Girl Power and Site Assignment

The adventure continues here in Colombia and I thought I would start this blog entry by describing two situations that a pair of girls encountered here in Barranquilla.  During the first six weeks here in Colombia we have had tons of security training and in the multi-hour sessions it is often easy to doze off and day dream about more pleasant things (Going to the beach, eating American food, and what it would be like to be able to dance like a Colombian).  However, the sessions have helped at least two girls already as there have been two attempted drive-by theft attempts (not the kind with a gun).  So the drive-by attempt is quite popular I hear and is executed by men on motorcycles and occasionally accomplices.  The first attempt happened one early morning as my friend was out for an early stroll (if you want to exercise it better be in the morning because exercising in the heat of the afternoon or the darkness of night is just asking for trouble), she suddenly felt someone grab at her purse and she quickly pulled it back before the men on the motorcycle could snatch it.....Peace Corps women 1 Colombian thieves 0.  

The next attempt consisted of another female volunteer and two thieves.  We had just got back from the beach and almost all of us went directly home.  However, one girl decided to do some vegetable shopping in the market.  After she had purchased some fresh eggplant a man approached her and asked her the time (this man was the accomplice).  As she was distracted by this question another man on a motorcycle came by and tried to grab her purse.  However she had other ideas and swung her bag of eggplant at the man, much like deranged elderly woman are portrayed on television these days, hitting him repeatedly until the bag broke and the eggplant flew to the dirty sidewalk.  The two men fled and the volunteer was able to pick up her eggplant and later use them to make, from what I hear, an amazing eggplant parm later that weekend......Peace Corps women 2 Colombian thieves 0.  Thus, so far half of the attempted thefts against women have been fended off by vegetables..... Moral of the story: those thieves better reconsider next time they see a gringa with a bag of produce! 

New News:  On Thanksgiving day we were told where we will be working for the next two years.  I was pretty sure I was going to be staying in Barranquilla as I had my site visit here, but in true Peace Corps style I was tossed a curve ball.  I was told I will be in a small town outside of Cartagena called La Boquilla.  This little fishing village is surrounded by an ocean on one side and a lagoon on the other.  I don't really know much more about the area than that, but I am going to visit La Boquilla on Tuesday for the week and am very excited.  My next post will contain pictures of the site visit!

-A famous musical group from Colombia, Bomba Esterio, taped a music video in La Boquilla so I hope this link provides you all with some more insight into where I will be...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-vDLf7cmf0

      

Barranquilla: the City of 1.5 Million Dancers

So I have been here for a little over a month now and have come to the conclusion that there is not a single person in Barranquilla, besides us gringos, who can't dance.  Dancing is such a huge part of the culture here that children basically start dancing as soon as they are able to walk.  I have literally witnessed a class of 10 year olds take a break from their everyday studies (math, reading, writing, etc.) to have a second instructor walk into the room and DANCE with the students for 45 minutes..... you don't know a bruised ego until you get out-danced by a bunch of 10 year olds.  The kicker here is that everyone is not only dancing to Salsa music, but there is Cumbia, Vallenato, Merengue, Champeta, and Reggaeton.  Lucky for me it appears as my host family's personal mission is to teach me how to dance to every type of music listed above.  So at every function where music is present, which is EVERY function, there is also a gringo trying his best to figure out first what type of music is playing (some are pretty similar) and how to dance to the given rhythms.  Sometimes my family even goes out of their way to get me dancing.

So it was my birthday on Tuesday and when I finished Skyping my mom and dad my host family had a surprise birthday party for me set up with food, cake, and decorations (pictures below).  So back to the dancing....so after the great party we all sat out on the front patio and talked for a while.  We suddenly heard music blaring from a house down the street (blaring music at all hours of the day/night is very common here).  Before I knew it my host sister was introducing me to three cousins and demanding that I learn to dance Cumbia.  So there is the example of going out of their way to get me dancing.  Next thing I realize is that this is not just some dance, but there is choreography and my sister is asking if I can participate in the dance preformance the following day.  So my cousins say yes and I begin to learn the choreography with seven other colombians.  On the day of the dance I went over to their house to practice some more, but to my surprise there were only four other people there.....What happened to the rest?  This we will never know, but this did not make my cousins happy and they were actually so displeased that they called the performance off (Plans falling through.....THEME?).  All in all I still learned Cumbia and actually am really digging all of the dancing that plays such a huge part in the lives of EVERYONE in Barranquilla.

Exciting news:  This Thursday we will be told where we will be for the next two years!  I will keep everyone posted.  

Pictures:  Birthday/Cumbia Crew/Random 

The host family at my surprise birthday party

The Dance Crew

A Raspa'o (flavored crushed ice with condensed milk on top) Vendor 

There a a few of these Kiss themed Mona Lisa pictures around town

The road near my house a few hours after an arroyo

Boat at the beach.  The beach is about 45 minutes from Barranquilla and is not known to be really nice, but the water  is perfect!

