More costeño weeks

August 2 – August 15

     There were no classes on Monday. On Thursday, classes were cancelled in the morning due to a lack of water at the school. In the afternoon, I went on a surprise trip with one of my counterparts to another school for emprendimiento (entrepreneurship, which is taught in many schools here) training. Friday, we celebrated the Battle of Boyacá, so surprise, there were no classes. On Sunday, there was no water or electricity at my house for most of the day and my English class was cancelled. On the upside, I had lots of time to do other things, like cook, do laundry, catch up on work, and rest. I also had a chance to visit with a few volunteers who were in Santa Marta on Saturday, so that was quite lovely.

- If someone at your school can let you know when classes are cancelled, try to get on their email, phone call, or WhatsApp list. Especially if you live far away from your school, this will make your life much easier.

- Having no water or electricity makes me extremely thankful for battery-powered alarms and being able to sleep on the floor. Do bring a battery-powered alarm clock (or something else that works for that purpose) and don’t bring anything to sleep on the floor (unless you really want to), but do acquire something culturally appropriate for sleeping on the floor (yoga mat, camping sleeping mat, bamboo mat, etc.) once you get to your site if you happen to be somewhere extremely hot.

- When the power goes out and houses here get really hot, Colombians tend to hang out in places that have air conditioning, like malls. Of course, we live in a city, so if you’re in a pueblo, somewhere in the shade can also work quite well. If you’re in a pueblo, I hope that the people you live with also thought to have well-ventilated, cooler houses. Considering the number of times we have power outs even in the city, samarios probably should have thought of that, too, and many did…before concrete became popular…

Project Management and Leadership

July 26 – August 1

     This week was our Project Management and Leadership training, which we attended with a counterpart to work on developing our projects. I stayed with our Minca volunteer in Rodadero and enjoyed a hot shower and air conditioning the night before training and then we travelled together to Centro Recreacional Turipaná, where our training was held. The campus was beautiful and seeing everyone was wonderful. After creative, productive days in training, we’d get together to swim, visit, and laugh. We planned new projects and developed ideas, while learning about leadership styles, writing objectives, assessing needs, and creating budgets. Following that adventure, I stayed with several other volunteer’s at the Tubará volunteer’s house, where we ate good food and continued to enjoy each other’s company before heading home the following day.

- The students here love playing learning games, partially because they are so unusual. We played a memory game with 3^rd grade to practice English words for school supplies and they were very enthusiastic. School supplies are laid out on a table and students have 1 minute to look at everything there. Then, they turn to face the back of the room, while the teacher removes and hides 1 object. Students turn back around and raise their hand to guess which object is missing. They were very good at the game and seemed to enjoy learning in a different way.

- I am proud to say that I can actually pull water out of our well in an emergency. I know, that’s such a small thing, but it’s an important thing to be able to do here. I came home from training to an empty house and no water, so I hauled the thick concrete slab off the top of our well and pulled out water. Another important thing I learned in the process is that, if there is water available to the house, there’s a switch that turns it on and off, which is also good to know. So, in case you are ever home and the water goes out, make sure you know where to get water and how to turn the water back on once it becomes available.

¡Feliz Día de la Independencia!

July 19 – July 25

     Happy Colombian Independence Day! That’s July 20^th, by the way. In 1810, patriots in Bogotá stirred the people into protests that led to a temporary independence that later became permanent. These protests occurred shortly after similar demonstrations had taken place in Quito and Caracas, with varying levels of success, though Cartagena and other regions in Colombia had, by this point, already declared independence from Spain. Essentially, this day is a bit more complicated than America’s Independence Day, but it is a day to be celebrated, nevertheless. ¡Que viva Colombia!

- English class with the tour guides in the Centro was cancelled, so I ended up helping tourists find things, instead – mostly the nearest supermarket and ATM. Even having things cancelled tends to end up leading to some other adventure and I’m glad I could help.

- It rained on Thursday! “The sounds of rushing water and pounding thunder were so beautiful…” Then, the weather was slightly cooler on Saturday, a welcome effect of evening storms.

A very Colombian day...

July 12 – July 18

 

     The following is my journal entry from Thursday, which reflects a perfectly Colombian day – it’s not every day I have a chance to wait quite this much, have quite this many things cancelled, and am still happy about how the day went! “This morning, I went to school to find classes had been cancelled for an assembly introducing each grade’s soccer team. I stayed to watch and the presentation was very neat, especially from the two 5^th grade classes. Then, I went to Buenavista, which was closed, so I went home. In the afternoon, I went back to school to find there were still no classes, so I walked to Buenavista again. This has been a good, Colombian day.”

