Back to Alaska....

Well, our life back in Alaska has swallowed us back up and it feels very strange to have such recent memories of Bolivia. It is such a different place than Alaska. We read of Bolivia in the papers and hear about it on the radio once in a while, and we feel very far away.

I watched the presidential candidate debate tonight and I wish both the candidate had more compassion towards other countries. It seems foreign policy is all about strategy and how other countries will affect us and our agenda. My perspective on our government is much more cynical after seeing more of the world and realizing how much hog wash we get in our media. Also seeing how others view us. We really need to clean up our reputation and the only way to do that is by good actions done with true motives and not doing just to get something we want.

When I think about Bolivia, I feel sad about the orphan babies growing up in the orphanage. I feel deprived when I pay $2.60 a pound for apples here in Homer, compared to the markets piled high with beautiful fruits and vegtables down there. I feel the absence of public transportation here. Homer feels really open and empty after living in a city. In Homer it seems so quiet at night, even downtown compared to the streets of Cochabamba. I don't miss the dogs there and always standing out as someone too tall and strange. I worry about the politics in Bolivia and pray for peaceful resolutions to the conflicts and controversy. I'd like to go back, but not sure when that will happen.

Good-bye Bolivia for now, and thanks for the many lessons we learned in 2007-2008. We will know much better what those lessons were in the time ahead. Now we are still processing.

Missing Alaska

While shopping in La cancha a couple of weeks back my father-in-law Pat snapped this shot of me. It appears some of the boys here take there vodka fairly seriously.

We are getting reports of great spring skiing in Alaska...And with longer days its beauty pulses.

We are really trying to "Be Here". Its not hard we are truly in a place where diversity pulses...and every time you turn around something you thought you had clear gets reshaped.

While we miss Alaska we are savoring Bolivia.... but I think I'll pass on the vodka.

Adios Catalina

Cate left yesterday to head back to Alaska. We're really gonna miss her.She'll have a pitstop in Seattle for car shopping and then she'll drive the last couple of thousand miles in the new (used) ride...So even though I started this blog...Cate has carried it...but now it falls back on me and the girls...Today as we do every sunday we went to solomon klien..the girls missed Cate come bath time where they do assembly line bathing of the 20 some infants...The older gang I work with got to play out side after breakfast I pushed alot of swings "mas fuerte Papá" (more force) and washed alot of cups and helped the guy with the fruit and veggies unload....The girls are off to watch the finals of the "world tour of beach volley ball" Go figure .... beach volley in a landlocked country at 8500 feet.... USA is in the finals against Brasil... Cochabamba is sports crazy.... they'll host anything...tb

Maggie's new school

Sacrado Corazon, or Sacred Heart, is a private catholic K-12 Bolivian school about 5 blocks from our apartment. Maggie started here in 9th grade at the beggining of their school year, Feb 1.

The tuition is $40 a month. This is about one-tenth as much as the International school but is still too much for many Cochabambinos. The school day is all in spanish except the english class. All Maggies homework has to be done in spanish and NEATLY. Much more emphasis on rote memorization, neatly printed homework and copying pages than what we are used to in the states. For example, music class is copying songs neatly into your notebook and then writing an analysis of what the lyrics mean. The songs are things like the national anthem, the navy song, stuff like that. I'm not sure if they have actually sang the songs yet. Mags is making friends and recently went to a camp about 1 hour outside Cochabamba for 2 days with the entire school. There are about 35 kids in each grade. Maggie was impressed that they had no problems taking all those kids out to the camp. She said the worst thing that happened is that the 18 year old seniors went to smoke ciggaretts in the woods. They have a lot more control over the kids than teachers in the states. I think its because the kids are taught more respect in the home. The kids come to school with stronger values and a stricter upbringing from home, making the job of the teachers a hell of a lot easier than what the teachers in the states have to deal with.

Maggies 9th grade (primera de Secondario) stays in one room for the school day of 8am to 1:30pm. (then everybody goes home for lunch) It has a wooden floor, plaster walls and one large green chalk board in the front of the room. Windows are painted white to minimize daydreaming and distractions out the window, and the seats are wooden desks like we are used to seeing in antique shops. 2 kids per bench. The teachers come to the rooms and so the 9th grade stays there. The teachers have so supplies. They often ask one of the kids for their book to teach from and they have no pen or pencil. So there is no borrowing from the teachers! No posters on the walls, no globes, no "hands on activities". Its just a teacher and a peice of chalk. No printed hand outs or worksheets. You are responsible for copying the notes they write on the board. Teachers show up minutes before the start of school and literaly punch the clock in the office. They lock the school rooms minutes after school is out, and go home. Uniforms are required, but as you can see from the photos, they aren't super strict about this, loose ties etc... Maggie likes it and rides public transportation to school in the morning amidst many other uniformed kids all over the city headed for thier schools.

Rock & Republic and Globalization?

Here is a little guy who is sporting a Rock & Rebublic sweatshirt in a very small village outside of Cochabamba, Bolivia. He is attending an afterschool tutoring center sponsored by the local Methodist church where a friend of mine works. Andrea, my sister's sister-in-law, is president of the Rock & Republic company so this caught our eye. Do you think R&R is doing business in Bolivia? I doubt it. Logos of all kinds are ripped off here as the copyright laws are quite different than what we are used to in the states. This dude was definately lookin cool.

Pat and Marilyn in Cochabamba

Mom and Dad have been real troopers down here. They survived customs and the 14,000 ft elevation in La Paz and now are comfortable enough to head out for lunch on their own! They went about a block from our apt. for a typical meal, the "set lunch" or almuerzo. We wrote a few key words down for them in spanish and off they went. They were happy with the large home cooked meal that is typical for lunch here. Soup followed by meat and potaoes for the second course, a beer and small dessert. All for about $1.70 each. We've been keeping them busy and they are game for most of it. Today we will go see Maggies school.

Mom and Dad Maloney come for a Visit

Mom and Dad came with us on Sunday to help in the orphanage and to deliver the electric baby swings they so generously brought down along with a bunch of baby stuff from Liz and the twins. Here they are with the 4-5 year olds. The babies all had chicken pox so there were some cranky ones that really appreciated being held by a couple of gringo grandparents!