My Thoughts on the Gospel

This Sunday I went to mass at the cathedral of Santa Cruz. I tend to forget how long masses can go for in Bolivia. I didn’t mind it though. I arrived a bit early and took some time to meditate. When I began to pay attention again to my surroundings I realized how full the church was. All the seats where taken (it’s a cathedral so there is a lot of seats) and there was people standing on every side of the church. Something else I noticed was that a person was placed at the front of the church announcing what went next and when to sit down and when to get up. I don’t know if this is everyone’s experience but in the states people that go to church are catholic and know what is practiced during a mass. She even told them what to say when they went up to communion (that anyone who did there first communion should know and anyone how hasn’t shouldn’t go up at all). I also have notice that parents don’t keep up with there children’s sacraments. In my prep for first communion class either they are getting baptized when they have there first communion or there baptism was a one or two years ago and they are now teenagers. It just seemed to stand out to me since this a catholic country. Yet the church was full and the mass was joyous and heartfelt. I think today’s gospel Mark 9 38-43, 45, 47-48 and homily went right along with what I was thinking. This gospel says Whoever Is Not against Us Is for Us and how Jesus explains this to John who has questioned it. As Catholic Christians it is our duty to except all and all of us SLMs as well as the church as a whole. On mission as we all work with people of all nationalities and creeds we need to remember that all that are willing need our love and understanding and for us to pave the road for them to God.

 

Catedral San Lorenzo

Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia

 

The end of the journey to the Journey

So since we haven’t had internet for a week here at the house this is an update of last week while tom you will probably get one for this one.
Tuesday of last week I worked with the hogar and it was HOT and it was uncommon for this time of year which is good and bad to here. I was so fed up that I was verbally wishing the rain would already come. A good amount of sweat and none stop winds raising the dirt and sand sticking to you is not fun. So around 4am when I heard the rain coming down in sheets I was fairly excited and went back to sleep. The next time I awoke I was startled by the amount of water in our interior yard. The water had gotten itself into the girl’s room and the kitchen as well. I get ready to go out a light sweater my umbrella and my galoshes and leave the house. When I reach our outer gate I am once again startled by the amount of stopped honking traffic. I reach the corner and on the sidewalk the rain was up my galoshes, I couldn’t even step into the street much less. There were deserted cars everywhere and no buses. The ones that were out were practically floating down the road. It was crazy. I returned home, tried again later, and then found out two people died trying to get where they were headed and just chose to not work that day and called it in. Everyone thought that the freak storm was sort of funny and became the topic of conversation in the city for a couple of days.

 On Friday was the first day of spring, the day of love and friendship (Valentines Day), day of the doctors and day of the students. Most schools were closed and parades and dances were visible all over the city. I had to go the center but was at the cathedral in the morning and enjoyed some of the festive. That night we had a sort of party here at the Casa to acknowledge all of this so the cook went all out and made four awesome deserts for us all. We all decorated the dinning room with balloons and signs and had a great time. The kids danced traditional and not so traditional dances. I was asked to dance to some Dominican music that they love to hear and we all participate in some pretty funny karaoke most of the night. It was a great bonding time for the house and everyone enjoyed there day.

Well everyone told me I would get sick and I thought not but sure enough Sat I went to bed and tossed and turned with stomach aches all night and was really sick till about noon on Sunday. It was not fun and the worse part is that I don’t know what did it to me. Feeling slightly better I headed out to Montero around two that afternoon to meet up with my fellow SLMs there. I was really excited to be out of the center of the city and to see other areas. I arrived to the marketplace and first I noticed that I wasn’t very comfortable there and second how much more attention I got there then I did in Santa Cruz. I searched with no luck for street names and finally gave up and called to be picked up. After I arrived at the compound it was a lot easier to locate everything and figure out the town layout. Montero is poorer than the city with many dirt streets and just a more rural, smaller feel. I liked it though with its large market, many mototaxis and the lovely community at the compound. So it consists of a compound, an institute, a hogar and the area where the volunteers live. There is also a daycare and kindergarten and pre-k. The institute is pretty impressive and the hogar is one of the better run ones I have seen. I really enjoyed my time with the volunteers there (there is SLMS, VIDAS, and a British Salesian living there). I got to spend sometime with the girls at the hogar doing arts and crafts and at there dinner time. Later that night we had dinner together really enjoying the company and talking about everything. Still a little light and exhausted from my ordeal that morning I took it easy with all the great dinner options and the desert (brownies a la mode!) but still was really happy to be with them. I tried to get a feel for how everyone was doing although the roles there are still not set in stone since two more volunteers are coming in. I also had a chance to talk to someone here (in Bolivia) about the sort of things going on which was really great for me. Bouncing off someone makes things a little better.

