The Ultimate Adventure

February - April 2016
A 44-day adventure by Lifetime Adventurer
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    February 27, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C

    Getting ready is overwhelming and sad. So far I've cried about 5 times in the past week and I haven't even left yet. I left Nashville yesterday to spend 2 days in Chicago to say bye to family and fly out. Saying bye to the amazing support system I have in Nashville was so hard, I can only imagine what it's going to be like when I have to do it here on Monday. Not only did I have to leave my friends but my first student teaching placement. Prek was exhausting but those kids wormed their way into my heart. I absolutely adore those children, and I'm sure I'll feel the same way about the students I am about to get in Colombia. The thing is, with all these sad goodbyes, I know it's temporary, and this is such an amazing opportunity. I have always wanted to teach abroad and have never been out of the country. I can't wait to experience so many things and see the world and grow in my relationship with God. The food, the coffee, the people, are all going to be so great and worth it. I don't want to forget a moment I spend in Colombia, and I hope to remember them through this blog. I probably won't be able or remember to write every day, but the adventures I have and the things I learn will be documented. And hopefully lots of picturesRead more

  • Day 6

    Week 1 part 1

    March 4, 2016 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    What a week. My flight to Bogotá got in a half an hour late which was stressful because I had someone waiting there at 6:50 to pick me up. I get off the plane and follow the crowds to the initial customs line where I gave the nice man my passport and he stamped it that I'm a tourist here for less than 90 days. After that I go to baggage claim, where I find my dad's suitcase he let me bring got badly ripped in transit. An employee filled out a sheet where I can drop off the suitcase and get it fixed for free. But of course that took another half hour and I still had to go through customs. That wasn't terrible though, I gave the nice lady the sheet I filled out on the plane and she asked what food I brought. Then I put my bags on a belt to have them go through security one last time before I could go find my ride. He was waiting there holding the right sign so I walked up and of course his English is bad. Now I was somewhat frazzled, with it being 8pm and my first time in a different country, been up since 4 walking through airports, etc. So my Spanish wasn't great that night. Anyway he gets his car and we drive to the apartment I'm staying in. One thing about Bogotá, the traffic really is awful! It took almost an hour to get there. By this time I just want to sleep, but I need to meet the family and unpack. My host "mom" Angela made me a plate of fruit and some juice and we sat and talked for almost an hour before her husband, Oscar reminded us we needed to wake up for school the next day. I get to my room and start unpacking my clothes so I can wear them the next day, and of course text everyone that I'm home (sorry I forgot you Jenifer!).
    Day 1: because Bogotá is so big and has such bad traffic, they have something called Pico Y placo, which means people with cars can drive every other day, depending on where they live. Luckily, Angela was able to drive Tuesday so she drove me to school. We left at 7:30 (which is actually when school starts but she wanted to give me a chance to rest and she had class at 8, BTW she's the art teacher at ECA). We got there and she dropped me off at the teacher care office for them to take care of me. Rosa Maria was so welcoming and introduced me to a bunch of people, who's names I still don't remember. But she told me the basics of what I'll need and what my time there will be like. Then we went to see Jenn, who has been the one emailing me this whole time. In her office she set up my ECA email address, added me to the teacher list and schedule, and their whole system. From there we go see Pati (part of the reason I'm using all the names is to help me remember lol), who will get me a temporary ECA badge and figure out eating in the cafeteria and what not. While I waited there Rachel, my mentor teacher found me! She had a free period so she wanted to show me around. We walked passed her classroom (the kids were in there doing Spanish class), she showed me the different rooms on the first floor and then took me to the second floor. There is a teacher office there where they had a desk ready for me with my name and everything! It's where all the 5th and up teachers work because they either don't have home rooms or don't have a desk there, like Rachel. I immediately loved it there. I really saw the community of teachers by the way they interacted with each other and were so welcoming to me. I'm still learning all the names but I've made progress! She finished showing me around campus - beautiful!! OH! And when we were in the office at one point someone who was using the computer behind me turned around to ask who I was so I told her and she got so excited and went, "I'm Renee!" Which was super exciting because her and her husband lead the church in Bogotá and I had completely forgotten to tell them when I was coming! We talked a lot and she got my number and gave my information to girls my age who would help me get to events and church. Also, there's always coffee in the teacher office AND the teacher kitchen!! Life is good and caffeinated! I got to sit in on her class and meet the students and observe what will be my life for the next 8 weeks. When the bell rang I went home with Angela and she had two high school boys who live in our complex walk me because she had an appointment. I realized though, I had no idea how I was getting to school Wednesday because I left right away I didn't get to talk to Jenn more about it. Luckily she's on top of things and called the house to talk to me about the teacher van. She gave me all the info I would need to take that to school.
    Day 2 - Wednesday: the teacher van gets to my complex at 6:22 am so I had to be out the door by 6:20. I was kind of scared to wait by myself but I felt better being so close to the apartment. The van came and it was a full one! I got to meet more teachers on the van. Got to school and put my stuff at my desk then went to the class. Every other Wednesday morning the middle school team gets together to pray so I went to that with Rachel. I love that I'm at a school where the staff gets together to pray for the students! We went to class, I saw what people were saying about a super energetic class! I'm also working on remembering all their names, there's on a few who I'm unsure of at this point. All day though I was worried about getting home, because the bus drops off on the other side of the main road (called the autovista) that's basically their highway. I had no idea how to get to the apartment from that side. Also, there was a teacher movie night at 5 to watch War Room that night, and a teacher van leaving at 7:30. But if walking home at 5 scared me, walking home at 8 was terrifying. However, it was able to be arranged that I got a ride home and stayed for the movie. That happened at about 3, so that relieved a lot of stress. Another cool thing, the teachers get Spanish classes every Monday and Wednesday. Rachel asked her teacher about me and he pulled up an online test for me to take to see which class I should be in. I got level two so he took me to their class and I joined in. It was such a fun class, 3 of us teachers and 2 Spanish teachers. I'm really excited to be able to take this class! The thing about Wednesday, was all day I felt this huge tug of homesickness all day. It almost hurt and I was honestly on the verge of tears all day but I made it through. I thought about the movie Brooklyn that I just watched with Lynds and Kassie before I left. In it the main character moves from Ireland to the states and she feels the homesickness a lot. But they tell her it's like a bad sickness that will go away with time. So I told that to myself and it helped. I also texted my parents a little but we didn't get to talk much.
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  • Day 6

