Life in CADEPIA's office

This post is dedicated to the Bolivian culture here in CADEPIA/APIMEC’s office:

(1) Everyone loves to watch the World Cup. Work seems to stop whenever there is a game on. Work definitely stops whenever there is a game on with a South American team. In fact, if I wanted to leave work to watch the game at the closest bar or restaurant, I would likely find someone from CADEPIA there screaming at the T.V. Since the World Cup ended yesterday, everyone seems a little bit down since there are no more distractions to prevent us from working.

(2) Everyone likes to be involved in everyone’s love life. It seems as if I am currently going on several dates with friends of friends and family members of people in the office. I’m sure hoping it's all a joke. Also, I seem to be the target of everyone's jokes since I have a Bolivian stalker named Richard. Richard is an affiliate of CADEPIA, and that is all I knew about him. However, as soon as I told one person in the office about Richard, everyone in the office found out about Richard. Some internal stalking about Richard's personal life then followed, and now I know that Richard is a carpinter, is about 33 years old, and was also very good friends with the volunteer from Spain who came before me. Thanks CADEPIA, maybe now I will take him up on his offer to go to the movies, but really really really, I will not!

(3) If you come into work on time you are early. If you come into work 30 minutes late, you are probably still early. About 45 minutes late is right on time. I think I am supposed to be working about 40 hours a week. I'd say that usually is only about 30-35 hours. I've learned here that the U.S. is obsessed with moving as fast as they possibly can. That creates stress. Stress makes you uncomfortable, fat, and unhealthy. We all need to learn to slow down, maybe not quite as slow as things move here at CADEPIA, but slow enough to build relationships and be healthy.