Rachael In Bolivia

Celina's Wedding Shower!

2010-12-17T15:52:00.000-08:00

Dearest Celina, we love you very much! We wish we could be there for this special shower, but since we can't, here is a little bit of us :) Love, love, love, Aimee and Rachael

Hola, Chicos!!

2010-08-28T15:12:00.000-07:00

Hola, Chicos!! Un video pequeño para decirles que les extraño muuuuuuuuchisimo!! Con mucho cariño, Rachael

Drawing to a Close...

2010-06-10T10:40:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!

So, we said "goodbye" this morning to Dan and Matt, who headed back to Canada at an obscenely early hour. Nathan and Alex have about two more weeks, and I have ... FOUR DAYS. It's kind of hard to comprehend.

My days are now super busy, trying to squeeze out any "Nathan and Alex" time possible, but also packing, saying goodbyes, organizing my goodbye party, wrapping up loose ends, preparing for my guitar presentation this Sunday...I would appreciate prayers for emotional balance and enough sleep!

However, in the midst of all the noise, we all managed to take time to travel to one of my favourite places in Bolivia, Urmiri!! It's a hot springs location, and the water is so wonderfully hot. It's hidden away in the middle of the valleys around the Altiplano. The Schulz family came with us, and our friend Janelle, so it was great.

Well, must go carry on packing!

Love,
Rachael

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-05-27T04:46:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness!!!

You will not BELIEVE what just happened, unless you are one of the MANY people who was in on the secret and kept it so well.

On Sunday night, the doorbell rang, and Carlos went to go get it. He came back inside and told me that there were some guys outside who wanted to talk to me. I confess I was feeling rather exhausted and cranky, and didn't really want to go outside because I was cooking some grilled cheese sandwiches, but I went. And GUESS WHO IT WAS????

Alex and Nathan!!!!! They had come down to Peru to travel with Matt, and then came here to Bolivia, and had managed to keep the whole thing a secret from me!! Shirley and Carlos and Jeremy knew, and had known for months, but apparently I am totally oblivious. And then, the next morning, who should walk in but Dan Fryer!!! And later that night, we were joined by Brandon, who had taken a detour to the Island of the Sun but finally made it to La Paz.

I was SO shocked, and happy! I feel like I'm living in a dream, except I couldn't have imagined anything this fun happening!! Some of my favourite people in the whole world, coming sneakily down to visit me!!

Here are some photos of the boys around the house, and also of us at a big "clasico" soccer game last night. If it looks like I am the happiest girl in the world, it's because I AM!!

Love to everyone,
Rachael

Retreat Center at Last!

2010-05-22T15:28:00.000-07:00

Very good news!

Shirley and Carlos have completed the purchase of the new property, have the keys, and all is well! You can tell from the pictures what a nice place it will be to have retreats in. When Matt saw it, he said, "This would be a great place for hammocks!" And they discovered just last week that there are already hooks in place for that wonderful activity.

It is located in Valencia, a small town about 30 minutes away from Jeremy's school. The altitude is actually much lower than other parts of La Paz, certainly lower than here in Llojeta! That accounts for why everything looks so lush and green - palm trees, giant aloe vera plant, flat lawn perfect for croquet...they have it all.

Shirley and Carlos will be working at getting the place ready over the summer, and then moving in sometime before Jer starts school in August. So, I won't get to live there...but hopefully I will come back and visit, when it's up an running as a retreat center!

NEED HELP: I'm facing a 15-hour layover in the Miami airport on my way back home - can you people help me come up with suggestions for what I should do to pass the time?? I shall try to sleep a bit, but I won't have many books for my awake times...I was thinking audio books on my iPod, but I'm not sure how long a battery lasts in an iPod... Any suggestions would be gratefully appreciated!!

24 days until I leave...

Love to all,
Rachael

This Is How We Roll

2010-05-08T07:24:00.000-07:00

Greetings, everyone!

Today's video: a surprise morning sneak-attack serenade, for Jimena's birthday! It is the tradition for the people from our church to get up really early and serenade the birthday person (notice Jimena inside, just waking up!) and then go inside for a birthday breakfast. Notice also Matt, who doesn't know the words to the song, but is doing a good job of faking it.

I recently attended a Toma de Nombre ceremony, also for Jimena. It's part of the graduation celebrations in a Bolivian school - the grad class chooses a spokesperson or sponsor to represent their class, and they choose a theme for their year. Since Bolivian schools finish in December, they still have half a year to go, but this is part of how they graduate. It was really fun! Jimena definitely had the most international group of supporters - Andreia from Brazil, me from Canada, and Bianca from Germany!

On the tutoring front, things are going very well with Elisa. We just finished her math module for the year, about a month ahead of schedule! To celebrate, we devised the following celebration: we extended our "reading out loud" part of the day to a whole hour, and made it into a game. I brought a bunch of gummy bears, and we divided them into two bowls. Anytime Elisa skipped a word, I took and ate one of her bears. Anytime she pronounced a hard word perfectly, she took and ate one of mine. Needless to say, by the end of our hour, I had practically no bears left, and her bowl was full to overflowing.

Prayer request: please please PLEASE pray that I can figure out how to get rid of the bugs in my bed. Every night I wake up itching and it is driving me crazy. Multiple sheet-washings and vacuumings and mattress-in-the-sun sessions are not seeming to help.

Love to everyone!!
Rachael

The Big Decision

2010-05-03T18:35:00.000-07:00

Greetings, friends, family, and everyone else.

So, just thought I'd give everyone the heads-up on the decisions I've been making lately. The big question: should I stay down in Bolivia for a third year, or go back to Canada to stay?

I have been thinking and praying about it for the last few months, and so have Shirley and Carlos. And a couple weeks ago we met to talk about what we have been thinking and hearing. The general consensus seems to be that my time here is finished. The Vargases will be moving out of this neighbourhood soon, and that will effectively curtail my involvement here with the youth group, the worship team, my English class, my guitar lessons, etc. Also, I don't work much with Jeremy anymore, and things just feel like they're at a good place to finish up.

However, now that I have made this decision, I'm beginning to realize how much I love Bolivia, and how sad I'm going to be to leave. Mostly because of my friends here, and because it will be sad to not live with the Vargas family anymore. If you could pray that I can deal well with the transition, that would be appreciated.

Here's a picture of me looking out over La Paz, a city that will always be close to my heart.

Love to everyone,
Rachael

Culture Night!

2010-04-25T13:59:00.000-07:00

Greetings to everyone!

Last night was the long-awaited Culture Night at our youth group. Because we happen to have three missionaries from other countries as part of our group, we decided to take advantage of that fact and have a fun night learning about other cultures.

Bianca, who is here for a year from Germany, gave a very entertaining program, which included a sample of German dance, and a tutorial on how Germans have to sort their garbage (see picture). My favourite part of her presentation, though, was a picture of a pair of feet wearing socks with sandals, and the assertion that you can always tell Germans by the fact that they commit this fashion scandal!

Andreia, a girl from Brazil, made us all jealous of the wonderful beaches in her country, and taught us to dance the samba. The cool thing about Andreia is that she's just moved here to work with the church, for a four-year commitment, and she's just learning Spanish! I like being around other people who are learning the language.

And I gave a presentation that mentioned the size of Canada, all our beautiful lakes and trees, our national values, and, of course, hockey!! I was the only presenter who didn't have powerpoint, but afterwards a couple people asked me how to get visas to go visit Canada, so I figure I did a good job!

We finished off the evening with a presentation of Bolivian culture (I got to learn some steps from one of the traditional dances!) and a short address by the youth leader. All in all, a very successful night, and a lot of fun.

Love to all,
Rachael

Bolivia Day at Highlands

2010-04-19T11:21:00.000-07:00

Dear loved ones,

So this past Saturday was Bolivia Day at Highlands International School, where Jeremy goes to school. The main event is watching the students perform various traditional dances, with their accompanying gorgeous costumes. The video is of the kindergarten/pre-kinder kids, who, as always happens, were unbearably cute.

Sorry I haven't updated the blog in a while, I'm getting busier and busier lately! I'm back to singing on the worship team, and teaching my English class (plus several one-on-one English teaching times), and taking my guitar lessons. I (wisely? unwisely?) made a behavioral contract for guitar practice - I have to practice for at least an hour every day before I'm allowed to check my homework that day. Penalty: paying Matt 50 Bs.

Also, having Matt around means that we do more fun things - we've been playing Wallyball a couple nights per week! Wallyball is essentially volleyball, but you get to bounce the ball off the walls. And Matt is planning movie nights and camping trips and all that kind of thing.

