Los Perros de Cochabamba

If you're reading this blog I assume you know me (if not, that is weird but I am flattered) and if you know me, you know that dogs are an essential part of my life. One of my favorite baby pictures is of me lying on the floor (classic) and snuggling with Lucy, my first dog. Nothing has changed since. I was, am, and will always be a dog lover.

However, in Bolivia the situation with dogs is different. Sadly, there are many stray dogs here in Cochabamba and despite government campaigns to vaccinate them, many have rabies or other diseases and they aren't afraid to bite you if they feel like it. We were warned in orientation that the safest thing for us to do is to stay away from dogs. Also, many dogs that do belong to people are less pets and more guard dogs. As I walk to the bus every day there are dogs lying outside of the front gates of houses ready to start barking if you go near them or their house. Sometimes, they will go so far as to chase you away.

I would really like to avoid getting rabies while I'm here (or ever, really) so I have been taking the advice to steer clear to heart. It is kind of sad and super disconcerting though to be afraid of dogs. I'm not accustomed to crossing the street when I see a dog and it makes me sad. But I am adjusting. Oh, also, people think I'm really weird when I am constantly taking pictures of random dogs on the streets. Oh well. I already stick out enough, why not just embrace it?

Plus, thank goodness, my host family has two dogs. There names are Lucas and Curtis. They live in the garden at my house but sleep in a room off the kitchen in dog beds. My host family was shocked when I told them that my dogs at home sleep in my mom's bed, but then again Lucas has no teeth so they cook rice and chicken for him every day. I guess being a crazy person when it comes to your dogs is culturally universal.

Kind of a weird looking version of Jake, amiright?

My two favorite dogs in Bolivia: Lucas and Curtis. Not sure which is which, but oh well. 

"If I were a dinosaur I would want to live here" (Sucre)

That has officially become a famous quote by Olivia referring to the beautiful city of Sucre. 

Sucre from above

Sucre: white buildings, red roofs, and steep hills

After an intense few days in Potosí our group got on a bus and traveled the 3.5 hours to Sucre, this time with no bus breakdown and no road blocks. Sucre looks very colonial and European, all the buildings are painted white with red roofs and the city overall is very clean. Sucre is the capitol of Bolivia even though the government is based in La Paz. I guess it was a pretty powerful city at one point. My host family told me that they were trying to move the government palace to Sucre but it just isn't a big enough city. 

A partially finished weaving

That night was Día de Copadres. It is basically a holiday that revolves around men going out and getting really drunk. Next Thursday is Día de Comadres (ladies night) which I think will be more fun for me--look out Cochabamba, we're taking this holiday very seriously. In Sucre they celebrated Copadres by having marching bands in the streets and groups of guys drinking in the plaza. Both holidays are part of Carnaval which is next weekend. Apparently in the past the tradition was that they women threw the men a party and then the men threw the women a party and it was a competition of who could throw the bigger/better party. 

Friday morning we visited ASUR which is an NGO that supports indigenous communities reclaiming the art of weaving traditional tapestries. They used to weave simply for necessity but this projects sells the highest quality weavings to tourists or exports them for higher prices. It has helped the communities start weaving again which is amazing, they have re-gained a huge part of their culture. But at the same time it has changed what weavings mean. It is interesting to see how these sorts of development projects do so much good but almost all of them have some issues. Gives you something to think about, amiright?

Lunch! 

Anyway, after that I went to lunch with Maddy, Erin, Karen, Stacy, and Laura. We were in a little bit of a hurry so we just found a random restaurant near our hotel that sold "vegetarian snacks" and we went inside. We sat down and waited for them to bring us menus but instead they brought us soup and bread, then rice and vegetables and a storage drink. I highly support the system of only one option since decisions, especially with food, are so challenging for me. It was delicious and only cost us 18 Bolivianos (a little more than $2.50) and was more food than I would've wanted, even though I finished everything, obviously. 

Those are dinosaur foot prints behind me. They used to lie flat but because of plates shifting now they're at a 73 degree angle, we were far away but it was still pretty cool

Post-lunch Olivia, Maddy, Erin, Stacy and I headed to the dinosaur park. The travel agency that Erin found was closed so we found a random double decker bus that took us there along with a few other tourists. We saw dinosaur footprints with our own two eyes! It was really fun, the park was full of life size dinosaur replicas and dinosaur noises played constantly in the background (kind of sounded like constant farting but it was entertaining) we got some high quality photos from that trip. The drive there and back alone was worth it with beautiful views of the mountains and the city. I am definitely glad I went especially since I have a pretty cool looking dinosaur t-shirt now. 

