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Ibagué Ibagué

Bogotá and Ibagué, October 2006

My trip to Bogotá and Ibagué was a welcome break after a couple of weeks of a lot of work. I went to present on blogging in the language classroom at ASOCOPI's (like TESOL) annual conference. It was the first time I'd presented, and it went well. E and I had sixteen people there, which was fine by me. Ibagué was beautiful! The rumor that there's a lot of good-looking guys there seems to be true, but at any rate doesn't compare to the paisajes.

I got to Bogotá on Thursday afternoon, after an extremely unstressful flight from San Salvador through San Jose, which I didn't really expect. The lack of security in San Salvador surprised me after the US and Colombia. They x-rayed the bag I checked and then the only other thing I had to do was walk through one screening thing where I swear they didn't even look at the screen for me or the ladies in front of me who had their huge boxes of Pollo Campero to take with them (just like the barraquilleros taking boxes of Dunkin Donuts back from Bogotá). Thursday night I had dinner, then another dinner with some friends from Barranquilla.

Back on Colombian time, my idea of leaving for Ibagué at 8 in the morning on the Friday slowly turned into 1:00 or 1:30, after running into a friend for breakfast and then walking around in the rain for no real purpose, but certainly enjoying it! The bus ride was supposed to be 3.5 hours long, but turned into around 8 hours with all the accidents on the rode there. Two-lane highway, lots of bogotanos fleeing the city for the puente weekend, and lots of other running towards the city for the same reason makes for lots of fun! Among the 7 or so accidents I saw, there was a truck that had dumped its load of empty Aguila bottles al l over the highway, making a mess of broken glass, and a semi that had somehow managed to completely lose its back axle, an amazing feat, seeing how the traffic couldn't have been moving any faster than 35 mph in most places! Turned out those who flew from Bogotá to Ibagué, all of what, twenty minutes in the air, had to wait around just as long in the airport. I got there, had some nice, greasy empanadas, then went out to dinner with more barranquilleros. We went someplace that had arepas de choclo (kinda like cornbread), which were the first Colombian arepas that I can actually say I liked so much that I wanted to eat them again.

The conference itself was very laid-back, which I appreciated greatly. Go to session, coffee break, talk, maybe go to a plenary, coffee break, lunch, session, coffee break, talk, and so on. I miss that! I got to see a lot of friends, since everyone seemed to have some sort of conference in Bogotá or Manizales. We ended up hanging out with a group of people from our conference in Ibagué, that we randomly found at a bar while we were waiting for some other friends to show up. This group didn't know each other before the conference (from the capital, around Bucaramanga, Buenavista, and others), nor did they really know us (except for the guy that'd seen Kathleen's presentation at another conference and had gone to it again), but they were so friendly! Sometimes it takes moving away from a place to appreciate certain aspects of it that you might not have even noticed before. I noticed the friendliness and openness while I was wandering around Bogotá, too. I had some fabulous conversations with vendors on the street.

I went back to Bogotá on Sunday afternoon with Pablo and Jorge...much better this time at about 4.5 hours. We went out to a place that had salsa that night and met up with yet more people from Barranquilla. It'd been too long since I'd last danced! The change in altitude beat me up, though; I could only get through about two songs with Ernest before I had to sit down and rest. Monday was spent shopping, filling up my bags with things that I can't get in El Salvador, like maracuyá and lulo pulp, mix to make sancocho and ajiaco, milo, and panela, cheap good café or that are way cheaper in Colombia, like my new hamaca. In all, it was a great trip, both to give me new ideas for work, see friends, and just relax for a while!

My place in San Salvador

Trying out the new Picasa web albums...click on the photo to see the album.

Apartamento en San Salvador

Thinking back...Lower Price Hill and Sister Marie

I had the pleasure of living with Sister Marie Werdmann at 2108 Hatmaker during the year I worked as an AmeriCorps volunteer at LPHCS. Before that time in my life, I don't think I'd ever even talked to a nun, let alone dream of living with one. I've learned much from Sister Marie in the little time that I've known her.

I remember her telling me her dream of turning the front room of the house into a small cafe, a quiet place for the women in the neighborhood to come relax and find some peace in their hectic lives. She was at meetings and community events continuously, or out visiting neighbors, students, and friends to see how they were doing. I often wondered how, at twenty-four, I couldn't keep up with her!

Sister Marie helped teach me what it means to serve others. We spent a lot of time that year in the back yard, taking care of the garden and the flowers. She was never upset when the crows ate all the veggies or kids would borrow the tomatoes.

Sister, you'll be missed in Lower Price Hill, but know that your many works and love have left a permanent mark on me and others whose lives you have touched.

