Life is a Game we Play.

La Conferencia de Clausura

2008-09-04T09:54:00.003-05:00

August 22nd, 2008.
The closing ceremony for Cuenta Conmigo, the PBoX (once again, that's AIESEC for Project Based on Exchange) I dedicated the past 15 weeks to. I remember writing about how nervous I was for the opening ceremony back in May. I remember writing about how excited I was to get started and how I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. I look back over the past 15 weeks and can't even believe I was able to give a presentation about my experience...so much happened.
But I did it. I talked about my job: I described the process, the class, the parents I worked with. I talked about the breadmaking workshop: how motivated the parents were, how they've already started working together to start a business, how they invited me to their houses to show me what they learned and how much they're practicing, how they send me emails and call me to see how I'm doing and just say thanks. I talked about what else I did in the school: how I made true friends with the faculty and administration, how I had a group of students come in to talk with me over their summer vacation, how 3 little boys would bring me ice cream because I let them play with my computer, etc. I talked about how I got more than just a professional internship, how I got the multicultural exchange we as AIESECers hope for: how I now have more than 60 friends in more than 10 different countries, how I perfected a foreign language, I felt like a part of the culture, of my local family. I ate "arepas de huevo," I sang "vallenato," I became addicted to the coffee from Juan Valdez. I assured them that I was leaving with a much better image of Colombia, and that I was going to act as an ambassador defending it. I said that I felt 50% "gringa" and 50% "costena." And I meant every word.
And then I started to cry.

Me gusta, me gusta

2008-09-03T20:53:00.003-05:00

Finally, I am sane enough to talk more about what happened in the last couple weeks...baby steps. Here's August 17th. More to come...soon.

I did end up going to Sincelejo with Andres to visit his cousins, aunt, and uncle. We traveled with his uncle, so we took some really strange forms of transportation because he refused to take the Brasilia or other well-known bus agencies. They were too expensive. So, we hopped on two different buses, the second of which my seat wasn't attached, so at every sharp halt, I went flying into the lap of the man in front of me. Our trip there ended up being about 2 hours longer than it needed to be, but I think we saved about a dollar. In Sincelejo, there was a band festival going on, so we went to a parade with drums, trumpets, and fandango dancing. It was a blast from the past because we went out at night with Andres's 16-year-old cousin, so we could only go to bars/clubs where they weren't checking IDs. Too bad, because we couldn't go to a disco called Jolywud (pronounced HOLLYWOOD!) that seemed pretty sweet. We went to this bar that had a live band for a while, and when the band left, they played a DVD of a concert of Silvestre Dangond, one of my favorite vallenato singers. We ordered a jirafa of beer (way cooler than a pitcher). It's like having your own tap on the table. We went to Sampues, where they are famous for making sombreros vueltiados. I bought one for my brother. They are also famous for making beautiful furniture, such as rocking chairs. I really wish I'd had a way of getting one home, or even buying one for my little Colombian grandma, Rosi. They were beautiful, and I think they only cost about $40! They sell these little balconies to hang on the wall with typical Colombian things on them, like a guitar or a mochila and I was going to buy one for my mom but I didn't think it would make it through the trip home. I was telling Andres's aunt that I liked them, and she immediately pulled one off of her wall and gave it to me to give to my mom. It was so nice of her to do that, and she didn't even think about it. I found that to be a common attitude there, always giving, even when there wasn't much to give.

Sincelejo was a cute, typical, little town without any tourists at all. The water only comes every four days, which I still am not exactly sure why. One of Andres's cousin's friends invited us over to her house for dinner, and we all talked about AIESEC for about 3 hours. I think we recruited her. It was really cool to talk with them about my opinions of Colombia. They are so patriotic and love their country so much, so you could tell they were really happy and honored when I raved about my experience. They are really truly saddened, even the youngest cousin who was 12, by the image that the rest of the world has of Colombia. It was a totally relaxing weekend, and I loved hanging out with the family.