Our double decker bus

Demonstrating how large dinosaurs are

An amazing view of the mountains

That evening we went to MASIS, a folkloric music program for marginalized youth in Sucre. The head of the organization gave us an introduction to the program which was interesting. He also unfortunately made some kind of homophobic comments which led to a group discussion about the line between cultural differences and differences of opinion that night. It is something I struggle with a lot, when to respect somebody's cultural background and the beliefs that come with that and when to stand up for what you believe in and acknowledge that just because a belief is part of a culture doesn't mean it is right. I think it is important to take into account the context and the culture that somebody grew up in, but sometimes I think that is taken too far and almost used as an excuse. Yet another thought provoking thing that came out of this excursion.

Anyway, after the talk we got to sit on the balcony overlooking a courtyard where the students in the program performed traditional music. They were all decked out in costumes, and played the drums, pan flute, guitar, and sang. I love the traditional music and was super excited when we got a chance to go downstairs and dance with everybody. When we were walking back to the hotel we passed a salsa bar and decided we hadn't had enough dancing so a few of us got to spend our last night of the excursion dancing to a live salsa band. I'm sure I looked ridiculous (despite two salsa classes in my life) but it was really fun. Overall it was a great trip!

Potosí

Our broken down bus

Last Tuesday we left for our first excursion as a group. My host dad dropped me off at the Cochabamba airport and we took a half hour flight to Sucre. Then, we got on a bus and began a 3-4 hour bus ride to Potosí. Heidi (our Academic Director) informed us that there was a road block on our route so we were prepared for an adventure and the possibility that a 3 hour bus ride would turn into an 8 hour one. We didn't end up experience the road block, but instead our bus broke down about a half hour into the drive. We ended up sitting on the side of the road for about 40 minutes waiting for a new bus to come and rescue us, but as you can see it wasn't the ugliest place in the world to be waiting.

Taking advantage of the bus breakdown

This is a painting that shows how Christianity
has combined with Indigenous beliefs.
It shows the virgin Mary as part of Cerro Rico, t
he mountain with the mines.
It represents both El Tío and Christian beliefs

That afternoon after arriving in Potosí we headed to the Casa de Moneda where they produced silver coins. It was pretty interesting but I was feeling really out of it and weird because of the altitude. Potosí is one of the highest cities in the world at 13,420 ft and it was definitely an adjustment for my body from Cochabamba. It also doesn't help that it is competing with San Francisco for steepest city streets so walking around I had a lot of trouble catching my breath.

Casa de Moneda

Our first day in Potosí we left the hotel at 8am to head to our tour of the mines. We stopped at a random house that belongs to the tour company and they gave us all our gear so we were prepared to walk around in the mines. I went with a group of 8 other students and two Bolivian guides. We went a lot deeper into the mines than I thought we would and we walked around inside for about an hour or so. It felt very weird to be a tourist taking pictures along side men who were risking their lives and working in the mines every day. I felt like I was getting in the way sometimes or somehow patronizing the work they were doing because I was a tourist. It was a strange feeling. It made all of the upsetting and scary things I'd learned about life in the mines that much more real. It was definitely an intense experience for me and for many other people in the group, but it was also valuable. Cerro Rico is one of the most famous silver mines in the world and it is the industry that Potosí revolves around. One other really interesting thing we saw in the mine was the statue of El Tío. The miners believe that El Tío protects them in the mine so they always give offerings of coca, alcohol and once a year llama's blood to El Tío and the mountains of the mine. Their beliefs are a mix of Christianity and Indigenous spirituality and it was interesting to see in person.

Inside the Mines

El Tío

A view of the city from Cerro Rico (the mine)

The Hot Springs

That afternoon we headed to the hot springs. It was nice to have some time to relax and do a mud facial after such an emotional morning. The drive there took about an hour and was incredibly beautiful. The mountains went on forever and it never got old looking at them. That night Maddy, Laura and I went out to pizza, wine and ice cream and walked around exploring the city a little bit. It was cool to be out at night and see how much the city truly is a combination of history and modernity. Also, we ran into a bunch of drunk Argentinian clowns who made Laura a balloon monkey so that was cool.

