- Sunday – As usual, my family went to Mass this morning, and then we went out. This time, we went to Buena Vista just to hang out and go to City Park, which is like an arcade for children. It was raining outside, so we couldn’t really go anywhere because of the arroyos, so we stayed there for a while until the rain passed. My sisters even somehow managed to convince me to go on the bumper cars with them, so I had fun attempting to skirt around everyone. This evening, I also made dinner for my family.
- Monday – In PST, we learned about classroom management and
heard from a counterpart in Cartagena about what we can do to be helpful in the
schools. According to our speaker, the most important things are that we have a
good attitude, smile, and work hard. Aside from that, everything is flexible.
- Tuesday – In Spanish, we listened to a song called, “Pedro
Navaja”, as a listening activity. The song was very good and I still have it
stuck in my head! We also learned about some of the characters we will see
during Carnaval, like marimondas and other typical costumes. In
technical training, we learned about assessment and co-teaching. After class, I
explored a new mall, Americano, with 2 other volunteers.
- Wednesday – This morning, we had practicum and my partner
and I helped students listen to and translate 2 songs, Change your Life and Imagine.
In Spanish, we learned about travelling in Colombia and I did my 3 Zones dinámica, which seemed to go quite well.
- Thursday – We were at the office today and started with
an, as usual, awesome resiliency session on coping skills and defining “success”
in Peace Corps service. Success in Peace Corps comes in little things. As one
person, you may not be able to change the world, but you can make a difference
in someone’s life. We also talked about Peace Corps policies and budgeting, the
latter of which was particularly useful, since most of us weren’t sure exactly
what the money they’ve been giving us is for.
- Friday – Today was the last workday for one of the most
awesome people in the Peace Corps office. Of course, he needs to go back to
Central America and his Peace Corps country and he was just here temporarily,
but no one wants him to leave. He’s a wonderful guy who’s open to anything and
has a great sense of humor. I hope he has an amazing time kayaking through the
Amazon in search of pink dolphins before he heads home. Aside from that, we
continued to learn travel words in Spanish and learned about teaching
morphology and phonology, as well as vocabulary in technical training.
- Saturday – The short version of today is that my host
sister and her husband came over and we visited for a while. They’re both
wonderful and, if it’s what she wants, my sister is going to make a wonderful
mother someday.
- If you are having trouble finding fiber supplements, bran
cereal is a good substitution. Unfortunately, bran cereal is very expensive
here, but fortunately, granola is not and frequently contains a lot of dietary
fiber. Consider switching from cereal to granola, especially when you are not
feeling well.
- For being relatively cheap, Popsy ice cream is actually quite good. I highly recommend chocolate belga, which, right now, is
definitely my favorite flavor.
- Unlike in some other Latin American countries, ice cream
made with milk is quite common here, though you can still find your favorite
fruit flavors made with water, as well.
- I may have mentioned this already, but no one travels when
it’s raining because, about 2 minutes after the beginning of anything more than
a sprinkle, there will be 1-foot-high water covering many of the streets and
serious arroyos in some parts of the
city. That means that arroyos and
rain are also a perfectly acceptable excuse to be late to just about anything.
- Power outs and problems with electricity are relatively
common, so be sure to bring a surge protector. For those who use Macs, the
white box on your charger that plugs into the wall is not a surge protector, so
you will still need to bring one.
- Make sure your computer and other things are insured for
your entire trip. A friend of mine had his computer break 3 days after his
Apple Care expired. If you don’t have insurance for your stuff already, clements.com
has a nice plan for Peace Corps volunteers.
- Único is
probably the best place to buy relatively cheap, but still quality, clothing.
However, Farabella also has really
good sales and some of the supermarkets also sell good clothing.
- I think the main supermarkets in Barranquilla are Olímpica, Éxito, Jumbo, and Carulla. Carulla and Jumbo seem to
be more expensive than Olímpica and Éxito, but I’m still working on putting
them in order.
- Submarinos are
Twinkie-like cakes filled with different creams and are relatively good if you
like Twinkies (or, like me, can’t remember the last time you had Twinkies or if
you’ve ever had them, but still like sweet things).
- Colombina hard
candies are good, but go with the coffee ones unless you really like banana.
The fruit ones had 4 flavors, but after being in the bag together, they now
have just one – banana.
- Colombina
cookies are not very good.
- Colombina
chocolate, however, is delicious, especially ChocoBreaks…like the ones filled with arequipe.
- Technically, you’re supposed to be the only
one in your family with a key to your room. Trust me, you are not the only one
in your family with a key to your room. Someone has a spare somewhere, which
actually does come in handy when you accidentally lock yourself out of your
room.
