[:de]Allerheiligen gibt es in Bolivien ein großes Fest. Einen Tag vorher, also am Dienstag den 31.10 wird in den Häusern kreatives Brot gebacken. Häufig in Form einer Leiter die den Aufstieg in den Himmel erleichtern soll, oder in der eines Pferdes, das die Sachen des Toten tragen soll. Man kann aber machen was man will. Auch im Sozial Zentrum haben wir Brot gebacken. Ich habe unter anderem eine Schildkröte, einen Stern, eine Musiknote, und einen Drachen geformt. Es hat super viel Spaß gemacht.
Mein Drache ?
Am Nachmittag konnte man dann in die Häuser gehen die einen schwarz-lila Kranz an der Tür hängen hatten, und dort für die Verstorbenen beten. Dafür hat man dann von dem Brot bekommen. Es hat sich aber komisch angefühlt, weswegen wir es schnell wieder gelassen haben.
An Allerheiligen wurden am Friedhof die Gräber geschmückt und Tische mit Gaben aufgebaut. Brot, Kuchen, Obst, Süßigkeiten machmal auch Getränke und Spielsachen. Wenn man an einem Grab für den Verstorbenen gebetet hat, hat man im Gegenzug etwas von dem Tisch erhalten, meistens Brot. Und so ziemlich überall hat man eine Schale mit Chicha erhalten. Das ist eine Art Maisbier, das typisch für hier ist. Ich hatte am Ende des Tages einen Sonnenbrand, eine Tüte voll Brot ( und einer Ananas) und ein bisschen viel getrunken?.
[:en]On All Saints is a big celebration en Bolivia. One day before, so Tuesday, the 31.10 people bake creativ bread. Often shaped like a ladder to make it easier to reach heaven or like a horse to carry the things of the deceased. But one can form their Bred as they wish. At the Centro Social we made bread too. Amongst others, I made a turtle, a star, a music note and a dragon. It was super fun.
During the Afternoon one could go to the houses that had a black-purple garland on their door. There one could pray for the dead and get some bead for it. But since it felt kinda strange we quickly stopped doing it.
On All Saints Day the graves on the graveyard were decorated and tables with gifts were set up. Bread, cake, fruits, sweets and sometimes also soft drinks and toys. For praying at a grave one got something of the table, mostly bread. And almost everywhere one got a bowl with Chicha. That’s a kind of corn beer that is typical for this region. At close of day I had a sunburn, a bag full of bread (and one pineapple) and drunk a bit much?.[:]
[:en]On Wednesday the weather went crazy. Well, more than usual. Although it is supposed to be spring, I feel like it is summer or winter here. During the day it is so hot that one should wear a head covering to avoid a sunstroke. But during evening, night and in the morning I’m very glad i have my pullovers and a hot-water bottle.
[:en]I made pancakes today. It went great.
[:en]At around 18:00 o clock we arrived at Independencia and drove to the Centro Social, the institute where I’m going to live. Right behind the gates everyone was waiting for us to arrive so they could welcome us. After singing a song they came one by one to shake our hands, kiss our cheek and to scatter white and pink confetti (and even some flower petals) on our heads. It’s a wish for luck and blessing and is carried out during high days like marriages (sometimes they also use rice there), birthdays, welcome celebrations, a baptism and so on. The Centro Social has a wide field of duties, one of them being the boarding school I’m living in. It is an offer for families from the country sending their kids to school over here and is working together with the school complex Fe y Algeria (= faith and joy). The school complex includes a kindergarten where I work, two grade schools and the academic high school which is called colegio. Grade school and high school both have 6 school years. But they’ve actually only introduced compulsory school attendance 10 – 12 years ago. The kindergarten arose from the puerta abierta, the facility I’m activ in, during afternoons. Puerta Abierta means open door and the concept originated 1969 during the school strike when the kids were on the street for days or had to help out their parents on the field more than usual. Like the name suggests the children and adolescents are invited to come and play or just to talk. While the Puerta Abierta was open from 9 – 21 o’clock during the school strike, at the moment it’s only open in the afternoon after school and during the evening. The Puerta Abierta is another project from the Centro Social.
[:en]Thursday the 21th September we left for Independencia, the town I’ll be living in for the next year. Luckily our superior picked us up with the car and we didn’t have to get to Independencia on our own,. There are two ways to get there and we took the shorter and more beautiful one. Cochabamba and Independencia are located in valleys with mountains surrounding them on all sides that we had to cross. Although I was wearing pretty warm clothes it still got quite cold on 4-5000 metres. We drove for around 4 hours and the view was incredible despite the fog.
Cochabamba ist riesig! Ich bin hier jetzt seit Freitag und viel mehr kann ich trotzdem nicht dazu sagen. Für Cochabamba werde ich mehrere kleine Beiträge erstellen, ich wüsste nicht wie ich alle Eindrücke in einem einzigen unterbringen sollte.[:en]
Allerdings waren dort Bolivianer vor Ort die uns Tipps geben konnten, das war hilfreich ?. Die anderen Freiwilligen sind ziemlich cool, es war super :). Die Temperaturen waren mit 34°C im Frühling erschreckend. Habe jetzt schon Angst vor dem Sommer •~•. Donerstag abend sind wir mit dem Bus weiter nach Cochabamba gefahren, wo wir Freitag morgen angekommen sind.[:en]Wednesday and Thursday was an introductory seminar in Santa Cruz (we already had 2 in Germany, each for a week) with other volunteers from the BKHW.