The America I Never Knew

Friday night an again tonight I had the most amazing hamburger I have ever had. I am truly ashamed of America for being outdone by Bolivia in something that it claims to be the best at. Maybe it's just me though, maybe I am the one that never tried to find a REAL hamburger, but I lived in the U.S. for 16 years and never tasted such a juicy, rich, fresh hamburger. I ate it with Coca Cola, now that's an american meal! When my family served me the hambuger they put a fork and knife on my placemat, ha! I responded simply by showing them how we do things in America. Now, I have never really been THAT type of U.S. citizen, the kind who watched football on Sundays, is proud of our country winning wars, one who eats steaks and drinks Coke, but today I was more than happy to show some Bolivians my very proud american alter ego. So, I had a little taste of something I am, as an American, am supposed to be missing, when really what I'm missing is Sunday's with my caring family, omelets, bacon, orange juice and, of course, our famous Sunday morning donuts and coffee. But you know what? I love the Sunday traditions of my new families, and experiencing the culture here.

My Real Home

Yes, maybe I do miss Wisconsin a little bit, but I miss California a hell of a lot more. I see all my old friends on facebook and how awesome their lives are and I can't help wondering what my life would have been like if my parents hadn't spontaniously decided to move to the Midwest. We had such a good life there with so many friends and a nice house and we were happy. Now my family just pretends to be happy and find happiness in the limited things Waupaca has to offer, but really we aren't. I keep thinking how different and better things would have been if my parents had decided to buy a house in California. Yeah, I wouldn't have met all the amazing people in my life, but I would have met different amazing people who would have changed my life in different ways. And I know it's not good to dwell on what could have been, but I just miss it so much. One good thing about moving is I am now involved with Rotary and this whole process has changed my life. I don't think I would be a Rotary Exchange Student if we hadn't have moved. So thank you mom and dad for ruining my life, then brightening it forever. I guess the moral is sometimes good things happen from bad events in the long run, and I am truly grateful for that. But I am going back to California as soon as I can and no one can stop me because one thing I have learned through this exchange is you can do anything in the world and no one can stand in your way!

A Snack is a Meal

Even the tiniest little snack at 4 in the afternoon is like a three course meal here!! And I bet none of you have ever achieved the level of fullness I have while I'm here. Every main meal I eat here tells my body it's Thanksgiving because of how much I stuff myself, all that's missing is the pumpkin pie :'(. Everyone I eat with is always telling me how I don't eat anything, when in reality, when I take what is considered a very small portion, I am really taking more than my body can physically hold. When I get back I think my appetite will have tripled!!

Ideas Come and Go like the Tide

First I'm going to address my title. I never know what to capitalize in my titles. That's why my titles always look dumb. So now, about the title. I used this title because I was thinking about how whenever I think of something I want to write in my blog I'm never around a computer or a pencil and paper to write it down. And when I feel like posting something, my thought is gone. So....Random events that happened in the last few days I guess. Well, Monday was really boring. Took a 3 hour nap during ciesta. Tuesday my throat hurt so bad I couldn't speak so I didn't go to school. I slept a lot and my mom was so nice and gave me all the things I needed to feel better, and even gave me minty stuff like my real mom did when I was sick. Today is Wednesday and I went to school...and I've just been chillin here, practicing Laszlo, my ukulele. Learning songs. I figure if I cant successfully talk to people, music is a world language, so I can make friends playing familiar songs. Well, that's it for my almost pointless (not pointless like stupid, pointless as in there wasn't a main topic) post about nothing in particular.
Oh and I would also like to say that for all of you who read my blog regularly it really means a lot to me. I enjoy sharing my thoughts and ideas with people and you all keeping up with what I'm doing makes me feel like I'm not alone here in the middle of Bolivia. So thank you, and I will take suggestions on what to write about. Obviously I need a little inspiration.
Pictures next time I promise.

Turn the music up

Even with the air conditioning on full blast, running almost 24/7, I can feel my body fighting to produce enough sweat to keep up with how much it's releasing. Seriously, there is no break between episodes of not being able to move for fear of fainting. Okay, maybe I'm exagerating a little, but trust me, not as much as you think. Point is, it's really effing hot here. I thought maybe the humidity of Wisconsin would have prepared me for this, but even with years of drowning the heat with cool lemonade and dips in the lake, I had no idea it would be this terrible. Now, it's not unbearable, not at all, in fact everyone uses the excuse of the heat as a reason to strip down to skimpy bikini's and hang out at pools beside fantastic mansions, complete with toy dogs, hummers, and appetites the size of hulk. Maybe the picture I'm painting is a bit too much, after all it has nothing to do with the heat but everything to do with normality in the high class around here. Sometimes I don't know how easily I can get off track than when I'm writing. Anyway, point is: it's very hot. no one pays any attention to it. I still wear a scarf occasionally, after all it is Autumn...*ahhemm* Spring.
My attitude rises just like the mercury in the thermometer. Things are looking brighter and brighter. Summer's coming!!

