Tech Weekend

Pointing to where I am from on the world map by JICA and PC

School Room in Tiraque

Hello Everybody! I have not had time to update the blog these past few weeks as much as I would have liked but here I am to give you all a quick update on what’s been going on over here. Tech weekend was really good. Like I said we went to Tiraque which is a small “town” or pueblito about 1.5-2 hours outside of Cochabamba. We met with the volunteer who currently works there and he showed us around where he works with children and youth- some have parents but some are orphans. The kids stay at a “hogar” or home that I believe is run by an Episcopalian organization. The volunteer doesn’t affiliate much with the religion and it’s more about him helping out the kids with whatever they need. They have a few computers so he does computer classes with them. When we went there we were also able to practice (in groups) giving a computer class. My group taught some of the older kids how to write letters. We did very simple letters and I think they enjoyed it. We did other workshops that dealt with confidence and self-esteem. We saw the greenhouses some volunteers had helped build a few years back and that was pretty cool because veggies are still growing there. We also played with a lot of the younger kids and ran around and had fun. The weekend was very short and went by quickly. Coming up next, or in one day, we have Tech Week. This means we will all be going to visit three more sites but this time for a whole week. The sites we are going to visit are outside of Santa Cruz and they are: Concepcion, El Carmen and San Miguelito Sur. Only one of these sites will be replaced by a volunteer from Integrated Ed. We have a lot of activities planned for tech week including a teacher training workshop and nutrition fair. I will be back with a longer blog update when I get back. Now on the social side of things this past weekend was my birthday weekend and Willy and his brother put together and awesome BBQ for me-Bolivian style of course. This means there was a lot of meat and sausage. I invited everyone from my group (most came) and we had a great time. I have pictures of the party and tech weekend but I will be back later to post them up cuz my camera is at home. I just wanted to get a quick update posted so you all know I am alive and well. CIAO!