My Life In Pieces

Warning, none of these pictures were taken by me, simply stole them from my killer exchange student frends:)

 This is a traditional Santa Cruz dress called Tipoi, it was worn way back when by all the Cambas, since i am a little Cambita our school made us wear them for the feria we had for the day of Santa Cruz!

 Cabanas were made in the middle of the school for the feria, this is me during my night classes on fridays, with my friday unifrom:)

 Cake here is a huge and important thing for everyone on their Birthdays. this is me with Charlotte from Belgium and Issac from NY we ate the cake and it turned our mouthes black...exchange student fail!!!!!

 My Host dad, me, my host mom and my Host Brother all went to a small town to do some volunteer work with Rotary, we stopped for some Jugo and took a picture:)

 We are exchange students, its what we do. Putting a bowl of ice in front of us eventually leads to an ice war which results in water wars which escalates into a full on cake war!...I lost

 Santa Cruz de la Sierra exchange students:) all in the beautiful mountains near Conception for our first Rotary trip.

 My grad class, yes we all have the same class together, in the same room, at the same time, there is around 70 of us, there are lots of people missing.

 This is the sad reality of what people outside of the City live in.

 Proud to be an exchange student!!!!! living life in the fast lane, it leads us to the top of a beautiful mountain where we can feel on top of the world.

 Flora and I in our promo monday uniforms with the Santa Cruz flag ready to get our defiller on!

 Baking Party at my house, Hailey (Wisconsin USA), Sara (New York USA), me, Mathilde (france) and Charlotte( Belgium), we all missed things so we went to my house and had a running around, party filled, baking good ol time.

I feel bad for my family and friends, my Best friend sent me this picture after a skype sesh, this apparently what people at home see when skyping with me...weoo. goooo bolivian Internet connection!

This is my life here, not better, nor worse than  it was back home, its just different. it has its ups and downs but that is what makes it so exciting. Everything is totally random, mostly because i dont know what is going on, but awesome people, friends and family both near and far are helping me make the most of this life her, its my life in pieces!

... >:S

Dear Mosquitos,
As much as im sure you enjoy sucking my blood, the 45 bites a day is getting a little old. If you would please all go die in a hole somewhere, that would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely;
Miss sick and tired of being itchy!...ALL THE TIME

Such an Exchange Student

Being away from home, in a third world country, where you dont exactly speak the language, and youre not with anyone that you know... is difficult to say the least. It has had its ups and downs but there is one thing that totally keeps me grounded...the other exchange students! People who are going through the same thing that you are and who can understand what no one else can. The things we get up to as exchange students would make anyone else think we were crazy but to us, we can justify anything with the sentence "Im in Bolivia". Last weekend i had a bunch of the exchange students over and we had a baking day!!!! all of us made something from home that we missed, we had guacamole and nachos, nutella pie, deepfried oreos, petitebeurre cookies and tea!!! it was one of those days tho that by the end of it we needed to be rolled out the door and undo the buttons on our jeans. even running laps around the house or dancing the kevin couldnt fix the food baby we were all nursing, none the less tho, we had a blast.  This last week has been especially eventful for me, Hailey, a girl from Wisconsin moved houses like a block away from me so we have been having lots of city exploring adventures together, we even did some volunteering at a school helping with an english spelling bee. we've gone shopping and figured out the best buss line ever and the other day we went to the plaza and shotgunned sodas with Sarah...because were cool like that and the fact that its in Bolivia makes it that much cooler. This is only a taste of all the random things we have gotten up to, and there is a list of things yet to be accomplished.

i learned the hard way never to walk under a mango tree in the spring...they hurt when they fall on you. its like there should be a sign WARNING; FALLING MANGO ZONE. meh, all part of the Bolivian life.

Puedo Probar?

Foods are an essential part of what makes up a culture,and Santa Cruz is known for its interesting "Comidas Typicas". In Santa Cruz we are  Camba, meaning that the majority of the people are of Spanish/ Bolivian decent, due to the Spanish ancestry there is more of a European influence on the foods here...or atleast thats what ive been told. All i know is that the food is one of the things that i have realized to be the most different between Canada and Bolivia. Lunch here is the most important meal of the Day, there is ALWAYS  soup to start, either with chicken, carne, or platanos and then there is the main course that follows.I happen to love the soup here but it is not very popular among my family, regardless we have it everyday because thats just what you do here. For our main course there is always rice and then some kind of meat, usually chicken or beef. then there is "salad" which they consider to be any sort of diced/cubed vegetable on a plate or plain lettuce. salad dressing here, oil and salt, yuck. i just stick with the plain veggies, i like it that way. For breakfast we usually have bread or cereal, occasionally Saltenas which are like a pizza pocket minus all the salt and instead of being filled with pizza, they are filled with chicken or meat stew. they are super messy to eat but they are really good. Tea and chocolate milk are searved in my house with every meal, i usually stick with water because the tea tastes like the smell of llama and the milk here is like whipping cream, but at lunch  there is usually some kind of fruit juice, somo (a drink with a special puffed corn in the bottom, made with water, cinamon and corn flour), chicha (the same as somo minus the corn in the bottom and with lots of spices),  or bitter ( its like a bitter prune/grape/rosewater juice). Desert here comes after lunch , not after dinner, unless your at a dinner party but thats not the point because there you get cake no matter what so yeah. but after lunch it is really common for everyone to eat jello or a slice of cheese ( that tastes like olives :S) with Dulce de Leche or Mahablanko ( camba version of dulce de leche but without any milk.)Dinner here does not exist, my family will have a light snack at like seven but that is only if you want, usually it is either arepa ( cheese and blended corn all cooked together in a frying pan), sandwich (that means cheese and mayonaise...no veggies...occasionally mortadella), bread with butter, or masacko (fried plantains or yucca that have been mashed into a million pieces with cheese and meat). dinners are nothing substancial unless you are going to a party, in that case you eat alot and it is usually at like 11 or 12 at night, everything here starts really late! when in bolivia, try everything, that is my advice, there are so many new things here, Im loving that!

