Music of the Moment

Back in Madison

2009-08-27T19:28:00.000-05:00

And feeling weird.

TeeTee and LaLa do BOLIVIA

2009-06-25T12:18:00.003-05:00

Itinerary

Friday 17 July 2009 08:35 Bogota (BOG) 11:35 Lima (LIM)

Friday 17 July 2009 12:40 Lima (LIM) 15:35 La Paz (LPB)

To
Monday 27 July 2009 21:45 La Paz (LPB) 22:45 Lima (LIM)

Tuesday 28 July 2009 00:35 Lima (LIM) 03:35 Bogota (BOG)

T -- 2 weeks....

2009-06-24T13:36:00.000-05:00

....til I leave Bucaramanga.

WHAT.

La UIS cerrada

2009-06-12T11:51:00.001-05:00

New courses started last week(my final session...how did that happen?!!) and I did one of my favorite activities with my Conversation I class. I split the class up and have them create their own episode of a soap opera. These are always entertaining, as countless Latin telenovelas have given them ample inspiration for dramatic story lines and plot twists. For the first time, my class today decided to come up with their own characters rather than having me give them out.

One group came up with the usual love scandal/betrayal/drama at the altar that usually results when I dish out the role assignments, but the other came up with something entirely different. They acted out a drama surrounding the current situation at Bucaramanga's (and Santander's) best public university, Universidad Industrial de Santander.

UIS, because it is a public school, is frequently ground for student protests. The last semester, which should have ended in November (here first semester is February to June and second is usually September to November, depending on the school), finished up in March because protests had caused the university to close it's doors so frequently that they couldn't finish classes before Christmas and the 2 month long descanso between semesters. Because of this, this year's first semester started late to begin with.

Then, sometime last month, a copy of a phone call made from UIS' director was released. This call had him speaking with paramilitaries (right-wingers in the Colombian conflict) about murdering a student that had ties with the FARC (leftist rebels). This supposedly took place about three years ago, and nothing has come of it. The student is still alive and the director has been connected with no other paramilitary activities.

This incident, however, has caused outrage amongst students. They started protesting when the call was first released, causing classes to be intermittently canceled. Then there was a vote (which I'm told is really more like a voicing of opinion--the result doesn't actually influence anything) to see if the director should be replaced. Many students voted to replace him, but of course that was not actually done.

Since the vote, there have been several protests and the university has been open for class on and off. Of the four quarters that we were supposed to be completed by June, only one was actually finished. One of my roommates is a student at UIS and relied on a friend who lives right by the campus (we live pretty close too-maybe like 7 long blocks) and has a 6am class to call her each to day let her know if the gates were open or closed.

Then finally last week, the director decided that there was no way they could make up lost time so he canceled the semester (only been done once before in UIS' history, about 30 years ago.) This means there will be no classes until second semester starts in August and everyone must repeat the classes they were taking this semester. The worst part is students also loose the money they paid for this semester.

Again, because UIS is public, students pay according to their means. The university evaluates how much you deserve to pay based on how much money you have and if you came from a public or private high school. So the amount lost depends on who you are, but is still a large problem for quite a few people (imagine paying a full semester's tuition at a US university and then being told you weren't getting any education for it.)

And also since UIS is the best public school in Santander, people travel from all over the department and from others to go there. This means they also have rent/food expenses (unlike in the US, most university students go to a school in their hometown and still live with their families) attached with being at school. Many students have to decide whether to stay in Bucaramanga or go back to their hometowns until classes start again. My roommate is going home tomorrow (that will leave only 2 of us--there were 6 when I moved in!!) and probably won't return until August.

Currently about 20 students are engaged in a hunger strike protesting the closing of the university in a church downtown. I think they have been there for about four days and don't know how long they will last. I doubt it will cause the director to reopen the university, as students have left the city and abandoned the idea of continuing the classes they were taking this semester. And none of the protests thus far have gotten the protesting students anything they want...

Fotos from Carly's visit

2009-06-10T10:45:00.002-05:00

BestFriendsFromLife together again!!!!!

My friend's finca

Canyon de Chicamocha--second largest in the world after the Grand Caynon

Canyon de Chicamocha from the teleferico

Teleferico car

Sunset over part of the canyon

Bonfire at the finca--made me feel pretty American to be roasting marshmallows

Crepes and Waffles...home of the most delicious ice cream ever

Bucaramanga from Ritoque, a mountain that overlooks the city

Patriotism

BestFriendsFromLife after Carly paraglides!!!

License and Registration, Please

2009-06-07T11:49:00.002-05:00

The other night I had my second experience with Colombian Transit Police, and I did not like it any better than the first one.

I was riding with a friend when the street we turned onto was full of cops wearing neon green vests (couldn't tell if it was 3M reflective material, Daddy). The transit police set up checkpoints at random places in the city, usually where you can't see them until you're already on the street. Here, they don't have to have a reason to pull you over and can have you stop the vehicle even if you've done nothing wrong. The cops on this street were stopping every car passing in either direction to check for the driver's license, proof of insurance and sobriety. My friend present his license, passed the breathalizer and gave the cop his insurance card.

Turns out the insurance was not the most recent one and was several years old. The only way to prove the car is insured is with the card, and it has to be dated 2009. If you can't present that, the cops seize the vehicle.

So clearly we began tearing the car apart, looking for the most recent insurance card. The car is actually my friend's aunt's, so he wasn't sure if she would have taken it out for some reason. This also presented us with more of a reason to panic, as clearly she would not be pleased if her nephew got her car impounded. Our search yeilded insurance cards from 2006 and 2007, several assorted business cards, candy wrappers, a spoon, cassette tapes and a bookmark.

No 2009 insurance card.

He finally decided he'd have to call his mom, to have her try and wake up his aunt (they live in the same building and it was probably about 1 in the morning). His aunt didn't answer, so there was no way to figure out if she would have done something with the card. You have to pay to renew it and the only proof you've done that is the card itself, so if you lose it you're pretty much screwed. We decided that the cop who pulled him over the last time (during my first run in with Colombian Transit Police) must have taken it to check and forgotten to give it back. [My friend had gotten pulled over this time for turning through a red light since there were no other cars on the road, only to find the police waiting further down the street after he'd turned. He was able to avoid getting a ticket by paying the cop all he had in his wallet (11,000 pesos, which is about $5) and doing some sweet talking.]

So we pretty much were resigned to the fact that the card was not going to appear. His mom tried calling a policeman friend of hers, to see if he could help us, but no answer. She then got on the phone with the cop, to try and bribe him not to take the car. This was successful, so we were allowed to leave with the car to go to his house to get the money. He had to get an ATM card from his mom, go to the bank for the money, and then we went back to find the cop. We had to pretend we had found the insurance card, so that none of the other cops noticed. He put the money (100,000 pesos, a little under $50) in the case the insurance card should have been in and presented it to him, as if we had found it. He counted the money and then we were allowed to drive away.

While I do not enjoy the fact that we were openly endorsing corruption in the Colombian police force, I was extremely relieved the car didn't get taken. In the US, there's no way you could ever pull something like that to convince the cops not to impound your car or give you a ticket. (My one traffic ticket was in high school for running a red light in Uptown, and a Venezuelan exchange student was with me at the time. She asked why I couldn't just pay him not to give me the ticket and I said unfortunately it doesn't work like that here.)

Apparently I'm bad karma when it comes to traffic cops (or good karma if you consider he avoided getting a ticket and having the car impounded with me there) so I don't think I'll want to be driving with him anytime in the near future.

