Observations

Sight: 

The clouds here seem so much closer; almost close enough to touch. Especially after a gray, rainy day when the sun comes out and half of the sky is filled with orange, yellowy light, the clouds that then almost seem black glow. The depth of the clouds is incredible, almost as if, with just an outstretched arm, you could feel the soft fog. 

When the sun goes down – or the 15 minutes before the sun goes down - , the houses, streets, people, cars, glow in a shimmer of yellow and orange. Every little detail appears more vivid, livelier, and just incredibly beautiful.

The stars shine brighter and the constellations appear much bigger than in Chicago. While walking hime the other day, I looked up at the sky and saw the big dipper like a huge, comforting image hoovering in the east of the sky. It made me happy and left me amazed that a change in location on the earth changes the view on such far away things as stars.

 

Hearing: 

There is a constant buzzing of cars in the air. At the moment it is raining and the steady drumming of the raindrops on the aluminum roof of the Taller is very calming.

 

Touch/Feeling:

The heat here feels like a heavy blanket, the sun like sitting too close to a bonfire. The wind, in return, feels like a cold splash of water of overheated skin. and a splash of water on overheated skin (for example in the face *VERO*) is the best thing ever, even though surprising. (My college Vero started a water fight by pouring a big glass of water over my head :D). And the cold....the cold is cold even when the thermometer says that the temperature is about 70 Degrees. It´s cold.

Scratching one of the one thousand mosquito bites is very satisfactoring. 

Smell: 

There are nice smells here. for example the smell of Majo oil while it soaks into my hair, a mixture of something sweet and earthy and a bit like olive oil, the smell of some blosseming treas is sweet and full. Fresh empanadas smell like heaven, especially when I'm hungry. The same goes for everything that Mamá Yoyi cooks. And the rain smells good. fresh. ut that´s like anywhere else.

What does not smell quite as nice is the garbage in the streets, the meat in the markets, that smells like something sour, something alive, and the old paint in the taller.

 

Taste: 

Will be added. I can not think of  specific taste right now.

 

The Moment: I don’t know what’s going on right now I am way too over stimulated, I react to every little thing, bad and good. I feel needy. I can’t let go, I can’t leave things be, just let them slip by. I guess I’m feeling homesick. Thinking about Christmas makes me feel lonely even though this should be the time of taking time with friends and family; cherishing all the beautiful little things in life. For some reason I have a hard time being grateful, being at peace with myself. Maybe my expectations of what I can achieve are too high, but even when I am working with the kids they frustrate me and I myself feel demotivated when I should be the over motivated one. Today, for example, I raised my voice with one of the boys because They had been playing and broke some of the materials that we had given them. I know that it was not on purpose, but still I had to say something. Then another girl broke a mirror (as I thought, on accident, but apparently on purpose) by throwing a brick against it. Her Dad walked in a few minutes later and I said nothing. I did not know how to react because I thought it had been an accident and I did not want to call her out on something she had mistakenly done. But, as it wasn’t an accident, I now have to talk to the dad because it can’t be that our student’s go around intentionally breaking things. I’m just not sure how to react in situations like that; I don’t have any kind of training to work with kids. I do have experience and that helps me a lot, but often I have no idea if I am reacting too strictly with them or too lenient. I just really want to find my inner peace again so that I can calm down a bit when working with them. There is just so incredibly much that will be happening, I AM TRAVELING TO LA PAZ ON SUNDAY, then there is Christmas, New Years Eve, and then I'll be off to Chicago for a couple of days!!!!! I can't wait to see everyone!!!