Finding the little things that make me feel at home

The hike was amazing! I am so glad I went. I ended up going alone because Amy was sick, but there were about 35 other people and they were all so welcoming and nice. It seemed like they were kind of a close knit group, most of which all went every Sunday with this same group. I am looking forward to going on more hikes with them! Here is the link to my Picasa again, because I put up pictures from the hike:

www.picasaweb.google.com/anna.garzon

Monday was great as well, because I went rock climbing at a new climbing gym with two friends. We met some cool people who go rock climbing outdoors at Suesca, the best outdoor climbing in Colombia (only an hour from Bogota) so hopefully I will be able to go soon with some of the people that I met! I love that I am getting more into the groove of things that I did at home, because it makes me feel more comfortable here and not necessarily like I am stuck in a huge city, like I am.

Today I made peanut butter cookies in the bakery :). I love working there, it is definitely my favorite! I head lady in the bakery is super nice, and we actually get to make the bread by ourselves from the very beginning because she trusts us now! My host dad has loved both of the cookies I have brought him, and he even joked about getting an oven so that I would bake for him (my host mom can't eat sugar so she hasn't tried them)! I said I would be down to make cookies everyday if they bought an oven!

We also started the English lessons for the girls from Casa Hogar. The lessons were AWFUL. The girls have no respect for authority and do not know how to use 'inside voices' (and I don't know how to say that in Spanish.) They also have been taught a lot of things wrong in their classes at school, like to use the wrong prepositions. They are so adamant that THEY ARE RIGHT when we teach them a different way, and I have to explain that I am the native English speaker and they can trust who they want but if they want to be taken seriously they need to listen to me! It's an argument I never thought I'd have.

I have to teach the preschool English class again tomorrow, and I am planning to just sing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" about fifteen times with them again until I tire them out. I also have my personal development workshop with the girls, and am prepared to not take ANY shit or backtalk from them. If they don't respect me I will not do the workshop, and I am totally fine with that. I am here as a volunteer and I don't deserve to be treated badly!

Little stories:

Last week one of the girls from Casa Hogar asked me if the kids in America spoke English. I said of course! I told her that they don't speak Spanish, and she was so surprised!

One of my favorite things has been teaching English to people in the library. I have found some difficulties though, especially since I didn't learn English as a second language. I have found it hard to explain that "Buenas Noches" can't be literally translated into Goodnight and used in the same context, because you only really say Goodnight when you are going to sleep! Also, we have been working a lot on pronunciation, especially of the TH sound, because that doesn't exist in Spanish. It is so funny to watch them try! We say that they have to put their tongues between their teeth, and it's just hilarious to see them try. I always have to try my hardest not to laugh!

We also discovered that the main lady in the library speaks English! Not any better than we speak Spanish, so it doesn't really help, but we were so surprised when she said a complete sentence to us in English, because we thought she only knew "Hello, How are you?, and I'm fine."

I hope everyone is well!

Love,

Anna

Fresh air and why I hate my "boss"

This week has been alright. My project is still really boring and I would be dying without the Germans! I went late almost everyday this week (around 8:30 instead of 8:00) because there isn't anything to do in the mornings anyway, we just sit in the library and talk basically. I was also sick earlier in the week, therefore authorized to be late to work/skip it alltogether, and I milked that for all it was worth.
I have decided not to accompany the girls from Casa Hogar unless I am helping with English class or doing my personal development workshop with them. I always get in a bad mood when I am in that house for some reason, and I just don't like it. The director of the house also is very...demanding? For our English classes (luckily I am just helping out with them so I don't have to plan them) she wants us to create a lesson plan with Topic, Objective, Methods, Ultimate Goal, Materials needed, Who we will be giving it to, and the time and date, for ALL 24 LESSONS BEFORE VACATION. I think that is nearly impossible to make accurately because if we have something planned for a certain day and the girls don't learn it then we are going to review it again..that is just dumb! There is no reason she should need that. Also, for our personal development workshop, she wants us to do the samething. Luckily there is only 12 of those before break, but still. It took us about an hour to plan our first one, and then she cancelled it... On Friday in Casa Hogar there was a party from 9 to 11. We got there at 9, it didn't start until 11... Being in that house for 4 hours was so hard! The air is so stuffy and all the girls smell bad... We also taught another English class in the library. That and the bakery are definitely my favorite! The time flies when we are teaching. We worked a lot on the 'th' sound, and it so soooo hard for all of them!

