Hello all!
Here begins my (abridged) story of my
stay in Colombia. For those of you that are not exactly sure what I
am doing here, I will give you a quick overview. I am working as a
volunteer teacher as a part of WorldTeach, an NGO that places
volunteers in developing countries to provide the opportunity for
cultural exchange, teaching experience, and everything you could
imagine teaching in a different country would offer. For a small
price, I am provided with room and board, a basic living stipend,
basic insurance, and exceptional support from the wonderful
WorldTeach staff. The planning process that I went through to get
here was quite stressful, but now that I'm actually here I'm happy as
can be :)
My trip began on January 2nd of
this year. I met most of my group (there are 35 English volunteers
teaching in Colombia with WorldTeach this year) at the Miami airport,
where we had a quick orientation talk, and then boarded the plane and
flew to Bogotá, the capital of Colombia – bwwwahhhh!! We
were pumped. We arrived in Colombia after a fairly quick flight, and
slowly gathered back together after finding each of our bags in the
mountain of gringo luggage (I think our bags alone must have made up
half of the weight on that poor airplane). We were herded together
by lovely Tara (our in-country director) and Mauricio, our wonderful
Colombian go-to who works with Volunteers Colombia, a partner of
WorldTeach and our other means of support while we are here. We
eventually took off for Santa Cruz, the adorable retreat we were so
lucky to stay at, located in the town of Cota - about 20 minutes or
so outside of Bogotá. It was so nice to be surrounded by
towering green mountains and an abundance of green and trees and
beautiful countryside during my first few weeks in Colombia.
Living in Cota was wonderful – the
retreat was gorgeous and located in the country. It was surrounded
by green everything, a plethora of street dogs that many of us
befriended, and unfamiliar flowers, some of which included giant
white calla lilies bigger than my head – they were unreal! Of
course we did find things to complain about - warm showers were hard
to come by and the light sleepers were often woken by the confused
roosters that couldn't seem to differentiate 7am from 2am (there was
also a confused donkey). Other than these few factors, I felt very at
ease and like I was at home. The ladies that cooked for us and
welcomed us into their retreat were beyond incredible (the people of
Colombia, in general, have got to be the most friendly and
accommodating people on earth). Our retreat ladies also cooked us
amaaaazing food. Speaking of food, I should dedicate a few thoughts
to Colombian cuisine. First of all, the fruit. Oh. My. Gosh. Cut
up, blended, or squeezed. Take your pick. The choices are
never-ending. Secondly, platanos. Or in other words, plantains!! In
all forms. Boil them, steam them, fry them, or cook them and get
patacones, chifles, tostones... the list goes on. Lastly (I don't
want to fill this entire post with talk about food, although I
could), those of you who have had horchata (a cinnamon-sugary, milk
drink), you would be in heaven here (as I am). Many variations of
horchata-like drinks can be found everywhere, some very sweet and
some more bland and usually made up of rice, oats, or corn and milk.
Some cold, some warm. I will find a way to make some version
of it when I come back. Okay, anyway - to sum up Cota. We lived in
a little American (slash British slash Venezuelan) bubble in a little
gem of a place in Colombia. We had long days of classes almost every
day and all learned a lot about being English teachers in Colombia
(hopefully). Everyone brought something special to the group and we
grew very close. We also had Spanish classes once a day – our
Spanish teacher Sergio was wonderful, although he really intimidated
us the first day and many of us did not want to return to class again
for a while. After our three weeks together, we said our good-byes
and split up into 6 different groups, each heading to a different
part of the country to begin our adventures!
Also, in case you'd like to watch a
little slideshow of pictures from WorldTeach Orientation in Colombia,
there is a video posted on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faz762Lpbfg
The lyrics are changed to reflect our
experiences during orientation :)
Part two. Montería. My
placement site is Montería, which is a city of about 400,000
located 30 or so miles from the Caribbean Sea and nestled along the
banks of the Sinu River. The town's economy is based primarily on
agriculture and cattle farming. For this reason, Montería
also has the best meat in all of Colombia. Yum. As for the language
on the coast, it definitely takes some getting used to. Costeños
talk very fast. They also tend to slur everything together, and
often decide to cut the end off of many words. For example, any
words that ends in s – don't count on hearing the s. Just don't
count on hearing a letter or two or three in every fourth word or so.