     On a more productive note, on Sunday, I went to my school to help assemble trashcans made of recycled plastic bottles, which was fun. All the bottles were clean and about the same size, so we poked holes in the ends and sides of them and strung them all together horizontally and vertically with wire to make cylinders in which to put trash bags. We had between 5 and 10 students and we only managed to finish one because they’re a lot of work, but maybe we’ll make more in the future.

- I went to lunch with a former Peace Corps volunteer who happened to be in town and that was wonderful! Being able to keep in touch with former volunteers is awesome and I’m so glad I was able to visit with her and walk around Santa Marta with her for a while.

- This week, I gave a quick re-explanation of what I do as a Peace Corps volunteer for most of my counterparts and then we had time to make materials for English classes for the rest of the year. I appreciate the school administration’s giving me time to do this, since teachers likely won’t have a chance to make materials or spend much time just on English class outside of school.

- After school one day, I walked with a 5^th grader almost to her house near Buenavista, just because we happened to be going the same way. Talking with her was nice and that’s quite a walk, so I’m glad I could accompany her. I don’t often feel like I know my students particularly well, since I work in a bunch of different classes and usually just once a week with each class, so having that opportunity to visit with just one student was good.

- There’s a new farmer’s market closer to my school than the other one. Did I mention how much I love farmer’s markets and being able to fill my backpack with fresh fruits and vegetables for less than 20,000 pesos?

- I’ve also started taking an online class on service learning from Roots & Shoots, which is Jane Goodall’s youth environmental action program. The class is free and I love learning things, so I thought I’d give it a shot. Hopefully, this training will help me be a better volunteer here and a better teacher in the future. I highly recommend finding ways to keep learning things while you’re a Peace Corps volunteer. You’re learning anyway, just by being in a new culture, and you likely have tons of free time at this point in your service, so why not take your education to the next level and actively seek out new things to learn?

Back to School

July 5 – July 11

     And, we’re back at school. I’m finally starting to plan groups and projects with counterparts in high school and, hopefully, we’ll soon have a women’s empowerment group, Samigas, and an environmental awareness and action group, Verde Mi Ciudad, going at the school. English classes were interesting this week, too – 1^st grade listened to Old MacDonald to learn about animals and 5^th grade read a short story, The Magic Backpack, to learn school supplies. I think everyone feels refreshed after the break, so hopefully, now we’ll really start to get stuff done!

- One of the most effective ways to encourage students to join out-of-school or during-school groups is by going to each classroom and presenting the group and its purpose to the students. This is a thousand times easier with a counterpart, since even if you do speak Spanish, your counterpart speaks Spanish that the students will understand and react to, making people more likely to join your group. Having a counterpart also make the project sustainable, so they can continue meeting after you return to the United States.

- And even before you present your idea in classes, you’ll need to write a proposal to the school’s principal. Fortunately, official-looking documents aren’t the norm here, so if your proposal is well thought out, well written, and looks professional, you likely won’t have much trouble getting approval.

- If you’re in town, La Pizzería Italiana Gourmet is an excellent pizza place in the Centro. It’s not the cheapest, but the pizzas are big and delicious. We went there to celebrate a volunteer’s birthday and had a wonderful time visiting and enjoying great food.

- “Espero que sí, creo que no.” I hope so, but I think not.

Camp GLOW

June 28 – July 4

     Yay, camp! This week was Peace Corps Colombia’s Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) 2015. We had an amazing week and watching our campers’ confidence in themselves increase over just these few days has been an amazing experience. I was a co-counselor for the Blue Diamonds group and was able to lead discussions on community service and professional development. We had other charlas on leadership, self-esteem, gender, general health, and sexual health and rights, too. We went on a nature walk, swam at Pozo Azul, and explored La Victoria, the coffee finca up the road. We had large group games, morning yoga and zumba, discussion time with a panel of successful women professionals, a talent show, and of course, a beautiful campfire. Campers were already leaders when they came, and they left with the skills and confidence to use their talents to start projects in their communities. What a truly beautiful experience…

- GLOW was amazing. And there are GLOW, HERO, and BRO camps, as well as others, at Peace Corps posts all over the world. Wherever you are, apply and go, if you can. It’s an experience you’ll never forget.

