Day 31

Saturday

So Saturday was a day of getting up early and uncertain expectations. We got up and left about 7:30 to ride to where the buses would take us. Rode the buses and arrived at the location of the conference... I'm not even sure exactly what it was. Our bus got there after everyone else's so we rushed out onto the basketball court where we were introduced as the American citizens (and Canadians, and I think one Australian too) to everyone. Raul, a missionary who attends Tomas & Iris's church had organized the whole thing and so he was the emcee for all the games and such in the morning.

We were asked to introduce ourselves and then tell them if we were married or single. We all found that pretty funny. Then we went around and had to meet 10 new people. There was another group there from the States and they were the leader of each team. There were 4 teams. We got separated into each team, so we could be evenly distributed and help them with English. The first thing we had to do was come up with a team name, a team cheer, and one of the people in the group had to give a speech to get the team excited. It was hilarious, because out of 4 teams, 3 of us used Queen's hit "We are the Champions", which apparently everyone in Bolivia knows. We then did some other relay races, including a potato sack type race, in which I fell on the cement basketball court. Those war wounds are still healing. :-) The last game was the best, and it was volleyball of sorts. The teams had to use their towels and in pairs, we used a water balloon and had to catch & throw the balloon in the towels. It was really fun! It felt very much like summer camp, but we all had a great time! I have a picture of most of my group.

After the games were over, we had lunch. It was tasty and fun to talk to some people. They were at different levels of English. Some had no problem speaking and some had only been learning for a month or two. Still, when I think back to when I started learning Spanish, I could have maybe been able to say "I'm going to the beach" or "I have a pen" but not much else. So they did a pretty good job and understood quite a bit. After lunch, they announced the winners and passed out gold coin chocolates to everyone. Then some of the kids from the youth group, Tomas & Iris did a drama performance. It was really good. Raul did a gospel presentation as well, to open it up to anyone who was interested. We also did this a bit during our breaks to speak English between the games. It was definitely challenging, because as we shared testimonies, it was hard to know if they really understood or if they just wanted us to believe that they did. This is why when they had the drama that was acted out to music, I thought it was good. Music & drama can be universally understood, which is why I love it.

Once all of that was done, we were able to have some free time and swim in the pool, play outside, or go in the sauna. Many of the people who came forgot to bring a swimsuit, so not too many swam. Iris planned on being in the sauna and so I joined her for most of the afternoon. I talked to a few of the other people there, trying to help them with their English and myself, working a bit on Spanish. I tried taking Ester to the pool but she was too cold to get in. The sauna was unbearably hot for me at times, so I had to walk outside and take a break. I wanted to swim but no one I knew was in yet. Ester wanted to ask about getting a toy or something for the pool, and as I carried her outside to ask, I fell again! With her in my arms! She was fine, but my poor knees barely survived. We sat outside a bit and practiced English parts of the body as a couple other people sat outside and watched to help. I was teaching her the song "Head & Shoulders, Knees & Toes" to help her learn. It was really fun!

It was a pretty long day, and after feeling completely infused with Eucalyptus from the sauna and overall content from helping others work on their English and getting to know a lot more of the local youth, around 5 it was over and it was time to go home. We piled back onto the buses and rode back to where we were picked up in the morning. That same day, the group from Wisconsin had returned, and 2 new volunteers arrived as well. We were to meet them at the plaza for the Kid Washing one last time (for me). We got there when it was nearly over though, so I walked around with some of the newer volunteers who hadn't been there before. We scoped out the people selling earrings and I found a few more that I loved. For about $1 they had little 4 wheelers for kids and Ester rode one around the plaza and I followed her. It was entertaining except when she hit one lady's basket of baked goods that she was selling. We hung out a bit waiting for the others to arrive and then we went to a restaurant.

Here we had two local dishes, called Silpancho and Pique macho. Both were really good. Then, on the way out, I got some Blackberry ice cream in a cone (for about 80 cents) and it was amazing! It was my favorite purchase of the day. :-) After all of that, we were exhausted and headed home, only to have another pretty full day.