Faralee's Awesomeness

My wife is just awesome...she made this paper tree and all our house Christmas decorations:

Thanksgiving me all your money

The title doesn't actually have very much to do with this post, its just a silly quote from the Office.

We had a huge party for thanksgiving. We had upwards of 50 people there. Weren't sure we would have enough food for everyone, but it turned out fine. My mother in law Maria and I put a lot of thought and work in to the food and the guest list. We cooked turkey and ham (my own personal thanksgiving tradition since I don't really like turkey). And we had candied yams, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, and many different choices of pie. Plus a few extras to such as rice. Overall, a very thanksgivingy kind of meal. It was yummy, and people ate or tried almost everything. So I felt it was a success.

During the planning process and during the festivities, there were a lot of discussions about the meaning behind thanksgiving and the traditions. With a name like thanksgiving, many people supposed it was a religious holiday and some even thought it was of LDS origin. I explained the basic history / myths behind it. But most people were unsatisfied with my insistence that it was all about the food. My family doesn't have a lot of traditions for thanksgiving outside of the meal, and spending time together. And this was very frustrating for my in laws I think. In the end, they just decided to derive their own meaning and traditions from the holiday. On some level, I felt a little offended at this, since its kind of my holiday. But I have decided that if they decide to take the holiday and make it their own, at least they took the important part of it, the gratitude part. I think they aren't really able to appreciate the food part for a few reasons: One, they don't really like the traditional food; Two, the whole idea behind a harvest festival doesn't really apply here. In Bolivia, you can harvest food almost all year round. That isn't true in many other parts of the world, including the States. So at the one harvest time a year, we have festivals and parties. We have songs about the harvest, harvest oriented games and most importantly, huge banquets in celebration of the harvest. That way we can use up a little of the excess food while it is fresh, and also we can give thanks. Now-a-days, we can eat fresh food at almost any time of year, so perhaps the concept of the harvest festival doesn't really apply to us anymore either. And I do want to make it a holiday more and more about the gratitude. But I also intend on letting it be about the food too. It's a part of my heritage. The food is a gift. I'm grateful for it. And I believe that eating it can be a celebration.

And I'm grateful for my in laws who indulged in me and my wishes for a traditional thanksgiving dinner, if not because they understood it, because they love me. And also cuz, you know, they love a good party.

Its already November??

Ok, I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while, so this is a very long post. And it's actually about Halloween. I didn't post a few weeks ago because I was waiting for pictures. Truthfully, I'm ashamed to admit that despite how hard we worked on our costumes, we didn't get any pictures of Charlie or I. We did get some of the kids, so you can see bits and pieces of us on the sidelines sometimes. Oh wait, I just remembered we did get one picture each, here they are. Aren't they nice?

We look pretty authentic, right? Silly for us to choose costumes that nobody understands but us. But the only way I can get Charlie to dress up is if I appeal to his inner nerd (I know, its kind of outer too). Our first year of marriage he dressed as a Borg, the second year he was a Jedi and the third year he was a star trek commander. Several of those costumes he still tries to convince me that he should be able to wear them to other things too like Church. I never let him though. What a mean wife.

Anyway, with this latest installment in a long line of nerdy costumes; nobody got it, which we knew would be the case. But Charlie got lots of funny suggestions about what he might be, things like Rambo and an Indian terrorist. And no matter what the suggestion was, Charlie always told the people they were right. They would go away like, "Yes! I knew he was a homeless arms dealer, I just knew it." People didn't ask me what I was, but I'm pretty sure everyone thought I was a Gypsy since that is what I would have thought if I didn't know.

We had a surprising amount of activities planned for the Halloween weekend, and we went to most of them. We had a dance, and a party at Lydia's school, and a party with some friends, all on Friday. I didn't think they did Halloween very much here, but apparently its gotten very big in the last few years. Though they don't have a lot of costume variety. There are basically like five different costumes to choose from at the stores. So people try to get creative. We entered Lydia in a costume contest at a school party (before you ask, she didn't win) Lydia was dressed as Cinderella and she was one of two princesses out of at least a hundred other little girls. That never happens in the states, you usually have 30 percent princesses and 30 percent fairies and the other 40 percent fairy princesses. I've never seen so many little girls dressed up as witches and zombies in my whole life. Lydia was like that girl from Labyrinth in the ballroom scene. But I guess a zombie is an easy do-it-yourself costume, since all you have to do apparently is dress in black raggedy clothes and paint your face white.

