Happy Halloween!

Teaching our students the crazy American Halloween traditions at the Language Institute.
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TRANSLATION OF THE DAY
"Trick or Treat" = "Tricky Tricky"

Euromundo...

Bienvenidos a todos las nuevas @ trainees!

Ahorita, somos 6 en Barranquilla: Alemania, Suiza, Polonia, Italia, República Checa y EEUU.

Leave it to Halloween...

...to hit me with a pretty nasty bout of homesickness.


I miss you guys a lot.

Simon Cowell for a day...

All of the extraneros from UNINORTE were invited to Puerto Colombia (small town about 5km from B'Quilla) for the day to help judge the 7th Annual Atlantico English Song Festival. Middle school and high schools students from colegios all around the departemento Atlantico came to perform in the talent show. The Coliseo was packed with supportive family and friends. The idea behind the festival has been to encourage students to learn foreign languages through music, something that they are into already, and make it more fun than just sitting in a classroom.

Alex, Steve, Adele, Roger, Patrycja and I spent the morning listening to a little Red Hot Chili Peppers, Avril Lavigne, Carole King, ABBA, Evanescence, I will Survive, a crazy music video inspired dance routine to My Humps during the intermission, Elton John performed by a guy who we thought would be much more suited to perform Outkast, two renditions of My Heart Will Go On (one would have been more than enough...), and an award winning (slightly more Jamaican-styled than one would expect) performance of Red Red Wine by two middle school guys who we all swore looked older than us.

As we were judging the contestants, arguing over final scores, and handing out trophies, we mused over the idea that we could be judging the next Shakira.... yes, the concert is only a couple weeks ago.... we are getting excited :)

no es mas que un reflejo de mis pensamientos...

I finally made it home Wednesday morning, a day later than planned, but more well-rested than expected. Cancelled buses in this country no longer surprise me, and it was nice to have an excuse to spend an extra day in Medellín winding down from an intense week. Attending another AIESEC conference here in Colombia was great; stretching it into an 8-day vacation to travel around Antioquia made it even better.

Even though TDM was a regional conference and I *technically* should have been in Santa Marta for the weekend, I applied to the conference in the West Zone, the farthest one from the coast. It was an excuse to see another city that I had heard so many great things about (yay Manizales!), but even more than that, it was an excuse to spend some time with some of my best friends in Colombia.

Even though my entire being in Colombia goes back to AIESEC, I had been feeling lately as if something was missing from my life…AIESEC. The people who I hang out with and the work I do on a daily basis are great, but they are completely removed from AIESEC. It may sound ridiculous (well, at least to non-@ers), but I started to realize how much I missed having people around me in my day-to-day life who are as passionate about AIESEC as I am. Granted, so many of my friends at home didn’t understand exactly why it was such a huge deal to me, but the more that I threw myself into the org. last year, the more I found myself surrounded with @ people. It has taken awhile for me to figure out exactly how AIESEC still fits into my life now that I am no longer an active member of an LC or surrounded by a team working toward similar goals…which is how I found myself on the International Opportunities Specialist team of AIESEC US. It has become a perfect transition from the work that I did last year working with trainee reception, event planning, and attending AXLDS to my life here in Colombia. Since I returned from Colombia, everyone around me knew that I wouldn’t stop talking about the country. I wanted a chance to share what I had discovered with more people…and now I can. I have tons of work ahead of me, but the more I do, the more ideas I come up with and I am ready to take the project on.

TDM was exactly what I needed to reenergize, refocus, and spark my passion for AIESEC again. Reconnecting with friends who I met while at two different international conferences in South America is surreal. The look that I saw on the faces of people who didn’t know I would be attending the conference, or even that I was back in Colombia, was priceless. Thursday evening I went out for drinks with Lucas, Diana, Cata, and Andres after we arrived to Manizales. As I looked around the table, I saw some of my closest friends, people who believed in me, and were a huge part of the reason that I am back in Colombia. Yes, AIESEC is about developing leadership and professional experience abroad, but some of the greatest impact comes through in the friendships that you make. I can’t even begin to describe the feeling of having a familiar face meet you at the bus station or the difference that it makes to crash on the couch of a friend in a foreign country rather than in a hostel.

