green and lush and there were hills! No cement! We went to a home for boys off the street and played in a soccer tournament (i dodge that bullet - enough girls were there that i didn't have to play). when we arrived i had to use the restroom but couldn't find it, so i walked over to some people to ask and hey, there's someone who looks like me. one volunteer there is tall and blonde, from the netherlands, and she has family living in grand rapids. now that's crazy dutch bingo.

as you can see, i'm paying really close attention to my host dad's closing words at the end of the tournament!

this home was so wonderful and the workers go to Santa Cruz and take boys off the street and bring them to this gorgeous place to live and go to school. i talked with one boy who had just moved there 2 weeks ago. he had a tough, gravelly voice, but was so sweet and had a huge smile.
sunday was election day, so everything was shut down between 8am and 6pm. there were no micros or taxis and you needed special permission to drive your own vehicle. i walked with my host family to vote. it was really fast and simple and the results were in by 7pm. the president was re-elected. i don't really want to write about politics because one of the other salters did and now she gets a super crazed political guy writing her. but if you want to know more google it or write me an email!
it's christmas! i know y'all are getting hit by snow back in michigan...not so much here. but our house has decorations!


here's the family chick! it was pouring out one day when i got home from work so i sat on the couch to read and this little guy decided to hang with me!

Friday, December 4, 2009

singing in the rain

i think rainy season has officially begun. i've worn my rainjacket everyday this week. but i love walking in the rain. i put my hood up, stuff my purse under my jacket, and sing my heart out. i'm sure i might seem a little crazy - everyone else tries to walk close to buildings and under roofs - but who cares? the only problem is crossing streets - one step off the sidewalk and its into a murky river flowing with garbage.

i had some actual bonding time with my host brother, manolo, yesterday. usually our interaction consists of my eating dinner, he walking in and saying something really, really fast and i respond with a si, and he walks away. he's 33, lives in a room off the house, and is getting married on dec. 23. turns out he plays walleyball (volleyball in a raquetball court) every tuesday and thursday night. he invited me to come and while i was a little apprehensive (i asked if any girls played, picturing my nose getting broken by a rogue shot) but went along. ended up having a blast. we played 3 on 3 and although its been a while (9th grade gym class), i held my own. it's a nice replacement since vball ended last week.

today i ventured out to run some errands for centro menno. we're selling cds in the sala and needed some colored photocopies of the album covers. i wandered up and down some streets, stopping in at copy places and asking if they had color copies. i finally found a place - a video game playing internet cafe - and got my copies. as i was walking back to centro menno, i realized that the little outing was completely painless and not awkward. sure i didn't speak the best spanish, but i got my message across and got what i needed.

Friday, November 20, 2009

here come old flattop he come groovin' up slowly

one thing that is a constant annoyance/slightly humorous/growing old fast is how much i stick out here. i am used to being one of the many tall blonde people in grand rapids that i thought 5'11" is average height for a girl haha. well that's one worldview that has been challenged.

i've never been part of the minority before and it is an eye opener. sometimes i just want to yell "i am a person, i have a name and it's not "gringita" or "barbie." it just shows that my whole life i've had the luxury of not even being aware how oppressive "being different" can be. wake up.

and here it can be easy to slip into the "big city" persona where i just walk fast with my head down, ignoring everyone and not looking up to enjoy the beautiful day. i had another little wake-up call the other day. i got off the bus on the way home from work a little early so that i could have a little walk. as i was waiting to cross a busy street, a homeless youth, maybe around my age, walked up to me and tried to grab my hand. i acted upon my quick, stereotypical judgements of oh he's dirty, gross, and walked away with a "permisso." a minute later he was back and said "hola" with a huge smile and held out his hand. so i gave him a handshake and offered my cheek in the typical bolivian style greeting. he kissed my cheek, said buena dia and walked away. i was never worried about my safety because a political rally was going on all around me and i was surrounded by people. but i had realized that hey, aren't i sick of being objectified and being seen as only a tall gringa? this kid, mentally handicapped and harmless, is being constantly ignored and shunned. jesus hung out with the socially shunned, so i should get over myself. i think my kindness helped make his day and his kindness made mind.

Friday, November 6, 2009

well, check that off the bucket list

(this is my host mom, Ana, making a pot of huge corn kernels and 3 pigs' heads. yeah that's right. the pigs had blue eyes, someone called it a gringo pig, i was creeped out. but i still ate it)


can't believe it's friday already. can't believe it's NOVEMBER already! definitely doesn't feel like it. last week the temperature got up to 40 degrees celcius and muggy. since i avoided math/science classes like the plague, i don't understand the metric system and only knew it was dang hot. a few days later a friend told me that it had been 102 degrees F. i am definitely glad i didn't know that at the time, i think it would have made the days feel even hotter! but now its in the 70s and rainy, kind of a nice relief.


its been a pretty eventful week. one day we had a couple from sturgis, mi visit centro menno! turns out they're one step away from the amish, so they have cars and electricity but where traditional clothing. they gave me their address and i plan on visiting when i'm back home!
last week i attended a university graduation. the program said it began at 7:30pm, so at 8:30 the music started :) each graduate took about a minute to walk across the stage, hug the president and professor, and pose for a picture. i told my host family that at my graduation of 1,000 people we were practically running down the aisles. they replied that here they like things "tranquilo" and relaxed. well my host niece was the 10th person, so we left after an hour.


Monday was an official holiday in Santa Cruz because Sunday was the "day of the dead" when people remember deceased family and friends. my church always has a youth retreat in el campimento over the long weekend, so late saturday afternoon we packed the prado full of people and drove 20 minutes out of the city to a baptist camp. i spent the night getting to know the leaders of my youth group, listening to the praise team rock out (not an exaggeration) and played the usual youth group games. the next morning 2 SALT friends came out with my host family. we spent 2 mornings listening to sermons, a little tough when its hot and in spanish. since it was so hot we did a lot of relaxing in the shade and eating mangos that would drop as if attacking the whole camp. sunday night they set up a stage outside on the sports court and we had a mini rock concert of worship concerts accompanied with a mosh pit. On Monday we had the sports championships and my church was the volleyball champions! its funny because before every serve, either a teammate, audience member, or someone from the other team would yell out "vamos corrie" to cheer me on. i think they're all just happy i'm participating and trying to make friends.
(the loaded prado)

tuesday was my host dad's 71st bday, so late monday night a group of people serenaded him outside his window. we had a grand fiesta at lunch. i came home from work (i always eat lunch at mcc) and found our courtyard full of people and food. we had paella (a spanish seafood dish?) and che-cha, a drink made from corn. and cake. i ended up having cake for breakfast, lunch and dinner that day. pretty good day.


then the oddest of all on wednesday...i was a model. my host niece works in accounting for the local supermarket chain fidalga and the store is having a promocion or sale in their clothing department and needed people to show off the goods. so paola signed me up! i think there was 4 others girls, 2 guys, a news woman and a little girl. all the women had fancy hair, nails, and a ton of makeup on and i walked in with a light layer of dirt (happens is santa cruz. hot weather + wind + dirty city = importance of frequent showering), took my hair out of my pony tail and was ready to rock. down here whenever a woman is going to be in a photo, she strikes whatever pose she knows is the most flattering. i don't think that's the case in the u.s. at least not for me. so this was slightly out of my normal comfort zone. but i put on 5 different outfits, smiled for the video camera, made some new friends and 200 bolivianos! it's supposed to be kind of like an infomercial and shown at night, but i have yet to see it. access to a tv is a little hard for me because it is in my host parents' bedroom.


when i got home from that long day and told my host mom what i had been up to, she laughed long and hard. then she said "corrie, you have many adventures." the reason i gave was that here people say "vamos corrie," and off i go. i guess because i don't want to miss a thing. it makes me really busy and tired that sometimes i dream about just laying around. but then i think, nope i don't want to live my life lying around. i want to learn, try new things, met new people. i pray that whenever God says "vamos corrie," i will go and act without hesitation. i had a great email from my lil sis dana about accepting plans God has for us, even though they might not be what we want at the time. it may not be easy, but i am so thankful that He has plans, because heaven help me if it was only up to me!

