Thanksgiving communication

Train to Santiago, ¨Rehearsals Begin TODAY!¨, From the cliffs overlooking Santiago

Well, it has been over a month that I moved to the pueblo tan tranquilo Santiago de Chiquitos to teach the choir and orchestra. Summing up the experience does not do justice to the wealth (and challenge) of learning and growing that is happening, but here are a few tidbits to help paint a general picture:

-- The Place --

When I first arrived in late September, Santiago (along with the whole eastern part of Bolivia)was covered with a thick smoke from everyone burning their fields. (People like to burn things here - when there isn´t a great system to dispose of trash, it's what happens.) Combine the smoky air with heat and dryness, and the climate becomes not so pleasant. Now, however, the rains have started coming, and the air is clear as glass. I LOVE it. The cliffs surrounding the town seem so close you could touch them; the birds are active and I´m identifying new ones every week; the fruit trees are ripening and I´m tasting new fruits every day; the temperature is cooler with the rains, too, so everything just feels more pleasant. This, I love.

-- The music school --

In the three years of the music school´s existence, Santiaguenians have seen teachers come and go every three months or so, often with months in between without any teacher. If you can begin to imagine what this does to student moral, let alone the organizational/structural capacity to find (and continue receiving) funding, materials, and a rounded understanding of what it takes to make quality music...oh! its been a challenge. Right now, I see the task at hand as getting parents organized to drive the school, and simply getting kids to come to rehearsals consistently. These goals, humble as they may seem, are huge.

We have already performed once (in Mass at the neighboring town), and the kids really seemed to enjoy themselves. We look forward to getting a concert ready for Christmas. I am learning that the students come to rehearsal when they see immediate deadlines--concerts in the near future--so I am going to work on giving the students more opportunities to sing and play in church or for other small occasions to keep them motivated.

-- My Cat --

I got a kitty and her name is Luna Llena (Full Moon), but mostly she´s called MeetchyMeetchyMeetchy (Spanish equivalent of kittykittykitty) or Lunita. She´s white as the moon but her two grey spots on her forhead make her look a bit cow-ish. She´s a snuggler, which is often just what I need when I come home. Very photogenic, you think?

A few photographs:
Hombres Nuevos, the youth orchestra in Santa Cruz I worked with during my first month´s stay. I taught oboe lessons and practiced my very humble violin skills in orchestra rehearsals.
Marta starting up the oven to bake bread.

My host sisters Diana and Daniela as we´re bundled up enduring a ¨sur¨ (cold spell).
A presentation at the school in town -- my host brother is dancing. You can see their elaborate costumes with their Spanish influence.
On my birthday! My host family made me a delicious meal of wood-fired oven baked chicken and an ''interesting'' banana-mango pie with crackers on top. As soon as we finished, well satisfied, Milton and Katharyn´s children march over to my house with blackberry cobbler and icecream. What a taste of home! We feasted heartily.

Photos of my students will come!

Happy Thanksgiving to all. I am thankful for the prayers and notes of encouragement from many of you; thank you. Living fully immersed in a new culture has so many challenges, and I am learning the immense value of being grounded by prayer, reflection, and a sense of connection to community.

''Escarabajo'' Beatle

We get all types flying through our kitchen over our late-night suppers.

Preview of Santiago de Chiquitos

Two weekends ago, the SALTers (Bridgette, Stephen, and I) along with the Connecting Peoples Coordinators Wendy and Chris, their children Jack and Frances, and two other MCC workers traveled the long trek to Santiago de Chiquitos to visit the small pueblo where I will living.

Bridgette, Dovana and I on a hike to the cliffs

The journey was long -- 12 hours each way in train or in bus (over dusty, sandy, pothole-laden terrain) -- but the small town was a delight to visit, and I feel a bit more at ease knowing the layout of the place I will be spend the year.

The town is small enough that no one really owns a vehicle; one can walk from the center plaza to my house on the outskirts of town in no more than 20 minutes. (Bear in mind that the streets are all sand, so the walking is slow.)

But the folks I encountered were very welcoming and friendly -- the teachers even hosted a tea in my honor and I was able to meet several of my soon-to-be students. Clearly, they are excited to have a music teacher in town. In the past, teachers have come for only a week or two to prep the kids for a concert (which, you can imagine, doesn´t work so well when you´re trying to train young kids and youth to perform classical music).


