August 2014

Today at school was the monthly Jaguar Assembly where the kids get awards and a class puts on some type of a play or dance. My class was in it this month. Luckily the music and Spanish teacher did the whole thing. They sang and danced and celebrated Bolivia. The costumes were really cute and the kids did a great job!

My naughty child was told not to come back to school unless the parents hired a “babysitter” to sit with him. They hired a 25 year old college student nameed Andre. He’s not impressed with my student and scowls at him a lot. He told me it’s not worth the big amount of money they are paying him because he is so disappointed at how bad this kid is. Today Andre told me I’m too nice and I need to scream and yell at the kids because that’s the only way they will listen and behave. I told him I don’t yell at kids. But I did take their afternoon recess today because they wouldn’t be quiet. Hopefully next week they will get the message about working and listening. I’m not the only teacher that’s going crazy with their behavior.

After school one of the staff took us in a taxi to the bank to deposit our money. Not quite sure I like how we get paid! You go to the business office and they count out your paycheck in 100 dollar bills and we have to carry it to the bank ourselves to deposit it. They sent someone with us the first time, but we are on our own the next time. I really hate carrying that much cash around! Anyway, we got to the bank and took a number and waited in line. When it was our turn we had to show our passport and they put it in our bank account that the school had set up for us. Now from there, who knows! They have to set up another account so we can make wire transfers home, which cost 100$ for every 1000$ we transfer. I might just be carrying lots of cash with me every time I head back to the states. Nothing is easy here.

Melissa, Kelly and I headed to dinner after. It was like going to TGI Fridays! I had burgers, fries and a milkshake! My stomach had been acting up all day, and I thought maybe familiar food would help. Alas, no it didn’t. First time I’ve had the stomach crud since I’ve been here.

We hit the grocery store and then caught taxis and headed home. It’s always an adventure in itself getting home because most taxi drivers don’t know where Condomino Britannia is, so I have directions written down on a card and I try and explain that. I actually think some of them don’t read, and that’s why they don’t know where to do. Usually the major cross street, which I say in my horrible Spanish helps, and once we get there I can guide them to my place.

In the middle of the road, on the dividing lines of the 3 lane street, sat this kid of about 16 begging. I don’t think he had legs, and don’t know how he made it to the middle of the busy street. At any moment a car could have changed lanes, not seen him and run him over. There are terrible and sad situations here. There are constantly beggars coming up to the cars. There are people with water bottles trying to wash windows for money. On every street there are people trying to sell stuff.

And I have a paycheck, huge house, maid, food, family, friends, really anything I need. I am so blessed!

Jaguar Program

My 4th graders in the program

I've got a cute class!

We are the Jaguars!

Bolivian dancers

Happy Pills

Get happy here!

Classroom display for Open House

Playground

Hallway near room

Playground

Friday Lunch

Lunch with the girls

August 23, 2014

I haven’t written much about school! That’s because it’s been totally overwhelming and I’m trying to get a handle on it all. This being my 20th year you would think that I would have it down, but it’s totally different than anything I have experienced. There are so many things that I am trying to get used to; starting school at 7:45 am, walking or taking a taxi to school, different kids, behavior expectations, lesson plans, online grading program, heat, weird food, lack of classroom supplies, copies that take 24 hours to get back, and no copy machine that you can use yourself, no overhead projector, although there is a projector that shows what’s on the computer, learning new names, like Zhaira, Juan Pablo, Jaun Felipe, Renata, classrooms with no carpet that are really noisy, loud air conditioners, lack of supplies and having to write up a request for anything we need, running up a flight of stairs and down the hall to get anything you printed to the printers, a crazy pysco kid, and other kids that are the sweetest kids ever!

The campus is huge, seems like maybe 5 acres? It is gated and there are 2 guarded gate openings where you have to sign in and they unlock the gate to let you in. I’m not sure how many guards there are, but there’s a lot. The school is an open model, except for the classrooms. The playground areas are all covered with roofs. There are soccer fields and a huge covered gym. A nice sized cafeteria and kitchen where everthing is cooked on site. Dust blows in and the cleaning ladies are forever sweeping the dust off the floor. Friday they sweep the area at least 5 times because the wind was blowing all day.