    Week 1 part 2!

    March 4, 2016 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Day 3 - Thursday: teacher van again, I was almost late but we got there at the same time which was good. Every day except Thursday there is something for the teachers at 7:15, but Thursdays are off so we got to get the classroom ready. I'm also still getting used to the schedule, it's different everyday. Today though Rachel and I talked about my phase in plan, when I'm going to start teaching and what not. I'll start with 5th grade social studies next week, twice. The week after I will do 5th grade spelling and I think 6th social studies. She also does language arts but the curriculum for that is crazy right now so I won't take that over for a little while. After school one of the teachers who lives on my side of the autovista walked me around and showed me where to go to get groceries, money, or anything really. She walked me home and taught me how to do it by myself from the van so that was nice, she's a good teacher! I got home and talked with Angela for a little while. With her being the art teacher she sees every student in the school and knows my kids very well. She told me some of their background and why they act the way they do. It was very enlightening to find out that some of the kids parents don't really care about them. Hearing about their lives made the way they act make sense. It's definitely helpful having Angela! After dinner I skyped my parents and then JP and then got to talk on the phone with Terry. I hadn't been able to really talk to any of them much so it was super refreshing. I still feel homesick but less so now.
    Day 4 - today! Today was a half day so the already confusing schedule got a little more confusing. Yesterday Angela said I was going to take the public transportation with them to school so she could show me how its done and then go with them to the big mall, Santa Fe, after school. However, when I woke up there was a note in my bathroom that she wasn't feeling well and I should just take the teacher bus. I got ready and went to the bus but I was worried that they thought I wasn't coming. And it was about 15 minutes late so I was getting panicked but it all worked out! The half day went well, they did have lunch for us in the cafeteria after the kids left which was nice because there were meetings and stuff so the teachers had to stay. I stayed until the 4:20 bus and got a lot done! I graded the spelling test they took today, made a bulletin type thing outside the classroom, learned some curriculum stuff. Speaking of which, our meeting this morning was about English curriculum. Turns out being an international school means that there are a bunch of different curriculums for everything. The team that was there is all experienced teachers, but they also besides Rachel are not coming back next year. So they are trying to organize what they are teaching for the next teachers. Also because they don't know what's being taught in 5th grade and accidentally reteaching it in 7th for example. I had no idea that these teachers are basically finding their own curriculums to teach. I learned a lot today, and all week! Now I'm exhausted and looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow. I might try to post more than once a week cuz this is a pretty long post.
    Random sidenotes: the food is good but different. It's hard for me to eat the breakfasts because they are so heavy and I'm bad at eating in the morning. Lunch is the main meal of the day so dinner is usually light. I'm going way outside my comfort zone when it comes to food and trying everything. Today at lunch I ate an avocado, and kind of liked it. I also just ate a tuna sandwich. I'm growing! But that's about all I got for now, I'm attaching pictures of week 1, general school and what not pics. :)
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  • Day 16