We stayed at the place I´ll be living, called the ¨Escuelita¨ as it was once a school. Now it serves as a small hostel for travelers. My host family (mom and 5? kids) are caretakers of the place, and they live in the adjoining house.

L: The Escuelita, where I will live R: View from my room


I plan on moving from the city to Santiago in just one week. Before then, the SALTers are traveling to Cochabamba this weekend, and I´ll have just a few days to get last-minute details taken care of before I leave Santa Cruz. Its been a great month, learning the city and becoming comfortable (mas o menos) with the language and the music school here in the city. I expect it will be difficult at first to adjust again to a new way of living and a new set of responsibilities.

But I am excited, nonetheless. Journey on!

All in a Day´s Work

Now that I been here in Bolivia for a few weeks, my schedule has generally solidified (subject to change, however, at any moment). Here is ¨que pasa¨ (más o menos) each day in the City of the Cross.

La bandera cruceña (Flag of Santa Cruz)
You see this everywhere.

Each morning I wake up around 7:30-8:00 in the room I share with my eldest host sister Paola (19). By this point, my other siblings (Bernabes, 15, and Rebeca, 17) have already left the house. My host mother Charo already has put hot water for tea on the stove and on the table a display of fruit, cereal, yogurt, teas, and usually some sort of cake or cookies that we made the night before. Quite the treatment, no?

L to R: Rosi (friend), me, Paula (sister), Charo (mom), Rebeca

(rotate head counter-clockwise for full effect) Brother Bernabes, Dog León, and our house

After a relatively relaxing and chatty breakfast, I leave for MCC (CCM we say) for language study.

Where I catch the micro from my house (left). The man on the right is stamping the micro driver´s time card--this happens at two different stops on my way to CCM.

Esther, our teacher.

The two hours I have each day with Esther pass rapidly, and before I know it, I´m back on a micro to return home for lunch. Here, almost everyone eats at home and takes a nap before returning to work around 2:00. Its great.

Lunch is a big deal around here, typically including both ¨sopa¨(soup) and ¨segundo¨(meat). I lucked out and got a host family who loves veggies, so we eat a lot of them, too.

Locro, a famous sopa in Santa Cruz. Mmmm.

After lunch, I hop on the micro for yet another 25 minute ride back CCM. The afternoon is filled with catching up with the other SALTers and getting aquainted with the city with our tutors.

My tutor Patricia

Just last week, my tutor helped me know what micros to take to find the church/music school where I will be teaching lessons, playing in a youth orchestra, and observing ¨how things work¨in the SICOR music program here in Santa Cruz. Beginning next week, I will create a schedule to work at the program almost daily.

So, with rehearsals running until 8:30 p.m., my day concludes well after dark and I return home to mi casa and mi familia tired but excited to be here. Yep, I´m still in the honeymoon stage, and I love it.

This weekend I will travel to Santiago de Chiquitos with the other SALTers. Finally, I will see where I will be working. More stories to come...

How often do Mennos make it into grafitti?

Here I am, in Bolivia

Last sights of the U.S.A.

Having been in Bolivia for a week, getting oriented to the city of Santa Cruz and the host of MCC programs happening here, I am fully ready to jump in to meet my host family and begin language classes tomorrow morning. My host family, who I hear consist of a mother and three daughters (father is working in Spain -- a common occurence), is scheduled to arrive in fourteen minutes to take me ¨home.¨ With my superior knowledge of Bolivian culture, I expect to head to our house no earlier than 5 or 6 o´clock... vamos a ver.

Here are a few photos to tell the story of what I´ve gone through in the past two weeks:

At the SALT orientation, having some fun with new-made SALTer friends.


L: Deci (Colombian), Cecibel (Nicaragua) and Mariela (Bolivia) -- going to live in Harrisonburg! R: Bridgette (New York), me and Stephen (Tennessee) -- SALTers in Bolivia


Sad farewells as we say good-bye and good luck to the IVEPers (young adults coming from across the world to volunteer in the US and Canada). ¨Team Bolivia¨, including all SALTers and IVEPers coming from and going to Bolivia.


