What's an Interlude, Larry?

I came across this scene a few days ago which stopped me in my tracks.Two things caught my attention. One, Giannina was actually focusing on a math worksheet. 

Two, was the pencil she was using. I have no idea where she found it because I haven't seen it in oh, about 25 years. That makes this pencil one of our oldest material possessions. Isn't it odd, the things that surface when you move?

 I haven't written since we got back from Israel because there's not much we could do around La Paz that wouldn't pale in comparison. I was going to begin writing on Monday, but I was so tired as I began writing, that I fell asleep a few times at the keyboard and eventually gave up.

Monday, the kids' piano teacher came late in the evening; the kids were tired from tennis, but it was the only time he was available to record some of Dominic and Noemie's piano pieces. So between bites of potato and trucha the kids were darting to the piano to try one take after another of their performances. So it was already a disorganized evening. When we finally did make it to bed, Danny and I stayed up till 11 pm house shopping in North Carolina on realtor.com, a new therapeutic interest, before we turned out the lights for the night, to stare into the blackness.

One of the effects of living at this altitude is that it is difficult to go to sleep. Most nights, we rely on essential oils and bed-side water-bottles for extra hydration in order to help sink our consciousness within an hour or two of laying in the dark. And that night we were just on the verge of sleep when Dominic came in to let us know that Tovi was puking. Awesome. Danny took care of the mess while I took care of the child. A drop of DigestZen oil in his water did the trick after an hour of vomiting, heaving, and stomach cramps. What ailed him? We don't even try to figure out what causes digestive troubles here. The opportunities are just too many. At about 1 a.m. there was silence and we turned out the lights. Not 15 minutes later Dominic again came to our room, this time to tell us about the dream he was having. An hour or two later Gigi came in because she had wet the bed. And at 6:30 we were all up to get ready for their 8 am horseback riding class. 

Tuesday I cancelled our play date with a friend because I was part zombie given the events of the night before. Or so I thought. By Tuesday night it was my turn to spend the evening bent over the toilet. So we cancelled our lunch guests for Wednesday. Our empleada had come early to help with the lunch preparations. Instead, she helped with vomit control. Dominic took down the kitchen with his expulsions. At least Noemie made it into the toilet. Meanwhile, I stayed hidden in my room. So much for tennis. Thursday was Danny's turn. Flamenco classes would have to wait till the next week. Friday, we couldn't attend our meeting with Samaritan's Purse. Last one standing at the end of the week was Gigi. No surprise there.

In some ways it's been a typical week, in that there is no typical week. Some weeks we make it to all our extracurricular classes and spend the rest of the time reading and playing Twister. Some weeks we puke the whole time. Very rarely, (as in it has only happened once so far,) we spend our week with a guest!

Danny's mom came to visit in late June. Danny took me to Santa Cruz in southeast Bolivia for my birthday. It was humid and not-so-cold and it was glorious. Guys, it's winter. The day warms up to 60 degrees in the afternoon. (Which, come to think of it, was rather like it was in summer as well but at least in the summer the sunshine hung around a little longer.) And I feel like Christmas is around the corner... (of course no one else feels that way because none of the other Americans around here know what it's like to live in Florida, which is to say, 60 degree Christmases). If it's so cold I need to wear two pairs of pants, I feel like the least winter could do for me is offer some carols and candy canes and twinkly strings of lights.

We lived and breathed the World Cup for the month of July. Every television set in the country was tuned to the same channel; restaurants, social clubs, in every home... La Copa Mundial was everywhere. Sticker albums were filled. Much geography was acquired. Even Gigi could be overheard yelling at the screen, "Get up, you Belgian FAKERS!" Our brackets were all busted early on but we enjoyed the tournament nonetheless. 

In other news, Danny grew a beard (or most of one anyway) and Gigi lost her first tooth. We also transitioned into summer school mode with the kids- this year that means that the kids are assigning themselves their school assignments. They have done rather well, but the schedule being all loosey goosey has made for disorganization in other ways (as it always does) and I am SO ready to begin a very intense school year, with the big kids tackling Pre-algebra, Institute for Excellence in Writing's program, Jr. Analytical Grammar mechanics, ancient history with Mystery of History, and an extracurricular line-up that is just incredible... and totally untenable in the U.S. Gigi will finally be joining our ranks (as a first grader). Tovi will continue with Saxon Math 3, and we are going to use a new curriculum, The Good and the Beautiful, for reading and writing. One of the things I am most excited about is that another homeschooling family will be joining the embassy community at the end of the month! She has a music education background and a couple strings players herself... yes, we are forming a mini youth embassy orchestra!!! 

On a related note, changes in school voucher restrictions for the upcoming year will make such fabulous trips such as Israel an impossibility, but we do have plans to take some interesting trips around Bolivia as family begins to come for visits. One cousin arrives next week, my parents are booked for September, and my sister is putting her stuff together. Inca ruins, the Amazon, llamas... Hopefully we'll have some adventures to share with you soon that don't involve body fluids.

But first...
Gigi's narration of the story of God's relationship with man:
God made Adam as a person in His own image. Adam liked himself. But when sin came into the world because Adam sinned, everything was bad. Adam was sad and he realized his ribs were missing (because God used them to make Eve.) So, Adam and Eve put on clothes so people wouldn't see them naked. Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Now when we love Jesus, we feel good about our bodies. In heaven, we will  have baby skin.

Now you know.