First post

So here it goes, after 3 months of anticipation, I finally have my first blog entry! But first, a quick recap of the last three months:

            I was living with a host family in Barranquilla not really “roughing it” at all. I had my own room, bathroom, pool and Wi-Fi (more like the “Posh Corps”). During the week, we had Spanish and “costeño” culture classes. We learnt many idioms, holidays, types of food, houses, etc. On Saturday mornings we visited different areas sites of the city and practiced our Spanish or visited the mall and walked around (a favorite pass time practiced by Colombians). We had Sundays off to spend time with our families and other volunteers. In the afternoons, we had technical teaching classes that ranged from Non-formal education, creating teaching materials, teaching with limited resources (my personal favorite), and community development tools. In addition, we had many safety and security discussions, administrative meetings, and workshops by response volunteers.

It wasn't all work, we did try to dance the many dances of Colombia; cumbia, salsa, merengue, vallenato and maipale (I’m sure there are others I missed) at many local establishments. We also celebrated the local soccer team, Junior, win the Colombian championship.

On Thanksgiving, we feasted on some amazing home cooked food and we received our sites; I was placed in the town of Pasacaballos, just south of Cartagena (more on that later). In December, we were sworn in as Peace Corps volunteers to much fan fare, the mayor, district governor, the US ambassador and all kinds of media outlets. I made the newspaper, mostly because I wore a bow tie but also because I gave speech along side another volunteer. Since students were out of school we also received the 2 weeks of during Christmas and New Years. The best part of those two weeks was visiting Cartagena during New Years and celebrating with the locals on the street after watching fireworks on the almost 300 year-old city wall.

Now to the present, I moved to Pasacaballos last Sunday, along with 6 other volunteers. It's a called a “peri-urban site, its about 30-45 min bus ride to the center of Cartagena. Most of its citizens live at or below poverty level, many used to fishermen but now the main employers are the oil and energy companies right next to town. I’m living with a host family, again, Seño Socorro, her son Elian who is 12, and “Chupi”, 30 year-old cousin who helps around the house and everyone in town. My host mom has raised many kids in her young life, many call her mom, so I’m constantly asking, and “How he/she related?” My mom owns a restaurant, where I’ve been eating most of my meals, the PC pays the families a monthly stipend that covers rent, utilities and 2 meals, and I chose lunch and dinner.

As far as my assignment, I have three main goals:

• Train teachers thru co-teaching, co-planning, English teacher workshops and material development. 
• Develop English extracurricular activities for teachers of other subjects and students. 
• Support community initiatives within the field of education and youth development.

I’m volunteering at Institucion Educacional Tecnica de Pasacaballos (IET-PC) with 4 secondary school English teachers and one primary school teacher. These first two weeks are planning weeks, teachers are reviewing last year’s curriculum and reviewing new projects.

As far as my job at school, I don't have much to add since I wasn't around last year, besides the random English translation question, I’ve been observing things happen.  A few things that stand out: we begin each day with a prayer, teachers picking up their cell phones/ texting while the director is talking, teachers selling candy/chips/soda at meetings, a teacher bringing all the materials (bread, butter, ham and cheese) and appliances (3 sandwich presses and a toaster) to make sandwiches during the planning sessions in the auditorium. We had a 4th grade teacher tell us that she rubs "anointing oil " to all her students at the beginning of the year and to keep the devil away. I’ve heard similar behavior happening all over the coastal schools, not making judgments, just reporting. Once in a while, a teacher from another department will come and ask me how to pronounce a word. Also, there is the social studies student who keeps asking me to come teach her class when “I’m not doing anything”. I’m not allowed to teach a class alone and without first co-planning. Another interesting note, all students are taught to memorize "Our father" prayer in English beginning in the fourth grade.  I asked why and the teacher said "so they can learn it, they don't know what it means but they like it". I just heard we start all mornings with a prayer!  

Aside from what goes on during the planning time, my school is one of the few that actually take time to do this before the beginning of the year. In addition, all teachers get two hours of planning time during the week, which doesn't sound like much, but since most teachers have a second job many don't have time to plan classes.

After school, I’ve been walking around town with my cousin “Chupi”, getting to know the town, taking naps, and reading. This Sunday, I went to “Playa Blanca” on the island of Baru, costeños are not know for their punctuality but I figured I should be, bad choice, got up at 4:30am and left at 6:00am. After, an hour ride on a dirt road and crossing a ferry, we reached the beach and it was worth it. There was a good mix of locals and foreigners, mainly South Americans and Europeans. I spent most of the day at the beach, ate some delicious fish and got to meet more friends.

 School doesn't start for another week and I know that when it does, the anonymity I have enjoyed around town will disappear.

One last thing, here is a video that any person thinking about applying to the Peace Corps should watch. Here

Below are some pictures from the beach and "sandwich making meeting", I would have taken more but my camera got wet and I was afraid to turn it on.  

Looking at "Canal del Dique"

Our ride on the ferry. 

Obligatory domesticated animals running amok on the road. 

El Cachaco and Ibran

Playa Blanca

The crew in front of "Las Cuevas"

Putting them together.

Smells delish!