Despedida de Barranquilla

I finally got internet at home, so I can now go back and post all those pics from the last couple months that I haven't had the time to get around to. These are from August 11 and 12, my last days in Barranquilla.

Despedida, August 2006

Where I live and work

Isn't Google Earth great?! Top yellow circle is where I work, the bottom one is where I live. The big oval in the lower left-hand corner is the stadium, or at least one of them!

More on life in San Salvador

Where am I at right now? San Salvador. From there, it’s about 2 hours to San Miguel, where I’ll be working the last couple of months I’m here. Supposedly San Miguel has a carnival in November…we’ll see. I'm also headed to Metapán this weekend to see what CCS is doing there, which is a little over two hours away, right on the border with Guatemala.

Daily life in San Salvador still makes me feel like I'm living in the US again, especially after this past year, but I'm slowly getting used to it. I'm slowly but surely getting to see other parts of the city. I'm still amazed at the lack of vacations and free time, and at how much time people spend working here.

Lately I’ve been keeping myself fairly busy, although it’s completely with work. I taught the teacher training course students eliciting this week and last week, which was fun. I miss teaching on a regular basis! Next month, though, I'll have at least one regular course during the week. I went to the embassy on Friday to meet people from different English-teaching institutions in the city, and was once again required to speak in front of a group in Spanish. I continue to find it extremely amusing that I speak more Spanish when I go to the US embassy than I do anywhere else here! I was also sick a good part of the week, which didn’t help me any in being productive.

I’ve gotta shape up, though, in getting stuff done. I go to Ibagué next Thursday to present for the first time at a conference! But, I haven’t finished my presentation yet, or really gotten very far with the article I'm writing to go along with it. My plane tickets finally got here, about two weeks late, so at least I've got that going for me. I'm flying with Avianca (yea, good frequent flyer program and stylish flight attendants). This trip is going to be a blast. Alex and Sarah are coming down to Manizales for some AEISIC thing, Grandfield’s going to a conference in Bogotá, some Uninorte people will be in Ibagué, too, and many other people I know from Barranquilla are going to be in Bogotá! I can’t wait!

Other interesting facts that I've learned this week: there’s apparently a crying ghost in the girl’s bathroom at CCS. Also, my apartment is close enough to the stadium that I should be able to hear Marc Anthony singing tonight for free!

Joya del Pacífico

It was nice to see the Pacific again after four years. Too bad I didn't learn how to surf while I was in Zihuatanejo! This place I went to on Saturday was on the Costa del Sol, about an hour from San Salvador.

In San Salvador

So, I’ve been at my new job at the Centro Cultural Salvadoreño for three weeks now. I’m enjoying having the time to work on projects, but I’m also missing teaching all the time and being up, moving around. I just moved into my apartment on Saturday…pretty nice! It was wonderful to finally be able to take all my clothes and stuff out of my suitcases and really know what I’d thrown in them in my quick 24 hours in Ohio. I keep thinking that, oh, where did I put this or that? And usually, I left it in Colombia, or I said, no, that weighs too much. It looks like I’ll be in San Salvador for about six months, and then the rest of time I’ll be in the eastern part of El Salvador in San Miguel. Good news is that the whole country is about the size of Massachusetts, so it’s really only two or so hours away.

From now on, I’m going to write my entries in English and in Spanish. We’ll see how long it takes before I get lazy.

US Franchises I’ve Seen So Far, the obvious and not-so-obvious: McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Burger King, KFC, Wendy’s, Subway, Tony Roma’s, Cinnabon, Office Depot, Payless Shoes, Avon, Dell, Little Cesar’s…and Wal-mart is coming soon. There’s Hot Pockets and Lean Cuisine in the grocery, as well as Starbucks Frappacchinno and Welsh’s juice. Fruit is imported (what??!!). What, that people consume, is actually from El Salvador? Good question.

This is not to say that I don’t like San Salvador. When the sun’s out and the pollution a bit lower, the surrounding mountains and volcanoes are beautiful. It’s winter, or the rainy season, so it’s cloudy much of the time, and it rains at least once a day. People are super friendly. I simply wish that the consumeristic way of life had never touched here. I wish that people made their juice in the blender instead of taking the “easy” way out and buying it ready-made. I miss being able to buy “real” juice for $1.500 pesos. I had to go out and search for a place that sells licuados and jugos near my house. The señora that runs the place laughs at me because I’m there almost every day. I asked her if there were other places close that sell juice, and she said no, good point. There was a 5.0 earthquake the other afternoon. It’s certainly been interesting!

