Farewell Speech To My Students - 20 Nov 2009

Translation to English by: Me

Well, all of you should know by now that I am returning to my country and I will not be with you next year. It is with great sorrow that I leave you and continue on with my life outside Bolivia but I know that I am leaving you with everything that you need to move forward.

We started the year with the book, Oh the Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss. I want to remind you of its integral message:

On you will go
though the weather be foul.
On you will go
though your enemies prowl.
On you will go
though the Hakken-Kraks howl.
Onward up many
a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore
and your sneakers may leak.

On and on you will hike,
And I know you'll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are.

Now listen to me carefully. I am NOT computer class. Computer class will continue next year and my only wish is that you continue taking classes even though I will not be here. Continue with your studies, continue taking advantage of the wonderful opportunity of computer class, continue moving forward to better your futures. If you remember nothing else from me, please remember that I believe in you. I believe that you can realize your dreams. You have the power within yourselves to accomplish what others say is impossible. You can do it, I’m sure of it. You just need to take the first step.

When I arrived in 2007, I could not speak even one word of Spanish. The computer classes started in 2008 and I did not have one minute of experience teaching adolescents. You all have been very patient with me during these three years and for that I thank you. Thank you for letting me into your lives. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share with you what I know and for teaching me what you know. I feel as though Proyecto Horizonte and the entire barrio of Mineros San Juan are a second home for me and I will always remember all of you with love and joy. I will leave you with a poem by ee cummings.

I carry your heart with me

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate)i want
no world(for you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

Updates

(standing in front of Glaciar Perito Moreno just outside of El Calafate, Argentina)

Well I returned from my trip on Sunday 8 November, my three FMS Cochabamba community members left this morning and I am now residing in the Franciscan Social Center so I figure that it is time for some updates. The trip was incredible. I had a nasty cold during most of it so I didn't have a great time but now that I am healthy again and revising my 583 photos I am realizing how epic and amazing it was. Not that I had a bad time, I was just exhausted and couldn't really focus on being in the moment. There will be pictures posted to my web album as soon as I weed through them and get some captions written.
It was great to get back to work on Monday. I had really missed my students and was anxious to see how my replacement had done in my absence. It is with a somewhat jealous heart that I report that Miguel, the replacement, did a great job while I was gone. With my community members leaving this week and my moving into the center, I let Miguel continue to be in charge of classes. He is the new technology director and the sooner that everyone gets accustomed to that the easier it will be for him to do his job.
Ginny, my FMS orientation classmate/housemate, left this morning and considering the conflicts that we've had with the landlords I did not want to stay in that house without her. Luckily, Kristen and Richard also left this morning so I moved into their apartment in the Social Center. It was difficult this morning to do the last minute packing and cleaning and not be going home. I am not quite ready to head home yet but it is somewhat frustrating to know that in just three weeks I'll be packing and cleaning all over again. It would have been very easy to head to the airport this morning instead of the center but I am hopeful that this time alone will be reflective and productive as I begin to wrap up three years in the next three weeks.

Leaving on a jet plane

The title might convey that I'm talking about leaving Bolivia for good but not quite yet. I have done practically no traveling since I "graduated" from language school so I am taking two weeks to visit some of what South America has to offer. While I am coming home in six weeks I haven't really been able to focus on that because of this trip I am starting in about 30 minutes. Once I come back, I will have one full month left in Bolivia and I'm sure it will hit me then that I am really going. Of all the places that I wanted to see in South America, I am very happy that this one actually worked out. The trip is called "the loop" and a friend and I will be going down the length of Chile, over to Argentina to the southern-most city in the world, and back up to Bolivia through the length of Argentina. I have wanted to visit Ushuaia since I realized that I am so close to the Straits of Magellan. Okay they are still thousands of miles away but I am closer now than I ever have been. I like the idea of blogging from the road but I make no promises. I'll leave you with our harried itinerary:

25 Oct - Cochabamba to Arica, CL - Bus
26 Oct - Arica to Santiago - Air
28 Oct - Santiago to Punta Arenas - Air
30 Oct - Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales - Bus
1 Nov - Puerto Natales to El Calafate, AR - Bus
3 Nov - El Calafate to Ushuaia - Air
5 Nov - Ushuaia to Buenos Aires - Air
8 Nov - Buenos Aires to Cochabamba - Air