But Snoop Dogg says it....

2009-06-02T23:22:00.003-05:00

A student asked me today what "ain't" meant. I explained it was slang for am not, is not, are not, etc., and that it is extremely informal language and often sounds uneducated.

He then proceeded to ask me what "fa shizzle" meant. I was momentarily speechless and then explained that it was slang for "for sure." And if he ever said it someone would laugh in his face.

He looked quite confounded that I had told him not to use either of these precious phrases and said, "But I heard them in a Snoop Dogg song....."

Sorry to crush your dreams?

12 years later

2009-06-01T14:33:00.003-05:00

It's been quite awhile since I've posted and a lot has happened since I've last written. A few short general updates:

--Pei left, back to Canada. She was generally not very happy here and had decided she was ready to go. A situation at work (not enough students, too many teachers) presented itself as a perfect out for her to leave early without screwing over Colombo, so she took it. I pretty much had 2 days notice that she was leaving, which was extremely difficult. If you know me I'm not at all good at good-byes and having virtually no time to mentally prep for this one did not work out so great. My entire time here, I think I went maybe 4 days without seeing her, so it was a very drastic change that she is suddenly gone. She sounds happy back in Canada, but we miss her here!! I am trying to look at her departure as a way for me to get closer to people here and try out different things. I think sometimes I let her desires limit what I wanted to do; I usually wouldn't do something if we didn't do it together. Now I'm spending time with a lot of different people and talking in Spanish way more!!

--Since there is such low enrollment this month (universities just started vacation so many students don't take classes at Colombo during this time either) there are no conversation classes. This means I'm (unfortunately) teaching two grammar classes, which means lots more work. I have to teach myself the grammar lessons before I teach them to the class, write quizzes, correct quizzes, and make sure we finish all the material before the final exams. Those are next Monday and Tuesday, and then I start my last month of classes! I'm hoping I'll get conversation classes again not only because it's easier but it's more fun for me too!

--On Saturdays I have Conversation III, and they're actually a great group. Usually it is quite apparent that Saturday students DO NOT want to be there, but most of these kids are actually engaged. It makes for some good discussions and a more pleasant eaaaaarly Saturday morning to come to work for (and one of my students is really cute--sorry I'm a creeper.)

--I've been giving a man in my neighborhood private lessons 3 mornings a week. He used to study with my neighbor (don't know if I ever mentioned the strange Texan who rented a room next door) before he went back to the US. I took over and am actually really enjoying it. One on one lessons are so much more personalized and allow me to actually make sure he is understanding, instead of just talking at a room full of 15 students. I can also use Spanish with him, which makes things a hell of a lot easier. It also allows me to practice my Spanish, since we frequently get off on tangents about Colombian vs. US culture.

--CARLY CAME TO VISIT!!!! We had an absolutely AMAZING time and it was so great to see someone who knows me perhaps better than anyone. We've been friends literally my entire life and haven't gone this long apart ever, so let's just say Palo Negro Airport in Bucaramanga saw a few tears when she arrived. I had a blast showing her around town, eating at my favorite places, educating her in the best Colombian beers, taking her paragliding, getting fabulous $6 mani/pedis, and visiting my friend's finca up in the mountains for a night. She also came to work with me every day (not horribly exciting) to see me teach. This is ironic, because she actually studies education and I know nothing about it and had absolutely no qualifications for the job I was hired for. It also meant a lot to me to be able to show someone closest to me how Colombia really is, that there are not drug dealers nor FARC soldiers lurking on every street corner, waiting to get you.

--Now that Carly's gone, my despedida seems a whoooole lot closer. I can't believe it's June already!!! Only a month and a week left of work and time in Bucaramanga! Then I hope to attend the AIESEC Colombia National Conference in Medellin, visit a friend in Venezuela, travel a few other places, and then return to Bogota to spend a bit of time with Liz before heading back to the US on July 31. It feels like the first 2 months here was full of wishing July would just get here already, but now that it's June I suddenly have a fear I will have to leave here before I'm ready to. My Spanish has gotten a ton better, but it's still not totally where I want it. I also feel like there are lots of people here I want to get to know better before I leave.

--My lovely parents got me a new camera for my birthday (yes that was nearly 3 months ago) and sent it with Carly, so I can again commence excessive documentation of my life. Pictures from Carly's visit to come soon!!

This shall be an adventure!

2009-04-24T11:56:00.001-05:00

Teresa,

CONGRATULATIONS!

You are the brand new VPTM-Elect!

The selection committee was really impressed with your depth of knowledge in regards to the TM process as well as your commitment to advancing our LC

I am confident that you will do great things for Madison, and will take our TM team to the next level.

I will be contacting you soon to begin our transition. I look forward to working with you and getting you ready to kick some TM butt before I leave!

love
monica

El Final de La Costa

2009-04-23T13:05:00.002-05:00

Cartagena
April 11, 2009

Pei and I headed back to Bocagrande for more beach time and a little shopping today. We were both looking for new bags (I miraculously restricted myself to bringing only one here and got royally sick of it. I did buy a Juan Valdez bag in San Gil but still wanted another. Shocking, I know.) We also both needed to pick up various souvenirs for friends and family.

I found a beautiful yellow over-the-shoulder bag for a pretty good price (unfortunately for all the trinket sellers in Cartagena, I am able to bargain in Spanish and do not in fact have any dollars. Countless times after asking in Spanish how much something cost, the seller would take one look at me and reply "Five dollars." Sorry I look so American sir but I live in Colombia and earn pesos just like you do.) I also picked up a few things for people back home.

Then we hit up Juan Valdez again and went to the beach. It seemed a little less hectic than Thursday, which was nice. Still quite a few vendors though, which I didn't mind after I got my cocada (delish coconut/sugar paddy thing.) While we were laying there Carla and Marek randomly walked by so they sat down with us for awhile. After accumulating sand nearly everywhere on my body (it's very fine and being wet in a light breeze is not a good mix) we decided we should start making our way to Centro since there were some things Pei still wanted to buy before we got on our night bus. We opted to take the city bus there since the walk was quite a ways.

It was nice to stroll through Centro one last time before leaving and I picked up a package of authentic costena sweets for everyone back in my house. On our way to catch the bus back to Carmelita's, we stopped at Exito to pick up some chocolates for her family as a thank-you for putting up with our four day unsolicited invasion.

On the bus back to her house, I experienced probably one of the most horrifying things of my life. On the other side of the median on the main drag, we could see a huge crowd of people milling about in a circle, along with some police officers. Traffic on our side of the road was still moving but had slowed down considerably as people tried to see what was going on. The crowd of people made it impossible to see anything.

Until we drove about a hundred feet further and could see as plain as day a body lying in the middle of the road. Hardly anyone was standing around it and the few policemen appeared to be doing generally nothing, as there was no crowd control or ambulance present. Everyone on our bus flocked to the windows to gawk and several started exclaiming that the body had no head. I couldn't personally tell (I didn't really want to find out either way) but it was terrifying and sad and awful all at the same time.

[When we got home I looked online at the Cartagena newspaper and found out he had been hit by a taxi while trying to cross the street. It also confirmed that the man had been decapitated, so this is what the circle of people must have been looking at a hundred feet before the body.]

After we drove by I felt like crying and vomiting at the same time. I have never seen a dead body before. I started thinking about how in many corners of the world tragedies such as this are fairly commonplace and some people are forced to see dead bodies daily. I am lucky to have been raised in a place where shootings, violence, bombings and accidents are extremely rare. This is so cliche but the fragility of life was shoved in my face and made me think about how things can change in a second. One moment he was there and the next he wasn't. And hundreds of people were there to gawk and exclaim, but will ultimately return to their own small lives, forgetting that this man even lost his life.