Red uniform, Red skin.

For someone who has only been here for a month and two weeks, it sure has been going by quickly!! I started school the day after i arrived, therefore leaving me litterally no time to adjust to anything but whatever. I am going to "Colegio Dios es Amor", it is a tiny private catholic school from kindergarden to grade 12, it has about 500 students and we have to wear uniforms:S I am in Promo which means that im gradding this year along with my 70 other classmates, and yes we are all in the same class...at the same time...all together...in a small room. lets just say its a zoo, but its my zoo and i love it.
Aside from school and Rotary and Spanish,  i havnt been up to a whole lot, that has been changing tho :) a week or two ago, all the rotary students went on our first trip, we went to a wild orchid festival in a town called Conception, it was about a five hour drive but we stopped a few times to eat lunch and to go swimming in a lagoona! that was really fun but i jumped into the water that was shallower than i thought and ended up really hurting my knee again. its gradually getting better but i think i just over streached the healing ligaments. meh. In conception we toured around the local missions and jesuits sights, we went into historic churches and marveled at the beautiful plazas. Our second day we went for "a light walk" that is what they told us. turns out a light walk here is a 2.5 hour hike up a mountain in the 36 degree weather. I happened to have loved it so that was good, the view was beautiful and we got to see orchids in their natural environment. others on the trip were not so content about the exercise and made it very clear, dont worry tho, i held back the urge to strangle people. After hiking, shopping, running away from HUGE beetles, seeing typical dances and tasting typical comidas we loaded up the bus and headed back to Santa Cruz. I considered that to be a very successful trip; got to know the exchange students, learned some new games, didnt sleep much, ate cunape, saw a tucan and an ostridge for the first time and got ridiculously sun burnt. Could have lived without that last one, but on the plus side i now match my red school uniform:P

A Bolivian family

Families play a major role in the life of an individual, they are there through the good and through the bad, they teach you and annoy you and push all your buttons, but they are family all the same and you would do anything for them.When i first got here i was worried about entering into a new family, more so than anything else about getting here, i was afraid to be an intruder in the lives of these people who so generously welcomed me into their house. When i got here i was an outsider, that is for sure, but with time i have been able to learn and grow and become part of this family that i now call my own.

coming from a big family myself, adjusting to my family here was not as difficult as say an only child adjusting to being in a family of 8. I have 5 sibblings here all of them whom which i would do anything for. Jasmine, she is the youngest and is such a daddys little princess, she ALWAYS has soo much energy and is curious about everything, but i guess that is to be expected for a person of 7 years old. Next is Alfredito, he is loco but it is with him that i have the best relationship, he is 16 and we joke around all the time, i think he is the one person who understands my sarcasm :S Dulce is 17, she is going to be going on an exchange to Canada as soon as she gets her visa back, with Dulce things are comfortable and we mesh well with eachother:) Goldy is 19 and is studying to be an architect, she is brilliant and is soo caring and compassionant, not to mention hilarious. Beto is 27 but he still lives at home, he is studying at the university in managment and is also working in the family buisness, he likes to party and use hair gell. My parents here i really do consider to be like my real parents, they are always there if i need them, sure its awkward sometimes because i feel out of place in the family dynamic but if i want something to change i have to work at it and it comes along. doing things together like going to church or having family day bring us closer together and make me more comfortable, i really like it here and im glad ill be with them for the whole year.
I live in a house in the city, it is rather large and has a gate out front as a security measure. Inside there are 6 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms, i have my own room and own bathroom. we have a cabana out back with a grill and gathering area not to mention a massive mango tree! love that despite the fact i hate mango but soo not the point.
the life i live here may not be realistic to the life of the normal class society but i am loving every moment of it,family is important here, they are really close to each other and i am envious of that, the dynamics are closer and they never argue, something im not really used to but it is something that inspires me!

So you want to see the world? Look at a pigeon, they're world wide and look the same everywhere!