San Salvador is very different from Barranquilla and the Colombian coast, and from the country as a whole. For me, it’s so quiet here. I end up putting on my salsa or meringue or vallenato (she listens to vallenato!) every night in order to be able to sleep. No Heraldo o aguacate guy out yelling in the street at 5:30 in the morning. There are supposedly bread sellers around, but I’ve yet to see or hear them. No calling for domicilio to the tiendita around the corner for three eggs, a tomato, and an onion. Sigh…the things I miss! But with time, I’ll find those little details here as well. For now, working, missing friends, looking forward to meeting new people.

Spanish version coming soon!

Colombia?

I've got just about two weeks left here in Barranquilla before I'm off to DC then to El Salvador, which is hard to believe. Even after a rather rough first eight months here, I was ready to come back and stay for another year. I'm enjoying my last days here, though, and who knows, maybe I'll be back next year. I had a quality tear gas and mob madness experience at the Junior vs. Nacional game last weekend, as well as many equally quality experiences going out with costeños. I've met a lot of fabulous people in the past few weeks; where were they before?! After an uneventful stay in Ohio, coming back to Bogotá to spend a couple of days with Adele, Alex, Sarah, and Ernest was a relief, even though American (I'll never pay to fly with them again) lost my bags in Miami and I froze in my flip flops for three days before they were able to find them. There's a wonderful breeze many days here lately, which is quite a contrast from what I remember when I got here last July. It scares me to think of how hot San Miguel will be! Barranquilla's not a cool place by any means, but San Miguel is much warmer.

I'm hoping that my post in El Salvador will allow for a little travel time, since Mexico, Argentina and Providencia are calling my name. And Germany and India, to visit all of the people that I've met this year. This weekend I'm taking spontaneous trip to Venezuela with a friend who needs to cross the border for visa reasons, so at least I'll be able to say that I've been there!

Up Next?

I'm back in Ohio for the time being, and what changes are up ahead! At least I think so... I got an email from the ELF program (organized through Georgetown University and the U.S. Department of State) saying that I've been offered a job in El Salvador with the Centro Cultural Salvadoreño on Tuesday. It was completely unexpected and it's been hard trying to decide what to do. I've already said that I would go back to Barranquilla for another year. So much for making plans, je je! I left a lot of my things there, bought my plane ticket back to Bogotá, made my appointment with the consulate; in short, I've prepared myself mentally to go back and am actually looking forward to it. But this job offer is one that I shouldn't turn down. There's an enormous amount of room to use my experiences in the work there, as well as abundant learning opportunities for me. They gave me a little over two days to decide whether or not I want the position. Speaking to two lovely women that work with the program today made me feel much better, as well as all of my friends and family who told me to go for it. It's just hard to have in your mind that you're going one place and then to all of the sudden be going somewhere else, somewhere that you don't know a lot about and where you know no one. I'm becoming accustomed to the idea, however, and I think that in the end, it will be a wonderful experience! I'll have to change the name of the blog, though.

I can't say that El Salvador has ever been on my list of countries to visit, even though I know it has a lot to offer, but then again, neither was Colombia. And here I am, wanting to go back. I'm not sure I'm ready to live through that complete period of culture shock again, to make friends again, to learn the ins and outs of a culture. In a year in Barranquilla I didn't come close to accomplishing any of this. But as my wise Canadian roommate said before she left in April, "you want to come back here?" Yes, I do. Why, not sure yet. I'm ready to not move every year, let alone every 5 months, which is what will happen with the ELF job. One reason that Barranquilla is sounding good. Even my month at home has been hard. I'm feeling restless, wanting to be in my own place. I've been going all over the place, though, since I've been home, which doesn't help much. Various parts of Ohio, Missouri, to Chicago in a couple of days to go back to Colombia. Will it be to stay? I have to decide by tomorrow afternoon.

Good things that happened today, as I'm not sure yet whether all of this is good or bad or what: found out that bloguear is a verb!

Trabalenguas / Tongue Twisters

The eleventh graders at IEA taught me these trabalenguas last week.

El cielo está enladrillado quien lo desenladrillará el desenladrillador que lo desenladrille buen desenladrillador será.

Si Gustavo gustara del gusto que gusta mi gusto yo gustaría del gusto que gusta Gustavo, pero como Gustavo no gusta del gusto que gusta mi gusto, yo no gusto del gusto que gusta Gustavo.

Fruit Update

Fruits that I still need to try:

Remolacha: saw it in the grocery yesterday for the first time. Looks like a beet. Yum, beet juice...

Huchuva or uchuva: looks like little yellow tomatos. Tastes good on salads and in jelly. Not so sure about the juice version.

Chontaduro: was told that it comes from "el valle." Which valle? And why doesn't anyone know what it tastes like?















This is some strange looking fruit I bought in Bogota. Tastes like maracuya, aka passion fruit. Was told its name, but don't remember. Does it start with a "c"?















