I started on of my volunteer jobs yesterday. I’m helping out the Children’s Cultural Center. I’m working with the kid’s gym class. The first class is for the young kids, around 9 years old… and oh maaan, they have a lot of energy. Trying to get them form a line and stop wrestling with eachother is a workout in its self. The gym itself is matted and full of gymnastics equipment (rings, double bars, etc.). I did the whole routine with the kids and man it felt like bootcamp. And then came the teenager’s class… now that was work. I was doing so many flips, twists and turns… and some of the boys in the class easily showed me up. Today I woke up (at 12pm mind you) with my whole body aching. I suppose it didn’t help that I hit the gym after class too. Anyways, it was fun, and tomorrow I’m going to be teaching the class myself. The gym teacher has broken her foot and needs to stay home. In about a month they’ll be getting weight equipment, and I’m excited about teaching that class. I know my way around a weight room!

I hit up La Paz this weekend to say adios to my dad. I can’t even begin to describe how massive the city is. It is also one of the highest cities in the world. So high in fact that they don’t have to worry about fires (flames cannot sustain themselves because the oxygen level is so low here). Thanks wikipedia! The city is nuzzled in between mountains, and in some cases the city even climbs up as high as the surrounding mountains to completely envelop them. It is almost like a ‘blanket’ of houses seem to cover everything as far as the eye can see in every direction. Only the highest snowy peaks of the Andes seem to have escaped, which you can see in the city’s background. I feel as if I still have done a poor job of describing the city… its massive ok?

I went to some museums while I was there, one was the World Press Photo exhibit which was amazing. The other was a museum of Bolivian musical instruments. Ever seen a guitar like this? Overall the city was more international than Oruro… I was even able to get a slice of NY pizza there… which turned out to be gross, but still. The city was crawling the American backpackers too… why do all backpackers look alike? Grungy, dirty, very tall, white, and trying to fit in by wearing “authentic” clothing they just bought in the places they visited. Hostels have showers right? Anyway, here are some more photos of around the city:




The city also seems to be a political battleground... every bare wall had political messages sprayed across it. This was sprayed outside my Aunt's house:

I met an aunt who lives there too, she is the one who helped my dad gain access to the US when he was 15. It took 2 years to get the paperwork in order, then my dad was able to move to Michigan with an uncle of his, Tio Daniel. Who funnily enough called today. I was kind of shocked to have someone call and speak English to me on the phone. He and his family live in Texas now… Texas! I talked to his daughter too who invited me to come there to visit anytime. I never figured I had family in Texas before… I guess I’ll have to stop making fun of the state now ;)

So I’ve resigned myself not to use this blog for any kind of whining… but man, I miss American food. Well that’s not correct, I really mean to say I miss all the food I had available to me in America. Mmm Japanese, Thai, Indian, Mexican, Italian. Even a decent pizza or burger! I’m finding more and more that there is a reason you never see a “Bolivian-style” restaurant in the US… because the food isn’t that great. They like everything deep-fried and oily here, and with lots of mayonnaise and ham. Ok ok… I’ll stop my whining there.