Getting Pumped Up

1/31/2011 - Santa Cruz, Bolivia - 9:35am

So Tuesday and Wednesday was us trying to figure out how to send Ashley's video. Our internet is really slow and therefore it we spend 16+ hrs trying to send this file. But it didn't even send it because apparently I used up all of my credit for the internet in one day. It's funny 'cause they told us it was unlimited. Oh well, for the time being I'm using the office's Tigo Internet Card which IS unlimited! Whoo! We were finally able to send off the vide, we had to go to the office to send it. That was one less problem though. 

OH! I finally saw Tangled! In Spanish! hahaha it was a great movie, I'd definitely see it again, it was SO funny. 5 Thumbs UP!

Thursday, we went to the ZOO. It was awesome. Tigers, pumas, monkeys, llamas, toucans, turtles, monkeys, monkeys, and monkeys! It was a HOT day, but getting to see all these cool animals was a treat.

Friday, we went to Employment Seminar with all the Employment Specialists in Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, and Trinidad. It was long, but I feel like I learned a lot in terms of how effective we're being in getting people jobs. For lunch, we ate Sopa de Mani (1st course) and Beef with rice and chuño. Let's explain chuño a bit. It's freeze-dried potatoes that are then fermented. It was...not that bad, until they told me what it was. When you have the image of women stomping on these potatoes until they're juiced out, it kinda takes away your appetite. BUT the meal was really really good. Apparently Cochabamba has better food, and people like to eat there, a lot. I'll probably fast before our two-week trip to Cochabamba hahaha

Later at night, some kids from a dance school came and performed some folkloric dances, and that was pretty rad. It was an entire story with songs.

SATURDAY. Was walley day! Walley is like Volleyball. Except, you got walls you can hit and you can also kick the ball. Pretty Sweet, huh? My manager and his family are PROS. No lie, they've been playing for YEARS! We got divided up into groups and mine kept on winning. Until we got tired, then we'd lose. That was such a workout though. We went to the pool afterwards and got to witness our manager do the doggy paddle and bark like a dog. I hadn't laughed so hard in a long time. NO LIE. And to end this awesome day, we went to Los Lomitos, and Argentinian place where they had some of the best meat I had tasted. We took leftovers home since we did NOT finish everything they served us. 

Finally, on Sunday, we went to our corresponding ward, Barrio Estacion. It's actually a branch, but people there were super nice. They have a couple elders there. One of them is from Cedar City, Utah, and the other is from Cuzco, Peru. So one of them is ridiculously tall and the other is short, a great pair indeed. :) Our manager's wife and son were there because it was a ward conference and the wife is in the Relief Society Stake Presidency. They offered to take us home which meant, free ride!!

We spent the rest of the Sunday home chilling til a friend came over to visit and then also left. I really should update more frequently so I'm not telling people about an entire week! hahaha

I learned something cool on Sunday, you either ADAPT to the ways of the Lord in your own way, or you can ADOPT the ways of the Lord into your own life. I'm choosing for ADOPTING.

Hasta Luego!

Cristina

Ups and Downs

The wedding was pretty awesome. Parties here don't start til 10-11pm and don't end til 5am. It's crazy! They even had a one course meal and everything. We had met the bride a few days prior and she and her mom insisted we went to the party. This is a photo of our table:

We ate and danced a ton, then we went home at 1am, though everyone else stayed til 5am....I can't imagine staying up so late, I'm getting OLD.

Well that was Friday, onto Saturday! We went to a place called Las Cuevas, which is about 3+ hours from the city. It was really fun riding in a "micro" with 30 other single adults.

Las Cuevas was GREEN beyond reason. I really felt like I was in the jungle. Sadly, we saw no monkeys, but I'm determined to see them at some point.There were some really cool waterfalls and lots of mosquitoes too. I got bit in one of my eyelids. No, I won't up pictures of it, that's just gross. But I got bit on my legs pretty nicely . I had really good time appreciating the wonders of Mother Nature. The bus ride was long too going back, but it was worth it. 

And then came Sunday. We were supposed to go to Warnes (a province outside the city) to go to the ward of one of our workshop participants. We were also to give a talk during the Sacrament and inform people of the TAE workshops we taught. We were up and running by 7am, despite not having slept too long. BUT, Reynaldo never came to pick us up!! So........we didn't go to church. hahah not because we were slackers, but because we didn't know where our own ward met, since we had just moved into the apartment earlier that week. We cleaned out the FRIDGE and then some. The apartment is starting to look more homey. And we watched Pride and Prejudice, the LONG version. I'd never seen it, but I like it better than the newer version. 

