So it was my birthday this week...

And it was a blast! I think this will be one of the more memorable of my birthdays - of course being in a foreign country has a lot of influence on that. I was woken up in the morning with a knock on my door and all of a sudden there was a chorus of voices singing happy birthday in Spanish, followed by English and then German. I couldn't help but have a smile on my face. It's not every birthday that you get the happy birthday sung in 3 different languages. After the singing we had a wonderful breakfast. Anna and Rose made crepes which were awesome to say the least and the gang had bought me an Arizona tea which I had stated I loved when back in the states. The awesomeness could have stopped then and I would have been happy but they had also purchased two gifts for me. One was an authentic Bolivian hand-woven tie and the other is a Bolivian decorative flute. Both will be treasured for years to come.

After that we (the American and Scottish gang) had to go take care of some more visa stuff. It wasn't so bad though - I treated myself to a bag of peanut M&Ms to make the experience more enjoyable. I have to say - it was a great idea. I don't have much to say about the actual visa process other than it would be impossible if it wasn't for Nina and Carmen. It's not an easy process by any means.

Around lunch time we got to make it to our first day on the job. I got to meet Profe Jose, who seems to be a great and very popular guy. I alluded to what I will be doing in Talleres in a previous post but it seems this will be a pretty laid back position. Kids come and go from the room - some knowing what they want to make and others just wanting something to do. It's amazing to see many of these young kids so determined to build what they have in their heads (mostly cars and things of the sort). I'll be spending some time trying to find some projects that kids would find fun and challenging for Talleres (if you know of any, please shoot me an email). It seems that really my job is simply to befriend the kids and help them create the ideas that they have in their heads. Hopefully it will keep me busy enough, but man, I really need to learn Spanish! It's hard to make friends when you can't understand each other.

This week I have been helping at lunch in Casa de Paso where more than a hundred people come to eat. There is a wide variety of people who come from the kids who live at the house, kids who receive supplemental instruction at the house to young people who live on the street and even people who just want a meal. I can tell you one thing, it's not like the US in the comedor at Casa de Paso. There is virtually NO waste. EVERYONE eats EVERYTHING. No one wastes anything here and that's definitely something that we (Americans) could and should definitely learn from. I have.

Anyways, this week has been great for me to get out of my 'comfort zone' and really get involved with people whom I have really had next to no experience with in the past. These kids are real. They really have no parents and they really live on the street. It's rough. Most look and smell the part as well. It's so easy to be repulsed or overwhelmed and not know what to do and how to react but it's all simple really - we're all people and we all want to be treated as such - we all want to feel love. And that's what I'm trying to do and to be honest, it's all I can do.

In the morning I'm going on a fishing trip into the rainforest with Padre Jose and 3 other volunteers. Lucky, I know. I'm going for 6 days so please pray that I don't catch any sort of jungle virus!

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So I have had time to rest over the last few days which has meant time to think. The reality of staying in for the next year has pretty much set in. I miss different things from home everyday but mostly the people! Coming here and knowing that it's going to be a while before I see all that I know again, really makes me appreciate it all. I've probably stated this already in my blog but I really see how much I value the relationships I have back home. This thought has helped me really take hold of the fact that I'm here to build new relationships. Part of me is hesitant to really branch out but I'm already overcoming the negative thoughts.

They key to a successful year seems to actually not make this year about me at all. The times I do stop and think about myself I tend to just have thoughts of wanting to be home. The more I think about how I can help someone or make their lives a better place the more I want to be here and want to make a difference. I had already decided to take this attitude with me before I came but being here and seeing what it really takes has helped me grow in new ways. Perseverance is the key!

So I went to church here today in La Paz and shared about giving. I said one line in English at a time and then Edson translated. It was kind of interesting but I think it got the point across. Jack (one of the FAI volunteers from Scotland) came today too in order to check it out - which was cool.

After service we (the majority of the church) went out to lunch to celebrate my birthday. I believe the place was called "Orosos" and it had all kinds of food to chose from. I went with the comfort food for my birthday which was chilli nachos and I have to admit that I didn't think I would able to find that here... I'm slowly learning the secrets of La Paz! I heard that there is a Mexican restaurant here called "Jalapeños" that I can't wait to try now. What's more is that there is talk of going to "Kansas City BBQ" tomorrow night for my birthday. I hope the food holds up to the name... if it does... I'm golden.
Sorry... I got distracted by the food - I know... I tend to do that... But anyways, the church got me a cake that they were nice enough to shove my face in - in true Bolivian style! Apparently it's custom to just take a bite out of your cake on your birthday... it's just that there is usually someone there to make sure that you get more than you intended. I think I'll be bringing back this tradition to the US!

So tomorrow is my birthday, but I'm thinking about holding off one more year before I celebrate 23 years. I think I can do that...