Soaking Cochabamba

We have survived Carnival...a crazy, few-month long holiday celebrated throughout the entire city by throwing water balloons, using squirt guns, and hosing down strangers. I've been nailed several times in the back, head, chest, and legs by 11-year-olds to grown men. During the last day or 2, the streets are overrun with people carrying supersoakers, bags of water balloons, and gangs of soaking sensations! Since it's based in pagan tradition (for cleansing and fertility, etc.), the center hosted an overnight camp during the last 2 days of Carnival. We did Bible study, played volleyball, did relay races, ate meals, and had a huge water fight!

Here's Nicol with her loaded watergun and pack ready for action! Joana, the girl I work with in Kinder Kids, is soaked...along with the rest of us!

On Sunday, my friends Katie and Craig went hiking with me up a rocky gorge/river bed. It was so fun to climb and swim under waterfalls.

And, of course, playing soccer at the cancha with the Frutillar kids is always fun. Papi gets excited and comes with to watch, play, and cheer too.

Here is Papi with Ariel, Frankie, Johnnie, and Vivi.

The Center

Yesterday I went to the center for after school program. I work with the kinder kids, 2 to 5 year olds. I help teach with Joana, a girl my age who´s attending college for her degree in early childhood education. I love teaching with her because she´s a native Bolivian, so her Spanish is perfect and she´s amazing with the kids. She has really creative ideas for teaching and preparing them for life.
Because most of these kids come from less than supportive homes, our lessons include basic living standards along with educational and Biblical teachings. We´re going through the colors, numbers 1-10, songs, and prayer. These first few weeks, we are focusing on dental hygiene. We taught them how to brush using a giant toothbrush and a picture of Garfield cheesing: ¡arriba, abajo, izquierda, derecha! Up, down, left, right! Now, when they arrive at the center each day, we take them to the sink and brush each of their teeth. It´s so fun to see their reaction to our command, ¡muestreme tus dientes! Show me your teeth! Smile! They love to show off their work.
Also, I made name plates and pictures of animals for each student to put on the wall. It is to help them recognize their names and for collecting themed stickers for when they master a task. Yesterday, Esther went absolutely nuts when she realized she had the little dog, un perrito. She was showing everyone and was so proud of her perrito. ¡Es mio! Then, after we learned the color yellow, we blew up balloons (globos) and played with those for about 20 minutes. Miguel was doing headers with me :) We have snack, refrijerio, each day at the end of our session. We have to encourage them to finish their drink and snack, especially since some of the kids don´t eat every day.
The center is a very difficult place to work because of the inconsistency of home life and attendance to the center, but it is so encouraging to see the kids answer questions correctly, share, find the right puzzle piece, volunteer to pray, and actually finish their refrijerio. As we lead the kinder kids every day before prayer, ¨¡Manitos, manitos! Juntos. Oremos.¨ We show and wave our hands, put them together, and pray.
If you´d like to pray for my class, here they are: Samuel, Dennis, Miguel, Esther, Dana, Katie, Cristian, Angel, Nicol, Yuri, Sheila, and Carlos.

Activities and Projects

Erland, me, and Miguel
Playing after homework
Villa Israel

Roberto reading with mom
Miguel coloring
Activities after homework

Planter with 3 kinds of flowers
We built, painted, and planted
I used a skill saw, hand drill, and hammer/nails