Bienvenidos a SANTA ANA!

My HOME! I am now living in Santa Ana, Baru. It is definitely a new and different experience. I live in a dormitory with the other volunteers as well as teachers and medical students. Our rooms are at the school that I work in, called Barbacoas. We probably live in the nicest living facility in town. We don't have air conditioning or hot water and ants/other friendly bugs and reptiles run around everywhere... but we are lucky enough to have electricity and running water, unlike a lot of the town. We have tile floors and our own beds. Many families in this area have dirt floors and one room to sleep in. I feel fortunate to be living where I do. 

The school itself is the most beautiful part of town. The buildings are all open-air and mostly made from bamboo. Beautiful trees and flowers surround the school and cobblestone pathways serve as our hallways. Signs around school encourage a clean earth and healthy environment, they promote recycling and use of trash cans...

When you walk out of our lovely oasis, the environment changes quite drastically. There is trash lining the streets, animals roaming freely, dirt roads, animal poop and muddy green puddles everywhere. Although the town may not be the prettiest, the people in it are extremely happy, friendly and sincere. It is basically a rule that you have to say "buenas" or "hola" or my personal favorite,"adioooooossssss" each time you pass by a person. Music blasts on every corner... it is a small town but most definitely not a quiet one. Being the only gringos around here, we are definitely the town gossip and are intensely stared down by everyone we pass. 

Our only mode of transportation on the island is by moto-taxi. I have never rode on a motorcycle in my life and now it is the only way for me to get around. It was scary at first, but now I am comfortable and relaxed while on one. It is extremely refreshing to get on a moto and feel the strong breeze the whole way. I love it. I am, however, slightly afraid of running into a cow....

About a 15 minute ride on a moto and you will arrive at the most beautiful beach in the world.... Playa Blanca. I have already decided that when I'm feeling sad, lonely and/or depressed, this will most definitely be my happy place :)

The island is definitely one of a kind. I am looking foreword to spending a year of my life here and living in a small friendly town. Its definitely a unique experience to be able to run into your students every time you walk out of your house as well as be able to live with your coworkers. I am extremely nervous and even more excited to be able to have this experience.

I killed a chicken...

So I have always felt like if I can't kill my own food I shouldn't be eating it..... So coming here I hoped to have a chance to kill my own food, just to prove to myself that I can do it and I can justify eating meat. So there is a tienda that is across the street from where we stay in Cota, which we love to hang out at. After getting to know the woman who owned it, I told her about how I really wanted to kill a chicken. She said that I could help her do it on Saturday. The whole neighborhood knew the next day that I was going to kill a chicken. They kind of thought I was crazy (even though they have all done it before) but they loved asking me questions about it.

So Saturday arrived and I was so nervous. I thought I would chicken out (pun intended).... I kept thinking about it and telling myself "you eat this all the time.... its just like killing a bug.... the chicken is not smart enough to realize what's going on, etc..." I tried to convince myself that it was no big deal.

So the time came. She asked if I wanted to ring its neck or cut it's head off and I thought the chopping method would be easier. I know its bloody but I cannot imagine wringing its neck and feeling all the bones breaking, etc.... Blood I can deal with.

First she did it while I held the chicken. She told me to hold it tight and then she started cutting. The chicken was flapping and wriggling as she sawed off the head. It continued to flap after the head was disconnected. She actually had to grab it from me because I couldn't hold it. It was pretty bloody, but not too bad. After this, I thought I could do it.

Now, I had the knife, she was holding the chicken. I plucked off some feathers from the top of its head to make it easier to cut. "DURO" she said as I put the knife to its head. I chopped/sawed as hard as I could. I must have hit some kind of artery because this time the head fell completely to the ground and blood began spraying everywhere. The wings were flapping like crazy. I looked down on the ground at the head and it was still moving... it sadly stuck its tongue out and then closed its mouth and eyes. The chicken slowly stopped flapping and there it was. Dead. I had done it! I felt extremely liberated. I knew I could do it. I helped her pluck it and ate it for lunch, but I have to say it was  definitely not the best chicken I've ever had.... but I killed it!!!!! :)

First Week!

My first week in Colombia! I have been here for a week and it feels like a month. I have been living with a group of 35 other volunteers in a town called Cota that is right outside of Bogota, Colombia’s capitol. We are spending the first month here getting TEFL certified and then off to our sites! I am getting extremely excited and equally nervous about living here for a year and teaching English! It really still hasn’t sunk in. Colombia is even more amazing and beautiful than I had imagined. It rains everyday for a few hours but other than that it is perfect. I am loving Cota.

We have been staying incredibly busy with the training but I have been enjoying every minute of everything. I especially am enjoying the amazing Colombian coffee that is available all day…

 

Eating strange but delicious food…

Learning to Salsa…

Being surrounded by chickens (and hearing their heads get chopped off)

Practicing Spanish (very poorly) with the local Colombians….

Bogota is also absolutely gorgeous and amazing…

Overall, everything has been great. I am loving Cota and absolutely love Bogota. My Spanish is improving very slowly and I have made some great friends. I am so excited to move to Baru and start teaching but also incredibly nervous. Living here to teach for a year will be incredibly difficult and I am prepared for having some horrible times… but as for now I am most definitely in the “honeymoon” phase and loving everything