What we've been doing:
-James is almost finished with his first full month of his own classes. All of his classes are only a month long, so he'll be getting new students and new classes soon. He's liked having his own classes, but his favorite class was the first class he observed back in February. But girls ask him to go to the mall with them and try to add him on Facebook, so he's clearly pretty popular with his students, whether he likes them back or not. He's had some fun tangents...like what different types of underwear are called. And his students make some fun mistakes...like writing "mouse" for "mouth". Pretty close, right?
Blurry panorama of one of James' classes. Two of his three classes are almost at max capacity.
-I just got a job this last week and it's very...Colombian. I'm a tutor in the rich part of town for kids who go to bilingual schools. I help with their English subjects (biology, geography, etc.). It's weird but fun. The teenagers I help speak almost perfect English, so I like working with them more. A lot of the little kids don't have help with their English at home, so they struggle with it and I can't communicate with them very well. So that's rough. But it's just helping my Spanish, so I can't complain. And I get to explore the other side of town (with all the American food, I might add :)) and I'm enjoying getting out of the house.
-We both got two new church callings. We're working together as advisors to the young single adults in the ward. They don't have enough YSAs down here to have singles wards, so the JAS (jovenes adultos solteros) just have their own Sunday school class, and then we have activities every once in a while. In the Colombia way, everything we do starts hours late and it's very disorganized, but I just see that as a challenge. Ariel changing Colombia, one JAS at a time. Or they will end up changing my strict ways. Either way, I'm excited to hang out with Colombians our age.
James' 2nd calling is 1st counselor in the Sunday school. Another good calling, maybe he can change the way Colombia works too. But probably not. :) My 2nd calling is probably the last calling I would ever think I would have in the church...Primary Music Director. Uh...what?! I don't even know how to lead music, people. Or sing. Nor do I speak Spanish. Uh...what?! But I am actually really excited about it. I wanted to learn Spanish from kids, and now I have that opportunity.
Fun experiences:
-Last night, the JAS put on a barbeque. Or the bishopric did? Super confusing night. Originally, it was supposed to be a barbeque for the JAS to raise money to go to the Bogota temple (20 hour bus ride, total of 6 days in Bogota), but then someone mentioned that the bishopric was throwing the party and the bishop pretty much did everything. So we're still not sure what happened last night. But let me paint a picture of the night for you:
4:50 - Ariel and James arrive, knowing that most of the people will probably be late to set up. ("Late" being 10 minutes before the event starts, hopefully). The bishop and one of the four JAS leaders are the only ones there. Music and chairs are the only things that have been set up. Truly, at this point we were actually impressed that things had been somewhat set up.
5:00 - Start of barbeque. No one is here.
5:30 - Few ward members filter in, still no JAS. I'm starting to get concerned that no one has showed up with any food?
6:00 - More ward members, 2 or 3 JAS. Still no mention of any food.
6:30 - Most ward members are here (1 1/2 hour late, let's remember), dance music starts up. Uh, are we eating at this thing?
7:00 - Three older couples in our ward have a dance off. Pretty great.
7:15 - Everyone is on their feet dancing, including the gringos. We were pressured and we definitely embarrassed ourselves. But it was fun. But uh...super hungry now and...don't we still need to cook the food?
7:30 - Colombian hermanas try to teach me how to salsa, meringue, and champeta. The moves all look the same to me and I am incapable of doing any of them. But I certainly had a good time being the awkward-moving gringa, not sarcastically. It really was a good time.
7:45 - We finally get some answers from the JAS...food has not even been started. What?! But the ward members are still enjoying dancing, so...I guess we're OK?
8:00 - Finally start preparing and cooking the food. Thin pieces of beef and sausages. Potatoes have luckily already been cooked.
James and the bishop barbequing. James cropped the picture this way because he wanted you to get a feel of the "ambience" of our church's outdoors.
8:15 - Me and one of the mom's start bossing people around and finally start getting some food up to people.
9:00 - Only 3/4 of the people have been fed. People are finally starting to get angry.
9:15 - Last person finally gets a plate of food...James and I attack our plates and wolf down everything in 5 minutes.
Now we know what to expect from a Colombian church activity. And next time, we will eat beforehand. And I will practice my salsa, meringue, and champeta.
- First Primary sharing time goes pretty smoothly. After 2 weeks of being constantly nervous, learning 5 songs in Spanish, learning enough Spanish to be able to explain games and tell the kids to sit down, etc., it is finally over. I feel so much better now, and I'm really excited for the weeks to come!
- One of the Young Women in the ward keeps wearing a shirt that says "Here Comes the Son". I don't know if they just used the wrong son/sun, but whether it's on purpose or accident, I really like it.
Differences between Colombia and the states:
-Buses. Vendors come onto the buses and try to sell water, snacks, cure-alls, snake oil, etc. No matter what they are selling, they put it into your hands and then walk back and either collect the items back, or collect your money. I guess it's a good selling strategy?
The buses here have helper guys that try to get more people on the bus and take your bus money. That is literally their only job. I kind of want this job.
-The missionaries in James' mission always joked about the chicken in Chile. They had a brand called Super Pollo, but they referred to all chicken as Super Pollo because they pump up the chickens with hormones and then weird stuff happens to your body after you eat it. James left for his mission with minimal body hair, and returned with maximum body hair. Super Pollo. We can't confirm that Colombia has the same thing going on, but I have a 5 o'clock shadow on my legs at about noon the same day that I shave. Not really, but almost. So James and I are even more monkeyish now. Yay!
- The men here wear VERY girly backpacks. I'm talking pink flowers, Hello Kitty, Barbie, etc. We have no idea why. We have seen generic black backpacks so...why?
- It is so blazing hot here that in parking lots with a lot of motorcycles, there is a designated person to place cardboard over the seat of your motorcycle. Another job that I would willingly take.
-I forgot to mention one of the most common fashion statements: Skin-tight leggings that are stretched so tight that they are completely see-through.
-There are no diet drinks here. They have "zero" drinks, but no "diet" or "caffeine free".
-My boss's 5-year-old daughter was watching a music video with a naked Shia LaBeouf and...whoever the singer was? Maybe you know the one. Well, a 5-year-old was watching that in a place of business.
We have now been here for so long that we are running out of crazy Colombian things to talk about. We have either already been over it, or we just don't notice it because we are Colombians. I have largely forgotten what good American food tastes like, which makes my standard of living better than it was before. I just can't visit America while we live here or I will have to start all over!
People around here sometimes recognize us now, so I feel like we don't get treated like tourists as much, which also really helps. We are enjoying our life here, and we will hopefully have more to blog about as summer starts! Spoiler alert: it will probably be mostly about the heat and humidity.
Until next time!
