Some of you are probably wondering what exactly I´ve been doing over here. I´ve been pretty vauge in my explanation because I myself am still trying to figure that out. This past month I´ve been meeting with a lot of directors and teacher´s trying to get going in some sort of direction. Some of these meetings have been super easy. I just explain who I am and that I want to come into the schools and talk to the kids about trash and recycling, play some games and do some fun activities and they´re like ¨alright when can you come in?¨. And others haven´t gone so smoothly. I´ve had people get defensive saying that they already talk about that stuff and what am I going to do that´s any different. What are my methodologies? Umm... to have fun. Methodologies? That´s a question I can barely answer in English, let alone Spanish. Let´s face it, I´m not a professionally trained teacher. I was given a bunch of ideas for creating interactive dynamic lessons conserning the environment. I have no doubt that the teachers are addressing some of the same issues in their classrooms, but Bolivian classrooms are not exactly known for there creativity. I don´t know how to say that to teachers without insulting them. Some times I just seriously want to say look- the kids love me, we´ll have fun and I´m making your job easier. What more do you want? Whenever I walk into a school the kids surround me asking me my name, where I´m from and if I´m going to be their teacher. And when I saw yes they all cheer. Ok well maybe this doesn´t happen every single time, but it´s happened enough to tell me that the kids will enjoy whatever I have to say. It´s worth the frustration with the teachers knowing that the kids want me to be there.
Even if I am covering the same topic at least it´s coming from another person in a different way. Maybe because I am a gringa, an outsider, it´ll have more impact. I may be being a bit too optimistic there, but you gotta be to do this job. Bermejo has serious trash problems. And telling the kids about it more than once certainly can´t hurt. Even in the schools there´s trash all over the place which tells me the teachers a not enforcing the theme enough. It´s definitely a difficult job. How do you get people to care about their environment? What are the tangible benefits for them? You can tell them over and over again about how trash attracts mosquitos and rats that can harbor disease, that batteries pollute water sources with heavy metals, that burning plastics releases toxins in the atmosphere, a plastic bottle will still be in the landfill 500 years from now...but these are things that are hard to actually observe. They´re too abstract to be really effective reasons for changing behaviors. For me it´s more about respecting the place you live and doing the right thing, not because you´re directly benefiting from it, but it´s the right thing to do. In the states I felt rediculous amounts of guilt not recycling everything that was possible to recycle, leaving the lights on when I wasn´t home, if my sink had a leak. Where did all this guilt come from?? That´s what I will try to tell the kids. Not the guilt part, (actually that maybe more effective) but to respect where you live. I know I´m not going to work miracles over here, but if nothing else I have helped plant a little seed for future action. Environmental Ed. is a relatively new subject in Bolivia and hopfully this generation of kids will be the ones to make big changes.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Friday, June 1, 2007
My Kooky Doña
My new ¨Host Mom¨ is an interesting lady. I feel kind of wierd calling her my Host Mom, because she´s more like my land lord that I ocasionally hang out with than anything else. But PC Bolivia requires us to live with a host family (to live within the same walls/compound as a family). Don´t get me wrong. She´s a fun lady. She deffinitely likes to have a good time and make sure those around her are having a good time too. She´s the first one to pass around the wine at parties and trying to hook people up and make them dance together. But she´s kind of umm.. how can I say this in the nicest possible way...a bit ditzy.
She comes up with these completely random ideas. One of the first days at the house she tells the other girls renting rooms that I only eat vegetables, nothing else. And they look at me and ask ¨Verdad?¨ with surprise. And then I have to set the record straight ¨I eat everything. I eat meat. I ate pork yesterday WITH YOU!¨Hello! That actually was the first meal she offered me so I felt obligated to eat it. It was a thick chunk of pork. Consisting of a thick layer of skin (with a few hairs poking out) and fat. There was virtualy no meat to be found on it. Me and Julia just kept digging in with our knives searching futilely for the meat. ¨This is so disgusing. Are we really going to have to eat this?¨I keep thinking to myself. Thank God Julia was there to explain that usually we don´t like to eat the skin and such...just the meat. ¨Oh...I eat everything.¨ My Dona replied with a laugh...clearly. Of course I could have said this myself, but I hardly knew the lady at that point and didn´t want to seem rude not eating what she offered me. So we choked down a few forkfuls of fat saying ¨¡Que rico!¨ (how delicious!) all the while thinking of the brain worms that we´ve been warned uncooked pork can give you. While I´m on the subject of strange foods... I´ve actually been pretty lucky so far. The strangest thing I´ve eaten was guinea pig at my host families house which is actually like a fattier chicken. Not really that good, but not that bad either. I´ve managed to steer clear of the intestines, chicken feet, tongue and stomach offered to other volunteers.
But back to my Doña. The other day I was making cookies in the kitchen. She asks ¨What are you doing?'¨. ¨Making cookies¨ I reply. Then in the next minute she asks the lady that helps out around the house (the empleada) what I´m doing. The same answer ¨Making cookies¨. Ok maybe she didn´t understand me... yet again. Then thirty seconds later she aks her son. ¨She´s making cookies¨ he tells her. ¨Cookies?¨ she asks again. ¨Cookies.¨ says the empleada. Am I in the Twilight Zone or something? What is going on here? Oh yeah, and another time I asked her if there was a hot shower downstairs that I could use. I was sick and it was freezing cold and I was dreading the thought of using my cold shower. She yells back into the house to her son ¨Is there hot water?¨. ¨No only cold¨ he replies. What?! Did she really not know if she had hot water or not in her own house? I was baffled. Hot water is not something you have from one day to the next. You either have it or you don´t. They don´t have hot water heaters down here. It´s pretty rare to see them. What most people do is buy this contraption they put over the shower head. The water passes through an electrical current and quickly heats up. You know how we were always told water and electricity don´t mix? We´ll aparently down here in the southern hemisphere it´s all right.
Also she´s partaily deaf and doesn´t annunciate very clearly so our conversations have been pretty rediculous. So not only can she not understand me, I can barely understand her. Just the other day I was walking to the market with her. She asked when I got back to town and I told her yesterday at about five. Short and simple answer. Then we run into her friend and she tells her ¨Allison got back from Tarija this morning¨. I didn´t bother to correct her. Things like that happen all the time. But at least she has stoped introducing me to people with ¨This is Allison. She doesn´t understand spanish.¨ There´s nothing like being told you can´t speak spanish to help your confidence. Especially with someone you´ve just met! I got kind of pissed after several times with that introduction and told her, obviously aggrevated, ¨I understood that! I don´t undstand every word, but I generally get the idea. I´m still learning.¨ Muchas gracias!
She comes up with these completely random ideas. One of the first days at the house she tells the other girls renting rooms that I only eat vegetables, nothing else. And they look at me and ask ¨Verdad?¨ with surprise. And then I have to set the record straight ¨I eat everything. I eat meat. I ate pork yesterday WITH YOU!¨Hello! That actually was the first meal she offered me so I felt obligated to eat it. It was a thick chunk of pork. Consisting of a thick layer of skin (with a few hairs poking out) and fat. There was virtualy no meat to be found on it. Me and Julia just kept digging in with our knives searching futilely for the meat. ¨This is so disgusing. Are we really going to have to eat this?¨I keep thinking to myself. Thank God Julia was there to explain that usually we don´t like to eat the skin and such...just the meat. ¨Oh...I eat everything.¨ My Dona replied with a laugh...clearly. Of course I could have said this myself, but I hardly knew the lady at that point and didn´t want to seem rude not eating what she offered me. So we choked down a few forkfuls of fat saying ¨¡Que rico!¨ (how delicious!) all the while thinking of the brain worms that we´ve been warned uncooked pork can give you. While I´m on the subject of strange foods... I´ve actually been pretty lucky so far. The strangest thing I´ve eaten was guinea pig at my host families house which is actually like a fattier chicken. Not really that good, but not that bad either. I´ve managed to steer clear of the intestines, chicken feet, tongue and stomach offered to other volunteers.