Networking was huge this weekend, and definitely a good start for my IOS research. After emailing back and forth with JuanK, the MCVP of exchange in Colombia (and former LCP of UNINORTE), we finally met and were able to swap thoughts about exchange in Colombia. We bonded over B’Quilla stories of arroyos and Puerto Colombia…how ugly and industrial the city really is, but how much we loved it anyway. It’s a one-of-a-kind place. There were quite a few trainees there from all over Colombia; it was fun to hang out with them, compare stories, and skip out on the *boring* sessions with the excuse that “we’re trainees and need to see the village of Chinchina and visit a coffee finca rather than discuss LC structure”.

One of the best sessions of the weekend was one that Andres led on “what to do with our trainees”, which was definitely a productive, constructive learning experience for both the trainees and the @ers. My experience here so far has been that way too often trainees complain when things don’t go perfectly, but rarely do they take advantage of actually taking steps to improve them.

Ahhhhh, and the Spanish practice!! AXLDS - almost completely in English. ConoSur - all in Spanish, but even though I could understand most of what was going on (despite the crazy Argentine accent), I couldn’t contribute anything. TDM, however, was a different story. This was the first conference that I have facilitated anything (granted it was only a learning circle, not an official session, but still…) and the first time that I have spoken during the closing plenary of a conference…and I did both of these in Spanish. Not a huge deal, but felt pretty damn good.

I finally made a decision about my winter break travel plans. I’m not going back to Argentina, at least not during this vacation. Even though a part of me is disappointed…I love Buenos Aires and still have every intention of returning as soon as I can to see more of that beautiful country…when I listen to my head and my heart, I know it is the right decision. Practical reason? There is no way I can justify the cost of the trip, when the overpriced, holiday season airfare alone is equivalent to about a month and a half's salary. Reason that I didn’t just say screw it and fork over the plastic? I don’t want to leave Colombia for that long. Call me crazy, but if I am going to be "away from home" for the holidays, I want to spend Christmas and New Years in a place that now feels like home. Hopefully I can make it to Cali and/or Manizales for the holiday festivals, but no matter where I end up, I am having way too damn much fun traveling within this country to leave…

Just gonna keep rolling with it and see how this adventure plays itself out…

bringing Madtown to B'Quilla...

My roommates and I will be hosting the final stop of the so-called traveling Halloween party next weekend. If the weather and the porteros cooperate, it will be on the rooftop of our building, which provides one of the most amazing views of the city at night. This is going to be the party that the whole town will be talking about. I have already bragged to everyone, Gringos and Colombians alike, that I am from the home of the best Halloween party in the world. Which means that I have a reputation to live up to and need a kick-ass idea for a costume. Pronto. Ragstock is no longer a couple blocks away, so creativity is a must. Group themed or solo, any and all suggestions are welcome.

Friday the 13th in Manizales

Spent the day hiking through the jungle and the evening relaxing in the hot springs.

Not so unlucky if you ask me.

the sun was just yellow energy...

Yesterday's destination: 80 km west of Barranquilla. 50 km east of Cartagena. Pretty much in the middle of nowhere.

The 5 of us boarded one of the classic Barranquilla buses, one of those that doesn't look (or sound) as if it will make it two blocks down the street without falling apart, let alone an hour and a half outside of the city. I have been on roller coasters where I haven't needed to hang on nearly as tight to the bar in front of me as I do in these buses. And lucky for us, it was packed, which meant that we got to stand in the aisle the entire way, trying not to fall all over each other.

We were finally dropped off on the side of the road. The driver pointed us down a long winding gravel path and continued on his way. After walking through the scorching heat for about 20 minutes (it still feels like the middle of July here....in my mind, October should be cold), we finally arrived at Tutumo.

the MUD VOLCANO.

We stripped down to our swimsuits and spent the afternoon in a mud volcano, which was one of the strangest things I have ever experienced. You can't really call it swimming. I guess floating might be a more accurated description, since it is absolutely impossible to sink without popping up to the surface again. The mud inside the volcano is warm and apparently "therapeutic", and even though it is considered "active", it only actually erupts on rare occasions.
We spent hours playing in the mud, getting massages, and just plain acting silly. After we had all completely turned into prunes, we finally climbed back out again to wash off in the lagoon behind us. In addition to the locals who take pictures for you while you are in the volcano, give massages, and stuff like that, several women help rinse people off in the lake. Even though we had been warned by friends who have gone before, we were all slightly suprised when they started taking our swimsuits off to wash them!
We finished off the day with a delicious lunch prepared in the pueblo from fish caught right in the lake, hiked back out to the road and just managed to catch a bus back to Barranquilla before it passed us by.

Only in Colombia.