Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 2009. We have so much to be thankful for. We enjoy where we are in Cochabamba, we are thankful for friends, for our school, we will be thankful to come home in June, for each other, for big Bolivian/American style dinners where we enjoy great food and friendship. Some teachers from Calvert got together at Debbie's house for a huge Thanksgiving meal. We never want to forget how much we have to be thankful for.

The fall in Cochabamba is nice.....

Some things going on in Cochabamba in the fall.....

Jenny's class won the Halloween contest for the whole school.....danced to Michael Jackson's Thriller. Jenny taught them the actual original dance. They kicked it and won out of the entire high school.


At the Halloween Show, Jenny, Mary and Myself were the guest hosts, They were great cheerleaders and I was the talent scout. Think it looks at all similar to Young Life????


A pic of Jenny's class in non-zombie costumes. (The dog is not actually a student.)


We both coached this fall. John coached soccer and Jenny volleyball...


Jenny wth some of her volleyball team. Of course they loved her and hd a season-ending sleepover that was most likely the highlight or at least the most memorable of the season. Jenny proved she can still stay up all night with teenagers.

Drew's Cool Project

Drew is getting his Master's in Cochabamba, and studying by living with a small community high in the mountains. John had the cool opportunity to go with Drew to his little village. We biked there which was dang cool. We brought our own food, because the villagers survive only on potatoes, corn, and onions.


Riding the donkey.

Resting Place

We went on a fun one day vacation to a resort place with friends. It was relaxing laying in hammocks, swimming, and doing some hiking. John tried to zipline across a lake, only made it halfway. Fell in the muddy lake, luckily made it out. Wish we had pics of that.

Christmas Cards

Please email us your Christmas cards. We are sad not to have them plastered all over our refridgerator.

This is us last year in Peru. This Christmas we will be on a boat somewhere in the Jungle?? Is this really our life? Loco.

DOGS

DOGS. I've never liked them. It definitely is mating season now, they have come from all over, are in packs and are loud. They fight over the females. Kept Jenny and I both up last night real late last night. I opened our window and threw rocks a few times to scatter the pack, Jenny took it a step further, at 3:00 AM went outside and started flinging rocks. There are a lot of dogs and Bolivia and I love it!!!!!!!

The food and faces of La Cancha

Every Saturday morning we fight our way through La Cancha! The largest open-air market in the western hemisphere. I wish we could give you some idea of what it is like? How packed it is, the food, the people, the smell? Here you get the full cultural experience.
Well, here we go...
While your there, you have to dodge the traffic


The carts of stuff (can you believe that one man pulls that around all day?)


The people


The food...
Bread anyone?

Fruit?

How much pineapple can you fit in your car?

Ahhh yes. the meat.

Or maybe you want your meat fresh?

The faces...





Trust me, these pictures do not do it justice. Come and see for yourself. We have plenty of room.

Typical night in Bolivia

Hop on a public bus and head for dinner.

Finally found decent pizza place.

John's chair breaks at the ice cream parlor.


Okay, so most night we are asleep by 10:30? But some nights we go out.

Welcome to the jungle--Santa Cruz

Drew, Ann, John and I decided to get away for the weekend and head to Aqua Land in Santa Cruz. What could be better then a water park in Bolivia? Hummm??


Day One: The Zoo


Zoo's in Bolivia are a little different then in the States. Some of there animal are free to roam around the park. This poor sloth was getting carried around by small children as he was too slow to get away. He was clearly annoyed.


We were glad some of the animals were in cages. Very small cages. SAD!!!


Day Two: AQUA LAND!!! Oh wait! We are in Bolivia, and it's closed??? Instead we found this really cool pool. So, John and Drew pretended they were at Aqua Land.





Yes, Ann and I realize that we married BIG KIDS!! We are glad they have each other.

At the pool there was a butterfly park and a bird jail (AKA bird observatory?)


We fed the birds.

Almost got attacked.

Hiked to the top for sunset.

Great view. Great weekend.

Round 2

Our last weekend was incredible going out on the boat with Peggy and Buster and our parents to an on the water restaurant. We couldn't have asked for a better summer and a better last weekend in the US. Thank you al for loving us so much. We'll be pumped to see everyone in a year!!






































Jenny and I walking to school the first day of school, getting ready for Round 2 teaching here in Bolivia. We were excited, me teaching Math again and Jenny 6th grade and a high school Science. We also felt pretty cool in our matching jackets- thanks Dad.


How do you get the role as being the official MC of a school? I guess they pick the person that is the best at it! Jenny gets to welcome all of the students and read announcements not just on the first day of school, but every week. Dang my wife is awesome!!