- Happy USA Independence Day! Though I honestly spent most of the day sleeping after coming home exhausted from Camp GLOW, I was happy to think (and dream) about all the red, white, and blue, fireworks, patriotic music, and happy, outdoor celebrations going on at home. Happy Birthday, America!

- Typical Colombian parties involve sharing food, dancing, drinking, and sitting in a circle outside in plastic chairs, while listening to loud music and conversing when the music isn’t too loud. The plastic chairs are very important and are practically a symbol of Colombian culture. I thought we used them a lot in the US, but I clearly had no idea how much they could be used. Also, the host usually serves the food to guests, rather than leaving it out for people to take, like we do. You can certainly say, “yes,” when someone offers you alcohol, but if you say, “yes,” once, be prepared to be gently pushed to continue saying, “yes,” quite a few more times! I went to a volunteer’s birthday party on Saturday and was excited to see a few people from Camp GLOW, as well as other volunteers and the birthday girl’s Colombian friends and host family. Parties often go from 2000 to 0500, but I just stayed for a little while, still quite tired from an awesome week at camp.

Love

June 21 – June 27

     This was a very important week in the United States and June 26, 2015, will likely go down in history. Rarely do I comment on US news here, and I won’t really comment this time, either, except to say that, on Friday, the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage. National landmarks were lit with rainbow lights and people celebrated across the country. Then, on Saturday, two of my friends back home were married. And, of course, June 21, was Father’s Day. Happy Father’s Day, Daddy! Regardless of anyone’s political views, what a beautiful week this has been for love.

- Sometimes, buses or taxis or motorcycles just stop running. That usually means there’s some sort of transportation strike. Luckily, multiple types of transportation don’t usually strike at the same time, so you’ll almost always have a way to get places. Monday, there was a bus strike (or, at least, I assume so, since there were no buses running), so I walked to school – it was a lovely walk and the streets weren’t as busy as usual, so that was nice, too.

- I watched a movie called, The Next Three Days, which was awesome and extremely suspenseful. It was filmed mostly in Pittsburgh, the city closest to where I live in the United States. Without giving away the plotline, toward the end of the movie, the family whose perspective we followed fled to Venezuela, which I thought looked a lot like the Coast of Colombia. I watched the credits and was thrilled to learn that they were actually in Cartagena and Taganga, Colombia. Pittsburgh and the Colombian Caribbean Coast – my home and my new home. What an awesome coincidence.

- Forms, forms, so many forms. I filled out my vacation request form for Christmas and did my VRF this week. Try to have forms, especially vacation forms, filled out as far in advance as possible, especially since you need to have your time approved before you buy plane tickets!

- “Es amor, es amor, es amor, es amor, es amor.” ~ Somos Dos, Bomba Estéreo

¡Feliz Día del Estudiante!

June 14 – June 20

     My goodness, there are a lot of holidays here! On Wednesday, we celebrated Students’ Day. Students wrote cards to each other with encouraging messages and, at the end of the day, a magician came to perform for everyone in primary school. Following the show, we had a dance off among the students and, because we are in Colombia, it was amazing to see how many of them really know how to move!

     Aside from that, it’s neat to see how people celebrate soccer here like we celebrate football in the United States. Several times, I’ve seen people outside someone’s house, sitting around a TV in plastic chairs, all wearing tricolor (yellow, blue, and red – Colombian flag colors), and cheering on Colombia’s national soccer team. I believe the Copa América is going on right now and the game-watching parties and cheering I can hear sometimes from my window remind me of the Super Bowl.

- I’m very excited to say that I just got my MUSA dress and it fits great! A volunteer in one of the pueblos is helping a co-operative of women improve advertising for their sewing business, MUSA. He asked if any of the volunteers in our group wanted a dress made and, excited to support another volunteer’s project, I said, “yes.” I found soft, green fabric and a dress I wanted to have copied and gave the volunteer those things plus a note thanking the women for their work. They finished quickly and now I have a very inexpensive, beautiful handmade dress.

- Happy Birthdays and Happy Father’s Day to my US family! I hope you’re having a wonderful time celebrating June!

- We had another Camp GLOW meeting in Puerto Colombia. Camp is coming up fast and I’m so excited for all the things I’ll be helping with!