The next day, all the stakes in La Paz hosted a big Cultural Dance show, with each stake in charge of different dances. It was great, but we didn't stay for the whole thing, since it promised to be upwards of three hours. Then we went home and ate pizza and watched a "scary" movie with Charlie's family: Casper. I know, you are shaking in your boots. But those are the kind of Halloween movies I like.

On Sunday I had my primary sacrament meeting presentation. It went very well, I thought. The kids sang great. We had to skip a few of my favorite songs because our transitions were painfully long, but I felt pretty good about it when it was over. After church, we went over to the in-laws as usual, we carved our "pumpkins" which were actually yellow peppers, and ate pumpkin soup out of a green pumpkin that the girls had painted (they don't have orange pumpkins here). Even the two pickiest eaters Michelle and Jason actually liked the soup, plus everyone loved the carving activity, so I felt like the day was definitely a success. I stressed a lot over the weekend Because of getting costumes done and activities planned getting ready for my presentation, but all in all, everything worked out great and we had fun.

I'll catch up on other more recent stuff later, but now its Charlie's turn to post some pictures. Right baby?

So there.

General update here...

Well, I decided it was time for an update so here it is.

We've now been here for 7 and a half months. Only three more to go. We have loved out time here, and if there weren't so many issues with immigration (both here and in the US) We would probably stay longer. Lydia speaks Spanish better than I do of course now. She is still going to school, and loves it. Owen mostly speaks English, but he has says a few Spanish phrases now and then. Still spends most of his time walking around as someone else, Yoda or Spiderman or Ironman usually. When I ask him to do something like get his shoes or even lay down, he says, "I'm too tired". Me? Well my spanish is nowhere near up to par with the kids, but I'm much more comfortable in everyday conversation and in church than I was. I am now able to go grocery shopping alone and even take taxis without Charlie. Those may sound small, but they were huge milestones for me. Golly, only took me seven months. As for Charlie, he works a lot. Its good to be busy I suppose. He just got a new contract for a building that he will be overseeing alone. Trying to move things along quickly (which is not really the regular pace here in Bolivia) But even if he gets things done faster than usual, he'll still have to stay here until march. But we already have our tickets home so he'll come and help me move in and then go back. I'm not very good at being without my Charlie, but we make things work the best we can. It'll be no fun without him, even if it is only for 8 weeks.

Anyway, thats all I can think of right now.

Darth Vader is a big scary guy

I often sing my kids to sleep. And being the great rock star that I am, I usually take requests. Owen's two most requested songs are Star Wars and Spiderman. I went on YouTube and learned the Spiderman theme song from the early cartoon, so no problem there. Star Wars was a bit trickier. I tried just humming the music, but no, he wants words. So I made up words as I went along to the Imperial March, making sure to add lots of stuff about droids, Darth Vader, and light sabers. It made him happy. But I wasn't really happy, cuz my words were stupid. So heres the words I painstakingly wrote, to the tune of the imperial march, uh. . . much less stupid. The first two lines I borrowed from someone else, You know who you are. I don't.

Darth vader is a big scary guy

He flies around in a ship in the sky

And he talks with a deap voice

He breathes with a loud noise

Don’t mess with him unless you want to die

Darth Vader was Anikin Skywalker

Who was conceived by miticlorean power.

You know at first he was a good guy

He trained as a Jedi

Raced pods, saved lives and went very far.

So though Ani was as strong as they get

The council said he couldn’t be a master yet

He was confused, and so Palpatine

Took Ani under his wing

Manipulating him ever since they met.

We all know Senator Palpatine is the one

Who can shoot lightning from his fingers like a gun

Palpatine is the sith Lord,

Who becomes the evil emperor

And kills people off just for fun

There are a few other verses. But I think you get the idea of my pure genius.

This is the one Owen wrote:

Dark Vader is a guy. . .walker.

Yeah, I know. His is better than mine.

And...

