Exchange Weekend … Halloween … Summer …. Learning Spanish!

Once again time has flown by and it has been over a month since I have blogged. I have so much to tell you and I don’t even know where to begin. These past weeks have been filled with family, friends and fun. The people of Santa Cruz are incredibly welcoming. I am grateful to be in a country where everyone is so friendly and outgoing. Everyone has made me feel like I belong here. I’m going to share a few cultural differences with you so you can get a sense of how things are here.

The greeting: In Bolivia you always greet people with a kiss on the cheek whenever you see them. This includes my classmates at school … everyday! It took me a while to get used to it but I think I have adjusted and it seems normal now. Also you always greet everyone in a room and you never leave without saying goodbye to everyone no matter how big the gathering is. I like this because it gets me to talk with everyone. 

Driving: In Santa Cruz people have no regard for personal safety when driving. There are no stop signs, no passing lanes, people drive as fast as they want to, no one wears a seat belt and if you want to turn left just start moving left even if there is no space for your car. We have a driver, Diego, and he is awesome. I’m surprised to say I think I’m getting used to being a passenger in Bolivia but I’m still praying to make it home in one piece every time we go for a ride … at least it’s not a motorcycle.

The Language: Spanish is a beautiful language to listen to. I just wish I could speak more of it. I have been taking my lessons and my host family gets me to speak in Spanish as much as possible. I know I am improving but I wish I knew more. I am often in a state of confusion and it’s not a place I’m used to being in. I also don’t enjoy the not knowing … not knowing where we’re going, when we’re leaving etc. I have certainly learned that no matter how slow someone says something or how loud they say it, if you don’t know the word you don’t know the word. I will keep working at it and hopefully next time I blog I will be able to report that I’ve noticed an improvement.

The social divide: This is probably one of the biggest culture shocks I’ve experienced. In September I had the opportunity through my Rotary club to go with a medical team to a small village about 45 minutes for Santa Cruz de la Sierra. It was an amazing and humbling experience. People walked from all over to come see the doctors for medicine, vaccinations and assessments. Michael and I and some other exchange students handed out tooth brushes to the children and taught them how to brush their teeth. It was great to try my Spanish with the kids and to know we are helping in a small way. I’m hopeful to get another opportunity to help the underprivileged before I go home. The social divide in Bolivia is very stark. I live with a wonderful well off host family and feel truly blessed, but it is impossible not to feel for the entire communities living day to day on the streets just a few kilometers from my home. A large portion of Bolivia is seriously impoverished and it has opened my eyes to the way many people in the world live every day.

Now for what I’ve been doing: In October Rotary brought all 19 Rotary Youth Exchange students from all over Bolivia to Santa Cruz de la Sierra for a trip to the towns of San Javier and Concepcion. We were there for the Orchid Festival which is held every October. We first went to San Javier a town built in the 1700s. We saw several old churches and the whole town was very quiet and beautiful, if not a bit dusty. We then went to the town of Concepcion. In Concepcion we saw more churches, visited the Mission, saw some traditional dancers and went to the open market. We hiked into the jungle which was absolutely gorgeous and saw some orchids in their natural habitat. Some parts of the jungle hike were challenging and we had to climb using a rope. It was fun and it feels great to say I have hiked in the Bolivian jungle. When we got back to Concepcion we went to Mass in the cathedral. Being that I am Catholic it was easy to follow what was going on even though it was all in Spanish. The churches are amazingly beautiful. All that being said, I think my favourite part was getting to spend four days with the other exchange students. We had so many laughs and I can’t wait to get together again.

Halloween: They do have dressing up and Trick or Treating but on a much smaller scale than in Canada. You can only Trick or Treat in secure neighbourhoods and it is mostly little kids. Here there is more of a focus on The Day of the Dead, November 2nd, which is a day that you take time to remember family members who have died. During the Day of the Dead weekend I went to a ranch with my family and family friends which was super fun! It was very relaxing and I got to spend some time with Jennifer, Michelle, and Stephanie my cousins. The first night we got there and we made a fire, roasted marshmallows and just chilled. Michael wasn’t feeling well and ended up going to the hospital at around 3am … thankfully he is fine, and should be back to 100 percent in about a week or so. The next day wasn’t as sunny as we were hoping it would be, it had rained quite a bit but we were able to still have a fantastic time! We had great food and great people so it wasn’t very hard to have fun. I was able to practice my Spanish with the girls which was much needed, haha. My Spanish is getting better but I still have a LONG way to go. Hopefully soon I will be more comfortable with speaking it. *fingers crossed*. I got to feed the horses which I found very cool. Michelle and I sang some karaoke which was also brought us some good laughs. On the last day my mom made an awesome soup for lunch! After that we cleaned everything up and headed back home.

School: It feels hard to believe but school is over … feels like it just started, haha. Summer has begun. I am still getting used to the heat and it’s only going to get hotter but I have to say that I am loving the idea of getting three summers this year. Close to the end of school my class went on a trip together. We spent the weekend at Los Cedros. The only rule was we were not allowed to leave the hotel grounds. It was like the grad party for my class. There was absolutely no sleeping just literally 48 straight hours of dancing, swimming and eating. Another big change being in Bolivia is that all the guys can really dance. Everyone partner dances and everyone know how to do it well. I’m glad to be a girl because I only have to follow. I’m also glad that I don’t have two left feet. Dancing is definitely part of the Bolivian culture and I love it.

Summer: Well now that summer has begun I have started taking Salsa lessons with Michael’s host mom. I’ve only been to a few classes but so far it is going great. I’m starting Zumba soon and I’m planning to spend a lot of time at the Tennis Club … maybe learning some tennis, we’ll see. I’m looking forward to experiencing and trying any opportunity that is presented to me.
That’s it for now.
Chau ❤

Kate.