There´s a first time for everything!

Hello again!!
I can´t believe a full week has gone by!! This week was a week full of firsts for me. The first church team has come and gone. They were a lot of fun, but it was a week chock full of activities. we started work projects around the orphanage this week. 4 of the most macho, most excited team members joined me in cutting the grass and weeds in an overgrown field at the center... with machetes. That was my first time using a machete, and the first time I didn´t cut grass with some sort of machine. The machete´s were pretty cool though... they made a fun schwing sounds when you used it right! It took three days, but it payed off the moment we saw Monica and the other cow run into their new pasture to graze.

Another first for me this week was making me first connection with the grandes, the oldest kids. All the kids 4 - 12 are pretty accessible and open, but the grandes take more time to warm up to the gringos. This week, during the bonfire, I made my first connection with the grandes. How? Through none other than our shared love for High School Musical!! Haha. A group of them approached me during the bonfire and asked if i knew the songs, and as soon as I said yes, they sat down in a circle around me and asked me to sing song after song. It was a riot. So, for all you HSM critics wondering why I like it even though I´m 21 years old, it has helped me big time here in Bolivia!!

Another first: eating chicken heart and cow tongue!! We go to this restaurant with the teams that serves 37 different kinds of meat! I tried some pretty wacky food! The cow tongue I ate and I enjoyed it before I even knew what it was. The chicken heart was pretty greasy though- I probably won´t revisit that delicacy. I saved cow udder and cow heart for the next visit!!

This week also marked my first visit to the Christ statue in Cochabamba, competing with a Christ statue in Brazil to be the tallest and highest one in the world! Allison (my co-host and roommmate) and I had high hopes of running the 1423 stairs to the top of the statue, but after about 5 minutes of running in that altitude, we realized that we were crazy for thinking it was possible. Maybe in July... But the view of the city from the top is incredible. I wish I could download pictures now! The mountains, the city, everything. You could see it all.

Finally, I am getting over my first bout of sickness... I did not come prepared for a winter like this!! It´s pretty brutal, but hopefully I´ll get used to it eventually.

I´m still loving getting to know the boys. We had an afternoon of volleyball yesterday, which was great. I don´t think there was a single possession where we used 3 hits, but we all had a wonderful time. Most of the boys got haircuts yesterdat, so I´m working hard to keep them all straight. I love playing with them, even if they call me Amanda la vaca gorda (the fat cow). We don´t have a team this week, so I am selfishly looking forward to some legit face time! Last night, Allison and I took on 4 of the grandes in a pillow fight! That´s the kind of stuff my heart beats for.

Such a great week. Love yall! Missing you!!