it was a good day. I must have really needed the sleep becuase i was dead asleep until 11:30. I met dianne and ron (for those of you who dont know, dianne set me up with this gig and ron is her extrodinary hippy hydropower for the people husband) for lunch at a little cafe. salad bar, peanut soup, and chicken with potato salad. then my big adventure on the bus to my school all by myself for the very first time! I got on the right bus, and got off on the right stop. go me.
Today, I was in the ¨primer¨class, the youngest. I was in my element...finally. There were 6 kids in the class, 2 were absent and one teacher. She has her hands full! Today they were learning colors. Its funny to learn signs in spanish. they are very very similar except when they are based on the first letter of the word. for example in ASL the color yellow uses the sign for Y, but in spanish they use A for amarillo.
There was one little girl, charlene, who has múltiple disabilities. The school was supposed to be just for students with hearing impairments, but due to many political and social issues, this school has begun to accept students who have more special needs. Its great that these students can go to school, and for some its their only option. Except, for those students who simply have hearing loss, they are not getting the rigorous academic experience they need. On the other side the students with more specialized needs do not get the attention or the differentiation they need. Back to charlene. She stole my heart today. She has visión impairments and needs 1 to 1 attention. I hope while I am here I can help her.
the way home was a litle more tricky. I got on a random mini bus and asked if it stopped at plaza san francisco, he said it did. 30 minutes later, it didnt look right. Thanks to a very nice man who said ÿou should get off! I made my way home.
and tonight, La Paz Jazz festival at the teatro municipal with dianne, ron, elena y rodrigo (my downstairs neighbors)
on that I will leave you with a few things Bolivianos like to do:
1. shine their shoes in the middle of the sidewalk
2. drink various juices and teas from a glass at a cart on the side of the road.
3. say ¨buen provecho¨to everyone you walk past as you leave a restaurant
4. jump out of moving vehicles
5. eat lots of sweet bread