Living ON the grid and a Very Colombian List

Many people who are about to join the Peace Corps talk about living off the grid, but my experience couldn't be any further from that.  The city of Barranquilla is literally set up as a grid.  Opposed to the normal layout of many cities with winding Avenues, Streets, Drives, Roads, and Lanes, Barranquilla is a bit different.  There are only Calles and Carreras in this city of nearly 1.5 million.  The Calles run from east to the west and the Carreras south to north.  So you think it would be pretty hard to get lost right.....Well if you know my less than stellar sense of direction it is no surprise that I have already gotten lost a few times.  The most notable time was trying to walk to the Peace Corps office with another volunteer, who has very little Spanish experience.  The 'adventure' lasted about two hours and needless to say by the time we arrived we were both drenched in sweat and dying of thirst. 

Learned in Colombia

1.  Plans fall through:  I know I was going to write about the soccer game I mentioned in my last post, but (^) the plans fell through.  It was ok because I had some work to do anyway, but I hope they don't fall through again next Wednesday as we are scheduled to go to another game.

2.  Arroyos:  There is no drainage system in Barranquilla thus when it storms (which occurs often as it is currently the rainy season) the streets turn into class 5 white water rapids.  I mean you literally can't cross so your best option is finding shelter and grabbing a Snickers because it could be a while.  I will try and get pictures of the next arroyo so you can see what I am talking about. 

3.  Punctuality:  or should I say lack there of... People on the coast do NOT show up to anything on time.  I am told it is part of the culture so I should not be offended when someone (student, teacher, friend) strolls in 30-45 minutes late.

4.  Watch out for bagged drinks:  So a lot of drinks come in bags here (cheaper than cans or bottles).  However, you have to be very careful because once you bite off one of the corners you can't put the drink down or else you will wear it.  Unfortunately I made this mistake, only once, and ended up wearing mango juice on my pants for the rest of the day.  

5.  Costal Spanish is hard to understand:  The Spanish spoken here is very difficult to understand as they don't pronounce the S's and drop the D's completely.  So this often ends up in chunks of words missing.  I am 'efinitely 'tarting to get the hang of it though.  

6.  It is easy to find cheap beer:  The local favorite Aguila (definite monopoly on the beer game in Barranquilla)  is often sold for less than $1.

Gio my next post will include some of the "nitty gritty Colombia" pictures you requested.  Thou who asks shall receive! 

Hope all is well Back in the States!   

  

Peace Corps Office/Bilingualism Week/Host Brother's Birthday Party/Site Visit

Pictures from the PC office:

View from atop the Peace Corps office (I have heard that it is the best/only view you can get of Barranquilla)

 Some of the 23 members of the group on the Peace Corps office roof

Bilingualism Week:

 These Pictures were taken at the Javier Sanchez school during their Bilingualism week.  As some of you may know Colombia as a country has a goal of being bilingual by 2019 in all of its schools.  Thus promoting bilingualism is ever present in the school system (so much so that there is a week dedicated to it).  In the picture to the right a few members of our group, Peace Corps employees, and school staff are posing by a sign that was made for the week.  The picture on the left was taken during the presentation the school put on for us (The 5 trainees, including myself, that were at this specific school).  The presentation included a music and dance portion where the girl pictured above took turns grabbing each guy one at a time and dance salsa with them.....so pretty much embarrassing ourselves in front of a room full of laughing students.  

Birthday Bash:

 Some of the fam sitting outside on the front patio hanging out for my host brother's birthday.  Observation: People in Barranquilla are really good at sitting out on their front patios for hours at a time and relaxing (must be some kinda past time).  Below is a picture of my host brother cutting the cake with a RUSTY machete.......Still tasted good though!  

Site Visits:
This week was SITE VISIT WEEK!!!! What that means it that us volunteers got to travel to Santa Marta, Cartagena, or if you were really lucky go absolutely no where at all and stay in Barranquilla to shadow current volunteers and see what an 'average' day in the life is life....Well I was one of the lucky few.  However, I did not really care that I was not getting to travel as I love my host family and the city.  The two days actually turned our really fun as a few of us trainees started by chatted with two current volunteers over some beers.  I then went to an amazing school on Tuesday (see pictures).  The site visits finish tomorrow and I will be headed straight to my first Colombia soccer game tomorrow.  The club team from Barranquilla currently sit in 1st place in the primer Colombian soccer league.  I can't wait to write about it in my next post. 

