Putting Down Roots

It's hard to believe we've been here less than three weeks- it seems like ages have passed since we left the familiarity of friends, family, church, and summer. There's a lot to love here. Our house is gorgeous, even if the stairs are a death trap. The slick wood floors from top to bottom have made us all slip down a few steps at one time or another, Danny taking it the worst of all last week in his suit and dress socks, getting a nice bone contusion on his elbow on the way down. But the wood is so lovely! The only eyesore is an accent wall in the living room. This being a rental property, there is not much we can do to personalize the space, though I've bought some paint to cover over the peach wall in the living room. Our couches are mustard-pea and the color combination is more than I can stomach. I haven't painted the wall yet because we haven't gotten approval to paint. (Isn't that just like me, to buy paint and then ask if I'm allowed?) I've also gotten to do a little digging in the green patch I call my garden. We made a friend, Kendra, who has an exceptionally green thumb. She gave us strawberry runners from her strawberry patch to plant in our garden. She gave us a tour of her chicken run as well and put a damper on that dream of mine quick. I will probably speak of her again since I think we are going to be good friends. We have a bread-baking science day at her house on Monday! And I'll leave the chickens till I have my dream farm.

Our adventures this week have been tame on account of the rain. (It's been an unusually cold and rainy spring.) One of our adventures was to attend a fair at the local American school. This was a fund-raising event, and we attended in support of our friends who go to the school.

Another adventure was to hire an "empleada" to help with the upkeep of the house and with the cooking. She stuck with us despite an awkward interview and things have settled into place over the course of the week. I don't know the first thing about polishing wood floors and, after three days of her culinary offerings, I've decided I don't know how to cook either. Her name is Florencia or, as the kids call her, Flower. I think she likes us. I've only seen her panic once, and that was when the littles decided to have a pillow sack race in her freshly laundered pillow cases, and she was running behind them yelling frantically. The floor wax left its mark on the white cases and Flower was mortified. Perhaps it was on account of a such a lax week that homesickness started to hit, Noemie in particular. We went out for pizza on Thursday night and she sat forlornly, thinking of friends back in FL and VA. But considering that many others in our shoes have been fighting tummy bugs this week, I think I'll take homesickness instead.

Our church search has been disappointing. Our first week, we failed to make it to church because we failed to plan. So Danny hired a private driver early the following week to be safe. But that driver didn't show up last Sunday. After waiting for a while, we called a taxi. For the first time ever, the taxi was a no show as well! So we started walking to the nearest Christian church in the area, an interdenominational church 2.5 km away. We weren't passionate about that church and left looking forward to visiting some other area churches this week, but now it looks as if protests will block all the routes out of our area tomorrow. So. Maybe it will be another week of "church at home."

One of my favorite people sent me an email last week with lots of questions that I've decided to post answers to here in the form of a Q&A.

What kind of bad weather can we get? Earthquakes, though there have never been any serious ones in anyone's memory. Also, flash floods and mudslides happen occasionally in La Paz but where we live, we should not experience any problems.

What is our sponsor family like? We were given a sponsor in preparation for our arrival. Her name is Julie, she has four kids, and she's from the western US. They are a wonderful family that has gone above and beyond to make our transition here seamless, stocking our fridge before arrival, accompanying us from the airport at 4 am (with snacks!), checking in on us periodically, and making sure we are aware of all American community gatherings. Like the school fair.

Did I find a piano teacher? No, but I did find Tovi a violin teacher! She looks to be about 20, and speaks broken English and it's kind of funny to watch them try to figure each other out. Props for Tovi for being brave!

Did Gigi get her hair cut? Yes, I took her to a salon in Sunrise before we left.

Do I have a back yard? Not exactly. Our house is walled in. Most of the space between the house and the exterior wall is tiled. The kids use the carport as a large, tiled soccer court. There's a tiny patch of green by the front door where we have some fun droopy flowering plants that attract hummingbirds. I call this our garden. I bought a rose plant today. I don't know where to put it. We also have oregano and rosemary which Flower used to make a slam dunk roast chicken on Friday. 

Are there fast food restaurants here? Yes. Rey Porky, Don Pollo, and Toby. There are a lot of roadside shacks that have food but I'm allergic to diarrhea so we haven't visited them.

Are there libraries here? I don't think they have public libraries here.

Malls? Yes, but not big and trendy. 

Movie theater? There's one in the mall. It offers 5 movies, two of which are rated "14+", like Steven King's It.

Are there playgrounds? Yes. The kind from the 80s that might lose you a finger or a set of teeth. I am all about dangerous playgrounds. Danger teaches kids to be cautious. Cautious people don't need the government to tell them how to do everything. Cautious people are thinking people and thinking people are safe people! Most of the time...