I've got two more weeks to get through, and then I will address the culture shock that is making me nauseous...

A cloud hangs over this city by the sea

2008-08-16T11:40:00.002-05:00

I’m realizing that I’ve been very lucky in this experience. I’ve lived on the safe side of Cartagena, met the nice people of Cartagena, and have always had people looking out for me. But bad things do happen. Last week, at a friend’s house, Andres was robbed at gunpoint. Two men on a motorcycle came up to the house, stuck a loaded gun to the back of his head and said “Desconecta esa vaina, no griten, no se muevan…” (Disconnect that thing, don’t yell, don’t move) and then rode off with Andres’ laptop. It just figures that we were in a meeting for our project talking about the closing conference. You know, youth working towards bettering the image of Colombia and helping its citizens. Yea, rob them. We lost a ton of information from the project, not to mention 6 months of work he’s put towards his thesis. Yesterday, Rafa’s father was also robbed at gunpoint…one million pesos. Marilene, the trainee from Holland, has had stuff stolen 4 times from her own room, and the son of the owner of the foundation has come into her room twice in the middle of the night, drunk, with condoms in his hand. In Medellin, I was going to meet up with someone to go to some park at night, but I got her phone number wrong so I couldn’t go. That night, she was robbed with a knife held to her throat. I was almost at the point where I thought EVERYONE was wrong about how dangerous Colombia was, but I realize now that I’ve been very lucky. It is very different here, and I’ve been somewhat naïve and sheltered. When you’re around people that are so poor, they steal out of necessity. I respect the people that are selling phone minutes for 10 cents all day to pay for a dinner for their family. I don’t respect the assholes that don’t do shit all day and then rob a laptop to eat for a week. There are so many things that I see everyday, that I can’t even explain, and I wish I could take pictures of, but it’s not safe. My photos don’t show most of what I see on a daily basis. But there are some images in my head that I am sure I will never forget even if I don’t have photographic evidence. You just have to live it and be thankful for the experience.

Winding down...

2008-08-06T19:07:00.000-05:00

My work is basically over, thank God. My classes all went really well and it was a really rewarding experience, but it was extremely stressful. I taught classes to a group of 20 parents about how to create a business plan, how to create a marketing plan, the life cycle of a product/business and how to promote it in each phase, and indicators of evaluation and control using basic accounting principles and other checkpoints. I gave up on trying to work with the teacher that was supposed to be helping me, because I would have been here 3 and a half months without ever doing anything, so I just pulled from stuff I learned in my intro business classes and tried to apply that to life in a third world country. I used videos, visual aids, activities, and competitions to really keep the parents involved and interested. Andres was a huge help to me with all of the classes…I don’t think I could have done it without him. The last day, my “students” filled out evaluations of the course, and it was really incredible. They were all so grateful for the work we’d done, saying things like “thousands and thousands of thank you’s”, “God bless you”, “You’ve given me hope for my future”, “You really put love into your work”, “Thank you for paying attention to us and helping us”, “We hope we can attend other classes with you” etc. The only complaint was that the workshop wasn’t longer.

Last week was the first round of breadmaking workshops at Harinas 3 Castillos. There were about 45 people there for the workshop. My 20 students were able to attend for free, while the other 25 had to pay to participate. Andres and I went to the first class, and it was great. Our group showed up early (I didn’t know that was possible in Colombia!) with notebooks open, ready to learn. I couldn’t attend the other sessions because I left for Medellin on Wednesday, but one of the mothers sent me an email telling me that the rest of the classes were really great, and that they learned a lot and everyone was really content and satisfied. She thanked us again and said she wanted to get together with the other parents and invite us to one of their houses to make bread/pastries for us to show us what they learned. It’s a cool feeling to know that because of something you did, a group of 20 people that didn’t know each other before want to work together and start a business together!