    First Weekend

    March 14, 2016 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    SO last I updated was LAST Friday. Sorry. It's been a long week. Here's what I missed:
    Saturday was a Devotional with the "Singles" at the church (anyone who is in high school, college, or who isn't married in the church). There has been one woman in the singles who has been helping me out since I've gotten here, her name is Sandra. Renee gave her my email when Renee first found out I was here (because Sandra speaks English) and Sandra emailed me right away. She did everything she could to make sure I was able to get to devo Saturday and church Sunday. She met me at the mall by my house on Saturday so we could hang out before she helped me get there. She is so nice and we sat and talked (over coffee of course) and took the bus to devo. The funny part is the buses here get super crowded and they're used to it, but I'm not. So we made our way to the door when it was time to get off, but there were so many people in the way and a backpack on the floor, and the doors closed with her on the terminal and me still on the bus. I would have felt so stupid had it not also happened to a couple who was standing next to us; the girl was able to get off but her boyfriend and I were not. Luckily, ECA gave me a cell phone that makes calls inside Colombia so she called me and told me to get off at the next stop and wait there for her. The next stop felt like it was forever away. But I did get off and she eventually was able to get off at the same stop. We made our way to devo (30 minutes late) and it made for a very funny story. The couple who leads the singles ministry apparently lives pretty close to me, so the husband agreed to drive me home after the devo
    They picked me up Sunday morning. When we got to church she had to stay at the car to feed her daughter, but she introduced me to another woman who speaks English. This woman was so nice (naturally I don't remember her name). She invited me over for lunch the next Sunday (which was yesterday because I'm posting so late), she needed to check with her husband but she said I should just assume it’s a yes unless she tells me otherwise. She couldn’t stay in service so she introduced me to another woman who speaks English (Marciela I think) to translate the sermon for me. Marciela also introduced me to people around her. One man she introduced me to was the guy who does announcements, so he wrote down my name to announce that I'm here and for how long. I met a couple from Canada who are visiting which was a nice dose of English in a haze of trying to explain student teaching to everyone in Spanish.
    After church the singles went out to lunch and coffee. Then, they decided they needed to show me all around downtown Bogota, so we went to see all the beautiful important buildings like the president's house. Before we could walk around though, we had to wait out a huge storm. I thought it was beautiful. Bogota is a gorgeous city. I'll attach some pictures, but there's a ton on Facebook so you can check those out! :)
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  • Day 16

    Week 2!

    March 14, 2016 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    I started teaching this week! The slow phase in process isn’t one I’m familiar with. I would have been okay with observing for another week but who am I to argue with experience? I started with 5th social studies. They had just finished WW1 when I arrived so now we’re getting into the causes and beginning of WW2. I think it’s a good unit for me to teach on because the students will be really interested in it. And their textbook is written in story form which is nice because they feel like they’re reading a book but they’re also learning about history. I did 2 lessons from that, about the rise of Fascism and we did a political cartoon activity where they had to make their own cartoon. They went well for the most part, but man this class has energy.
    I don’t want to be negative, but I am seriously dealing with behavior problems I never thought I would deal with here. I honestly feel like any class I get after this one will be a piece of cake. It’s so hard too because they are so smart and I want them to learn but they just don’t listen at all. I need to find a better way to differentiate because it’s the smartest kid who causes the most problems. I feel like if I can keep him challenged then maybe he will stop causing problems and distracting his classmates. We had 2 parent meetings this week because of their kid’s behavior problems; and in both the parent ended up crying. Let me tell you, I almost started crying too. It was tough. I can positively say that I am learning more than I ever imagined I would learn in this placement. I am also trying to learn about the culture and not only the 5th grade class but the 6th grade class as well and the teachers and the church… it’s been a long week. Also on Friday one student had a birthday and his parents threw him a surprise party for his class during lunch. Teaching them after lunch was a struggle but it was fun to get to know his parents a little more and celebrate with them. And take a class picture! :) Also on Thursdays, Rachel teaches a baking elective for 7th and 8th graders. It's really fun because this week they made cupcakes, and while they were baking we just sat outside and the 7th graders told us so many stories that had me dying laughing. The way they told the stories was hilarious! It was just a fun, relaxing time with the students.
    On top of it, I started getting a cold halfway throughout the week. I should have known it was going to happen; it always does at the beginning of a new placement for me. My immune system is down and there are new germs I need to get used to. So that’s always fun, teaching with a sore throat.
    It was a good week though, and a good weekend too. I got lunch at Renee’s with her 2 sons (Franco and Alessandro, twin seniors). It was super fun. I literally had an hour long conversation with one of the twins about how much we love Taylor Swift. Then we went to devo and after devo I came home and crashed. I almost didn’t go to church Sunday but I did and I’m glad I did. But I had the girl driving drop me off after lunch so I could take a nap and write my lesson plans for this week.
    I get to teach 5th and 6th grade social studies this week! In 6th we’re starting a Medieval times unit, starting with the Byzantine Empire. It’s going to be fun to teach too.
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  • Day 19

