Bolivia week 9

Buenos Noches!

Well it is the start of a new week in Bolivia. I hope you had a good week last week.

This past week for me was pretty busy, but good.

Monday was a big day at Carachipampa, because this was the day the first Report Cards were handed out. I had a lot of nervous students come up to me Monday morning asking me what their grades were like. I tried to reassure them that everything would be ok and that they would have to wait until the end of the day to see their grades. Report Cards were handed out that afternoon and Tuesday brought some students asking me about their grades, but all in all it was not too bad.

This whole process made me think back to when I anxiously awaited my report cards, to see what my grades would be. I can say that I am glad that I am done with tests and getting grades.

Parent/Teacher Conferences took place this Friday. I was a little nervous going into them, because I did not know how some parents would react. I was also nervous because I knew that we needed to have a couple of tough conversations with some parents. I was able to do the conferences with my co-teacher which was a real blessing. She has had more experience with these kinds of parents and she is a parent herself, so she can add a lot. The interviews went really well overall. God gave us the words to say and we were able to share what we felt needed to be shared. I was talking with my roommates later on that night and I mentioned how I felt that I had to be extra professional during my interviews. One of my roommates responded by saying, well of course. I said that I knew I had to be, but it was just weird to think of myself as a professional. The things you learn as you get older!

Here is a sweet story for you! Every week we have a chapel on Thursday mornings. This means that each grade takes turns doing some skits and doing a time of worship. It is a fun time each week where parents can come to see what their child has been learning in Bible Class. This week the sixth grade class focused on how Jesus Washed The Disciples Feet and sang some fun worship songs. One of these songs was Blessed Be Your Name. Later on the the afternoon I was working in the first grade classroom with a student that has some severe learning disabilities. We were working on learning different shapes( figuras geometricas), when all of the sudden he starts singing the chorus of Blessed Be Your Name. It was such a sweet sight to experience. Here is a kid who has a hard time remembering the difference between a square and a triangle, but he remembered the song from chapel that morning and wanted to sing. I joined in with him and we both started to sing together. It is the little moments like this that make me so thankful to be a teacher and to be working where I am working.

The weekend was a very relaxing weekend full of hanging out with friends, reading, and sleeping.

This week is our last week before a week of Vacation. Sarah, our friend Rebekah and I are going to be traveling to another part of Bolivia during this week to visit other SIM missionaries. We are excited about this opportunity to get out of Cochabamba to see a different part of Bolivia. We will be taking an overnight bus to Santa Cruz on Friday night and then we will have to take a 3 hour bus ride to San Ramon, where the missionaries live.

I am looking forward to a week off and look forward to updating you on how it goes!

Adios!! - Rachel

Two Months in Bolivia

Buenos Tardes!

It is hard to believe that we have hit the two month mark of being in Bolivia. At times it has flown by and at times it has not. I think this is pretty typical for being away from home and dealing with that adjustment.

The past two weeks in the classroom have gone pretty well. I must say I feel very accomplished having a quarter of teaching under my belt. Teaching at Carachipampa has definitely been a good first teaching experience. The staff has been so supportive of me as I have spent these first two months learning the ropes of teaching at a new place and getting into a routine. I am excited to see what the second quarter brings. I am excited to continue to help my kids succeed and work to their best potential. I am excited to further relationships with the other teachers in the school and with students in different grades.

These past few weeks I have also been working in the first grade classroom, while their teacher is in the States. This has made for long days, but I have really enjoyed working with the children and getting to know them. I have a cute little story about one of my first graders. The theme for our camp a few weeks ago was the Fruits of the Spirit ( Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control). This idea was talked about a lot during the week of camp, so the students are familiar with this. The other day I told one of my students that he was not being kind and I told him that he needed to be kind to his friends. He responded by telling me that he did not eat that kind of fruit. I had to stop myself from laughing in response. I went on to tell him that we need to be nice to our friends and we had a little chat. I thought that it was funny that he remembered what we talked about, but did not want to apply it.