Friday, October 23, 2009

Life I love you...all is groovy




On Wednesday nights we have "english" potluck where we eat good food and speak in English. I love it because dessert is always great and its a chance to catch up with the other SALTers and MCC workers. Afterward, we usually have some sort of devotion time. This week we were asked "what gives us life and what takes away life." i am so blessed because so many things here "give me life." i am starting to feel part of my host family, part of the church community, and a real teammate on my volleyball team. i love walking home from work and randomly hearing "cordy cordy" (say that really fast and that's how everyone says my name) from a church member. or getting to vball practice and actually remembering names and joking around with my teammates.




working at my job gives me life because i love managing cenro menno's library and taking on new responsibilities. centro menno is in a huge transition year because one couple is leaving in february and the other in june. so i can tell i am already an important part of the centro menno team. last monday us SALTers went out to visit a colony and wow, so interesting. one girl said it looked like she was back in Canada. we visited a family with 5 girls and 2 boys and the dad is a mechanic who just got back from buying tractors in detroit. small world. we ate a huge lunch, got a tour of the house, barn, and mechanic shop. then we went up to their balcony hang out, drank coca-cola and entered into a singing showdown. the 5 daughters practice singing old hyms in different parts, so they sounded all wonderful and harmonized. then they said, it's your turn to sing. well, we had just learned to sing an african song together during a retreat, so we sang that. they liked it and asked if we ever sang on the radio...should they be asking about radios haha? they also took pictures of us with their first rate digital camera...so i didn't feel bad about taking pictures of them.




my host family gives me life by just interacting with them and sharing daily life, be it cutting through the back lots to get to church or going to a birthday party. (this one guy was from California so we played baseball with his grandsons and sang "Happy Birthday" accompianied with my host dad's accordion) one night i got home and some people from church were over making bookmarks for Sunday (we're studying 'the purpose driven life' in sunday school) so i helped cut out something with fancy scissors. the championship for the Bolivian soccer teams was going on and my host family's team, Blooming, was tied 1-1 with the other team. my host sister was so nervous she just kept pacing up and down and my host nephew would shot out random plays from the bedroom where the TV is. finally blooming scored and everyone was jumping and screaming and lit off a few fireworks. haha love it. they are also always telling me to "vamos" or come along, and i do. because of that i've played on the church volleyball, soccer, and basketball team. and i ran in a 13km "marathon." ok, didn't run the whole thing, but the last 500 meters was in the futbol stadium around a track, so i ran pumping my arms in the air and singing "the final countdown." afterward someone asked me and my north american friend where we were from. we said the u.s. and we came to bolivia just for this marathon. i think we impressed them. a couple of people also wanted a picture with me the "international runner." i acquiesed, but they just laughed when i said afterward "5 bolivianos por favor"




one thing that takes away life from me is my 10 year old host niece. i think she has add, desctructive behavior, and lacking in serious attention from her parents. she is at my house every night of the week, sometimes til 10, 11pm. i always try to be nice and friendly and spend some time with her, but that never lasts long. she is constantly running around, breaking things, and abusing the family dogs. i try to tell her that hitting a puppy and picking it up by its hair is a bad thing, but she just looks at me with a indolent, blank stare. i had to walk away yesterday because she wouldn't stop hurting the dog, so she through it ate me. yikes. and she always tells me i understand nothing. i get frustrated, but then i have to tell myself it's been 2 months, i'm 22 - she's 10, her parents work alot so she just wants attention, and kids are just raised differently here. so i just pray for patience and then go read a book.

one huge thing...my family bought their plane tickets!!!!! they are coming jan 15-22!! so excited and just can't wait!! hopefully my spanish skills will be stellar and the fam will be wildly impressed. maybe i'll just say words that sounds spanish...i could probably fake some low german for them :)

oh and i now am finally part of calvin propaganda! it only took me 4 years! here's the link to my championing the history department!

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Gringita

It´s hot again. This past week was so cold, around 18 degrees celcius. I don´t know what that means in fahrenheit, just that that feels really cold here. It goes from hot and humid to cold so fast here I think that I´m back in Michigan and living with its dramatic weather.