Or course, I am guilty of the same. We had a bus to catch so we had to continue on home, eat dinner, shower and get to the bus station. We settled in for the overnight ride (better prepared for the cold) and I tried not to think about how easy it would be for our bus to get in an accident as it sped us back to Bucaramanga.

La Costa: Part V

2009-04-22T13:13:00.003-05:00

Cartagena
April 10, 2009

We had to get up early to get downtown to meet our tour group for our excursion to El Volcan de Lodo El Totumo. The Cali trainees arranged it for us through their hostel and it turned out to be an excellent deal. After a somewhat late departure (SHOCKING) we headed to the volcano, which is halfway between Cartagena and Barranquilla, about an hour away.

The volcano would probably be more accurately described as a baby volcano. It also deosn't spew ashes and lava, it spews mud. After stripping down to a sports bra and shorts (I didn't want to get my swim suit dirty) I climbed the stairs to the top to have a bath. The opening is probably only about 15 or 20 square feet (I'm a horrible judge of distance but it was baby) and it was quite chaotic with the amount of people trying to have a dip.

We took turns going so we could all have pictures in the volcano. Climbing in it was probably one of the strangest feelings I've ever experienced. The mud is the consistency of sweetened condensed milk, which made it extremely difficult to move. Upon entering, I was immediately seized, laid on my back and pushed by my feet into a free corner of the mud. The man then proceeded to slather my entire body with mud and give me a massage.

After we floated around a bit (floated may not be the right word since it was nearly impossible to move) enjoying how weird it felt, I attempted to make it to the ladder to get out. This was quite a process and after, touching/being touched by multiple strangers in all sorts of places, I managed to get out. At the ladder, another local was there to help de-mud you as much as possible before exiting.

Then you have to walk down another set of stairs (with extreme caution as both they and I were quite slippery) to the nearby lake to rinse off. There, several more locals were available to aide in the continuation of the de-mudding process. I tried to resist but eventually gave in to the molestation because without the help of their buckets and aggressive hands I never would have gotten it all off me. After I felt semi-clean, I headed back to the bus to change into dry clothes.

Our tour then took us to a small fishing village where we got our lunch that was included in the price we paid, at a nice little tent restaurant on the ocean. The patacon and coconut rice were excellent. It took awhile for the food to come but it was relaxing sitting by the ocean. Then our tour piled back on our little bus to head back to Cartagena. We got dropped off by the hostel where we had gotten on and only then did we realize we neglected to ask Carmelita how to get back to her house from Centro.

We didn't have an address (no one in Cartagena uses them anyways) or even a neighborhood to go by, and Carmelita was not answering her phone. After inquiring about the name of a mall that was about 15 minutes from the bus terminal (could that have BEEN any more vague?!), a woman in an internet cafe told us a name, which I recognized. She pointed us in an approximate direction to take one of two buses. We then had to ask a policeman, who told us we needed to go to Avenida de Pedro Herida and we should catch the red bus, right over there (he points.) We asked the driver who confirmed he passes the mall.

Point=Us.

We made it back to Carmelita's (after another infuriatingly long bus ride) exhausted and filthy. After a shower I passed out for a solid two hours which felt glorious. After waiting for Carmelitat's mom to get back with the car for foreverrrrrr, we got dropped off near Centro so I could get a jugo (finding something meatless to eat on Good Friday in a Catholic Country was ridiculously difficult.) We then met up with some Cartagena 2ers to go to a good-bye party for their trainee from Estonia.

The party was up on the wall surrounding Centro where we could hear music from a nearby bar but didn't have to pay to get in. I met several good friends of Erin, who spent last summer in Cartagena, as well as some guy from Rochester (MNers are everywhere) who was living with his girlfriend who is on a Fullbright in Cartagena. It was really fun to meet everyone and just hang out. Pei was still tired from our volcano adventure so we didn't stay out late.

La Costa: Part IV

2009-04-20T20:37:00.005-05:00

Cartagena
April 9, 2009

We slept pretty well at Carmelita's last night, although it was a little cold and our mattresses took up the entire floor of her room. She and her family have been so nice to us, considering we pretty much just invited ourselves for a 4 day stay when she hasn't seen her family in 7 months. We lazed around for awhile, her family fed us and then we went to the terminal to buy tickets home. They were quiteeee expensive but we have no choice because our ride fell through.

After shelling out the painfully large amount of money we took one of the world's longest Colombian city bus rides to Bocagrande, which is the main tourist and beach area. We browsed some tacky tourst shops for awhile and then went for lunch on the beach. We sat on plastic chairs at a plastic table in the sand, waiting for our food.

We were not, however, left to enjoy our own company. Approximately every 3 minutes a vendor would stop by to offer us a plethora of things we never knew we needed. This included beer (ok so I knew I needed that...), water, soda, jewelry, clothing, massages, sweets, shrimp cocktail...It was impossible to avoid being bothered since we couldn't move away from our table. At one point, Pei, Carmelita and I were all simultaneously being accosted by costena women smearing coconut oil on us and attempting to give us unsolicited massages. Even after we told them we were faltaing la plata to pay for them, they continued, my masseuse exclaiming over the amount of tension in my back. Finally they stopped but wouldn't leave without a 2000 peso tip.

Then we enjoyed our lunch of half a friend fish (head, eyes, fins included. Think sea bass, Mama), cocnut rice, patacon (smooshed friend platano)and ensalada. It was delicious. After eating, we spent a little time on the beach but it was pretty chaotic. There are hundreds of tents lining the beach, available for rent, as well as beach chairs. The same array of vendors continued to molest us until we walked to another beach to meet up with two Cartagena trainees.

The water here was much calmer because there was a bay and the beach was clearly more heavily populated by locals rather than tourists. The two trainees were from Russia and the Czech Republic. One teaches English at a university here and another is currently out of work after breaking her match. The Russian girl was super friendly and told me she loves meeting people from the US (go figure.)After chatting for awhile on the beach, we started to head home. This process of course took nearly an hour after waiting for a bus that didn't come and then finally hopping in a cab.

I power showered and then hopped back on a bus to meet Liz and her family for dinner. After some difficulty locating one another (the clock tower in Centro is not as visible as I believe a clock tower should be, in order to more easily facilitate using it as a meeting place) we had a very nice dinner. It was good to see Liz again so soon, and her fam too. It made me wish my mama and daddy would come visit me here.

After dinner, they walked me to the bar where I was meeting up with all the @ers. It was a salsa place named Havana with a live band that was quite good. I was exhausted though so we didn't stay very long. It's the kind of place I'd love to go to in Bucaramanga though, since most of our friends don't like to dance Latin.

La Costa: Part III

2009-04-17T21:00:00.005-05:00

Cartagena
April 8, 2009

This morning we got up fairly eartly to get started on our way to Cartagena. I ate my pan de chocolate on the beach, saying a last farewell to the beaches of Tayrona. They are beautiful, but I wasn't sad to leave the sketchy bathroom and living out of a backpack on a dirt floor. We hiked out fairly early and it was already getting warm. It had rained the night before (quite snuggy to listen to in my hammock) so the trail out was completely muddy.

Where the path ends, you have to take a jeep to the gate of the park or walk several miles more. We opted for the jeep and were dropped at the entrance to Tayrona. From there, you have to catch a bus to bring you to the terminal in Santa Marta. This involves flagging down random buses driving by on the highway to see if they will stop in the terminal. We got on one almost immediately with another couple we had left Tayrona with.