Ok so heres the thing about the death road tour. It's this teeny tiny little dirt road with a wall of mountain on one side and a cliff on the other. Back when cars regularly used the road there were a lot of accidents. Not just crashes, cars falling down the mountain. The road has barely enough room for one car in most parts, and passing other cars is insanely scary. Many times one of the cars has to back up aways in order to get to a place wide enough for passing. The locals still drive it at an insane pace, though. They don't seem to notice the danger. Or they just don't care because they're in a hurry. There used to be drag racing on the road too, which might account for some of the death toll. Crazy.

Luckily they have a new road on the other side of the valley that goes to the Yungas now, and though it isn't much wider, at least its paved. There do seem to be fewer deaths now, so thats good. So now the original road is used mostly for bike tours. There are very few cars, not counting the mini tour buses that follow the bikers. People come from all over to do the death road tour. It is about six hours one way, mostly steep downhill, only about a forth of it level or uphill. Its mostly rainforesty jungle so its incredibly beautiful but it gets very hot. Luckily there are lots of areas where you ride right through the mini waterfalls.

There were three other dudes in our tour group, two from Spain and one from Germany. All three were pretty clearly extreme sport, adrenalin junkies. Really nice guys, though slightly intimidating to ride with. The German Dude went at a breakneck speed the entire time and popped his tire twice doing it. One of the other guys was about the same speed as Charlie and I (that is to say slow) and the other guy just slightly faster than us. The guide kept us mostly together by stopping every fifteen or twenty minutes for picture taking, snacks or water. He took pictures and video as he biked along side us. Now that's a job I could never do. At the end of the tour we stopped at a hotel to shower, swim if we wished, and eat at a buffet.

The only thing I really could have done without was the bumpiness of the road. The view was breathtaking, but I couldn't really see it because I was too busy navigating the bumpiness of the road as to avoid getting my brains jiggled right out of my head. It was so bumpy it made my hands cramp up and my bum bruise. Is mountain biking always like that? The heat was slightly annoying too, especially at the end when we were actually building up our own heat as well from the exertion. But its always incredibly rewarding to complete something like that. I'm still sore even though its been more than a week since then. But its a good sore.

Anyway, bla bla bla, the pictures were probably enough. And as soon as we get the video and pictures from the guide we will post them too.

Faralee is a "death road survivor"

On friday we went on a bike tour to South Yungas which is located north of La Paz. The tour businesses call this road the death road. We started at "la cumbre" ( about 15,300 feet) and bike down 4 hours to Yolosa (3,900 feet). Here are some pics of our adventure:

Having some breakfast...



the road had many waterfalls


Some takes of La Paz city on our way back

A day in Mallasa

I have been slacking with the picture posting. Well here are pictures of our day in Mallasa. there is a place in Mallasa where you can use your ATV, Bike, horses, etc. and where you could rent some too...here goes

Naked time

Owen spends a lot of time changing his clothes. Well, to be more accurate, he spends a lot of time taking off his clothes and then crying to me about the fact he isn't big enough to put new clothes by himself. I try to let him try it himself, mostly because I'm lazy, but also because I believe in that sort of thing. The only problem is its still a little too cold to walk around in your underwear around here (a favorite past-time for both of us) even though Owen in his underwear is especially adorable. See what I mean? So I spend a lot of time saying things like, "No more taking off your pants! We have changed our clothes enough for today." and "The Spiderman pants are jammies, Owen." (yes, he'll wear Spiderman clothes all the time if I don't hide them) and "Those are pants not a shirt, thats why you can't get your head through."

It all gets very tiring, if it was summer, I would probably be one of those moms who lets thier kids run around naked all the time, rather than dress them five or six times a day. As it is, I do tend to cut corners, and he usually walks around in underwear, socks and jackets all day. Don't tell my in-laws.

Ha. Just as I said that, Charlie's mom Maria rang on the bell. I better go find some clothes to put on Owen pretty fast, or the next time Owen gets sick, I'm gonna hear a lot of "Well, Owen wouldn't get sick so often if you just put some pants on him." How can I stop him from taking them off, that's my question.

Bolivian Dancing

We went to a stake activity which was a presentation by the young women and women of all the Bolivian folk dances. Each ward did a dance from different parts of the country. It was really fun to see all the incredibly elaborate costumes, and to watch my sister and brother in law dancing. Very cool. In Utah, rarely if ever would you see 12 to 18 year old boys dance in front of anyone, let alone a whole stake. Especially in some of those costumes they were wearing. For some reason, the men's costumes are usually more elaborate than the women's. Huge head dresses, and barrel-like skirts over their pants.