Resources

June 7 – June 13

     On Tuesday of this week, the mayor came to Sede 1 to present us with several hundred new tablets for the school. The ceremony was a big deal and lots of families, students, and teachers were present. Government officials and school administrators spoke. Successful athletes from our school shook hands with the mayor and, after the ceremony, we celebrated the Colombian way, with lots of music! Students from our school performed traditional dances (cumbia) and singers from the community had everyone dancing to their urban songs and raps. My school appears to have a lot of wonderful technological resources. I hope we have a chance to incorporate them into our teaching…

- If you’ve never tried pitahaya (dragonfruit), you definitely should. You just cut off the ends of the yellow outside, cut down the middle, and scoop out the translucent fruit with the black seeds. It’s a beautiful and delicious fruit. It’s also great if your digestive system isn’t working so well, which my host family reminds me every time I bring home a pitahaya from the farmer’s market. “No, Mom, I’m fine – I just like dragonfruit.”

- If you have the opportunity, try to help other volunteers with their projects. I helped the volunteer at the school near my house work at his granja on Saturday and had so much fun! I spent most of the time filling bags with sawdust/rice compost, while answering American culture questions students asked me. Yay, Goal 2!

- Peace Corps Colombia has a number of committees volunteers can join, including ones for Gender in Development, Diversity, and Health and Environment. I’m on the Gender in Development committee, which is the one that helps with camps like Camps GLOW and HERO, and all of the committees work on different project and help make service more productive and interesting by bringing together a group of people interested in the same types of projects. So, if you have the time (and trust me, you will), consider joining a committee.

Painting in Monte Cristo

May 31 – June 6

     Over the weekend, I was in Minca helping the volunteer there paint one of her school’s campuses, in Monte Cristo, which was about a 45-minute walk up the mountain from her town. The school is about 1.5 rooms – a classroom and a “technology” room – and a patio with a not-quite-finished-yet bathroom and an open area to play or do just about anything that requires an open space outside. We met my friend’s counterpart at the school and figured out that we would paint the outside of the building and inside of the classroom. Slowly, more and more people showed up from the community and soon, we had a lot of help! In fact, we had so much help that the whole school was painted in 4 hours. This. Is. Peace Corps.

https://oistecolombia.wordpress.com/2015/08/11/fresh-coat/

     On another successful note, oh my goodness, I finally have a planning schedule with teachers at my school! Setting up times to plan with teachers has been kind of a mess, but this week, I got as much planning done as I could with the teachers in 1^st through 3^rd grade. Some of us just got through this month, but others got as far as October! Now, let’s see how many of our plans we can carry out.

     Happy Birthday to me! I feel like I’ve been celebrating my Birthday all week! My US mom keeps sending me adorable e-cards and I made brownies to share with everyone at our host family meeting on Saturday – the meeting was canceled, but I still found ways to share my Birthday brownies with people! On top of that, my US parents had a cake and a soft Birthday bear sent to my house and my neighbors sang “Happy Birthday” to me.

- The best projects are created and spearheaded by Colombians, which is probably why my friend’s project in Monte Cristo went so well. All she had to do was make sure the supplies got from Minca to the school. The main campus bought the supplies and the community did most of the painting. Applause to everyone in Minca and Monte Cristo for a job very, very well done!

- I may have mentioned this before, but although Colombia’s international mail system isn’t very good, their national mail system is. My parents sent me birthday presents and cake from companies in Santa Marta and everything got to my house exactly when it was supposed to. So, if a loved one or friend back home wants to send you something, consider suggesting that they use a local company to do so, if such a company exists at your post.

- There are three kinds of cake in Colombia – cake, tres leches cake, and pound cake. The first one is not good, so ignore that. The second two are amazing. Don Jacobo, the company that made my birthday cake, makes amazing pound cakes – the one my parent’s sent me was as big as the cake my mom usually makes for my birthday, but took twice as long to eat because it was so rich! And tres leches cake is also rich and delicious and definitely not something to be missed in Colombia!

1st Site Visit

May 24 – May 30

     Happy Pentecost! Sunday of this week was a special religious day for those who speak multiple languages, since that’s the day Catholics celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, which allowed them to speak the Word of God in many different languages. The celebration here, like most places, was a quiet one, but knowing I’m now one of those people who can communicate in more than one linguistic culture was exciting and made me feel blessed.