If someone would have asked me what i expected my exchange to be like before I left, i would have probably said something along the lines of it being difficult, interesting, exciting, life changing blah,blah,blah. I have come to see that my exchange is all that and sooo much more. words are not able to describe everything that goes through my brian on a daily basis, my emotions and moods change hourly, i go from having a crappy day to the best day all with a trip to the grocery store with my family. i have come to apprecieate small things, like being asked if i want to help cook, or a kiss on the cheek. things that were never a big deal at home suddenly mean the world. I know that i have changed in the short time that i have been here, i like to think for the better, i have a new apprecieation for good friends, my family, simple gestures and acts of kindness. manners and gratitude are something that i express alot of here, my parents taught me well, but i have come to see that that is not always a common practice here, please and thankyous go a long way, but sadly they are not very common.
I like to believe that i am representing my country well, i am the only person from Canada in all of my club and district. There are 15 of us total, 6 from the United States (4 of which are all from New York), 4 from france ( yes i get to speak french with them), 2 from Bermuda..., and 1 from Belgium. Every Tuesday and Thursday we have a spanish class with some other exchange students, they are with a Program called AFS, they are all from Belguim or Gremany and are all super awesome, they like to have a good time and that is a good time! as of lately our spanish class is more like a social get together than a learning experience but it is still educational...ish.
On Wednesdays we have Rotary meetings at night, we all show up with our blazers in toe, we eat yucca (it is a root from a tree that is like a potato but sooo much better), listen to people and talk, we get dinner and dessert( people always eat dessert here, im not complaining but my jeans might soon) then we get to go home. I like it mostly for the socializing part...and the yucca!
we have all gone to the plaza together and hung out, we have gone to parties, and we have hung out at eachothers houses and had random goodtimes that will be for another time. bottom line, i love these people and they are a major part of why i am loving my exchange so much!
In the city there is one thing that i have really noticed that is different from alot of places in Canada, there are plazas everywhere! Each "barrier" which is like a giant neighborhood has a plaza, it has chairs and trees and little stores and usually a church in it, they are great social places and are occasionally really sketchy but they are one thing that i have not seen much of back home. in the center of the city and in the big important regions there are huge central plazas where all the stores and important things are and they are absolutly beautiful. BUT COVERED IN FREEKING PIGEONS!
i don't like pigeons! i dont even know if that is how you spell pigeon, i thought there was a d in there somewhere but the little autocorrect man says otherwise. meh!
Today was election day in the city, that means that EVERYONE who is 18 or older MUST vote, if not all cellphones,bank accounts and anything else is shut down for that person for 3 months, unless they vote by the eloted time. its serious stuff here, there are fines and huge messures taken on and before election day. For example, for the last 3 days no one has been able to legally buy or cell alcohol, not even in restaurants or bars. also as of midnight of last night, all cars were prohibited from driving on the roads, no busses and no taxis. strictly motorcycles, quads, bikes and walking. Im not sure why but it was a huge deal, there were a few taxis that had permission to drive but they costed about 5 times as much as they usually would. after the election closed at 6 the cars were aloud back on the road tho. in order to vote everyone had to walk to the closest school to their house, which is like nothing because there are schools EVERYWHERE! and there are like a million of them!
feel free to ask questions, not sure what you want to know about this crazy place, after all this is a blog for you guys not me, it just helps me from repeating myself like a million times!
xoxo
P.S no comenting on spelling or grammar, we all know i suck at it!:P

A crazy place i like to call Bolivia!

Today is my six week mark. September 1st i stepped off the plane into this crazy country. Bolivia is a place like no other that i have seen, not even in pictures. Highways consist of two single lanes carved out of the dirt and covered in asphalt (only on the "nicer" highways), each lane going opposite directions. Cars pass on the shoulder  when they can't get the opportunity on the road that is how scary it is. speed limits are around 80Km/h but i don't think i have ever seen a car going below 110km/h. it is terrifying, especially since the conditions of the roads are, lets say less than idyllic and there are so many cars that you are lucky if you have a meter between cars. Seat belts?...non existent, and the amount of seats you have in the car does not mean that is the max amount of people you can fit in that car. I think my record has been stuffing 9 people into a taxi, 10 if you count the driver.
I know that driving was the first major difference that I noticed when i got here, it took me about five seconds to pick up on that one and about ten to figure out that parking is almost as bad as the driving. as long as there is not a driveway that you are blocking, people here park wherever they like, including in the middle of the street, cars have to weave through open spaces in order to make it down the road and usually it ends up being a one way street just by the amount of space left.
although Santa Cruz de la Sierra is the largest city in Bolivia, it is nothing like a city i expected to see. there are hardly any big skyscrapers and it is not very dense, well that is just me comparing it to Canadian cities and what i have seen before. the city functions in rings, there is a plaza and the downtown area in the middle and the main roads are called rings, they make circles around the plaza and go out into the country. there are 5 rings considered to be inside the major part of the city, after that you get into really poor areas and that is where there starts to be gangs and problems. Even in the safest neighborhoods in the city, all the condos, apartments and houses have huge locked gates on them and all parking lots have security guards watching them.
Im still getting used to this city, the poverty and the begging, the amount of security measures in place to prevent car theft and burglary, the caution you must use when hailing taxis or going on the micros (buses). Every day i learn something different or try something new. Im discovering more about myself all the time and im taking it all in stride. Being in this country has its challenges but in the end it is overcoming the obstacles that makes the successes even greater.