Blog 1: Look at me now- Pamela Munoz

Richard and I, he was one of my deaf students, helping me learn his name in ASL.

August 11, 2018

Today is Sunday, a very slow day here in Riberalta. I was surprised to see that there was barely any places open, I wasn’t able to find a close by restaurant, I had to walk longer than usual. Riberalta is a very hot city, which made it harder, but it reminded me of my time that I lived in Costa Rica, it was very nice. For lunch I tried some local fish with rice, beans and plantain. In my time here so far, I think I had plantain almost everyday, because it is the accessible everywhere and easy to cook for a beginner like myself. I am missing home a little more than usual today, but getting to experience this time with myself has really helped me getting to know myself better. Not having a schedule to follow, working at my own time, has given me confidence that I am able to handle independent projects. On the other hand, I have noticed that I really need to practice cooking more often, as my roommate usually cooks for me back home, and know that skill would be very useful. At night time, the volunteers and I had a Bolivian food night, it was very nice seeing everyone try to make a Bolivian plate, half of the time we were guessing the ingredients. I am very proud it to say that the dish came very close to the original. Finally, Ludivine, the NGO coordinator taught us how to play “Cachos” a Bolivian game with dice. It was very confusing at first but later I was able to sort of follow up. It was a very nice day overall, had a great time bonding with the other volunteers, It really helped relieve my homesickness.

Christian, Ludivine and I, at the local university “Universidad Amazonica” to recruit volunteers.

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Welcome to the UC Davis Blum Center Blog!

Here you will find updates on our organization, and blog posts written by each of our Blum Fellows about their experiences abroad. Make sure to check out our website at blumcenter.ucdavis.edu, and like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/UCDavisBlumCenter to get regular updates and see our upcoming events.

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