     Thursday was my first site visit, which means that someone from the Peace Corps office came to see how my projects are going and how life is in my site. We started at school and met with my principal, as well as several teachers, so he could re-explain what my job is and what I can do as a Peace Corps volunteer. I definitely appreciated his ability to explain my purpose without committing me to a million more things, while still saying that I could do more than what I’m currently doing for them. We went to Vital, a vegetarian restaurant in town, for lunch, and then stopped by Wiwa Tour to have roughly the same conversation, but more informally. Now, I’m excited for everything and I hope I’ll get more projects going soon.

- Hummus: In a food processor (or bowl, if you’re going to mash it), combine cooked chickpeas, olive oil, garlic, lime juice, salt and pepper, all to taste. Blend, adding water until your hummus reaches a consistency you like. You can also add roasted red pepper or paprika or anything else you like.

- Costeños Saludables is a Facebook page and a blog run by a Peace Corps volunteer who lives on the Coast of Colombia. She has lots of amazing recipes that use locally available ingredients. Some of those recipes include limonada de coco ice cream, chocolate pancakes, and chewy chocolate coco cookies. The link to her blog is this: https://costenossaludables.wordpress.com .

- Remember how I mentioned personal goals earlier? Well, this week, for the first time ever, I jogged a mile without stopping to walk or take a break. That’s such a little accomplishment compared to my friends who run six miles every day, but it’s a big deal for me. Like with everything in Peace Corps, little successes make the biggest difference.

- While we’re talking about little happy moments, this week was full of them. We have a new teacher in second grade and she seems nice and very capable. A stranger on the street said, “Dios te bendiga”, to me as we passed. One of my teaching counterparts introduced me to a potential counterpart for environmental projects. And the person who came from the office for my site visit said the restaurant we went to for lunch had some of the best vegetarian food he’d eaten.

- Green bean fries: Wash and trim as many green beans as you’re going to use. Set up your breading stations in three bowls. Put ½ cup flour, salt, and pepper in the first bowl. Put 2 eggs in the second bowl. Put 1½ cups bread crumbs, onion or garlic powder, and cayenne or red pepper flakes in the third bowl. Roll each green bean through bowls 1 through 3 and place on a buttered sheet. Bake at 220 degrees C or 425 degrees F for 15 minutes.

- Garlic dipping sauce for green bean fries: Combine ¼ cup light mayonnaise, sour cream, cream cheese, or Greek yogurt with chopped, roasted garlic, olive oil, mustard, salt, and pepper.

In-Service Technical Training

May 17 – May 23

     I went to school on Monday only to find out there was no school because Monday was a festivo, which was fine with me, since I knew I’d be spending the rest of the week at training, anyway. Training was informative and a nice way to take a break from Colombian culture and being “on” all the time, while introducing our school counterparts to our “American with a dash of Colombian” culture. We talked about Peace Corps’ objectives and how to fix problems at our schools through communities of practice, as well as 21^st century skills (considered important for all students to be successful in work and life in the modern day), and how to teach using centers. We had some time to plan our own projects, too, which was productive – even if the project my counterpart and I planned doesn’t actually happen, at least she’ll have some new ideas for teaching “school” words in English for the future. The last day, we went over project-based learning and classroom management. The counterparts were done then and the volunteers stayed to discuss changes to our travel policy, which recently got a bit stricter and more confusing. And of course, the best part was just visiting and hanging out together – I’m so glad I got to see everyone and they’re all doing well.

- My Colombian church’s patron saint is María Auxiliadora, who is apparently a very common patron of churches around here. We celebrated her feast day on Saturday starting at 0500 with a procession, a Rosary, and Mass.

- Watching our counterparts’ reactions to the appearances and, especially, skin tones and ethnicities of some of our volunteers was fascinating and wonderful, knowing that we were expanding their idea of what an American looks like. Many of the counterparts seemed to come with the idea that Americans were White with different colors of hair and eyes. But our volunteers are of many backgrounds and some are even native Spanish speakers. My counterpart even whispered to me asking if one of our volunteers (who is bilingual and of Mexican heritage) was the principal of her school because she was so well spoken in Spanish. Peace Corps’ Goal 2 is to bring American culture to the people we serve, so it made me feel good to know that, just by existing, we’re expanding our counterparts’ ideas about who we are as a country and culture

Happy Mother’s Day!

May 10 – May 16

     ¡Feliz Día de la Madre! I’m so excited to be able to celebrate this year’s Mother’s Day at home with my American mother and family. In the morning, we went to Mass (in English!) and when the priest asked a group of little kids who they loved, one little boy raised his hand and said, “My mother,” receiving a laughter-filled round of applause from the parishioners. Later, we went to see Avengers 2 and eat Chinese food. I also gave my mother a cross-stitch project I had been working on in Colombia.