I bought the maracuya-like fruit at this market in Fontibon, in Bogota. Barranquilla has nothing like this. Which makes me sad.

And finally, this is nispero (accent over the "i" which I'm too lazy to figure out how to type in...just like the "a" in Bogota). Tastes like yumminess!

Wimpy Burger

Were they trying to make me laugh when they name this place? Who wants a Wimpy burger?!

One month left

I've really not been good about posting on this blog. There's still pictures I need to put up from Semana Santa travels and I have written in who knows how long. The semester is almost over here; exams start the middle of next week. Time has gone quickly since I came back in January. When I first thought about looking for work in Latin America, I figured that things would be more laid back, especially coming out of a masters program. Was I ever wrong! It's true that time moves differently here, but I feel like the amount of time that I put into work here is significantly more than in Ohio. I'm an efficient person, but when you're surrounded by people who are not worried about being as efficient, it makes it impossible. Waiting in bank lines, doing crazy paperwork, riding the bus, going to meetings, grading papers...it all adds up to a long day. I sometimes feel like I haven't used my time here wisely, but then I remember, what time?! It's taken me 9 months to find a church that I feel comfortable with, that I want to go to every week. And it's taken the same amount of time to find volunteer work. So at least in the end, even if I don't come back here, I can say I was truly content for about a month. Barranquilla's not my favorite city in the world (or second, or third...), but I'm okay here. Now the question is this: is okay enough?

I've started going on Fridays to teach at the Escuela Experimental, which is a high school for intelligent kids that otherwise wouldn't have the resources to go to a good school. They don't have to pay anything to attend the school, which is grades 6 through 11. The teachers are mostly college professors. And get this...the students at the end know English and French well, plus German, Italian, Russian, Greek, and Latin. And no, they don't get to choose a language, they all take all of them. It's crazy. They're studious, curious, respectful, motivated, responsible, and so on. It makes me feel relieved to go there to teach after a week with my Uninorte students, many of which are not many of those things (not to say all, but certainly a good number).

What else is going on here? I'm taking casino style salsa lessons (fun, but frustrating sometimes). Heather, my lovely Canadian roommate, left two weeks ago, so the apartment is a little lonely. I went to Cartagena again last weekend with some friends and saw the kind of house that I've dreamed about living in since I've been here (picture to come). And that's about it. Colombia's presidential elections are at the end of the month. I just got an email from the US Embassy today warning me that there might be trouble. Maybe in Bogota, but not here. The biggest action has been the little earthquake that we had on Monday afternoon (the tree in my office swayed back and forth, but that was it). The birthday is just a little over a week away and what would I like? To know where I'm going to be working come July!

Valle de Cocora and Salento

Parque Tayrona

Too bad I don't have more long weekends to spend here! Parque Tayrona is east of Santa Marta on the Atlantic coast of Colombia. I spent the night in a hammock where I could hear the waves...

Semana santa travels- Part I

So, the plans to go to the Amazon unfortunately didn't pan out. Saturday and Sunday were spent with Heather in Parque Tayrona. I liked Tayrona a lot, especially since you can't really be outdoors and do outdoors kinds of things in Barranquilla. Now I'm convinced that I need to buy camping equipment so I can do these kinds of things more often. Sunday night I flew out of Santa Marta to my present location. At the moment, I'm here in Bogota, which isn't all that bad, but it is cold and rainy and has ginormous traffic jams. All of this leads up to the fact that I haven't really seen or done that much here. Yesterday was walking around the Candelaria area, feeling a little sick, and then to the Escaleras, where it started pouring and took over 2 hours to get back to where I'd left from. Today was Monserrate and the Museo de Oro. So, not much achieved here. Not even any good, cheap shopping. Oh well. Tomorrow I'm headed to Manizales, in the eje cafetero. It's somewhere between 6 and 8 hours from here on bus, depending on who you talk to. I hope (rather pessimistically) that it won't be as cold as Bogota!

Thank you, immigrants

In light of all of the discussions concerning immigration in the US right now, please take a minute to listen to Richard Rodriguez of NPR's All Things Considered thanks immigrants for the many, many jobs that they do.

The Shakira Statue

This made international news! I've yet to see the statue, which is supposedly here someplace, but I think I'd be happier if I never do. It's not as bad as I thought it would be. I'd imagined one of those bronze-like statues (Simon Bolivar, Benito Juarez, los niños heroes, etc.), all traditional and old-style. I still hold that there must be other people who do good work in this city that deserve a statue before Shakira, though. Too bad when I asked people, they couldn't think of names. This is the kind of statue that goes in an amusement park or something like that, not out on the street in front of a university (unless she went there, which she didn't), which is what they want to happen here.