Last weekend I went out to el campo (the country) to visit one of my host uncle´s farms, Las Mil. It´s not very far out of the city, maybe a 1.5 hour drive. We had to ford 4 rivers to get there. I kept laughing because I felt like I was living the Oregon Trail computer game but didn´t even try to explain that to my family. Everything out there was green green green! Las Mil is 1,000 hectares with a dairy and crops and in the latter part of the Andean Ridge. I thought we were surrounded by mountains, but everyone kept calling them hills. Had a few close calls with cows (hey they looked mean and had huge horns) running at us and trying to scramble to the other side of the barbed wire fence. we walked to a river with barely any water but with sand to rival lake michigan´s and played ¨futbol americano.¨ well not really. everyone kept calling it american soccer and it was really like a crazy game of soccer with a football. i think i like this version better.

at night i ¨showered¨ with river water from a bucket, just had to pick out the bugs floating around. i am definitely spoiled with my city life in santa cruz. then i joined the women of the family and was taught how to make rice empanadas. you spread this yuca/rice mixture that looks like mashed potaoes on a banana leaf, put some cheese (that looks like chicken) and onions in the center, and then fold the leaf in half! in the morning they grilled them and they were delicious! turns out i am also a specialty - to the mosquitos. the rare north american, yum. i always wore long pants and bug spray, but my legs looked like i had chicken pox. i was the only one and wow, did they itch like crazy. everyone would tell me no, no don´t scratch, but i confess i do when no one is looking.

on sunday we walked the 3 km to Amboro National Park, a huge forest park with hundreds of different animal and plant species. it was so beautiful, it took my breath away. well that and the uphill hiking in hot humid weather. but for a cool off we went swimming in the river that snakes through the park. my host ¨niece¨ asked me, can you believe you are in bolivia right now in the jungle? i had to answer no, it does not seem real. i can´t believe i´m in the southern tip of the amazon, a place i have learned about my life and never thought i would visit! but one thing that is so hard for me to see is the lack of respect for this amazing part of creation. littering here is second nature, everyone does it without thinking. one girl in our group had a cold and she would drop her tissues on the ground. ah that just kills me!! i see it all the time in the city, but i couldn´t believe people would litter in this beautiful, pristine forest. bah.

i am feeling really comfortable here in santa cruz. just a little too comfortable. thursday, around 7:30pm i was riding the micro 8 to go to volleyball practice. it was an extremely full micro and i remember thinking wow everyone is just all up in my business. the ceiling was really low, so i stood at the front of the micro with my back leaning up against the micro. i was wearing my calvin college drawstring bag and it was tight up against my back. at one point a seat freed up and i gladly sat down. i opened my bag to put in my extra change....and couldn´t find my coin purse......or my cell phone. both were gone. i looked around and all the people that had been crowding me before were off the micro. so i threw a little fit in my seat. the old man sitting next to me put a little more space in between us. the thief must have unzipped my zipper and pulled out my stuff. they work in groups here, so someone was distracting my attention while his/her partner took my things. ahh i´m just mad at being so naive. now i´ll toughen up and always remeber to hold my bag in front of me.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Happy Bday Santa Cruz

Tomorrow, the 24th, is the birthday of Santa Cruz! so tomorrow is a holiday and i have the day off. i've been working at Centro Menno for a little over a work and love it! Centro Menno is a drop/in welcome center for colony mennonites when they come into the city for business. we have mailboxes for them, a little book store, and a library. i am working mostly with the library, so i've learned the checking in/out of books, how to wrap books with seran wrap like stuff, and other library stuff. i love to read and always wondered what it would be like to work in a library, and i think i'm really going to like it. every monday we package some type of periodical that either get sent out to colonies or put in mailboxes. so far i've packaged a children's newspaper and a mennonite newspaper from canada. i'm hoping that it will help me become a better giftwrapper :)

there are 2 couples who run centro menno and write the "menno bote," another periodical. 3 have roots in paraguay, so in the morning and afternoon we break and drink tarere (sp?) a typical south american drink that is made fun crushed leaves and cold water and is drunk through a metal straw. there are all these rules for drinking it, like always pass it in a circle without skipping any one and you say "thank you" only when you are finished drinking and don't want anymore. i definitely love the laidback attitude. and then throughout the day people are always dropping by. i love to just listen and watch. low german is different from the high german i studied...4 years ago? but i can pick up on some things. i have confused some people already because i'll say one short german phrase and they assume i'm fluent and they're off! once they see the blank look on my face they apologize and some speak english!

