Thanks
again to Judy for passing along another one of her daughter’s interesting
letters about her world travels and adventures while on her fellowship.
–Carol Jinbo
Hello
Everyone,
I have put off writing to a huge group list for over two
months now for a variety of reasons ranging from laziness to not knowing what is
appropriate email behavior in the wake of national tragedy.
Well, I am still lazy and no one has bothered to send me Miss Manners'
opinion of how long one must wait before sending out newsy emails, so I decided
that I should probably get my act together and let everyone know how I am doing
out here on my Watson Fellowship adventure.
Following in the footsteps of my incredibly organized
roommate, Meredith, and my incredibly verbose friend, Seth, I will proceed to
bore you in a very organized manner. This
email can be divided into the following sections:
1. Cochabamba
2. Salares de Uyuni
3. Hong Kong is not Bolivia
COCHABAMBA:
Because I haven't written most of you a thing about Bolivia,
I'll try to recap a little bit. The
typical day involved four components: the Osuna family, work, ice cream, and
Aerosamba.
The Osuna Family: I lived with a family while I was in
Bolivia, who happens to be the same family that April lived with when she was an
exchange student in Cochabamba. The
major difference between her experience with this family and my experience was
the absence of Celia and Elva from the house when I lived there.
Celia (15) and Elva (13) were the maids of the Osunas and they quit about
a month before I arrived. So I got
to witness the fun of a family who had never had to clean or cook for themselves
learning how to do so. The Osuna
clan is comprised of Vilma, the mom; Lia, the grandmother; Lucas, my age; and
Laura, 9. Vilma was pretty new-agey
for Bolivia and took me to a feminist group with her--there were exactly 6
feminists in Cochabamba. Lucas' and Laura's favorite pastime was to say to me
over and over again that "the gringa can't understand anything". I
obviously understood enough to know that they were teasing me all the time,
which combined with their extremely spoiled behavior (Lucas had a temper tantrum
when asked to help with the dishes) did not endear them to me much at all.
Not surprisingly, the bright spot in this nuthouse was Lia,
who is 86 and suffering from dementia or neglect, I'm not sure which.
Anyway, Lia likes to sing, so she would serenade us with patriotic tunes
like "O Cochabamba" and "Viva mi patria, Bolivia" at
breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Between
her singing and Laura's incessant flute playing, I learned a lot of Bolivian
music while I stayed in their house.
Work: I worked mostly with organizations comprised of older
women in Cochabamba. I went to
bible study groups, neighborhood associations, private day care facilities, a
nursing home run by nuns, and an older adult continuing education
"university". Most of my
time and energy was spent developing new contacts and trying to figure out where
the older men were in Cochabamba. The
ladies of UNI-3, the "university," convinced me that older men don't
want to learn anything new or socialize at this point in their lives.
Not a particularly enlightened view, but when I asked where they were, I
didn't get a lot of answers until the last week.
During my last
week in Cochabamba, I discovered that, while older women enjoyed coming together to learn new things, dance, and gossip, the older men were generally more active in a different organization that lobbied the local government for improvements in elder rights, healthcare, and pensions. Well, I felt pretty stupid because I missed out on all of the interesting stuff that the guys were doing, but such is the life of a person who has never done fieldwork before.
Ice cream: I don't particularly love Bolivian
food, so to ensure that I didn't starve, I ate ice cream every day.
This is not an exaggeration. I
decided that I had to try every ice cream flavor in Bolivia.
Some highlights include: cheese, cinnamon, passion fruit, and chocolate
orange.
Aerosamba: To counteract ice cream's effects
(and to escape the crazy family with whom I lived), I became a fanatic for
Aerosamba. To understand how silly
this class was, you have to say the name in an over-dramatized manner just like
a Latin American radio personality. Basically,
we danced to Brazilian music called samba--I'm not sure where the
"aero" part came in.
Whoever wants lessons when I get back to the States, I'll
have a sign-up sheet available.
SALARES DE UYUNI:
I traveled for two weeks after I left Cochabamba.
Most of this time was spent on night buses trying to ignore screaming
babies and small birds (e.g. parrots that had started to escape from their
shoebox) while simultaneously attempting to avoid watching the truly terrible
action movies Bolivians like to watch while traveling.
I think that I've seen the entire body of Jean Claude Van Damme's work.
Thanks to these bus rides, however, I had the chance to visit Lake
Titicaca and the Salares de Uyuni, which are the world's largest salt flats.
Uyuni is the most amazing place I have ever seen, period.
Every day of my four-day tour I felt like I was on the set of Star Wars.
The salt is so white and takes up so much space that you really feel like
you're on the moon, which combined with petrified coral and a lake as red as
blood makes for a landscape that really has to be seen to be appreciated.
Put it on your short list of places to visit.
HONG KONG IS NOT BOLIVIA:
As the title of this email suggests, Hong Kong is not
Bolivia. Most people could have
probably guessed this without traveling through 12 time zones to see for
themselves, but I can say it definitively.
I arrived here in Hong Kong a week ago today and managed to stay on
Bolivian time for almost an entire week. I
mean this both in that I slept all day and was awake all night and that I was
not the least bit distressed that I have accomplished nothing related to my
research since I got here. Now,
Hong Kong is starting to affect me and I am eager to start making contacts with
organizations to begin what I term as "hanging out with the elderly"
but what is formally
known as "research".
Other reasons to support the assertion that Hong Kong is not
Bolivia:
Food: I will never tire of trying dishes made of baby eels,
lilies, or bizarre-looking sea creatures here in Hong Kong, but I could do
without seeing another potato again for a long time.
Money: Bolivia is cheap.
Hong Kong is not.
Living Situation: The Osunas, you've heard about
them. Here I'm living with my
friend Serena from Wellesley. We
did improv together, so you can imagine that we are having lots of fun.
And we live down the street from her parents, who have been really great
to me.
Dance: Last night I went to a class called Para Para, which
is allegedly the hottest dance craze in Japan.
The motions, many of which mimic the answering of cell phones (go
figure!) just really don't compare to Aerosamba. Para Para site: http://www.2choume.com/para/school/tryme.htm
I currently plan to stay here in Hong Kong through at least
Christmas, which is longer than originally expected. I haven't changed my plane tickets yet, so I don't know
exactly when I will be heading to Kenya (yes, Dad, I know you still don't want
me to go there right now).
I apologize for the length of this message, but I hope it
gives you a little insight into what I've been doing. I am really enjoying this year so far. I feel incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to do exactly
what I want to do for a year, especially now that I'm living with Serena who has
a "real"
job in investment banking.
I hope that you are all well and hanging in there during these crazy
times.
Love,
Theresa