last entry continued

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I am sorry for the short entry last night, but I am ready to attempt summing up my last 9 days in this wonderful country...

Last weekend was wonderful. On Saturday I woke up early and sacrificed paragliding on a beautiful day in order to take a day-trip by myself. I took a bus to Rionegro, a small yet bustling town about an hour from Medellin. The town was cute, the bus ride was pretty, and the people were nice; However, I have been to more interesting and beautiful places.

Marie, if you read this, I went into a church in this town and said a very long prayer for you. I hope it reaches you. Outside the church, I bought you a little something so that the prayer can stay with you, because I believe it to be very important.

There was a band playing in the plaza, and there were some weird but delicious samples of cheese that I tried. I only stayed there for an hour and a half before I caught a half-hour bus to a town called La Ceja. This town was adorable and more quaint, although equally large. There was a market, of course, where I bought a beautiful pair of earrings. After walking around a tad, I got a cab to my main destination for the day- a waterfall at Salto de Tequendamita. It was an expensive but beautiful cab-ride up a mountain. The driver spoke in a different accent and really fast, but we managed to communicate a little and he kept pulling over to show me the sight of his beautiful town that he was so proud of. I, in return, shared my deliciously huge and fresh strawberries that I bought in Rionegro. (We both got equally messy).

The waterfall, which there are plenty of pictures of, was my most peaceful experience yet. There were very few people there and it was a beautiful day. I drank fresh juice, I read, and I wrote. I also enjoyed watching families play with their children and listening to the water with absolutely no traffic in the background. Unfortunately, I was on a time schedule, so I had to leave eventually. I hailed down a bus, Colombian style, for the first time! It was as close to hitchhiking as I will ever get. I walked down the winding road a bit and when I saw a bus that said Medellin in the window I stuck out my hand and hopped on for dear life as it stopped for a split-second. The ride home was also wonderful and I attempted to capture some of it.

When I returned, I went right to a soccer game with a group of people from the hostel. It was quite a diverse group of people, from places such as: australia, california, israel, england, and canada. The game was frustrating because Medellin lost to Bogota 1-0, but it was certainly a great taste of the culture. People are more obsessed with soccer here than Americans are obsessed with baseball (maybe). After the game there was a riot. We were walking to the metro right outside the stadium when we heard a gunshot. All of a sudden hundreds of people were running directly at us, seemingly for their lives, so we joined them and sprinted away. When we thought things were calm, it happened again. After 5 more times of this, we were totally freaked out and ran into the stadium. A bunch of people ran in before the security guard shut and locked the door to keep whatever the trouble was out. We went upstairs to look and saw that people were throwing rocks and garbage at a bunch of riot police, who were in return shooting rubber balls and tear gas at them. No actual guns were involved, thank goodness! But I must say, that was the first time I was scared since I have been here, because I have no idea how these people get about their futbol. In the end, it was just another College Park-style riot! Nothing I have not been through more than once before!

That night I was exhausted and watched a Queen concert on TV with a couple from god-knows-where. That was hilarious. The next day was the March that you saw pictures of. I have already accused people of living in a bubble for not having heard about this world-wide event (sorry). It was a march to prove to the world that we are all against FARC, and it happened in hundreds of cities outside of Colombia (including our very own DC). In Medellin, there were hundreds of thousands of people and it was an incredible experience. A sea of white swarmed the streets chanting and singing with all of their hearts for hours and hours. People clearly care so much about the cause, and I am so happy I got to be a part of it. Even at the foundation 2 days later, when we told one of the adults we were teaching that we marched, she got so excited and thanked us. I wore my shirt again yesterday and got a few cheery comments- specifically one older woman in the park who said "very good. no more farc. no more kidnapping." (in spanish, of course).

Later that night I went with an even more diverse group to see Batman, in it was AWEEEEESSSSSSSOOOOOOMMMMMEEE. Heath Ledger put on an even better performance than I expected and the movie just rocked so go see it if you haven't already!

Now for a briefing on my last week with the kids. It was wonderful.

I don't really know what to say. There were clear improvements in some of the groups. For instance: One group has 3 children. Lorena cried in the first class when we tried to make her say one word in English during a game. The next class, we could hardly get her to speak Spanish. Paola would not say a word during the first class and refused to come to the next two classes. Michel had an attitude and complained constantly when she was not pretending to be sick. During the last 2 weeks, Lorena came out of her shell and knows almost the entire alphabet, is much better with introduction convos, always speaks when asked to, and was happy happy happy. Paola came to every class, participated the whole time, also improved her knowledge drastically, and was happy happy happy. Michel did not complain but ONCE, knows the whole alphabet, learned even more than the other two, came to an EXTRA class on her birthday, and was HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY. That class went from being a problem class to being one of the most cooperative classes. That is just one example of the progress we made with these children. The sticker charts are working wonders, more than expected. We are in the middle of developing such special relationships, I can actually communicate with these children, and I have to leave. Ugh.

I spent a lot of today teaching Connect 4 strategies to Miguel and Jonatan, two of the sweetest, most respectful children I have ever met in my life (they are 10). I enjoy their company so much. Jonatan got down on one knee and asked me to marry him (with my own ring), and I ended up giving him that ring to keep. I also gave another ring of mine to Johana when she wouldn't let go of me on our way to her school. I just cannot say enough about these children and I want so badly to come back again. Ari and Andrea are coming back this winter and I am really grateful because it makes me think these children will be able to see that people care enough to see them again.

I am sorry I cannot elaborate. I will talk all you want when I return.

The rest of the details will just have to be stories I tell when I return. You know I love to talk about my experiences, so I have to leave some stuff out. I will be spending the next 3 days in a town about 3-4 hours south of here called Tamesis. I have returned my cell phone so there will be no phone calls and I do not know if there will be internet there. I will be with Sascha doing coffee tours and hikes and such. I hope you all are doing well. I love you and I miss you all. Please, when you read this, say a prayer or send a healing thought to my Uncle Jack. If you have any questions, e-mail me and I will be happy to respond as soon as I can. Have a wonderful weekend.

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