Becoming Cochabambinos

We are getting settled little by little. We were very fortunate to find a great, furnished apartment in a wonderful area. We're within walking distance of grocery stores, bakeries, restaurants, shopping, and a great Saturday fruit and vegetable market. It even came with a TV and internet! It sure made life easier on us these first few weeks, since we didn't have to buy quite as many things for our year here as we thought. We went shopping at La Cancha, the huge open-air market here that sells everything from clothes to food to electronics, and stocked up on odds and ends. It sure was nice to finally unpack and have a place to call home:)

Mike has been showing us the ropes of the ministry, International Orphanage Union (IOU). We've been to the orphanage here in Cochabamba a few times already to get to know the kids there. They are SO GREAT! They all have their own story, some of which I'll share more about in the future. It's been fun getting to know each of them, and the language barrier is less of an issue than I thought it would be. Silliness translates well, we've found, and we don't need fluent Spanish to play games and have a good time. The girls are a lot of fun, and I've learned to bring plenty of hair bands with me when I see them...I always end up with a fancy hair do when I leave:)


Below are a few pictures from this week, out at the markets and around the house. Jude is adjusting pretty well, although he had a sleeping issue (or rather, NOT sleeping issue) several nights in a row. I was talking with our language teacher about it, and she said he was probably cold. It's winter here, and although it reaches high 70's during the day, it gets down in the 30s at night. Nothing in Cochabamba has heat or a/c, so we bought a small space heater for his bedroom and although it kind of freaks me out to go to sleep with a space heater running, it seems to have cured Jude's sleeping issues. He's getting tons of attention here...we never go anywhere without someone wanting to hold him or commenting on his blue eyes:) He's doing a good job experimenting with new foods and being patient with me as I attempt to find replacements for some of his old favorites (that's right, I can't find graham crackers!) His new thing is kiwis, and he shovels them in faster than we can cut them up! It makes for some interesting diapers...
He's on whole milk now, and loves it. I made the transition a little late, just b/c formula seemed easier with all the traveling. He isn't a fan of drinking milk out of his sippy--only water--but he can keep his beloved bottles for a little longer if that's what he wants. He's had enough changes for one month, right? The milk in Bolivia is sold in bags instead of cartons, which makes things a little sketchy in the fridge...I'm still looking for a pitcher with a lid to makes things a little less awkward.








We're taking language classes 3 days a week. Our teacher lives right next door, which is nice because Ted and I take lessons from her seperately and this saves a lot of time/money on taxis and passing Jude off. We're catching onto Spanish a little more each day, but still have a looong way to go. We celebrated a small victory last night though, when we successfully ordered a pizza and gave directions to our apartment, and they actually showed up! It's the little things at this point:) It's easy to get overwhelmed with all the details of getting acclimated to the culture here, but God has done a good job of putting people in front of us every single day who ask us why we're here. Now that I think about it, that's probably a good question to ask ourselves every day, wherever we are, so that we can be reminded of the answer: to love God and to take care of each other. It seems so simple, but its amazing how derailed I can get sometimes.
We miss everyone already and hope you're all doing well and enjoying the summer! Here are a couple of shots of beautiful Cochabamba from our apartment!