I have some really sweet kids! Most of them speak really good English. Their writing skills are pretty good, and reading comprehension is fairly good. Behavior is another thing! They can’t sit still and listen. In fact their listening skills are horrible! I can tell them something after having them stop and all look at me, and then half of them ask me again what to do. It’s frustrating! They aren’t bad kids, just haven’t learned to sit. The principal says that Bolivians are very social, but it’s more than that. These kids are spoiled rich kids who have nannies, maids, and parents that let them get away with way too much! The worst student is Rodrigo. Last year he attacked the principal with scissors, and had to be restrained by 2 teachers, hit other teachers in the face and yesterday while in a meeting with me and the counselor hit me in the face with a piece of paper he threw. The counselor started moving all the stuff off her desk because she was worried he would throw that at me too! I told her I would not allow him back in my room for the rest of the day. Made the principal deal with him. That is the 4th day so far he has acted out. He has told me to shut up 4 times already, and leaves the classroom anytime he wants to. They told me to give him a zero for work he isn’t completing, so every time he leaves the room without permission I put a grade in the computer and give everyone but him a grade. I really don’t care if his grades go down because of it.

Anyway, I’ll get through it. I think once I get organized and figure out what I’m doing things will fall into place.

I’ve got a maid (Gabby) cleaning my house twice a week now. She is from my church, speaks no English, but we communicated through google translate and it seems to be working out. I love coming home to a clean house. Because there are so many cracks and windows that don’t close here there is always a fine dust that settles over everything. The other day she took my clean sheets out of the closet and washed them, and didn’t change the bed. Little miscommunication there. I really need to learn Spanish! Lol But, she’s doing a great job otherwise. I went to the market with some church members today (Mauro and Teressa), and she had me buy some stuff and said for Gabby to cook it up. That would be nice to come home to a cooked dinner! The market is huge! Overwhelming! Reminds me of China.

Teressa and Mauro also took me to the church on Thursday to play volleyball. He is in the bishopbric and speaks a little English. I’m tutoring their son once or twice a week. He is trying to get into BYU, and they want to buy a house in Provo. I guess they are fairly well off. He owns a trucking company. Really nice family.

Melissa, Kelly and I went to the Plaza again to shop and have dinner tonight. I found a type of American Store and bought a mixer and a glass pan so I can make some banana bread.

I loved the Happy Pill sign!

It’s been a long, but short week at school. I can’t believe it’s Friday night already and where did the time go? But then, there were some hours that I thought I wonder if I can make it through the year! I’m going to post about my class another time….school…yes, it’s by job! But I have a life! LOL

The school sponsored a get together after school today. Teachers with cars drove us out to a Resort called La Rinconda. It was about a 20 minute ride from the school. Part of it was on dirt road, and we passed some pretty impressive looking houses, where a lot of our students live….no wonder they are so spoiled! La Rinconda is a beautiful garden with waterfalls, gorgeous flowers and trees, pools to swim in, hammocks to lay in, a restaurant, and a fun zip line. It was so relaxing to wander around, relax, and meet other teachers. The weather has been cool the last few days, and that has been really nice. I hear that winter is almost over. It doesn’t look like winter with all the green here.

We ordered some typical Bolivian snacks. I tried the mashed up plantains mixed with dried jerky and cheese….not really tasty to me. And then the director offered us some mashed potatoes mixed with jerky….another not so favorite thing. But the lemon aide was yummy.
It was really nice to get out of the “city” and see some beautiful parts of Santa Cruz.

Pool and back yard

Patio

Living room

Bedroom

Stairs to upstairs

Office

Kitchen

Front of house

I ended up renting a 4 bedroom, 5 bathroom home in what's called Condominium Britannia. I don't even use the upstairs at all. The downstairs is plenty for me. The school pays for most of it, but it was worth the extra money to get my own place instead of sharing, and to not have an apartment. It's about a 20 minute walk from the school, so I have been walking both ways to get exercise, so far. I'm a little worried about when it rains because I hear it 's really hard to get taxis then. But, so far it's been a great commute. It's an interesting walk. Everyday there is something new to see. Saturday there was this guy dressed as a clown on stilts walking in the busy road begging. He had this type of fishing net to get the coins people would give him. There are people begging on the streets everyday. I haven't been giving them money on the way to school because I'll be walking everyday for the next 2 years and I don't want them expecting it everyday. But, I do feel bad. Most days I can find someone using the bathroom on a wall. There are a couple of yummy bakeries on the way. There is even a Subway (Myway), not as good as home, but it's there. There are dangers everywhere. Broken sidewalks, broken pipes sticking out of the ground, crazzzzzy traffic, and a really busy intersection to cross, people staring at you, but when you look at them they look away...LOL no eye contact here.