Final Thought
 I don’t know why but this weekend makes me feel like things are just beginning for me here like I’m officially settled in and I am not the only one that still doesn’t know what is supposed to be going on and doing in there roles or location some of the time. I know fairly how to get along and people are getting used to having me around. My year is just starting and I have so much to experience and enjoy still! This time next year I may be headed to New York or already there and getting used to ‘my life’ all over again but on the route to that God has plenty to do through me and I’m just letting him in and letting him shine through me to what he wants in Santa Cruz and why he put me here.

Don Bosco's Kids in Santa Cruz- Week 1

I really need to have better blogging habits. J My first ‘normal’ week in Bolivia has passed. The boys at the center are easier to deal with although it is still a lot of work. There are about 35 boys serving right now. I am in charge of catechism for 1^st communion on Fridays and apparently basketball Friday afternoons which should be fun or funny not sure yet. On Mondays I work with the kids that are talking the radio classes. I have from 3^rd to 6^th grade and they are taking the four major subjects. I prefer not to find out what they are in for it preserves my image of them as just boys I work with. The director of the mission said something to me that warmed me. We were talking about his mission and he said you are in the right place because these are the exact kids Don Bosco would be working with if he were in Bolivia. He was of course absolutely right and it brings me peace and joy to follow St. John Bosco’s ways at Fortaleza even if t isn’t a Salesian entity.

 I assisted the hogar three days helping out a lot with all the beautiful children that call me mama everyday and run for hugs when I get there. They are awesome. Baby Javier has stolen my heart for example. He is 2 months old and has been slowly returned to health in the last couple of days. It was daily trips to the hospital with him for a while but he is happily drinking milk and snoozing away. I sneak off to see him as much as I can and try to catch him at intervals he is up. I have also been helping the older girls with basic arithmetic and arts and crafts for there homework assignment. My role there is complicated as I am working with the administration to keep the educators in line. It’s not fun or easy but people are starting to talk to me little by little.

At home everything is good. I gave my English classes on Saturday morning and went to a quinceanera at night. I was very glam (even though the place was off a dirt road) with zebra and lots and lots of pink. I assisted a Kermesse on Sunday, which is like a fair, and had a lovely time. There was a lot of folklore dancing and good food and people. The only rain on my parade was brought on by myself when i was ordering lunch. I saw a sign that said escabeche de chancho. My literate translation to Dominican was pork with pickled onions on top which sounded perfect to me. I order it and she hands it to me and I almost dropped it. It was basically the gizzards, bones and skin of the pork not sure if cooked or soaked in vinegar served cold. As appetizing as it sounds it looked. It seemed to be a specialty that they all enjoyed but a) cold meat is never a go and b) grey meat isn't either. But I definitely learned my lesson and had some laughs about it later. All the other food looked and tasted amazing. It was a great introduction to Bolivian, or Santa Cruz, culture. Small achievement of the week: haven’t gotten lost in 5 days, I know how to get to and from my sites (even though I get of a stop to early or to late every time I come home and have to walk a bit), I have a better understanding of the food here, and I can follow the conversations at home more and more often everyday! God Bless!

