I wish that I'd had the time to write during every single moment over the past 5 days, because every single moment there's been something worth writing about.This country is astoundingly beautiful and complex, rich and poor, deep and wide and intense and awe-inspiring. I can't believe that I've been blessed enough to go on this program. I am completely overwhelmed- with the newness and immenseness of all around me, with the speed at which everything seems to be happening, with my lack-of-spanish skills, with my exhaustion, and with the magnitude of that which I am & am going to experience this semester.
Here are a few of the highlights/thought/observations from the past 5 days. I wish I could write a whole entry about each one, but I only have time for a few at this juncture :).
1. never before have I felt so instantly at home and comfortable with a group of people as I feel with my SIT group. It's just SO not an environment of judgement or cliquishness or competition or....... anything like that. Everyone seems open and mature, and fun and really just... lovely :). As such, I anticipate forming beautiful friendships :) this semester with people in my group, as well as having a strong body of support for all that's to follow (I feel so blessed for this!!!).
2. really, this entire program has already amazed me. The academic directors, Ismael and Heidi, are warm, understanding, intelligent, bright, helpful, passionate, and just generally incredible, and have organized a program that is absolutely amazing in its scope, depth, and diversity. Every day so far I've had at least one moment where I've thought to myself..... is this seriously happening right now????? They have and are going to provide us with SO many opportunities- we're going to have history class with the ex-governor of Cochabamba, have a week-long stay in a rural village with families that speak only Quechua, have Spanish classes that cover only topics that integrate well with all else that we're learning, go on almost 20 days of travel around the country (including Carneval!!)......... yeah :). Anyone that's thinking about going abroad in a Latin American country should consider this program. Absolutely :).
3. the trip to Bolivia and the day that followed were definetly the longest of my life, but also the most unbelievably full. I felt like I'd been with my group for at least a week already because we traveled together all night and then didn't sleep until the one that followed. The first day was full of orientation time and food with Heidi and Ismael, and that night we went to Isamel's for a dinner and "ritual." The ritual, which is called a "k'oa," is a ceremony in celebration of the earth, or "La Pachamama." We sat in a circle outside around a fire, and first passed around a bunch of long reeds, and brushed our bodies with them to become cleansed. Next, Ismael's wife (who led the ritual) came to each person with an array of spices and foods, and an alter of coca leaves and other gifts to Pachamama, and we each placed a little bit of each spice and food into the alter for La Pachamama and then coca leaves for each person we wanted to bless in that moment. Then, after every person had finished, the alter was placed in the fire. Then we took two types of alcohol and each offered a small amount of each to the north, east, south, and west by pouring a little bit from the glass in each direction, and finally all stood and quietly watched the fire burn. The ritual in its entirety was spiritually-enriching in a deep, earth-connected way that I'd never before experienced. I want so badly to learn more about the Andean connection the earth, because it's sacredness is already so aparrent.
4. most of the second day involved a "drop-off," which meant that after going to the top of a mountain upon which stands a MASSIVE statue of Christ and looking out over the city of Cochabamba (yay!), we rode these crazy ski-lift-bubble-type-car-things down the side of a mountain, to a part of Cochabama we didn't know about/had never been to before and had to (in groups of two) find a location about which we only knew the name. It was a terrifying/ completely empowering experience that began with Sarah and my receiving many confusing and incorrect directions in spanish, figuring out the Cochabamban transportation system, and feeling VERY gringa-like & confused (which.... we were :P), but ended with us finding out that Aldeas SOS is an organization that supports and empowers single mothers in order to reduce rates of child abandonment (we got to speak to Teresa, who has been the director of the center for more than 10 years, and meet some of the children). Overall, it was a successful venture :).
5. the night before last was the dinner party with all of the host families and students at a hotel that had the most incredible gardens in its atrium that I've ever seen (note- it involved a monkey). It was an overwhelming and incredible experience that involved lots of awkward silences due to my lack of Spanish skills (this will be a trend..... ay), TONS of amazing Bolivian dancing to live music (my host dad is a complete bad-ass when it comes to Bolivian dance. I don't think I've ever had fun dancing!!), running around with my host siblings playing tag and hide and go seek, and lots of cariño from all of the host moms :). Which leads to the next point which is.....
6. my host family is lovely :)- loving, sweet, intelligent, and chill. I already love them, but I'm a little stressed about my lack of Spanish skills. I can definitely communicate with them, but as for normal conversing and not seeming like a totally boring and mute person....... that'd be a NO so far. Well..... I might be exaggerating a bit :P, but really, I feel anxious about them not liking me because I can't really be myself because I can't speak Spanish!!! BAH!!!! [I also know that this will improve, poco a poco con mucha paciencia :).]
7. this is the last thing and then I need to go finish my homework, but I'm starting to really feel ready to be my own person- do my own thing and live my own life, sin boy. Deep down I'm still really scared of being alone, but being here has already begun to show me that I'm a. really cool :) and b. capable of living my own life AND making it magnificent (!!!). This is amazing to me, and is really significant in my evolution as a person, I think :). I mean..... I still really miss having a boyfriend alot of the time, am still really in love with Natan, and am still boy-focused to a degree that I find minorly disturbing, but I think that all these things are slowing shifting and turning in a way that is overwhelmingly healing. I feel really hopeful and excited about that :).
Well, I'll write more soon, but I'm sending SO much love to everyone back home- te extraño muchísimo, and te quiero más :)!!
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