Monsoon Season

Well friends, the day has come. I prepared for it for about a month, and well, I did as much as I could. I set up my room (see pics below) and planned as much as possible, and went to lots of meetings, and then, it came: the first day of school.

Before the first day, I thought the hardest part about teaching was coming up with a syllabus that contained policies on everything from chewing gum to safely escaping in case of a fire. And now, now that I've been teaching for three whole days, I've decided that the hardest part about teaching is acting like you know what's going on when really, you feel like you have no idea.

So far though, so good. My students seem to have bought into the idea that I might be ok to live with for the year, and I've been told that students who had to change their schedules (which was about 40 due to a severe registration error for all Spanish classes) they were actually disappointed that they didn't have me anymore. So that boosted my self esteem a bit:)

The best way I can describe being a new teacher is like having a tsunami come flooding through your life and all of a sudden, you realize that you have made an extreme lifestlye change. Never before in my life have I gotten up at 5:45am and worked until 6pm in the same day.

Still, I've had a great time with the students, and I feel like if I can just get my head wrapped around everything and get organized, this will be a fun year.

Thanks to all of you who have been sending words of encouragement. It has really helped!

Classroom Before and After:

Home Sweet Home

Here are some pics of my new casa (for those of you getting this post via e-mail, you must visit the actual blog to see pics). Someone asked me what I would do with all of the extra space, and I have been told that it will fill up quickly. But, for now, I have a lot of room to jump around in my living room!

Cheyenne Residency

I guess I should announce that I am an official Cheyenne resident. I moved in to a nice two bedroom apartment between Central High and the Golf Course about a week ago. Getting used to living by myself, but so far so good! Will post pictures later.

Day 5 and 6: Tiwanaku Ruins and Feria 16 de julio

Well, it's been, what, like four months now since my Bolivian excursion, but I think that I am finally to the end of the pictures. There is no journal entry for these days, because towards the end of Tiwanaku, either a flu bug or altitude sickness or heat stroke, or a combination of the three hit me hard and I had to sleep between every activity just to have the strength to keep going. As I was looking through my pictures, however, I am suprised how good I look for how bad I was feeling. I'm glad I kept clicking the camera, because it makes for some good memories. I've already forgotten the extent of my illness that put me in bed for several days after the trip...

Day 5: March 18th

This day we went to the Tiwanakan Ruins, near La Paz. These guys were contemporaries to the Incans. Later that night, we had dinner at Franz's house, and his mom is a real life cholita (it was like meeting a celebrity). We had a great time in their humble home. Highlights included Franz's teenage brothers telling us all kinds of wild stories they had heard about Americans, and being suprised at how normal Brian and I were (by the end, Brian was their hero). We also had a great Bolivian-American dance off. We taught them Vanilla Ice, Hammer, Country Swing and a typical akward high school dance, and they taught us some cool Bolivian dances.



Day 6: March 19th

For our last day, we visited the Feria 16 de julio, which is claimed to be the largest outdoor market in South America. It was pretty huge, and I was consistently amazed at what kinds of stuff was being sold. The rudest choiltas were at the voodoo stand. I think they were afraid we were going to steal the soul of their snakes. I also loved the mannequins. We also had lunch at Gabriela's house, which was really a cool experience. Not very often do we North Americans get invited into homes on these kinds of trips. A very intimate and special experience; one of my favorite parts of the trip. That night we ate at the fanciest hotel in La Paz, and I witnessed the consumption of more meat than even at Rodizio Grill. I even considered becoming a vegetarian after that experience.



The plane ride home was a painful one. I'm sure all of the passengers thought I was transporting a fatal disease by the way I was coughing. Turns out I contracted my very first case of bronchitis, which I believe was the product of a Bolivian flu bug. When I arrived at my parents house, I had barely enough energy to make it upstairs and collapse on the bed. I stayed there for a couple of days and sweated out my illness (literally. Now that my lungs have recovered, I am glad to have happy pictures of the last two days.

A week later, Mariel and Jhovanna came to Cheyenne and presented with Brian and me at the UW Shepards Symposium on Social Justice on Project Citizen and Lynching in Bolivia. We had a good week with them bowling, playing pool, watching Twilight and visiting Cheyenne.