I have officially been in Cochabamba for a week, thought it feels more like a month. I am starting to feel much more comfortable in the city and am excited to be back in the routine of a student. My schedule more or less is class from 9-12:30 in either a Field Study Seminar or a Culture and Development Seminar, 12:30-2:45 I have off to walk home and eat lunch with my family and then I return to SIT from 2:45-6:15 for Spanish classes. I will have my first official Culture and Development Seminar tomorrow and am getting pretty excited since our teacher was just elected governor of Cochabamba. Since he is busy with this new job our classes will be held in the governor’s office. All our other classes are held in a portion of a University (located in the heart of Cochabamba) which has been segmented off for SIT. It is a beautiful place to have classes with high ceilings, a black and white checker board floor, and a few random pillars. It kind of reminds me of being on an antique stage. The building is about a half an hour walk from my house which I would usually enjoy taking four times a day if it weren’t for all the streets I have to cross which are packed with merciless cars and buses. My host mom has been walking me to and from classes for the past few days but today I convinced her that I understood the way, and after being drilled with a few questions I ‘past the test’ and will now be permitted to walk alone.
My host family is fantastic; we clicked right off the bat. I am living with a middle-upper class family in a very comfortable home. My host parents Jane and Rudy are jewelers that work from home and create beautiful necklaces, rings, bracelets… They sell their jewelry in Bolivia but also in the USA and Europe, it is very impressive stuff. They have a web-cite which I would include on this blog except that I can’t remember it at the moment. I also have two host sisters, Deni (17) and Vanette (13) who are a lot of fun. My host Dad is rather obsessed with motorcycles so after I arrived to the house Thursday night, before I had time to start unpacking, me and my host family went to a motorcycle gathering where there were various competitions and people walked around admiring other peoples antique motorcycles. It was great, I ate some delicious empanadas (by far my favorite Bolivian food so far), and watched my host mom win a competition in which, standing behind the driver of a motorcycle, she was able to take a bite of a hanging hotdog as the motorcycle past under it. Friday I spent some quality bonding time with my youngest host sister. Vanette is very into acting so we went to a play that was put on by her acting school. The play ‘Nuestra Historia Mas Alla del SIDA’ was about how AIDS was introduced into the Bolivian society starting from the period of the cave men. It was very well done and a good introduction for me into Bolivia because it contained a lot of Bolivian history and even talk of globalization.
Sunday in Cochabamba was the day of the pedestrian. It is a kind of holiday here where for one day no one drives any motor vehicles and the streets are instead filled with people walking or biking. It is supposed to be a day to respect the environment and acknowledge problems with pollution. My host sister Deni got me out of bed bright and early and we biked all over Cochabamba. It was a really fun way to get to know the city better. We both agreed at the end of the day that this should be a tradition that takes place every Sunday. The only issue of the day was that we didn’t respect how strong the sun was and both ended up pretty rosy.
My host family is fantastic; we clicked right off the bat. I am living with a middle-upper class family in a very comfortable home. My host parents Jane and Rudy are jewelers that work from home and create beautiful necklaces, rings, bracelets… They sell their jewelry in Bolivia but also in the USA and Europe, it is very impressive stuff. They have a web-cite which I would include on this blog except that I can’t remember it at the moment. I also have two host sisters, Deni (17) and Vanette (13) who are a lot of fun. My host Dad is rather obsessed with motorcycles so after I arrived to the house Thursday night, before I had time to start unpacking, me and my host family went to a motorcycle gathering where there were various competitions and people walked around admiring other peoples antique motorcycles. It was great, I ate some delicious empanadas (by far my favorite Bolivian food so far), and watched my host mom win a competition in which, standing behind the driver of a motorcycle, she was able to take a bite of a hanging hotdog as the motorcycle past under it. Friday I spent some quality bonding time with my youngest host sister. Vanette is very into acting so we went to a play that was put on by her acting school. The play ‘Nuestra Historia Mas Alla del SIDA’ was about how AIDS was introduced into the Bolivian society starting from the period of the cave men. It was very well done and a good introduction for me into Bolivia because it contained a lot of Bolivian history and even talk of globalization.
Sunday in Cochabamba was the day of the pedestrian. It is a kind of holiday here where for one day no one drives any motor vehicles and the streets are instead filled with people walking or biking. It is supposed to be a day to respect the environment and acknowledge problems with pollution. My host sister Deni got me out of bed bright and early and we biked all over Cochabamba. It was a really fun way to get to know the city better. We both agreed at the end of the day that this should be a tradition that takes place every Sunday. The only issue of the day was that we didn’t respect how strong the sun was and both ended up pretty rosy.
Day of the Pedestrian
Statue dedicated to the lerdaer of the struggle to free Cochabamba from the spanish rule. I pass this four times a day to and from classes.
2 comments:
Dearest Beckster, I love every word.
You sound very lucky to be with such a wonderful host family. Write us more about their activities and meals. Also, tell us more about your morning seminars. I am still in Maine and the weather is gorgeous.
LOVELOVELOVE, Gramsie
love it love it! where are you living that's a 30 min walk? sarco? maybe not....but your host family sounds great! have they had students before? romel and i talked the other day and he told me it was the day of the pedestrian ...and i was totally jealous, i think thats such a great holiday and at a perfect time to get to know cbba. ok im totally living through your every moment, believe me. oh and romel might try to come find you in the sit building...and how is your GROUP?!?!
muah! besos! te extrano pero disfrute todoooo!
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