La primera semana

My first few days here have been so much better and different than I ever expected! After getting settled in and taking a much-needed nap on Sunday, I woke up and got ready for my first Bolivian fiesta! It was a birthday party for Nayra’s grandpa, and I quickly learned that Bolivians know how to throw a party. The house we went to was extremely nice and set up for a very large dinner party. There were several round tables and chairs with white covers and bows…I felt like I was at an American wedding reception. It became obvious that the grandparents are part of a high class, as they had a cooking/serving staff consisting primarily of indigenous Bolivians. Merijke and I sat at a table with some of Nayra’s cousins and their spouses – they were all very nice and seemed to be in their 20s and 30s. With it being my first day in Bolivia, I was pretty apprehensive to interject in conversation, but I really enjoyed myself, especially because it reminded me of my own family gatherings at home. It just felt very comforting to be amongst such a big, loving family that was so happy to spend time together (plus the little kids were SO cute). After dinner, a 3-person band arrived to sing happy birthday and play a few other songs – what I thought would be great way to end the evening, but I had no idea it was only just beginning. Shortly after the band finished, I heard the trumpeting of “Feliz Cumpleaños” and looked into the dining room to see a full-blown mariachi band entering. We spent the rest of the night enjoying their incredible music, and Merijke and I even joined in on the dancing a little bit. It was one helluva party and definitely blew my expectations out of the water…and that was only the first night!

Monday was orientation at Maryknoll. Merijke and I headed out the door by 7:30am for my first 25-minute hike to school. Our route is about a mile walk on Avenida América, a pretty busy road with a lot of small, open-front shops along the way, and then we turn onto the road that takes us directly to the institute, about another half mile uphill. Although I sometimes dread the walk so early in the morning, there are constantly beautiful views of the mountains and El Cristo de la Concordia (check it out, it’s even bigger than the one in Brasil… http://www.dimensionsguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Biggest-Jesus-Christ-Statue.jpg)! However, we did have our first stray dog incident yesterday…a rather large one approached us, I’m assuming lured by the lunches in our backpacks. It actually jumped on us a few times and followed us as we crossed the street multiple times in attempt to get away from it. Eventually it ran away with no harm done, but the threat of a dog bite and potentially rabies was pretty scary at the time. Anyway, back to Monday…we eventually reached Maryknoll and joined about 30 other students in the conference room to meet with Sister Kathy and Katie, the two primary directors of our program. They provided us with some very useful information and gave us a tour of the institute before we headed to our first class.

Classes have been going really well so far. Everyone is either one-on-one or two-on-one with a Bolivian professor, and I am lucky enough to have both of mine to myself. I have a more of a conversational class with Señora Teresita, discussing some social issues and literary works, as well as a class focused on grammar with Señora Viviana. They are both extremely nice and have already been very helpful with refining my communication skills. I don’t think I will be fluent by the end of this trip as I had hoped, but I feel like I am improving substantially every day. I’m also taking a class with all the other Marquette students and the professor who came with us, which has been really interesting so far. We’ve been discussing the controversy surrounding immigration, which was also the topic of our first “Conferencia” – a meeting we will all have every Wednesday to listen to a speaker and converse about current issues.

Now, on to the fun stuff! Monday night was my first experience out in downtown Bolivia, AKA “El Prado.” Seventeen of us met at the institute so we could all take taxis together. I was a little nervous, just because I’m obviously not familiar with the city and it can be risky at night, but it ended up being really fun! We just picked a random restaurant, sat outside, and enjoyed some cervezas. I got to know some of the Creighton students pretty well, and we all had a great time. However, the fact that we were foreigners was obvious to say the least, as we walked the street, unsure of where we were going and not shy about speaking a lot of Spanglish. Regardless, it was a wonderful way to start our time together, and we did the same thing last night (at a different restaurant) to watch the NBA finals!

I also have a lot to look forward to in the coming week! Tomorrow we are going on a tour of Cochabamba to see El Cristo, La Cancha (a huge outdoor market), and a few more of the city’s hotspots. I’m really excited, and I’ll be sure to include the best of the best in my next post! Also, I will hopefully be starting some service work at an after school center next week, which is guaranteed to be a very powerful experience. Other than that, I will just be continuing with the normal routine and doing my best to avoid hungry dogs. I’ll try to update again a little sooner next time. As usual, I miss everyone and hope you’re all doing well :) chau!