    Week 3

    March 17, 2016 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Be proud. I'm updating twice in one week. Why, you ask, well let me tell you a story about Colombia...
    In Nashville they get snowdays, in Colombia we get days off for strikes. Apparently it's a normal thing here for workers to scream huge strikes when they aren't happy. There was one either Monday or Tuesday this week (I don't remember), it was the transportation workers so bus drivers and taxi drivers went on strike. There was another group scheduled to have a strike today. The US embassy has been in contact with ECA informing us the plans of the strike and they said they would let us know if it would be bad enough for school to be cancelled. Cuz when they strike, they close streets and stop traffic, which would make it hard for us to get to school. Until yesterday (Wednesday) everything seemed fine. Until they found out the transportation workers who went on strike earlier were not pleased with the outcome of their strike and decided to strike with the other group today. The transportation company that ECA uses to bus students and teachers told the school that when transportation is incolved, it can get dangerous and violent. If they see other transportation workers transporting people they could feel betrayed and attack the vehicle. For this reason, 10 minutes before school let out yesterday, they announced that we would not have school today. The bursts of screams heard yesterday was hilarious. You could tell where people were going from class to class announcing it. That's hard as a teacher because secretly all day I had been praying for no school today so when I found out I wanted to jump and scream with them, but you can't. Especially not with my class. They have enough energy for the whole school. We had an all teacher meeting after the students left to talk about what that meant for us. The elementary school principle was the only one there yesterday so she led the meeting and explained everything I just explained. Today is going to be a workday for teachers, we could decide whether we wanted to stay home or go to school to work. However, she also explained that foreigners should keep a low profile today because when tensions are higtened we tend to become an easy target.
    So that's why I'm here, sitting on my bed drinking my coffee writing this post. There could be violence in Bogota right now, but that's pretty far south compared to where I live and I'm not planning on leaving this apartment at all today. I'm safe and happy and about to write some lesson plans. Also, spring break starts tomorrow!!! Pretty excited for my adventures, here's a sneak peak: Google Villa de Leyva, and Prado. That's gonna be my week 😀
    Happy st. Patrick's day! ☕(why isn't there a shamrock emoji on Samsung?)
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  • Day 21