I'm not sure if sketchy is a sufficient word to describe the bus we got on. It was a coach bus, considerably older than what we rode to get here. There were children EVERYWHERE, sitting on parents laps and sitting 3+ to a seat. The TV was playing one of the most graphic movies I have ever seen and seemed to be bothering no one that it was in no way appropriate for all the children watching.

We stayed on this bus for quite some time while it continuously stopped to let people on and off, to let vendors on to sell us things and once where all the men had to get off while the luggage was searched in the presence of what I believe to be Colombian customs officers (I think the bus may have come from near Venezuela.) After awhile we started realizing we had been on the bus for an awful long time. The woman of the couple we were with went up to ask and it turns out we had passed the Santa Marta terminal and Santa Marta itself quite some time before.

Cool.

So we hopped off this bus to await another that could take us straight on to Barranquilla. While chatting with the man and woman we were with, I learned he is actually one of the Liz's roommates in Bogota. Small word? Apparently. Does Liz know everyone in Colombia? Maybe. We didn't have to wait too long for a Costena bus that had free seats to Barranquilla. We paid $20,000 pesos for a trip to Cartagena, which is pretty decent. It was a 2ish hour ride to B/quilla, where we had to briefly change buses for another 2+ ride to Cartagena.

Upon arriving on the outskirts of Cartagena, we realized we should probably do something about the fact that we had nowhere to stay. Pei called an @er from B/manga whose family lives in Cartagena. She came to the terminal to get us and brought us to her house. Showers and fresh clothes (We were nasty after a 45 minute sweaty hike, a jeep ride and 3 bus rides) were amazing.

Then we took a bus to Centro, the walled city, which was unfortunately far from Carmelita's house. The old town was beautiful at night. The entire part of town is surrounded by a wall and is right on the ocean, which used to go all the way up to the stone. Inside the wall, the buildings are very European with pretty paint jobs and amazing balconies. Streets are quite narrow and lined with vendors, horse drawn carriages and boutiques (if you were to suddenly need a United Colors of Benetton, Cartagena'd have you covered.)

We met up with two AIESEC Cartagena members and got dinner at Crepes and Waffles. Pei and I shared a cheese crepe with prosciutto (said jamon on the menu and I was pleasantly surprised to find this did not mean bologna, as it usually does) that had pesto on the side. It was good pesto, too (Mama you know how picky I am about my pesto.) After a delish C&W ice cream concoction for dessert we wondered a bit more before heading back to Carmelita's.

La Costa: Part II

2009-04-15T13:45:00.004-05:00

Parque Tayrona
April 7, 2009

I actually slept pretty well in the hammock last night. It was a little chilly with only a light hoodie, capris and a sheet, but not too bad (nothing like the bus ride) and minus the bug bite that caused my eyelid to swell 3 times its normal size, I didn't get eaten alive either. It was hard to sleep in when the sun came up so early, but I dozed on and off for awhile. After breakfast of a fresh jugo and some granola, Pei and I traveled one beach further than we had gone yesterday. This beach, El Cabo de San Juan, also was good for swimming. There were a lot more people on the beach than the one we were at yesterday, and I can already tell the park is going to be packed by the end of the week.

We ran into Sydney, a former trainee from Medellin, who I was supposed to meet up with in the park but never made concrete plans with. The beach was actually surprisingly full of gringos but I'm glad I noticed her (recognizable from facebook creeping, haha.)
She was with two other trainees from Cali, one from Poland and one from Taiwan, so it was fun to meet them too. It actually wasn't very sunny (which I think was a good thing) but we still lounged around on the beach/in the water. While we were lying there, Ruthie, an American on the Colombian MC, found us on the beach. I had talked to her about meet up but again had made no concrete plans. Maybe Colombia is as small a world as MN....

On the walk back to Arrecifes, we stopped at this little panaderia which yesterday was sadly pan-less. Today, however, it had pan de chocolate literally right out of the oven. It was clearly sent from God, it was so good. The girls who worked at the panaderia , 5 of them, all wore these adorable matching dresses. If only they had domicilios to Bucaramanga....

Back at our place, we took another questionable shower and then ate dinner with Carla and Marek. It was fun to compare experiences with other trainees from around Colombia who have had some of the exact same issues we have. The food at the place was pretty good actually (looked a bit dodgy.) Ruthie, another trainee from Bogota and two other AIESECers met us after dinner and we sat on the beach for awhile. It was so fun to finally meet people I've talked to online for so long and see the @ network in action (sorry I'm a nerd.)

We got kicked off the beach by the park rangers who told us that the beach closed at 8 (it was 9) so unfortunately we had to go back to the campsite. They also informed us that although the sale of alcoholic beverages (all restaurants/tiendas/randos on the beach sell it) was not prohibited, the consumption of them in the park was. Go figure.

La Costa: Part I

2009-04-14T13:50:00.003-05:00

So I journaled while I was traveling so I could share my experiences while away from the computer. I'm going to post them as I wrote them, although they are dated last week.

Parque Tayrona
April 6, 2009

So we finally made it to the coast!! After finding out mere hours before we were supposed to leave that our ride fell through, I had my doubts that we would even make it out of the city. Holy Week is THE week to travel, so not only are bus tickets twice the price, the are booked weeks in advance. After making countless phone calls to different companies (half of which didn't even answer the phone, shocker) we found 2 tickets on a 10:30pm overnight to Santa Marta, at $90,000 pesos apiece. Not what we had wanted to pay, but we had no choice if we wanted our much-anticipated vacation to happen.

So we booked those tickets which were delivered an hour later (only in Colombia can you get someone to hand deliver your bus tickets. If only Greyhound had door-to-door service.....) We made the best of our extra day in the city by spending it on the roof of Pei's building (she moved again) at the pool. So it wasn't a complete waste.

After purposefully not napping all day (I wanted to be sure I slept on the bus) I was exhausted and ready for a good sleep. Two of our coworkers came to the bus station with us to see us off and make sure we got on the right bus (it was sweet, but we can in fact read...) We had seats assigned when we bought the tickets so we didn't have to worry about getting good ones. All buses are pretty comfortable since to get between cities here (mountains) the rides are quite long.

The only problem turned out to be the temperature. Now, I knew the buses would be air conditioned and be on the chilly side. Little did I know however, that I would actually be taking an 8-hour bus whose interior had been fashioned to feel like the ARCTIC. I don't think I have ever been that cold at night for that long before in my life. I couldn't feel my toes (I was wearing socks) and the tip of my nose was frozen. I felt as if I had been skiing all day in 10 degree weather and couldn't take a hot shower.

Upon arrival into the Santa Marta terminal at about 7am, it took me several hours to thaw. It was quite warm but I couldn't seem to stop shivering. From the terminal, getting to the entrance of Tayrona was mapped out in my Lonely Planet and involved a taxi ride to the mercado in Santa Marta, a bus to the entrance of the park, a jeep ride to the first campsite and then a 45 minute hike to the beaches. Instead we opted to share a taxi with two other students headed the same direction, which cut out all but the last 45 minute hike. It didn't end up to be too bad but by the time we arrived we were certainly ready for some beach time. The first lodging place had no free hammocks, so we walked closer to the beach and found another place which had two available for the next two nights.