 

 

Family Casa Nueva Horizonte

 

Folklore dancing for Santa Cruz

 

Bolivian traditional dance at Kermesse La Merced

Affirmation

So after Stephanie left yesterday things finally started settling in to my reality. I cleaned the room and washed my clothes (first time by hand). I sat and decided it was finally time to read my affirmations. They had been stashed away until I needed them and I am not sure why I thought this was it. These were all letters from my fellow SLMs that we wrote to each other and I had decided to stash for later date. I had also added to them things people had written to me back home. It was really moving. I loved them and was so interesting to see how other perceives me. They also said a lot of things that I would never say about myself. Somehow they brought me back to the place I had been at the time when I said bye to them all. There assurance that I can not only do this but do it well made me happy and at peace and with new added strength to my purpose that only god knows is. It also reassured the fact that I not only have my family but I am part of a way bigger family that is the SLMs immediately and extends to the salesians as a whole. I keep this in mind as I connect to everyone in my household little by little...

Fortaleza

Sept 6

Stephanie is on her way out and I’m on my way to site one Fortaleza. So I have a better picture today of the city. Those ripple rings are actually 4 huge avenues that ring around the city dividing it into 1, 2, 3 and 4. I live on the second ring and Fortaleza is way out of the 4^th ring. It is quite far but also showed me how huge this city really is. On our way there we passed the factory sector and the oil distribution center or something like that (all I know is they deal with oil there) and hit the dirt roads. Just for reference dirt roads where it hasn’t rained and heavy winds don’t mix. I felt like I was in the wrong continent for a while. The good thing about Santa Cruz is that nothing last forever and there is many seasons or times of year with different climates. The wind dies down we will be fine and when it turns to mud for raining season as wellJ. The boys at the house were all different and interesting. I finally got a good picture of what it provides. Fortaleza is actually a place where they serve there sentence in community. They are forced to be there and they are gated in but it has a home affect with a large yard for games and basketball. Some are learning to make hammocks others to color and paint. Some have adapted well to there circumstance and others are still rebelling. I hope to help as many as possible. They already were gathering for help with math and social studies. They all want to learn English so I might be teaching soon! The children that live at Casa Nuevo Horizonte are great and are always asking questions and have the best pets. Luna the cat appears on occasion and Solo Vino is the dog. He’s always around and barking at the gate. His name means came alone :).

Day 1 Bolivia

Sept 5

Today was my first day in Bolivia. I arrived at our house about 330am and slept till 9. I tried to get everything unpacked all morning and they had this big lunch to welcome me here. It was lovely they had a huge poster and all made cards and a picture with everyone who currently lived here and what they did. Very helpful and so excited to see me! I enjoyed them all and trying to get the rhythm of things down at some point since they all have different schools and schedules. They made me a packet with all the mission statement, slogan and prayers of the house and a map of the city. My initial reaction was I’m never going to figure this out. The map looks like some kind of ripple and then within the rings every street and every neighborhood of the city. Then I take the bus and it is zooming by barely allowing people to get on and off before it guns of into traffic. Stephanie and I just glanced at each other every now and then as we saw burger king and subway on our way down. We went to this huge shopping center slash flea market thing that was HUGE. Crisscrossing isles of just about everything, it was great. Stephanie and I bought some stuff we didn’t bring and Carmen, my coordinator, picked up things for the girls before we returned to the house. To say the least my first day was exciting with welcomes, native foods, public transportation and some shopping. It gave us a good view of the city and the people and how certain things work. It was also great to be able to do it with Stephanie before she goes to her site.

The Journey

September 4

So it has been a couple days since I had a chance to have internet access for various reasons, Last night I had to say bye to everyone and for about half an hour a had almost all my favorite people in one room it was bittersweet. My closest friends are such an important part of my support system and they prove it time and again. Although my journey may put strain on our relationships everything I will do is well worth it. This morning I had to say bye to my mother and it was so hard to leave her again but she was such a better sport about it this time. To say the least it was a hard day in different ways but as I took my seat at the first plane of the day I realized that the peacefulness I had felt following orientation and all that process had returned and although if I think to hard about tears will fill my eyes I can not wait to see the girls and get to my destination. So as I sit here waiting for my fellow SLM and our next flight I am ready to get to my new definition of home. I will tell you all about it pretty soon. Till then, Bolivia bound…