212 - Updates and Impromptu lunches

My poor little blog has been so neglected lately!  I am so sorry for those of you who read it!

I just have to say that I can't believe I am already passed the 200 days mark!  When did that happen?!  Well... I suppose that it happened about 12 days ago.  But, that doesn't change the fact that it is really crazy to think about for me.

Update - I spent about two weeks (Monday July, 9th until Saturday July 21st) in a "little" coastal town called Riohacha.  Riohacha holds the oldest Mennonite church on the coast.  The church there is also a nursing home which is really exciting.  Nursing homes are very rare in Latin America because families are so predominant here.  However, there is a very big need for these establishments, so it was a great experience to be able to be a part of one of these communities for two weeks.

The front of the church in Riohacha

This is when you walk in the door.  Everything is very open in Colombia.  I really enjoy that.

While there, I was able to build relationships with many of the people who lived and worked there.  I also had the chance to give a few English lessons.  It was a lot of fun!  I made some really great friends there.  I got a chance to learn how to fish with just some fishing line, a hook, and a plastic bottle!  That was definitely new!  They have a little guest room that I was able to stay in, so it was nice to be right there in the church.

This was my bed for two weeks in the guest room.  The previous occupant really enjoyed music!

Also lions!  One of the workers always made sure that I had a thermos full of ice water every morning! It was so nice of her!  I would leave and come back and she would have replaced it every morning.  It made me feel very special!

I taught a class to younger kids in the morning, high school aged kids in the afternoon, and adults in the evenings.  It was a lot of fun having the different dynamics and age groups there.

One of my afternoon classes

On my way back from this trip I took a very short trip to a hostel that I previously stayed in for a little rest and relaxation time.  That was definitely a blessing!  I was able to meet a lot of really cool people and spend a lot of time in the pool and chatting it up with backpackers from ALL over the world!  I met people from all over Europe and Australia and New Zealand as well.

I even made my way to a little fishing village called Taganga and spent some time on the beach there!  That was awesome.

Taganga is a little village and you can take a 5 minute boat ride around a small mountain into a little cove and sit on an awesome beach!  The view was incredible!

This is a view from the beach.

Then, this is a view of the beach.

There were venders everywhere that were selling things from fruit juice to shrimp, to sunglasses.  It was great!

Since being back I have been getting back into a routine that now includes volunteering in a local school that two of my good friends work at!  That has been such an incredible experience!  I just finished my first week there!  The little kids are just great!  I work with grades one and two primarily and I was also able to meet with some grade 10ers and we spoke in larger conversations and got a little more serious.  All of their teachers have to be bilingual and they teach two subjects (as well as English classes) in English by the time you get to junior high years.  So, by the end of school there almost all of the students are very very near being bilingual, if not actually bilingual.  They have a great system and I have really enjoyed getting to know the teachers and students!  They are a hoot!

The kids in the school make me feel like a celebrity!  This last week every day during their first break a lot of the kids would come up to me and just stand there and stare.  I would ask them what their names were (usually in English because I was told I wasn't allowed to speak in Spanish while there, haha) and they would just blush and smile and run away.  But then a couple brave students would ask me in English what my name was and how old I was and how many brothers (the idea of the word "sibling" is very strange for Spanish speakers because "hermanos" means siblings but also brothers, and you would say "hermana" for sister) I had and little things like that.  They would get SO excited when they could understand me.  There were a lot of giggles (on both ends of the conversations because I giggle when I get nervous) and smiles and one little boy even shared a cookie with me!  I am REALLY looking forward to continuing to volunteer there.

Today was Sunday which means church!  We had a lovely service and Pastora Mitzi gave a very nice sermon on prayer and living for God from I Peter 4.  After service we were standing around and talking and then all the sudden there was a TORRENTIAL downpour!  Traveling in Barranquilla while it is raining is actually VERY dangerous.  I am not sure why exactly it is this way because it isn't the case in all of Colombia but it is bad.  It is famous for it's "arroyos," or flash floods.  Many many people die every year and a lot of damage is done as well.  They have been known to move city buses.  Not just move as in a couple inches, but move as in a few blocks at a time!  Scary stuff.  I am going to include some links to youtube videos at the end.

So, since we were trapped in the church we had an impromptu lunch.  It was so much fun because it was really unexpected and we just hung out and laughed and told stories and goofed off and watched the Olympics (a female long jumper from Colombia got a silver medal!) had a great time!  It is so often (and as is the lifestyle and culture here in Colombia) that the best times are had with the impromptu get togethers and random occurrences.

There was a meeting afterwards and people were getting a little overly excited.  I was pretty pumped though because I understood about 80% of the conversation even though people were talking back and forth and over each other and speaking VERY quickly!  Sometimes in situations like that I really surprise myself with my Spanish and it make me feel like I am actually learning!