Laura and Maddy in Potosí

Laura with her balloon monkey
climbing a balloon tree

The next morning we visited Wayna Pacha which is a NGO funded by a company in Germany. It is an after school program for children of miners. Many of the children's fathers had died in the mines or were going to die at the age of 40 because miners lungs can't withstand the work past that age. It was so hard to see all the kids playing their and wrap my mind around the fact that their families are in such a terrible position. We had an introduction from the program director who told us that the management of the NGO was changing so all of the staff was being replaced. It was frustrating to see what seemed for the most part to be an NGO that actually works and does good, but still has such frustrating bureaucracy. We got the chance to play with the kids for a while and then visit one of the mother's houses. The mother's of the children in the program often work at the organization and this one mother cooks about once a week for the kids. She took us to her house which was one room with three twin beds which her, her husband, and her seven kids all share. She was very quiet and difficult to understand but she talked a lot about how much she missed living in the countryside and how hard life is in the city. It was an even more eye opening experience for me than visiting the mines. I felt like interacting with families directly affected by the mines and being able to hear about their individual experiences was much more powerful.

A girl at Wayna Pacha had a lot of fun using my camera so I have an endless supply of mostly pictures of people with their heads cut off, these were two of the best choices

After that we walked back to the hotel to have yet another giant meal. I forgot to mention that the breakfasts at the hotel were AMAZING with yogurt, eggs, coffee, oatmeal, and everything else I always wanted. The lunches were also pretty good with a salad bar (vegetables, yay!), soup, a main course, and then desert. Needless to say the main theme of the trip was feeling painfully full and then eating again. After lunch we got on the bus to travel back to Sucre. I'm going to write about that experience in a separate post so it is less overwhelming for you and for me. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I just figured out how to make accents on this blog so if something from before in Spanish is wrong that might be why, or it could just be because I don't know how to spell things. 

Becoming a Bolivian Socialite

Don't be too jealous, but I'm basically famous here now. After only two weeks in Bolivia I got my picture in the paper! That is pretty impressive seeing as after 21 years in the US the most I can say is that my picture was in Foote Prints. No offense Foote but this is cooler.

Can you find me? (hint, I'm the only white one)

A close up view

The other day I came back from morning classes and my host dad said "eres famosa." I was confused and assumed I had misunderstood him as I usually do. Me? Famous? What? But then he started looking through his copy of "Opinion" one of the Bolivian newspapers and stopped on a page filled with pictures from the club that Marita and I went to last weekend. I think it is an ad, although I'm not totally sure, but either way it makes me feel pretty cool. Despite the fact that I was underdressed and have no idea how to dance I made it into the picture. Marita is the one in the blue dress all the way to the left and the other two girls are friends of hers. My host dad told me I should send copies home, but I'm going to consider a picture on this blog good enough. I will keep my copy forever though, obviously.

In other news, I think I have decided to change my topic for my ISP. I'm sure this will happen numerous times over the course of this semester but right now I want to work with kids in some way. What I'm thinking now is to focus on one of the night schools here and do my project about kids who work during the day and go to school at night. This hopefully will mean working with a variety of kids who have different situations and work in different places.

The first of  hopefully very few sunburns. Yikes.

The rainy season here is being INSANE and the weather changes constantly. One second it is hot and sunny and the next second it is poring rain. It rains pretty consistently every day here and is grey and cloudy about as often as it is sunny and bright. So much for eternal spring, amiright?

I had an interview the other day with a guy from Defensoria del Pueblo which is an organization that works to educate different populations about their human rights. I met him at the meeting at the Domestic Workers Union and thought the organization would be useful no matter which topic I chose. However, when I went there he told me I need to choose a population to work with before he can help me. That was kind of embarrassing, but with more time and research hopefully I'll figure it out.

Yesterday we went to the cemetery with our spanish class and met with a few young people who work there. It was really interesting and cool to hear their stories, although most of them were too shy to elaborate much. The cemeteries here are well attended and these kids bring water to people to wash graves, park cars, etc. There is also a newly formed cemetery band that people hire to sing and funerals and as they visit their loved ones. It was Abby's birthday so they sang to her. I think it is a traditional Bolivan song, but I can't be sure. Either way it was pretty cool!