To give you an example – the title I chose for this blog. A
common phrase here in Montería is “Como has pasado?” which
translates to “How's it going?” or “What have you been up to?”
or something along those lines. However, when a costeño asks
you “Como has pasado?” it sounds more like “Comaaa pasao??”
Phew. It's a bit exhausting, but I'm sure it will help my Spanish a
lot. So I'm excited. Lastly, I should add something about what
Colombians are like! As I said before, every Colombian I have met
has been friendly and welcoming. Colombians are also extremely
laid-back. An expected 15 minute trip to the bank can easily turn
into a 5 hour adventure filled with stops at friends' houses, walks
through the park/centro, and stops to eat ice cream (I speak from
experience). Sitting outside after dinner and chatting for hours is
something to expect daily. It's very different... in a good way.
Colombians are such warm people.
Now, for all of you worrywarts out
there, I will include a little blurb about the safety of Colombia and
that of the town I am staying in, along with what used to be
happening in Colombia (or where I'm staying, in particular) that
people always freak out about. According to everyone I have talked
to, Montería is a very safe city. The population does not
consist of members of the FARC. I do not work with people that are
associated with the FARC. I have not yet been offered drugs while
here. And I do not live with drug lords. Yes, Colombia used to be a
bit dangerous. Particularly in the areas near the coast (around
Montería). However, over the past years, things have improved
drastically. From what I understand, a good amount of powerful
people (mainly cattle farmers) reside in the countryside surrounding
the city of Montería. When these people were not being
protected (by the government) from various incidents having to do
with the FARC (years ago), they decided to take matters into their
own hands and do what they could to protect themselves from the
rebels. This created much conflict and corruption. As I said
earlier, things have seriously settled down. The hostility and
disagreement that remains exists mainly between these specific groups
of people. So, nothing to worry about. Colombia is now safe, whoot
whoot.
As for my life in particular, I have a
wonderful host family. Malka and Rafael (Rafa, for short) are my
host parents, and Juan Sebastian is my 4 year old host brother. I
could not ask for a better host family or a better neighborhood to
live in. I also live with Sibley, another volunteer here in Montería
who is my age. She is from Houston and possibly one of the sweetest
girls on the face of the Earth. For those of you that are from
Manitowoc, she is the Caitlin McCormick of Texas. Many of the same
mannerisms, too. The other volunteer here is George, who lives
across the street with what I guess would be considered my host
grandparents, who are also awesome. George is from Tampa, Florida
and is also a fantastic person. He is 57 (I believe) and is already
worrying about and playing dad for Sibley and I. He has so much to
share and loves to mess with people. He's great. As for where I'm
teaching – I will be at three different high schools throughout the
year, teaching 11th grade at each school. I will switch
schools every month. The school I am at now has been great. The
first day of school I had to speak in front of the entire school
(1,800 people... geesh) in Spanish and English. They all laughed at
my Spanish, hah. In class, the students are really struggling to
understand me, but I am determined to stick to English so they learn.
They really do seem determined and it is very clear that they are
excited that I'm there. Also, 90% of the students at the school I'm
at now are from the lowest class in Montería. So their views
of life are much different from mine, which I absolutely love. We
will learn so much from each other. In short, I am loving teaching
so far.
Also!! I was in the newspaper!! I met
the secretary of education and a bunch of students and important
people upon arriving, and a news crew was there. Funny.
A couple more things. In case you are
interested, here is a youtube video of vallenato, the most popular
type of music in Montería. Vallenato (I think) always
includes an accordion and brass instruments. This particular video
is set in Montería! In the video, you will see the market in
the centro, iguanas, the planchónes (a type of boat) that
bring people from one side of the river to the other, the
countryside, and parrots (I have not seen them yet but have heard
them in the park!). I have yet to find the fair in the video. I'm
guessing it's around during the festival that happens here later in
the year). So, in case you want a visual of where I'm at, because it
is very accurate!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVPou-3HmQo
Also, next blog will include a link to
pictures. I'm working on it :)
I would love to hear back from anyone
that would like to write!! Miss
you all, and I hope all is wonderful!
Love, Jenna