i'm getting the hang of the micro system here. for the most part i really like it. but sometimes i'm about 6 inches too tall for the ceiling. and sometimes traffic is so bad that the micro i waved down can't get to me and just keep driving by. but it is really cheap (1.5 bs (1 US$=7 bolivianos) and a fun place to people watch.

also had my first experience with sickness. last week tuesday after volleyball practice i ended up being sick through the whole night. only stomach flu action thank goodness, but it was paired with no sleep and a constant loop of michael jackson songs running through my head. (i have never listend to mj more in my life then during my SALT expereince. probably will never again.)

i have my first vball game on friday night! go catolica!

Friday, September 11, 2009

Be Prepared

Back at Calvin, Wyatt's house always quoted the sage advice from a mountain goat in "Hoodwinked" - "be prepaaarred." True that. When I look back at this past week, I think what?! that happened?

On Sunday... I moved in with my host family, wonderful people. My host parents are older, the host dad is the pastor of a baptist church and my host mom is always busy in the church and other organizations. There are 2 grown children living at home (i think?) and they also have 2 daughters and 4 grandchildren. About 20 minutes after I arrived at their casa, we were picked up by my "sister" and "niece" paula (she's 24) and headed out to a birthday party. we couldn't find the house, but when we finally did it turns out they were moving so no party. then it was off to church! once again i stood up and waved to everyone :) i met some people who are part of the youth group i will join.

and on tuesday... i joined a volleyball team. turns out paula used to be the setter for the bolivian national team and plays in a league. so on tuesday i went to practice! the court is outside, but with a roof. the coach's name is chino and there are girls on the team from brazil and chile. throw in a 5'11" gringa and we got us an international team! i had a blast playing right hitter and trying to learn their serve recieve with dramatic gestures and limited spanglish. we have a game next week friday! they tell me i have to learn portuguese on top of spanish and low german. huh.

and on wednesday...i went with paula to watch womens' 19 league santa cruz v. la paz. volleyball fans are just as crazy as futbol fans. the game went as long as possible with santa cruz winning 15-13 in the 5th game and the fans rushed the court. bueno.

and on thursday...i went to a michael jackson concert. say what? that's right. bolivians love michael jackson so paula took me to this "michael jackson history" concert. forgot my camera which is a huge bummer, i could have taken a pic with one of the impersonators walking around. there was a dance group that performed a few songs and a few local singers sang some songs. and then the man of the hour...a bolivian impersonator who won a competition with his mad skills. he wore a mic and would randomly yell "woooooo" or "i luve you!" in a michael jackson voice. crazy. fun. i was even interviewed by a tv camera man at one point. i guess i did stick out, being 6 inches taller then all those around me.

on a serious note, they juxtaposed the song "heal the world" with a video montage of kids living on the street in santa cruz. it is such a heartbreaking moment when i see kids sitting on street corners with these blank stares on their faces and glue bottles in hand. dropping out of school and addiction to sniffing glue or other drugs is a huge problem here. i just think - have they been on their own for so long and the only way to escape their harsh realities is drugs? the childrens homes that some of my fellow SALTers will be working at try to combat this, but resources are few and their is so much need. i pray that they will be able to make a positive impact on a child's life while they are working in their positions!

i start work on monday! we toured centro menno on tuesday and i am so excited! can't wait to find out more about this job i will be doing for the next year!

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Back in Santa Cruz







We arrived back in Santa Cruz this morning after an 11 hour overnight bus ride from Cochabamba. I had a great time in language school and exploring the city. Tomorrow is a big day, I will meet my host parents and move in! Then this next week is orientation to the city and visiting everyone's work places. I'm excited to move in with my host family, but a little sad because now us group of 6 girls will be seperated and spread throughout the city.