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOd39djeGb8&feature=fvst
This one is a slide show

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYOFEavp8M0&feature=related
This is an extreme one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ranUY9TJqc&feature=related
This one is actually just about two blocks from where I used to live!

I am very happy to live on the 6th floor when these things happen!  On a very similar note, I was really confused when I first got here and saw that the sidewalks were up REALLY high from the street and often there are waist high walls at some intersections.  Well... I soon found out why.

On a lighter not, these don't happen often at all!  I would say just maybe twice a month or so depending on the part of the city you are in and the time of year.  The rainy season is roughly June-ish until maybe November.

179 - Fruit Juice!

One of my favorite things here in Colombia is the FRUIT!  There is fruit everywhere!  There are so many different types of fruits that I have never heard of and will probably never see again!

BUT!  My all time favorite is maracuyá!  Oh my goodness is it delicious!  It is a really strange looking acidic and sour fruit but... oh so yummy.  Let me show you how to prepare it.

This is maracuyá (passion fruit).  It really doesn't look like anything special.  From what I understand you are even supposed to pick out the ugliest ones that you can find because they will generally have the most juice.

Then you cut that baby open and find the magic that is inside!  The seeds are covered by the fruit which is a little unfortunate but that doesn't stop me from turning it into the yummiest juciest juice ever!

You just take a spoon and scoop it out!  It comes right out.  It is so weird!  It has little finger like things inside that hold some of the fruit in place.

Then you blend it, add some water and sugar (I like to do half honey and half sugar to make it a little healthier) and then strain out the seeds...

Then enjoy the little piece of heavenly nectar from the gods that is jugo de maracuyá...

It is really REALLY good if it is made with milk but I was too scared to try and make it with milk.  Maybe next time!

Day 169 (Saturday June 23rd) - Birthday!

This was the second time that I have ever been away from my family for my birthday.  Having a summer birthday was always a little difficult as a child because when I was younger all of my friends planned big parties and passed things out around school and people were generally excited about it for a long time before hand!  I have had parties before but before the technology of cell phones and e-mail it was a different task.  Anyway, what I am saying is that in the past one thing that was consistent for me every year was the fact that my family was always there!  I have been blessed the last two years to be around great people for my birthday, but it will never be quite the same being away from my family :).

My day was like any normal Saturday.  I taught my two English classes and then we had youth group!  For youth group we played games and ate cake and brownies and just hung out.  We were celebrating all of the birthdays from January to June.  It was a ton of fun!  It also just so happened to fall on my birthday, haha!  :P

After this I headed home and what should I find upon entering my apartment?!

Some good friends broke into my apartment and decorated it all Colombian-like!  Yellow, blue, and red are the colors of the flag.  Then, there were also little cut outs of different Colombia things around as well!  I was so surprised and excited! :)

There was a nice little smörgåsbord (I looked up this word and it is apparently a type of Scandinavian meal that is served buffet style.  It originated in Sweden... you learn something new every day.  Also I thought the original spelling was fun) of Colombian food!

We've got muffins (in Spanish also called muffins) that are made with peanuts and arequipe (or dulce de leche as it is more commonly known in the States).  Delcious.

This is called matrimonio, kind of like marriage.  It is made with a coastal cheese and a something called bocadillo which is a lot like home made fruit roll ups.  Yummy.  Never would have thought to put cheese with fruit though.  That was weird at first!  The tooth picks had coffee beans and Colombian flags and good 'ol Juan Valdez (who was the first person to import coffee into Colombia).

Delicious cake that was basically one of the muffins but it bunt cake form.

On top here is botifarra, which is a type of sausage.  Then on bottom is bollo de yuca.  Bollo (boy-o) is... kind of... hard to explain.  It is kind of a cake type thing.  But made out of yuca, which is a root like a potato, but not a potato.  It is interesting.  They also have corn bollo which is pretty delicious.

 This is a blended fruit drink made out of my FAVORITE fruit, maracuyá (passion fruit)!!  So delicious.  It is topped of with milo, which is a chocolate powder that is from Australia, but is really popular here!  It is so delicious!

I had such a good night!  We listened to Colombian music and talked and laughed and they tried to teach me how to dance some but I was cursed with two Mennonite left feet and dancing isn't my strong suit to say the least!  Haha!  It was such a good night and they made me feel so special and loved here in Colombia!  They also made me realize that I should keep a better eye on my spare key... Haha!  :P

Day 161 - A day of catching up

So this last week has been rather uneventful.

It has been SUCH a process trying to get the internet installed in my apartment.  I have tried with three different companies and of course it was the last company that I tried that was actually able to hook everything up.