I am going on a hike tomorrow! With a hiking group in Bogotá that I found online. I just really need to get out of the city and get fresh air and do something active. It sounds like it is going to be fun.

I hate the head guy here. He is totally insensitive and annoying and I just really don't like him! He is a pain to deal with because he acts like he thinks he is better than everyone else. I talked to him multiple times about taking days off when my family comes to visit and he never gave me a clear answer. I worked last Saturday (I don't remember if I wrote about it in the last post but we had to take a "Manipulación de Alimentos" class and it was four and a half hours long and all in Spanish, including a test at the end, and I did totally fine! I understood everything that was going on and it felt so good :)) and I am working today. I am sitting in the library computer lab writing this. I haven't talked to him about when I am coming but I am just going to do enough extra hours so that I feel like I deserve days off. It's just dumb because I am just sitting here on the computer doing absolutely nothing. I have been here for two and a half hours and I have only helped some little kid with English (he was 9 and couldn't read so that made it really hard) for 30 minutes and spent the rest of the time doing my own thing on the computer.

In the English class yesterday I recognized that maybe the 71 year old that is AWFUL might not be able to read...whenever we write something on the board it makes his pronunciation worse. It is tough to teach English to people who can't read! My kindergarten English class was basically equally awful on Thursday, but I was a little more prepared. I already knew what they knew at that point, but I still can't figure out how to actually teach a class of 25 little kids, half of who don't actually want to learn. I basically just sang songs to them, four, actually. We probably did "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" about 15 times. Such fun.

Nothing too exciting has happened at all, but I will definitely re-post when it does!

Love,

Anna

I Still Hate Kids...

Work has been going alright. I really am so so so so so so so glad that I have co-workers because without them my day would be super dull. I have been learning more German :) because they have started speaking directly to me in German, which is actually nice. I would really hate my project if it weren't for them though. There are there of us working there because it really is a huge project, but the sad fact is that there really isn't much for us to do. All they seem interested in is us giving English classes. I gave my first English class in the library the other day and it actually went a lot better than I thought it would. One of the German girls was helping me, which I was really glad about. She knew all of the things that were tricky in English which I had never realized because I didn't learn it as a second language. That class is open to the public and is offered every Tuesday and Friday. Their ages were as follows: 71, 57, 54, 38, 30, and four 14 year olds. The 14 year olds motivated me a lot more to be a good teacher because I knew that I could really make a difference in their lives if I were to be able to teach them English. The 71 year old is just kinda cute. He is AWFUL at English, but it's really a pleasure to be teaching a class where everyone is there because they geniunely want to learn and are interested. I know at the age of 14 the last thing I was focused on was learning a language, so I love that these kids know that it's important! I also taught my first English class to the Transition kids (age 5 and 6). I walked out of there and decided I was never going back. Ok, that isn't quite an option, but the last thing I want to do is go teach them again tomorrow! It was a disaster. I still hate children. I cannot deal with them! They do not listen (putting 25 kids in a classroom where none of them really care about learning English and expecting them to pay attention is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard). Their teacher seems to think it's ridiculous to be trying to teach them. The only person who really cares about them learning is the preschool director, and she never actually has to deal with them. I am actually teaching the oldest class- one of my co-workers is teaching 3 and 4 year olds!
My favorite part about my project is now the bakery. I really loved working there and learning how to make bread and arepas! Everything is done by hand. The main baker woman loves us, and she lets us bake whatever we want! Considering I discovered that I don't have an oven, it was really nice to make "American" Chocolate Chip Cookies. They actually turned out nothing like I had expected, but they were okay. It was nice to bake something that I wanted because I really miss baking and cooking! I do love Colombian food though so I am not too sad that I can't cook exactly what I want.