So Monday, we went to the Center to film Ashley's Interview so she could send it to the Grad Program she's applying to. That's how we spent the entire morning, but THEN we went to go eat Mexican Food!! It's called El Chile and the burritos we good, although they weren't authentic, but still. At a reasonable price too. I think I paid $5 for the entire meal. I felt more at home for sure. Well we came home because there was a guy who was supposed to come fix the dryer, but it turns out he couldn't so he's sending us someone else sometime this week or next week. Everything moves quite slow here, definitely not used to it yet. And last but not least, we went to a store called called Hypermaxi and bought a bunch of stuff for the apartment. AKA more WATER. 

Ah well this is what's happened until now. It hasn't been easy adjusting to a new country and a new culture. I can safely say I HATE CHANGE. But, I know the Lord has a reason for everything and there's a reason I'm here. I'm teaching workshops that can and will change people's lives. And I need to stop worrying so much about myself and start focusing on others. I feel like I've been way too selfish. Yesterday, Ashley and I read a chapter in the Book of Mormon for "Family Home Evening" and it was the story of Ammon and his cutting of the arms. Haha it's a great story, but I kind of feel like we are a bit like the sons of Mosiah. We each went our separate ways to teach the "workshops" to the "Latin Americans" and were told that we should be patient towards them and have faith that God is with us always. Times are hard, especially when you're far away from your family and close friends. But it's the Footprints in the Sand poem, there's another set of footprints right beside ours.

-Cristina

I survived.

Santa Cruz, Bolivia -  January 21, 2011 - 2:30pm

Can't believe we made it this far. Today, Ashley and I finished our first workshop! With 3 people! We had a 50% retaining rate it seems. Wednesday's workshop went well, we lost two people but it was still a fun class. That day we found out we got a new apartment. We were SUPER excited. We had lunch at CineCenter, which is a mall that has a movie theatre inside. I had a lomo saltado wrap. They don't make those in the US. Cool stuff. It was pretty good too.

AFTER lunch came the long day. We were asked to teach a 3-day workshop at night along with our day-time workshop, so we agreed. But we came into the apartment and it was dirty, etc. So we took a short trip to the supermarket and bought some stuff but we barely had time to drop it off and leave for the night workshop. We showed up at the Canoto Ward, but only 3 people showed up. We had to cancel it. It was a good and bad thing because we were really really tired but we still wanted to teach the workshop. In the end, we came home and slept hoping there wouldn't be any bed bugs. Did I mention that only ONE room (the main bedroom) has AC? I'm trying not to complain, I really am. But seriously? Dirty floors, washer and dryer that don't work and questionably dirty gross mattresses. It was a long night.

Thursday was better. We were really tired and we really tried to make the workshop animated but they could tell we weren't giving our 100%. There was a Sister in the ward who cleans office so they hired her to clean our apartment so it would be in living conditions when we came back. That was really really nice of her. One less thing to worry about. We crashed after that workshop and unpacked our stuff.

Today after the workshop, we ate at a local place behind the Employment Center and then walked back to our apartment. We have the day off but got invited to a wedding tonight so that should be fun. I'll probably take a nap before then though. Tomorrow we're going on sort of a YSA trip to some place I can't remember, but it should be fun as well. AND on Sunday on our Workshop 1 Graduates, Reynaldo, invited us to give a talk at his branch's meeting out in Warnes Province. We have the next week off!!!

Now time for a nap.

Things are looking up.

Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Hotel Canciller - Tuesday Jan. 18th -  2:32 pm

So on Monday Luis, our manager, picked us up and took us to the Santa Cruz Employment Center and gave us a tour of the place. While there, we were told about a dangerous guy who comes in and sits on the tables in the Center and then leaves after an hour or so. Apparently he had threatened the center in La Paz with a gun and demanded $20,000 from the church. His bishop had to talk him our of it but then decided to send him on a mission. He only lasted 3 months on the mission field. That was interesting to hear. After meeting with  the employees at the center, we went apartment hunting and asked different residential buildings in the area if they were renting apartments. We didn't have any luck. We felt like Mary and Joseph. We returned to the hotel in the afternoon and took a much needed nap. My brain was EXHAUSTED. At about four o' clock in the afternoon, Luis came again to pick us up and took us to see a possible apartment. It was...alright. It lacked some essential things and it was in a sketchy area. That sucked. Are there no apartments in Santa Cruz??? We came back to the hotel AGAIN and we began to study our material for Tuesday's workshop. We ordered dinner, which took forever to come and we crashed at about 10pm.