We settled in and got on our suits and headed to the beach, which are supposedly the 2nd most beautiful in the world (I don't know who decided that.) The tides in Arrecifes (where we were staying) are too strong to swim in so we just hung out on the beach. About midday we took a leisurely stroll west, towards the beaches where you can actually get in the water (stopped for an Aquila and arepa con queso along the way). La piscina, the closest beach you can swim at, was just was gorgeous except a bit calmer. We spent the day in and out of the water, lounging. Normally, during vacation I feel guilty about just sitting on the beach and not doing other things. The fabulous part about Tayrona is there IS nothing else to be doing, so you don't have to feel guilty.

We took our time walking back to our campsite and then got ready to shower. This turned out to be a less than pleasant experience. Only three of five showers worked and work is a relative term. The line moved ridiculously slow and once I got a shower I had to hurry. The water barely trickled out but I did come out relatively clean, and at least there were showers...

While I had been waiting in line, I laughed at something a few Americans were talking about and one looked at me and said "You speak English, don't you?" "Yes, yes I do." He walked past med and then turned around and said "Are you Liz's friend?" "Liz Buettner?" "Yes." "Yes." "I've seen a thousand pictures of you two. I'm Scott." (Liz's BFF in Bogota.) "Weird...I can't believe you recognized me!"

We ended up having dinner and playing cards with Scott and his friends visiting from the US. They were quite entertaining and fun to hang out with. Pei and I headed to bed pretty early back in our hammocks, which turned out to get pretty chilly at night. Not too uncomfortable though!

Euphoria

2009-04-02T12:21:00.003-05:00

We haven't been apart this long since I was born.

Traveler
EVANS/CAROLINE M

FLIGHT INFORMATION
Mon, 18MAY09 CO1647 L CHICAGO OHARE
(ORD) 7:20PM HOUSTON BUSH INTL
(IAH) 10:02PM 737-500
Mon, 18MAY09 CO884 L HOUSTON BUSH INTL
(IAH) 11:59PM BOGOTA COLOMBIA
(BOG) 4:58AM 737-700

Sat, 30MAY09 CO885 L BOGOTA COLOMBIA
(BOG) 12:15AM HOUSTON BUSH INTL
(IAH) 5:20AM 737-700
Sat, 30MAY09 CO1746 L HOUSTON BUSH INTL
(IAH) 7:25AM CHICAGO OHARE
(ORD) 9:58AM

What did you do last weekend?

2009-03-25T14:30:00.002-05:00

I went paragliding, whitewater rafting, caving, and rappelling in the amazing Colombian wilderness with three fabulous friends from home. Jealous?

Erin and Amanda arrived in Bucaramanga last Tuesday and Liz followed from Bogota on Wednesday. Seeing familiar faces was unbelievably fabulous. I love my friends here, but there is something about being with people that really, truly KNOW you that was exactly what I needed.

Last Thursday, we went for a semi-failed hike in the morning (we couldn't exactly find the right path) and then headed up the mountain to the paragliding place. We were early, but they let us in to relax until the guide got there. There was an Alaskan dude who moved to B/manga to learn how to paraglide that was also around, and not gonna lie having an English speaker explain what was going to happen was certainly comforting (my Spanish vocabulary doesn't really extend to paragliding.)

The actual feeling of paragliding is hard to describe....Once I was in the air I actually wasn't nervous at all about being suspended nearly 1000 feet in the air by several canvas buckles and a large parachute. Since the guide does everything to steer, all you really have to do is sit there. Looking down at the ground totally messed with your mind, because it didn't look like it was that far below, until you remember that what you were seeing was actually the tops of the trees and the ground was considerably further below that. All in all, one of the sweetest 15 minutes I've spent in my life, and it cost less than $25!!!

Friday Liz, Erin, Amanda and I traveled to San Gil, which is a town about 2 hours outside B/manga that is considered 'the adventure capital of Colombia.' It's a pretty touristy place and has tons of extreme activities. We found our way easily from the bus terminal to our hotel, where we settled into our larger than necessary room while our duena set up rafting and caving excursions for us for the day. It was so easy to do everything because all we had to do was tell her what we wanted and she made the reservations for us, which included transportation from the hotel to all the sites.

Whitewater rafting was fun, but definitely not one of the rowdiest rivers I've been on. The rapids were pretty tame cuz it's off season, so the most thrilling part was probably when we jumped off the raft on purpose and floated at a brisk pace down the river for awhile. It was also the only time I've rafted where there was essentially no safety talk given before we took off. Good thing I've done it plenty before, and that Amanda is a rafting guide in Montana during the summers.

We returned to the hotel to change out of wet clothes and grab a quick lunch before heading out to the caves. Probably the most unsuccessful meal I've had here as of yet, seeing as it involved some suuuuper sketch soup, mushy spaghetti, yuca (which I usually like, except not when there is an ant crawling on it), and an ENTIRE fish presented on my plate. After washing down all those unappealing tastes with some ice cream, we were ready for our caving adventure.

Out of all the things we did I think caving might have been my favorite. We had to drive up the mountain and then hike down to where the entrance of the cave was. Everything was natural, none of it man made at all, which is unbelievable. Our guia Leonardo didn't speak any English and I'm pretty sure he thought we were absolutely ridiculous, but we had quite a good time with him. Caving involved crawling around in the pitch black with only a flashlight to guide us, sometimes having to slid on our stomachs to get through the low parts, and wading through thigh-deep clay water for about 100 meters. After emerging from the cave, we jumped off a cliff outside into a pool of the same dirty clay water below. I did it twice.

After all this excitement our nasty lunch was forgotten and we were eager to get back to the hotel to clean up and get some real food (and beer.) I took my first hot shower in TWO MONTHS and it was probably the most glorious thing ever. Once we were all clean, we headed out on the town (if one can actually do that in San Gil) to find pizza and beer. We had a leisurely dinner followed by a drink in the main plaza of the city. Since we had to be up again the next day for more extreme activities, we went to bed at about 10pm.

The next morning, after a breakfast of the most obscene fruit salad I've ever had (came served in a banana split dish with gobs of whipped cream and some unknown jelly-ish frosting thing) we headed on our rappelling adventure. We had to stop at the office of the place in the next town over, then were dropped at the top of the mountain we had to hike down a bit to get to the rappelling site.

Out of all the things I did last weekend, I think this one was actually the most terrifying thing I've ever done in my life. Rappelling instructions given by teenagers in Spanish were only mildly comforting assurances that I would not in fact be dropped to my death off the precipice below. We had to go one at a time, and each of us almost cried before it was our turn. The guide at the bottom had the other end of the rope, in case you lost control while lowering yourself down (you had to feed the rope through the carebeaner yourself, to move.)

There were several different faces we went down, separated by huge holes and small platforms. When you got to the small holes, we were semi-upsidedown and the guides thought it was immensely funny to yank the ropes so we swung into the cave and then out over the waterfall. At the bottom one, they also enjoyed holding our ropes so we couldn't move ourselves out of the torrents of water they stuck us under.

At the end I was ready to do it again, so I could actually enjoy it instead of borderline peeing my pants the entire time. After a long wait for our transport back to town, we made it back to the hotel to quickly clean up and pack so Amanda and Erin could catch a bus back to Bogota for their flight back to the US on Sunday. Liz and I then took a bus back to B/manga, where she stayed with me until early Monday morning. Glo was totally nonchalant about her staying with me, which was completely shocking to me.

Now I just gotta make it through the next week and a half of this session and I'm headed to the coast (with the rest of the country) for Semana Santa!!!

