An entire conversation

This weekend went by quickly. I went to Monserrate on Saturday with friends (a church on top of a mountain where you have a view of the whole city) and was surprised to see how big the city actually is. You really can´t see from one side to the other without moving around the lookout points. After that I went into La Candelaria again with a friend and had a very interesting lunch- fish that still had a head! It was literally the whole fish. It was really good though! I am way more open minded about what I eat here because I will just order the lunch special without having a clue about what I am about to receive! It is actually a pretty cool feeling. We tried to go to the Andy Warhol exhibit at one of the museums in the evening but the line was super long, so we decided to save it for another day. We went back to that cute bar we had found in La Candelaria the day before and had Chicha, which is like beer with corn. It was disgusting! It tasted like armpits. I had one sip and couldn´t drink anymore, it really was super duper awful. Oh, we also met an American guy that day and ended up hanging out with him, which was cool. He had been traveling around Peru and Colombia for three months-- It sounded amazing! On the bus on the way home I sat next to this lady and talked to her for 45 minutes. I was soooo happy that I could actually hold a conversation with someone for that long- in Spanish! I really felt like that was one of my milestones of being here. Afterwards she took down my facebook info and my cell number and hopefully I will meet her again (she is in her 40's and she has taken English classes before and I told her that she can work on her English with me).

Sunday I flew kites with my host parents and extended host family. We went to this huge park and there were tons of other families there flying kites too, the sky was literally littered with them! I took a nice nap in the sun and got a little burnt on my face (sorry mama!) and we ate bbq chicken and corn for lunch. We went for a two hour walk around the park after that. We were there for a total of five hours! I guess flying kites on Sundays in August is a huge thing here because August is usually the only month with wind. Once the month is over you won't find anyone flying a kite until August of the next year! We had dinner at Ramiro's mom's house that night (minced meat, rice [pega!] and beans, it was so good!) and then got home around seven. It seemed like it was a super long day!

Today I had to wake up at six to meet at the ICYE office to go get my cedula (Colombian ID card). We spent 7 HOURS doing everything we needed for them. I luckily already had a document with my blood type on it, so I didn't have to get the blood test that tons of other people did. We were two hours late for Spanish class, which was kind of a relief because it is starting to get really boring to sit through three hours of it every day. We stayed a little late in Spanish class because we are planning a trip to a National Park this weekend! 12 of us are renting a private bus and private house and staying in a National Park nearby. I am exited to get away from the Bogotá air and traffic and do some hiking and exploring!

Besos, Anna