The Adventures of Little Chrissy: A Feline Photojournalist's Perspective on World Travel

Just in case you have been wondering what our little furry friend has been up to, my certain eight-year old, here she is in her own words. :)  Love you little guy.

 

My journey began one fine September day in the primary guest bedroom of Buckingham Palace.  My human was about to travel to Bolivia for a year's duration, and being of a stereotypical feline nature naturally I was inclined to go with her.

 

 

 

 

I decided to help her pack, since I had nothing to bring but my fur and my camera.  That's the beauty of being a feline... you can travel light and get away with it.

 

 

Here I am, playing hide-and-seek in my human's backpack. 

 

 

My human is going to Bolivia!  I decided to pose for the occasion with a miniature Bolivian flag, just my size!  (Special thanks to Kolbe Czupinski for providing me with the material for this shot.)

 

 

 

My human decided to visit her brother at school before we set off on our arduous journey together.  After much coaxing and prodding, I finally gave in to having a picture taken with Joe and Chandler.

 

 

 

My human's brother did not wish me to be deprived of furry companionship during my year abroad.  He discussed it with my friend Monkey and together they elected to send Monkey with me.  A few canine friends also had a paw in the decision-making process.

 

 

 

 

Monkey and I are now safely in Bolivia.  We have made friends with the local ant population... they have been constantly congregating in lines up and down the walls to bid us welcome.  Monkey thought he would send you a kiss, appropriate to his affectionate nature.

 

Abrazos y besitos from Bolivia!  I hope to expand my budding photojournalist career during the next eleven months and publish more tokens of my work for your benefit.

 

- Little Chrissy, Freelance Photojournalist

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday from Bolivia!

So.... I know that I've literally been gone 4 weeks now and I haven't posted anything... sorry about that!  Life is so, so busy!! We're at Day 28 now and Natalie (my site partner) and I can hardly believe that the time has managed to fly this fast!

First off, let me begin by saying... life with 100 kids definitely has its challenges (try waking up to music blaring at 5:00 in the morning!) but it is AWESOME and I really could not picture myself doing anything else right now.  I feel like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.  4 weeks in, Natalie and I have definitely settled in and are growing more and more accustomed to the rhythyms of daily life here at the Hogar (as much as we can... the thing about living in a foreign country and being immersed in a foreign tongue is that about 90 percent of the time, you don't really know anything that's going on.) :)  Natalie has started running the library and is doing the bulk of the child sponsorship program that we are responsible for.  I, on the other hand, have started working in Santa Maria, which is the name of the building housing our 20 little ones ranging in age from 5 months to about 6 years of age/kindergarten.

Santa Maria definitely has its challenges... today, for example, I had the "privilege" of changing an exceptionally dirty diaper, which resulted in their being poop all over my fingers, on my leg, and on my foot.  I know... T.M.I. :)  Or "reading a book" really means that I attempt to read while one little girl is shoving another book in my face and telling me "Look, look" every 5 seconds and two others are fighting/trying to tell me about the books they are "reading" while another kid is calling for "Toilet paper, please!" from the bathroom at the other end of the room.  I also spend a lot of time in the Infirmary with the ailments of assorted small children.

Lainie, our outgoing SLM, is leaving in just a few days... I don't know what we would have done without her!  She has definitely helped us learn the ropes of daily life in the Hogar and assisted us in many adventures to Santa Cruz for our Visa process.  (In Bolivia, you only get a 30 day Visa when you fly in and you have to start this complicated process of applying for a 1 - year Visa right away when you arrive)  Many thanks to you, Lainie... you have been our guardian angel and we are forever indebted to you.  I hope for a very happy homecoming for you and a positive period of readjustment into life back home in the good old U.S. of A. :)

One of the highlights of this first month here happened 9 days in...  There are a LOT of holidays in Bolivia and the one that happened 9 days in was called Dia del Estudiante, or Day of the Student.  Needless to say, this was a major fiesta for the girls here at the Hogar!  We threw them quite a party, on the outdoor basketball court that they call the "Cancha."  I think I've changed my definition of heaven as a result of that party: Heaven is dancing yourself to the point of exhaustion with 120 joyful little girls. :)  SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!  We put on games for them (like finding bubble gum in a plate of whipped cream and blowing a bubble; whoever blows their bubble first wins) and Natalie, Lainie and I performed the "Cottoneye Joe" especially for their benefit. :)  We also danced in several other dance numbers put on by the staff here at the Hogar (the psychologist, handyman, homework teachers, Santa Maria caregivers, and secretary).

