Stolen...

Monday Dec. 24, 2012
It's Christmas Eve and it doesn't feel like it at all. Last night I slept in town and this morning spent some time online before coming back to Familia Feliz. The town does not look very "Christmasy" I saw 1 tree that had some wreaths on it, and there was one road where they had a bunch of tent stores selling goods. But nothing too special. It's nothing like in the States where Wal-Mart starts decorating the whole place with Christmas goods and starts playing Chistmas music in October!


Edwin Learning to use a weed wacker

When I got back to the village, I told Eric that we HAD to watch Christmas Vacation tonight because I have watched that every year for several years with my family. So just because I was in Bolivia, I wasn't about to miss that tradition!
Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2012 Christmas Day
 Chistmas morning. Really? How can that be? There are no decorations, no snow, no lights, and it's 85 degrees outside! Needless to say, Eric and I do not have the Christmas spirit. We keep having to remind each other that it's Christmas because we legitimately keep forgetting. Especially because this is the hardest I have ever worked on Christmas.
It started off with some weedwacking. I REALLY wanted to cut some grass because the entire place is starting to look like a jungle. In some places the grass is up to my knees. Normally, we would never let this happen, but the lawnmower is broken and the piece that holds the strong on the weed wacker is broken. Fortunately, we found another head for the weedwacker that is 3 sharp metal blades. It takes a lot longer because it is smaller, but it gets the job done. Anyway, I was just starting to feel claustrophobic with all the grass and the bugs and snakes that are starting to inhabit in there. I can't even count how many times Eric and I have now been bitten by these terrible ants.


Got Me!

My main goal in weedwacking was to clear a path from our house to the big house and from our house to the generator because these are the most traveled routes by Eric and I. But before I started, we needed to siphon gas out of the generator because Joy had the key to the gas storage and was gone to town. That in itself took awhile because all we had was 3 gringos trying something they have never really done. But after awhile, we finally got enough gas to put into the weedwacker. Then after about an hour and a half or 2 of cutting, I had 2 very large routes cleared, and our front yard. Merry Christmas.
 After weedwacking, Eric and I wanted to prepare a little something special for the kids. So we had tons of balloons and decided to prepare for a water balloon fight! Remember, it's Christmas. So yes, a water balloon fight at Christmas. Weird. We ended up filling 5 different containers of balloons. It was very difficult to keep the kids away from these bins as they are literally just buckets of temptations. After about 2 hours, we were finished filling balloons and locked up the room that they were all in. That afternoon, we rounded up all the little soldiers (about 15-20 people). We started off with a water balloon toss to see who could throw it the farthest without dropping it. It was very fun to see little kids trying to do this and failing when they are only like 2 feet apart. After the competition, it began. Everyone started going crazy mode throwing balloons at everyone! Water was flying everywhere and kids were screaming and running. Weirdest Christmas I have ever had.


