Bolivia week dos

Week two is down.

We still had a lot of teaching, but because we were more settled in, it wasn't as taxing...no, actually, I was still exhausted. I found myself often, right before beginning lessons for the day, wishing I could just take the afternoon off, but once I get in the lesson, I'm so grateful I'm there, getting to help these musicians improve in their chosen craft. On Thursday and Friday, we got to spend a lot of time with the wind orchestra from the village Vinto (like an outer suburb of Cochabamba) to help them finish preparing for their concert on Thursday. We spent 3 hours in a rehearsal with them Thursday morning at the foundation, and then a preconcert rehearsal at a small, beautiful church building in the Vinto village on Friday afternoon. The concert was fun--not because the music was amazing, but because it was enjoyable watching the young kids playing their string instruments and then working with our wind group. The audience was mostly relatives, taking pictures whenever their child was performing.

On Thursday we had our first of two concerts with the foundation's top orchestra. It has been quite the challenge to learn the music well enough to get by, and I was praying quite a bit during the concert that I would be able to play well enough to be a support to the group. On one of our pieces, Bacchanelle, there is a beautiful oboe solo at the very beginning (just oboe, no orchestra...) In rehearsal on Wednesday, my octave decided to have water in it as I tried to played the solo. I was worried that would happen again and took precautions: swabbing often, etc. The piece before was a Rossini overture which put me in my upper octave with that key for about half the piece. Near the end of the overture, my intuition was yelling at me warning me that that was probably the cause of the watery trap, but I didn't take the extra precaution to give the key the good blow out, due to worry about having time to do so (next time I'm going to tell Giovanni that I need a minute to clean it out before playing the solo...). As I began the solo, the water threatened, but didn't gargle until about the third high note. By then it was too late to stop and I just played through the solo to the end (thankfully there were only one or two more high notes after that point). Immediately afterwards I broke out the swab and paper to clear out the key, missing about 20 measures of tutti, but I didn't care (because I hadn't practiced that part well enough anyway). I received several compliments after the concert and my classmates told me I played through it really well (which I do agree with). I'm grateful the concert was a success, and that we were able to contribute. We have another one on the 21st. Maybe I'll get a little more time to practice before then (*fingers crossed*).

On Saturday we had the opportunity to join the young single adults from the ward we are attending for a service activity. We went to an assisted living home and gave them a good time. My flutist classmate and I played a duet as part of the talent show. They had drink and cookies for refreshments (I only got a drink because they gave the treats to the residents before taking any for ourselves and there was none left). And then they played some tunes and we invited residents to dance or visited with them (or other YSA). I got to dance with a cute short lady who seemed more indigenous. She had a broad, broken smile and loved the chance to move her feet and arms. We only did one dance move (shuffling the feet and moving our arms back and forth), but that was all she needed. They played Latin music, some more traditional Bolivian music, and even some 1950's US swing music (I pulled Nadine up to teach her the couple of swing moves I could remember)! We had a wonderful time. One of the nuns caring for the residents thanked us with a full heart for giving some of our time to the residents (then she gave us the score of the world cup game, hahaha!).

I found myself walking away from that so grateful that the Church encourages those types of activities. The reason why I have had many service opportunities in my life is because of my membership in the Church, and it has been a huge blessing in my life. This whole trip is basically a service opportunity, seeing as how we paid a lot of our own way to get here and are not getting paid to teach. Getting to know the people here and experiencing pieces of the culture have been life-changing experiences. I am loving it so much (even with the occasional upset stomach from the food) and thank my Heavenly Father everyday that I get to be here. While I will be happy to be home again next month, I'm am truly going to miss this place and the people here.

Bolivia week Uno

One week down, three to go (plus one in Peru but that one is just for fun).

We arrived in Cochabamba last Saturday afternoon after spending the morning in the Law Paz airport. Our flight overnight from Miami to La Paz was my first overnight flight. After being on and off planes all day, it was very hard to get comfortable enough on that flight to sleep very soundly. We were all very grateful when we walked off the plane in Cochabamba, knowing we wouldn't have to get on another one for a month! In the Law Paz airport the culture shock already began hitting. Everything was in Spanish, there were a lot of locals around, the altitude was really high, and even Subway didn't taste like Subway. It was interesting observing the culture there though. Being World Cup time, it was interesting to see how dedicated people in South America are to it. Even the security PMs were standing where they could see the game instead of doing their rounds with their sticks hanging on their belts (I didn't know if I felt safer or more vulnerable with them around... and security guards are everywhere in Bolivia: banks, grocery stores, malls and even one in a white shirt and tie at the temple gate-but him I like). We also saw two wedding groups walk through the airport. The brides had white dresses and white flakes of something on top of their heads. The grooms were in clean white or tan local clothes. I bought a cool stitched wallet there :).

Silvia, the director of the foundation where we are teaching, met us at the airport. We packed everything into her ranger type car and packed in with 4 in back and me in front with a car seat on my lap. The traffic moves so differently here. Silvia explained that going with the flow of traffic often trumps the rules. I sometimes feel like it's survival of the fittest. We take taxis everywhere we go, packing all five of us (2 in front, 3 in back) in.

The first weekend was slow. We mostly got our bearings, got food, went to church with Nadine(the only member at the foundation) and watched the world cup. Come Monday afternoon though, we were thrown into the frying pan, ready or not. That's when it really hit me that I know no Spanish whatsoever. I was actually really grateful my brass class couldn't make it that day, because I was already so overwhelmed without having to remember how to play brass instruments.

I have been assigned several different groups because they don't have any oboe players at the foundation. I have a mixed brass group (a couple trumpets, a trombone, and a younger kid playing something they call a fliscorno but actually looks like a small marching baritone in E flat), a clarinet and sax group, helping some with the small beginning wind orchestra, helping run woodwind sectionals for the top orchestra, and helping teach a wind ensemble Silvia pulled together especially for us (it's like a skeleton of a band pulled from the top orchestra, but we are loving it!). This means I'm teaching for a couple or more hours everyday, which means making lesson plans, writing reflections, trying to learn some key Spanish words, and this week, pulling together music that will work (I've done my fair share of transposing this week!)

By Wednesday I had gained enough important words in Spanish to get by, like lento, rapidio, mas, frase, baquilla, bemol, sustanito, their names for certain note lengths, numbers, fixed Do notation, aqui, mejor, bueno, etc. They understand most of the itallian music terms, which is wonderful, and then for anything else I see if they know the word or look it up in my pocket dictionary. I also sing a lot in the effort to show them what I mean. There are many times that I feel my two private oboe teachers and my band professors comming out in my teaching, so thank you for preparing me!

The food is cheap and delicious here (especially the Empanadas con Queso!), the smells and sights of the city are unique and so varied. There is a crazy mix of indigenous and modern here. Even the streets in our nicer northern section of the city are checkered with nice businesses/homes and shacks (the side walks are so varied that I don't know what to make of them sometimes). They still have some protests here, the public trasnportation blockades being the most common (we had one Thursday, which meant a lot of students couldn't make it to school-so we had more homework time-due to lines of public busses parked all along important streets in and around the city.). It's definitely different.

I realized yesterday that this city and the students are beginning to grow on me. While I know it will be a long hard month, I also know it will be worth it to see the students progress. I'm going to miss it when we leave.

P.S. I love the fact that the LDS Church is true no matter where in the world you are. While I may not understand everything being said, the Spirit is still present at church, the priesthood and authority is still the same, and the feelings at the temple here are just as pure and wonderful as anywhere else (we did baptisms for the dead yesterday and hope to get back to do more in a couple weeks).

Well, Buenas noches ya'll! Tomorrow starts week two!