Cooking with Companeros

On Saturday I went to my friend Kirstens house and we invited more girls over to cook some food. Before starting we had to go to the store to buy some ingredients. We walked to the store which was a new experience for me living on the outskirts of town for the first month, so that was fun. The first thing we made was guacamole  and nacho cheese for some chips. We sat down with our delicious chips and dip to think about what we were about to make.We made Nutella cream pie, deep fried oreos, and Pretty Bird Cake....which is a Belgian dessert made from cookies, nutella, coffee, and butter, basically just layered in a pan. Everything was delicious and everything was SOOO fattening and by the time we all had some of everything we had to loosen our belts a little bit. We decided we needed some excercise burn calories so we ran around the house 5 times, which only made us hurt. We had a good laugh and a little break before cleaning up the kitchen and storing the remainder of the food (there was a lot!!)

My Life is Average

Despite all the super cool things I've done and seen here, it still most of the time is pretty average. Yes, I did see and entire family including about 5 children living on the street yesterday begging for money, something I normally don't see, but I'm getting used to that kind of thing. This is my life now, and if I tell all you guys only the things that are incredible and awesome, that would be false advertising (that just sounds cool, I'm not really advertising Bolivia.....or am I?) Well anyways, believe it or not sometimes I don't do a whole lot. Like Wednesday for example: I woke up, ate breakfast, my mom drove me to school, I went to school for 5 hours, my brother picked me up, I ate lunch, I took a nap, I watched tv, I checked my e-mail, I hung out with the family and watched tv, then went to the movies. Pretty normal day I think. Now I could go into great detail about the amazing Cine Center, movie theatre and all it's greatness, but lets just say it's really, really big and I saw Friends with Benefits. There. I have a normal life here, and its not all rainbows and unicorns either.
My Life is Average.

three families in two days

On Monday, my birthday, I went to school after saying goodbye to my parents, and after school I went home and packed up to stay with my grandmother. After spending one night at Babo's (grandma) I moved to another family that will be my family while my parents are in France. My new family is great, my mom is the sister of my English teacher at school. I have two older brothers, I have always wanted an older brother, now I have three including Andy who I switched places with, he went to Michigan. I'm happy to have a different experience with another family, but I will stay with my original parents for the remainder of my exchange. It has been crummy weather here. raining and cloudy, and this time it was actually clouds blocking out the sun and not smog like some days. It's nice I suppose, at least I get to wear scarves, reminds me of fall in the Midwest. I refuse to admit  to being homesick, but there are some things I have been missing. I miss Autumn, I miss sitting around with the family on Friday nights with popcorn and a cheesy romantic comedy, and I miss my little brother. Love you, buddy <3.

Hiking for Orchids

This past weekend I went on a trip with 14 other exchange students (my whole district) to and Orchid Festival in a small town called Concepcion. We took a bus almost 6 hours,stopping in a cute town for some lunch and a tour of a mission. We saw beautiful churches. We stayed in a hostel, with four to a room. At the hostel there were two Tucans. It was the first time I had seen Tucans and they were incredible. We hung out a lot at the central Plaza in Concepcion. There was a market where we all bought indigenous crafts. On Saturday we went to a couple more small towns, in one of them we took a "walk" which turned into an hour and a half hike on rocks and canyons. It was amazing. It was very hot. And not very hot,  it was super duper incredibly mind blowingly hot!! But the view from some of the points was astounding. Then we ate lunch, chicken soup, reminded me of cold winters. Another little town we went to was adorable. Beautiful children dressed in classic Bolivian gettup and dancing to indigenous music. We had homemade breads and watched some villagers set up a    slicked up pole that people were to climb. We also went to a wood carving class. I really did not carve very well. After butchering my wood piece I asked for some cloth to paint an Orchid on and I really enjoyed learning from one of the artists how to paint an Orchid, it's beautiful. The trip was amazing and I was very happy to have sometime for all the exchange students from district 4960 to get to know each other. We all had a great time and learned a lot about each other. This weekend was amazing.

Shopping!!! You know what I'm talking about ;)

Well not the kind of shopping your thinking of. I'm just talking about grocery shopping,which I find very amusing. It's just fun to see how a simple grocery store can look the same on the surface but when you look close it's completely different. The packaging, the settup, the meat department, I just like grocery shopping, that's all.

