Memories and Thoughts

Some of my favorite quotes and memories from this trip so far are as follows:

GREETING OTHERS
When introducing myself to others by name, they have reacted in the following ways:
-"Claire? I love your name!  It sounds like a doll's name."
-"Only beautiful women come from West Virginia. I've been before, you know."
-"What a lovely name!"

For some reason, Claire is always pretty easy for others here to remember, too, which has been nice.  Although, it's pronounced /cl-air-Reh/ when I'm waiting in line at larger business, for the most part, it's been easier for others to pronounce than I thought it would be originally.  Thanks, Mom and Dad, for helping me out on that front.

GENERAL REFLECTIONS
Among the jokes and laughs Michael and I have shared on this trip so far, I've been really blessed to meet a variety of other people who are also my age or close to it who want to hang out or are willing to hang out regularly. I was able to watch both of Germany's FIFA games in a German restaurant near the school and always have somewhere to go or someone with whom to watch all of the FIFA games.

Rebecca has been a huge blessing, too.  She helped encourage me to begin to run regularly in La Paz and is a super patient running partner.  Though we don't run daily together, I run at least every other day and she is always willing to meet up, if our schedules allow it.  (Not to mention, she makes excellent cookies, is a wonderful listener/ conversationalist, and will someday be a world famous film producer--hire her now, while you have a chance!)

Everyone at the IE is awesome.  Plain and simple.  Katie is always great for a laugh or pedagogy discussion; Roeland is excellent grammar and historical resource and a super entertaining colleague to boot; James adds his own flair to time in the common areas; Danny is always super helpful, cheerful, and a fantastic go-to for tech-support; Pablo is wonderful scanning support; and Patricia is constantly kind and openly friendly.  I greatly enjoy my time teaching here so far and am able to meet so many people from so many different places!  I've nothing to compare it to with teaching in the US.  All of the Spanish instructors, Marion, and other language instructors are also super friendly, helpful, and knowledgable, but they are also often incredibly busy, so I do not see them too often.

I still haven't found a church to attend consistently yet, but Mike and Roeland and a couple of other people have mentioned a couple of churches to try, so maybe something will come through for me there.

I enjoyed my first bike ride with Gravity (it was not the Death Road). There are pictures on Facebook, but when I get them, I will post some on here as well.

I'm not sure what else to report on... Feel free to message me with questions as they come!  I'm able to keep in touch with so many people, it's great!