Spreading my Irish Heritage

2009-03-18T13:38:00.002-05:00

St. Patty's night out, where I forced all my friends to wear green. We went for drinks at our favorite restaurant (they do whatever we want because we're foreigners) where of course they dyed our beer green upon request. It was excellent.

Yesterday I ate an ant

2009-03-15T20:19:00.004-05:00

I haven't been blogging lately cuz I've actually been feeling pretty annoyed/frustrated/upset and I didn't really feel like venting out into the blogosphere. It probably would have helped, but oh well. I am feeling better now but to be brief, I'll say the frustration was caused by a (still) lack of seeing any of my salary, generally unhelpfullness/insensitivity of the AIESECers and the theft of my camera (you know how much I love taking pictures.)

My mood has much improved over the past few days though, as a result of two events. Firstly, the approaching visit of LIZ and ERIN in Bucaramanga!!! Erin is on Wisco spring break and has headed back to the motherland (Colombia, obvi) for a visit. She spent last summer in Cartagena. Liz, who lives in Bogota, is also journeying here to experience the adventure activities in the area. Erin and her friend get in tonight and Liz is coming tomorrow. I could not be more excited to see familiar faces.

I am also in better spirits after a visit to Parque Nacional de Chicamocha, one of the largest tourist attractions in the area. It's about an hour away by bus and is basically this national park on the top of a mountain over looking a large canyon. The biggest attraction is the brand new Teleferico (gondola) that goes across the canyon. Pei and I went with another coworker and had quite a fabulous time. The park is beautiful, surrounded by mountains, and going across the canyon was amazing too. My coworker is afraid of heights but there was no puking, so we considered it a successful visit.

We spent the whole day there, and in the afternoon the other trainee met up with us on her way back to Bucaramanga from San Gil (adventure capital). She came bearing hormigas culonas, which literally means big-assed ants. They’re a delicacy in Santander so of course it was mandatory that we try it. A lot of people say they taste like burnt popcorn, but I didn’t think it really tasted like anything. I just really wanted to brush my teeth afterwards.

It was really great to get out of the city and start experiencing some of the things in the area, after being pretty stationary due to budget restraints. It's also hard to get much distance traveling in since I work 6 days a week, so I need to satisfy myself with things closer to Bucaramanga.

I also haven't mentioned that I've started new classes, since the last session ended. Everyone in my Conversation II passed and all but one in both my Level 9 and Level 1 (Saturday class) passed. I feel this is a pretty solid first session. I'm now teaching Level 12 and Conversation II (with the same students I had in Level 9, which is actually turning out to be quite fun) during the week and Conversation I on Saturdays.

I've gotta run to school, but I'll write about the Adventures of Wisco Girls in Bucaramanga soon!!!

A Colombian 21st

2009-03-06T21:06:00.004-06:00

So my 21st was probably not what a typical American underager would have imagined, but I would have to say it was a pretty solid day. It started out not so great (I could barely open my right eye when I woke up because I'd gotten a bug bite on my eyelid and the water kept turning off while I was in the shower) but greatly improved.

I had a nice birthday run around the barrio and then hung out at home until lunch. I didn't tell anyone in my house it was my birthday (I don't know why, clearly I'm not shy about the topic) so I had a low-key lunch (ate by myself, actually.) I then went to the salon at the end of the block to treat myself to a manicure and pedicure. I've only ever had one of each in my life before because it's so expensive in the US, but together it was less than $7 here. Prooooobably going to become a monthly occurrence. Not quite as pampering as in the US (no massaging whirlpool footbaths) but it was nice just the same. Did take almost 2 hours though and I had a to take a cab to school so I wouldn't be late.

As I was rushing out of the house, Glo, who was on the phone, told her caller to wait just one moment and said (in Spanish) "Teresa...is it your birthday? Or was it recently?" Realizing that the arrival of multiple cards in the mail for me had tipped her off, I was like yup it's today actually...She continued to make her caller wait, got up and gave me besitos and a hug, and wished me a happy birthday. Adorable.

I had baked cookies at Pei's house (I can't use the kitchen here) to bring to share with everyone. It's the end of courses today, so yesterday and today were exams. There is no final for conversation but I didn't have anything planned for them, which turned out to be a good thing.

Only like a third of the class was in the room and a few others were like floating in and out. This is fairly typical since it usually takes at least half and hour to have everyone in the room and seated (timeliness is not a cultural value here). Then one of my students said "Teacher we have a surprise for you, close your eyes!" He then put his hand over my eyes and led me out of the room into another classroom, where the rest of my class was waiting with a cake! They sang to me, made me wish and then I blew out the candles.

The cake, genovesa, is apparently typical of Santander and was quite good. I realized it's been years since I've had a birthday cake, since I always opt for the pie option. My students had also brought candy and pop and we had a nice little party. They gave me this huge card they'd made and had all signed and I promptly started to cry. One of them (one of the ones I want to date one of the other ones) asked me if it was hard being away from my family on my birthday. I told her that I was sad I couldn't talk to my parents and all of my friends but that I am learning to be a big girl. She said "It's ok Teacher, sometimes you have to be away from the people you love but maybe next year you will get to celebrate with them all." Wise words from a 15 year old.

After class, I shared my cookies with the rest of the teachers and got serenaded with Happy Birthday on the violin by my friend Juan Pablo. I also got a call from my roommate Sandra and a text from my roommate Lorena, so apparently Glo was making quick business of spreading the word.

My second class had to take their final exam so thankfully I didn't have to actually do any teaching (wouldn't wanna strain myself too hard on my birthday.) After class was over, my friend Jose (he's taking a class a Colombo) walked to our other friend's house and then went out to dinner. We went to this Arabic place I'd been wanting to try where I got to eat HUMMUS. It was a little citrusy but still pretty glorious because I really miss ethnic food here.

I had my first legal (not sure if it even really counts since I've been legal to drink here since I arrived) drink as a 21-year-old and it was pretty delicious. There were actually 2 other birthday parties at the restaurant and these two little boys from the street who were trying to sell us toys had taken a paper crown from one of them and my friend Maki bought it off him so I could wear it. I looked super cute.

Then we went to a bar-ish place for another drink. We sat on the patio and had a really good time just talking and listening to music. We weren't out late since most everyone had to work/go to class in the morning, but it was still pretty fun. 21 here is definitely not like 21 at home, since I only had 2 drinks the entire night. It was fine by me though and just chilling was an excellent way to celebrate!

Alto de Los Padres

2009-03-02T11:00:00.004-06:00

Clarification to a previous post: Those students I was talking about that I want to date....I want them to date EACH OTHER, I do not want to date them. Thanks Mol, for thinking I'm actually creepier than I am. Ruv you, mean it.

So minus my breakdown on Saturday, I had a really good weekend. After sulking/napping for most of the afternoon, I went downtown for this Jazz and Blues Festival that was at this sort of cultural center near all the government buildings. I was a little confused about what the place was but as far as I gathered, the place had several exhibition halls that were each sponsored by banks. Each bank had a branch in the building as well, so while you're waiting to do your banking you can explore the galleries. Kind of a weird idea, but sort of cool too.

The festival itself was fabulous. I love going to see live music and it cheered me up instantly. I felt as if I could have been sitting back in Minnesota or Wisconsin, watching a blues concert with my dad. Most of the songs were in English but were being totally rocked by all these Colombian dudes. I have no idea if they knew what they were saying or not, but most of the bands were excellent. The crowd it drew also provided excellent people watching.