    Random Things

    March 19, 2016 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    I've mainly only been talking about school and my days there, but I haven't really talked about Colombia yet and what I've experienced in this country. So here goes my random cultural findings:
    First I should say it's definitely a third world country. The proof is in everywhere I look. The streets are worse than any Chicago street (sorry to say). One day I took the public bus to school, and they get super busy like I have mentioned before, so you're standing right in front of someone sitting down holding on to the bar on the ceiling for dear life. There is one exceptionally bad street on the way to school and I promise, it took all of me to keep my feet on the ground as we drove down the street. It was like a really cheep roller coaster.
    But besides that, as you drive down the street you see little shops and things that I can't explain and one day might take a picture of that show where the economy is at here.
    Another thing, everything is 10x smaller. In the States one store could turn into 3 stores here. It's insane to me and my first day was a huge shock. Even the restaurants are unbelievable small. The problem is, I'm going to come back and be weirded out about how big everything is.
    I need to correct my first post. I called it the AutoVista, it's actually the AutoPista (not technically capitalized, that's just for effect). But they pronounce it like a v so I got confused. Let me explain this autopista to you. Its 3-4 lanes each way, separated by a 5-lane-wide median of grass and trees (sometimes so thick you can't even see the other side). The way it works is one side goes north, the other goes south. BUT, there's no turning left. Si like on the way to school we take it north, and technically the street to get to school is on the left side. To get there, you take a u-turn called a Returno to start going south and then turn right into the street. That's just how it is. So you need to go north passed the street, take the next returno, start going south for a bit before you can turn into the street. And all along the autopista there are bridges over it for people to walk across. Which is helpful because after school the van drops us off on the other side from where I live, so I cross the bridge and walk along the sidewalk along the autopista until I get to my street. Something I've seen in the median is little tents where homeless people live. I've also noticed some construction or something involving digging in the middle but I haven't figured out what it is yet.
    Another cultural thing is the way people speak. I don't want to generalize it but the Colombians I talk to in Spanish speak so fast and so quietly. I have to ask them to repeat themselves so many times its crazy because I really can't hear them and they are so fast.
    I'm learning some of their customs though. When my host drove 2 boys home who live in our complex, that night one of their moms brought arepa (a bread type thing they eat for breakfast he was telling me about as he walked me home) as a thank you. This week, my host lent a student (possibly the same one) stuff he needed for his mission trip, so his mom brought a pound cake as a thanks.
    Now I'm going to say something really fast about the food. Cakes are not good here, from what I've experienced. The pound cake was super dry. When my student's parents threw him a party, the parents served wine cake, which is a super common thing here. People like cook their cake in wine, but it was soggy. Almost like tres leches cake but such a weird flavor because its wine. I took two bites and could not finish. I guess they think the wine makes it more moist, but it's just weird. Otherwise, I've eaten lots of beans and rise and fruit. The juice is literally blended fruit, it's incredible. And obviously a lot of strong coffee.
    There's probably more but that's all I got for now. The random things I've learned about Colombia so far.
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  • Day 23

    Villa de Leyva

    March 21, 2016 in Colombia ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    I'm writing this as I sit in a beautiful park in a place called Villa de Leyva. It's a beautiful colonial town about 3m5 hours north of Bogotá. I came with my host and another woman from school who are currently at a wedding. My host invited me to come with them so I could see the city  (it's a very touristy thing to do). We woke up at 4am to leave the house at 4:30, which naturally we didn't leave until 4:45, picked up Jenn at 5 and headed north. Their wedding was supposed to start at 10, which naturally it didn't  (another cultural tidbit: nothing ever starts on time and parties apparently last forever). The place we're staying is a house that is a hotel owed by friends of the brides family. It's a lot further from the center area than we thought and by the time we got there they had abut 20 minutes to get ready for the wedding and go. So Angela very nicely asked the owners if they could take me to the center, or the plaza. He agreed and when they left for the wedding we left for downtown. The first thing I did when I got here was walk into the middle of the plaza and take pictures, some of which I'll include. Then I did a loop around the plaza, the markets and restaurants, finding my first coffee stop. I found it all right and ordered a frozen coffee drink cuz I was already hot. I sat there and drank my coffee and read a sample of a book I downloaded on my phone specifically for today (I downloaded like 6 samples and already read 4). After the coffee I walked around for a bit, finding the park I am currently at (I just keep coming back cuz there's benches). Next to the park is a nice little store that sells bottles of water so I bought one and continued walking around the streets that go out from the plaza. I was looking at all the little shops and restaurants there are, and hotels and gardens and houses. There is so much to see here! Around lunch time I was planning on getting pizza but the places looked weird so I found a breakfast garden place where I could sit outside in the shade and eat. I got waffles with eggs that came with juice and café con leche. It was also playing mostly Beatles songs. I was clearly in love with the place. After lunch I didn't want to walk around too much right after eating so I came back to the park to read. Then I remembered a souveniers store where I had thought about buying stuff for people back home and set out to find it. On my way I found another one with great souveniers that I bought I still looked for the other one but didn't get anything. I kept taking new streets and seeing new things, taking pictures of everything along the way. I started getting tired again so I set back out for the park to read some more. On my way, at about 1:40 Angela called to say the wedding was over and they were headed to the reception for lunch and should be done by 5. So I figured I'd stay on the bench for a while and read, seeing as I had time. I finished yet another sample (they only give you like 5 chapters before making you buy the book). I decided to start walking around again, maybe find this coffee and pastry shop with a table at a window with a bunch of books on the window sill. I've walked passed this place at least 7 times and every time there is someone sitting there. So I went away from the busy center and went for a prayer walk along the less busy streets. I found an ice cream store, got me some ice cream and sat, yet again, at the park to eat it. Got more water and here I am, sitting on a bench at 4:30 waiting. I had a few more things written down to do, like find this terracotta house and go to this art museum, but when I walked passed the museum it was closed. And I have a feeling the house is a bit of a walk away from the plaza, so I'm not going to find it. I decided instead to use this time to write this post, because we all know I won't do it when I get home, life is just too busy for that, or I'm too lazy, whichever you choose to believe ;) I might go walk passed that coffee place one more time to see if that table is free, or another lap to waste time.
    Update: I walked a big loop around the plaza again and returned to find 4 guys performing really cool music in the middle of the square. I stopped to video them, naturally. I stepped inside the church to take some pictures and then looked across and finally found that window seat open! It was just as amazing as I expected it to be. I went straight to the tabel, ordered a macchiato (definitely putting a picture), found a book in English and started reading and dining my coffee. It was wonderful. Then angela and Jenn called that they were on their way and not even 15 minutes later they were standing outside the window calling me. It was actually really funny cuz she was saying where they were and I kept looking out the window for the car  (I should also add that the window had no glass) and finally she said, "wait! I see you in the window, look to the left, i mean the right!" And I looked up and there they were! They thought it was super cute too and joined me inside where we sat and talked for a little while before deciding we didn't want dinner, we had leftover breakfast and they had a late lunch so we walked to the car. Also, this house hotel is beautiful!
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  • Day 29

