Trending/New Years/Moving Out

So from the very first week in country I noticed it was very hard for me to gauge the age of Colombian people.  Many conversations with my family went something like this...."How old is you cousin 25?.......No she is 16."  Or "How old is your friend, 16?.....No he is 25."  I had a recent breakthrough and now believe I know one of the major players in this Colombian phenomenon.  The answer is ADULT BRACES....Yes adult braces!  It is very common here to see adults with braces, I mean really common.  I would go so far to say that seeing adults with braces is more common than seeing children or teens with braces.  I do believe that one reason for this is because dental care is finally not costing everyone an arm and a leg and so these young adults that have jobs can finally afford the dental advantages we Americans have been taking advantage of for years.  So although it is great that many Colombians are now straightening their teeth, I will be in a constant state of guessing and re-guessing the age of my Colombian friends for the next two years.....I hope I don't end up hanging out with a group of 13 year olds because I thought they were 23.  So to sum things up if the great nation of Colombia had a Twitter account #Adult Braces would be trending right now.

New Years:  New years was amazing!  I spent NYE in Cartagena at a great hostel ($10/night).  I was there with four other volunteers and although we were only there for a short period of time we got to go to the beach twice, see an amazing fireworks display, and meet some really cool Argentineans that were staying at our hostel.  The weekend could be summed up by the quote, "Are we really in the Peace Corps?!"

The answer to the above question is clearly YES!  We are actually ending our training this Friday and move to our permanent sites on Sunday.  I am anticipating a hard goodbye and lots of tears when I have to leave my host family.  My host family of nine has been one of the highlights of my Peace Corps experience thus far and I am really going to miss them!
Sunday Breakdown:  All seven of us Cartagena volunteers are going to me cramming into one van with all of our luggage and it will drop us off at each of our sites.  I will be the first to get dropped off as La Boquilla, or CartaHARLEM as it has been so eloquently dubbed.  I will then move into my new host family's house.  Well it is not so much a host family as it is a single 30 something year old male PRIEST!  Yes you read that correctly I will be living with a priest for two years.....So let the jokes begin!  I know I talked about creating a sitcom with a gringo and 9 Colombians (current living situation), but just imagine the comedic gold that I am sure to experience when living with a priest.

-So a Jew and a priest live in a house for two years.......              

Back in the classroom during break?!

 So for these past two weeks we have all technically been on break.  However, we were presented with the opportunity to teach twice a week at an English 'training camp' for people who want to work at call centers or who are just genuinely interested in learning English.  The classes were originally supposed to be at Pies Discalzos (Shakira's school) in La playa, a more rural small town outside of Barranquilla, but on the first day, to our surprise, we were locked out of the school and had to relocate.  Luckily the new location was within walking distance.     

The dynamics of the classrooms were very interesting as the ages of the Colombians ranged from around 13 to mid 30s (my classroom at least).  So keeping the attention and motivation levels high for both the teens and older community members was something new for me and thus my co-teacher and I had to be a bit creative.  One lesson even involved yoga, thanks to my co-teacher.  Although challenging at times the overall experience was very rewarding.  We even received a traditionally Colombian 'thank you' party....  Meaning it started 30 minutes last and had tons of food!  I also personally was given a really cute poster by a few of the students in my class (picture below).  

One interesting thing that we got to do this week was go to a professional baseball game In Barranquilla!  The team here are the Caimanes (Alligators).  The professional league consists of four teams in cities all dotted along the coast.  The league is named after Edgar Renteria, a professional baseball player and the pride and joy of Barranquilla.  The stadium was surprisingly nice and the competition was pretty good.  Needless to say it felt good to be back in my element.

So if I had to describe Colombian professional baseball in 10 words or less I would say, East Bound and Down season two You're F****** Out!  However, if you are not a fan of the amazing series that is East Bound and Down just imagine a pretty empty stadium with an American on one team and over advertising on both the jerseys and everywhere you look around the park due to the lack of funding.  However, there was a reporter there and I even got my first Spanish interview (name, where I am from, what I think about baseball in Colombia, and how I heard of the league).  Unfortunately, when the footage aired I was teaching.  I will continue to search for it, but I wouldn't hold your breath.

So these past two weeks have been nice and relaxing and to see the break come to an end a few other volunteers and I will be spending NYE in Cartagena.  Happy New Years faithful readers!!!!!!!!! 