RFN - In a pinch

I would like to take a moment to recognize a special man for doing something that is probably accidental. Richard Nalen, one of my FMS community mates, seems to have an uncanny ability to appear in moments of great distress for me. I'll share two of those incidences.
I got some nasty altitude sickness just moments after our plane touched down in La Paz when we arrived back in January 2007. I was in the back of the plane, nauseous and very light headed. Some of you may remember that I was so nauseous that I wanted to prepare the airsickness bag just in case and when I put my head into the bag to open it I realized that it had been used. Meaning, my hand was covered in someone else's vomit. While trying to focus on staying conscious and cleaning my hand, I had missed the fact that the plane was getting ready to head on to Santa Cruz. Right at that moment Richard came bounding back onto the plane, grabbed my carry on and helped me get off the plane and through to customs. The obvious extrapolation is that if he hadn't been there I would be writing from Santa Cruz right now.
Just this morning I was walking down the street to meet Richard and his lovely lady, Kristen when I had a sudden and very unpleasant encounter with a very drunk man. I won't go into too many details in the hopes of keeping my parents from overreacting. The point is that just as I was starting to get scared and desperate Richard appeared out of a doorway with a, "Good Morning Emily!" I was able to get safely into the house and on with my day.
Does Richard have super human spidey senses or just good luck being in the right place at the right time? Hard to say but either way I'm thankful for it. Also, thanks to Brice for absorbing my anxieties and diverting them to more worthy ventures like unionizing Wal-Mart...or at least getting banned for trying.

The Genius of Bob

Exactly seven weeks from today I will arrive in Alexandria so I think it is natural that I am allowing my mind to wander towards the reality of life back in the US. I fantasize about a belated Thanksgiving surrounded by my favorite foods and jumping into the ocean at midnight on New Years. I calculate my theoretical living expenses so that I can get a better idea of what kind of salary will be sufficient. I dread the final goodbyes and worry constantly about my students. More than anything though, I wonder how I will meld my experience in Bolivia with my future in the US. How do I honor this time and the people I’ve met along the way?
I paid a little closer attention to Bob Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” and gained an even greater appreciation for it. It basically asks the questions: where have you been? what did you see? what did you hear? who did you meet? The final question is: what’ll you do now? The answer is:

I’ll tell it and speak it and think it and breathe it
And reflect from the mountains so all souls can see it

I’m not saying that I have all the answers. I’m not even sure I have any answers. My time in Bolivia has profoundly changed my outlook on life and my comprehension of the world. The least I can do is embrace the changes and let myself be a bridge of understanding to shorten the distance between the two worlds. Thanks Bob

People Watching at Cine Center

Last night after work I had a date to meet up with some friends outside of Cine Center. It is Cochabamba's biggest, most successful, movie theater/food court/arcade. It feels just like a mall from home and with restaurant names like Tuesday, Wrap 'n Roll, and Flavor Burst it is probably funded by the same people. Needless to say, only the rich kids hang out at Cine Center. In fact if one's only experience of Cochabamba was the food court it would make one question why Bolivia is considered the second poorest country in the western hemisphere.
Yesterday I was waiting for the ladies to show up and this particular girl caught my attention. Her hair was all gooped up, tons of make-up, hot pink accessories, stylish clothes and she was giggling and jumping around trying desperately to impress the boy that had just shown up. She was in complete contrast to the girls I work with on a daily basis and I couldn't believe that they were from the same city. It made me wonder what this privileged girl thought of life in Bolivia. Is she aware of the devastating poverty around her? What does she think of the women begging on the street with their infant children sleeping on the sidewalk? I tried my best not to judge her because I'm sure I was as clueless, if not more, when I was her age. However, the sound of her giggles and the light reflecting off of her jewelry felt like laughter and dismissal in the faces of the children that I see on a daily basis and care so much about. I thought of my students, what they were doing last night, and the ridicule they get from city kids. In the end though, I think Little Miss Hot Pink just gave me an appreciation and respect for the character, strength, and perseverance of my beloved students.

Natural

There was an interesting conversation in the bakery at lunchtime today. One woman, Ana, was talking about her mother. She is a 75 year old woman that lives alone and Ana is the only one of her siblings that looks in on the mother, helping her out etc. I guess that the “social security” in Bolivia is delivered in a lump sum at a certain age because the women were talking about what Ana’s mom is doing with that money. The conversation took somewhat of a morbid turn when they started talking about who would get that money when the mother passed away. In my seasoned third year in Bolivia I was not surprised when they said “well your brothers, being men, would be the first in line.” There was lots of back and forth about the money but then Ana said, “I am the only one that took my mother’s name.”
She went on to talk about how her mother was, “una chica natural” and “habia nacido natural.” I had no idea what a natural birth had to do with a last name so I asked. Ana explained that “natural” means that the father is unknown. I was surprised to learn that “natural” is the Bolivian version of “bastard.” I’m not sure what that means in a culture where men often have two or three different families that they shuttle between. It is sad to think that not knowing your father would be natural but the terminology is much less abrasive.
In the end it makes me wonder, with ten weeks left, how much I still have to learn about Bolivia. After two years and nine months I am still bowled over by new things.