Hey, I don't know if many other people will read this but i thought I would do a blog for myself so I can actually remember what I've been doing. If it's not the most exciting reading I apologise, although you may not think it my life is also normal at times even though I am in Bolivia. I've kind of missed the first few weeks, it's crazy to think iv'e only been here that long!!; but will try and summarise them in this first post. After an exciting 19 hour journey we arrived in Bolivia and moved into our new house. We are sharing with 8 germans, which sounds worse than it actually is - joke they are nice. So, there are 11 of us in total with me, su and toby, living in our apartment in Hogar Ninas Obrajes which is a girls home run by Arco Iris. It`s kind of like an orphanage apart from most of the girls have parents, who are either in prison or are not able to care for them. We have made quite alot of new little friends and they are always so happy to see us and are alot of fun. It's also pretty handy that they really love teaching me spanish, except they often find it hilarious to tell me complete rubbish then hear me go around repeating it. Quite alot has happened since we got here, its hard to know where to start....we went on a training week near the mountains, about 4300m, which was cool, we heard about the projects and played alot of werewolf, a game the germans are obsessed with. We have also been to a football match in Stadium La Paz and watched the biggest rivals Bolivar and 'the Strongest' play (hilarious name as apparantly the normally lose) The atmosphere was mental with music, alot of swearing in spanish, and people throwing water down onto the terrace below. After an eventful game, in which the strongest received two red cards, riot police came onto the pitch and surrounded the ref - to protect him from angry players. We will definately go to the next game!
 |
| The view from mine and Toby's room |
We have also been to lots of markets, me and toby brought a guitar for 300 Bolis - 30 pound and so much food. Su went crazy and brought loads of really funky fruit and a blender to make smoothies. we also had a funny incident with a man in the street who talked to us, asking me if I knew his friend 'charlie' - i thought he was just joking as we were english and was like 'yeah of course I know charlie!' Su then told me charlie was a street name for cocaine - I now know i don't have any friends called charlie. However more importantly we chose our projects last wednesday and I am now working in Casa Esperanza, a home for boys who have come of the streets. I am working with a german guy called Lukas, we get on really well and have alot of laughs, he also speaks reasonable spanish which is very helpful. At the moment we are just hanging around and getting to know the guys there, playing football and helping them with homework. Many of them have social problems and have understandably had very tough and sad lives, we have already had to break up fights on our first day. But they are very friendly and seem to really take an interest in getting to know us. It's quite intense with the spanish but i'm getting lessons next week with some others. Today we went on a mega shop and brought so much food at a local market - i proudly wore my project trust tee-shirt, on which i stupidly sewed the bolivian flag upside down, this was pointed out today by locals to my embaressment and i have now taken it off. We have just made the most amazing battered sweet and sour chicken and I feel sick. So, first post is now finished. I hope this will be the first of many more- hasta pronto!
 |
| Me and Toby at El Mercado Negro |
We have also been to lots of markets, me and toby brought a guitar for 300 Bolis - 30 pound and so much food. Su went crazy and brought loads of really funky fruit and a blender to make smoothies. we also had a funny incident with a man in the street who talked to us, asking me if I knew his friend 'charlie' - i thought he was just joking as we were english and was like 'yeah of course I know charlie!' Su then told me charlie was a street name for cocaine - I now know i don't have any friends called charlie. However more importantly we chose our projects last wednesday and I am now working in Casa Esperanza, a home for boys who have come of the streets. I am working with a german guy called Lukas, we get on really well and have alot of laughs, he also speaks reasonable spanish which is very helpful. At the moment we are just hanging around and getting to know the guys there, playing football and helping them with homework. Many of them have social problems and have understandably had very tough and sad lives, we have already had to break up fights on our first day. But they are very friendly and seem to really take an interest in getting to know us. It's quite intense with the spanish but i'm getting lessons next week with some others. Today we went on a mega shop and brought so much food at a local market - i proudly wore my project trust tee-shirt, on which i stupidly sewed the bolivian flag upside down, this was pointed out today by locals to my embaressment and i have now taken it off. We have just made the most amazing battered sweet and sour chicken and I feel sick. So, first post is now finished. I hope this will be the first of many more- hasta pronto!
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen