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Charlene and I walking from the
airplane to the airport in
Cochabamba. |
Hello from Bolivia! I am glad to say that while the travel to Bolivia was long, all went well. I flew from Traverse City to Chicago where I met up with Charlene (another SLM) and we continued our journey to Miami, La Paz, and finally landed in Cochabamba. When we were in La Paz we were very confused as to how to get to our flight, seeing as how neither of us know much Spanish. There was a sweet woman who noticed we were lost and helped us check in with the airline and went with us to our gate. After that it was smooth sailing form La Paz to Cochabamba. My cousin, Michael, who has been living in Cochabamba for about a year and a half was able to meet us at the airport.
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Michael and I at my host families
home after picking me up
at the airport. |
My final destination in Bolivia is Okinawa, which is where I will be living and teaching for the year. First, however, I need to learn Spanish. For the next six weeks I will be in Cochabamba, Bolivia at the Maryknoll Language Institute where I will be taking Spanish classes which start on Monday. While in Cochabamba I have a host family. I live with my host mother, María René, her daughter Paula, and her grandson Nico. Her other grandson Martín spends most of the afternoon with us. So far I have played a lot of charades with my host family, trying to expand my vocabulary before classes start and they have had many laughs at my attempt but I am learning.
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| The Maryknoll Language Institute |
So far my days follow a similar pattern. I wake up and head down to the kitchen where I am greeted by a ¡Buen Dias! ¿Como está? and I have breakfast. Then I get ready for my day and talk (or try to) with my host mom. At 11:30 I go with my host mom to pick up Martín at school. We come home and have lunch and then I play with the kids until dinner, or I will go to the institute and meet the other language students. After dinner the kids and I will play a game or watch a movie (in Spanish of course). Once my course starts I will go to class for about 4 hours a day, study after, and then go home and play with the kids. At the end of my course, my Aunt and Uncle will be visiting my cousin and all of us will travel to Okinawa together and they will be able to see where I will be living.
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My Family: Martín is on top, Nico
is next to me and María René |
On Sunday my cousin is going to meet me at church and then we will be headed to the south side of Cochabamba where he lives. The south side of the city has more need, so he has been working on an after school program and is coaching numerous basketball teams in the area. It's going to be awesome to see the work he has been doing the last year and a half, especially since I have been hearing about it for so long. I don't have many pictures yet but expect many more in the following posts!
