COLOMBIA TIP #36 – Rain boots may be a good idea – the drainage infrastructure may not be up to par.
COLOMBIA TIP #33 – Be prepared to lose some blood, give your fingerprints, and sign your life away.
COLOMBIA TIP #31 – As a gringa, you are twice as likely to be remembered.
It was back to Colombia after the summer, but a new location! This time I was headed to Cartagena, my new home on the coast of the country. This had always been a vacation spot for me, so it is going to be a new experience as a place of work! I’m recycling some Colombia Tips here because there were events in the last couple weeks that involved exactly those topics.
First, being in the group of new teachers, we had to have blood taken, stamp our fingerprint on various documents, and then sign them. It didn’t seem like as much as the last time I remember it, which I guess is a good thing!
Something new in Cartagena that I experienced the second day of being here, was that when it rains, it pours! There was a pretty good rainfall that happened and apparently the infrastructure was not build to take all the water. We had rivers instead of streets! I wish I took a picture, but I’m sure I’ll have more opportunities later on. I may have to buy a pair of rain boots! I’ve also since seen some waves crash up over the barriers flooding the roads a bit too.
We also got to visit the school, get our classroom keys, and get a bit of orientation before the rest of the teachers came back the next Monday. The school is pretty nice and everyone is really friendly! It’s not too tricky to navigate which is nice, but I still find myself walking in the wrong direction from time to time. A couple nights over the weekend, us new teachers, Tristen (Grade 7/8 English; Colorado), Christian (Grade 7/9 Social Studies, Grade 8 English; Richmond Hill), and I got to explore the Centro (aka the Walled City) Friday night, and then Saturday we went out for drinks with many of the other teachers that I’ll list here:
-Becky (Literacy Coach; Wisconsin)
-Jenn (Grade 11/12 Math; Detroit)
-Rob (Grade 10/11/12 Math; Arizona)
-Jumana (Grade 2; Hamilton! She went to Westdale, how crazy)
-Michelle (Grade 2; Iowa)
-Kike (Sports/PE; Colombia)
-Rachael (Grade 4; Illinois – she’s also new this year)
-Ali (Grade 2; Minnesota – she’s also new this year)
-Kathy (Grade 3; New Jersey)
And I think that’s it! The place we went to was called the Clock Pub and it was right next to the Clock Tower Entrance to the walled city. A band was playing, and they were pretty good, but then the power went out! We figured it was a fuse blown, but apparently it was no quick-fix because we sat in the hot, humid darkness for another 30 minutes to finish our drinks before going somewhere else. It was good to get a feel for some of the people working at COJOWA before the new-people-overload that was coming on Monday.
The morning of everyone coming back, they had a breakfast planned for us! Strangely enough, I was starving that early in the morning (we catch the bus at 6:30). After the breakfast, the principals were introducing all the new teachers to everyone. The Middle/High School principal was reading from a piece of paper and saying all these random facts about everyone, and I remember thinking, “What is he going to say about me? He didn’t ask…” That’s when he folded up the piece of paper and was finishing up, and a few people were motioning to him that he forgot me! He felt really bad, but I said that it was okay because I really didn’t want to stand up in front of everyone anyway! But I stood up and he said a few things while winging it, and apparently across the cafeteria, a table of sports teachers all recognized me from the November Sports Tournament last year! If you recall, last year I played soccer with their team after GI backed out of the tournament for lack of commitment on everyone else’s part, so I played with their team! I also think I recognize Jenn and Rob from that tournament too when I thought about it. Throughout the week, a few other teachers came up and said, “Hey I remember you!” It’s pretty funny and I’m happy I get to play again on their team this year!
This week was mostly organizing, decorating, and meetings by day, and shopping, and more shopping, and more organizing by night. I’m happy to report that my apartment is all settled with everything unpacked, however I can’t get internet until I get my Cedula (Colombian ID) which will hopefully be next week. Here’s a quick look at the apartment:
The main living area as you walk in the front door.
The kitchen directly left as you walk in the door.
My one bedroom with the bathroom off to the right. As you can see I’ve already hung things up on the walls!
Did I mention the view? From the 17th floor. We’ll also ignore the fact that straight out my balcony is a construction site with lots of workers hangin out…
I had one pretty early morning this week because we had to go for some medical check ups and I got a picture of the sunrise out the front door of my building and then that same night got a snap of the sunset. It looks pretty nice!
Last night, we had the 3rd Annual Crib Crawl that Becky is in charge of. Basically, you sign up and plan to have a snack and/or drink prepared for everyone to come visit your apartment. That meant it had to be clean! We went through the different neighbourhoods and buildings to see everyone’s apartment and it was really neat! I had mimosas ready, and I even have some leftover orange juice which is awesome. I even got some comments about how home-y my apartment seemed, so that made me smile! By the time we were finished, I was exhausted from taxi-ing/walking along the planned route and I was ready to go to bed.
Here’s one picture of the Crib Crawl Crew at one apartment!
Tomorrow, there is a boat trip planned for a bunch of us and they take us around to the islands for the day. I have to be careful about making sure I remember sunscreen, food, and water! It should be a pretty fun event and I’ve already heard many stories from years past.
Well, Tuesday is the first day of school! We go on Monday for some last minute organizing, and then after that, round 3 begins!
Katie En Kolombia 