But now, I’m kind of lost again, because I have 2 or 3 weeks left of time to work, and once again, no guidance or work to do. I am really fed up with dealing with the teacher that was supposed to be helping me because she didn’t show up to a single one of my classes nor the breadmaking workshops, but now she’s asking me for copies of all of the work I did to show to the director of the school like it’s hers. She also scolded me for not asking her for permission before going to Medellin, but I told her that I didn’t feel it was necessary to ask her because she hadn’t been involved or interested in anything I’ve done up until now. I asked permission from my project director and the people I’d been working with. She just loves to create problems. I’m really frustrated about that right now, but it’s not really worth talking about. All part of the fun of an unstructured developmental AIESEC traineeship…

Anyways, I’ve mentioned it twice now, but I went to Medellin! I took an overnight bus by myself on Wednesday night to arrive in Medellin on Thursday morning at 6am. I had three phone numbers of people who knew I was coming. I called Ana…answering machine. I called Daniel…answering machine. I called Santiago…answering machine. I ended up waiting at the bus terminal for an hour and a half before I got a hold of Daniel, who told me to take a taxi to his apartment (which by the way is where Jason Hall stayed during his traineeship!!). He gave me the address, but somehow my taxi driver had no idea where he was going (neither did I) and I got an unplanned tour of the city. But I arrived just fine. Todo bien. I basically dropped my stuff off at Daniel’s house and hopped in another taxi to the University of EAFIT for another round of Global Village. More international food from the trainees from all over the world, aka strawberries and cream from the UK, treats from Bahrain, meatball soup from Bulgaria…and “grilled cheese” sandwiches from the US. I bought the bread, the butter, the cheese (tipo Americano), but turns out there was no way to grill them, so they just ended up being American cheese sandwiches…o well. Not quite as successful as my M&M cookies from the last Global Village, but people ate them nonetheless. Thursday night, I got to discover the wonder that is Parque Lleras…the sweetest barstrip I have ever seen in my life (not that I’ve seen many…but it puts my beloved State Street to shame!). Although I barely slept the night before, somehow I managed to stay out dancing until about 4am.

Friday was “día turístico.” I met up with a girl from Medellin and some people from AIESEC Manizales to explore the “city of eternal springtime.” It really is the most beautiful city I have ever seen in my life. It’s surrounded by mountains on all sides, and the weather really is perfect, like springtime all year long. It’s also very obvious that there’s more money in Medellin than Cartagena. It was much cleaner and more advanced. It’s the only city in Colombia with a metro. We rode the metro and the metrocable where we were able to get a view from above of the whole city and the poor houses built in the mountains. We ate bandeja paisa for lunch and then walked around downtown for a bit before returning home to get ready for the CHIVA DE AMOR! A chiva is basically a party bus. It comes equipped with a vallenato band and alcohol. Some have seats, some don’t. We had one of each. The chiva for Trainee Weekend in Medellin has a reputation for people starting off the night drinking and dancing and finishing off the night making out. Hence the name chiva “de amor.” I woke up the next morning with a hoarse voice from singing so much and a sore head, from a mix of hitting it on the ceiling of the lower chiva and from drinking too much. All in all a great night. It was cool because I got to meet a ton of Jason and Molly’s friends from their traineeship last summer! (It made me miss you guys so much…but you definitely made a huge impression down here!! )

Saturday we kicked off our day with a bucket of fried chicken and some aguardiente around 1pm and headed downtown for la Cabalgata (basically a huge horse parade). It was the start of the Feria de las Flores, a ten day flower festival in Medellin that draws people from all over. I didn’t actually get to see any of the flowers, because apparently all that starts this week. Saturday night, we went back to Parque Lleras for another round of drinking and dancing… cocaina rusa… (shot of vodka, chased with a lemon with half instant coffee and half sugar on top)

I woke up early on Sunday hoping I would get to see more of the city, but my Colombian companions decided not to roll out of bed until after noon, so I didn’t get much accomplished before hopping on another 13 hour bus ride back to hot, sticky Cartagena.