This past weekend we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving at our house. There are several people from Canada here, so we celebrated in honor of them. The day of our dinner was hectic to say the least. We arrived home from church to find that our water was not working. We looked into our "well" and there was plenty of water in there, but nothing was working. We went to go ask our landlord about the problem and we soon found out that he was not home. His wife was though and she told us that something had happened with the electricity that went with the water. So at this point we were one hour away from having 30 people over and we had no water. We proceeded to use a bucket and the dog leash( yes.. this is all we had) to get water from the well. We filled up several containers full of water and we were ready to make the most of it. Soon people started to arrive and we quickly informed them of the situation. As people were showing up, a man came to look at the water situation. We were all very skeptical that he knew what he was doing, but after about 45 minutes of him looking around, turning the electricity on and off, WE HAD WATER!! Let's just say it was a huge answer to prayer and we were very happy campers.

I am doing pretty well overall. There were times last week when I was sick when I felt pretty homesick but God really used friends to encourage me and help me through that time. Some friends sent me verses that really spoke to me, one of these was a couple verses from Psalm 62

⁵ Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
my hope comes from him.

⁶ He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

⁷ My salvation and my honor depend on God;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.

⁸ Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.

This was a great reminder that I can find rest in God during the times that I feel homesick and alone. He is my rock that I can lean on and trust in at all times. I have turned to this several times these past few weeks and it has been a great reminder and a great blessing( Thank you Shelley).

Hope you are all doing well!

Adios! - Rachel

Visiting The Simon Patino House

Buenos Dias!!

Yesterday Sarah, Bekah and I went on a tour of the Simon Patino house in Cochabamba. It is a very beautiful house with a lot of European Flair. We had a fun time walking around the gardens outside the house, and seeing all the beautiful architecture. There were times throughout the tour that I felt like we were in Europe instead of Bolivia. After the tour we ate lunch at a new restaurant.

It was a fun outing and we were very proud that we were able to do this all on our own ;)

Here are some pictures of our time there

Me and the House

The Gardens

The House

A Statue in Front of the House

Hope you are all having a great weekend!

Adios! - Rachel

Sights of Bolivia

Here are some pictures of my time in Bolivia

My Classroom

Streets of Cochabamba and The Andes

The view of Cochabamba from the Cristo

6 Weeks in Bolivia!

Buenos Tardes!

6 weeks have flown by!!

Life has been pretty busy here. Last week was a normal school week and Olympic week in my classroom. We wrote "postcards" to friends about what it was like to go to an Olympic Event, we invented our own Olympic Sports, had our own version of the Opening Ceremonies, learned about some famous Olympic Athletes and learned about the very first Olympics in Greece. The kids really enjoyed learning about the Olympics. They had all sorts of questions that I tried to answer or tried to look up. It was fun to teach my students about a topic that they were really interested about.

The kids seem to be falling into a good rhythm. They have calmed down and are working hard. Last week my class also had chapel. Chapel happens once a week, and different grades take a turn leading each week. Each grade does a skit or two( based on a certain topic), sing some songs and share a little message. Our chapel was on The Calling of the 12 Disciples. The kids did a really great job. They did two skits, helped lead some songs about making fishers of men and my co-teacher gave a little message. Another fun thing about Chapel is that the parents get to come. They watch the chapel and then the kids have a little tea with them. It was fun to see the kids so proud of their work and to talk with the parents.

This week was Camp week, which means that all the kids at the school had camp! The Camps are divided into different grades with 1-3, 4-6 and 7-12. The different groups have a different length camp and different locations. I was with the 1-3 camp who had a normal week up until Wednesday. Wednesday afternoon we had a full day and then camp began in the afternoon, with a lot of games and activities. After an afternoon and night full of activities we spent the night in our classrooms. We got up Thursday morning after an interesting night of sleep and had breakfast. After breakfast we were off to an exciting afternoon of swimming, making sandcastles and playing a a retreat area. It was a fun, but very tiring week. I think all of the teachers are thankful for a day off on Friday!

Personally, I am doing pretty well. I am continuing to enjoy life here. Last weekend we went up to the Cristo, which is a huge statue of Jesus. It was quite a sight to see. We were able to take a gondola ride up to where the Cristo stands. From the top we could see a great sight of Cochabamba and we were even able to go up into the Cristo. It was a fun day!

Hope you are all doing well!

Adios!! - Rachel