Yoga

School

Students who made the poster

Baseball game interview

Group shot

Happy Birthday MOM

This post is dedicated to my wonderful and supportive mom!
Happy birthday MOM I hope you have a great day and I miss you tons.

A Picture Says A Thousand Words so create 9,000....Swearing in Ceremony/Typical PC

Colombian Folkloric Band that played both National Anthems

Power Circle Left to Right: Country Director, Chief of Staff (From DC), US Ambassador to Colombia, Some dude, Mayor of B/Quilla, Governor of the Department 

Some of the reporters that were at the ceremony.  We made both the nightly news and the newspaper.

Cake that we ate.  Thanks tax payers it was delicious!

Members of my family that could make it to the event

Men of the group 

Facial Hair of the group

Mustache club 

Entire C-III group

So Typical:  So think of what an average Peace Corps volunteer loves to do in their free time............If you thought hacky sack you would be absolutely correct.  So I average about three hacky sack sessions a day, at both breaks in training and after lunch.  However, we don't only play we come up with names for different 'moves' as well.  For example:

Hacky Chan:  When you attempt a high kick so keep the hacky sack in the air.

Michael HACKson:  When no other gringos want to play so you end up playing with younge Colombian students.

Hack Cousteau:  When you kick the hacky sack in one of the many puddles after it rains and you have to go get it.

Hack to the Future:  When you are able to kick the hacky sack 88 times without it touching the ground (We haven't done this one yet).

-The list could go one for ever, so these were just a few of the good ones.  If you have any ideas I would love to hear them! 

-Hanukkah starts tomorrow so eat some potato latkes for me!

   

Quick Update: The Entire City is Watching

So I ended last post by stating in order for Junior to advance to the finals a miracle needed to occur.....Well it did and on Wednesday Junior won the most amazing game I have ever watched.  The game was right after our swearing in ceremony so I went to a bar close by the hotel with the majority of my fellow NEW volunteers.  Junior won 3-0 and then the game went to a penalty kicks, because of the aggregate system, Junior took it 5-4!  What followed at the bar was incredible.  There was tons of beer getting tossed in the air and showering everyone (So my nice shirt, tie, and pants were all soaked...I hope they are still ok to wear), tons of people belting the Junior songs for at least 30 minutes after the game, and all of the busses and cars honking as they passed.  WHAT A GAME!    

  So today is the first leg of the championship, in Barranquilla, and the city has been full of energy since the amazing semifinal win.  On Thursday I gave my host brother money to get a ticket and even pitched in on his for an early christmas gift.  He was so excited and told me they went on sale Friday.  However, after some reconnoissance work of my own, after training on Friday, I was told they go on sale Saturday.  So my host brother woke up at the crack of dawn Saturday to get the tickets as I went to class and a nice Peace Corps holiday lunch, complete with Middle Eastern food (Colombian style).  I got back at around 5:00 and my host brother was nowhere to be found.....At around 5:30 he appeared at the front door with a frustrated look on his face and explained that he had NO luck finding any tickets and he had been running around the city for the entire day!  I later talked to people that had camped out at the ticket stands Friday to get tickets the next day....so it is no wonder my brother had no luck.  So today I will stay in with my family and watch the game on TV with the rest of the city.

Now that I am on a two week break and have some time, I will write another post tomorrow about the swearing in ceremony and have some pictures up.

GO JUNIOR!           

Am I in Philly or Barranquilla?

I finally went to my first Colombian soccer game last Thursday (Playoffs) and it was well worth waiting for.  The team in Barranquilla, Junior, finished the season at the top of the table so hopes were high during the quarterfinal match.  The whole city got in on the action as everyone was wearing red and white, Juniors colors, and the busses to the stadium were more crowded than usual.  Once at the stadium we joined the pilgrimage, to the entrance, which consisted of thousands of sweaty bodies shoving and getting shoved to the front of the line.  There we were told  that we could not bring inside cameras or belts for safety reasons  (luckily one of my host brothers told me this so I brought neither).  So after being part of a mob that was relentlessly shoving, being asked to hand over any camera or belt, and passing through two separate pat down stations, I began to realized how crazy the Junior fans are and it brought back great memories of times spent at Philly sporting events.

Once in your section, the seating was general admissions so my host brothers and I met some gringo friends and sat down.  From that moment there was not any end to the cheering/yelling fans until we got back on the bus to go home.  Sounds included tons of cheering for Junior and even booing when players made mistakes (wow! how Philly esque), air horns (the man behind me had one and it was literally going off in my ear), two bands (they attend every home game never stop playing and lead the Junior songs), and vendors hissing (like trying to get the attention of a cat...psssss....pssss....pssss) to try and sell whatever it was they had.  