Living on $4 a day had Never Been so Easy

Week 1 of Training:  A Day in the Life 

I will attempt to take you through a day in the life, which will be pretty hard as I usually am not fully awake until around 9 and my day start with a 6:30am wake up.  So I am pretty sure I sit down for a HEARDY breakfast first (I told my family I don't eat a lot the first day and am still unable to finish the majority of my meals...I wonder what my plate would look like if I had told them otherwise?).  This meal usually consists of some sort of plantains, some form of carbs and fresh juice.  The juice is by far my favorite part because I have never heard of many of the fruits so it is somewhat of a mystery.  I then head outside and attempt to hail an overcrowded bus (more on public transportation to come later).  I take this 45 minute to 1 hour bus ride and arrive at the school (Colombo Americano) at around 7:50, already sweating an unhealthy amount.  Classes start at 8 and for the first half of the day we are split into small groups according to our level of Spanish.  At 12 we are given a 1 hour break to eat our CATERED lunch in an open aired cafeteria.  This meal consists of a given meat (chicken, pork, beef, or fish), rice, an attempt at salad and a form of potatoes or yucca.  All 23 of us then reconvene and work on technical training until 5.  These afternoons can consist of anything from security training to learning how to teach english to nonnative speakers.  I then return home around 6 absolutely exhausted and obviously still sweating.  I am so exhausted at this point I can't really do much but eat and hang out with the family.  Dinner is usually some sort of meat (chicken, pork, beef, or fish), rice, an attempt at salad and a form of potatoes or yucca and more fresh juice (look familiar minus the fresh juice?).  I truly don't mind that I have the same thing for lunch and dinner often as those of you that know me know I ate the same thing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday at witt.  I end up going to sleep around 10-11 every night.    

The Bus System: Are there any maps?  Of course...NOT!

So to sum up the public transportation I would use the following 4 words: cheap, crowded, sweaty, chaotic.  So a one hour trip by bus only costs about 50-60 US cents.  However those 50-60 cents do not by any means guarantee you a seat on the bus as most days I find myself somewhere between the first stair on the bus (hanging out the window with the wind blowing in my face), and the top of the stairs on the entrance.  After about 15 minutes I can usually make it through the turn gate (like at baseball games) and pay the driver, but this is not exactly any better because I am now standing in a mass of people sweating even more and there is no wind blowing in my face.  Eventually I get a seat after many stops in the span of about four blocks.  You may ask yourself why the bus stops so much in such a short period of time.....Well it is because in Barranquilla there are no bus stops and you just have to press a button and the bus will stop.  So pretty much driving here is pure anarchy as buses taxis and motorcycles are constantly cutting across lanes of traffic and there is an ever present sound of horns, but I would have it no other way!

I really want to put up pictures, but every time I am going to go somewhere my host mom tells me not to bring my camera because it COULD get stolen....Well I may have to take a risk one of these days to get some pictures of the bus 'situation', the training school, baseball field down the street, sand soccer fields (which are in every barrio), and my HOST FAMILY!  I hope to have them up soon.      

"People Are Strange When Your a Stranger"

Hotel Days:
So I will start by saying these past few days have been pretty busy, the orientation activities last from 8-5 everyday! The format is for the most part straight lecture and PPTs, but getting to know all of the people better makes up for the lack of interactive activities.  The other day there was a two hour lecture on security where we did learn a lot, but it was in the format of Scared Straight.  The dude the Peace corps hired for head of security is like some ex narco-traffico cop and total baddass so I really don't think there is than much to worry about.  We also had an interview in Spanish to see what group we would be placed into which was pressure packed.  The format consisted of a person asking you questions and recording what you said with an old recorder and another behind you writing stuff that you said down.  On the last day of the orientation we each got papers saying who our host family was, where they lived, any animals they had and a few facts about them.  I read my paper in amazement as I counted that I would be the 10th member in the family (and yes I plan to write a sitcom about 10 Colombians and a Gringo if you were wondering)!
Also we went out one night and I quickly learned that I will have to learn salsa quick here if I plan on doing any dancing bc it seems to be everywhere.      

WELCOME HOMEThe last day of orientation part of my family came to pick me up, Sra. Sixta (mother), Karen (sister), and a niece whose name escapes me at the moment.  We soon hailed a cab and attempted to put all luggage in the trunk which didn't work so we had to use a rope to tie it down.  About 20 minutes later we arrived in Los Pinos a barrio in Barranquilla (look it up for pics now I should be able to post some as soon as I take some).  Once we arrived I could barely put my luggage in my room before my host sister, nice, and one of my brothers (Gonzalo, 13) told me they wanted to show me the town.  And as soon as we stepped outside people began to stare at me, which I could have predicted, because it was quite obvious that Los Pinos is NOT a tourist destination and that I was definitely the first 'live' gringo they have ever seen.  What followed was all a blur that consisted of eating tons of food (rice, beans, chicken, plantains, etc...).  After showing me around the town we came back home and I put all my stuff away and then headed to the mall with my host sister and her boyfriend.  We went in and saw this huge gathering of people and soon approached to see what all the fuss was about.....and what do you know..... just a Break Dance battle on a sunday night (I will try and find it and put it up because there was definitely a camera there).


Welcome to Colombia
So the next day I had my welcome to Colombia moment when I woke up, sweating obviously, to only see my host mom's sister watching some telenovela.  I asked where everyone was and she explained that one of the two dogs (my favorite one) had been run over by a bus and was killed earlier that day.  What was crazy was she had absolutely no emotion at all.  I soon look over out the door and see four members of my host family shoveling dirt into a hole and could not even begin to comprehend how I would have dealt with the same situation.     

Beside that sad bit of news all is great here beside sweating every second of everyday!  I hope all is well in the States and keep me posted on anything important that happens.  Also not quite sure what happened with the background color....         

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