nbd

made a peach pie for my host dad last week for father´s day. it was my first solo attempt, and i think it went well. only weird thing is that i didn´t have cinammon powder so i just broke some cinammon sticks up and put it in the pie. but it turned out to be nice and ¨stick-y¨ sweet. (lame pun)

on sunday afternoon i went to a suprise bday party for an hermana from church. it was a hot, windy day, so we sat out under a tree and talked about how big her family was (13 daughters) while tripe (intestines, yeah that´s right and no i did not eat it) were cookin´ on the makeshift grill. then in hit me, wow this feels totally normal. i was participating in the conversation and did not feel out of place. just a usual chill sunday afternoon with people from my church.

i´ve been spending a lot of time with my host mom lately and she really helps me work on my spanish, explaining words or when to use ¨me¨ or ¨yo¨ grammar, blech. kind of a cool story. back when che guervera was trying to start a revolution in bolivia, my host parents lived in a little village in the mountains called ¨valle grande.¨ when che was captured, he was taken there and killed. they put his body out, on display i guess?, and my host mom went to see him. she said papi was gone for the day so she went by herself. she thought he was ¨ very handsome but he had a beard and was very dirty.¨ it´s pretty cool (to a history nerd) to hear a first hand story of a historical event. and i´m glad she told me now instead of back in september so i actually understood.

i also get up in the mornings at 6am to go for a walk with my host mom. she always looks nice in a dress or a skirt suit, but for our walks she wears her embroidered jeans :) it´s nice and cool in the morning and the only other people out in my neighborhood are fellow walkers. yesterday she had us run a block, walk a block, etc. and she´s 68! i hope i have her health and energy when i´m that age.

i have 7 months under my belt and 4 left to go. when i look back, it´s kinda hard to believe that a year ago i was still in school, living with friends, had a car to drive, could speak the language, etc. seems unreal. but i am looking forward to going home and being with friends and family and my own culture again. and i know time is going to fly by. the work day usually goes by pretty fast and i find plenty of things to keep me busy. i think i have to remember to not get into a comfy slump and to keep putting myself out there. keep having those awkward conversations where i forget both the spanish and english word so that i can deepen relationships here.

well i totally lost my train of thought (happens a lot here. if i am not following a conversation i just slip into corrieland) so that´s it!

wyatt!

so i had a wonderful visitor march 1-7. yes, super short only 6 days, but we had a great time. when wyatt got off the plane there was a mariachi band playing ¨viva santa cruz!¨ i told him it was for him...maybe not a full truth but definitely a grand welcome to bolivia! my host family welcomed with open arms and he stayed in our guest room. so he was able to experience most of my normal life - meal times, hanging out in the patio and not really understanding what´s going on. he was relentlessly teased by my 11 year old host neice, but everyone assured him it´s nothing personal she´s just jealous.

it was so nice to show him around, take him on my normal micro routes, show him my job, and do the couple walk around the plaze 24 de septiembre. one night we had a particularly crazy driver and that turned out to be a highlight of the city. everyone at work and my friends were really excited to meet him but since he left sunday morning he didn´t get the chance to go to church. which was apparently unfortunate because some church members said they needed to meet him in order to tell me if he was a good guy or not :)

we traveled to samaipata and went hiking in the cloud forest. turns out a family from east grand rapids was on our hike and they only live a few blocks from wyatt. small world. we also got some shopping in (in the hottest weather i´ve experienced here) and saw some local sights. we went to lomas del arena (sand dunes!) with fellow mccers. they were alot easier to climb then michigan sand dunes, but it´s super disappointing to climb a dune and not look out on lake michigan. but still made for great pics. and of course we closed out the week with a huge churasqua party (40 ministers and their wives at my house) with accordion playing and all. so in a whirlwind 6 days wyatt experienced a bit of my life!

but now i miss him and am excited for july!

and Happy Birthday Dana!