That's about all for now,
Lots of love!
Rachael

The end of the 3 Musketeers

2010-04-09T13:34:00.000-07:00

Hello all you faithful readers!

Yes, sadly, it is true. The end has come. The fabulous trio has been wrenched apart as I, Katie, have returned to Canada. BUT, save your tears. For 2 remain, and will continue the battle faithfully in my absence. It will be hard for them. I'm sure there will be many sleepless nights wrought with tears and anguish. But nevertheless they will be strong. They must be.

And what would an ending be without a list? I started my time with a list, so it seems appropriate to finish it with a list.

Katie's Top 10(okay, 12) Things She Loved About Bolivia (in no particular order):
1. Saltena's. SO GOOD.
2. Minisips. aka: juice bags you can buy on the street.
3. Camping on the Isla del Sol.
4. Biking Death Road with 3 crazy boys. (see pictures above)
5. The FABULOUS jewelery and bags.
6. Hippie pants!
7. The delicious fresh fruit juices.
8. Submarinos! (bolivian version of hot chocolate, watch for an installment near you)
9. Many, many moments of hilarity with Rach, Matteo, and the Vargii family
10. Paying $3 for a 7 hour bus ride...and then paying $3 for one can of Pringles.
11. All the dogs. everywhere. all the time.
12. The random street performances in the crazy traffic. Crosswalk Zebras!

I could go on but, I won't. Suffice to say, I had an amazing time and I would go back in a heartbeat. And if you ever get the opportunity to go down there, do it. Just do it!

This is Katie, signing off.

The Visit Continues

2010-04-01T05:09:00.000-07:00

Dear Everyone,

Here are some pictures of various trips to the zoo, Plaza Murillo (where the Presidential Palace is), and the Island of the sun. It may be hard to tell from these photos, but Matt and Katie have been doing their level best to get tanned. They may have gone a little overboard, but we actually found some aloe vera gel down here, so things are looking up.

Today is our last day in La Paz before we head out adventure-bent again. Tomorrow, Katie and Matt are going on Death Road, the most dangerous road in the world. It's about 6-hours of downhill biking madness on this skinny road that drops into sheer cliffs at the side. Look it up on Wikipedia if you want to be motivated to pray for them!

And where will I be? Well, I'll be taking a leisurely bus down to Coroico (a lovely town in the Yungas, a jungly area) and checking in at our hotel, and waiting for them to show up in the evening, exhausted and covered in mud! We'll be at the hotel for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights, returning to La Paz on Monday. Katie leaves on Tuesday, which I'm trying not to think about too much.

Well, that's all for now. Prayers for safety would be appreciated!!

Love to all,
Rachael

The Island of the Sun

2010-03-27T04:52:00.000-07:00

Dear Everyone,

Well, we did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you to everyone who voted on the poll and encouraged me to lose my wimpiness and just DO IT. We did indeed spend a night camping on the beach of the north side of the Island of the Sun. And it was great! We arrived at the south end of the island on Thursday morning, and hiked across the island (about 12 km) with all our gear. Yes, Matthew carried most of it, but Katie and I carried bags too. We got lost as soon as we started out, but in our defense, there were no signs anywhere!! Fortunately, when we were splitting up in three directions to head into the bush to follow questionable "trails," a local came along and I was able to ask him for directions. We eventually found the Inca trail again.

We set up on the beach and settled in for a great afternoon and evening. Katie went swimming in the lake, because she's hardcore like that. We met some other Canadians, we found a bathroom after I had talked to several of the townspeople, and we enjoyed the sun. The sun went down around 7pm, and we went to bed soon afterwards, for what I shall call politely an uncomfortable sleep. Sleeping on sand seems very similar to sleeping on rocks. But I wouldn't have missed it - the moon was so bright it was easy to see everything around the beach, and so many stars! Matt saw the most of the sky activity (including a meteor shower!) because he slept outside under the stars, while Katie and I had the tent.

So, passing lightly over all the fun we had in Copacabana as well (trout, jewelry, cheese fondue, my favourite hostel...), I shall conclude by saying that we are all very well and happy, and have one day to recover and do laundry before heading out again.

Much love to everyone,

Rachael (for the team)

Mining in Potosi

2010-03-21T11:06:00.000-07:00

Dear Everyone,

Well, we just spent a fun-filled weekend in Potosi, tour-guided by the lovely Celina Schulz. One "highlight" was a tour of the mines wherein we spent maybe an hour and half crouching, scrambling, and going up and down ladders in search of silver. Sadly, we were told that most of the mines these days don't produce as much silver as they used to, but mostly zinc and other assorted minerals. It was an interesting glimpse into a hard way of life and we all came out blinking in the sun and grateful that we are able to have lives and jobs above ground. The short video that you see really sums up our time in the mine. Or rather, what life would be like with Matt the Miner.

Another highlight took the form of a trip down memory lane for our lovely Celina. The first day we were in Potosi she took us out into the hills around the town, where there is a natural volcanic "lake". It was at this lake that she learned how to swim when she was a child. It was kind of more like a large pond than a lake, but the temperature was a beautiful 30 degrees celsius. It made for a glorious swim! One of the best things was that we were the only ones there. Aside from 2 ducks who apparently enjoyed the warm water. After a delightful picnic lunch we hiked back to the road and caught a bus back to town. Sound amazing? It was.

We also did 2 tours in town. One at a convent called St. Teresa, which used to be a cloistered convent. Once the girls entered the convent they were not allowed out, and could never see their families again. They weren't even allowed to sleep with mattresses! It was a very interesting tour although a tad bit long. By the end we were all ready to sit down and have a good meal. The other tour we did the next day was of the Casa de Moneda, or the local mint. Up until 1951 Potosi was producing coins for all of Bolivia. After 1951 other countries took over the process, with the 5 Boliviano coin being made in Canada! Who knew?! It makes sense once you know though, because it looks like a much smaller version of our toonie. Another funny thing was that we were able to have our tour in English, and right as we started another guy joined us who turned out to be from Calgary, Alberta! Potosi is a small town and not to many foreigners go there, so it was pretty funny that in our tour group we were all Canadians. It really is a small world after all.

All in all it was a great weekend. The Schulz's were kind enough to let all of us crash at their apartment, and that had the added bonus of being located in the heart of the town. Potosi is much smaller than La Paz, and it has so much character with its old churches and narrow, cobbled streets. We were there on Bolivian Father's Day(friday) and on our way back to the apartment at night we ran into a full on marching band that started from the plaza outside the apartment and went up the street. So cool. We enjoyed a couple of the local restaurants, including one with delicious crepes and an intense game of Jenga. Rachael may or may not have been the one to knock it down...but we're not talking about it. We also went up the Mirador, which is a tower with a restaurant on top that gave us spectacular views of Potosi at night. Us girls also enjoyed watching the effect of Matt on the locals, particularly the men. We left on Saturday night on an overnight bus to La Paz, and arrived back at the Vargas house early this morning. We all promptly fell into bed and slept for 5 hours and then got up to do some much needed loads of laundry.

And speaking of laundry...it looks like the rain is coming so we must go and fetch it off the line!

This segment of Rachael in Bolvia is brought to you by Rachael and Katie. Featuring: Matt the Miner.

chick flicks and constipation

2010-03-17T05:36:00.000-07:00

Hola

Matt shannon here....I quit spanish. its a good thing i can point to food and usually they understand me. The visit thus far has been great. aside from the few headaches and the delusion of never having to use the washroom till they say you could die, our experience in Bolivia has been grand!

Just the other day Rachel was teaching a student some English, french or spanish. I can't keep track of that girl anymore (only what she cooks). While she was at her students place, katie and i ventured out into the open world on our own. Just buying some water was on our list and we did it! we were on top of the world, my next plan was to communicating with every gorgeous girl there about water! Agua is water in case you readers didn't know. And who doesn't drink or have water that you couldn't communicate with right? so romantic

We met the youth group. it was one of those special, first moments that you have when you're getting use to the culture and you accidently kiss the guys on the cheek instead of just the girls and you say good night when you enter the room. Rachel so kindly translated everything for us during our time there. by the end of the night they were trying to speak to us in English cause Rachel has been giving lessons. It made things more comfortable and it was fun trying to communicate with them in Spanish and them back in English. I'm sure im changing lives.

I know im changing katie's life. seems like everyday she tells me she loves me in spanish. all i hear is "Dame un beso!" and "Te deseo". Also Rachel got some chick flick that is 17 hours long about some girl cleaning some cranky ladies place who has a son who is "charming" or something stupid like that. But the real sad thing is this other boy who is speaking "romantic" crap like katie speaking spanish to me and for some reason its cute. katie and Rachael were falling apart at the scenes of this guy and this guy was falling apart, crying and creeping out this chick's window in the rain. I thought being down in Bolivia would have changed the girls. sigh....i guess the next rain storm i have to confess my undying love for some girl.

pray for the next 16 hours of movie watching i will go through, and our daily adventures in South America.