Fireworks on Christmas

Shortly after the fight, the Christmas dinner was ready. But for some reason, the girls didn’t ask us to cook anything. I wonder why? But right before the dinner started, Eric and I were asked to dismantle part of the wooden playground and carry a massive pillar clear across campus in order to use it for an electrical post. It took Eric and I at least 40 minutes to take out the rusty bolts and take out the massive pillar out. Merry Christmas.
Right after we finished taking the pillar out, we needed to start the generator, but it broke on us. So while everyone was eating and being merry, Eric and I had to be the Men that saved Christmas! Were we up to the task? I think yes. So we started taking parts off of the generator and doing our best to fix it. Finally we did and had the power going. Merry Christmas.
After we saved Christmas, it was time for us to get some grub. And THAT my friends was a good meal. They cooked oiled mini potatoes, white rice, plantains, gluten, and we had soda to drink. Doesn’t sound like maybe the greatest Christmas meal in the states, but for here it was like Cambells soup…." Mmm Mmm Good!"
After we ate, we recruited 3 other guys to help us carry this log, that would be too big to use even for Noah’s Ark, across campus. Even with 5 guys, we had to take 2 breaks. My back really started to hurt, that’s when I knew that we needed to hurry up and finish or I was going to just have to stop as I already have a bad back. Fortunately we made it. Merry Christmas.
Then a lot later, Joy had bought some fireworks. So this was a pleasant, and again weird, surprise for Christmas. We then had a little fireworks show. This was quite fun but almost ended with disaster because one of the fireworks launched a bunch of missiles, then paused for a few seconds then bursted with more. So after the first set, a bunch of kids ran over to look inside not knowing there was a second batch of missiles. The second batch blew right near some of their heads. This stopped some of our hearts. It was one of the most scary moments. But everyone was ok. Merry Christmas.
Finally the night was wrapping up and we showed the kids Lion King as a little Christmas gift because Tuesday’s are not movie days. But we made an exception for Christmas. Then we all went to sleep safe and sound.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
*side note, on a little more frustrating point, today I found out that some kids broke into my other house where I have just a few items and they stole my Christmas gifts I bought for my boys, a pack of my only AAA batteries (which is a problems because batteries are super expensive here(and generally fake)), and my lighter. But oh well, such is life.
Wednesday Dec. 26, 2012
Today went back to it’s normal self. I woke up and decided to do some more weedwacking. So I worked for maybe an hour, then it started to rain. So I went inside with Eric to do some editing of our photos and to exchange some. Once it stopped raining, I went back to weedwacking.
However something happened today that really shook me up pretty bad. This morning, before I first started to cut the grass, I was putting on the harness that helps hold the weed wacker, and the weed wacker was sitting on our concrete porch. Remember that this weedwacker has sharp metal blades, not string. Anyway, Edwin decided he was going to pull the cord and start it while I was standing beside it. As soon as he started it, the blades took off spinning and lunged the blades directly at my feet! Fortunately, I heard the engine start, and as soon as I looked I saw the spinning blades coming just before they hit my ankles. So I jumped as high as I could and it just barely missed me. After that, I just sat down and said 3 prayers of thanks. Edwin is no longer allowed to touch the weedwacker.
After weedwacking all afternoon, I went into the house and sat down exhausted. Then Edwin came in later and just sat on my lap and completely passed out and went to sleep. We were both pretty exhausted. That’s about the time Eric left campus because he decided to sleep in town again and come back tomorrow afternoon. Awhile after he left, the girls came over and asked if we could play soccer. So I grabbed the ball and we played for a couple hours. It was so much fun! A good end to the day.

Friday Dec. 28, 2012
Today I spent much of the day in town. But as I was waiting at the taxi station, I saw Jose! Turns out that he was leaving to go to Brazil for the rest of the summer. However I didn't really understand him because he speaks with a very strong accent (so sometimes even bolivians don't understand him). So I was under the impression that he would be back that afternoon. So here he was, trying to say bye and that he was going to miss me and I was just brushing him off because I thought that I would see him in a few hours. So yeah, feel a little bad about that.
Saturday Dec. 29, 2012
Today was a little bit of a bitter day unflortunately. It started last night when Lizelle came and told us that for church tomorrow, her friends were going to pick us up and we were all going to go into town for church because it was communion Sabbath. Anyway, Eric and I woke up and were ready to go, along with our boys. But no one showed up. No one said anything. After awhile, we went on the search for Lizelle. Turns out, she took one of the moto's into town by herself to go to church and didn't tell us. This left Eric and I in a situation because we had no idea what to do for church. Because we had been planning to go into town, nothing was planned. So once again, we had no choice but to show the kids yet another movie for church. I hate that 3 of the last 4 Sabbath's, we have shown them a movie for church. But oh well, such is life.
Later in the afternoon, I saw Edwin with a little battery operated fan that he had made. This kid is seriously like a genius. He has made so many things, has a far advanced level of spanish than everyone else here, can remember anything, and is always experimenting with things. If only he didn't try to make life miserable for us by being defiant and living by his own rules, he would be a great kid.
Anyway, I saw him with this fan and when I saw the battery, it was a AAA Energizer battery which is exactly what was stolen from me. So I immediately asked him where he got them and he said that he looked all over campus for one until he finally found one. Not buying that he just happened to stumble upon one, I waited until everyone was gone, then I did what every kid in a dorm hates.....roomcheck! When I went upstairs, it was a mess. So I started turning things over and searching in all the likely hiding places until, what do you know? An empty pack of AAA Energizer batteries was right beside his and Guillermo's bed.
I took the package and immediately went to the Big House were all the kids and Eric were. Everyone was just leaving, but I showed Eric the box and told him what happened. So we stopped Edwin (and Juan and Moises just tagged along), then we I asked Edwin where he got the batteries and why he had the box. He, along with Juan and Moises, all said that it was Guillermo's batteries and he had given Edwin one. They told me that Guillermo had said it was a gift from his parents for his new cars (which ironically were also missing from me). So I said ok and was going to talk to Guillermo later.