After the festival, Pei and I met up with another friend and went to this pizza place recommended to us by another teacher at Colombo, the only other American. She told us it's the only pizza place in town that puts tomato sauce on the pizza AND has real pepperoni. Pizza here comes in a lot of different varieties, but none seem to be quite like it is at home. I always ask if the pizza has tomato sauce, they always look at me like I'm an idiot and say of course it does, and then without fail my pizza arrives, tomato sauce-less. This place did have tomato sauce though, and it was glorious.

I didn't stay out too late, because Sunday morning I had to get up at 6am to get ready for our hiking excursion. I went with 3 other teachers from Colombo, plus the husband and friend of one of them. Getting up that early 2 days in a row was harsh, but getting up for hiking was much easier than getting up to teach...We all met at one of the teacher's houses and then took taxis as far up the mountain as cars can get. We then had to walk up the rest of the road to reach the path.

Along the way we saw an interesting mix of poor and wealthy homes. It was clear that some people lived up there because they had to and it was all they could afford, but that others lived on the mountain purely to take advantage of the view. Our walk wrapped around the mountain, but most of the time we had a view of the city spread out below us. It took probably about an hour and a half for us to reach the top, stopping briefly along the way for a little snack of this sweet cake wrapped in corn husk. Yum.

At the top of the mountain was a small church where the teacher and her husband had gotten married, and where we'd made it up just in time for Mass (after a glass of fresh peach juice.) I will never cease to appreciate the fact that I can follow the Catholic Mass regardless of language because everything happens in the same order no matter where you are. It was quite lovely to be sitting in the last row of pews near the open entrance with a cool breeze blowing through.

After Mass, we went to a little restaurant-y thing for an empanada and some impromptu dancing on their patio. We sat there for quite awhile, enjoying the view, the breeze and the yummy food (about every 10 minutes someone went to go buy another thing to eat.) Finally it started looking like rain so we decided we'd better start to head back down. To entertain ourselves, we started belting out some hits from the great musical geniuses of Whitney Houston, Celine Dion and Elvis. I think I scarred a small Colombian child for life with my version of "I will always love you." It was preeeeetty fabulous.

By the time I made it home, I was quite ready for a nice shower and a good long siesta.

PS Is anyone else frustrated by the lack of availability of the verb 'siestar'? Should that not be a legit verb? Oh, ahora voy a siestar. In English you can totally say I'm going to nap now....why can't you Spanish with as sweet of verb as siestar?!

Ah yes, I was waiting for that.

2009-02-28T22:23:00.003-06:00

So I finally lost it here today, for the first time. I know this may be hard to believe, but before today, I had yet to cry here. I cried when I left my house and said bye to my parents, but after that I was all business. Got to get to the right gate, gotta make sure I have my tickets, gotta find my seat, gotta get some sleep while possible, gotta wait in the airport for 7 hours (my arrival was kind of anti-climatic in a way, since so much of my first day was just spent in the airport), gotta catch my next plane...I was slightly apprehensive when landing in Bucaramanga because it occurred to me that if the people who were supposed to pick me up did not in fact do so, I had no idea where to go. Yet I didn't shed a tear, not a single nervous tear. There was no time to cry, I had to make sure everything was in order.

Even after settling in here (it's now been a month and a half) I had yet to be driven to tears by homesickness or frustration. Today, though, I started to lose it on the bus on the way home from school. A combination of things had built up and finally needed a release. One of the major factors was the stress of figuring out everything that was required of me to register with DAS (which is basically like the police) that I am living/working here.

I forgot to mention that I did get my visa (a process that involved less headaches than expected--but I guess the gods were just saving the headaches for me at DAS) so I am legal to work here. The catch is that you have to register with DAS within 15 days of getting your visa so you can be issued a foreigner ID. The AIESECers charmingly failed to mention this to us until a week before our time was up (actually without them I don't know how we would have known we had to do it at all) so we were rushing to get copies and photocopies of all the various documents necessary. This included my passport, my visa, a copy of my blood type (goes on all IDs here--they find it odd we don't do it in the US, but good thing I randomly had my Red Cross Blood Donor Card in my wallet), proof of affiliation with AIESEC, photos of various sizes that were mate not glossy (had to find the one place in town that does that), the receipt that I paid the roughly $60 this thing is costing me at a specific bank and a copy of the application for the cedula.

I did in fact manage to gather all these things and get them to DAS the very last day I had to get them in. Miraculously, I had all the necessary papers and just had to wait for the DAS people to sort everything out, take no less than four sets of my fingerprints which they put on papers of various sizes that will be used for unknown purposes, fill out a form telling them where they should deliver my cedula, and I was issued the temporary one. How long it will take for the real one to arrive I don't know and I don't care because I'm not going to be deported (and I totally bonded with the DAS lady, she was calling me Teresita before all this was through)!!

So that all ended up working out fine I guess, but was really quite stressful. The AIESECers that were supposed to be helping us were rather MIA and as typical of here everything happened late.

I also got upset today about my Saturday class. Not only am I extremely frustrated with Level 1 and the amount of time I have to do the impossible, I am mad because my class is on a different schedule than everyone else's. My session started 2 weeks after the other one, so while everyone else was doing final exams today I was still teaching and will be next week and then the following week will be the exams.

This means literally every other teacher gets next Saturday off, as well as next Monday before the new weekly session starts too. This makes an extremely rare 3-day weekend that some friends are going to use to travel to Bogota, that I do not get because my class is still going on. Besides learning Spanish, my other main goal in coming here was to see as much of Colombia and South America as possible, but working 6 days a week is rendering this nearly impossible. Also, a familiar face would be a godsend right about now.

I also am experiencing frustration yet again over the language barrier. I have come to love everyone in my house and really enjoy being around them, minus the fact that 75% of the time I have no idea what's going on. I have realized that the AIESECers and other friends of mine talk sloooooow so that I can understand. But when I am just trying to observe normal conversation, most goes over my head. I feel like I have no personality here because I can't communicate effectively and say the things I mean in the right tone so they mean what I what them to. I'm afraid I come off rude and ungrateful when actually I'm just clueless. And it is rather lonely to be sitting at a table of people roaring at a joke you have no hope in understanding, so you just smile slightly into your soup and continue eating, feeling like a fool.

I could really use a hug. And a bear.

Pero no comes sardinas!

2009-02-26T12:37:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, which I was surprised to find was less of a big deal than I would have anticipated in an all Catholic country. Mass (at 6:30am!!!) was all business, finishing quite quickly so those that had to get on to work wouldn't be late. We also had communion without any Presentation of the Gifts/Eucharistic Prayer. The priest just barreled through the Our Father and that was that, communion time. Didn't seem regulation, but then again there are quite a few things about Colombia that aren't regulation.

I was also surprised to see that not many around the city had ashes. I feel like I typically see more smudged foreheads in Irish Catholic land aka St. Paul than I did here (Madison was always a different story-I always got quite a few "umm you have something on your forehead"s while walking around campus.) Not exactly what I was anticipating in a country where the inside of buses are clad with crosses, icons of Mary and prayers stamped on the walls.

Since I was up so early I figured I'd just get my run out of the way early so I could shower and go back to bed. Before I headed upstairs for a snooze, I wanted to clarify with Glo that they wouldn't be cooking meat for lunch. When I asked her, she looked at me like I had just landed here from the moon. Then a look of comprehension came upon her face and she said "Ahhhh, si, hoy es miercoles de ceniza....pero no comes sardinas!" I could see her brain ticking "what am I going to feed this girl?! She won't eat meat and she doesn't like sardines (can you blame me?!)!" Then she suggested 'huevos?' And I said si, huevos estan perfectamente bien.