But back to my Doña. The other day I was making cookies in the kitchen. She asks ¨What are you doing?'¨. ¨Making cookies¨ I reply. Then in the next minute she asks the lady that helps out around the house (the empleada) what I´m doing. The same answer ¨Making cookies¨. Ok maybe she didn´t understand me... yet again. Then thirty seconds later she aks her son. ¨She´s making cookies¨ he tells her. ¨Cookies?¨ she asks again. ¨Cookies.¨ says the empleada. Am I in the Twilight Zone or something? What is going on here? Oh yeah, and another time I asked her if there was a hot shower downstairs that I could use. I was sick and it was freezing cold and I was dreading the thought of using my cold shower. She yells back into the house to her son ¨Is there hot water?¨. ¨No only cold¨ he replies. What?! Did she really not know if she had hot water or not in her own house? I was baffled. Hot water is not something you have from one day to the next. You either have it or you don´t. They don´t have hot water heaters down here. It´s pretty rare to see them. What most people do is buy this contraption they put over the shower head. The water passes through an electrical current and quickly heats up. You know how we were always told water and electricity don´t mix? We´ll aparently down here in the southern hemisphere it´s all right.
Also she´s partaily deaf and doesn´t annunciate very clearly so our conversations have been pretty rediculous. So not only can she not understand me, I can barely understand her. Just the other day I was walking to the market with her. She asked when I got back to town and I told her yesterday at about five. Short and simple answer. Then we run into her friend and she tells her ¨Allison got back from Tarija this morning¨. I didn´t bother to correct her. Things like that happen all the time. But at least she has stoped introducing me to people with ¨This is Allison. She doesn´t understand spanish.¨ There´s nothing like being told you can´t speak spanish to help your confidence. Especially with someone you´ve just met! I got kind of pissed after several times with that introduction and told her, obviously aggrevated, ¨I understood that! I don´t undstand every word, but I generally get the idea. I´m still learning.¨ Muchas gracias!
Monday, May 28, 2007
New Address
Not like I´m expecting anything... haven´t recieved anything so far (are you all starting to feel guilty yet?) But my new address is:
Casilla 2
Bermejo, Tarija
Bolivia
And if you should send some Recess Pieces or National Geographic Magazine make sure it´s in a small box or padded envelope under 4 pounds and the value extremely low balled. And I have a cell phone (yeah... I´m a baller) just send me an email for the number. As always, I hope everyone is doing great!!
Casilla 2
Bermejo, Tarija
Bolivia
And if you should send some Recess Pieces or National Geographic Magazine make sure it´s in a small box or padded envelope under 4 pounds and the value extremely low balled. And I have a cell phone (yeah... I´m a baller) just send me an email for the number. As always, I hope everyone is doing great!!
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Other Uses for Orange Peels
I had recently arrived in Bolivia and was walking down the grubby streets of Cochabamba, probably no doubt lost after following the good intentioned, but ill informed directions of a fellow pedestrian when I noticed a little old Cholita infront of me pull an orange peel from her pocket. ¨Humm...that´s curious.¨ I thought to myself. So I continued to watch the old woman. And to my shock and surprise she brought the orange peel to her nose and proceeded to blow her nose into it. And if that, in of it´s self, wasn´t odd enough consider this. One, she pulled the orange peel out of her pocket. Meaning, after she peeled the orange in the first place, she didn´t just throw the peel on the street like any other Bolivian (and now myself) would do. She must have conciously saved it for some purpose. To blow her nose into? Really? And two, after blowing her nose into the orange peel she then returned the ¨used¨ peel back to her pocket! Was she going to use it again! That was just too much. I couldn´t help but to laugh out loud to myself right there on the street. Now I really knew I wasn´t in California anymore. But I quickly had to check myself. As if I wasn´t drawing enough odd looks already... a wide eyed blond gringa (obviously not knowing where the hell she´s going) walking the streets of Cochabamba.