 You're probably wondering why this post is entitled "Happy Birthday from Bolivia."  Well, this particular day, the Fiesta for Dia del Estudiante, happened to be the day before my birthday.  At one point in the course of the evening I observed that one of my little ones from Santa Maria was wandering off by herself in the dark.  I went to retrieve her and tried to understand what she was saying... she was very upset that I dared pick her up and bring her back to the party.  In the midst of our little miscommunication, I heard my name being called over the microphone back at the cancha.  All I could think was, Oh my gosh.  The timing for this is impeccable rather sarcastically in the back of my mind.  Reluctantly, I made my way back to the cancha to see what they wanted.

It was Madre Rosario, our Hogar's director, and she was announcing that my birthday was the next day to everyone at the party!  I was a bit blown away... I really hadn't told anyone and fully expected that my birthday would pass unobserved.  Then they all started singing to me and the two other girls present who had a birthday... first in English and then in Spanish!  And they even brought out a cake and had me blow out the candles (Natalie and I would live on this cake for the next week) :)

So I got to celebrate my birthday with 120 little girls!  And there was a full moon... and one of them asked me to be godmother for her First Communion... and I got to dance a real authentic Latin merengue with a Bolivian guy (one of our handymen... the girls made him ask me and it was rather embarassing and awkward on both accounts but still a ton of fun!)  It was a beautiful night.

I love all of you and I am so grateful for your prayers.  I will try to write again fairly soon... another 4 weeks, at least. :)

Look what I found on my door the very first day in Bolivia!

Me and the other birthday girls, getting ready to blow out our candles! :)



The party's getting started!

Odds and Ends

So.... the countdown is at two days now.  Two more days....

These last couple of days have been a mini emotional rollercoaster; I'm excited to go, I'm sad to leave, etc., etc.  Lately I seem to find myself afflicted with "Swiss cheese brain syndrome"... I feel like my brain is full of holes!  My ability to think, exercise common sense, plan ahead, etc.  has been diminished to a sort of primitive survival-mode brainstem...  Apparently this is what "pregnancy brain" feels like... I will tuck this little bit of knowledge away for the future. :)

It's been a good last three weeks, full of much visiting and meeting up with old friends, vaccines, laughter, baby-sitting, thrift-store shopping, walking, and sundry other things.  During this time I've learned I actually like beer... a LOT :) and how to make a stone skip across the river.  I finished watching the Harry Potter movies and started reading the first Harry Potter book, cleaned out the apartment, flooded my host family's bathroom, learned what "downs" are and how to read the scoreboard on a football game, served mass for the last time, helped save the life of a praying mantis, moved my brother into his new habitat, played several games of Seven Wonders, felt a baby kick inside his mother's tummy, fed a duck while canoeing, engaged in plastic sword duels, read children's books on Bolivia, took two preschoolers to visit the EMU library, and did much dancing with no music to speak of.  :)  I've also learned how much I love Ypsilanti and how much this is home.  There is no place like Ypsilanti/Ann Arbor anywhere else...anywhere else is just not the same. 

I will miss everyone and everything.  I love all of you.  During these last few weeks it has struck me time and again just how much I am loved.  I am going to Bolivia knowing that all of you are thinking of me and praying for me, and I am so, so grateful for that!  I could not do this without each and every one of you.  Even people I've just met have told me that they're excited for me and they'll be praying for me... thank you so much! 

Keep praying for me, I will keep praying for all of you! :)

To a certain eight-year old: Little Chrissy has been very busy helping me pack.  She said to tell you "meow."  Love you buddy :) 

The Thrill of Adventure... Just Weeks Away....

"I am looking for someone to share an adventure with." -Gandalf, The Hobbit

Three weeks from today I am going to be stepping on a plane about to emark on my first ever journey off the continent... and I am so excited! 

For those of you who don't know, I will be spending a year in an orphanage in Montero, Bolivia with the Salesian Lay Missioners.  I will be helping to care for 120 little girls, babies through high school!  This is why this blog is titled "120 and Counting";  I figure that this will be the only time in my life that I will ever have 120 children at one time, so I might as well make the most of it. :)

I will be posting as often as I can, because I want you to be a part of things and to share this adventure with me. 

Oh, and one minor side note... there will be occasional pictorial appearances of a stuffed cat, namely one "Little Chrissy."  These are intended for one very particular eight year old back home.  (Plus, I just enjoy a chance to do something random and crazy...) :)

Thanks to all of you for supporting me!