    Prado, Colombia

    March 27, 2016 in Colombia ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    What a way to end spring break. I was basically at Shady Shores except in Colombia.
    Wednesday night I spent the night at Beth (the director of ECA)'s mother-in-law's house so Beth and her husband, Rafa could pick us up at the same place at 5am. We got picked up Thursday and went to go pick up another girl, probably at least 2 years older than me named Anya. She's friends of Beth and Rafa and a Russian missionary here to work for a church as a Russian/Spanish translator. We drove 4 hours to Prado, which is south of Bogotá in what's considered "hot country", and for a good reason too. We parked at a dock to load our stuff into a boat and as soon as the car turned off I was sweating, and don't think I stopped sweating til I got home. We loaded our stuff on the pontoon and waited for Rafa's brother, Francisco and family (wife Carry, kids Sebastian 10, Silvia 7, and Cecelia 5) to arrive. Once all on the boat we took the 45 minute boat ride to the house. This lake was hand made in the 70s, it's a dam surrounded by mountains and it's HUGE. And gorgeous. The house has 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a straw roof, a pool, 5 hammocks, a pontoon, and 2 jet skis. Talk about living the life. Thursday consisted of lunch, then a nap and swimming at 3:30. We jumped off the dock and just kept swimming (Dory would be proud). While Beth, Carry, and I swam, the others were learning how to drive the jet skis. They periodically drove to where we swam to see if we wanted a ride, so at one point I got on one. Now the first time was somewhat awkward seeing as I did not know Francisco or Sebastian yet and here I am behind them on a jet ski, and I've never been on one before so I was absolutely terrified but as soon as he started driving I was in heaven. It's like as close to flying as I'll ever get, unless I decide to go skydiving. It was magical. The mountains were gorgeous and the sun was setting behind them. At some point we were going so fast and the wind was in my face it almost made me want to close my eyes but I couldn't miss out on seeing anything. We ate dinner and played games and went to bed fairly early, as we had all been up early to travel. Friday morning the pool is clean! We decided to take a pre-breakfast swim to cool off and work up an appetite. After breakfast the 3 kids end up becoming my best friends. They wanted to play games with me all morning and afternoon. It was fun honestly! And the cool thing was I hadn't had coffee yet. Until after lunch at 4pm I did not have coffee. Breakfast and lunch on Friday were very typical colombian meals that I already forgot the names of but breakfast was a soup and chocolate (hot chocolate), and lunch was rice, beans, ground beef, chorizo and avacado. I've had that meal so many times at this point. It's good but getting old. And the breakfast soup with hot chocolate is very common on the coast which doesnt make sense to me. It was so darn hot I could barely move and the typical things to eat are hot foods? I couldn't do it but I'm not from there so I'm not one to judge, it was still good food! After lunch we waited again for the sun to be less strong before going out into the lake again. This time we all got on the pontoon and went further out into the lake before jumping off (the kids and most adults had life jackets on). This way abuela Victoria could sit in the boat and watch so she wasn't alone in the house. We swam around for a while and there was 1 jet ski taking people out and back, which I naturally went on! Dinner was leftovers I think. Let me say one more thing about the food though: 1st I can't get enough of the juice! You literally take th fruit, put it in a blender with water and some sugar and that's your juice. And the types of fruit we used to make them were amazing! Passion fruit, guava, orange for breakfast, and some others I don't even know! And 2nd, the fruit!!! It's 10,000 times better than in the states. I ate mango and loved it and didn't even realizing I was eating mango! It's a while new world of fruits that is going to change what I eat when I go back! But back to the trip. Friday night we played more games (I'm bringing Dutch Blitz to Shady Shores!), I read some more and went to bed. Saturday breakfast was french toast with juice, salchicha (sausage), mango and mini bananas. Played more games with the kids and read some more before lunch. It was actually funny cuz they kept wanting to play games with me but I kind of wanted t read so I suggested we go to the hammocks and read/talk. These girls are so cute they talked the entire time! It was like one of those where they were mostly talking to themselves and I was just reading and saying yeah every few sentences. Before lunch we swam in the pool again when it was Shady and Beth, Carry, Sebastian and Silvia created a cute water show to perform before lunch (Cecelia was hanging onto me in the shallow section but we made 1 apearance in the show). After lunch again we took the pontoon to the lake to swim and go on our last jet ski rides before heading out. We ended up leaving super late considering the 45 minute boat ride to shore and the 4 hour drive home. The boat ride was in the dark which was pretty scary and cool at the same time. There was traffic though so we didn't get back til almost 1am. Also we made the obligatory stop on a place called Espinal for a smoothie thing called avena. It's like an oatmeal smoothie with cinnamon and milk. It was super refreshing on the way there but it made me a little carsick on the way back because the road back was super windy and we were going pretty fast, I could feel it moving around my stomach and it didn't feel good. But I made it back and went to bed around 1:30. Leaving me exhausted now at 9pm and about to go to bed cuz school starts again tomorrw. Ready for a week of learning and teaching!Read more