     The following day, I joined my mother for brunch with a group of her (and my) friends. It’s been a while since I’ve seen so many of the people from my hometown and it was nice to catch up with everyone. In the evening, my family watched a movie together (Selma, which was very real and quite good), which we had to finish the next day because the power went out. I liked knowing that power outs in my American home cause no problems in the short term and, though not as expected as it would be in Colombia, are actually enjoyed just because they are unusual and give us a chance to light candles and sit around the living room and talk.

     My last day in the United States for a while was mostly spent packing and just being outside. I played my recorder, and watched birds fly by and turkeys and bunnies run through our yard. And, of course, I hugged my family a million times. Colombia, here I come! I got this (I think…)!

- Miami airport is shaped like a horseshoe. I got really lost and had to go through security twice, so hopefully, knowing that it shaped like a ‘U’ will help me not get lost next time.

- If you’re traveling through the airport, know that there is a tax for leaving Colombia (that is likely included in your ticket price, but check regardless), but not for entering the country.

Home for Graduation

May 3 – May 9

     Greetings from the United States! This week, I had the wonderful opportunity to go home and attend my brother’s college graduation. The flights were long, totaling a day of over 12 hours from Santa Marta to Bogotá to Miami to Pittsburgh, but I met new travel friends and enjoyed exploring the airports along the way. Seeing my mom, dad, brother, and other friends and family was almost surreal, especially meeting my parents at the airport.

     I then spent the week running errands, meeting with friends, and spending time with my family. We did a lot of shopping and even stopped by our local farmer’s market. I did a few Goal 3 things, like make arroz con coco and agua panela for my family, and I admired many aspects of US culture, especially astounding customer service and my family’s ability to walk around outside safely after dark.

     Graduation was very American (as is every graduation) and I was excited to be able to find my brother amid all the similarly dressed graduating students on the floor of his university’s convention center. I am so proud of all that he has done and I cannot wait to see what he will do next! Congratulations, Class of 2015!

- My flights from Santa Marta to Pittsburgh may have made for a long day, but booking the flights was easy, since one of the benefits of being a Peace Corps volunteer is that you have access to SATO, the travel agency that helps members of the military and other government employees travel around the world. The people at SATO are extremely helpful and even gave me several itineraries, so the day would be as little of a headache as possible.

- Going home? Don’t forget Goal 3! Of course, you will tell family and friends lots of stories, but take the opportunity to bring stuff home from your host country, too. In addition to your stories, that could be food (though keep customs rules in mind) and souvenirs or even recipes and local cultural traditions (like dancing).

- Agua panela: agua + panela + jugo de limón. Everything is “to taste,” so you will want to figure out your own ratio for water to panela to lime juice. Also, I brought panela from Colombia, since I could probably buy it somewhere in my area, but I do not know where.

- US customer service is amazing! Some places in Colombia also have wonderful customer service, but here, it seems to be almost universal. Everywhere I went, I could not help but appreciate how much people were doing to help me (or anyone around me).

- Don’t forget to keep your US cards updated! For example, I needed a new debit card so, while I was in the country, I got a new one. That was one of my examples of amazing customer service – my bank got the card in the mail to my house quickly and it arrived before I left. So, check expiration dates on your cards to make sure they will still work when you get home.

- I have also begun to appreciate the opportunity to be safely outside after dark. In my Colombian city, by the time the Sun sets (around 1830-1900), I am usually in my house and make it a point not to go out again, unless I am meeting friends somewhere to eat or see a movie or something like that. In that case, I would always take a bus before 2000 and a taxi after that, being careful to call taxis, rather than hail them off the street, if I was returning home around midnight. Being able to walk outside after dark is a blessing not everyone has, so I was glad to be outside at any time of day at home in the US.

- Another aspect of American culture that seems to me slightly more common in my home country than on the Coast of my host country is that we are frequently very kind to strangers. I have met many nice Colombians who will help you figure out where you are going, explain something you do not understand, or even just want to stop and talk. However, the extent to which Americans go to help strangers sometimes surprises me. My mom and I were grocery shopping, when we noticed that an elderly gentleman had hurt himself on the bathroom door. We stopped and helped him cover the bleeding and, soon, a few more people were around us, getting paper towels and the manager, so he could bring a first aid kit. It was nice to see so many people stopping to help a stranger.