Coca Tea, Horrible Spanish Accents, and Friendship!

2010-03-13T06:35:00.000-08:00

Ola!

Today's break in your regularly scheduled program is brought to you by Katie Horton. Yes, that's right, Matt Shannon and I have arrived and taken over Rachael's life. This includes forcing her to teach us her excellent grasp of the spanish language, consuming her delectable baked goods, and tying her up in a corner so we can take over her blog. Juuuust kidding. She's sitting in her room. Promise.

But yes, we have officially been in La Paz for over 24 hours and Matt and I are pretty much locals already. Yeah, no bigs. Matt seems to have made it his goal to learn as much spanish as he possibly can and I'm assuming by the end of the week will be fluent. Or at least will have his phrase book memorized. The altitude hasn't been affecting us too much...it may or may not have affectd Matt more than me....and I was feeling prideful about this fact until I woke up this morning with a headache and had to suck back some oxygen myself. So far no stomach bugs and hopefully it'll stay that way! The Vargas household has welcomed their 2 newest house guests with open arms and we already feel at home. Since Rachael likes to do lists I figured I would do one too.

Things I Love About Bolivia Already:
1. riding the minibuses in the crazy traffic! reminds me fondly of uzbekistan.
2. the geography of La Paz. its an incredible city to look at and i'm sure i'm going to take WAY too many pictures
3. coca tea! sweet nectar of the foreigner.
4. the little bolivian ladies sitting in their traditional dress at their roadside stands
5. the vargas house. its so cute and comfy and relaxing!
6. Rachael!!!!!!!!

I'm sure this list will get longer. We haven't even been to any markets yet!! But today we are going to venture out to the artisan market. Oh the excitement! Well, I think that's about all I got for now. So far the 3 of us has have probably laughed 3 years off of our lives, and we've only been here a day. If Matt's spanish accent is any indication of the things to come than let me tell you, we are going to be YEARS younger.

Adios!

Top Ten Reasons Why I Am Filled With Happiness

2010-03-09T19:07:00.000-08:00

10. It may seem shallow, but I got to drink rootbeer today! Sometimes one of the local supermarkets brings it in for a limited time, and Carlos bought some, and it was soooooo gooooooood!

9. Three times in the last week, I have been walking along the streets downtown and randomly run into someone I know. What are the chances? I guess I really live here!

8. After much struggle and despair, I am finally getting the hang of F major on the guitar.

7. I get to have a girls' sleepover tomorrow night!

6. My current side project is that I'm re-doing the songbooks for our worship team. They are currently a dilapidated and torn set of sheets that reside in two broken-down, too-small binders...but by Thursday, they are going to be three large,colour-coded, sleek, gleaming, white, pristine, new binders. I LOVE organizing and refurbishing!

5. I was downtown photocopying the songsheets, and I was getting it done at a place I went to once before. The lady remembered me because the last time I was there, the copy job was rather long, so I had taken a seat and chatted with her for a while. She remembered I was from Canada, that I'm a missionary, that I teach an English class...it was so cool to make a connection like that. She introduced me to her husband today, and they were both asking me about what I like about Bolivia, and they said to come back and say goodbye to them before I leave the country. Awwwwwwwww!

4. I am loving worship practices more and more. They are Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and so much fun!

3. I was introduced to two new girls today, friends of a friend, and we chatted for a few minutes, and then one of them remarked (with great sincerity) that she was very impressed with my Spanish, especially my ACCENT! She went on and on about how good it was! Take that, Alex and Nathan!

2. Katie and Matt arrive in two days.

1. Shirley is home.

Love to all,
Rachael

Update

2010-03-06T04:45:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone!

So, the transit strike is over, thank goodness, although not before it prevented Carlos' mom from coming to La Paz to welcome Shirley home. So inconvenient. Apparently, the government won, they are not going to change the law.

Yes, yes, yes, Shirley is home again!! A delegation of us went up to the airport at 6:30 am to get her, complete with flowers and a reception of music (our good friend Mario serenaded as Shirley walked out of the gate).

As for my police check to verify where I live: well, therein lies the tale! I had to report to the police officer's office at noon on Friday. Being a good Canadian, I was there 15 minutes early, and stood waiting patiently as he finished up some things. I was dressed to impress, wearing my good black fancy shoes that I hate, and some rather dressier clothing than usual. Carlos says it sometimes helps the process along if you dress professionally. If you can believe it, I even wore mascara! So anyways, I stood there waiting, with my patient smile, reading a book (Little Lord Fauntleroy - if you haven't read it, DO SO!!). Eventually my officer seemed ready to go - we were going to head out to the street and get a taxi to take us up here to Llojeta, where my witnesses were assembled.

And then, just as everything was going well, another fellow showed up for HIS house check! Apparently, the officer had been double booked. It seems that every lunch hour, he has to go do these domiciliario checks, and sometimes he forgets that he has already booked one, and books another. I could tell he was wanting to get mine done, seeing as I've been a model of patience through this whole process. But the other fellow was very, very insistent. Finally, the officer proposed a plan: all three of us get in a taxi, go check this man's house, and then the officer and I would make our way up to Llojeta afterwards. Creative, yes. It would throw my time schedule off, but I figured it would still work, so I sweetly acquiesced and we headed out to the street.

On the way to finding a taxi, the second fellow seemed a bit unsure whether his witnesses would be present on time or not. The police officer appeared annoyed. The second fellow ducked into a call center to call his witnesses to make sure that they'd be there, sensing correctly that the police officer was inches away from telling him, "you know what, how about we do yours another day?" While he was calling, the officer started chatting to me about how long I'd been in Bolivia, if I liked it, what I was doing here. You could see the wheels starting to go around in his head when I told him I was a missionary. He looked at me speculatively, and after a pause he said, "you know what? I trust you. How about you just go get your witnesses to sign these papers, and bring them back this afternoon?" I was more than happy to oblige. He hadn't even asked for a bribe! So he showed me where to get the papers signed, and he and the other fellow climbed into a taxi and drove off into the afternoon.

I went home, got the papers signed, went back downtown, found the officer again, handed over the papers, and it's all done! I just need to go back on Wednesday to pick it up. Praise the Lord!

Sorry for the overly long story, but I just thought it was hysterical! And I hope to bake the good man some cookies and take them back next Wednesday.

Love to all,
Rachael

The Bus Strike

2010-03-03T10:42:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends and Family,

So, happy March to all of you! I usually have a dim view of the month of March, but this year it is my favourite! Shirley comes home in TWO DAYS, praise the Lord, and Matt and Katie arrive a week later. It's going to be a humdinger of a month!

Today, in the whole country of Bolivia, there is a transit strike. No public buses in cities, or between cities. Things are at a standstill. No school for Jeremy. No tutoring for me. No traveling. The reason: the bus driver unions are upset. There is a new law that was just put into effect, stating that if a driver has any level of alcohol in their blood, there are much more severe consequences than there used to be. Also, the unions are made more responsible for such behavior, and everyone in the union is punished as well. (Or something like that. The finer details sort of escape me).

So, there were rumours of a strike going around last night, and Jeremy was elated because it meant a temporary reprieve from his homework. We got the call from the school around 10:00 pm, so in consequence we all went to bed rather late and got up late, too.

It was supposed to be just a 2-day strike, but after listening to the news, it sounds like it might be indefinite until the striker's issues are dealt with. This is very unfortunate. Prayer would be appreciated.

In other news, I was at the Police station for hours yesterday, waiting in line and getting gratuitously inked for fingerprinting and talking to various people in various capacities. Long, long, long story short: on Friday a policeman will come to our home to make sure I really live here. And then, finally, I can go to Immigration and get my carnet renewed, and all this bureaucratic nightmare will be a thing of the past.

Love to everyone,
Rachael

The Prayers of the Saints

2010-02-21T07:39:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends and Family,

I would like to thank everyone who has been praying for my health these last few days, I really appreciate it so much! The latest in my series of medical misadventures is that I have apparently picked up quite a nasty stomach infection. Coming as it did on top of a bad cold, infected tonsils, and a bout of altitude sickness, it really did seem like the final straw, and much of Friday was spent in wishing that someone would just put me out of my misery. However, late Friday night Carlos took me to the doctors, who got me on some different antibiotics and whatnot, and sooner than was probable, things started to turn around. I really attribute this to all the prayers being said for me, so thank you!