  • Day 32

    All the feelings

    March 30, 2016 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    It's officially been 1 month since I've been here (as of yesterday), and today exactly a month until I go back. Being halfway through is bringing lots of feelings. The first month has flown by it seems! I'm obviously excited to go home and see everyone I've been missing so badly; but I'm also not ready to go yet. I'm scared I won't get to do everything I wanted to do while I'm here. From now on I'm going to try to get everything done for the week on fridays, that way Saturdays and Sundays I can explore and adventure. We'll see how that goes though... I get pretty lazy on fridays and generally just want to watch Netflix. BUT I'm going to be diligent and do my work so I can see things and not regret the time I spent here.
    Other general feelings: I'm feeling a lot more comfortable getting places by myself. The other day I missed the teacher van by 15 seconds so I had to take public transportation, and I made it to school! And I'm starting to take different ways to places and home to see which is the fastest. I switched up my walk home to make it faster. Last week I had to go to the store and I knew I had time to get lost so I took a way I had never taken by myself and figured it out, I didn't even get lost! Little triumphs like that are always fun. I'm also getting more comfortable with the language. Spending those 3 days at Prado with people who don't speak English helped a lot! And I went to both spanish classes this week, I haven't been since my first week cuz I forgot and had parent meetings the other weeks. So that will continue improving. Also getting more comfortable at school. I've been teaching 5th and 6th social studies for a couple weeks now and next week will start teaching 5th LA as well, taking on Rachel's full load of classes. Outside of teaching I'm getting more comfortable with the teachers as well. I feel like I'm generally acclimated now. Still obviously learning a lot of the culture but feel generally less overwhelmed with everything. It's a pretty good feeling!

    Random fact: on every radio station at 6 am and 6pm they play the Colombian national anthem. The radio is on right outside my room so I just got to listen to it. Pretty cool actually but I would probably get sick of it fast.

    Oh and I forgot to say, I think I'm falling in love with the family I live with. They are just so cute and loving and I'm so grateful they're letting me be a part of it for the time I'm here.
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