Today was different. Maybe it's because we got tired of complaining and decided to just work, but things started to look up. Elder Davila (sp?) of the Seventy came to the Employment Center to give a devotional and I was called to give the closing prayer out of the blue. I'd never been so nervous in my life. Giving a prayer in front of a Seventies Authority? In Spanish?? But it went well. After the devotional, Ashley and I sat in the main room and went through our material while getting to know some of the people who were going to attend our workshop later that morning. Even though we started the workshop late (because Elder Davila had a meeting with some people in our workshop room), we made good time and we didn't SCREW up! All the people in our workshop are pretty much awesome so I hope that we get to know them better this week and we'll pray for them so that we know how to help them and how word things so they can understand. I'm so excited for this week and can't wait to serve the people attending our workshops. AND we have an APARTMENT yet! We haven't seen it yet, but Luis just signed the contract today and we move in tomorrow. It's got a washer AND a microwave. So we're pretty much set. I'm now off to take a nap, I will update about the rest of today perhaps tonight or tomorrow.

-Cristina

ps. There aren't any McDonalds here, FUN FACT. But there are sloths in the city, apparently.

It's been 1 day

since Ashley and I have arrived to Santa Cruz, Bolivia. It's been interesting. Haha. Our manager, Luis, picked us up on his car and took us to a hotel called Cancellier. We don't have an apartment yet because a couple of offers fell through. We hope to find an apartment soon.....cause we start teaching on Tuesday. Correction: we start training on Tuesday! So....lots of pressure there. Saturday we stayed at home and at night our manager and his family took us out to dinner to a very popular restaurant with playhouses and live entertainment....called "Dumbo". The food was great though, Ashley and I shared a plate called Silpancho. It's rice on the bottom with a round breaded beef fillet on top of the rice and two fried eggs on top of the fillet. We also had freshly squeezed lemonade to go with it. It was really delicious. That was Saturday.

The day before we had a layover in Lima and my dad and uncle (Rogelio) picked us up. We also ran into my aunt (Rossana) but I didn't have the stuff to give her (I'm retarded) so that sucked. But it was nice to see everyone. We got to my grandma's house and we got to say hi to pretty much everyone in the house. The next morning, aka four hours later, we woke up and had breakfast. I took lots of pictures and was able to spend time with my family and catch up on stuff. My dad and Uncle Rogelio took us to the airport and we got there with time to kill. It was hard to say goodbye, but it was good. We left for Bolivia and had a nice flight.

Okay, back to Sunday. We went to church. The ward was called Canoto. It was a small ward but I guess they're joining another ward that meets in the same building. The YSA is comprised of 3 guys. It was interesting haha. Everyone seems really nice although we haven't had TOO much time to talk to a lot of people. We got a ride back to the hotel from an Argentine lady in the ward. She was nice though she thought Ashley was my mom. That was weird. It was probably the braces. Anyhow we came back and ate lunch at the hotel, some chicken and rice. We've decided to save on water by refilling the water bottles we have. We are geniuses. Our manager and his family came by to drive us to see some of Santa Cruz and we went to this place called Potosi. It's more jungly and that's where the rich people live with their super nice guarded houses. It was really fun to see Santa Cruz, except on our way back, the car broke down and we had to call the tow truck. Man was it hot outside! The Tow Truck came and put the car on the bed in the back. Ashley, Jared (the manager's 10-yr old son) and I sat in the car. It was a fun and bumpy ride! Don't think that's legal in the US. We went to their home and saw pictures of them and of places he's visited. He really wants to go to Salt Lake City someday. I hope he and his family are able to go. We ate at Dumbo again and I shared an appetizer with Ashley. So yeah ....it's been a long day. I'm ready to go to sleep and hope that tomorrow we get some good news about the prospective apartments. Hasta manana!

Cristina

ps. There's another blog called Bump It where all the interns write blogs together.