This house, when compared to Bolivian standards, is a mansion. And I actually think it is a really nice house. Reminds me a lot of my home in Cedar Hills. High ceilings, spacious, and lots of windows. It's got a beautiful back yard with a mini pool. The pool is only deep enough to come up to above my knees, but there is a large pool five houses down the street. And it's guarded 24 hours a day. That is a huge plus to me. One night I left the front door open accidentally, and I'm still here to tell about it. It's only a 7-10 minute walk to the church, so that is really nice. There are some drawbacks, but you get used to them. A guy that takes care of the pool and yard. No housecleaner yet...I'm thinking I can handle it on my own. A lady at church was interested, but with the language barrier we haven't gotten that set up yet.

Drawbacks:

1. No washer or dryer. So, it's all hand washing. I have a system down that's working fairly well. At night I put all my dirty clothes in a large tub in the tub and soak them in soapy water. In the morning I scrub them and then rinse them and hang them out to dry on the side patio. When I have a big load I get in the tub and march on them to simulate a washing machine. Yes, picture that in your mind. LOL Sheets are a real pain, and because they are really expensive I only have one set right now. So I hang those in the backyard and hope they dry quickly.

2. No hot water in the kitchen. Can't figure that one out. Why would you not want hot water in the kitchen?

3. Can't drink the water.....so I lug big bottles home from the market...remember I have no car... I have also been boiling a kettle of water most days to add to it.

4. Wind. Because it's so windy and dusty here, you really have to dust and sweep everyday. My house is not as clean as I would like it to be... oh well.

5. Bugs....yes..lots of roaches, geckos, spiders, mosquitos, and other unknown things. There are also cats everywhere that get into the trash.

6. Toilet paper - Nope, not in the potty. It has to go in a garbage can. Not just at the house but everywhere you go. This part is just like China. Gross.

When I need a taxi I just go to the guard shack and they call me one. So far they come within 5 minutes. It's pretty cheap for a taxi. For a 15 minute ride it's about $3. It would cost me about $3 dollars a day to get back and forth from work, but since I'm missing my wonderful walks in Utah I'm saving money on that.

I played the piano in church today. There is a Bolivian man that plays a tiny bit, so he played some too. The bishop asked me to work it out with him, so he plays what he can, and I'll do the rest. It's a good thing, because they won't always be able to rely on me to be there. I tried to listen hard and pick things up at church, but honestly, I didn't know what they were talking about. But, people are so nice. I'm going to tutor a 17 year old from the ward this week. They took me home so they would know where to get me. Then they took me to their house, and invited me for dinner. I really just wanted to get home and rest so I told them another time. They seem like a really nice family. She also has 3 sons. One is on a mission in Brazil. They invited me to Relief Society on Thursday. I'll try that. They say it starts at 5. Not sure if that is Bolivian time. I'll have to see.

One very difficult thing in Bolivia is trying to figure out how to pay bills without knowing the language. I was without internet when I got home so I called a Bolivian friend from school to see what was going on. She asked if I had gone to the pharmacy to pay my bill and I said no. She told me to get a taxi and head over to pay it. I was reluctant because of the dark and she offered to come and drive over and take me.

There really isn't a mail system here, so when you get a bill stuck in your door it's time to pay your bills. I had a water bill stuck in my door the other day, so I should have done it earlier. But I had gone to the internet company to pay my bill and the landlord had to give me a code since it's not my house, so I wasn't able to pay it then.

We headed to the pharmacy where you have to go upstairs and stand in line. Then when you give them a bill it links to other bills and you pay in cash. Boy it's tough figuring things out! Rosario and I drove home and I was telling her how all my bills are online, and how easy it is to pay bills at home. She laughed and said, "What's the problem, you just did in line baking here in Bolivia." We looked upstairs and the line that had formed for others to pay their bills, and had a really good laugh.

I have been trying to find baking soda at the grocery store. I asked Rosalie where I could find it and she told me you have to get it at the pharmacy, and sure enough we had to stand in line and ask for it. There is some reason for it, having to do with making illegal drugs or something, but I was able to get a few small packages. Oh the shopping in Bolivia!

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