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

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.

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!

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.