With the first company it took about a day and a half to figure out what was going on and then I found out that they didn't serve my neighborhood.

With the second company I went down to their office and talked with them and had a contract filled out and even signed everything and all was ready to go!  Then, I had to wait because they couldn't come out for another 24-48 hours.  On the third day when they showed up they told me that they couldn't serve the building.  BUT they had a cable that was close by so they could run it to the building but it would just take a little longer.  Well... I thought that was a little lame but why not.  Then, a friend told me that I should go with a different company and I would be happier with them haha.  Oh goodness.  So, a day or two later we went to the second company and had them terminate the contract (luckily, since nothing had been installed that was really easy to do).  Then we went to the third company and they worked out great.

With the third company that I went to, they were having a deal that if I got telephone service, internet, and cable I would be able to get the first two months free!  That is pretty sweet.  It was also only about 5 dollars more a month to add the TV.  So... why not?  Haha!  With this company I still had to wait though... we went there on a Saturday and you have to wait 24 hours, which was a Sunday and they don't work Sundays.  Then Monday was a holiday.  Then on Tuesday they had to come and cut the line from the previous tenants, then FINALLY on Wednesday they came and set up the internet and everything in my apartment!  Oh I was so excited.

Since I was constantly "waiting" for the internet I was never allowed to leave my apartment because they might show up while I was away.  So... I got a lot of reading done that week and a half haha!  But now, I have Skyped with my family and some friends and so I am all caught up on that.  I have also caught up on many other things that required internet usage, like contacting my MST and updating my blog and reading hilarity on themetapicture.com

Today is Friday and I have been very productive!  I am glad that I am able to actually say that.  The majority of Wednesday and Thursday the whole city was without water.  They had to clean the pipes so they shut off the water.  That was fun.  So, that meant that I wasn't able to do the dishes or mop.  So I caught up a bit on that.  I also sent a ton of e-mail today and updated my blog!  Woohoo!

Day 156 (Sunday, June 10th) - A day of first visitors!

After church today I invited some of the young people over to my apartment to eat some delicious food!  I was really excited because I am most certainly related to my mother because I have the hardest time cooking for just one person.  I always seem to cook way too much!  Luckily, that was not the case Sunday because I had 4 guests that I was able to cook for!  Woohoo!  It was a lot of fun :).  We made pancakes and hashbrowns.  I was so surprised that they had never tried hasbrowns and they thought that I was crazy when I described them to them.  Unfortunately I had the bright idea of grating the potatoes the night before... bad idea.  Our hashbrowns were a little discolored haha.  Oh well, they tasted the same!

When I was preparing the meal I decided to recruit some help from two of my guests and taught them how to make everything!  I had a blast!  I felt like I was back in the YouthWorks kitchen.  While working with YouthWorks we were each in charge of a meal through out the week and we had to teach the youth how to prepare everything and then how to cook it.  We weren't supposed to do it ourselves because it was a learning experience for the kids.  HAHA!  Oh that was one of my favorite times.  It was also one of the most stressful parts of my week, cooking while there were 40 - 50 hungry people out in the dining area waiting for the food!  So, I took charge with my two friends and showed them how to do everything and let them have fun with it.  Then, as they were doing that I was getting everything else ready.  They did a really good job because everything turned out really well!  They seemed to like the hashbrowns well enough.  I may have to make them again with properly colored potatoes so they know how they are supposed to look and taste haha.

It was so nice having visitors!!  I love hosting people.

The first question that I always get asked when people find out that I am living along in an apartment (or leading up to, when they found out that I would be living along in an apartment) was "Oh... that's nice... but who is going to cook for you?"  I always laugh and assure them that I love to cook and I personally think that I am rather good at it.  They never seem to believe me though.  Then next question is,  "well... who is going to clean for you?"  Haha!  Oh goodness.  Well, it is a small apartment so I think that I can handle that.   Also, it is VERY common here for someone to have a cleaning person come to their house and clean up.  Usually if you don't it is because you can't afford it and it seems like a bit of a status symbol I guess.  I think that is a great idea and I would love to have someone clean for me but... I am the type of person that I would clean before my cleaning person got there so that they didn't see what it looked like before.  Also, I have a lot of time on my hands and it is a small apartment so I am good with cleaning it myself for now.  But, I understand that it is a very rare thing in Colombia for a young man to live on his own though, so I guess I can understand that.  Colombia is very family oriented so usually you live with your parents until you are married and then you are set!

Many people were a little worried about me moving off on my own.  Everyone had an opinion on what I should be doing instead.  However, I am so happy here in my little apartment with a wonderful view.  I love being independent and feeling like I am not intruding in other people's homes.  I love having space and not feeling guilty if I go to bed super late or get up late, haha!  Oh goodness.  I appreciate being taken care of but I am such an independent person that being taken care of quickly feels like smothering and then I just get nervous, haha.

