May 22nd 2008

There are no classes today because it is a holiday Corpus Christi in which the people celebrate by buying and eating fruit. Corpus Christi is a day in which Jesus is remembered as being present in the Eucharist. I thought that I would sleep until my normal time which is now eight. However, I woke up at seven thirty for some reason reading to start my day. However, since breakfast was not ready I decided to get lay back in bed for a while and just take it easy. I finally had breakfast at eight thirty which consisted of a piece of bread, two cups of water and tea. While I was eating breakfast I was told by Andelina that she would be doing my laundry tomorrow which is good because I only brought a week’s worth of clothing, and I am running low and I have kept forgetting to ask about the laundry situation. After breakfast I did my morning devotional and did some research about the holiday that is being celebrated today. I took a majority of the day to continue to study my Spanish and reflex on my time here thus far since I have now been here for a week. As I reflected on my time here thus far I have noticed several of different things. One is the fact that there is not day care here so the grandfather comes and takes care of Lucas while Susana is at work. Something else that is different is the fact that there are dogs barking and running around here all the time. I do not think that I have ever seen this many dogs in my life. Also, in the neighborhood where I live there are guards to protect the houses and the way they communicate with each other is by whistling; it is a comforting and annoying sound at the same time. For many of my evenings here I have heard marching band music; I was told that they are practicing for a competition that happens in August. On Monday when I was lost in the middle of nowhere, I noticed that there is abuse of animals here. While I was waiting for the taxi to come pick me up and take me back home; a dog who had been laying outside of the shop walked into the shop. The next thing I heard was it yelp and coming running back outside. Since I am an animal lover; it took every ounce of energy in body not to go back and do the same thing to that guy as he did the dog. When meals are over, it is a custom to say “Gracias, probecho, premissio,” before getting up and leaving the table. Roughly translated it means, thank you, I approve of the meal, may I be excused. These are some of the cultural differences; however, I have noticed God working in my life as well. I had thought that I could use my phone as an alarm clock, but my phone is of no use. I do have an alarm clock on my computer, but almost every morning because of the way that my bed is positioned the sun shines right in my face to wake me up. On Tuesday, I was talking to a missionary at the language school about the trouble I was having with getting smaller currency so I could take public transportation. She offered to give me some of her currency so that I could take the bus home. I refused because I did have smaller currency on me so that I could get home. These situations have shown me that God will provide for me and now I feel like my issue with not being able to trust God has gotten better. However, I now have trouble trusting people here in Bolivia because it is a new environment and I do not know anyone. It is also scary to walk around by yourself in a new place, not knowing anyone, and just being able to speak a different language than your native one. On the other hand, I think that God is teaching me trust people here and is doing so by having people graciously pay for me as I am adjusting to the culture. God has also been telling me to slow down for a while and I have been asking Him to provide me a way to do that. There is no concept of time here in Bolivia so I can slow down here because I am running on Bolivian time not American. The most difficult times for me here is when I am not doing anything because I start to think about home. It is not that I miss home; it is the feeling of the unknown and being uncomfortable. Often times I put myself in these situations because I do not want to go out because I am afraid I will get lost or robbed. Also, I have found that even though I am an introvert, I would prefer to do things with other people. In addition, I am used to having the luxury of a car to get around, I am now just getting used to taking public transportation. For lunch, I had this mixture of rice, potatoes, peas, carrots, and meat. On top of this dish were tomatoes and a fried egg. I think that this meal has been the most delicious and my favorite so far. After lunch, I realized that I have been in Cochabamba for a full week and proud of myself for making it through. Then I did research about Corpus Christi and did not find out to much about it except that it is a day to remember Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist. In addition, I could not find any information about why people celebrate by buying and eating fruit. Later on in the afternoon, Kiki returned home so I talked with him about his day of selling thing and making money. Also, I exchange some money with him since some people here are not willing to exchange money with me since I am American. We then talked about my difficulties that I am having and he gave me some helpful pointers to solve my problems. Next, I decided to do my noon day devotional and worked on studying my Spanish the rest of the afternoon. Then it was time for dinner and the only people who had dinner tonight at home were me and David another missionary from England who is also staying with the family. We had sandwiches that consisted of sausage, lettuce, and tomatoes. During dinner, I decided to ask David some questions about the difficulties that I have been asking. He was very helpful and able to give me a lot of information to help me solve my problems. I did my evening devotion and looked at some more of my Spanish. Before I went to bed I did my night time devotion and took a shower. After my night time devotion, I realized that every time I did my devotions today when it came to the Lord’s Prayer I said it in Spanish.