I hadn´t thought about that little old woman and her orange peel for months until just the other day...I was eating my fruit salad and suffering from my second cold in less than a month. Snot began to quickly run from my nose. I looked around for a solution. The toilet paper was in the bathroom. No! No time for that! I quickly looked down at my sleeves. No, that won´t do! I want to get at least a few more uses out of this before I have to wash it again. So logically, I grabed the next closest thing. And as the orange peel hit my nose that moment on the busy streets of Cochabamba came back to me with the clarity as if it had just been yesterday. And I thought with alarm to myself ¨Ahhh! I am that crazy old woman!¨ And again, I had to laugh at myself. And you know what? I gotta say that cholita was really on to something. While the absorbancy of an orange peel leaves something to be desiered... it´s soft and moist. Gentle on a tender nose. And it smeels good too. Maybe she wasn´t so crazy afterall... or maybe she was and I am too.
I hadn´t thought about that little old woman and her orange peel for months until just the other day...I was eating my fruit salad and suffering from my second cold in less than a month. Snot began to quickly run from my nose. I looked around for a solution. The toilet paper was in the bathroom. No! No time for that! I quickly looked down at my sleeves. No, that won´t do! I want to get at least a few more uses out of this before I have to wash it again. So logically, I grabed the next closest thing. And as the orange peel hit my nose that moment on the busy streets of Cochabamba came back to me with the clarity as if it had just been yesterday. And I thought with alarm to myself ¨Ahhh! I am that crazy old woman!¨ And again, I had to laugh at myself. And you know what? I gotta say that cholita was really on to something. While the absorbancy of an orange peel leaves something to be desiered... it´s soft and moist. Gentle on a tender nose. And it smeels good too. Maybe she wasn´t so crazy afterall... or maybe she was and I am too.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Engordar (to fatten)
Yes... estoy engordando. We were warned plenty of times- the boys will lose and the girls will gain, but I thought ¨Oh no... not me.¨ But sure enough I have. I probably haven´t gained much more than three pounds, but on me you can definiely notice it. Because of instead of nicely dispersing itself throughout my body and giving me some, oh I don´t know...curves, it has decided to concentrate it´s self solely on my belly. It would be a cute belly if I were three months pregnant, but I can assure you I am not. Instead it is just freakin´me out! I know most of you are rolling your eyes and saying ¨yeah... your really getting fat there Allison¨ and there are probably others with a self satisfied grin saying ¨Ah hah! I knew it would catch up with you sooner or later!¨
It all started during tech week. When we were eating out for every meal and I had an unsatiable appetite. Really, it was rediculous. I was hungry all the time! By the end of the week I was eating two plates of fried chicken and french fries for dinner and everyone was joking ¨Ut oh... Allison´s tape worm is getting angry. We better feed it.¨ I probably gained a few pounds just during that week. But by the time swear in rolled around I was back to eating the regimented light breakfast, soup for lunch and some kind of meat/ rice combination for dinner. I got back more or less to normal. But ever since swear it´s been down hill. Eating out in Tarija, going crazy buying groceries. Now that I´m finally able to make my own food I definitely go overboard eating three times as much as a normal person would, just because I can. And the street food is so tempting! Everything is fried -fried empanadas, fried beef and egg and papas in a lomito, fried dough with queso and powdered sugar (so delicious!), fried hamburgers and hotdogs. Then there´s the pastries everyone is selling. And it´s all so cheap! 50 centavos here a Boliviano there (which is the equivalent of 12.5 cents) You have to get at least two! And then there´s the fact that soda is really the only thing sold in restaurants. The fruit refrescos don´t really seem to be too popular down here in Bermejo. And by the way, people don´t drink water in Bolivia. I have yet to see any Bolivian drink a glass of water. I think foriegners are solely keeping the bottled water industry alive.