I wished once more that I would have had my camera. My inlaws had a video camera, so maybe later I'll post some video of my favorite dances from that. But heres some generic pictures to tide you over. All that folk dancing made me miss my mommy, since it was from her that I inherited my love for it. You would have loved it mommy, I wish you could have been there.

This dance is the one that Michelle and Jason did. Cute, and very islandy. I know, not a word.

This one is one of my favorite dances. Very fun, at least the mens part. Lots of hunching and shuffling around.

Fun experience. They do a lot of these dances actually, so I'll probably get another chance to take some real pictures.

Pictures from Meli

This is Lydia in her special birthday dress. Gracias Meli and her picture taking talents.

Here's Lydia trying to blow out her candles at her party. The matches kept going out before they could even reach the cake.

And here's Lydia and I singing a Hannah Montana song for everyone. Lydia knows all the words

from watching the show. Not that we watch it that much, but she just really really likes the song.

Anyway, I'll post more pictures of other stuff later. Usually Charlie does the picture postings, but hes been slacking lately, so I'll do my best despite my lack of camera. My webcam takes ok pictures, luckily.

Lydia the four year old

Well, my three year old is now four. Its crazy, she seems so big, and yet I still feel like she's my baby. Her birthday party was fun but insane. I have been delaying talking about it because I was hoping to have some pictures to post along with it. But I'll let Charlie do that.

OK, so they make kind of a big deal about kids birthdays here. Most of the birthdays we've been to had upwards of 15 kids, and at least twice that many adults. They hire a clown, who basically runs the party and entertains the kids for several hours, while the parents socialize among themselves. Lunch or brunch is always served. Maybe parties are like that in the states too, and I just didn't know about it. My parents tend to do things differently than most. But for me, that kind of party can be intensely overwhelming just to attend, let alone host. Besides that my kids are afraid of the clowns, so it would be in my hands alone.

We had originally planned to do it this coming Saturday, but then Charlie's Sister Melissa and my niece Julia were here longer than planned (Happy day! We love you guys Meli!), but were leaving this week, so at the last minute, we decided to move the party up. We tried to plan something a little smaller and simpler. But we quickly realized it would be impossible. Since "big" is just the way parties are done here, anything less than that seems stingy and unfriendly. So we ended up inviting about fifteen kids, which wasn't as bad as it could have been. Usually, those kids would bring their whole family too, so we planned for more. But it actually worked out that some of the kids didn't come, and so the few kids who brought siblings evened out. We had exactly fifteen kids, plus about the same amount of adults. Even though I had my sis in law, my husband, Charlie's cousin, and my mother-in-law all helping, there was just too much that they couldn't do for me. Well, the main problem was that I tend to get really ambitious when it comes to projects I want to do. I had decided to design and make Lydia's party dress, and I also had this idea of making cowboy hats for the kids to decorate (which were not that simple to put together, even with everybody helping), and balloon flowers made from the long skinny balloons. Finishing everything didn't happen until minutes before the party, and only after very little sleep. But Lydia and her friends all had fun, they loved the hats, and it kept them occupied for about an hour, so I think it was all worth it. Glad it's all over. I wish I could say next time I'll not be so overly ambitious, and I'll manage my time better. But I know myself too well. I'm always ambitious in my projects because I have lots of ideas and not a lot of money. And time management is always nice in theory, but I do not have the skills to execute such a thing. Oh well, it adds interest to my life anyway. Only one birthday each per year, right? Of course there are always holidays too. Luckily, planning events is kind of like giving birth for me. As time goes by, I remember the pain less and less. So by the time the next one comes a long, I'll hopefully be up to it. Anyway, Thanks to all who helped!

6 de Agosto

The sixth of August was the Bolivian independence day. We did lots of activities all weekend, including a military presentation that my brother in law Jason was in. He isn't really military yet, but all boys from age 17 are required to go to military school. They call it pre-military. But the presentation was for all branches, including peace corps, air force, etc. Anyway, we brought the kids, which was a mistake since it was mostly a lot of speeches and standing at attention, so by the time we got to the marching part at the end they didn't care anymore. Even Jason said it was boring. I think I would have really enjoyed it though, had it not been for the trying to keep my kids from screaming. It was cool to see all the different kinds of uniforms, and to yell and scream for Jason, even though we couldn't tell which one he was.

The other really fun thing we did was make kites. Mine was pretty cute, if I do say so myself, but it broke in half after only flying for 2 milliseconds. Charlie's was not cute, but flew really good for a long time. Making them with the whole family was the best part anyway. I'll post pictures as soon as I get some.

We sang the national anthem a lot, I think I've sung it at least 8 times over the past 3 days. well, I should say they have sung at least that many times, I didn't really sing since I don't know the words. I know the tune, so I did lots of la la la-ing. I'm glad I was here for all that. It was fun, and made me feel a part of things.

Brrr! Its cold in here!

Ok, so people are always really worried with exposure to cold here. I'm a Utah girl, so what I would consider a nice cool breeze is freezing-cold for the people here. Of course my apartment gets freezing, but outside is usually mild to slightly chilly at worst. Regardless, Everywhere I go, people are always chastising me for not bundling up my kids more, saying we are going to get sick. Well, I don't believe in needlessly bundling, (and I believe that viruses cause colds, the weather does not). But I also don't really want to argue with every little old grandmother that I come across when I'm outside, so I do tend to bundle when we go out anyway. Still, I slip up occasionally. The other day, we went to a dance performance for my sis-in-law, Michelle. And for some reason, they took a really long time letting everyone in to the auditorium, so there were like 200 people all squished into this little foyer waiting. I was holding Owen around the armpits to keep him from escaping and getting lost in the crowd, and he was - in return - kicking me in the shins. A lady next to me reached over and tapped my shoulder, and said, "You're baby's shirt is coming up. He's going to catch a cold." I'm sure I must have given her a strange look. Because besides the fact that I was lucky I still had a hold of him at all (he can be pretty slippery when he wants to) it was hot in there. Hee hee. I have to admit, I am still laughing and confused about that exchange.

Sirenita

So my in-laws have a few of these cute little puzzle books, like the one pictured here. The kids like them, and I enjoy the stories, since they have the Spanish and English one on top of the other. And so, in order for you all to share in my enjoyment, here's one of the my favorites, "Serinita" or "Little Mermaid", retold in the beloved language of Spanglish. We all know the story well, so I think I'll skip to the end. Enjoy!

The little mermaid was the youngest captain fell the sea. Swam what he could to help until he was in his arms. The boy was unconscious, but he could mermaid swam up to take land. Deposited the body of the couple on the sand and was rubbing his hands trying to wake him. The young Captain looked to awaken the beauty of the little mermaid and was deeply in love. But seeing that she was not a normal woman, but a siren, is very distressed and felt they could not be happier. The little mermaid so sad to see him, told him that again become a normal woman. Saying this was introduced into the sea and asked his father that became a woman. therefore begged his father to the little mermaid who took pity and ordered to make a beautiful couple. The little mermaid to look like a normal women said goodbye to his father and returned to the land where I expected the love of a young captain, shortly after they got married and lived happily. END

Ah. Gets me every time.

Basic Boring News

So Charlie got home from his big long trip, and he is going to post some pictures and posts about it soon (right baby?). I am so so happy to have him back! Unfortunately, they both (Charlie and his Dad) had to go right to work, since they were gone so long some of the things needed their immediate attention. But seeing all the factories and the way things were done in China gave him a lot of ideas for a new plant here in Bolivia, so that's good. At the in-laws, I moved all the furniture around and the pictures and rugs and everything, because I had lots of time on my hands and lots of ideas in my head. I personally think it looks way better, but I'm not sure anyone else really noticed. Ha ha. I should have taken before and after pictures I guess. I am a little anal about picture placement, and the pictures were just kinda placed helter-skelter, so that's what I spent the most time on. At least the obsessive-compulsive person inside of me is way more at ease now, so that's good.

We are sleeping at our own place now again, though since my sis-in-law came from the states to visit (Welcome Meli!) we have still been coming over to Grandma's every day so far. We'll try to slowly ween ourselves off of grandmas house over the next few weeks I hope. Anyway, there's my boring news update for today.