So here's some pics from the past 2.5 weeks! I will try to put some on facebook, too!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Learning

This weekend our connecting peoples directors came with their family to Cochabamba. They are such wonderful people and have 3 cute, friendly kids so we have a great time. They took us to a few NGOs to learn more about the politics and culture in Bolivia so we can better understand the context we will be living in. The first place we visited on Thursday was Fundacion Ghandi, which is a foundation that works to educate the people of Cochabamba on issues of peace and justice. The director and workers were all under 30 and clearly passionate about improving the lives of Bolivians. They told us about the political transitions in Bolivia - from dictatorships in the 60s & 70s, to neoliberalism in the 80s & 90s (a more subtle form of dicatatorial rule and privitization) and the movement to the left in 200s and the election of an indigenous president.

On Friday we visited Compa Cochabamba, which is a theatre program for youth. They gave us a private performance in their courtyard and even though I could not understand the language, the nonverbal communication was powerful. They wore black face makeup and mix-matched costumes and acted out the arrival of the spanish, the oppression and resistance of the indigenous peoples, and the political and racial confrontations that have occured recently. Halfway through they played drums that they had made themselves. It seemed amazing to me that these teenagers could so powerfully portray these complex issues and emotions, but then this is their life and their history. this troupe has traveled around Bolivia, South America, Europe, and been to Chicago, and I think they are definitely making an impact.

On Saturday we went to a Catholic preseminary just outside the city. It´s for young men who are considering priesthood and also teaches classes on the bible. It was beautiful with shade trees, flower gardens, and freshly tilled fields awaiting the planting season. We met with Tonya, a theologian and professor of symbology. She explained to us Andean (indigenous, traditional) spirituality and a ritual. These traditions have been practiced for thousands of years and she wanted us to understand how important they still are today. Afterward we shared a traditional meal outside. It was probably the coolest picnic I´ve ever been on! We had something like sweet potatoes, purple potatoes, corn with kernels the size of marbles, hard boiled eggs, salad, and more. Then we went into the chapel and I was absolutely blown away. Since many of the people who come to learn about the Bible speack Quechua or Amaraya and can´t read spanish, the priest commissioned a local artist to paint stories of the Old Testament and the Gospel. The paintings were so bright and colorful and the artist incorporated Bolivian imagery, so the people in the stories looked Bolivian. A professor at the preseminary explained that in Bolivia catholics like to dwell on the pain and suffering of Christ, which is evident because the first thing in the chapel is a lifesize figurine of Jesus on the cross. But this chapel is special, because you are encouraged to look beyond the suffering and see a massive painting of the hope and happiness of the resurrection of Jesus! It was just so amazing. I will try to paste pics when I´m back in Santa Cruz.

On Monday we visited the Democracy Center, which was begun in 1992 in California and moved to Cochabamba in 1998. The workers are a mix of North Americans and Bolivians, and they work in investigory writing and teaching advocay workshops. They had a lot to do with the water war in 2000 of reporting to the world what was going on and supporting the publization of water. I´m reading this great book right now that they edited called "Dignity and Defiance" about Bolivia and globalization. The director Jim Schulz had great advice "Always think that you have no idea what is going on, and 99% of the time you´re spot on." So while in Bolivia I will try to be unassuming and listen as much as I can!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Homework

I have finished 7 days of language school and have 6 more to go. While I am grateful for the opportunity for this crash course in spanish, one on one with a professora for 4 hours is a little intense. i feel a little rebellious at times and think "i just graduated from college, i´m done with school!" or "english rocks!" but, everyday i have little victories like being able to carry on a partial conversation with my professora or understanding a whack irregular verb.

we have homework every night, and i love it! i´m not talking about the conjugating of verbs or essays, but our ¨"learning bolivian culture" homework! our directors told us to get to know and experience the city of cochabamba, and that is what we are doing. almost every day we ride a micro to the center of the city and explore. cochabamba is such a lively place, full of people, street vendors, plazas, coffee shops, ice cream.....! one thing i am not used to is the dogs! stray dogs or owned dogs freely roam the street and live it up! i took a picture of one dog that was so hardcore it had dredlocks haha.