I have still managed to avoid culture shock but there are so so many things that I miss about home. I miss driving and being able to get myself around. I miss the outdoors more than anything I think. The air here is so suffocating and I never feel like I can breathe! I miss just being in a quiet, peaceful place. Even when I am alone in my apartment there is so much outside noise and noise from the neighbors. This weekend I am probably going to Giradot (a little town down the mountain from Bogota so it is warm!) and hopefully I can have some alone, quiet time there :).

Little stories:

When I was walking through the comedor (like a soup kitchen for the people who work in the streets selling sweets and other things, but not the homeless), one guy asked me if my eyes were real! I thought that was kind of strange.

My co-workers and I all got sick off the food that they give us for free, so we started bringing our own lunches. That is kind of a perk because then we don't have to eat lunch with the girls from Casa Hogar and we can sit in the park and relax, for basically as long as we want :).

On Tuesday, when we 'helped' teach the English class, the English teacher just sat down. He had told us that we would only be helping and that we didn't have to prepare anything, but then he sat down waiting for us to start! It is ridiculous how little English he knows for supposedly being an English teacher.

I was looking into biking to work (about 15 miles each way, with 4 or 5 overpasses) and was very seriously considering buying a bike, but I could tell my host parents were very worried about that idea. My host dad did most of the bike ride there and back with me one day, and this week I have been sick so I haven't biked at all. I also got a little scared when they said that within the last 3 miles or so I have the very high likelyhood of being pushed off my bike and having it stolen... I thought that sounded kinda sketch.

Until next time!

Love,

Anna

Pictures!

My Picasa picture account in which I have posted pictures from here...:

http://picasaweb.google.com/anna.garzon

Hope everyone enjoys them!

Love,

Anna

First days in project

Well let me start by telling about my Sunday. I unfortunately didn't go to the Iglesia de San Ignacio. We tried to, but it is still closed for some kind of reconstruction or refacing. I found out that my host mom prays to saints about a problem she has with her kidneys, which was kind of interesting because that was the only religious thing I have ever seen either of my host parents do. We went to the Museum of Colonial Art instead of the church, which was more boring than interesting.



My first day of work was yesterday, and it was very interesting! I expected it to be unorganized..and boy was I right! I ended up working with the other two volunteers in the Casa Hogar, the house for the 20+ girls. We went to the library, the girls got on the computer, and then the supervisor left. We were left with no rules or guidelines, and no directions! We just tried not to let the girls do anything we deemed inappropriate, but that proved kind of difficult. One girl opened her web browser to a homepage that said "come es el pene", one girl was watching the exorcist, one girl was looking a powerpoint about "amigas borrachas" and one girl was looking at pictures of trees shaped like penises...there is a lot to help these girls with! I noticed so quickly how attached they get sooo easily, like they were calling the other girls and me their moms and aunts and dads and stuff because a lot of them don't have steady families. We sat down with the project coordinator AFTER the girls all went to school (we work with them in the morning and they go to school at 12) and talked to him about what we want to do. We weren't ready to decide that at all because we hadn't even gotten a chance to experience the rest of the projects, but I already knew that I wouldn't want to work at Casa Hogar every day.



We ended up talking more today about what we wanted to do, but in the morning this time. They told us to be in the library at 8 (I recommended yesterday that the library coordinator should tell us the rules of the library and computers) and the library director didn't even get there until 8:20! The program director was supposed to come get us at 8:30 to go around all the projects again and talk to the directors of each project in more detail, but he didn't come until 9:10. I keep forgetting we are in Colombia.... We learned the rules though and what to do if the girls were breaking them. When the program director finally came to get us we walked over to the bakery and coordinated with her when we wanted to come work there :). We are going to start on Thursday and work there on Friday as well. When we returned to the library from the bakery we met a woman who seemed like she was the leader of the elderly group that meets weekly and makes chocolates three times per week. She invited us to the group meeting at 12:30 in the afternoon, so we went! It was my favorite thing I had done at the project and I am really looking forward to going every week and making chocolate with them. We went to sit down with the Casa Hogar director after our meeting with the elderly people and she told us what she wanted us to do with the girls. We are going to be teaching hour long English classes twice a week and having a discussion group (about topics like self-confidence, time management, being a good leader, resolving problems, etc.) once a week. The kindergarten director also wants us to teach the young kids English and I think I will be handling that. I am also going to help with an already existing English class in which the teacher doesn't actually speak English!



A few little stories:

Yesterday the girls at the school noticed my tongue piercing when I was talking and asked me to show them. I refused and said that I don't have it because I knew that it wasn't a good influence. Today we showed up and I realized that one of the 10 year olds had her tongue pierced! I was so surprised to see that but one of the other girls realized that ALL of the girls had their tongues pierced..and then realized they were only stickers! They had all put stickers on their tongues to make it look like they had tongue piercings! I immediately took mine out and when I 'noticed' theirs asked what they were. They all said they were like mine but when I stuck out my tongue it wasn't there. They all took them out soon afterwards.



We (the three volunteers) were walking between the two project buildings, about three blocks. This one guy passed us and then turned about every two seconds for about twenty feet. One of the girls finally said "Hola" and he said "dos monas!?" (two blondes?!) and we all laughed and said "Si..." and he was so surprised! He couldn't stop staring at us for almost a whole block.



Also when we were walking between the buildings we passed a group of about eight construction workers. They said "Ellas son de los Estados Unidos" (they are from the United States) and one of the German girls immediately turned around and said "NO." It was funny how she was so against being from the U.S.! As I think I said before, this is the first time I have actually been aware of being an American abroad and actually felt like I am judged on it.



We have been eating in the cafeteria with the rest of the kids in the project. There was a teenage boy today who, when he learned that I was from America asked if I had any American money! He wanted to buy my American money off of me! I thought that was weird because he can't really spend it here.

Until next time.

Love,

Anna

It's the little things that matter

So I didn't do too well on my Spanish test, because we had done the oral portion the day I ditched and I didn't know that we had to...but I was also the only one who didn't cheat on the written part! When I got the test back and saw my score I was a little disappointed but then the guy next to me told me that they would all have that score if they hadn't cheated! Too bad I missed the memo...

I ended up going to Gustavo's for lunch every day this week and loved it! I brought Amy on Friday and I think it went pretty well, despite her limited Spanish abilities.

Friday morning we had a going away party thing at the ICYE office for all of the people who are leaving Bogota. One of my favorite girls is leaving, I am so sad! She is going to work in Medellin though, so hopefully I will be able to go visit her there! That night we went out to the absolute weirdest "Museo Disco" that had multiple transvestites and clowns and weird toys and lights everywhere. I will post pictures on my Facebook and hopefully include the link in the next post. I have been feeling pretty cheap lately so I felt a little miffed at the $5 entry, but it was kind of worth it after the 3 transvestive dancing/singing shows!

I decided to spend the whole weekend with my host family because I had gone to Gustavo's every day for lunch this week. Yesterday we went to Santa Fe mall, which is way North and totally huge. I have kind of gotten over the fact that everyone here thinks malls are so fabulous, and have realized that it's kind of a status symbol to say you have been to every large mall. OK, not quite a status symbol, but everyone always asks what malls I have seen when I meet them! The most AMAZING thing happened at that mall though..wait for it...I FOUND A CHEAP DOWN COMFORTER! We went into a department store and I saw it and told them I really really wanted one! It was super duper cheap and they also got me new sheets and a new pillow. That find really made my whole week! Amy met us at the mall as well. I found a favorite store here: Bershka. I love everything in it! Amy says they have it in London, but I have never seen it in the U.S. :( After getting home from the mall we were supposed to go to Martha's mom's house for her sister's birthday celebration, but there was a protest close to her house so we couldn't go down the streets! Martha told me that there hadn't been a protest in that part of town for a very long time. We still don't know what it was about, but Martha had a feeling that it was the very poor people that are forced to come to Bogota because of the FARC just blocking the streets and throwing dirt at cars. We did a huuuge circle and spent about an hour and a half in the car but finally just came home to the apartment. We stopped at the grocery store right next to our house and Ramiro went in and brought back french bread and handed me a paper bag. I opened it and it was a cookie! I was so touched; I just think it's so cute and thoughtful even if it was the littlest thing! When we got home I talked to them for a long time about Amy's living situation (She doesn't feel very comfortable in her family. I don't think they understand her situation at all and they don't have equal expectations of each other. Her host father told her that with them, she shouldn't use 'tu' she has to use 'usted' and she didn't know if that was to be nice and help her with her Spanish or if he was being a jerk.) and I am so glad that they are understanding and flexible! I think I got really lucky having them as host parents. We ended up going to Martha's Mom's house at around 9:30 pm and didn't get home until midnight. Martha handed me a bag at the end and I looked inside and it was a huge pack of my favorite cookies and a bag of coffee candies that I always eat when I go to her mom's house. She explained that her dad had bought them for me because he knew I liked them! For the second time that day I was so touched by the small things people do! I was super excited to get into bed last night because of my new bedding! It was everything I had hoped for :)

A few side notes:
I have had really good Spanish days for the last few days and it feels good! I have felt like I have started talking faster and using more correct grammar..maybe it is just a feeling though.

Ramiro is so funny when he is talking to me because whenever he says a word he knows in English he will say it first in Spanish and then in English, even though I know all of the words in Spanish because they are basic, like viejo (old).

Today we are going to the Iglesia de San Ignacio, finally. I am really excited!

Love, Anna

Getting a life

I had a good time on Sunday at the 'flea' market. It was more of a market with brand new things aimed at foreigners. We saw tons of English-speaking people though, which was a little bit refreshing considering you NEVER find anyone who speaks English here! I also found chocolate covered strawberries, which was amazing. We spent a few hours looking at all of the stands and then went to the mall in Usaquen. There are malls EVERYWHERE in Bogota, and people really like going to them. They are nice and clean, but really aren't anything special- I don't really understand the obsession. After the markets we went to my host-mom's mother's house for a few hours and then came home and my host-dad's mom came over. I ended up going to bed really late and was wiped out when I woke up on Monday morning!

Monday I had class in the morning and finally got to go rock climbing in the afternoon! It was an inside bouldering gym but there were no routes, which made it a little boring. I am not as creative as some of my climbing friends so I don't really enjoy making up my own routes as working ones that are already up. It was a good workout though, and afterwards I went to check out another climbing gym that is about 14 blocks from the bouldering gym. The other place had some lead routes and some top rope routes, but I don't have anyone to belay me :(. I will figure something out though. I ended up walking about 50 blocks that day :). After I climbed I went to meet a Colombian friend in Zona Rosa, the nicer part of Bogota. The shops are amazing there but we mostly window shopped. We also got THE BEST cake that I have ever had. I started heading home at around 6:30 and realized that was the worst possible time because of rush hour! I ended up going to my friend Amy's house for an hour or two to avoid trying to get on a TransMilenio during that time because it really is a complete madhouse.

This morning I woke up and decided to ditch my Spanish class. I was super tired from walking so much yesterday and thought that sleeping in would be better for me- I am so glad I did! I went to Gustavo's again for lunch and had delicious pasta, meat and tomatoes! I have loved every lunch I have had there because of the food and because of the family. It is so nice to have that extra support here! I hopefully will bring Amy for lunch soon and they all said they would love to meet her. Pilates was okay today. I really don't like the instructor that we had though. Becuase of my knee problem there are certain exercises that I can't and shouldn't do because the hurt my knees, one of them being bridging (Mom, you are the only one who get's that probably!). I told him that I couldn't because of my knees, and Claudia explained the same thing in better Spanish, and he kind of just laughed and said that bridging isn't hard on your knees and that I should do it. That really pissed me off because I have had this knee thing for four years and have been doing Pilates for a year and it's my body so I know what I can and can't do! Plus he has a swastika tatooed on his hand which makes me hate him as well. Besides that my day was really great. Since I made some Colombian friends and I have established a kind of friend group I feel like I am creating my own life here and I love that!
I should be studying for my Spanish test tomorrow though, so that's all for now!

Love,

Anna

So much going on!

Sorry that I haven't posted anything recently, I was very very busy this week, which was actually really nice. Tuesday morning I was free so I went for a run and did yoga. It was my first run here in Bogotá and I really felt the altitude! That was once that I was glad I had to do run/walk intervals (because of my knees), usually I am embarassed to be doing them. That afternoon I had Spanish class and then came home for a nice dinner with my family! Dinnertime is the best time that I spend with my host parents because we just sit down and talk for usually about an hour. We just talk about our days and about what there is to do here and I always ask them any questions I have about plans or whatever I need. The dinner table is one place where we all have time to just sit down and chat so I really look forward to it every day!

On Wednesday I went to visit my project in the morning with the Project Coordinator from ICYE, Franziska and Miriam, the two girls who are working in my project with me. I really really liked my project and all of the people that I met there! My project is absolutely huge- there is a library, a girls home (about 25 girls ages 5-13 live there Monday through Friday), a kindergarten/preschool, a bakery, a chocolate making place, a music room, a used clothing store and a place to help mentally challenged people. The guy who seemed to be in charge was super nice and seemed like he was really excited for us to be there. There has been a lot of talk about needing to prove yourself within your project in order for them to let you do work, but it seemed like everyone that we talked to was ready for us to start taking charge right away, which is really great. They said that the first week we will be allowed to work in all of the areas of the project as we please and then at the end of the week decide on a more concrete schedule. We can choose whatever we want to do and mix up all of the things if we want. I definitely want to do at least a day per week in the kindergarten and half a day per week in the bakery! Besides that I am just looking forward to being able to get to know each thing better in the first week that I am working. Wednesday night I went for dinner with Andres Amaya (Juan David's cousin on his mom's side) and his friend. It was cool to meet someone who lives here and knows where he is going and where the fun places to go are!

Thursday morning I woke up and went for another run before Spanish class. That night almost our whole Spanish class went out to a bar with our Spanish teacher, which was pretty fun. There was live music which was really good! I took my first taxi alone and it was totally fine! I kept up a conversation in Spanish with the driver for the whole ride and got his number at the end to call him whenever I am in the Zona Rosa/Parque 93 district at night and need a ride home. It will be nice to know I have someone reliable to take me home from that area of town!

I woke up early for Pilates the next morning. I had a really good time at Pilates! It kicked my butt again. We went to a different studio this time and it was very peaceful and the instructor was really good. He had a swastika tattooed on his hand though, which makes me not want to take Pilates from him. I have seen about 10 people with swastikas tattooed on themselves, and a friend told me that to them, it means they hate black people. I think that is ridiculous and ignorant and it makes me sad that so many people do that! Afterwards I went to Gustavo's house for lunch and had potatoes with tomatoes and onions (I forget the exact name), meatballs and rice, yum! I love all of the food here. I got home about 3 and relaxed until we went out at night. Amy (yay she is back from England! It was so nice to see her. I definitely get along best with her and have the best time with her and she feels the same about me so it's really nice to feel like I have a best friend here.), Andres, a bunch of his friends (30 people) and I went to a restaurant/club outside of Bogotá (in Chia, about 30 minutes North). It was the best time I have had going out here! That place was recommended in my Lonely Planet and on multiple websites online, and it was super fun. We didn't actually sit down and eat there, but I saw tons of food being delivered to tables and it all looked totally amazing! I definitely want to go back and make a night out of eating dinner there and then dancing, even though it is pretty expensive. We got back into Bogotá around 4 am and Amy and I slept at Andres's house.

This morning his parents made us arepas con queso for breakfast, definitely my favorite! I went straight to Gustavo's for lunch (some kind of fish, rice and platanos, which are really starting to grow on me! I didn't like them at first but now I actually look forward to eating them.) and then got home around 3:30. I went to meet Amy and the people from the first Spanish class at Crepes and Waffles (my favorite place!) for an earlyish dinner and then came straight home afterwards and got to sit down with my host parents and talk to them while they ate dinner.

Tomorrow we are going to Usaquén to go to a flea market that Lonely Planet suggests, which should be really cool! I am also planning to go for another run tomorrow. I am hoping that I get used to the altitude soon so that it isn't such a chore to run every time, because I actually do enjoy running when I feel like I am actually taking oxygen into my lungs. I am having a really good time here and am especially glad that Amy is back :). I can't wait for my dad and everyone to visit though! I hope that I get to know the city better and can talk to them fully in Spanish by then (sorry Jen!). I still have my good and bad Spanish days. Today was a bad one, but some days I feel like I am improving a lot!

Love,

Anna