Today we watched two documentaries. The first one was about kids who work in the mines in Potosi, where we are going next week. It was really hard to watch and we were informed that this excursion is always quite emotional. I think seeing the direct affects of colonialism and how hard life is for the people who have to work in the mines will be difficult. The documentary is called The Devil's Mine and I highly recommend it to those who are interested. During spanish class this afternoon we watched a documentary made by a previous SIT student about kids who live in the streets in Cochabamba and sniff glue. I guess that kind of drug addiction is really common here, they are called "cleferos" and the area that they live in is very dangerous. In fact, our program prohibits us from going there but I guess this guy didn't care. It was super upsetting but also really interesting. There are so many things to research that it is proving impossible to chose just one.

Inside my trufi 

What else? I have officially mastered the micro/trufi/bus system. By that I mean I know how to take the one line that goes from my house to my school, but it still feels pretty cool. I feel like a more legit "Cochabambina" now that I can flag down the trufi to get one and say "en la esquina por favor" (on the corner, please) without hesitation when I want to get off.  That is all for now but I will hopefully have more updates after this weekend and definitely after our trip to Potosi and Sucre next week. 

Finding My Bolivian Juice Lady and Other Stories

My Bolivian Juice Lady

When I was in Cusco, Peru during my gap year my spanish teacher took Austin girl and me to a huge market where there was a section that was all juice ladies. They had their fruit, their blenders, their milk and they were ready to make me as many smoothies as I wanted. It was one of my favorite discoveries of the trip.

Yesterday, I didn't have class in the afternoon so I met up with Tasha, Laura, and Olivia and we explored the city a little bit. We went to "El Mercado 25 de Mayo" which is a food market with lots of mini restaurants and food stalls. There, I miraculously found my Bolivian juice lady. I ordered my favorite banana and milk (next time I'll get banana mango and milk) and immediately made plans to return to the juice lady as often as I could. My smoothie costs 4 bolivianos which is a little more than 50 American cents. Sweet!

The market was a little bit overwhelming with every food vendor calling to us and lots of people and different smells, but I really enjoyed it. I like the atmosphere of these huge markets where many local people go to eat. The other day my host sister, Marita, took me to a different market (which I thought was also called 25 de Mayo but perhaps I was confused) that was filled with every type of food you could imagine but it had so much more character than any old supermarket.

Laura and Olivia ordered sundaes instead of getting a smoothie.
They were huge and had fruit, jello, whipped cream and a
cookie on them. 

Yesterday was the fourth birthday we've had in my group since we got here. A tradition in Bolivia is, after they birthday person blows out the candles, they take the first bite from the cake with no hands and then somebody shoves their face in the cake. The first time this happened I think everybody was very surprised (or at least I was). Yesterday was Karen's birthday and she didn't want anybody to shover her face in the cake so instead she did it herself. My group of 24 somehow seems to have a birthday every week we're here so I am looking forward to many more cakes, but luckily I don't have to have my face shoved into one. It is a funny tradition but also kind of a waste of perfectly good cake in my opinion.

Last night I went with Marita to a Bolivian club. I guess it was the only discoteca in her neighborhood so she knew what seemed like every person there, they were all people she had grown up with. They played a combination of American and Bolivian music, but it was surprisingly not all that different than any club you'd go to anywhere else. I was very underdressed because I did not bring fancy clothes with me, plus I don't really own clubbing clothes anyway, but it was a cool experience. The spanish combined with the noise meant I didn't really understand anything anybody was saying to me so I just nodded and smiled as much as possible. I also discovered that Bolivians in general know how to dance way better than my friends at home--no offense guys.

This is a 10 Bolivano bill, about 1.50 USD.
I think they drawing of the guy is super weird, but the money overall is pretty.
I still don't understand why American money is all one color. Boring.

Mi Casa

So I realized when I was writing for this the other day that I have barely taken any photos. I suppose that is a good thing, I'm taking things in for myself instead of hiding behind my camera, but it also means I don't have lots of photos to share with you. So, yesterday when my family was all gone I creepily took pictures of the house I am living in for the next 3 months or so. Now you can have a more concrete picture of my life here, amiright?

This is the living room. It was pretty dark but you get the idea. Surprisingly, since my host mom owns a flower shop, we don't have that many flowers in our house. However, you can see that there are some flower arrangements here and there.

The living room and the dining room are one big room with a really high ceiling. They were in the process of house cleaning so normally there isn't an ironing board or pillows everywhere.