last saturday we went on an excursion to incan ruins about a 3.5 hour bus ride away. we drove through gorgeous countryside filled with farms and random mansions. since the ruins are in the mountains, we did a fair amount of weaving in and out, up and down. many times i had to close my eyes and give a little yelp because we were so close to the edge and barreling along at a crazy fast speed. it was a gorgeous day saturday and it was a lot of fun exploring the ruins and getting some exercise at a high altitude! i´ve always loved reading about ancient civilizations so i was fascinated the whole time. we ate lunch on what used to be the astronomy tower and that was definitely the coolest place i´ve ever eaten lunch.

on sunday we attended an evangelical church with a profesora who used to work for MCC Bolivia. because we were guests they had us stand up and wave and the congregation all waved back :) after church we climbed up to el cristo, a huge white statue of jesus on top of a peak with his arms open wide. and by climb i mean trudge up one million stairs in church clothes in high altitude. we had a blast! once we made it to the top we were able to go inside el cristo. seemed a little strange but it had a great view of the city and mountains. this el cristo was built after the one in brazil, so the bolivians made it just a little bigger :)

sunday evening we went to a futbol game. it was a big one because both cochabamba teams, wilstermann and aurora, were playing. a profesor at school told us to wear blue, so we did, and when we arrived a the stadium everyone was wearing red! so we cheered for the underdogs, aurora. soccer here is more entertaining/dramatic then in the states. here if players ran into each other or had a ball stolen they drop to the ground a roll around until a foul is called. it usually is. a few times the stretcher brigade was called out because a player was so convincing in his fake injury. aurora won 2-1! so "our" team won!

yesterday we toured an old convent. i didn´t take any pictures because i would have had to pay more for pictures then for the tour. a few nuns still live in the convent and did not want to open part of it up to the public, but if they didn´t the government would have forced them out and taken over the land. these nuns, most over 80, joined the convent when it was still part of an old order where they took a vow of silence and how absolutely no contact from the outside world! i know it was so they could better commune with God, but didn´t Jesus commission us to not be of the world but to go out into the world sharing his love? we can also learn so much from others - i´ve only been in bolivia for 1.5 weeks (crazy) and i can tell i have so much to learn from my boliviano brothers and sisters!

Friday, August 21, 2009

en Cochabamba!

hola!

we arrived in santa cruz, bolivia sunday morning, august 16. when i stepped out of the airport i thought, huh, kinda looks like florida. santa cruz is extremely flat with scrub grass and palm trees. we were picked up by a family of mccers and brought to the compound. we stayed there until tuesday, getting oriented with MCC Bolivia and life in santa cruz. i´ll write more about santa cruz when we move back there. then on tuesday night we packed our bags for 2.5 weeks and hopped on a night bus to cochabamba, a 10 hour bus ride. but surprisingly the ride was very comfortable because the seats were like lazy boy chairs.

we arrived in cochabamba around 7:30am and it was so cold! cochabamba is in the mountains and it is the end of winter here, so its cold when the sun is not out. the mountains here are beautiful! they are a light brown sandy color with a little bit of snow on the peaks. at night you can see all the lights from homes going up the mountians, almost like christmas lights. we are in cochabamba to attend a language school and cram as much spanish verbs, grammar, and vocabulary into 4 hours a day as possible. we attend class in the morning and then are free to explore the city. since i came to bolivia knowing absolutely nothing (besides bueno), after 3 days i can tell i´ve learned alot. they have us writing and speaking small simple sentences. one other girl and i from SALT are living with the same host family. they are very patient and generous, spending plenty of time helping us with spanish. there are 2 little girls and a loco chihuahua puppy, poncho.

we are getting to know the transportation here, which are micros (small buses), trufis (communal taxis), and taxis. we accidently rode one bus all the way to the end of the route way out of the city and had to pay again to get back on :) but hey it builds character and it was like a really cheap tour of the city! we have also explored a little this massive market called la concha, which has everything in huge amounts. since 1USD=7 bolivianos, buying presents for home is affordable! i plan to study some spanish this afternoon and then we are off to explore more of the city!

during my daily devos, i found this verse that i end up reading every night and get great encouragement from.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

Friday, August 14, 2009

Next Stop...Bolivia!



