Camping

Me feeding a bunny.

So for the last five days I went……..CAMPING!!!!! Yup, that’s right, I Shobita Suresh went camping. I’m not really a camping-type person, so I am really proud of myself for surviving 5 days and 4 nights in the wild Bolivian jungles. I wasn’t exactly excited when my host sister told me that we were going camping, especially since it was church camp and I was also kind of freaked out that I had to sleep in a tent for 4 nights! Well guess who ended up loving camping....that would be me!

My host sister and I at the campsite.
(We had to wear dresses, because we
had church that morning)

So, to get to the camp we took a bus, and the ride to the camp took about 2 hours. The camp was still in Santa Cruz (I was kind of confused when they told me that the camp was in the Santa Cruz, so I guessing the camp was just in a different part of the city). The ride was really fun because I got to see the countryside of Bolivia and it was really beautiful. It was sooo green and had so many different types of flowers and trees that I’ve never seen before. I also saw the poorer side of Bolivia and it was quite interesting to see how they lived.

The first night, I was very frazzled because I didn’t really know what to expect, but that all changed on the next day. I got to meet a lot of new people (but I did know some people at camp, because they went to my school). The people there were really nice and I got to meet the pastor from my church and he was a really cool and an amazing person. I never thought I could call a pastor “cool.” The pastor and I had a long conversation (he spoke English) about religion and science, and the world in general and I learned a lot from him. The pastor has been to 43 countries!!!! He travels the world to learn about cultures and religions. I want to be like him!

Jersey Day!

I also got to meet a bunch of Brazilians. Apparently the medical schools in Bolivia are really cheap, so a lot of Brazilians go to Bolivia to become doctors. Brazilians are fun group of people and they really do love their country! At camp, we had a soccer day (you had to wear the jersey of your favorite soccer team) and my host mom got me a Brazilian soccer jersey. So while I was wearing my Brazilian jersey, this Brazilian lady came up to me and said, “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe this, a gringa (an American) is wearing a Brazilian jersey, I couldn’t be happier!!” Lol, she was really funny and she gave this big hug because she was so proud that an American was wearing a Brazilian shirt. 

My friends (from school) at camp!

The view from the mountain.

Me swinging from a tree!

At camp we had a lot of fun activities. We played a lot of games that I’ve never played before. One game that we played was called receitas (it means “lines” in Spanish). To play the game you have pretend your name is the name of the person sitting right next to you. You have to introduce yourself with that name and say how many lines you have on your forehead and then call on someone else. If you say your wrong name or the wrong number of lines on your forehead you get a black line drawn on your forehead! I ended up with 4 lines on my head and I had to walk around with a bunch of black lines on my forehead for the whole day! Thank god I had a cap to help cover that up. We also played a bunch of dancing games, they’re a bit too complicated to explain…..but they were still sooo much fun! We also did this activity where if you liked someone or wanted to tell someone something, you could write it on a piece of paper and then a person would read all the pieces of paper out loud!  It was really cute and I got one for me!!! It was from this guy (he’s really cute) and it said, To Sophie (that’s what most everyone calls me here in Bolivia):   “I speak very little English, but I would like to get to know you better and to one day be good friends, From: Andre. Isn’t that adorable????!!!! I was so happy when I got one for me! 

At camp we also did camp-like things. We did some hiking and the view was soooo pretty! I even got to go on one of those rope-things that hang from a tree and then you swing from it (I don’t know what it’s called) but it was soooo cool and I’ve never done that before. 

My friend, Ben and I eating oranges off an orange tree!

 

 

There were a lot fruit trees at camp and I got to eat an orange right off an orange tree!!! The orange tasted so good, it was probably the best orange I’ve ever tasted and I am not exaggerating. It also rained a lot at camp, so we had to sleep inside of the church for 2 nights!!!! That part wasn’t too fun but it was part of the experience. Overall, I had a blast at camp and I met a lot of interesting people. I enjoyed it a lot but I don’t think I will be asking to go camping anytime soon.401

A picture taken while we were hiking.

A pretty flower at camp.

A fruit (I forgot what it´s called) that is famous in Bolivia becase it has the colors of the Bolivian flag on it.

A parrot!

The Bolivian flag at camp.

My  host sister and I, while hiking.

Surviving My First Week of School!

School in Bolivia is definitely poles apart from school in the U.S. My school is called Colegio Adventista de Santa Cruz. Here are a couple of differences from my school in Bolivia and my school in the U.S.

My host sister and I during my first
 day of school.

§  My school starts at 7:30 and ends at 12:30 (this is including the morning assembly)……that’s only 5 hours and we have a 20 min break in between my second and third hour!!!

§  There are no sports at school; you have to play sports in clubs.

§  Every morning, my school has a short assembly.

Ø  In the morning you have to line up with your class in order of your height, and I’m the tallest girl in my class and I’m only 5’7! Everyone is a bit shorter here.

§  There are no school buses but you can take normal buses, a taxi, get a ride, or walk to school.

§  The student-teacher relationship is very relaxed in Bolivia; you can be really casual with the teacher.

§  There are no substitute teachers.

Ø  Today at school, my history teacher didn't come to school so the whole class just got to stay in the class and hang out for the whole hour.

§  The schedules are bit weird because every day you have a new schedule (but the schedules are the same for every week)!

§  In Bolivia you don’t move from class to class, the teachers move……that makes my life a lot easier!

§  My school is pretty small. It consists of grades 1-12 (I think). Right now I am a junior (year 11) and there are about 40 students for each grade. That is really small coming from a school that had around 300 students for each grade.

§  The classes are really loud….you can barely hear anything because everyone is so noisy! Everyone is always fooling around and screaming…I don’t think Bolivians know how to be quiet!

Ø  During class the students are always throwing paper balls at each other or throwing a soccer ball in the air......while the teacher is giving us a lecture or notes! The teachers in Bolivia aren't strict at all. For example, if the teacher is giving us a lecture and there are a bunch of kids that are talking, the teacher will just talk over them. It’s really hard to concentrate during class!!!

§  You can move your seats wherever you want during class, so by the end of the day the class is a huge mess! There is always a bunch of wrappers on the ground (because people are too lazy to walk t
o the trashcan) and someone always ends up spilling a drink on the floor…..EVERY SINGLE DAY!

§  After school, you eat lunch at home and then you can have a siesta!

This is what my classroom looks like during
class, you can even see some guys playing
volleyball in the back of the class!

Some of my classmates and I during
 our break time!

School is really fun and everyone at school is really nice to me. They are super helpful with me trying to understand and speak Spanish. No one at school can say my name right….they all call me “Shopita” or “Shopira.” I should probably be used to people not saying my name right by now, but it’s super annoying to be called “Shopita.” Sometimes I just give up on my name and I tell people that my name is "Sophie." Learning in Spanish is difficult, but school is really entertaining! There is only one person in my class who speaks English....guess who I sit by everyday???? He’s really nice and I would be really lost without him, thank god someone in my class speaks English. Well, that’s all for now and I will post soon about Carnival and a camping trip!!!!

A picture of my school.

Another picture of my school.