This is the kitchen where we eat almost all of our meals. They constantly have music playing a variety of music in spanish which my host mom says is normally from Argentina or Mexico or American music. It is bizarre to feel like I am listening to an American top 40 station while I'm here.

Here is my temporary bedroom. Right now I am living in the bedroom on the 1st floor but I am going to move to a different room on the second floor sometime this weekend or next week I think. Their son who lives in Germany was just visiting and I guess they had to clean out their upstairs before I could move there. This room is nice though and I do my best to keep it reasonably clean (often unsuccessfully as you can see)

This is the street I live on. The houses here are almost all gated in or have tall cement walls. It is kind of strange in a culture that is all about social relationships and bonding to have all the houses be so separated, but I guess it is for security reasons. 

This is my house. Because of the wall it is hard to see completely from the outside but you get the idea. I live in the northern part of the city where the mountains are so as you can sort of see my whole neighborhood is on a hill.

I hope these photos give you a better idea of where I am and what it is like here. I will do my best to take more photos of my school, the city center, etc. and post them whenever I can. 

Observations

In a lot of ways Cochabamba is a lot like any other city in the US. There a billboards, banks, lots of noise, tons of people, and a fair amount of energy. However, Bolivia is also a super distinct place and I've started to compile a list of things I've noticed. I add something to it every day, but I thought I'd share what I've observed/learned so far.

1. They don't flush toilet paper down the toilet here. Instead you have to throw it away in the trash can. Yes, I have had to fish my dirty toilet paper out of the toilet a few times. No Shame.

2. Traffic laws are more like suggestions here. As my host sister told me, the police are never around so nobody really cares if you run a red light or hit a pedestrian. Oh yeah, I don't think anybody here has ever heard of pedestrians having the right of way. That is an important lesson we learned right from the beginning.

3. There are dogs everywhere. Stray dogs, guard dogs, pet dogs. Every variety you could imagine. They are constantly barking, its just like home. But unlike home, some have rabies. Yikes.

4. The buses don't have stops, they have routes. That means you can flag down a bus wherever you want on its route and get off wherever you want. Seems like a pretty good system to me. Also it means instead of waiting for a bus you can just walk along the route which I really like.

5. While there are some "supermercados" here mostly people buy their food in big markets or at small food stands on the side of the road. When I'm driving with my family sometimes my host mom will see fruit that looks good or remember she needs bread and we'll just stop on the side of the road.

6. When you say "gracias" they often respond "por que?" which means "why?" They also hardly ever use Ud. here and instead use the more informal "tu" (you) to talk directing to people. I've been told it is related to a culture that is all about personal relationships and connecting with others.

7. When young people are dating they go to the plazas to "hang out" most likely because young people here live with their families basically until they get married and not many young people have cars so couples don't have anywhere else to go. Lots of PDA.

8. As my host dad told me the custom here is to "eat breakfast like a prince, lunch like a king, and dinner like a peasant." Most people go home for a huge lunch in the middle of the day and it is thought that eating a lot at night will make it hard for you to sleep. My host dad is very sweet and constantly making sure I am well fed which often means stuffed at lunch. At dinner we have tea and fruit and sometimes leftovers or a piece of bread. It is an adjustment for sure, but I am kind of starting to like this system.

9. Everything here all the time is "todo tranquilo." Going along with the idea of Bolivian Standard Time, people here are all about relaxing, taking their time, and not worrying. Apparently until recently they didn't even have a work for stress. It is very different than what I am used to, but I am doing my best to get used to it. Maybe by the time I get home I won't have a word for stress either...Doubtful.  

Classes

Tomorrow I finish my first week of classes, so I felt that it was time for another blog post. I am taking three classes right now: Contemporary and Historical Social Change in Bolivia, Research Methods and Ethics, and Spanish. In the middle of the semester Social Change is going to end and we'll start a different class so technically by the end of the semester I will have completed four classes as well as an Independent Study Project.

My Social change class is basically a series of guest lecturers. We have only had a brief introduction to that class and tomorrow is our first guest lecture. It is going to be about the miners of Potosi and the workers movements of Bolivia so I am sure it will be interesting.