The sweetest girls

I have been volunteering at a girls home for abused and orphaned girls in my city. The organization is called Ramar and has projects for helping homeless people across the world. They mostly focus on helping adults who cannot support themselves or have problems with drugs. They give these people a home and education and get them back on their feet so they can function in society. This home is special because it is for girls form the ages of 4-17. There are 29 girls, out of that, 9 were sexually abused and 10 were physically abused and orphaned. They are all so happy so see me when I get there, they all swarm around me like bears around a honey comb. Although only a few of them speak a little bit of English, I teach them all I can and they are very eager to learn. I usually go there in the afternoon and stay for a couple hours. They love listening to music, dancing, singing, learning, posing for pictures, talking to me, playing games together, and just talking to me. They are the sweetest girls and so beautiful. My mother and I are helping out there taking pictures and making a profile for each girl that will be put into a booklet and distributed to many different schools, businesses, and also other countries with which we are associated (US and France). My school will be featuring this home in our classes social project and helping them to raise money to build their dream home and have everything they need to house everyone properly. This is such a great cause and I am so happy to be part of these girls lives and help out one girl at a time.

I'll admit it

I have been procrastinating. Yes, classic teenager, that's me. I had planned on preparing a well thought out, rounded post about my adventures at a remote oil rig in the foothills of Bolivia 5 hours south of my city. So, all self judgement behind, I am willing myself to just write this without criticism and just put it out there. So, here we go....
We left the house at 7 in the morning with a driver hired by Total, the company my father works for. It was so early and I was very tired from being out late the night before, so naturally I slept most of the 5 hours to the oil rig. I woke up just as the car was turning onto a dirt road, which we drove on for a very long time, a lot longer than I expected. When we got there it was just beginning to get overcast, but the people were bright as ever and greeted us with enthusiasm.
The rig itself was incredible. Over 10 stories tall! It was astounding. Before touring the rig, we met some people in charge and other workers, and sat around drinking coffee and socializing, in my case watching T.V. Then we got ready to take a tour. First we had to watch a video about Total, the company, and a safety and information video about the plant. I learned all about oil extraction and other stuff about the oil rig. This specific plant hasn't had an accident in 635 days. Woah! Although there was an "incident" with a man carrying a hose and the top popped off and could have killed someone. Besides that, the run a tight ship at the plant. We had to put on heavy duty boots, heavy duty shirts, glasses, safety hats, and we had to take off all metal jewelry. Then it was off to the rig!
We first saw the bits for drilling, of course. We saw used bits and new bits, small bits and big bits, sharp bits and smooth bits, all different kinds. Some bits were for soft soil like sand, some were for tougher parts in the land like stone. Then we went around to the oil tanks, which were considerable larger than any oil tank I have ever seen. They were gigantic!! and there were 6 of them!! After that we saw the building where they store the chemicals they use at the plant. There were barrels upon barrels or toxic chemicals. Then we saw the part of the plant where the collect, store, and use mud for the extraction of oil. There were giant filters for sifting mud. After seeing the valves where the pressure is reduced to a stream, we made our way up the numerous stairs to the main platform of the oil rig, where workers were lowering a bit into the hole. I looked around at the giant 100 foot oles and asked what they were, my dad said that they were all put into the hole, attached to each other, 5,000 meter (15,000 feet) below the surface. I started to get a headache, I though it was the smell of the oil and machinery, but in the end it was my safety helmet secured too tightly. After fixing that problem, we descended down to the part of the plant that tests and filters oil. We walked on grates over flowing pools of thick black oil, it was pretty neat. After that we went back to the trailers and had more coffee and ate sandwiches and I watched a movie. Then we went to the camp and were shown our sleeping quarters. It was nice actually I had my own room and we shared a bathroom. After settling in, we took a jeep to a warehouse where a select group of workers greeted us and we ate delicious steak cooked on a homemade grill made from parts of pipes and other scrap materials. I must say the grill looked professional and I was very impressed, not to mention the steak was incredible. After the we went back to the camp and I promptly fell asleep. In the morning we went to a site about 40 minutes away that was to be the next drilling spot when they are finished drilling at the current site. It was a beautiful site with a backdrop of the amazing surrounding mountains and light jungle. After that we ate a big lunch back at the camp and left. The drive back didn't seem as long but I was glad to have a break at a cute restaurant for coffee/coca-cola. When we got back I was beat, which was weird considering I had just sat in a car for 5 hours, but I didn't think too much about why I was tired, I was just happy to have some rest.
So, that was my weekend. It was an amazing experience seeing how oil is extracted. There is so much more information that I now possess about drilling that I didn't put in this post. It's just too much to sum up. It really was an incredible learning experience.
Here are some pictures: