A little R&R

Right now I am back in Cochabamba, Bolivia, where I spent five days earlier, staying with my friend Katie and her housemates. Katie (and three others in the house) teach in an American school here in Cochabamba, where all the classes are given in English. Cochabamba is a bigger city than I expected; it's the third largest in Bolivia and more people live here than in Portland. The city is surrounded by beautiful green hills that often have fog rolling over them even when it's sunny.

Since everyone in the house works during the day, I end up having the house (and the computer) to myself. It's nice to be able to rest and relax, which is mostly what I did at MCC in Santa Cruz, too, but it's also a little boring. Yesterday and I went and explored the city a little, and I will probably do the same today. Katie and everyone else are really too busy to show me around very much; they have lots of responsibilities with their church as well. Though I'm a little antsy here, I don't really have much of an urge to go exploring. I think I'm kind of "traveled-out," not because I miss home so much as I'm tired of uprooting myself every week.

Maybe it's good that I'm resting now, because when I get home, I'll already have stuff on my plate. I just confirmed to speak for five to ten minutes at a Presbytery meeting in Portland on March 12th about my experience at the congress, which will be only one of six presentations I agreed to schedule and give about the congress once I returned. In addition, in the US I will still be doing interviews with site coordinators for PC(USA)'s Young Adult Volunteer program and the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. Depending on where I get accepted (I'm already in for YAV) and what positions are available, I will also make my final decision later this month about where I'll spend a year of my life starting this summer. Which will be, by the way, somewhere in the US. The YAV program has international sites, but I decided not to pursue one of those.

Take care everyone, and I'll see you in a week!