Football, Cross Dressing, and more Football

So, it has been a while and alot has happened in these last two weeks - so this might be a long post!  As I said last time me and lukas planned a football tournament for the boys at our project and got everyone to sign up, brought prizes, I even brought myself a fake Thomas Mueller shirt - which I was pretty proud of!  So we turned up with other volunteers on saturday, Max, Niko, Me and Lukas. I was still feeling ill - I think I got sunstroke - my bald head got soo sunburnt and the day after it felt like my head was going to explode, only to find that after all our planning and organisation half of the kids in true bolivian style had gone swimming - but it didn't matter we played with the adolescents who hadn't left and made teams - our team 'Gringo United' (gringo is what they call all white people here) was undefeated - with mueller playing on top form.  We had a really good afternoon and they really enjoyed it - we will do it again soon.

Who else other than Thomas Mueller -( I was pretty pleased with this shirt)

Casa Esperanza's 'cancha' with a bit of a La Paz skyline

Damn she is foxy! (I liked what I did with the turban thingy?)

More of the ''Cross dressing party' 

 I think I say this every time, but we are getting more and more involved at the home and it feels more and more like everyday life working there.  We had a talk with Don Martin about what our actual role will be there in the team now and he is really keen that we really get involved in taking the boys on trips out,  start other small projects with them in Apoyo pedagogico ( where they go to 'do' their homework) and go on trips with Trabajo social (social work) to visit families and the Doctor.  However at the moment the are alot of problems with the team and what their work there actually is - so I think alot will change and there is going to be a big turn around in how everything at the house is structured and works.  On friday we had a party with all the projects - i don't even know what for but many of the staff crossed dressed and I also found myself dressed as a woman in Su's clothes which were ridiculously small and skimpy but i would be lying if i said i didnt secretly enjoy it.  After that I went and brought a massive chinese and me and toby stuffed ourselves for like 35 bolis - £3.50 - i still cant get over how cheap food is here and I eat so much - which kind of annoys Su and Toby as we foodshare - i'm always so hungry though - it's either doing alot of exercise or I have a massive parasite living inside me  - l hope the first reason. as both Su and Toby have both had parasites.  We are also going to move house soon (we hope) to live with the others as we spend more time with them and the thought of moving into the casita (a little hut in the garden with a tin roof which isn't too shabby) also excited me. On saturday, me lukas and niko found some old sand and cement and started filling in the massive cracks and holes in the walls .  We then went and brought ourselves some equipment and i rustled up some cement (kind of guessing the quantities involved), anyway after all of this we found out that they are planning to knock down the casita when they renovate the house - which will be soon :(  Iv'e started having some drum lessons with a guy at church called fabio who is really good and a really nice guy - he didn't want me to pay him so I just bring him doughnuts every time, which I think keeps him happy.  There's also a volleyball tournament going on at the moment between the different projects which takes place every Saturday afternoon for the next 8 weeks!  Unlike many of the other teams who practice twice a week,  we have failed to actually have one successful practice so far - and the star players (who they ridiculously expected me and Lukas to be) massively disappointed in our first game! We havn't actually won a game yet and me and lukas have played a whole 10 mins up to date (they saw our standard and quickly subbed us).

Me and my little buddy manuel - the youngest at Esperanza

Washing time at Esperanza

This friday we had a big birthday party at casa esperanza for all the boys who have had birthdays in the last few months, there was clowns, cake, games, dancing which went on until late and I think everybody enjoyed! Wow we have been busy! -  This Wednesday we also took Jose Luise (one of the boys from our project who doesn’t get to leave much but is really well behaved and works hard at school) to watch el clasico, Bolivar vs los Tigres – the two biggest rival teams in La Paz, as a surprise for him.  It was a really good evening and he really enjoyed it although it tipped it down with rain for the first half and we got pretty wet.  Like the last time I watched these teams play there were two red cards, this time for Bolivar, and at least 8 yellows!  After a gruelling soggy game Los Tigres (the team we were supporting) won 3 – 2 which made a good end to a fun evening which Jose will remember hopefully for a long time.  Anyway I have to go to bed as it is late and I havn’t got much more to say – this Wednesday we are doing something interesting and visiting some mountain which I cant remember the name of – but that will come in the next post! Take Care - Tim

A wet Lukas, Me and Jose Luise