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