Mom Mamma Mama'

Last night as I listened to the fireworks being set off in protest of a dictatorship here in Bolivia I never dreamed that tonight's fireworks would be going off in celebration of that fallen dictator! I laid in bed for way too many hours last night unable to stop scrolling through post after post of terrible tragic news taking place throughout Bolivia. Buses full of students who were going to La Paz to protest peacefully were ambushed in route and the things they endured are too horrible to recount. People were building and setting off molotov cocktails, lighting cars, buses and buildings on fire. This morning as the rain poured down in Santa Cruz the gloomy weather added to the feel of sadness that hung in the air. Even the news that the OAS had finally ruled that there had been without a doubt fraudulent behavior in the handling of the General Election on Oct. 20th was not good enough news to brighten the day. We traveled slowly around road blocks through abandoned streets, a...

There are somedays that change history forever. For Bolivia today will surely go down in history as a day to remember. Just 2 days ago the people in favor of democracy gave the sitting President, Evo Morales and his government officials 48 hours to leave office. Tonight at 7pm their time is up. No one knows for certain what will happen at 7:01. Will Bolivia finally be free from their dictatorship disguised as democracy or will their be a governmental takeover? I am praying that Evo and his people will surrender and Bolivia will see God at work answering the prayers of the people and they will give Him all the glory, honor and praise, as we know that it is only God who could bring about that change. But God doesn't always act in the ways we expect. So, we are left asking, what if Evo doesn't step down? Where is God? Let me tell you, God is still God. And God is still at work. In these 13 days of Bolivians protesting I have again and again witnessed God here at work in the he...

     Never in my life did I imagine that I would be living in a country not my own 6 days into a countrywide civil unrest. When I fell in love with my Bolivian husband in the heart of Rome I didn't think that we would be living in South America in a city of over 4 million people raising our now 5 year old little girl. I had no way of knowing that I would be 3 months into being a 5th grade teacher at a Christian school in Santa Cruz, Bolivia when the General Elections here took place on October 20th. What I am saying is this is not the life I planned.      While, I have lived here in Santa Cruz, Bolivia for a year and 4 months this is not my home. I have however begun to feel more at home, as I have made friends, picked up Spanish and adapted to the many cultural differences that make Bolivia, Bolivia. I definitely know my husband and his family better and I love that our daughter is fluent not only in my mother tounge, but that of her papá as well. The...

It is a funny thing, time. How it can seem so slow and so fast all in the same moment. As I sit here right now I can hardly comprehend that we have been in Bolivia since June (four months having passed), it seems like we have lived here for years and for days. I cannot seem to wrap my mind around the fact that in 48hrs my husband whom I have not seen in 4 months will be arriving and we will be a family reunited. So much has taken place since we were together and the idea of being together again the 3 of us while exciting and happy is also overwhelming. Sure it will be fantastic to have our family back together, no one would deny that, but these four months apart have been packed full of change, adjustment, growth and transitions and so adding yet another big change is, well, challenging. I say all this because I myself am still processing, and I process best when I write. I am also trying to help Miss. K prepare for yet another big change, and so I feel as though I have been slowly wo...

It is funny the things you miss and the things you forget when living abroad. Just like it is funny how we take some things for granted and make assumptions about necessities. I have been in Bolivia for just  over 2 months and I have not received one piece of mail. No letters from home, no junk mail, no bills, it is not because my family and friends don't love me it is because the postal service in Bolivia shut down. There are rumors of it being open again, and when you look at their website it looks like it is all well and good, but here's the thing...no one cares. I asked my sister in law if she knew if the post office was up and running and she had no idea if it was nor that it had not been. I have seen expats ask online, but Bolivians don't seem to know or care because it seems no one really depends upon the postal service. If  you need to pay your bills then you need to go to the pharmacy, or the bank or the office and pay your bill, if you don't pay then you bes...

Today did not go as planned. All I wanted to do was find a storage bin for Miss K's toys and get some groceries. I had thought we would walk to a nearby outdoor market called The Ramada, but Miss. K was not in the mood for a 20min walk so I decided to take a Micro (aka bus) seeing as none of the ones who were passing were overly full I decided today would be a good day to brave them alone. I asked a lady which one went to a different market that my brother in law always takes us. She said #4 so we waited where she suggested and took #4 along the way I realized we were on a street where we had been a few times that specialized in plastic stuff. So we got off # 4 and shopped for the bin. Turned out they were a lot more expensive than I expected so we caught another Micro that said the name of the market on the window. Unbeknownst to me the bus was going in the other direction which I figured out pretty quickly, but wrongly assumed that it would just make a circle and get their e...