I actually ended up being served some question mark brand of fish that tasted quite nice (looked kinda sketchy though, so I don't think I'll be asking what it was). I really hope we don't have to repeat this scene every Friday for the next 40 days.

I also had trouble finding something meatless to eat for dinner last night after the soccer game. I went to the Bucaramanga v. Barranquilla game which was quite fun despite the fact that because Bucaramanga finished last in Division I last year they got kicked out for this season and now play in Division II. The stadium wasn't nearly full, but there was a section across from where we were that was packed with jumping, likely intoxicated, singing, chanting fans. My friend Mayo told me that they get paid by the team to travel to the away games and generally cause a rukus. Looked like a lot of fun to me!!!

Fans by us were generally stationary but did enjoy shouting streams of Spanish profanities when the team did something unfortunate. It was scoreless until nearly the end, when Bucaramanga got a goal off a nice crossover shot made from the left corner. There were virtually no fans from the other team, so don't worry Daddy, I didn't get caught in a riot. And there were plenty of po around in full riot gear to keep the peace.

I hope to make it to a Colombian national game before I leave here, but they play in Bogota so I don't know if that'll be possible. Watching the game last night really made me miss playing though...there's a severe satisfaction that comes from giving the ball a resounding kick halfway across the field. Probably can't kick as good as I used to though, like back in the day where people on my own team cowered away from the ball when I took a goal kick.

PS Pei and I have become somewhat like celebrities around here....so far we've appeard in three newspapers (two issues of the university one and another similar to The Villager in STP or The Isthmus in Madison.) I'm getting quite sick of randos taking my picture and sticking it in a paper and randos on the street being like you're the girls in Gente! Yes, yes we are, thank you, good day.

Como se dice cuddle en espanol?

2009-02-23T22:36:00.003-06:00

Sample answers from my Saturday Level 1 class:
In response to the question "What does your teacher look like?"

She's nice, intelligent but boring.

My teacher is muy good, intelligent, generous, etc.

My teacher is intelligent, she is tall, she is shir llelo.
In response to the question "What is your mother/father like?"

My father and mother are very happy of have, they are person very very good, generous, intelligent, nice.....

My father's like, He's young, tall and atractiv

and my personal favorite:
My mother is the house and the pool.
My father is the pizza and much.

Soooooo as you can all see, I’m having immense success in teaching the basics of the English language to those who previously knew (still know?) nothing. Saturday classes pretty much just blow any way you try and slice the pie, because there is just way too much to teach in one day. Last Saturday, I taught no less than 6 unrelated things (I think my book invented some of them by the way, has anyone ever heard of verbs of movement or static verbs before? The most obscure things were included in that lesson….) in one class period. Saturday classes are 38 hours just like weekly ones, but the difference is the fact that students are expected to absorb two entire units worth of material in one day, rather than just a bit each day. This leaves us with virtually no time for review, which obviously doesn’t bode well for their retention levels.

Weekly classes have been going well. I still adore my conversationers. We had a debate last week on Hugo Chavez and I was so proud of them!!! They all actually spoke (I have a few shy ones) and had clearly prepared their material. Not everything they said made perfect sense but I didn’t care. They had clearly invested themselves in the activity and were trying. I also secretly have two favorites (one kid who almost joined the army and wasn’t going to come back and I was sad) that I want to date because they are adorable…..but that is another story (Molly feel free to call out creeper on that one.)

I don’t have the energy just now to rant about my Level 9. Let’s just say one girl showed up today for the first time in two weeks to tell me that she was in the class, when could she take the quizzes and actually she had to go and couldn’t stay for class today.

Weekends are relished because usually it’s hard to get together with all my friends during the week when they have work and school. Friday nights are usually pretty lame cuz I work til 8pm and then have to be back at school at 8am, but this weekend I went out to dinner with a friend who speaks in Spanish with me so that was fun. I feel pretty accomplished after holding up the conversation for several hours. Saturday night involved dinner with the AIESECers followed by chilling in the street just chatting for several hours (no open intoxicant laws here, btw.)

Sunday began lazily at home, a huuuuuuge lunch eaten at the dining room table (a first we usually eat at the smaller table) because it was one of my roommate’s birthday. It was pretty cute actually, even though I didn’t understand much of what was said as usual. Then I went to Cabecera, B/manga’s equivelant to Uptown or State Street and spent the afternoon with friends. Ended the evening by watching a pirated DVD The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with four gay boys. I taught them a new word in English: cuddle. There's no equivelant in Spanish, unfortunately. Major oversight of the language.

It was a solid weekend.

Happy One Month

2009-02-16T12:55:00.003-06:00

So I realized I haven't been blogging about my actual life activities lately, and since today is my One Month Anniversary of being in Colombia, I thought I'd let ya'll know what I've been up to.

Last week I started teaching full-time, if you can call it that. I have class at 4pm and 6pm, meaning I'm really only teaching 4 hours a day. I am developing a nice little routine though and no longer feel as useless as I was the last 3 weeks.

I usually set my alarm for about 9am (if you are aware that one of my best talents is sleeping, this is a big step for me) so I don't waste away my morning in bed. I usually spend a bit of time on the computer before going on my run. Then I shower and get to work on class planning. I'm hoping to have most of this laid out this week for the rest of the session, so I won't feel as stressed every day (then I'll need to find something else to do with myself during the day but I'll deal with that when I get there.) Lunch happens anywhere from noon to 1:30. I head out to catch the bus at about 3:15 to get to school on time.

I am teaching Conversation Two and Level 9. I LOVE my conversation class. My students range from probably about 14 to about 25, but are mostly teenagers. Many of them are friends because they've taken so many classes together, which makes a nice boisterous classroom environment.

At first I was scared of teaching this class because there is literally no plan. Besides being required to administer the Michigan Test (proficiency exam) and have them complete a final speech and essay, I have NO guidelines. 38 hours to fill with activities....ready GO. I am actually really enjoying that I have control, and that we get to do fun activities rather than just grammar.

My Level 9 class IS basically purely grammar, which makes it more difficult to teach and to have fun with. It's also from 6-8pm, which means most of my students are tired from their days and just want to go home. This class also doesn't have the same type of environment as my conversation one, which makes it harder for me to encourage people to have a good time. I don't know about you but the past perfect and past perfect progressive don't make me split my sides laughing. Watching my conversationers act in their self-crafted soap operas does, however.

I'm also still pluggin' away at my Saturday class (que tragica that the earliest I get up all week is on SATURDAY) which is challenging because of the level and the timing. I only get them once a week for 4 hours, and because of this we generally have no time for reinforcement or review. I have to teach more than one unit a day, whereas for the daily classes I have nearly a week.

We're getting into more complex things (ok not THAT complex, it is level 1) now that are harder for me to explain and harder for them to understand. I really hope half the class doesn't fail...... Both the written and oral finals are standardized, so they must pass these in order to move up. The oral exams are administered by another teacher to ensure you have no bias.

After looking at some of their first quizes it is clear that some of the concepts they have literally NO grasp of, and generally the ones they do execute succesfully are because they have memorized common dialogues we've been using, not because they actually understand what the words mean. Great.

During the week my night class goes til 8 and then I take the bus home. The direct route stops running right at 8, so I have to take one bus to the main drag and then hop on another to my neighborhood. Kind of a pain but still cheaper than a taxi. Then I eat dinner (usually everyone else has already eaten, although sometimes one of my roommates gets home around the time I do) and do more planning/gchatting/skyping.

So that is school so far....I'll write again soon with updates from other aspects of my life here!!