Research Methods and Ethics, or RME, is a really interesting class as well. It is designed to help us prep for our Independent Study Project and this semester they changed it so it is more hands on. It meets once a week and we are in groups of three with an advisor. We had to pick a topic (which we can change whenever we want) and do exercises, like set up an interview with somebody, go to a meeting or an event, use the research library etc etc. It seems like it is going to be a pretty cool class. I like my advisor and my group. There are so many different possible topics and I am having so much trouble deciding on one. I am sure my interests will shift but as of now I am thinking of combing my interest in women and education and doing a project about domestic workers and the night school in Cochabamba where people who have to work during they day take classes. We shall see, I learn about new interesting topics every day.

My spanish class meets three times a week from 3:00-6:30. It is a lot of hours of class but since we start our ISP (Independent Study Project) in April we only really have spanish for two months. Anyway, I am in a  group of six and our class is a combination of grammar, discussion, and excursions. It is cool to leave the classroom, go out into the city, and really use my spanish.

Today during spanish my whole group went to "El Sindicato de Trabajadoras del Hogar de Cochabamba," aka the domestic worker's union. A few of the members were there and they explained a little about the organization as well as their own personal experience. Despite Boliva recently passing a law that protects Domestic Workers, there is still a lot of abuse and unfair treatment. Only about 5% of the domestic workers in Cochabamba are part of the union and many workers do no know their rights. It was a very interesting trip and I could definitely see myself continuing to research their lives and possibly choosing this as the topic for my ISP.

I forgot! We also have optional video classes once a week for students who want to make a documentary for their ISP. There are around 10 of us I think and the class was at our teacher, Ismael's, house. His house is huge and amazing. It has a glass room in the courtyard that I think is for thai chi or something and it is decorated with dragons, prayer flags, and so many plants. We had our class in his meditation room. He seems like a cool guy, when I met him before I was super intimidated, but he was really nice and enthusiastic on Wednesday when we had our first camera class. We talked all about combining research and art and how making a video makes your research so much more accessible to everybody. He told us we should be filming everywhere we go and to make a 15-20 minute video we should be taking more than 20 hours of footage. I started filming stuff today and although I don't understand my camera yet it is going okay. It feels a little awkward still to film people, but I am excited.

Also it is summer right now in Bolivia and that means lots of rain. They are actually having a lot of problems with flooding which is terrible, but the flowers are beautiful right now as you can see from the picture. It is hard to believe we are finishing up our first week of classes. In a way it feels like I just got here yesterday and in a way if feels like I've been here for so long.

PS I finally figured out that my host dad is an architect. His oldest son who lives in Germany is also an architect.

I Have Arrived

Hello everybody and welcome to my South America blog!

A view of the city from the Cristo

I have been in Bolivia for five days now and everything is going well. My flight was very long (JFK--San Salvador--Lima--La Paz--Cochabamba) but I made it and so did all of my stuff! We started our orientation right away and it lasted for four days. One day we did a "drop off" where I was paired with one other student and we were given a location to find and observe. We were assigned the artisanal market. We were left at the bottom of the Cristo statue and had to find our way there, observe, then find our way back to our orientation location. Ethan and I took a long time to find the market and once we got there it was difficult to locate the artisanal section so by the time we got there we didn't have time to write notes and observe, but oh well. The market in Cochabamba, or La Cancha, is huge and has tiny shops with anything you could imagine. Walking through the meat section was kind of gross, but the fruit section was amazing and it was cool to see the artisanal section as well.

The Cristo statue overlooking Cochabamba (it is huge)

Last night we met our families for the first time at dinner. There was a traditional Bolivian band there that played music from Potosi and there was a lot of dancing and good cheer. We got there quite late and my family was was late too (apparently there is something called Bolivian Standard Time which basically just means being really late) but once they got there we ate and danced and got to know each other a little bit. Today I moved in and got to meet my sister. My family is my dad (Luis), my mom (Maria) and my sister (Marita) who is 20 years old. Marita is studying graphic design at the a university in Cochabamba and my mother owns a flower shop. I have yet to find out what my dad does, but I will keep you all posted. There house is nice and spacious and so far we have had delicious food (only one meal but there was homemade ice cream so that was awesome)

I have this weekend free and then I start classes on Monday. I am excited to get into a routine, know my way around, and begin doing research here. I have my first camera class for students doing the documentary on Wednesday so I am looking forward to learning more about that. I will keep you all posted on the adventures that are sure to come and chances are if you're reading this blog I miss you!