Before moving to Rome, Italy I attended a missionary training program through the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA) ReachGlobal. There we were presented with a lot of really valuable training as well as took a lot of time to really get to know ourselves and how we relate to the world, others and God. I wish I could recall all the great information we were given, but alas most has faded with the passing of time. One of the lessons I do recall is that there are 4 stages that everyone experiences when moving cross culturally. We may not all hit each phase at the same time or for the same length of time, but we will all encounter these 4 stages of adjustment; honeymoon, frustration, adjustment, and acceptance. The past few days I knew that I was in the midst of th frustration phase, but even though I knew it I could not shake it. Everything about our new country was annoying to me. The fact that I had just dealt with my second round of stomach issues (i'll spare you the detai...

I think of myself as pretty non-confrontational. I even attended a Quaker university, but I am in a war with the pesky little tiny miniscule ants that seem to come out of nowhere. They are not like the ants we had in our bathroom in California, they are nothing like the ants that you find on your garden path. These ants are magic. One min you look and your apartment is an ant free peaceful place, next second they are everywhere. These small as a ground of coffee but white not black little buggers. (wait, just a sec they are back) Okay, I am seriously in need of a new plan of attack. I have done everything that I can think of short of set the place on fire. I have smashed them to smithereens, taken out the trash at least once a day, sometimes 2-3 times a day. I keep all my food in Ziplock bags in a drawer or in the fridge. I have wiped the counter with bug repellent, don't worry that did nothing I wiped it down again before food prep. (of which there is really very little), I have...

I have had many jobs, and I have worked at home, in the office, at schools, in stores, coffee shops and more. I have recently jumped into a new role as an English as a Second Language Teacher with VIP Kids. I have taught English and I have taught kids before, but teaching with VIP Kids is a whole new ballgame. I will be the first to admit that being an American living in Bolivia and teaching in kids in China to speak English while I am attempting to learn Spanish is humorous.  It is not a life I ever imagined, but I thrive when I am challenged and when I get to try new things. VIP Kid gives me the opportunity to use my new TESOL certificate while transitioning to our new life here in Bolivia. It gives me the freedom to work when I am able, and still be a full time stay at home mom. In case you are interested in VIP Kid here is how it works. Once you are hired (which is a rather long and convoluted process) things are fairly simple.  You open up the half hour time slots yo...

Assuming most of my readers are in America I also assume that most of you probably read that title in English. But, it's not necessarily written in English. It could be in Spanish or Italian. Because we all share a similar alphabet and the same numbers. Right now as I blog in the park my daughter is being introduced to a whole new way of interpreting the world around her. She may see A, B, C or 1, 2, or 3 but they no longer will mean the same as they did at her old school. And that's just the beginning. As an adult picking up a 2nd or 3rd language is challenging and ss a kid it is easier, that's what they say. But no matter when you add a new language you are expanding your understanding of the world and how you interpret it. I know that Miss. K is being challenged, I know it's hard to not be able to say what you want to say and frustrating to not be understood. I get that it's a struggle to not be able to sound sharp witted and intelligent but I also know that ...

I'll admit I am nervous to drop Miss. K into a new preschool, mid year, new country, new teachers, new kids, new language. I had no intention of even attempting this until Fall maybe not even till February when the new school year starts here. Miss. K however has been asking to go to school since last week and yesterday when we wandered past a play school yard filled with joy filled kids having fun it was almost more than she could handle and she started pleading to go to school. So, I talked to her Tia and asked about her cousins school and the possibility of Miss. K attending the same play school, she thought it would work so we are going to check it out. Miss. K was so excited she had Disney Land sleep as my patents called it. She fell asleep early with the promise of school but then tossed and turned and woke at 4am and yelled, "Mamá I am so EXCITED to go to school!" To which my much less enthusiastic reply was, "great, go to sleep." But she was wide...

In America we take shopping for granted. I don't know if I've ever given it much thought. If I want something I can head head to one of my 3 favorite stores plop Miss. K in a cart or simply order it on Amazon and wait a day for it to arrive. This is not the case in Bolivia. In Bolivia if I say I would like a television stand for example, I will be carted to an entire street full of furniture vendors. This at first seems like a great place to shop, that is until you realize that every single shop on the street carries the exact same products, just with slightly different prices. So after you've been in the 3rd store you know number 4-7 are not going to have what you're looking for. And so does your kid who is over walking and looking at the same piece of furniture again and again. When you have searched all seven stores to no avail but happen upon the exact piece of furniture you were envisioning on day 2 of the hunt it's like finding gold! Which makes it hard to ...

We have been here in Santa Cruz, Bolivia for just 2 days and though not everything is how I expected our transition from one home to the next has been smoother than one would have imagined. I have gone many places and have even lived abroad before, but never have I introduced my child to a new home, let alone life in a country not her own.   I have to say I am very proud of our little family and our ability to go with the flow. The past few months have been all about downsizing and saying goodbyes to everyone and almost everything she has ever known.   Now that I have the time to reflect I can say my kid has handled all of this with more grace and calmness than most adults I know.   Nothing against us adults but we tend to get attached to our things and our way of doing life, where as my kiddo has been able to hold on to her sense of excitement and adventure through it all. I was fearful at times of starting fresh in a new country with a 3-year-old, especially wit...