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...