So tomorrow is the big day, I can't believe it's finally here! Orientation has been a blast. We've discussed some heavy stuff, like loneliness and the difficulties of cross-cultural communication, but it has been great meeting and talking with others from all around the world who are about to set off on a year of service as well. Today we had a commissioning ceremony and everyone was asked to dress in traditional clothes. We U.S. and Canadians wore church clothes, but there were beautiful clothes from Cambodia, Indonesia, Zambia, Ethiopia and more. At the service we were given a potholder that was crocheted by Mennonite volunteers, who prayed for us with every stitch they made. The house I live in hosts not only North Americans going to Latin America, but also people from Latin America who will be serving in the U.S., Canada, and other countries. Since tonight is the last night before everyone leaves...we're going to have a fiesta! Tomorrow my Bolivian group leaves at 1:15pm for Philadelphia. Our first flight is from 5:45-9:00pm to Miami, and then we takeoff at 11:05pm and arrive Sunday at 8am in Bolivia! There is no time change so hopefully I can sleep on the plane. After we arrive, we will have some time to rest and then our MCC connecting people (a family from PA) and others will show us around the city! I felt a little nervous when I was given my ticket this morning, but now that's gone and I am so excited! God has blessed me with this opportunity and I can't wait for this next step in the journey! Thank you all for your prayers!



Sunday, August 9, 2009

Transitions

This weekend has just been a whirlwind, but one that I am blessed to be caught up in. I left early Friday morning to a tearful goodbye to Pete and Dana, but the good cry kind :). The drive to PA took about 11 hours, but was relatively uneventful. On Saturday we took a small trip to chocolate Mecca, Hershey, PA. We had a blast. We toured the museum, made "chocolate art," and saw how beautiful Hershey is as a city.

Now to the goodbyes...it was hard. Of course it was. I am still a little weepy as a write this. But as we learned this morning at our worship time that God is the center of all things and holds everything together. This is something i must remember and lean on for strength. I love all my family and friends very much, but this is quite an adventure I am embarking on and am blessed with all the support those who love me give me.

Orientation is going well...I'm staying in "Manor House" which hosts 26 of us who are either going to Latin American or who are from Latine America and will be working in North America. It's a full old house (i'm sharing a bed) but I can always find someone to talk to and hang out with. We start the real orientation tomorrow (Monday) but I've already learned more about the history of MCC and where they are involved in the world. It is a pretty cool organization and I am blessed to be here!

Tchuss!

Monday, August 3, 2009

Hi All

Welcome! On this blog I will regularly (will try very hard) to tell of my life in Santa Cruz, Bolivia while serving with the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). While the posts may not be eloquent, I will try to convey my experiences, joys, hardships, and steps in faith in a way that will seem like you are in a conversation with me instead of reading a boring report!

Just a quick overview of the next few weeks:

On Friday, August 7, my parents, sister Grace, and Wyatt will drive me the 10 hours to Akron, PA to the MCC headquarters. Orientation with MCC program participants begins Saturday night and I will meet my fellow SALTers who will also be going to Bolivia! After a week of orientation, we will fly out on August 15 and arrive in Santa Cruz on the 16th. Since I know absolutely no Spanish, the MCC is sending us SALTers to a Spanish language school in Cochabamba, which is about a 10 hour bus trip and higher up in the Andes mountains. There we will spend 2 1/2 weeks (Aug. 190Sept. 4) studying Spanish and living with a family. This is a wonderful blessing. I can really focus on learning the language before I start working at the center!

Here is some contact infor:

Mailing Address
Comite Central Menonita
Atiende: Corrie Krol
Casilla 213
Santa Cruz
BOLIVIA

Skype Address: corrie.krol
email address: corriekrol@gmail.com


Thank you all for your words of encouragement, financial gifts, and many, many prayers. All are so appreciated and I ask if you could keep all the SALT participants in your prayers as we go through this transistion time of leaving family and friends and traveling to all corners of the world!