Now I’ve got about 20 days left, and I really can’t believe how fast this traineeship went. This weekend is my last one in Cartagena, so it better be packed with all of the stuff I said I was going to do but never did. Next weekend, I’m off to Sincelejo to visit Andres’s cousins and the following weekend to Tayrona!

2 Month Anniversary...

2008-07-15T12:47:00.002-05:00

So yesterday, finally, after coming to Fé y Alegría for 2 full months, I had my first class with the parents! It went really, really well—much better than I expected. I am so thankful that Andres came with me and helped out because he was able to make it a more fun and laidback atmosphere. Had I given the class myself, it would have been more serious and strictly business. I don’t quite have the Spanish skills to be able to create the kind of environment that he did. In the class, I gave about a half hour overview of the course material. I explained what entrepreneurship is, how it can help them, and the first steps towards turning an idea into a reality. I introduced the business plan and the marketing plan, as well as talked about the importance of control and evaluation using basic accounting principles. Then we did an activity where each mother wrote down three ideas that they felt they could work with and develop without worrying about startup costs. Each mother came up to the front and shared her idea. Then they got into small groups and each picked one idea from the group that they felt was best and developed it more. What kind of food would the restaurant serve? What would its hours be? Where would it be located? What would the service be like? How would it compete with other restaurants? Etc, etc. The first class went really well, so I hope that we can keep the momentum going and spark the entrepreneurial spirit in these people!! :-)

Last night we had a meeting with the OC (organizing committee) of my PBoX, Cuenta Conmigo. This Saturday, the whole LC is going to the foundation where Marilene works instead of our normal GMM (general member meeting). We are planning a bunch of activities with the kids with themes such as personal hygiene and good behavior. The kids are adorable—they performed a traditional Colombian dance at Global Village for NatCo last week. The meeting yesterday was kind of sad though, because a huge chunk of time was dedicated to talking about “la Conferencia de Cierre” or closing ceremony for the project…which means we’re already talking about me going home. The closing ceremony is going to be August 22^nd, one week before I leave. We are going to try to go camping on the beach in Tayrona after the event! I still have Trainee Weekend in Medellin to look forward to as well, but I feel like the next month and a half is just going to fly by! I definitely have to return to Colombia. I am seriously considering doing another internship after I graduate in Bogota or Medellin for a year or so. My Spanish has improved so much, but I have learned so much more than just a language. I have made tons of friends here that I know I will keep in contact with and never forget, not only from Colombia, but with trainees from all over the world. This has been an incredible experience—I have matured so much in the past two months and have discovered so much about myself and my surroundings. I am really thankful to have had this amazing opportunity to really become immersed and accepted entirely in a different culture. It’s like that silly swimming pool analogy, where your relationships start off in the shallow end—you’re completely in control and independent, conversations don’t go past the surface, and then you gradually work your way to the deep end, where you can trust people and confide in them. I only had 3 and a half months; I didn’t have time to “test the waters.” I took the chance of jumping straight into the deep end, and I am so glad that I let myself open up even though I was hesitant to do so because it has really made this trip unforgettable.

Post AIESEC Conference Withdrawal Syndrome…

2008-07-15T12:42:00.000-05:00

So, last week was NatCo (Colombia’s national summer conference). We hosted it here in Cartagena, and it was a raging success. The actual conference started on Saturday, but people from all over the country came in early. The MCP stayed at our house for a few days which was pretty cool, and then we had a trainee from Brazil and some girls from Santa Marta stay with us for a while too. A huge group of us went to this really cool club the Sunday night before the conference. I’m definitely going to miss the way Colombians party when I go back to the US!! I may not be a salsa dancing expert, but it definitely beats a night of awkward conversation over loud music at the Gritty…

The conference kicked off with a massive Global Village in la Plaza de Proclamación. Global Villages are a little different when the host country’s main focus is ICX (incoming exchange)…I remember the Global Village at SC last summer inside the hotel in Chicago. There was a guy from Jordan, and a girl from Turkey…and then maybe an AIESECer from the US with Chinese roots. In Colombia, we had trainees representing Finland, Poland, China, Japan, France, Holland, Romania, Bulgaria, Canada, The United States, Italy, India, Slovakia, The UK, and Spain, among others. It was outside in one of the largest plazas in the city, and each country had its own tent. We had a live band and special shows. A bunch of us trainees cooked food for our stands-- I made M&M cookies and macaroni and cheese. Haha. It was so crowded between all of the AIESECers and locals that came. It was really fun.

The actual conference itself was very similar to the conferences we have in the US…everyone works really hard all day, and then parties all night, gets up early the next day and repeats for 5 days in a row. I will say that I was incredibly impressed with the energy of AIESEC members in Colombia. They put us to shame. Each committee has a battle cry that they yell when they’re introduced, and everyone jumps around and shouts. I have never seen so much enthusiasm at 9am after only getting about 4 hours of sleep! I really like that every LC is structured the same; there’s an IM (information management), TM (talent management), ER (external relations), Communications, and Finance team. We were able to get right to work on the issues rather than waste time talking about whose LC organization made more sense like we do in the US. I also think that because Colombia is an underdeveloped country, their members are especially dedicated and passionate. They put so much time and effort into working with different foundations and organizations and raising traineeships. The US focuses on OGX (outgoing exchange) mainly because we’re a developed country and there’s not a need for developmental traineeships, and also because we no longer have local sales teams working on external relations and raising traineeships. I can go online and look at the traineeships available in Colombia, pick one and go, with very little effort. But if you step back and realize the effort that was put into creating the PBoXs (projects based on exchange) and everything, it’s mind-blowing to realize the dedication these young people have for working towards bettering their society. I was really taken aback and impressed during the sessions.

I escaped a few times during the conference with some other trainees to go exploring in the area. The trainee from Brazil and I took a trip to Volcán Totumo. It’s a natural mud volcano halfway between Cartagena and Barranquilla. You climb down this ladder into the mud and then get a massage. It was the weirdest feeling ever because the mud was so dense it was impossible to sink. It seemed like it was going to be a relatively inexpensive trip because it only cost 5,000 pesos to enter (about $3), but it’s incredible the amount of tips they ask for. While we were eating lunch they just hovered over us…the little boy that carried our sandals, the man that took our pictures, the man who gave the massage, the women who tried to help us clean off, the woman who cooked our food, the woman who brought our food to the table, the woman who cleared the table, etc etc. The next afternoon, a bunch of the trainees went downtown, and I got to act as tour guide which was fun. We went to Juan Valdez (a local café that I am addicted to…but hey, there are worse things to get addicted to in Colombia, right?!) and fed pigeons outside of the Iglesia San Pedro, walked along the Muralla that surrounds the historic downtown, ate mangos, bought earrings from the hippies on the streets, and more. I also went with the guy from Bulgaria, Petko (yes…pronounced like the store for our furry friends), to the Castillo San Felipe. It’s this enormous castle just outside of the downtown. It’s full of deep, dark tunnels. We walked around guided by the lights of our cell phones. Some of the tunnels dropped way below sea level so we had to walk through about a foot of water! We never saw any rooms, just tunnels. Looking at it from the outside, I expected the inside to be different.

The party themes during the conference were: Night 1-Fiesta Caribeña, Night 2-Take Cover, Night 3-Fiesta Infantil, Night 4-Fiesta de Pijamas. The second party was by far the coolest party I’ve ever been to. We took a Chiva ( an open air party bus that blasts music and is painted really brightly with flashing lights) to the Murralla next to the famous (and beautiful) clock tower. The party was held on top of the Muralla so we had a beautiful view of the city. Furthermore, everyone was dressed elegantly in all white. One of the teachers at the school I work at actually sewed me my dress.

