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.......