Half time was definitely the most entertaining part of the game as there was a huge fight in the crowd and suddenly around 1,000 fans rushed up the bleachers to avoid the conflict.  Minutes later, the police arrived and attempted to rip a group of men apart.  One man stood out from the rest, as he was still throwing punches with his torn shirt, when the police were man-handling him.  Another deja vu back to Philadelphia.  After half time the announcer said something I didn't quite catch and when asking for clarification it turns out that the Junior goalie and a player on the other team started to fight on the way to the locker room and were both given red cards.  The game ended in a 2-2 tie, but Juniors moved on because aggregate and are now in the semis.  However, yesterday they played the first leg and lost 3-0 so the dream season may be over this Wednesday unless they pull of a miracle.     

Side note:  Counterfeit tickets are such a problem that Junior have gone away from the paper tickets and now hand out stitched tickets, that appear like really itchy over sized tags in a shirt.  I guess they skipped out on the whole barcode phenomena......  

Ticket

Until Next Time!  

Arrested Development Moment and Site Visit Pictures

If you are a fan of the show Arrested Development you will enjoy this post, but if not some of the references may be a bit over your head.  So as I wrote in my last post I was going to visit the site where I will be placed for the next two years, La Boquilla, 20 minutes outside of Cartagena.  Although it is a short bus ride to the city center I assure you that La Boquilla is a different world (See pictures below).  For example, they have one main road and the rest are dirt (now mud because it is rainy season) and some strategically (some not so strategically) placed stones so when it rains you will not get stuck in the mud.  However, unlike the locals I did not have the proper attire for walking during a heavy downpour, knee high boots..... So I nearly destroyed a pair of my shoes in the deep mud.

Ok so I mentioned an Arrested Development moment I experienced well if you are a fan of the show it was a true Michel Bluth moment.  During one episode he was trying to figure out who Gobs girlfriend liked, "who is this hermano guy?"  So as I arrived in La Boquilla and my host family, Single mom who teaches a class about how to raise and catch fish, started talking about some 'hermana (sister)' of hers and asking if I had met her.  I told her no and she said she was a fantastic woman and that I would have to meet her.  I thought nothing of it at the time, but the next morning when I arrived at the school I was literally asked by five different teachers if I had met their 'hermana (sister).'  I soon started to think why does everyone want me to met their sisters and why is this one of the first questions I am getting asked?  I was later told to follow my counter part to a different part of the school and did so accordingly.  We soon arrived outside of the school headmasters room and was then introduced to HERMANA Elizabeth!!!! Wow it turns out that is wasn't any of their sisters, but rather a NUN (See Picture below) that runs the school.  I felt really stupid to say the least.  Upon meeting the HERMANA she told me my beard was cute and offered my gummy candies, wow does she know the way to my heart!

 School Information:  The school is quite special because it actually consists of five different locations creating a mega school of 3,000 students!  I will primarily be working in three of them with primary schoolers (grades 3-5).  This is a change for me because I have never taught primary before and to make things a bit more difficult there is no English program so I will not only be co-teaching with the teachers, but teaching them English as well and hopefully creating a sustainable English department in the process.

The site visit was very exciting and some highlights include: Realizing that I will be living/teaching two blocks from the beach, having amazing meals for $2.50, going to bed to the sound of the waves or an amazing drum circle each night (La Boquilla is famous for its music and even has a drum festival), seeing that both soccer and baseball were regularly played on the beach, going into Cartagena and getting to see the walled city, meeting all of the nice people I am going to be working with, and swimming in the ocean EVERYDAY!  

The Beach

Me and the HERMANA

A really good road in La Boquilla

In the distance are some hotels in a bordering city

The view from the amazing seafood restaurant

One of the schools I will be teaching at

Water in Cartagena 

Clock Tower in Cartagena 

The walled city of Cartagena

My host cousin, Maria de Los Angeles

So when I got back from La Boquilla I met my little cousin!  Also my next post will be as an official Peace Corps volunteer as I have my swear in next Wednesday.  Also tonight is a huge celebration for the immaculate conception of Jesus so this will be a first for me.  I hear there is a lot of drinking and candles are light and put in pretty boxes in front of each house at 2:00am.....I will let you all know how it goes!  

Much love from Colombia!