Now I know it has again been a long time between posts, so in order to cover a spread of the things we have been doing over the past month and a half, I am going to use photos to tell our news.
We have been teaching
The start of a new semester has brought us new students. We have been enjoying getting to know them and have been able to take Grade 6 and Grade 8 out on a fun bowling and ice-cream excursions. Because our classes are so small, you are really able to get to know your students well. It’s been a real blessing, but has also kept us busy.
Bowling with Grade 6
Day of the Pedestrian
This happens once a year during September. No cars are permitted and everyone has to walk or ride places. It was a beautiful sunny day and markets were set up in the main part of town. Definitely something Sydney should look into.
Day of the Pedestrian
The boys bought a pool
Yes, they did. A reasonable sized one at that. The sun is hot, hot, hot here and they thought it would be a great way to relax as public pools aren’t that common in Bolivia. They got a great bargain at the Cancha and have tried it out several times. The problem is the water is freezing. The photos don’t really capture the shivering.
Chilling in the pool
The boys ate a disgustingly huge pizza.
It’s called the interminable and it is pretty gross. Tim had to turn it sideways to get it through the door and it had 40 slices. I’ll let Tim tell you more about it, if he ever gets to writing his ‘food of the week’ again.
We had a visitor from SIM Australia
In September we had Jenny Fallon, the personnel manager from SIM Australia come and visit us, along with Jill, a supporter of other SIM missionaries in South America. Jill also happened to be an old family friend of my parents. It was so good to hear the Aussie accent again and to be able to show them around Cochabamba. They came to school and baby washing and spoke to the SIM representatives in Bolivia. It was a great couple of days.
Jill, Jenny and I
We went on school camp
This was a great couple of days the last week in September. Tim and I went on the High School camp (Grade7-12) and got to see the kids in a different light and get to know them better. Tim went camping with Grade 7 & 8 and for lots of them, it was the first time they had hiked. The Grade 11 & 12 hike was a little more challenging which involved climbing up waterfalls with full packs on and a rope around our waists. We then had to walk another hour in darkness and set up our shelters. I had 12 girls, a tarp, a saw and some rope and was a little skeptical we’d be able to make anything, but luckily we set up some sort of covering for the night. However, the whole campsite was on a hill, so by morning, all the girls had slid down on top of one another.
Grade 7 & 8 on their hike
We went to the rainforest
About three hours away from Cochabamba is an area called the Chapare, which is a large area of rainforest. We caught public transport down there, which cost about $4 and then spent a couple of days just relaxing. It was so good to get away somewhere green and wet. For Tim, the highlight was the water-slide. We also went rafting down the local river which was fast flowing, but not too dangerous.
Tim loving the slide
We had Canadian Thanksgiving
Our first experience of Thanksgiving was Canadian style. Our friend Julie had 30 people to her place for dinner last week to celebrate the occasion. To our disappointment, not many people seem to like holding hands and saying what they are thankful for. Another Hollywood illusion is dashed.
Thanksgiving at Julie's house
So anyway – I hope this blog makes up for our neglect over the past month. I am very much hoping that the next blog entry will not be so long in coming.
-Liz
Donalds, sounds like you’re having a ripper of a time- enjoy the last few weeks. And start thinking of ways to answer the first 1000 conversations you have in Australia, which will start like this: ‘hey so um…. how was South America?’