In an effort to keep a cheerful outlook, I was meditating on all the things that I can be grateful for about this latest sickness:

-that Carlos has good friends who are doctors
-that the doctors kept their clinic open late to treat me
-that I didn't end up needing an IV, thanks to prompt treatment
-that the worst of my symptoms stopped unexpectedly on Friday night
-that I can afford medical care
-that I live in an age when we have effective medicines, and therefore shall not die from a stomach infection
-that Carlos takes such good care of me
-that nasty medicines now come in fruit flavours, to increase palatability!

So, on the whole, God is so very, very good. It's so funny - when I hear about other missionaries getting sick far away from their homes, I always think to myself, "I could never endure that, I just couldn't!!" But then it happens to me, and somehow God gives me the grace to get through it.

Prayer Request: TOTAL and COMPLETE healing! Once my antibiotics are finished for this stomach thing, I'll still need to get treatment for my tonsils...and I want to be in tip-top shape for when Matt and Katie come down to visit me!!!

Thank you all so much for your support and prayers,
Love,
Rachael

Weekend in Chile

2010-02-17T11:29:00.000-08:00

Dear Everyone,

So, this Monday and Tuesday were Carnaval down here, and in order to avoid getting a severe wetting from the water-balloon-wielding male population of La Paz, I went to Chile with some friends! We went to the coast town of Arica, and seven of us stayed in a little condo by the beach.

Highlights of the weekend: lying on the beach reading a book; eating gelato under a palm tree on an extremely sunny and hot afternoon; seeing a McDonald's again; and lying under the stars at night, listening to the waves coming crashing into the sand.

On Valentine's Day, which to our surprise they do actually celebrate in Chile, all seven of us got dressed up and went into the town to find someplace festive to eat. We were having no luck, but then a sidewalk recruiter told us to follow him, and we went down a side street and found ourselves in the cutest little restaurant, all decorated up for the holiday! We had such a good time, and took more photos than was strictly necessary.

That's about all for now; more about Chile in my next blog!
Love, Rachael

PS - Prayer Request: Although I felt a lot better, health-wise, in gorgeous sea-level Arica, now that I'm back home I'm suffering from altitude sickness. Plus, my cold still will not go away. If you could pray for my health, that would be so wonderful.

Recently...

2010-02-04T03:09:00.000-08:00

Hello friends and family!

Recently, I have been doing more paperwork, trying to get that carnet done. However, hopes were dashed yesterday morning, when we learned that to get two major requirements done, my InterPol police check is needed. Said police check will take longer than two weeks. When it is finally handed over, then I can start my other two requirements. Long story short, I am totally busted and will no doubt be fined, because I´ll be at least two or three weeks late with my carnet. Nothing to be done about it, however, except wait!

Recently, I am in the throes of the Head Cold That Wouldn´t Die. It´s been eight days now, and I´ve just passed into the stage of not being able to breathe and eat at the same time, due to major sinus congestion. It´s a blast - every mealtime becomes a fun-filled game of "do I chew with my mouth open, to keep on breathing, or try to be polite and therefore pass out?" Also, certain friends will be pleased to note that I am forced to drink tea for my poor throat.

Recently, Celina and Janelle and I have booked our hotel at a beachside town in Chile! We are going to spend the weekend of Carnaval (coming up soon) in Chile, on the beach, reading and relaxing. We tried this formula out in Copacabana, and it was wonderful. And it is so cheap to travel down here!!

And, recently, I am becoming so so so SO excited about my friend Matt coming down to visit!!! He's coming in March, to stay for at least a couple weeks, and I have no doubt at all that it will be a wonderful time. I think my two main occupations while he is here will be baking and laughing.

Love to all,
Rachael

PS - these are pictures of the goodbye party for Ed, our one-month missionary, who has now returned to the UK.

Visa News

2010-01-27T13:32:00.000-08:00

Greetings, loved ones!

So, the exciting news is that I've been issued my 2-year visa, good until December 2011! My passport is back where it belongs, with me - not serving as a doorstop at Immigration, which is where I fancy they put it when it's awaiting "just one more signature."

However, I have been given 25 days to follow up with that and get my carnet, or else there are presumably dire consequences. The "carnet" is an identification card, everyone needs one for performing a variety of business transactions. To get a carnet, though, I need to go get a certificate of good behavior from one governmental authority, and I have to once again do a "domiciliario" to prove where I live.

This last, the domiciliario, proved very difficult last time. You need to get a police officer to accompany you to your home, where you have assembled two witnesses from the neighbourhood who can testify that you do indeed live where you say you do. They have to go through a rigamarole of signing things and all that. Last year, there were needless delays and broken appointments and all manner of nonsense. Hopefully it will be more straightforward this year.

If you could join me in prayer that I could get everything in order in the required 25 days, that would be swell.

Lots of love,
Rachael

Life Starts Again

2010-01-23T04:53:00.001-08:00

Dearly Beloved,

Well, last Sunday Carlos and Jeremy returned to La Paz! It's so nice to not be living alone anymore! I was so excited that I got up early and made them a nice breakfast, even though they got in at about 7 am. I pumped them for information about all my friends and family in Canada, and was very jealous that they got to see everyone :)

Since then, things are back to normal. I tutor Elisa three mornings a week, and work with Jer less and less in the afternoons. Carlos and I have started jogging again three mornings a week - although our running track has been severely disrupted by a huge chunk of it falling into the river it runs beside. We kind of have to detour now, and watch our footing.

Wonder of wonders, I am now a part of the worship team down here! It's a pretty small team, and most of the time they don't have a female singer, so I got drafted. Which, in my mind, constitutes a miracle, because I have had a microphone-phobia for a long time. As Beto says, the way to stop being afraid of them is to use them!!! I imagine it must be a little funny for the congregation to hear a gringa singing their worship in a funny accent, but I do my best. I'm just learning so many things down here!!

Love to everyone,
Rachael

Vacation Bible School

2010-01-15T19:29:00.000-08:00

Hello, all!

In an effort to take my mind off how impatient I am for Carlos and Jeremy to get back, I have been helping out at my church´s Vacation Bible School. As you may recall or be aware of, it is summer down here, so kids are off of school for quite a while.

I have enjoyed parts of the VBS. Not so much the singing-and-actions part, because I actually get quite out of breath doing that! The altitude is still affecting me strangely. But it's fun meeting more kids from the neighbourhood. In particular, the little fellow in the orange and brown sweater, Brayan, has completely stolen my heart.

For part of the afternoon, we are at the church for singing and the Bible lesson, and then we all hold hands and trot down to the property where our house stands. There is a small soccer field, and also a trampoline, and the kids love to play here. Only one day have we been rained out (it is rainy season).

The other gringo in the photos is a guy from England, Ed, who is here for a month to work with some VBSs around La Paz. He's a natural with the kids!

That's all for now,
Love,
Rachael

The Sign Says It All

2010-01-14T10:05:00.001-08:00

Nothing Like A Good Routine

2010-01-07T10:34:00.000-08:00

Hey there, everyone!

Well, as we're entering the home stretch of my temporary solitude (only 11 more days until Carlos and Jeremy come home!), there's really nothing much to report. My friends from youth group have all gone to a youth camp in Sucre, so my English class was cancelled, as well as my guitar class. In order the quell the rising restlessness that comes from having no fixed occupation, I have instituted a somewhat regular schedule for my days:

1. Wake up, because Brego is scratching on my door to be let outside.
2. Have breakfast (usually cornflakes, except the day when I opened a bag of milk I had just purchased and it came out chunky...I opted for a sandwich instead)
3. Feed Brego breakfast.
4. Have a shower (the earlier the better, just in case they shut off the water).
5. Have a quiet time with the Lord.
6. Practice guitar.
7. Check my email. Yes, I'm close to being addicted.
8. Cook more dog food for Brego.

The rest of my day usually varies, but after an orderly morning, everything feels so purposeful!

If anything exciting happens, I'll be sure to keep you all updated!
Love,
Rachael

PS - Bolivian Tid-bit: Did you know that in Bolivia, the garbage trucks drive around ringing a big bell, like a dinner bell, and when you hear it you have to grab your garbage and run it out to the street? Pretty good exercise, gets you moving fast. You can't put your garbage out until you hear the truck, or else the ubiquitous packs of street dogs will tear them open and do their part to contribute to pollution.

Holiday in Copacabana

2009-12-31T09:57:00.001-08:00

Greetings,

Celina and Janelle and I just got back from a wonderful, relaxing trip to Copacabana - just three Canadian gringas taking a holiday. We stayed in the gorgeous hostel that I'd stayed in last year with the Vargas family, and it was even nicer than I remembered.

