The time is going so quickly! We have already been here for over a month and at this point, it is hard to imagine being ready to leave in another nine months!
Life has become a bit of a "routine" here. I use that term loosely because everything is constantly changing and transitioning. There are so many mornings that I wake up thinking I have a grasp on what lies ahead that day and somehow, sometimes within minutes after waking up, my entire day has a new dynamic.
I have settled into two "jobs" here in Cochabamba. Every Tuesday I am working in the prisons. Two sisters and I bring powdered milk and other various donations to three different prisons, alternating each week which prison we go to. The idea is to help educate parents with kids in the jails about nutrition and to monitor the kids by weighing them. The bigger picture is to keep tabs a bit on the families with kids in the jails to see how they are doing and what they need. This job is in cooperation with the archdiocese of Cochabamba where a sister runs many different prison ministries, this just being one of them.
My other work is at a social work office in the Southern Zone. I am working with families with kids with disabilities. At this point, my main job is to do home visits and just begin getting to know the families and check in with them to see how they are doing and what they need. The disabilities, ages, and situations vary greatly with the 30 families we serve. I have loved the home visits I have gotten to do so far, getting to know the families, the kids, and just seeing all different parts/ways/homes of life here. This part of the city is less developed and thus there are many additional obstacles in these families' lives besides their kid having a disability.
I live on the northern edge of the Southern Zone of the city. I am in a house with another American volunteer (this is for sure going to change in the next couple of months) and also some mice. We live on the same complex as four Maryknoll sisters from the US, Tanzania, Korea, and the Philippines.
My neighborhood is nice; it has running water, some parks, a sand soccer field, electricity, and two bus lines that run through it. It doesn't have any grocery stores and very few restaurant options so food requires a visit to another part of town.
A big part of my daily routine is traveling around the city in TRUFIs (an acronym for something). A TRUFI or a MICRO can range from a small car to a small van to a bus. I stick my arm out to make it stop wherever I happen to be standing. I hop on, squeeze in a space I never think I am going to fit (and often have to put my knees in my chest to make it work or half sit on somebody else). I ride around til I want to get off and then yell "Voy a bajar (I'm getting off)." Now, the local secret, a Micro you slip the driver the change as you hop on, the TRUFI, as you hop off. The difference between a micro and a TRUFI, sometimes not so clear until the driver yells at you to pay! My record so far is 12 Trufi rides in one day but it averages more around 8.
That is a bit of the routine at this point :). You are welcome to come see it for yourselves! And although I don't use email as much as in the states, I love to get your emails even if they are just about your daily routine!!! If you want to learn more and see some pics...http://langenhuizen.blogspot.com/
