Hello hello,
I hope everyone is doing well!! I know it has been ages since I’ve
written. And I apologize. I’ve been super busy, which is a good thing,
although I do feel a bit bad about promising to keep the blogs coming, and then
not actually following through with my promise.
So, I am going to try to consolidate a few months into one email. And not write your ear off (can I say
that)? Here is a little bit of a handful
of things that have been happening in Colombia over the past few months.
I am now familiar with three different colegios (high schools)
in Monteria. Every month I rotate to a
different school, starting the rotation over after I have been to each
school. Each school is different and
challenging in its own way, and I love them all. It is a bit difficult switching routines so
frequently - every time I get used to one school and feel like I am really
comfortable with my students and classes, it is time leave, just to return
three months later feeling like I am starting from scratch again. However, I adore my students and teachers at
every school and also love the variety and knowing that I am potentially
positively affecting more students than I initially expected. Also, I have given up the hope of learning
all of my students’ names, now that I have realized that in all, I have a bit
over 1,000 students. I still study the
names of my students (I took pictures of most of them with name tags… and
occasionally look over them on my computer at night hoping that at least one
name will stick to a familiar face) and do my best, but have accepted the fact
that I will just have to keep asking students their names for the rest of the
year. It also doesn’t help that 75% of
my students go by two names (like Juan David, or Juan Armando, or Juan Jose, or
Ana Maria, or Ana Alejandra). Or my
favorite test of all – attempting to remember the sets of identical twins whose
parents thought it would be funny to give them both the same first name and different second names - for example: Paola Yireth and Paola Yeneth or Luis Felipe and Luis
Armando. Seriously?
Other than school, I have started three different
conversation clubs. In one club, we do a
little bit of everything, from scavenger hunts in the park to talent shows to
pronunciation practice games. Another
club is dedicated solely to music and movies, while the other is for teachers
that are interested in bettering their already high level of English (we work
on idioms and more advanced aspects of the language), in which questions that I
do not know how to answer often come up.
So, I am learning a good amount about English while being here, as
well. Score!
Socially, life is great.
I love the passion Colombians have for music, singing, and dancing. All of the aforementioned are always present
at every Colombian gathering. Monteria
is a super happy city and I love spending time with the people here. As for my family, everyone has been a bit sad
lately, as my host grandpa Freddy passed away a couple weeks ago. An unknown gunman unexpectedly entered his
house one day pretending to be a postal worker, and shot him twice. Freddy remained in intensive care for about 4
days before passing away. We are unsure
of the motives of the attack and it seems like investigations are not going to
be done. I’m trying to make sure my
family knows I’m here if they need anything, although I feel pretty helpless as
far as being of any assistance goes.
Things are slowly going back to normal, although I’m sure it will be a
little depressing around my house for some time.
During Easter-ish time we had a nice week-long vacation,
during which I visited the mountains, or the interior, as everyone would say in
Colombia. As most of you can probably
guess, I was thrilled to be going to the cold.
I started out in a town called Manizales, where 12 other WorldTeach
volunteers are teaching. Our time in
Manizales was spent mostly seeing each other – we went out, went to some
thermal baths, walked around the beautiful town, and attempted to climb a
mountain called El Ruiz, but failed due to a road closure. While we were there, it rained a LOT. And in Colombia, when it rains a LOT, there
are a lot of landslides in the mountains.
And the roads close. Shoot! I was really excited to climb the mountain,
but oh well! We also visited a town
called Salento (which we bussed to from Manizales), which was so
beautiful. We stayed at an amazing
hostel with delicious food, great people, and adorable dogs. Oh, and an awesome view. We did a bunch of hiking, including hiking in
a park filled with Wax Palm – these funny-looking Dr. Seuss-like palm trees
with huge trunks and little tufts of palm at the top. We forded rivers and shimmied across
balance-beam like bridges and tromped through the mud. It was amazing. You can see pictures by following the link at
the bottom of this post. In short, the
vacation was awesome and it was a great mini-reunion of WorldTeach volunteers!
Shortly after my Easter vacation, I returned to the states
for a bit and actually did a really great job of seeing a ton of people. One of my best friends (Mary) got married in
May, and I really wanted to return for her wedding. I also figured it was about time for a visit
anyway. Visiting the US for a bit, I was
reminded of the many great things about home/the Midwest that you should
remember to appreciate. Here is a small list:
- Family and friends, obviously. Make sure to remember once in a while how
lucky you are to have wonderful people in your life. And let them know how much they mean to you
once in a while (you are all amazing)!
- Showers with warm water. Ahhhh.
- Milk that you don’t buy in box form off of an
un-refrigerated shelf in the grocery store.
Wakala. (That means “gross” in Spanish). See picture number 78 from this
album: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100232788901057.2912670.8630239&l=533b90e053
- Cuddling up in sweatshirts. Or blankets. Or
anything because it’s chilly out.
- Washing machines.
- Hugs (Colombians don’t really hug… although I
have expressed my disappointment regarding lack of hugs to various Colombian
friends. They now greet me differently
than they used to. Hooray).
- Throwing toilet paper in the toilet (instead of
in the trash can next to the toilet).
- The presence of toilet paper in the bathroom.
- The presence of soap in the bathroom. Or anywhere, for that matter.
- Lakes.
- Hummus.
And barbeques. And cheese curds.
Or cheese in general.
Of course, after I returned to Colombia, I was also reminded
of many things that are wonderful about Monteria that I missed while in the
states. Here we go.
- Wonderful, welcoming people that don’t need to
be beyond nice to strangers but are anyway.
Also, co-workers (and students!) that are just as welcoming and friendly.
- Lechuzas, or big, beautiful owls… which are
everywhere at night. They are
magnificent and so cool to watch.
- Cows grazing under fields of palm trees. Haha.
- Candy for a nickel or a mango for 15 cents from
a street vendor.
- Temperatures so hot, all the time, that you
ALWAYS have an excuse to eat ice cream.
- Swimming at the University with George every
Monday night (the pool is an outdoor pool) and watching the bats swoop down and
drink from the water while we are swimming.
- Talking a planchon (ferry) across the river at
sunset. The sight of a donzen planchones
crossing the river every couple blocks or so in front of the sunset during the
quiet of dusk is stunning.
- Fruit.
And fruit juice. Mango,
pineapple, nispero, zapote, guayaba, watermelon, guanabana, maracuya,
raspberry, orange, banana – you name it, you got it.
- Music and people that sing. All the time and everywhere.
- Dancing!!
Why Americans do not find it necessary to break out in dance more often
is beyond me.
- Monte
de queso. And panocha. And avena. Mmmmm.
I’m going to stop for now.
I could write tons more, but I don’t want to bore y’all. If you still want to know more about my
Colombia adventures, check out the pictures in the following link (I also did
my best to write descriptions of the pictures so you know what you’re looking
at, although I tend to be really vague and bad at picture descriptions. Or so I am told. Lo siento)!
Manizales and the interior (my Easter break trip):
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100507774582547.2966797.8630239&l=2c544ec6a5
General Colombia:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100439481332767.2949809.8630239&l=279a8626b3
Older pictures, most of which you have probably already seen
but there are some new ones in here too, in case you want to check them out:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100228838492707.2910229.8630239&l=41d3e777f9
Well, I miss you all and truly hope all is well with each
and every one of you. I would love to
hear back from everyone about how things are.
Seriously, I would. I am about to
be on vacation again and will have plenty of time to read boat loads of emails
about what’s happening in the lives of all the people that are most important
to me (yeah, I mean you).
Love, Jenna