At the MCC Unit House in Bolivia, with my favorite mug. And reading with Clara, the daughter of our MCC Representatives Cesar and Lizette Flores.


Thus far, I have been thoroughly enjoying my time and the thrill of learning how to navigate a new city and speak more fluently a new language, while meeting lots of Mennos of the southern hemishere. I´m glad I am finally here!

At CCM in Santa Cruz

And they lived happily ever after...

After a July whirlwind of helping four dear friends and cousins get married, I am about to embark on my own long-awaited adventure. Tomorrow morning, at approximately 4:15 a.m. (in precisely 8 hours and 59 minutes), I will leave the Mennonite Central Committee Welcoming Place where I have been undergoing orientation for the past week with 50 other North Americans and 50 international young adults. Thanks to my new-found Colombian, Bolivian, Argentinian, Nicaraguan, Paraguayan, and Honduran friends, I have had many hours of lively Spanish conversation to get my mind thinking again in espanol. I am rip, roarin', and rarin' to go!

When I arrive in Bolivia, I will have about six weeks in the large city of Santa Cruz for language and music study before moving to the small town of Santiago de Chiquitos where I will [hopefully] help organize a music program and direct rehearsals. While in Santa Cruz, I will have frequent internet access...

And so, I will leave this "newsy update" here to join my cohorts in this adventure, enjoying my last few hours in the northern hemisphere.

More from the other side of the equator! Hasta la proxima vez!

Clymer Reunion

Every other year, my mother's family reunites -- siblings from California, Idaho, Colorado, Texas, Virginia, and Pennsylvania meet in southern PA for a weekend of festivities. I'm so fortunate to be a part of such a supportive family!

With my limited film, here are some highlights in pictures:

Marisa with cousin-kids Isaac and Grace

Slime-Ball ... and the more relaxed cousin crew enjoying the sun together

Our lovely grandparents (and parents), James and Mary

For more pictures, visit uncle Jim's photograhpy site.

Questioning Days

At the end of June, I lead my last canoe trip in Minnesota for the summer. My fearless co-leader Kate and I led a three-generational family, consisting of grandparents, 3 children (plus one spouse), and 5 squirrelly kids ages 8 to 11.


Fearless co-leaders Kate and Me

JOSH (not Joel!!), Caleb, Christine, Johnna, Micah, and loon with piggyback baby


At first Kate and I were a little anxious at leading such a large group - of so many young kids, besides! But we were instantly charmed by the kind and considerate adults and the amazingly extroverted and constantly inquisitive children. Within hours of joyfully untangling themselves from the confines of their minivan, the kids had explored every path and trail at Pine Ridge (base camp) and more... they had the place mapped out better than I have after three years living there!

(showing off end-of-trip muscles)

The week turned out to be a rigorous adventure which grandparents, parents and kids all handled with surprising energy, grace and humor. I was filled with a beautiful and bittersweet joy, so blessed to share the week with such a delightful family, yet unable to push from my mind the inevitable end of the trip and my time in the northwoods.


Things we were: Monkey in the Middle, River Fairies, Mosquito-proof Bandits


Things we saw: Full moon over darkening lake, Loon egg near our campsite, Beauty in details

After the storm Happiest sick person alive

One fish caught... the others are still trying...

On their anniversary!

One of the most impressive things about this group, particularly the children, was their phenomenal ability to ask questions. For the first few hours I knew them, I actually wondered if the kids ever made statements; they seemed communicate completely through question. Amazingly, the answer to one question would undoubtedly spur the next! I loved it.

When we returned from our trip, I spent some time at the Front Porch Coffee Shop in town where this poem found its way to me. The kids of my final trip of the summer - Christine, Caleb, Micah, Joel, and Johnna - helped me see that questions are a natural and very real part of life. In this way, they have helped prepare me for the multitude of questions that I face in the awkward time of transition. Rather than be hindered or paralyzed by the unknown, I can embrace my many questions and learn. Anyway, who wants to be fearful when you can be curious? So, the poem.

Sometimes, the world isn't clear:
the whys and the whats and the sad lonely
missing of a place I've not even left
seem too much to bear.

But as the heron, rising
slowly from the mist,
I will fly on.

Mystery will birth story,
and with wings sprouted here,
I will rise with grace
into the questioning day."

Aurthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

Thanks, kids!