Surrender: Getting Adjusted

This week I started my visa process. It’s not the easiest to do and especially because we live on the outskirts of the city, it gets really tedious having to go in and out of the city. I got to experience my first Trufi rides. Trufi is a car/van that fits about 8 ppl and has a set route, we take one from Okinawa to Montero, and another from Montero to Santa Cruz. So you are sitting in a car for about 45 minutes to an hour both ways with people you don’t know. The visa process is long so we are going to be riding a lot of Trufis these first couple of weeks, maybe even month, who knows. Oh, and a lot of taxis too. Santa Cruz is a busy city. We went through all the necessary places for the visa, but some of them we are going to have to come back because they were closed =( bummer. We had lunch in the city afterward, at an “Irish Pub”, of all places lol. But the food was really good. I try to stay away from eating the salads because we don’t know if they wash the lettuce with faucet water, it’s something you have to be careful around here, you can get really sick, but the rest of the food was good. After lunch we took the long ride back home. That was most part of our day, but once we arrived home I helped Stephanie tutor English to an 18-year-old young man named Toshiki who is Japanese and came to Bolivia when he was 6 years old. He needs to learn English because he’s heading to China to find products to import and export. We first started with simple conversations to get to know me because I’m new, so he asked me a couple of questions in English. He did pretty well I must say. After that we played Pictureka, which I am so happy I brought because it really helps to teach English, who knew LOL! After tutoring Toshiki we headed to our Confirmation meeting for a bit and then Steph and I headed back home because we were hungry. And that pretty much sums up Tuesday.

On Wednesday I got to go to my first community. These are places around Okinawa that are extremely poor but we go out to their schools, which most of the time can consist of only 3 rooms in one school and in very, very poor conditions. When we drove to the school today, I didn’t know what to expect, but once we arrived in the classroom, the kids were just so SO happy. It still baffles me how excited this kids are whenever they see us, and this is not just in this specific place, but everywhere in Okinawa, you encounter them once, and they just absolutely love you. Katie, Steph and Judy say that sometimes you have to be careful because they just jump on you out of nowhere just to give you a hug! That hasn’t happened to me yet haha, but I appreciate the hugs, the kids do make all the difference, and that’s when you remember why you signed up to do this! <3

I introduced myself as teacher Lorena, “teacher” is what they call us here…you no longer have a first name lol…it’s always “teacher” or “teacher Lorena” =) cute. I also got to share the story of the Rainbow Fish with them, and had some of them act it out. They enjoyed it a lot. After teaching them a story that has a certain message we played with them outside. I played jump rope with them and I taught them how to jump to the “Teddy Bear” song. =) That was awesome to see. I really enjoyed going to the community, it’s really just like Don Bosco’s Oratory. I loved it! After community, we had lunch back at the sisters house and after lunch, Katie and I got ready to teach her English classes at “San Francisco Xavier” school. She teaches two 4^th grade classes and one 5^th grade class. These kids have so much energy, they are always jumping off the walls, and they cannot stay seated as much as you tell them to, but they are awesome! And they are very smart, affectionate too, and really funny. I had to introduce myself as the new teacher, as they asked me, in English, what my name was, where I was from, how old I am, and when is my birthday =). I think they got a little confused that I was both American and Mexican lol and that my Spanish is a little different than theirs so I’m beginning to realize that I have to not just translate English but my “Mexican” Spanish, and they have to translate their Spanish to me as well LOL! I also have to be careful with some of my Spanish words, because some mean something inappropriate here…lol for example, here, loca (which means crazy) can also mean prostitute…lol who knew?! So I now have to be careful with that one =)

That's all my clothes on the line =). I'm so proud of myself.

On Thursday we headed out to another community around Okinawa. We did the same story on the rainbow fish. The kids were wonderful as well. Most of the time the older ones bring in their little brothers or sisters or even nephews or nieces, so in most of the groups you have different age groups ranging from 1 to 14 years old. They are all really cute, but are very poor. One of the little boys, had a badly infected hand. These kids get insect bites and most of the time they are not well taken care of and they live in bad conditions so they get really infected. It’s really sad to see. So we are trying to figure out a way to help them. After that we had lunch and headed back home. I had some extra time to kill so I decided to wash some clothes. It was my first hand wash!!! I think I did pretty good for it being my first time. It’s kind of relaxing washing by hand, it’s a whole experience. Once I finished I felt so accomplished!!! It was such a great feeling!!! =) It’s the little things you get through daily that make this such a wonderful experience. Afterward we went to Dona Deli’s house. She teaches Katie how to crochet and we pretty much just sit there and relax with her and just talk. It feels good to do that after a long day. We ended our day with mass, which really just is the cherry on top of the day. =)

This little one was one of the girl's sister, she is 1. Most kids take care of their younger siblings during school

Friday we went to our last community of the week. In this particular community, we pick up kids from one school and put them in our truck. I got to sit with them in the back =) it was so fun. They are so loud and hilarious, always talking, and screaming at Katie if she took the wrong way. =) We have so much fun with them. They are all very sweet. And they were extremely entertained with my iphone, they loved watching videos of my Rambo =) (that's my chocolate lab) and my cat =).

After community we taught our last class of the week, 6^th grade. Katie had me write on the board, little did I know that they’d start correcting my Spanish, letting me know where to put my accent marks…lol. Once we were done teaching them the weather in English, we played with them, but my group was much more entertained asking me questions on being Mexican American and if I had brothers or sisters, on about my Spanish. I would tell them how I said certain Spanish words and they’d teach me theirs.

Playing tug of war

This week has been really good, though I’m still getting adjusted to this whole experience, but so far so good. The kids are what make everything so much better here. I am really enjoying myself so far. =)

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy =)