Blogs from Colombia, South America - page 270

I am in love with Antioquia. Ok, first I will begin with Friday. Friday was mine and Sascha's first day teaching by ourselves. We taught the older kids in the morning, organized and planned our behinds off, and then we each had really long one on one lessons in the afternoon. I worked with Luisa, who is a wonderfully kind and cooperative 13 year-old with striking green eyes that you cannot help but get drawn into. During this lesson, I would say that Luisa taught me as much Spanish as I taught her English, and we developed a trust and a relationship through laughing and being patient with each other. After our day was over, I hung out at the foundation for about an hour. During that hour, Leidy, a 7 year-old, came over and sat ... read more

When we arrived in Cartagena late one afternoon, it was raining and a big thunder and lightning storm was getting under way. Not the most auspicious start! However, over the next few days we realised that this is just the pattern of weather in this part of the Caribbean - hot and sunny in the mornings and during lunchtime, then at some point in the afternoon the sky clouds over and the rain comes in at high speed. Give it an hour or two and it all calms down again... So we learned to structure our days around the weather. With the high temperatures in the morning and rain in the afternoon, the majority of our time in Cartagena was spent taking things easy. We were feeling a bit lazy and so when the sun was ... read more

Glaubt man der Presse der Amerikaner, muesste ja jeder zweite Kolumbianer entweder Drogenhaendler oder drogenabhaengig sein... Wir sind also sehr gespannt auf dieses Land, das uns unterwegs alle Reisenden, die schon mal dort waren, nur waermstens empfohlen haben. Wir sind vom Sueden ueber die Grenze eingereist und schon da merkten wir erstaunt - nachdem die equadorianischen Zollbeamten einen erstmal gnaedigst warten liessen und allerhand komische Leute an der Grenze rumhingen - dass es auf der kolumbianischen Seite sehr viel zivilisierter zuging ...und rats fats hatten wir unseren Stempel und sassen im Taxi. Sind dann gleich weiter zum Flughafen gefahren, da wir noch einen Flieger nach Bogota erwischen wollten. Man muss ja nicht gleich am Anfang mit einer Nacht-Busfahrt anfangen :-) Bogota - fortschrittlich und freundlich Ín Bogota sind wir erstmal im alten Kolonialviert... read more

Yesterday, one volunteer and I, Jennifer, spent the first half the day with two girls, Marcela and Leidy. They are two of the three girls I mentioned in an earlier blog whose mother was selling gum by the park the other day. They are absolutely adorable and we had a great time teaching them and playing with them. Not know Spanish very well isn't too bad because the children are the most patient and will probably teach me the most. I am teaching them English anyway, so it works out rather nicely. Except when I say yes to something without fully understanding it. For instance, today a girl, Manuela, asked me if I was blind. I thought she asked me if I was going to play with them. Of course I said yes, and later learned ... read more

Today was my first official day working at the foundation, and it was an interesting one. Most of the children are away on holiday, so less than half have been there for over a week. They will slowly trickle back in until Sunday, then it will be back to almost 60. It is so interesting how this foundation works. A lot of the children have parents who are dead, and a lot have parents who are addicted to drugs and on the streets. Some do have parents and/or family that they return to for holidays if they want to, but I am not quite sure how that works. It seems that some would literally be returning to the streets for days at a time. Today we only taught two lessons and spent most of the day ... read more