New Year

About two weeks ago we completed our 1-year anniversary of life in Bolivia. It has been a good time to reflect on the last year and look forward to the next, although the last couple weeks have been so busy we've hardly had time to do any of that. So here's a little reflection on what all has been going on in our lives and our heads.

Last week Ann and I took a hike up to the top of our mountain for the first time to get away a bit and to reflect and to see what's on the other side. Now we are wondering why we don't take advantage of the mountains in our back yard more often. But we had fun. I'm not sure what happened to the rest of the week, but we had a few days alone, me working on thesis again and Ann doing her co-op stuff and getting her classroom ready. We finally found a little time to clean the house too, which was good because Friday all our housemates arrived home. It has been great to see them again too, although once again everyone is too busy for us to hardly even talk to each other and catch up. Part of it I guess is that this week is their first week back in school. Ann finished day 2 today, but that's about all I know about that. I also have has school every day this week and today got to present my thesis proposal, which was approved. That means time to get down to do the dirty work, field work.

So even though it is August it really is a new year for us now in many ways. Ann has a new class, our family has left and everyone is back in the house, and my classes end next week and I start travelling to the countryside a lot to do my research. It is also different to repeat things here. We've never been in any other country other than home where we can say, "well last year it was lke this." This is the first time we have repeated anything. Like this weekend is Urkupina, the biggest festival all year, and we can remember how last year I got my first cell phone stolen there. There is just a lot of change going on, and while everything feels fresh and new, it feels like we've been here before too.

It also makes us look ahead to the future too. Our conversation often makes its way to future plans and what we will be doing this time next year. Will we stay here? Go home? Go somewhere else? What will we be doing? Will I still be working on my thesis? Does Ann want to teach any more? There is a lot to think about, but for now we try to remember to live and love today.