Sure, I'm a stranger in a strange land. But stranger than what?

Strangers are always staring at me here. I'm not sure if its because I'm often looking a little scroungy, or because I don't wear a coat when its "cold" out, or maybe because I am just plain weird looking. My first real thought is that they are trying to decide whether I am a foreigner or not (sigh. ah, The Foreigner: great show). I am extremely white, but honestly the skin colors vary a lot here. And on first look, people tend to assume that I am Bolivian, or perhaps Argentinean. Which is nice, I don't like to stick out too much. So although its still pretty possible they are staring because I'm white, I have come up with an alternate theory:

This is a kissy country on a kissy continent. It is standard when you enter a get together to greet everybody there with a kiss. And then you kiss everyone again when you leave. I really kinda like it, its nice to acknowledge everyone, and it brings everyone close together. It takes forever (no wonder their parties take so long!) but its a neat practice that I wish I could integrate into my own culture in the states. But I've decided it is also the cause for the staring. Maybe they just do not greet long distance. if you are not greeting each other properly, why acknowledge each other all? In Utah, grownups generally avoid eye contact with strangers, and if they catch one another's' eye, they just smile in greeting or quickly look away. Not here. I haven't seen one person embarrassed to be staring at me. Its quite boggling for me to smile at people and have them just keep looking me up and down, strait-faced. But if I'm right, then its actually because there is a wall between us and until we break it with a proper greeting, we have no rules of etiquette toward to one another. What do you think? Sound reasonable? Or, you know, they could also be looking to see if that is where the smell is coming from. One or the other.

hush, puppy

So while my hubby and father in Law are both out of town this month, I am staying with the in laws. Its nice to not be alone, and we definitely have a full household: My kids and me, my brother and sister in law, my mother in law Maria and Charlie’s cousin Cecilia. Maria has the task of running her husband's business while he is away, which is turning out to be a way more involving job than we originally thought. It means that she is gone most of the day, sometimes till nine or ten at night. It’s a lot of stress for her, and a little bit of unexpected stress for me, since someone still needs to be here to run the household. Making dinner for more people every night has been fine and I’ve been glad to do it, but answering the door and phone all the time, no fun at all. I’m really glad that the maid, Mirium is here during the day, otherwise I think I wouldn’t be able to do any of it. My kids are small enough that they make it difficult to finish tasks. My brother and sister in law are luckily old enough to take care of themselves and even watch my kids some times, so that lessens the load too. Mostly I’m just glad to be useful. And it’s fun to be giving everyone here a little taste of American cuisine. They have all been to the states before of course, but whenever there they just cook Bolivian food. Kentucky Fried Chicken is about as American as they go. I’m not the greatest cook, but I do know how to follow a recipe, so I’ve tried making new things from Allrecipes.com every night. I have made hush puppies, and sloppy joes, and fresh broccoli salad, and lots of deserts like peanut butter bars and no bake cookies. Honestly, Michelle and Jason won’t really eat most of it, but they don’t usually eat dinner anyway, so Maria assures me they aren’t going hungry. At least now they can’t get mad at all the American kids who won’t try the Bolivian food, cuz they’ll know it goes both ways. Of course It’s strange though what kids will think is weird, I didn’t think my ham and potato soup looked that scary. Boy I can’t wait for Charlie to come home though! Their internet in China is intermittent and their daylight is the exact opposite of ours, so communication has been hard. Only two more weeks!

We are far far away

Yesterday I showed Lydia a picture of her new little Cousin, Colin. He's adorable, by the way. When Lydia saw Elesa and Haggy and the new baby, she was like, "Hes cute but we can't go see him because they speak English and we only speak just Spanish here." I love the three year old interpretation of our separation. Of course she knows we are in Bolivia and they are in Utah, but I don't think she really gets it, deep down. The different language thing, on the other hand, is something that she understands very well and has to deal with daily. So she has decided that the language is the difference between here and there. And the language is then perhaps the only thing keeping us apart. Maybe she is right. So will all y'all just learn Spanish already so I won't have to miss you anymore?

