"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....