Alive Again

Well, I finally got a new computer that will hopefully be compatible with Bolivian wifi.  I have a lot of catching up to do!

The past three weeks have been spent at home in PA.  It has been a glorious, but short lived visit.  It was actually one of the best Christmas's I've had.  Even though Johnstown experienced one of the record lows for temperatures (-14 degrees!!), I really was able to enjoy my friends, family, and boyfriend.  I spent time catching up with friends and just relaxing.

Relaxing...exactly what I needed after the end of last semester.  It was a rough end.  Had some students yelling at me for me enforcing consequences for missing the last two weeks of school, including finals; a parent bringing in forged doctor excuses for her son who was absent from school for two weeks (he was in La Paz for vacation), yet insisted her son be able to make up the test he missed because he was "sick;" and a parent saying I am stubborn, close-minded and a terrible teacher because I gave his son a zero for cheating on a test.  Apparently I "pressured" my student, his son, into writing the answers for his vocabulary test on his arm.  Ummm, why would a teacher ever promote cheating in the first place??  Hello...I'm here to teach responsibility and honesty.  I am so grateful that the director backed me up and stood up to the father.

Needless to say, the end of last semester was pretty stressful and I needed those three weeks to recuperate.  Also, over break, one of my fellow teachers, Ms. Lili, was killed in a bus accident in Peru.  Although I didn't know her very well, she was still a good friend who always had a smile on her face and was so enthusiastic about her students.  It didn't become real until I came back and realized I wouldn't see her anymore.  It made me think about how precious life is and how I need to cherish each and everyday.

The way back to Bolivia was also pretty stressful.  What was supposed to be a 17ish hour trip, took three days.  In Dullas airport, we were supposed to leave at 330pm, but didn't take off until around 1130pm due to "mechanical problems" on the plane.  We landed in Bogota, Columbia around 2am and spent the next 7 hours at a nearby hotel, which was paid for by the airlines.  We boarded the plane around 10pm, but was forced to switch planes an hour later due to other problems.  We arrived in La Paz at 430am the next day.  At 9am we left for Cochabamba.  We were exhausted by the end of our trip, and I crashed the rest of Saturday and all Sunday.

Anyways, that is the shortened version of everything that has happened since I last wrote.  It was a challenging end of the semester, but I survived and had a wonderful break.  Now, begins the challenge of starting a new semester that will hopefully be a bit more enjoyable.