Hasta Luego Colombia

I'm done. I've had it. I'm leaving Colombia! ...so I can spend Christmas with my family and the return to the land of warm weather, speaking Spanish, and awkward moments (read that: epic fails...I was trying to be nice to myself) in January.

I was mulling over the things I'm most excited for and I've decided to share my thoughts with you all

(1) Hugs. Super excited to hug some people I really love.
(2) Family and Friends. Do I really even need to state this one? Of course I'm excited to see my family and friends!
(3) Foods. Okay, so this is a big one that is kind of hard to understand. I pretty certain I can find all of these foods in Pereira somplace, BUT the convenience and normalcy of these items will be wonderful. Here is my list: natural peanut butter, cool whip (spray kind and tub kind), tomato soup and grilled cheese, my mom's soup in general, scones, non-french-press coffee, milk (the milk here tastes funny), cottage cheese, plain yogurt, sweet potatoes, seedless grapes (if only they were in season), anything pumpkin flavored, candy canes, sugar free pudding, pretzel M&Ms, subway, over easy eggs and toast, pancakes, and anything my mom cooks. Yummmm!!! If anyone thinks of something else I should add to the list, leave me a comment so I don't miss out before coming back to Colombia.
(4) Activities. Oh boy I can hardly. Sipping coffee in a hoodie and sweat pants. Hiking sugar loaf. Walking around Marquette. Baking with my sister. Baking with my mother. Baking. Yeah, baking. Ice skating. Watching Elf.
(5) Clothes. I am so looking forward to wearing ANYTHING I want to Walmart and knowing that someone will be dressed worse than me. In Colombia I'm typically the under-dressed one. Two more words in this category: sweat pants. Woot woot! Can you tell I'm excited?
(6) Church. Not that I don't go to church here, it is just that English speaking church will be a wonderful change.
(7) Talking to strangers. I typically like to talk to people but now that I've been deprived of this privilege for so long, I might just go over board.
(8) Driving. I haven't driven a car in months.
(9) Texting. Yes, I do miss texting and I can't wait to be back.
 (10) Shopping. I've never really liked shopping in my life - but to be honest it's going to be great.
(11) Teaching. I get to teach a lesson on Colombia while I'm home. I'm excited to share my experiences.
(12) Bundling up in warm clothes.
(13) My dogs and cat. Can't wait to cuddle with them.
(14) Snow. I just want to have snow and be cold.
(15) My home. Just being home is something I'm looking forward too.
(16) Chopping down a Christmas tree and decorating it with home-made ornaments. Ha - I may even drag my sister along with me.
(17) Speaking English to everyone. Wow. It's going to be great.
(18) Sending people packages/cards
(19) Telling people about Colombia and my experiences

...well for now this is my list - my plane will be boarding soon, so I should get ready to go!

Hasta luego Colombia! See you next year =)

The Duck-and-Run

Wow. It seems like forever since I've sat down to tell a story and looking back at my last post, it really has been quite a while. 7 days isn't quite forever, but the scary thing is that 7 days can very quickly turn into 100 days and before I know it years will have passed without getting a thing written down. Not really, but I mean I see the potential. So, I haven't written in a while. Is it that life in Colombia has become normal and mundane? Ha! Impossible. This country is full of craziness for us gringos and I'm not certain the day will ever come when something doesn't surprise me.

As the sub-title to my blog eludes to, I live in Pereira, Colombia. This city is the capital of the department Risaralda. It's like saying I live in Lansing, Michigan. Not the capital of the country but just of our little "state". The city itself has around 1/2 a million people. Although it's not THAT huge, for a Yooper like myself that number is nothing to cough at. What I find interesting is that even though it's a big city, I'm typically confined to a 23 block radius (No I didn't count the blocks. Yes I made the number up.) Unless I go exploring, there is really no reason to leave my little area. I have a grocery store, a mall, lots of restaurants, and my friends all live in this area. You know who else lives in this area? A large portion of my students. And guess what? They like to hang out in this little barrio too. This means I see them. All. The. Time. (I hope you paused slightly after each of those words and let them sink in. That's why the periods are there. Ha!)

I feel like in the United States, when you run into your students they will normally do the "duck-and-run".  Oh gosh, there is my teacher. Don't let them see me in real life. Here it is the exact opposite. Usually when my students (or students that go to my school that recognize me) see me, they want to make sure that I know they saw me. MEASE LEAN!!! Yes. That is my name. We exchange greetings, they sometimes introduce me to their parents or boyfriends and then we continue on our way. If they don't stop and scream my name, they will at least make sure at school the next day I know they saw me.

Student (who knows my real name): Hey Leanne! I saw you yesterday!!!
Me: You did, where was I?
Student: Walking, you were wearing jeans and a blue top.
Me: Yes, yes I was. I never doubted for a moment you didn't see me.
Student: But yeah, I saw you.

I find these conversation very interesting. I wonder what is going on in their little minds that makes them desire so strongly to tell me they saw me. The other foreign teachers and I are now developing the duck-and-run. See a student, run for cover!

The Sounds of a Colombian Christmas

Imagine this: you’re finally settling into bed after a long day. You close your eyes and your mind begins to wonder as you drift into the land of dreams. You’re not quite sleeping yet, but you’re approaching the threshold between reality and the world in our minds. BAM! All of a sudden a bomb explodes outside of your apartment and you’re violently shocked back into your bedroom.

I’m certain you’ve probably had an experience close to this and as soon as you realize it was a half-dream you can snuggle back into your thoughts.  I’m also fairly certain that you don’t live in Colombia in December.

This exact scenario happened the other night – except the explosion wasn’t a random neuron accidently firing while trying to relax. There really was an explosion. My eyes shot open and I pictured guerilla fighters taking over my city. Within 2 minutes another explosion went off. These were the ensuing thoughts, “I’m going to die. They are throwing bombs. Oh wait, Good thing I’m on the 4^th floor. They won’t get me up here.”

Following those thoughts I managed to slow my breathing, my pulse soon dropped, and I fell back asleep. Clearly I have a difficult time thinking logically when I first wake up. The next morning I decided that upon hearing bombs, one should not shrug it off and go back to sleep. Maybe I should call my portero. Maybe I should at least look outside and see what is happening. Maybe I should make a shelter and hide under my mattress so when they break in to kidnap me I won’t be found? I’m thinking option 1 or 2 would be best.

So the next day at school I had a huge story for everyone: There were a series of explosions outside of my apartment last night!!! Ah!!! My students were not impressed and kindly explained to me: Meese, don’t you know that we begin celebrating Christmas at the beginning of December and everyone lights fireworks all the time.

 Fireworks, they call these things FIREWORKS? No. Fireworks usually have a visually appealing light show that accompanies large blasts. Not these “fireworks”. These are bombs.

I’m starting to get used the sound now. Every night there are about 8-10 of explosions.  I still scream sometimes in shock (like when someone sneaks up and scares you) and the jolting out of sleep is inevitable, but at least I have some reason now: Christmas in Colombia means celebrating with loud noises.