Serves me right

I got pulled over a few days ago. I was trying to make a U-turn and found out I wasn't supposed to. I didn't actually make the turn, just started to and then pulled out of it, but the cop pulled me over anyway. I didn't have my licence on me. Big mistake. There is a huge fine or 5 days in jail just for not carrying your licence. I knew the punishment was severe, but the last cop who pulled Charlie over tried to tell him that he had to have the Bolivian licence, not just the Utah one, or the punishment was the same. Even though the Utah one is supposedly good for six months. Or three? No-one can agree. Well, long story short, (too late), My mother in law Maria had to come and "negotiate" with the cop, and we have to pay a fine every day for the next few days to keep me and herself out of jail. Serves me right for getting cocky.

I am never driving again. I shouldn't have driven in the first place, but its been hard since Charlie and his Dad Juan Carlos are away. Maria is the only one who can drive. I was driving everyone to church since Maria had to go to a different ward for her calling. Luckily, Jason gets his licence next week, so that should lighten the load. Maria tries to convince me that it should still be fine for me to drive. But I'm too ashamed, and even though bribing cops might be just the way of life here, its just too insane, and I can't do it. I'd rather just stay out of their notice. But they're everywhere, and I am not that good of a driver, especially here, where I don't know all the expectations.

Oh well, there's goes that little bit of independence. Good thing I'm ok with being dependent. Mostly.

Ants are yucky...

So I found this package of chocolates in my house. I'm trying to avoid giving sugar to my kids, so I decided unselfishly to quickly eat them before my kids could see. I dumped them into my hand and started quickly eating. They had sort of a weird taste so I looked down at my hand suspiciously, only to discover that what I thought were little broken pieces of chocolate clinging to the candy was actually little ants. blachckclckclkcy.

She's Here...

Lydia yesterday was having a pretend conversation on the phone and it went something like this:

"Yes, she's here. Yes. Yes shes here. Yes she's here. Yes. Yes. Shes here. Yes, She's here. Shes here, yes. Yes, She's here. Yes, shes here. Shes here." Sounding exasperated, "YES! SHE'S HERE! Ok here she is," and then she handed me the phone. Silly silly.

poop training

I decided to start potty training Owen, mostly because we were out of diapers and I didn't have any way to get more for hours and hours. I know, stupid reason, most of my sisters are going to groan and roll their eyes at that. But we have been trying to prep him for it for a while now, so I decided to try it and see how it went. The only problem is its kind of a do or do not, there is no try thing. For my next kid I think I'm going to do kid directed potty training instead. Potty training is the pits.

Lydia was really funny, she decided it was her job to do the training, and she would get really mad if I tried to ask Owen if he was dry, or give him his sticker. She kept saying, "No, mommy, I'm gonna do it!" It wasn't till the second day when Owen finally did self-initiate (meaning he went to the potty without being asked and did his business), but he was so darn cute about it. He didn't tell me he needed to go, he just sat down on the potty. I thought he was just pretending, but he stood up and pointed at the pee-pees and said "Ta Da!" Sometimes hes so cute he makes mommy's heart hurt. Course, she is pretty biased.

Happy B-Day Owen!

Dui bu qi Guo yu!

They say that after learning one language its easier to learn another, but I have not found that to be true. In fact, I feel like there is only room for one foreign language in my head, and the more I learn of Spanish, the less I know of Chinese. And I can't remember most of the time which language is which, either. Whenever someone asks me how to say something in Chinese, I have to think twice to make sure I don't tell them how to say it in Spanish. The first time I came to Bolivia, I was always accidentally trying to speak to people in Chinese. And now, whenever I talk to Chinese speakers, I accidentally speak Spanish. Several others learning a third language say the same happened with them. Its like the brain has a switch that says native language, foreign language. Only two choices. So my Spanish just pushes my Chinese out. Not out of my brain completely, just out of easy reach. Out of the foreign language slot, and into the stuff I used to know slot. Come back Chinese! I love you! I didn't mean it! I didn't know learning a new language would mean I would have to break up with the old one.

From here to Peru and back...

The new way to travel...















































































Faralee driving in "El Alto"

I am awesome..

Ok, the truth is, I am not doing as well here as I wish I was. Charlie finds my apparent lack of independence annoying (who can blame him when hes the one I'm depending on?). I am still too scared to call and take a taxi by myself, and there are certain kinds of little shops that I try to avoid. You know, the kind where there are no prices listed and the whole time you're there, the vendor keeps shoving things in your hands to try to get you to buy them. I avoided this type of store in the states too, but here it's worse since I don't know how to be polite yet forceful in Spanish. Also, there aren't very many serve-yourself type of stores here.