The weekend after NatCo, I went with some trainees to las Islas del Rosario…a group of 27 islands about an hour and a half off the coast. We spent some time on the beach at Playa Blanca, which is absolutely beautiful. The water is sooo clear, and the sand is really fine. It’s hard to relax though because there are thousands of vendors walking along the beach trying to sell you bracelets, carved wooden statues, maracas, coconuts, mangos, beer, shrimp, massages, braids, etc. Each vendor sells the exact same shit, and they come around and try to convince you that it’s all one-of-a-kind, hand-made treasures.

More to come SOON.

un monton de cosas...

2008-06-28T22:50:00.000-05:00

A ton has happened between my last blog entry and now, and I have no idea how to organize my thoughts, so I apologize in advance…

Starting with last Friday…I about had a mental breakdown. I was left alone in our house from 12pm until the time I went to bed…I watched 9 hours of Spanish soap operas… I had no “saldo” on my phone to call anyone and no pesos for a bus ride downtown. I was literally stuck with my thoughts and horrible Colombian acting. I really enjoy the company of Andres’ grandmother, but I can only spend so much time talking about the fruit here that is so “sabrosa.” All I could think about was running around the Arboretum and jumping in Lake Wingra, sitting at the terrace with live music and a pitcher of beer, riding my bike around the Capitol City Loop, Stella’s spicy cheesy bread from the Farmer’s Market, grilling out at James Madison park, and everything else my friends in Madison were doing. It’s easy to get distracted like that when you’re left alone. I called Andres at 9:00pm to see where he was, and he said he’d be right home and we’d go out for a bit. I ended up falling asleep in my clothes sitting upright at 11:30…

BUT, things got exponentially better. I stopped being a baby at about 7:00am Saturday morning and decided to make the most of the rest of my weekend. We had our LC team building activity at a guy named Carlos Blanco’s farm in Turbaco (a small town about 20 min from Cartagena). Like the farm in Santa Marta, it was equipped with a pool and a patio. It was great...tons of icebreaker activities where I got to meet almost everyone from the LC, and us trainees were given some time to express our expectations and desires which was really good. We played soccer and went swimming, ate some fried rice, and AIESEC role call danced the afternoon away. Picture our LC retreat…but in Spanish. Three other trainees have joined me, and there’s one more coming next week. I’m excited because we all get along really well, Maciek from Poland is crazy, and Maria from Finland is probably one of the sweetest girls I’ve ever met. Hopefully, they’ll want to go with me to the beach and to some of the other touristy sites in the area!

Saturday night, Andres and I went to a birthday party for the girlfriend of a guy I work with at Fe y Alegría. It was at this really sweet, modern bar in Bocagrande (the touristy area of Cartagena). We all dressed in white, Favio (who I work with) even had white shoes and a white belt on, and then Laura, his girlfriend, wore this gorgeous red dress. At about 11:30 all of us went into the back of the bar and put on these mardi gras style masks decked out in glitter, feathers, and sequins, and surprised Laura with balloons, confetti, and a very enthusiastic version of Feliz Cumpleaños. I continued with my merengue/salsa dancing lessons, and we called it quits at about 4am. While a cold glass of Spotted Cow on the terrace still sounds pretty fabulous, I am completely content drinking a Colombian Aguila on a rooftop…or heading downtown to stuff my face with “fritos” –fried goodies uch as arepas, empanadas, and carimañoles!

Meena, I think I met the Colombian version of your Roxanne… She’s the half-sister of the guy that I live with. She’s eight years old and according to her, we’re BEST friends. She’ll grab my hand and take me around to all of the adults and say “this is my best friend. She understands me, see?” and then ask me a question like “what’s your favorite enter any theme here.” We played a card game that I think is called “Maria Wins.” This is how you play. You pick a random number of cards to keep in your hand. Then you put a card on the table and say what it is. (Cinco, for example) This goes on until Maria decides to clear the pile, or until someone lays a jack because neither of us knows what a jack is in Spanish. If you ask who won, she says, “I did because I put down enter last card she laid down here.” She makes me braid her hair everyday and is basically glued to my side 24/7. As I mentioned in an earlier post, sometimes it’s easier to communicate with little kids than it is with adults, so I enjoy the time I spend with her and my little neighbor Michael.

Update on my job…yesterday freaking rocked. The director of Fe y Alegría held a meeting with all of the parents, and I spoke for the last 15 minutes of the meeting about my project. I am going to be teaching 6 classes on entrepreneurship, starting July 15^th. Then starting July 28^th, the workshop in breadmaking is going to start. It is 3 hours a day, for 4 consecutive days. There are 5 sessions: Basics in Breadmaking, basics in pastrymaking, advanced breadmaking, advanced pastry making, and hygiene/control of sales/marketing. When I announced that people could come up and sign up for the courses on my little sign-up sheets, I felt like I was in the middle of a mosh-pit at a rock concert. It was a free-for-all. Papers were flying, mothers were pulling on my arms, everyone was shouting out questions…but you know what? I understood them…all of them. And it really made me appreciate my month that I’ve had here to adjust. Before, I felt like I wasn’t doing anything, but now I know that by waiting a month to get started, I’m actually going to be able to do a much better job. Had I started right away, I would have had no idea what these parents were saying to me. Now I feel completely confident with my Spanish (which is the coolest, most accomplished feeling ever!), and I really want to put together high quality lessons. I stayed after the meeting about an hour talking to different parents about the current state of poverty in Cartagena. It’s incredible how grateful they all are to have me here helping out. It’s completely different than any experience I’ve had in the US. I had 50 year old woman on the verge of tears thanking me over and over for paying attention to them and helping their families. Comparing with experiences in my past, I thought that the parents would reject me…what does this 21 year old American girl know? What can she do for us? But, it’s been the opposite. Parents have invited me into their homes for coffee or lunch, and I have accumulated a stack of phone numbers, email addresses and business cards.

I also learned something about my traineeship that makes me feel a little better about everything. Turns out, I was supposed to have a teacher helping me with this project, but she hasn’t been working with me at all. The school is trying to get certified under some code of quality by November, so all of the teachers and the director are extremely preoccupied with that. We’re trying to bring another trainee to the school to work directly with the psychologist, and the director told Andres that it would be better to wait until after the certification, because they were really busy and couldn’t dedicate the time to work with him on the project. Andres got pretty mad, and I feel like he’s forcing this traineeship on the school. Like to be able to say that he had 3 trainees working on the PBoX, but I think it’d be better to wait until the school can actually dedicate the time to get something out of having him (and me) here.

One Month Down...

2008-06-16T19:31:00.001-05:00

I spent this past weekend in Santa Marta (a 5 hour bus ride from Cartagena) making a guest appearance at a local AIESEC conference with Andres, Bolivar, and Nando (other AIESECers from Cartagena). The scenery on the trip there was really interesting…ranging from beautiful mountains and the sea to exotic fruit trees and farmlands. However we drove through some really poor areas, and it was really sad to see people that were so thin they looked like they were about to die in dirty tattered clothes with their 10 children sitting outside of huts made out of sticks, garbage, cardboard boxes and palm tree leaves. The Colombian military lined the highways in their camouflage uniforms and machine guns. I’m definitely not in Wisconsin anymore…

Santa Marta was a beautiful city. Friday night, we stayed at a farm, but not what I picture at all when I think of a farm. Sure, we had the occasional chicken run across the floor where we were having intense AIESEC conversations about Brand Awareness and PBoXes, and we had to stop a few times to let a cow finish its loud “moo”…but this place was enormous. There was a large house, an in-ground pool, and a patio/hut with a projector and stereo system, pool table, hammocks, and roof made of palm leaves. It’s incredible the similarities I see between the AIESECers that I’ve met in Colombia and those that I know and love in the US. It’s definitely a work hard, play hard attitude. Friday night was really fun—dancing, drinking, playing pool, getting thrown into the pool with clothes on, and swapping stories with new friends. At about 3 am, 5 people piled into each of the three twin beds in the house, and the rest slept in hammocks. We got up at 7:30 am on Saturday for an intense day of AIESEC work. We had sessions (with the occasional break for a roll call or two) until 6pm when we went out for pizza and watched Colombia win its soccer game against Peru. Then we literally climbed a mountain to get to a girl from @Santa Marta’s house with the most amazing view. They played guitar and sang songs until about 1am as I listened and drifted off into a nice deep sleep. I was hoping that Sunday we would get to see some of the city, but we had to get back to Cartagena because it was Father´s Day.