Once we all got back to the house (Guillermo still wasn't there), I decided that I wanted to go upstairs where Juan, Edwin, and Moises were, and ask them where the other batteries from the pack were and where the cars were. This was the first time that I told that that Guillermo lied and that they were actually my batteries. As soon as I did, all their eyes just got wide and said "those were YOURS?!?!" When I told them they were, Edwin went to Guillermo's bed and pulled out a sack of batteries. Some were mine, others were not. So I took all of mine out and asked where my other stuff was and they said that Jose took them along with a bunch of other things when he left for Brazil on Friday.
Thats about the time that Guillermo showed up. As soon as he did, I glared at him and went kamikazi mode in spanish on him. He denied taking my batteries or cars and said that Jose took them and he found that battery package in the trash. So I told him that was a terrible story because why in the world would he want to take and keep a small empty box of batteries out of the trash. He didn't have an answer.
I decided to take my batteries, and go downstairs to talk to Eric and tell him what was going on. Shortly after I filled him in, there was a knock at my door and 3 boys were standing there; Edwin, Juan, and Guillermo. Edwin had a little sponge animal that Eric had "given" them. They are those little pills that you put in warm water and they grow into a sponge animal. Anyways, I didn't think much of it until Eric saw it and immediately recognized that that was not one of the animals he had given out yet. So he went to his stash of toys he had brought for the kids, and a whole package of them were missing. After he realized they were stolen, he went upstairs and found tons of them beside Guillermo's bed.
So this time, Eric was upstairs and I was waiting in the room for him to come back. But while he was up there, he decided that he was going to take all of Guillermo's marbles. When he took those marbles, all the other kids gasped and asked Eric if he was serious. Even though the kids understood the seriousness of the situation, they still could not believe that Eric would be that harsh. And apparently it was harsh enough for Guillermo to cry which I don't know if I have ever seen. This is because here, marbles are like pieces of gold. These kids go crazy for marbles.
When eric got back to the room, he had this big cup filled with marbles and told me what happened. But when I looked at them I realized that they looked very new, and very familiar. So I ran up to them and realized that 150 of those were my marbles that were stolen out of my room! I was so mad! then we confirmed it because Eric had boughten the same packs of marbles that I did and we held them up to each other, and sure enough, identical.
Eric and I went outside and gave Guillermo a very harsh talk. I told him that he is a liar and a thief and that there will be consequences. Knowing that by simply taking the marbles made him cry, I told him that I was going to put each and every marble into the fire and destroy them. Then Eric said that for the entire month of January, he will be washing everyone's plates and the pots and pans. Right about now we could see that it was just beginning to touch home. But seeing that he was only on the front porch, I wanted him to go inside, so I chimed in and told him that he had to do all that in ADDITION to all his other chores. He broke down.
Thats when Eric headed to the Big House to take a shower and I went back into my room. About 10-15 minutes later, there was a knock at my door. When I opened it up, it was Guillermo standing there crying and he said he was sorry for stealing my batteries, cars, and marbles. So I said thank-you and that I appreciated him saying sorry. Then he asked about maybe lightening the "sentence". So clearly, he was trying the whole, "I'm sorry, can you forgive me and not punish me" trick. That doesn't work on me......please child, I invented that trick! So I explained to him that it is very good that he said he was sorry, but when we lie and steal, there are punishments and consequences for those actions. But I wanted him to really know why I was so upset and disappointed. So I explained that the cars and marbles were for him anyway. I had boughten those things for him to give him for Christmas because he was my fulltime son and I wanted Christmas to be a little more special for him. But then he goes and steals it from me. I explained that it made me very sad and I really wish he had not done that. He listened to me very intently and seemed to understand what I was saying.
After this, it was time to get supper started. So as I was walking to the kitchen in the Big House, I saw him go up to the room where Eric was showering. Turns out, he said sorry to Eric too and asked about lightening the sentence. He just pulled the whole "Daddy said no, so i'm gunna go ask mommy (or in this case daddy #2)" trick. This kid is smart. But fortunately, Eric and I invented that game too when we were younger. Needless to say it didn't work.
While I was cooking, Guillermo came out and just sat down. Didn't say anything, just sat there thinking. I asked him if he was ok and I started talking to him about cooking because he loves cooking. Then I tried to say a few things to make him smile which worked. Then I walked over and sat next to him, put my arm on his shoulders and said "you know you're my buddy right?" He looked up me and smiled and nodded. Mission accomplished! I think I just got my purple belt in parenting.....

You stay civilized......planet earth!!!