Beware of the Iguana Puppies

So I'm about 2 weeks in here in Colombia…a cool 114 left to go! Training is in full force and it's pretty intense. We start the day with 4 hours of Spanish and then continue after lunch with another 4 hours of project specific training, sprinkled with a few tips on how not to get killed or die of dysentery. Perhaps the hardest time of the day is right after lunch when I fight with all my might to stay awake -- usually with limited success -- until I manage to catch a second wind. Our lunches are catered and I still get excited about not having to eat rice for a meal without having someone ask me why I won't eat it. The diet here is unbalanced to put it lightly. It's not uncommon to be served a meal with rice, pasta, plantains, and crackers all on one plate. I almost died of diabetic shock the first time I witnessed this. However, our host families have been kind enough to cook us a sufficient amount of veggies and scale back on the grain.

Speaking of host families, mine is awesome! I have a host mother and father, two twin 19 year old sisters, a 23 year old brother, and a 25 year old sister. Also living in the house are 7 university students renting rooms because our house is really close to a few of the universities in Barranquilla. A woman who helps around the house and her 7 year old daughter, also named Karla, round out the bunch. There isn't a dull moment. There's always someone to talk to between family members, friends, and neighbors that are visiting. My room is great. I have a big double bed, a fan AND air conditioning (not many other volunteers can say the same), a closet, a full length mirror and two red walls. OW OW! On Saturday, Linda and Lupita, celebrated their 19th birthday at a club called Soho, modeled after 'clubs in new york' complete with servers dressed as 'cab drivers' with yellow blazers. I was able to fully humiliate myself on the dance floor trying to keep up with their salsa moves. Boy can Colombians dance! I've got a ways to go but I'm determined to be able to keep up with these dancing machines by the end of my two years here. I'll have to dedicate a whole post to the dancing here because it truly is a spectacle. Stay tuned.

I'm slowly working up the courage to bring out my camera. I failed to bring it to a part of town called Las Flores, where all the shacks sell fresh fish and hack at them with machetes to sell and was kicking myself for not doing so the entire time. In Las Flores they also sell shark oil. When I asked what it was for, my host mother said it was for 'la gripe'. Let's just say I won't be using shark oil to quell any flu symptoms any time soon. But I really need to man up with my camera because I'm missing some key photo ops on our morning bus rides and of places my family takes me, like the fish market. If someone tries to steal it, I'll just beg them to please leave me my memory card. That'll totally work, right?

I'll leave you with a 'Jazz Chant' that a couple volunteers wrote today during one of our training sessions that I feel adequately sums up our past few weeks here. Don't remember who exactly it was but the credit goes to them. One of our trainee managers has a fabulous Colombian accent that I could listen to for hours. The other day, when trying to warn us of iguanas pooping on our heads from our trees he mistakenly told us to 'beware of the puppies that iguanas drop on your head'. Teehee. We had a good laugh with that one. Anyway, here you go:

"Danny, Oscar, Allegra, Bill
Olga, Eder are all so chill.
Frank tells us how not to die
Our LCF's teach us how to say "Hay!"
We throw out toilet paper in the trash
We pinch our pesos cause we gots no cash.
When we eat lunch we fight off bees
And dodge iguana puppies falling from the trees.
Eat more rice, rice is nice!
Rice is nice so eat more rice!"

I packed too much.

HOLA desde Colombia!!

For those of you who may not know, after 14 months of waiting, I'm FINALLY living in Barranquilla, Colombia, training to be a Peace Corps volunteer. I'm so excited to be here and look forward to keeping you all up to date on my experience here in Colombia.

Up to this point there really isn't much to report. We've been in training sessions from 8am until 5pm every day and we're slowly getting into the rhythm of life in Colombia. All the other trainees are great; we're an entertaining group and I'm so impressed with everyone's background. I know I'll learn a lot from every one of them. Tomorrow we move in with our host families where we'll be living for the next three months during our training. I can't wait to meet them and am really hoping they have children I can play with…or a dog or something.

As most of you could imagine, I had an difficult time sticking to the baggage allowance -- only 2, 40 pound bags!! I ended up bringing 3 bags, two of which weighed 50 pounds each. I really thought that there would be at least one other person who loves shoes as much as I do, but instead I'm the idiot in Colombia lugging around three massive bags, while most of the other volunteers are cruising with their two feather-light packs. WOOPS. At the hotel in Miami, a woman in the elevator took one look at my luggage and asked with disapproving astonishment if I was moving. I told her that I was and that I liked my clothes only to find out half an hour later that she was the Peace Corps employee that would be running our orientation. Yikes. I can't wait to settle into my home stay where I can hide my bags and enjoy all the wonderful things I packed them full with.

So that's all for now! I'll try and whip out the camera these next few days so I can bring this blog to life. Cross your fingers for me in hopes that I have somewhat easy access to the internet at my home stay. Until next time, love you and miss you all!

Carla

ps. Ignore the layout. It's a work in progress.