My eating habits have changed so much since coming to Bolivia. Soda?! I hardly ever drank soda. Only at fast food places. And all this fried food! And seriously, I have eaten more french fries and bolied potatoes in the last few months than I have in my entire life. And I´ve started eating beef again. I haven´t eaten it for over seven years. But I´m in the land of beef and wine and I´ve got to try it right? I was never much of a fan of it before, but I have been converted. It´s so good! But there is light at the end of the tunnel. Everyone tells me that I will get over the fried street food phase. And the food here is at least prepared from fresh ingredients. It´s not the packaged crap you find in the states. And I am eating a lot more fruits and veggies than I normally would. So it´s not all bad. I just have to learn not to eat so damn much! ;)
It all started during tech week. When we were eating out for every meal and I had an unsatiable appetite. Really, it was rediculous. I was hungry all the time! By the end of the week I was eating two plates of fried chicken and french fries for dinner and everyone was joking ¨Ut oh... Allison´s tape worm is getting angry. We better feed it.¨ I probably gained a few pounds just during that week. But by the time swear in rolled around I was back to eating the regimented light breakfast, soup for lunch and some kind of meat/ rice combination for dinner. I got back more or less to normal. But ever since swear it´s been down hill. Eating out in Tarija, going crazy buying groceries. Now that I´m finally able to make my own food I definitely go overboard eating three times as much as a normal person would, just because I can. And the street food is so tempting! Everything is fried -fried empanadas, fried beef and egg and papas in a lomito, fried dough with queso and powdered sugar (so delicious!), fried hamburgers and hotdogs. Then there´s the pastries everyone is selling. And it´s all so cheap! 50 centavos here a Boliviano there (which is the equivalent of 12.5 cents) You have to get at least two! And then there´s the fact that soda is really the only thing sold in restaurants. The fruit refrescos don´t really seem to be too popular down here in Bermejo. And by the way, people don´t drink water in Bolivia. I have yet to see any Bolivian drink a glass of water. I think foriegners are solely keeping the bottled water industry alive.
My eating habits have changed so much since coming to Bolivia. Soda?! I hardly ever drank soda. Only at fast food places. And all this fried food! And seriously, I have eaten more french fries and bolied potatoes in the last few months than I have in my entire life. And I´ve started eating beef again. I haven´t eaten it for over seven years. But I´m in the land of beef and wine and I´ve got to try it right? I was never much of a fan of it before, but I have been converted. It´s so good! But there is light at the end of the tunnel. Everyone tells me that I will get over the fried street food phase. And the food here is at least prepared from fresh ingredients. It´s not the packaged crap you find in the states. And I am eating a lot more fruits and veggies than I normally would. So it´s not all bad. I just have to learn not to eat so damn much! ;)
Friday, April 27, 2007
Here are a few random pictures that I really like...
Just another day on the micro. I can not describe how much I love the micros. First of all there are no predesignated stops. You just stand on the side of the road and wave one down and yell at the driver when you want to get off. And just look at how they're decked out! Stuffed animals, stickers, posters, blinking lights. Common accessories are Disney themed stickers, American flag pine tree air fresheners, CD's with pictures of Jesus on them. This particular micros has all three! People really take pride in their old beat up beasts and go all out on the decorations.
This picture was taken at the airport the day we left for Tirija. As of the 1st of April visas are now required for Bolivians to enter Spain. There are many Bolivian immigrants in Spain. Actually it's a big problem for the country. It is losing a lot of it's people. There are many children left to live with their Grandparents while their parents move to Spain for work. And I've been told of whole towns that have no young people because they all went to Spain. Anyways, a bunch of people bought plane tickets right before the new visa requirements were put into effect. Then LAB, a Bolivian airline, cancels the flight and doesn't return the people's money! So a bunch of people were totally screwed. Not only will they be unlikely to ever go to Spain, but they lost a fortune! So people were at the airport basically having a sit-in until their money is returned to them. People think that the whole thing was a political move. It's know that government is not happy with so many people leaving Bolivia. LAB says they will return the money...
Classic! One of them's smoking a cigarette and the other's eating jello. The best tech trainers ever! I'm really gonna miss them.
