Reconnect

March 22 – March 28

     On Sunday, I came with Caitlin to our Camp GLOW meeting in Barranquilla. The meeting went well and I’m very excited for everything we’ll be doing at and preparing for camp!

     I stayed with one of the volunteers in Puerto Colombia on Sunday and Monday night and, on Tuesday, I moved into Hotel Puerto Colombia for Reconnect. Wednesday’s training was on medical and security updates, co-planning, and CII-6 volunteer experiences, which were probably the most interesting and useful. Thursday’s training was about technology and working with counterparts. And Friday, we talked about individual projects and said, “Que Dios les bendiga”, to Viviana and Olga – we’ll miss them here and we wish them the best as they begin this new chapter of their lives. Saturday, the Samarios returned home rested and motivated to get back to work.

- There’s a Middle Eastern restaurant down the street from the Berlinas in Barranquilla called Terraza Libanesa. The food is wonderful and I highly recommend it, especially if you want to stay near Berlinas. (I’m not sure I’ve mentioned this before, but the Berlinas van service is the only way volunteers are permitted to travel between cities on the Coast, so most everyone knows where the Berlinas is in each city.)

- Good places to eat in Puerto Colombia include an Italian restaurant about a block from the hotel and an Arabic/Greek restaurant over the bridge and heading out of town (still walking distance from the hotel as long as you go in a group). If you like pizza or fried chicken, there’s a place that sells both at the end of the block and another sit-down pizza place near the Italian restaurant. You kind of have to check to see what’s open and just be flexible.

- During PST, you’ll write a letter to your future self, talking about who you are, what you’re doing, and questions you have. You’ll respond to that letter at Reconnect and to both letters at COS. Think about what you want to write because the letters act as an amazing record of how much you and your life have changed throughout service.

- We got new smartphones at training…yup…we got smartphones at training. They’re really neat and some volunteers who don’t have access to Internet will now. Hopefully, we can just not get them stolen and we’ll be great.

- Trainings are, in many ways, like PST all over again. Some people are excited for a break and others don’t really want to go at first, but it’s always amazing to see everyone again. From walking together on the pier seeing the beauty of the stars and power of the ocean to ending training with our hands-in-the-middle, “1, 2, 3, PCC!” to nights just hanging out talking on the hotel’s roof, it seems like being apart really just brings you closer together.