I ate the Pounder!

That was on a man's T-shirt today at our work site. One way or another this gluttonous declaration made the journey from a New York hamburger joint to Santa Cruz and ended up on a Bolivian construction worker applying the final touches to a new pre-school funded by American churches. This school is the work placement for Arelis, a volunteer with the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in Bolivia (the same thing my friend Allyn is doing). Arelis had convinced Allyn and I to come help the workers and teachers prepare the school for its scheduled opening on Monday, which I am very doubtful it will be ready for. Our help turned out to be six hours using a machete and sharp shovel to remove a 10 x 30 ft patch of weeds which the director's husband later questioned if it even needed to be removed. Errgh. In any case, it was probably good for me to do some hard labor since I can't remember the last time I actually did manual work, but it was not fun to get sunburnt.


So yeah, I'm in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, which is apparently the largest city in Bolivia due to a recent boom in the local natural gas industry, but it certainly doesn't look it. Buildings in La Paz are taller, and the central plaza in Santa Cruz is not huge, but rather small and friendly. The city lies in the jungle, so it is very warm and humid here. My jeans get sticky after walking around in them all day, ick. After arriving here on last Friday, I have seen the zoological gardens (they have real toucans!) seen Allyn, met her friends Arelis and Corrie, and seen some real in-the-flesh Mennonite colonists. The colonists are white, wear overalls and polyester dresses, speak in low German, and pretty much keep to themselves. They are quite surprising to see walking around the streets in the sea of dark Bolivian faces! Anyway, I am staying at MCC's small campus here, which is quiet, peaceful, clean, and cheap. Photo: Corrie, Arelis, me and Allyn

During my free time here I have been spending quite a bit of time preparing for my year as a Jesuit Volunteer or Young Adult Volunteer which would start this August. I have, at this point, sent in my applications to JVC, JVC Northwest, and Presbyterian Church (USA) YAV and have done interviews with two of them. My job now is to learn about the various work placements and community experiences that each program offers and select one that fits me well. Just so you know, there is a possibility that I will be volunteering in another country, but lately I have been mostly looking at US placements, possibly working with immigrants and refugees, which would still allow me to connect to international issues. Over the past few days I have spent hours doing informational interviews with site coordinators, reading about site placements online, and reading about current volunteers' experiences on their blogs. After hearing from several of my friends who are doing a similar program this year, I have learned that not every program meets their volunteers' needs well, and not every site is a good match for its volunteer, so I'm willing to put in this time if it will help me end up in a program and placement that works well for me. Photo: section of peaceful MCC campus

As always, some of the best times on this trip have been with other people. Here in Santa Cruz I've been able to spend time with Allyn, who is just a great and really cool person. Allyn went on Whitworth's 2008 Central America Study Program, which, in case you don't know, is pretty much my favorite thing in the world. Also, she grew up in Ecuador until she was seven, which is pretty cool. I've also had the chance to meet some of the other volunteers here, and some MCC workers as well. A few days after I got here I met a couple from Harrisonburg, Virginia (fancy that, Uncle Clark!) who came because the wife was going to give a seminar on trauma and peace-making. She is a professor at Eastern Mennonite University, I believe. I learned that the two of them were MCC workers for three years in El Salvador in the early '80s, then a couple years in Nicaragua, and then for ten years in Guatemala. Wow!

However, my time in Santa Cruz has come to an end. Tomorrow I will catch a flight back to the mountainous and cooler (temperature-wise) Cochabamba, spend a week there and do more interviews, and then take a bus to La Paz, where I fly out in a little over a week. I'm already thinking about what it's going to be like when I return, and I know that one thing I will miss will be spending time with friends that are not only fun but also inspire and motivate me. Luckily, however, it might actually be easier to see these friends in the United States! I know of at least two that will be in Portland when I get back, and more are in Seattle where I might go during spring break. It will be great to see family, and also good to connect with more friends stateside.

Okay compadres, thanks for reading and have a great day.