Just another day on the micro. I can not describe how much I love the micros. First of all there are no predesignated stops. You just stand on the side of the road and wave one down and yell at the driver when you want to get off. And just look at how they're decked out! Stuffed animals, stickers, posters, blinking lights. Common accessories are Disney themed stickers, American flag pine tree air fresheners, CD's with pictures of Jesus on them. This particular micros has all three! People really take pride in their old beat up beasts and go all out on the decorations.
This picture was taken at the airport the day we left for Tirija. As of the 1st of April visas are now required for Bolivians to enter Spain. There are many Bolivian immigrants in Spain. Actually it's a big problem for the country. It is losing a lot of it's people. There are many children left to live with their Grandparents while their parents move to Spain for work. And I've been told of whole towns that have no young people because they all went to Spain. Anyways, a bunch of people bought plane tickets right before the new visa requirements were put into effect. Then LAB, a Bolivian airline, cancels the flight and doesn't return the people's money! So a bunch of people were totally screwed. Not only will they be unlikely to ever go to Spain, but they lost a fortune! So people were at the airport basically having a sit-in until their money is returned to them. People think that the whole thing was a political move. It's know that government is not happy with so many people leaving Bolivia. LAB says they will return the money... 
Classic! One of them's smoking a cigarette and the other's eating jello. The best tech trainers ever! I'm really gonna miss them.Sunday, April 22, 2007
Partying with Bolivian Rock Stars
So the first day I spent with my new Bolivian family was pretty amazing. The mother´s son (who died last year in a tragic accident) was good friends with Dalmiro Cuellar ¨el voz del chaco¨ who is a freakin´ rock star down here. So every time he passes through Bermejo the band stays at the house. He sings the song ¨Hoy me ire¨ which was practically the theme song for EE during tech week. We listened to it non stop the whole week. It´s hard to go a day with out hearing one of his songs around town, I´ve already got him on my i-pod, he´s got his own ring tone for heaven´s sake! So yeah... he´s a big deal down here. There was an impromptu little party at the house. People were passing around the wine, dancing, and listening to the band play. It´s a big band I think there are over seven of them. Violins, guitars, drums, a small accordion thing (can´t remember the actual name). We practically got a private show. It was amazing! I got ¨te invito¨-ed and danced with the man, among many others. I´m pretty sure one of the violin players asked me to marry him before the night was over, but it was all in fun. ¨Te invito¨ is a Bolivian custom in which someone invites you to drink with them (they have to ivite you first before they can take a sip...very important). They take a sip from the glass and pass it to whomever they invited to drink with them. Then that person has to invite someone else and the glass gets passed along like this all night.
And I have to mention that it´s usually not pure wine they´re passing around. The add coke or (at this party) orange soda! I know... it´s crazy. They take good wine and do this! Actually the orange soda is much better than the coke (which makes you want to instantly vomit) it just makes it super sweet. And when they see you drinking just wine thery´re like ¨Puro?¨ and look at you like your the alcoholic. Drinking puro cerveza is even worse. Yes they add coke to the beer too!! The beer here is about as potent as a bud light. You´ll drink puro but only have a few drinks while they drink this crazy concoction all night and get blasted and your the one who´s got the problem. But that´s just how it goes.
So it was a pretty great night and awesome cultural experience. A good way to start off in Bermejo.
And I have to mention that it´s usually not pure wine they´re passing around. The add coke or (at this party) orange soda! I know... it´s crazy. They take good wine and do this! Actually the orange soda is much better than the coke (which makes you want to instantly vomit) it just makes it super sweet. And when they see you drinking just wine thery´re like ¨Puro?¨ and look at you like your the alcoholic. Drinking puro cerveza is even worse. Yes they add coke to the beer too!! The beer here is about as potent as a bud light. You´ll drink puro but only have a few drinks while they drink this crazy concoction all night and get blasted and your the one who´s got the problem. But that´s just how it goes.
So it was a pretty great night and awesome cultural experience. A good way to start off in Bermejo.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)