I can get myself to step out of my comfort zone periodically, (heck, walking out the door is out of my comfort zone) but I kind of have to psych myself up for such outings. This definitely wears on Charlie's patience, he always ends up doing stuff himself rather than wait for me to be emotionally ready to do it. Poor dude.

But there are two areas in which I am totally awesome, much to the surprise and delight of all. Everyone told me that driving in Bolivia was crazy, and that I probably had no hope of mastering it. Well, it is crazy, there is no doubt about that. I have to close my eyes when riding with either of Charlie's parents. And driving myself I feel like I'm constantly playing chicken with the other drivers. But I actually don't dislike it any more than I disliked driving in Utah (no cracks about Utah drivers please...) Ok, I'm not a great driver generally. I am extremely cautious, but I have poor judgment, and poor navigation skills, which will often get me in trouble. But here in Bolivia, I find I have slightly less anxiety. I think its because I know everyone is driving defensively, besides honking at you people just deal with whatever you dish out. Also, there seems to be fewer rules. The main guideline seems to be, go when and where you can. I'm still cautious, it takes a long time to get places, But I don't care, driving itself is fine. Navigation is still a problem, but I know my way to the three different places I go (church, grandparents house, and the Grocery Store) so I'm good. I actually kind of enjoy it. Go figure.

The other thing that I'm super awesome at is the food. Not making it(unfortunately) but eating it. I've always been a pretty good eater. I may look skinny, but I'm fat on the inside. People make kind of a big deal about my eating all the Bolivian food. Charlie's mom is always telling me about so and so from the states who will never try anything. I remind her that no one tries my "weird" American dishes here either, but I don't think shes quite convinced. Its natural to think you're country's food is delicious, and the only reason someone doesn't like it is because they have no taste. Heck I've thought it myself. ("How come no one is eating the cherry pie? Are they crazy?")

Well, I really truly like Bolivian food. Even all the wierd stuff in little shops along the street, it looks really yummy, and I always want to try everything. But this is not just because Bolivian food is inherently yummy. Its not even because I have a natural taste for it, or like Charlie's Dad like's to joke, because I'm actually a Bolivian. No, it actually has a reason behind it, which is a lesson I learned on my mission that I feel compelled to share with you all. In the MTC, one of my teachers told us that one of the things that made the biggest impact on her mission was her decision to "jump in with both feet". She took every opportunity to experience every "weird" little thing and love it: eating chicken feet and spitten the toenails off, and whatever else they could throw at her. I knew then that loving the culture was a conscious decision that must be made. And as far as the food is concerned, all through my mission I tried everything. At first, I enjoyed nothing. Maybe for some of you that have a more exotic palate, that may seem strange. But the food was weird! I ate cockroaches, cow intestine, pig testicles, and lots more. But I soon discovered something. The more I tried, the more I liked. And although I never grew to love everything, there was lots of food that I love love love. It was the same food I didn't like from beginning of my mission, just my tastes changed.

So ever since my first trip to Bolivia, I made up my mind to try it all. And although the wait period was no where near as long, I still didn't really appreciate the food at first. It was just too different for me to notice whether it was good. But I've been married to Charlie for five years now, and by the time I got here a few months ago, I already loved the food. And I'm growing to love it more and more. I am obviousely going to have to expand my limited cooking repuatuar to include several Bolivian dishes. I'm still probably never going to be one of those people that goes out to a different type of restaurant every day. I am a creature of habit, and I don't tend to get bored with the same old food. But at least I know that if I want to get to like a certain kind of food, I just got to give it time. And the same with teaching my kids to appreciate different kinds of food. If you can get them to try it enough, they may eventually like it. Now I just got to figure out how to get them to try it...

Marvel Comics Heroes

Tiwanaku

We took a trip to Tiwanaku to show the kids their Bolivian Heritage


A sunset view of La Paz

The one below is a door from the Puma Punku Temple





Thi one below is the entrance to the Akapana Temple


The courtyard below the temple


high abo


















Here we are eating Llama



Our next house:


Old Spanish church


The cholitas selling bread made on the earth