Our main goal in going was to sway in the hammocks overlooking Lake Titicaca and read books, but just so that we didn't feel totally lazy, we climbed up Copacabana's Calvary. It's a very steep hill with markers for the stations of the cross, and boy, do you get exhausted from climbing up there! But the view is totally worth it.

Everything went off without a hitch, except for when our bus got to the part of the journey where we had to cross part of the lake. All the passengers get off the bus and take a short motor-launch trip to the other side, while the buses go on barges. We stopped for about five minutes to use the washrooms, and by the time we made it to the other side, our bus had left without us! And I mean, we had signed the register and everything, so it's not like they didn't know they were missing people! Fortunately, we are such intrepid travelers that this didn't dismay us - we just hailed a taxi, who drove us the remaining 50 minutes to Copacabana for the equivalent of $1.50 per person. Not a problem!

Hope you all are having a great Christmas season, and doing something fun for New Year's Eve!
Lots of love,
Rachael

Second Annual Gingerbread House Party

2009-12-20T12:27:00.001-08:00

Hey Everyone,

So this Saturday night I hosted (along with Celina) another gingerbread house party for the youth group. We made a huge double-batch of gingerbread and spent nearly all day cutting out the dough, baking it, and then cutting again after the dough had risen in the oven into the wrong shapes. But it was worth it - we had a companionable, Christmassy evening of eating too much candy, constructing houses, and generally having a good time. After the houses were done, we practiced singing "Silent Night" in three different languages - we are going to perform on Wednesday night, which is when our church will have a Christmas celebration. I get to sing it in Spanish!

So, Carlos and Jeremy are back in Canada now, and I am starting my "month alone," which won't really be alone because the Schulzes are so close. Celina and I and another friend are going on a short trip to Copacabana after Christmas, so that should be fun!

Love to all of you,
Rachael

Two-Year Visa, Here I Come!

2009-12-17T06:09:00.000-08:00

Dear Everyone,

So, I am totally impressing myself lately. I had to get a bunch of documents together to apply for my two-year visa, and this involved going to a lawyer and stuff like that. And I managed to do it mostly on my own! I went to the lawyer and asked for a "memorial" and a "carta notariada" and got that all figured out, BY MYSELF, in SPANISH! And then I hit Immigration by myself, and got shuffled around from window to window, and got it all filed and paid for and stamped, BY MYSELF, in SPANISH!

They say it takes 10 to 20 days to process, but I'm skeptical. The lady at the final window showed me the date on my receipt, and it says to come pick it up on December 30th. However, the lady very frankly told me that there's no way it will be ready then, but I can just come check on it. You know, if I'm missing my passport and want to let it know how I'm doing, I can come in on that day and inquire after it, have a little visit.

So, that's all in the bag, which I consider to be a miracle on a not-too-minor scale.

Ooooh, and speaking of minor scales! I am having so much fun with my guitar lessons! I just learned my first two chords on Tuesday, and I'm practicing diligently. I think I'll be doing a lot of that over the holidays. Jeremy and Carlos leave tomorrow for Canada for Christmas, and I know the house will feel very lonely.

Prayer request: that I will have peace over the holidays and not get worried about staying here alone. And for safety.

Thanks! Lots of love,
Rachael

The Decision Has Been Made

2009-12-11T16:12:00.000-08:00

Dear Everyone,

First of all, before the news, this is a picture of the decorations I made and put up in our downstairs hallway, outside my room. Yes, it may be summer down here, but it's December and I will decorate with snowflakes! They make me happy.

And now!

So maybe you will remember that I have been facing a big decision. My visa runs out next week, and since I plan on staying here until June, I needed to look at options. It seemed like there were two choices: either go for a two-year visa as the next step, or try to stay in the country for another six months using a tourist visa, by entering and exiting the country and getting my passport stamped again that way.

I didn't want to go for the two-year visa unless I was sure I would be coming back for another year, because it's a lot of work and a lot of money. But neither was I keen on entering and exiting the country by myself while Carlos and Jeremy are in Canada for Christmas!

Today it was all made clear for me. Carlos and I went to Immigration to ask for advice on what was our best option. The man behind the counter informed us that there are no options; I simply MUST get a two-year visa if I want to stay here until June. And it turns out it is much less expensive than I thought, and easier too: I can have it all ready to be processed in a week!

So, I'm going to get a two-year visa! Hey, that was an easy decision! This DOES NOT necessarily mean that I'll be coming back here for a third year - I really have no idea what next year will hold for me. I'd appreciate prayers for that!

Lots of love,
Rachael

Happy Election Day!

2009-12-06T08:04:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone!

Today is a big election down here in Bolivia. The big question: will Evo Morales, current president and the first indigenous president in Bolivia's history, get in for another term? Most people seem to think he will, but we shall see.

On election day down here, life basically stops. No public transit, you're not allowed to drive, you're not allowed to gather in groups bigger than ten, no alcohol can be sold...things are at a standstill.

What this means is no church, and basically a day to just relax. I plan to spend mine making snowflakes to decorate the house for Christmas :) We're also having a barbecue with the family next door, so that's fun!

Love to all,
Rachael

Morenada

2009-12-05T06:25:00.000-08:00

So this dance is called Morenada, and it is sort of hard to describe - there seem to be a lot of different costumes and separate pieces going on. My favourite part, however, is the girls dressed as cholitas. They are the ones swishing back and forth, wearing the traditional costume.

Believe it or not, lots and lots of ladies dress like this every day! Their everyday outfits are a little less flashy than these ones, but they wear the big skirts with the multiple petticoats underneath, and the lovely shawls, and of course the bowler hat! Pretty much every time I get on a minibus to go anywhere, there is at least one lady in traditional dress, often more than one. They have developed the fine art of keeping those hats on their heads no matter what the circumstances - I don't know how they do it!

One thing that really surprised Aimee and I when we got down here was seeing these ladies in their traditional dress, looking so old-fashioned, and then they'd pull a cell phone out of their pocket and start talking! Seems incongruous, but no matter what you wear, I guess you still need to keep in touch with people.

I think that's all of the traditional dances I will put up for now. I hope you enjoyed them. Sarah, good luck creating the traditional dance of Fort Langley! And Aimee, yes, I think I'll be taking lessons to dance the cueca, is that great or what??

Love to all,
Rachael

Tinku

2009-11-30T10:49:00.000-08:00

This dance is called "tinku" and apparently is actually more of a symbolic battle between opposing groups. As the dance goes on you can see where the mock fighting comes in, but unfortunately I did not capture that on this video. The dance comes from the Potosi region of Bolivia. I like the costumes, because they're so outrageously colourful!

Caporales

2009-11-28T13:12:00.000-08:00

So this dance is called Caporales, and it's one of my favourites. Lucas danced it last year at his school's Bolivia Day, so I even recognized the music. My favourite part is the bells on the guys' boots, which make a wonderful (and loud) accompanying jingle. I feel sorry for the girls who have to dance in such short skirts, though!

Traditional Dances

2009-11-27T11:04:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone,

On Wednesday I was invited to a special presentation at my friend Jimena´s high school. Every semester, as part of their grade for physical education, the students learn one of the traditional dances of Bolivia, of which there are many. I like seeing the dances and the fantastical costumes, so I was excited to go.

Jimena´s class was performing the dance called "tobas," which, as you can see, has pretty amazing costumes. The shaking noise that maybe you can pick up from the video comes from the shakers that are around all the dancers' legs. The dance requires a lot of energy, because it's full of jumping, and it's really beautiful.

I'll post a bunch of different posts over the next few days, with more videos of the different dances. Bolivia is so culturally rich! Every "department" (like a province or state) has its own dances, traditional dress, dishes, music... I mean, really, what would you say if someone asked you the traditional dance of British Columbia?? I get faced with this kind of question pretty regularly.

Love to all,
Rachael

Breaking News

2009-11-24T03:19:00.000-08:00

Really big prayer request!

Jeremy has broken his foot. His class went on a hiking/camping trip last weekend on one of the Inca trails, and since this is the rainy season, it was raining for part of the time. He slipped on some rocks and fell, and the result was a broken foot. But he had to keep walking for another day, because once you're on the trail there's no way out except to keep going.

The doctor isn't sure yet if this is a simple break or a complicated break. Please do pray that it's a simple one and will be all right in a few weeks! If it's complicated, there could be surgery involved, and with the trip to Canada coming up so soon, we DON'T want that!

So for now, Jeremy has a huge cast on his foot that goes up almost to his knee, and isn't supposed to walk on that foot. Needless to say, not the most fun. If anyone has any suggestions of fun things to do while not moving a lot, post a comment! I'm sure Jer would love to hear an encouraging word.

(and sorry for the pun :)

Love to all,
Rachael

Rainy Season

2009-11-20T10:03:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

So as I mentioned before, it is rainy season. I haven't yet managed to have my camera on me when the river is raging, but coming home today the roads were flooding a bit, water overspilling the foot-deep channels on either side of the road. So I got my camera and took a video for you all. The location is just down the road from our house.

Elisa and I had quite the Rainy Season Adventure yesterday - we went shopping in the open-air Alto market, which is huge and mazelike, and all of a sudden it started hailing like the dickens. The whole morning had been sunny and too hot, but within 15 minutes the ground was covered in an inch of hail. And as it melted, and as the hail turned to rain, the streets turned into rivers of muddy water. Elisa and I got totally soaked, especially when we had to walk down a huge twisting flight of stairs which had a creek pouring down it suddenly! Water splashing up to our calves. We should have remembered our umbrellas, but that wouldn't really have helped our legs at all.

In other news, complete recovery on my bug bite, praise the Lord! And also, I would just like to say that I am so blessed by people sending me mail. At the end of my bug-bite-bed-riddenness, I went to the post office and there were five things for me! A letter from Beth Goh, two letters from Katherine the Great, a card from my mom and my grandma, and a package from the amazing Walsh family!! And how cool is this: four out of those five letters contained stickers! You guys are all so awesome!

Love to everyone,
Rachael

Hold the Phone!!

2009-11-20T05:16:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

I just had to share this story of victory!

Last night I answered the phone and it was Jurgen Schulz, but I didn´t know it was him and he didn´t know it was me. We exchanged a few sentences, in Spanish, and then suddenly he said, "Rachael, is that you?" You see, he didn't realize it was an English-speaker on the phone, because my Spanish had been so good! Isn't that awesome??? Jurgen has been a missionary here for over 20 years, and his Spanish is fantastic, so this is a real compliment!

It's nice to know that there is progress being made!

Love to all,
Rachael

English Classes and Recovery Times

2009-11-17T11:07:00.000-08:00

Dear Everyone,

First of all, thank you all so much for all your prayers. My foot is now almost completely normal - not swollen anymore, nor red, and only a little itchy. Praise the Lord! It was the second shot of penicillin that did it, I think. I'm so grateful that now I can actually walk on it without causing pain, get out of the house, and actually do dishes and cook again! In celebration of my recovery, I made a triple batch of peanut butter chocolate chip cookies yesterday! And they were the best I've made so far - I think I finally have the trick of making them in the altitude.

Also, we had our fourth English class last night, and two more students showed up! I just love teaching English this way. It's so comfortable and cozy - we have tea together, and whatever baking I've done that day, and then have a great time laughing and learning English.

It's now full-on rainy season down here. The rainy season technically started a while ago, but we were having a drought - very bad for the farmers. But now the rains have started in earnest, and it's crazy! The river is churning and dashing madly, it looks alive, and it's so much higher than normal. La Paz, being such a dry, dry city for 9 months of the year, is just not equipped to handle this amount of water. I'll try to take a picture of the raging river! Meanwhile, here are my English students!

Lots of love,
Rachael

Update!

2009-11-10T04:18:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone,

First of all, this is a video of the lovely location of the church camp in the Yungas. And despite the fact that my foot is still suffering from that terrible bug bite, I would go back again. I'd just use more bug repellent next time.

As for the foot, I'm still taking a lot of antibiotics but it continues red, swollen, and painfully itchy. It's also hard to walk, or even stand, on. So, I'm spending a lot of time with my foot elevated, reading my dwindling supply of books. If it doesn't clear up soon, there may be more penicillin injections in my future.

But other than that, things are good!

Love to all,
Rachael

More Medical Adventures!

2009-11-06T03:00:00.000-08:00

Dear Everyone,

Well, it´s been quite a fascinating turn of events since I last wrote - was that just two days ago??

I have completely ceased to worry about the breathing issue, and the concern now is my ankle which was bitten by a bug in the Yungas. When we were at the clinic yesterday morning, after my second blood test Carlos insisted that I see a doctor about my foot. Turns out it's a good thing he did, for it is...infected. Rats! They say I shouldn't have scratched it...but it was itchy!! I'll know better next time...

The doctor wrote me out a very specific prescription - two antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory, to be taken at nine different times throughout the day. At least it gives me something to do while I'm lying in bed and trying to not irritate it further!

But then...the story's not over! We kept on monitoring my ankle throughout the day, and the swelling didn't go down, and it got redder. Carlos called his friend who is a doctor, and apparently this is a bad sign. So, when it was still swollen and more red at 9 o'clock at night, the doctor decided we needed to take more drastic action, because apparently you don't want to fool around with infections like this. So! Carlos loaded me into the car, and we drove to the doctor's house (stopping on the way at the pharmacy to buy a syringe and some penicillin) and he gave me an injection, bringing us up to three antibiotics! Wait, is penicillin an antibiotic? I think it is. Anyways, what an experience that was - this kind of injection has to go into the biggest muscle, and I think we all know where that is! But you know, it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would! Things could be a lot worse.

So, today I am taking it easy and resting my foot, and we will be keeping a careful watch to see if the swelling goes down. To my eyes it looks better already (but that could just be because I haven't gotten a good sleep in the last two nights!). I shall be catching up on letter writing - so if you want one, now is the time to say so!! :)

Prayers would be appreciated, but don't worry about me too much - Carlos is taking extremely good care of me, always calling the doctor to see what he thinks.

Love to everyone,
Rachael

Sud Yungas Paradise

2009-11-04T23:23:00.000-08:00

Hello friends,

Sorry it´s taken me so long to update the blog. Things have been kind of crazy.
For one thing, last weekend was a long weekend (All Saints Day) and our church went on a retreat into a more jungly area, the Yungas, south Yungas to be exact. We stayed at a lovely Catholic retreat center, order of Saint Augustine. The weather was hot, humid, and lovely. The pool was deep enough and cool enough to be perfect, especially when cooling off before heading to bed. A wonderful time. One drawback, though - I got a hideous bug bite on one ankle, and it´s now swollen and painful. Hopefully it´ll settle down soon!

On another front, I would appreciate prayer for my breathing again. After several tests today, the cardiologist seems to think that I´m not adjusting as well to the altitude as I did last year. In other words, I need to slow down. He´s given me some pills that he thinks should help as well, so we´re going to try that for a few days.

It was a lot of fun seeing a clinic in Bolivia, though! Quite different from here in Canada. First I had to pay for all the tests that were going to be run, and then they handed me the needle that would be taking my blood, and I went upstairs and handed it to the nurse! Also, you have to be canny about being in line-up for tests. If you´re not careful, someone will scoop your place. Good thing Carlos was there to stand up for me, because being rather too Canadian, I for sure wouldn´t have said anything if people budged in line, even after waiting about an hour for a chest x-ray!

My favourite moment at the clinic, however, was when Carlos and I came back downstairs and saw a group of doctors and nurses lifting a small boy through an office window - the kind of security window where there are bars over it, but an opening for you to speak through and slip money through. It seems the door had gotten accidentally locked while the keys were still inside. So they borrowed a small boy from one of the patients, and lifted him carefully through, and he unlocked the door for them. So cute!

More about the church camp later, if I can get my videos to load properly...
Love Rachael

As Others See Us...

2009-10-25T17:08:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

This video is a short skit performed by the boys of our youth group. Last Saturday night we were celebrating Dia de la Mujer (Women's Day) so the boys planned a whole evening for our enjoyment. Part of the entertainment was that they would act out a skit, and one of the boys would play the role of one of us girls, and we had to guess which girl it was. They were hysterical.

In this video, which is of course the one featuring "Rachael," you will find the following scenario: Clemente (in blue) and Beto (in red) are talking to each other when they run into me (played by Gonzalo, also in red). Clemente and Beto are trying to explain to "me" about the hiking trip the youth group did while I was away in the summer. Notice my blank expression, and how I don't seem to be really getting it. Clemente and Beto try again, at which point Gonzalo really drives home who he is imitating: he says "Noo, verDAD?" in a terrible terrible English-speaking accent. The camera jerks at this point because I lost it laughing, and so did everyone else. Rats, and I thought my accent was getting so much better!

Anyways, it was truly hilarious watching the boys acting like girls, and I hope you enjoy it even if you don't understand the Spanish.

Love to all!
Rachael

Racquetball Beginnings

2009-10-22T05:31:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!

So there's a racquetball court right down the road from us here, and Jeremy and Carlos play every weekend. Jeremy wants to teach me how, so last Sunday night I came with them. Suffice it to say that there is much work to be done before I am a decent player. My main problem seems to be that I'm afraid of balls, and also loud noises. That's pretty much racquetball in a nutshell, right there. However, the boys are being very easy with me to start.

Jeremy, my self-appointed Racquetball Tutor, wants me to do research on racquetball and come up with ten facts about the game, including where I found the facts. Who assigns a bibliography for racquetball homework?? This is yet another chance to weild power over the Evil Tutor, I just know it. But he is trying to help me.

It seems I never use the racquetball muscles, because ever since Sunday my right forearm has been sore and also trembles if I so much as pick up a frying pan with that hand. Hopefully this will decrease as I get better and better at the game (note my confidence!). And no, I will not, ever, be putting up videos of me playing the game. There is a limit to how embarrassed I am prepared to be.

Love to all,
Rachael

PS - Prayer request: I'm having more trouble breathing lately, if you all could pray that we find out why, and how to fix that, it would be great!

Major Breakthrough!!

2009-10-18T14:47:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone, you'll never guess what I did!

I finally changed a garafe!

Let me explain. Here in Bolivia, hot water heaters and kitchen appliances run on tanks of natural gas. In our house, they last for about two or three weeks, and then they run out and you need to change them. This involves turning off and hauling out the old tank and installing a new one. They are bigger than an average propane tank for a barbeque (see pictures). I admit that ever since I arrived here last year, I have been putting off and avoiding ever changing a garafe. I don't like dealing with things that might potentially cause a gas leak and an explosion!

But since I'll be down here alone over Christmas for a month, I know I need to figure out how the system works. I had Carlos show me how to do it a couple of weeks ago, but my first real test came yesterday, Saturday. Carlos was out at the market (buying things for our belated Canadian Thanksgiving, yummmm!) and I needed to bake a pumpkin pie. The flames in the oven were looking mighty low, and soon blew out altogether. It was crunch time!!

I got out the new garafe (quite heavy, actually). I took all the food products out of the cupboard beside the oven, to allow easier access. I put on my head-lamp to let me work more easily in that dark cupboard (yes, it was pretty geeky, but I was NOT wanting to make a mistake!). I turned off the old garafe - or at least I THOUGHT I did! Turns out that the whole "lefty loosey, righty tighty" adage doesn't hold true in Bolivia - I actually turned it all the way ON. This explains why gas started leaking out when I started unscrewing the hose! But what with the "hisssssss" sound and the smell, I figured it out right away, tightened the hose again, and turned the tank off properly. From then on, it was a walk in the park - removing the old tank, putting in the new one, and hooking it up. I prayed quickly, and turned the oven on, and it worked! No explosions or anything! I was, and am, inordinately proud of myself. The only downside was my jeans got really dirty...I'll know better next time.

And, while I'm on a roll of unexpected adventures, the water was cut off this morning again. And this was a bigger problem than usual because the youth group was supposed to be cooking a big meal to fundraise after church! Our house is one of the only ones around here that has a reserve tank, so the youth leader, Clemente, and I grabbed two big pots and walked down to our house from the church. Once here, we filled them up (really big pots, did I mention?) and prepared to haul them up the hill again. I honestly don't know how we would have done it (considering I have no strength in my arms at all) or how long it would have taken, but fortunately Carlos gave us a ride back up the hill. Some water got spilled, but all in all we made it safely. Water that regularly comes out of the tap: something I used to take for granted!

OK, that's it for now!
Love,
Rachael

Spring Carnival at Highlands

2009-10-14T18:53:00.000-07:00

So this is what our Spring Carnival looked like - it was the perfect day, blazingly hot and sunny! If Carlos hadn't gotten me an umbrella for the ticket booth I was manning, I would be fried to a crisp, sunblock or no sunblock. The Carnival was held to raise money for the school. I sold tickets for the games, which included "Pie in the Face" and "Dunk a Teacher," as well as other activities like balloon darts, pony riding (not kidding!), and face painting.

My favourite part was the "Wet Jail" - you paid two tickets to put someone of your choice in the jail, where they were soaked with the hose (again, good thing it was a hot day!). To get out, they had to pay a ransom of two tickets, or get someone else to pay a ransom for them if they were too impoverished to do so. The teachers were especially picked on as jail targets!

And other than that, life goes on as usual, with the occasional novelty. For example, the other day (another scorcher actually) I had to take a long bus ride home, and the ONE empty seat beside me was filled with FOUR upper-elementary students, all squirming and being noisy and practically sitting on my lap. That was a new one to me. Oh, and also, there is construction being done down the street a ways, and so our water is being cut off a lot more frequently than normal. This means cold showers, or sometimes no showers. I am learning to take a shower whenever the water gets turned on, even up to 9 pm. Live and learn!

Love to everyone,
And a big "hello" to Abby, Sam, Matthew, and Jessica,
from Rachael

Los Kjarkas

2009-10-09T14:32:00.000-07:00

Greetings to one and all,

These are some pictures of a concert I went to with Jeremy and Carlos about two weeks ago. The band was Los Kjarkas, one of the most popular Bolivian bands around, and their genre is apparently "Andean pop." It was a cool cultural experience - they use a lot of the traditional Bolivian instruments, and dress in typical Bolivian costumes. The part I liked best was that everyone seemed to know the words to all the songs - the entire audience was singing along the whole time! And even though the concert was in an outdoor stadium on a cold La Paz night, there were so many people squished in that we all kept warm.

In other news, this weekend Carlos and Jeremy are going to introduce me to Wally Ball (volleyball but you use the walls as well) and racquetball - there's a court right up the street, and Jeremy has been trying to get me to play for a long time. Not dissuaded by the fact that I am afraid of flying balls, Jeremy insists that I will like it and that he will go easy on me. I'll let you all know how it turns out.

More later,
Love,
Rachael

Home Sweet Home

2009-10-05T16:19:00.001-07:00

So today I returned to the Vargas house in Llojeta (pronounced "yo hetta")after a ten-day stay in the zona sur with Elisa while her parents were away. I had a great time with Elisa and her two cats, but it's still nice to be home again!

One thing I liked about staying with Elisa is that I get to visit her church, Kairos, which is big and charismatic and has great worship times. They also have a prayer room - it's not quite 24-7 but it's open most of every day, from about 6am on. I went on Wednesday, early before Elisa got up, and it's so nice to have a place to go and pray and focus. If I lived closer, I'd definitely go more often! My goal is still to visit it about once a week.

Oooh, and such good news! Jeremy is doing so well at his typing! He's now typing up his own reports and things for school, which is so encouraging. As for my schoolwork: I kind of fell behind on my reading of the Spanish book, but I'll get right back on track now that I'm back at home. I promise.

Love to everyone,
Rachael

The Library Tour

2009-10-01T06:04:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Here's the video tour of the library, isn't it beautiful?? Maybe I'm biased. It may not look like much, but compared to what it was just a few short years ago, it's amazing! And we have something like over 6000 books.

Right now I'm living with Elisa in the zona sur while her parents are away, stay tuned for pictures of me covered with cat hair! She has two beautiful cats, and it's been such a nice treat to sit and read a book while cats sit and sleep on me. I'm also getting my first little taste of being a mom who homeschools - on Monday I was frantically trying to make lunch while also checking Elisa's math work. May I just say, to all you homeschooling moms out there, I have even more respect for you now than I did before!

Thanks to everyone who has commented or checked the blog, it's very encouraging.

Oooh, check out this exciting news! I've been slowly reading through the book of Luke, and I keep on wishing I could read a commentary on it, but I never get around to looking for one. But I found one here at the Schulz apartment, and even though it's in Spanish, I've been reading it and understanding it perfectly! Well, 95% anyways, which is still pretty amazing.

More again soon!
Love to all,
Rachael

Going to School

2009-09-24T12:26:00.000-07:00

Greetings!

So this is me on the road to the school, and next time I post I'll put up a video of a little tour of the library.

Just to update everyone: I successfully passed my contract, I only got one "strike" before the week ended, so I'm free to continue to read fiction unmolested. However, even though the contract has ended, I shall of course continue to try to speak Spanish at the table. And Carlos has had a great idea, too! He was listening to me quizzing Jeremy on his vocabulary worksheets, and he decided that a good way for me to learn more Spanish was to have a vocabulary goal for every week, like ten new words a week. He loaned me a sort of pre-teen novel in Spanish, "Pesadilla en Vancuver" or "Vancouver Nightmare," and I'll read through it and pick out words I don't know (that seems to be most of them) and look them up! Jeremy has assigned me a deadline (Monday) and a test for the same day.

Thank you to everyone who has been so concerned about my health, I am happy to report that I must be over altitude sickness because I went running yesterday for the first time! I took it awfully slow, and suffered no ill effects, so the current plan is to go two or three times a week.

That's all for now - check back in for the video tour of the library, I'm very proud of that little library!

Love,
Rachael

Our Church

2009-09-19T18:31:00.001-07:00

So, this is my first time attempting to put a video on the blog, and I hope it works. I thought I'd show you all where we go to church. It's within about a five minute walk from the Vargas' house, but a hard five minutes of up-hill breathlessness for me (still getting used to the altitude).

It may or may not interest you to know that Monday, September 21st, is kind of the Bolivian equivalent of Valentine's Day - it's the day of love, of spring, and of students. It's a day off from school, so that's a good thing too!

Hoping you are all well,
Love Rachael

Down to Business

2009-09-16T05:00:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

So, after a week and a few days of being back in Bolivia, I decided it was high time to get my game face on and get back into the swing of Spanish. It's far too easy to just speak English when I'm at the house. Of course, I decided to make a Behavioral Contract with Jeremy! This will force me to speak Spanish and will get me back in the habit.

The terms: At the table at mealtimes I can only speak Spanish.
Duration: One week.
Definition of a breach of contract: More than three words of English in a row.
Punishment for more than 3 breaches of contract in the week: I must go a whole week without reading fiction of any kind.
Policeman: Jeremy.

I guess it's not as severe a punishment as last year's "no email for a week" punishment, but I'm easing myself back into the game.

In other news, I'm enjoying my routine of days, and I'm redecorating my room (new posters, new photos), and I had a great weekend with Celina who was in town from Cochabamba!!

Prayer would be appreciated for my throat, which remains sore and painful at times.

Lots of love!!
Rachael

Back in the Routine

2009-09-10T14:31:00.000-07:00

Greetings from La Paz!

So just to give you all a better idea of where I live and what I do, here are some photos of what will soon be my regular life again. Firstly, the view from my bus stop. Looking out over the beautiful city of La Paz - although it's looking rather hazy, which is unusual. Anyways, when I head out in the mornings I walk up the street from our house and wait for a bus to come down. There are no typical "bus stops" in Bolivia; anywhere you want to, you can stick out your hand and the buses will stop and pick you up. Rather nice system, actually! Very convenient. The second picture is of me waiting for the bus - yes, I DO always look that happy when I'm waiting for the bus! Ok, maybe not...

And lastly, a picture of Elisa and I. I'll be working with her three days a week, which should be great fun. She and her parents live in a different part of La Paz, but it only takes two buses to get there, and I actually love riding the buses in Bolivia. Hopefully I'll soon have some pictures up of the buses, some of them have to be seen to be believed!

Today was my first time down to the post office again, to mail a letter (it's going to 1224 Judge, but I'm not saying to whom!) and to check the mailbox. And lo and behold, my first official letter of the year, from Dan Fryer! Hooray! Thanks, Dan!

Well, that's all for now. Thanks for reading!
Love,
Rachael

Back to School

2009-09-08T15:56:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

Well, sorry about the lack of photos, I'll get on that soon.

Today was my first day back at Highlands International School! The school year opened for them on August 10th, so they've already been working for a month. I felt a little sheepish, trickling back in a month late, but better late than never! I will be working at the library a day and a half a week, shelving and organizing and returning books, and whatever else needs doing.

Honestly, I had been a little nervous about going back. I don't know why, but the school seems to bring out my dormant shy side, and last year I didn't get very close with most of the teachers. So I was worried that, since there are a bunch of new teachers, it would be hard to meet everyone and feel like I fit in.

However, I shouldn't have worried! God is so good. As soon as I arrived, I was greeted enthusiastically by some teachers I met last year, and by so many students as well! And every time I saw someone I didn't know, they were all so friendly! Introducing themselves, and asking where I was from, and saying they were so happy I had finally arrived. As if I was some long-expected celebrity! I honestly think they must print on the application form for Highlands "If you are not the nicest person in the world, don't bother applying." I was impressed last year by how absolutely wonderful the staff were, so encouraging and welcoming and friendly - and this year it seems the same, if not better! When I came home after school today, I even asked Carlos if maybe he had called the school and told them, "Rachael is coming in today, and she's really worried about meeting people..." - because if they HAD been told that, they couldn't have done a better job of making me feel at home!

So, looking forward to a great year with the school! Probably I owe it all to Jeremy, who gave me some sage advice last night. I had asked him to pray for me, because I was nervous about going to school, and he told me, "Just be yourself, take it easy, be calm - when you meet people, just say 'Hi, I'm Rachael, nice to meet you' - you know, don't start right away by telling them 'I LOVE STICKERS!!' " Hee hee hee, how well he knows me!

Love to everyone,
Rachael

Back Where I Belong

2009-09-05T12:34:00.000-07:00

Dear Everyone,

Well, I'm back! The twelve hours in Lima finally ended, and it wasn't so bad. There were unfortunately no quiet places to sleep, but I'm sure that if you added it all up I probably got about 2 hours of interrupted sleep, spread out over several airport chairs.

The flight from Lima to La Paz was short and sweet. We flew in over Lake Titicaca, and all of a sudden I was so struck by Bolivia again. This high up, everything is so clear and crisp, which I guess is because the air is so thin. We were flying over this gigantic, deep blue lake, and the surrounding land was so stark and bony and mostly void of vegetation, but it was so beautiful! The accompanying photos were taken from the plane window and therefore are not very high quality, but the impression I got as I looked down at the land was that we were flying over a perfect model of Bolivia, a to-scale model, and if the window would open I could reach down and touch it, and pick up these perfect miniature features. It was just beautiful, and so different.

And now I am back at the house, getting over altitude sickness. It hasn't been that bad, I just need to be careful. I'm drinking a lot of coca tea, and breathing a lot of oxygen, but even so I get tired really quickly, and headaches and nausea come upon me if I expend too much energy. But besides all that, I am so happy to be back. I guess I forgot how much I like Bolivia, how much I like this house! I can't wait until I'm feeling totally well again, and can take on this next year with gusto!

I should take it easy and probably go lie down again now, so I'll write more later on. Thanks to everyone for all your prayers!!

Love, Rachael

PS, BIG HUGE THANK YOU to the Wall family from Calgary, who had sent me a package and it was here waiting for me when I got in!! With Crayola markers, and letters and cards from the entire family! You guys are the best!!

In Transit!

2009-09-03T22:33:00.001-07:00

Hi guys!

I´m on location at the Lima airport, at the start of my much anticipated twelve-hour layover! Hooray! Fortunately the flight here from L.A. was just great, it flew by in a dizzying blur of movies. And I got to practice my rusty Spanish with a wonderful grandmotherly lady who sat next to me. Praise the Lord!

I was able to access my hotmail account on this computer (in a Smoker´s Lounge at the airport, how weird is that that there are still places you can smoke inside??) but the tragic thing is I can´t READ my emails! Some computer issue that is beyond my capability to resolve. However, thanks so much to all you people who sent me emails of encouragement, I will read them when I get to La Paz, I suppose!

Well, the smell of smoke is giving me a headache so I´d better sign off. Thanks to everyone for prayers and love!

In hopes of finding a quiet gate to sleep at,
yours faithfully,
Rachael

Last Night in Canada

2009-09-02T22:24:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

Well, it's late and it's been a long day of packing, so I'm going to keep this short and then stumble off to bed. Not that I'll get much sleep - I need to be up by 2:45 a.m. so we can arrive at the airport by 4:30 a.m. My flight leaves at 6:30 - blech! And then approximately 36 hours of travel, including a 12-hour layover in the Lima airport. But you know what, it could be worse!!

It is of course sad to be leaving my family and friends in Canada again. The summer seems to have disappeared overnight, even with my two-week extension! But it will be nice to get back into the routine of life in Bolivia, and I can't wait to see Jeremy and Elisa and all my other friends.

Please pray for my journey, that perhaps I can even find a quiet corner of the Lima airport to actually get some sleep in. And that I will quickly adjust to the altitude once I get to La Paz - I've been informed that the oxygen tank is already in my bedroom waiting for me!

Thanks for all the love you all have shown me this summer,
Rachael

PS - the photos are the incredible evidence of everything I managed to fit into my bags! A traveling miracle!

Up and Running

2009-08-05T10:34:00.000-07:00

Greetings everyone, and welcome to my new blog!

I'm just setting it up now, so I probably won't be publishing many posts until I return to Bolivia, which will be at the end of August. But bookmark this page, as it will be replacing the old "Aimee and Rachael" blog from last year.

Love to all!
Rachael