Mi Casa Boliviana

Im finally settling into life here. I thought life would slow down for the group in Sorata, but we have been so busy that Im hardly ´home´ except for meals and nighttime. I was worried I would have too much time sitting around my homestay with nothing to do, but the truth is that I wish I was there more!
My mother, Doña Machlovia, is so nice. I only understand half of what she says before she starts laughing at me, but I still have fun sitting in the kitchen with her as she makes lunch. She promised that someday soon she would teach me how to make humienta, one of my favorite bolivian foods.
Ive also met a lot of the neighboring kids, and I love greeting them all and playing with them in the streets. I said hello to one boy the other day and he immediately grabbed my hand and began dragging me along side him. I asked him where we were going and she smartly replied that we were going to his house. I had to appologize and leave him so that I wasnt late for class.
Im also good friends with the 3 year old cousin that lives in my house with my family. She knows my name but she always calls me ´gringita´ and follows me to the door everytime I leave. She tried to pull out my nose ring once, but I dont hold it against her.
Im still playing a lot of Yahtzee with my siblings. Its fun except when Paula cheats (uhm, all the time) so that she gets a yahtzee for ever single number. I should really learn the spanish word for ´cheater.´

The other night, Paula and Heidi took me out into the streets to witness some celebration that was going on, probably for carnaval. We were standing around, talking to some of their friends when all of a sudden everyone started screaming and racing back up the hill away from the plaza. I honestly had NO idea what was going on. We stopped at the top and after a few minutes, everyone began heading back down. After another fifteen minutes, the exact same thing occured. I could hardly stand upright for all the pushing and scrambling. I asked for an explaination but I couldnt understand a word that the excited crowd said, but from what I could gather, it was all a game. Literally every citizen in Sorata was in the streets playing this game, whatever it was. As the streets began to calm down after the second scare- what ever it was- a car pulled up and Paula and Heidi dragged me into this totally unfamiliar car with unfamiliar people (sketch) and we drove off. Turns out it was there uncle driving, but I had no idea at the time. He took us home.
At home, I could hear the sounds of laughter, screaming, and running coming from the streets until well past midnight. It was seriously a CRAZY night.