Day 155 (Saturday, June 9th) - A day of cancelled classes and mall hang outs

So, Saturdays are very busy days for me.  My schedule is 10:00 to 11:30 Basic Level English lesson.  3:00 to 4:30 Intermediate Level English Lesson.  5:00 to 7:00 youth group!

I love Saturdays because I get to actually feel productive!  I have a lot of free time here in Colombia, which I love!  Don't get me wrong.  But, it is also nice to be able to look back on my day and think, Wow!  I got a lot accomplished today!  My weekends are definitely my work weeks.

So, unfortunately no one showed up to either English class.  But,  that meant that I had a lot more free time than I normally do on Saturdays.  We are also starting up a new class (because I was gone for 2 weeks and then we had 3 weeks without classes for various reasons) so that can also be a little rocky.  Maybe it will be better this next week.

However, after waiting around for the afternoon class I decided to head to the mall to use the internet.  That was a nice break because by this point I still didn't have internet in my apartment (long story).  So, while heading to the mall I bumped into one of the guys that is in the youth group!  That was a nice treat because I don't get much one-on-one time with the youth here.  They are all so busy.  So, we got some ice cream and chatted and hung out for a little while.  I was also able to catch up on some facebooking and e-mailing as well.  That was nice.

I have recently acquired some helpers for the youth group!  I love this!  I love having other like minded young adults that are willing to help out!  I love the company and I also love not having to give the lesson every week haha! :)  This week was nice because it was the first youth group where I was able to just sit back and actually enjoy the lesson and activities and the company rather than stressing about giving the lesson and making sure that my grammar is all correct haha.  We have been working on the book of Matthew.  I really enjoy this one because it gives such good lessons on how to work towards peace and how to treat those around us!

Day 149 (June 3rd) - Moving DAY!!!

It has been quite a long time since I have updated this silly thing.  So, I am going to have to do a little re-capping.  When we last left off I was staying at the church building, living with the family there.

All of this changed on Sunday, June 3rd!  I finally got possession of the apartment on Saturday June 2nd.  We couldn't decide if I should go to the apartment and clean and paint and then move in at a later date or if I should move in on Sunday at some point.  Well... I have been ANXIOUSLY awaiting this day for over a month now so I opted for moving on Sunday.  After church some friends (both youth from the youth group and also some young adult friends) came to the apartment and helped me clean.  I was a little bummed out because the people who lived here before me did not clean or paint the apartment before moving out.  So, the floors were dirty, the walls were really scuffed and dirty and the paint is (still... oops) chipping and it just wasn't pleasant... especially in the kitchen.  Although this was frustrating I did not let it get me down!  My friends and I cleaned the apartment from top to bottom!  It really only took us about an hour and a half or so.  I was so incredibly blessed to have them come and help me with the not so fun part.

To tell them thank you I took everyone out for lunch!  We went to a nice little local restaurant on the street.  Their food was so delicious!  I am going to have to go there again!  I can't remember exactly what I had but it was nice.

After lunch we called a moving truck and he came to help us move everything.  When he first pulled up in front of the church my heart sank.  It was a TINY little truck with an even smaller bed.  I had no clue how this was going to work with a refrigerator, a bed, and everything else that I had to move.  Well... I forgot that this is Colombia.  We some how got EVERYTHING to fit onto this dinky little truck in only ONE trip!  I couldn't believe it...  color me impressed.

The refrigerator is sitting on the boards used on my bed frame to keep my bed together.  Then, just tied on with a rope.  Then, we have a couch, two chairs... I was nervous and praying for the entire 5 minutes drive.

Luckily it was a really short drive from the church to my apartment.  However, once we were at the apartment... that was a different story.  We had to haul everything up SIX flights of stairs!  Just kidding.  I am on the sixth floor, but thankfully I have an elevator... but that only goes up to the fifth floor haha.  After that there is a fairly tight spiral staircase and then my apartment.

It was so nice to have everything just done and taken care of!  I have decided that I definitely need to paint.  I just don't know when I will be un-lazy enough to actually do it!  Haha.  I think it will be very soon though, because it desperately needs it.  I love my apartment and I am loving being independent and feeling more at home because of this.


I have more pictures but I can't seem to find my camera cord so I will post those when I have them!

 I had some very special friends join me to help me clean!  Shaddy is washing loose items and Carolina decided that she would tackle the very dirty and caked on stove top.

Aldo here had a great time mopping!  

Jean Carlos is wiping down my pretty sweet dinner table.

It seems like I didn't actually do any work but that is far from true!!  I was doing a lot!  I just paused to take pictures so I wasn't in many of them :P

Here I am working!