So, I have been here a month now… Overall, I am very happy with my experience. I really love my LC, and I hope they come to Madison to visit!! I have spoken in Spanish all day, every day, and although at times it’s incredibly frustrating and I just want to shut everyone out and think in English, I know that I’ve improved a ton, and I will continue to get better. The beach is a 75 cent bus ride away, and yet I still haven’t gone…and I have yet to eat seafood!! That needs to change. I can’t spend my summer inside with 90 degree weather and no air-conditioning! Between 12 and 4pm I can’t do anything but sit in front of a fan on high…and I still sweat! I tried to be “colombiana” and wear jeans the other day, and I think I almost had a stroke…I have accepted my nickname as the gringuita because of my accent, I might as well embrace my foreignness by wearing shorts and getting attacked by mosquitoes. I need to take more of an initiative to experience Colombia—there are so many things I want to see, and I tell the AIESECers I want to go, but I need to just plan stuff myself and get people to come with me, because otherwise I’ll never get to do anything.

When searching for my Traineeship, I was set on choosing a developmental traineeship. Looking back, I wish I’d taken the education traineeship teaching English at the Colombo-American Institute. A) it’s paid (1,500,000 pesos a month) and B) there’s a structure to follow. It´s with a legitimate school, and they tell you what to do. I feel worthless in my job. I know that there’s a huge demand for what I’m supposed to be doing, and I really wish I could help out, but I have no guidance here. A teacher came up to me today and asked me if I could include this mother in my project even though her children were younger because she has 7 children, no job, no husband and no money for food. Her children get one meal a day, if you can even call an arepa (basically a fried ball of flour) or an empanada a meal. It makes me so sad that I don’t know what I can do to help. I’ve talked to the company that is sponsoring me, and they are going to offer workshops in breadmaking, but they only have the capacity to teach 20 people. I have 200 interested parents. And what do I do every day from 8-1? What can I do? I’ve got a table in a school with no internet, a box of colored pencils…and two more months to do…something.

2008-06-11T09:24:00.001-05:00

So, like I’ve said, I suck at updating my blog… I’ll do my best to recap the last week…

Life has been pretty hectic in the house-- a lot of relatives have been coming and going because of the death of Andres’ grandpa. His aunt, uncle, and two cousins have been staying here for a week. I’m going to be really sad when they go because they’re so fun to talk to. The cousins are 2 girls (12 and 16) that can talk about anything. I’ve decided that my competence level in Spanish must be at about their level because when I’m with them, it’s fun and easy for me to talk. Sometimes with the LC, I just feel kinda awkward. However, I decided to start calling people to go out for coffee or walk around downtown in the afternoons, instead of only showing up for events where everybody’s there. When there are more than 7 people talking, I have no chance of understanding what they’re saying or participating in the conversation, so I just kind of sit there. You know how we say “5^th wheel” or “tag-along”…well they call that person “arroz blanco” (white rice). White rice because it only serves as an accompaniment. I don’t want to be arroz blanco! Hahaha

I’ve been working every morning until about noon on my project, and tonight I have a meeting with the director of the school, a few teachers, and the parents. Basically, how I’ve decided to handle my job is as follows: I gave out a survey asking about level of education, abilities, occupations, interests, etc. From there, I’m trying to contact other teachers to see if they would be willing to teach some classes in the evenings (math, computers, etc). I’m going to offer to teach some English. I’m going to hold a few classes explaining the basics of how to create a business plan to hopefully trigger the entrepreneurial spirit needed to create a microenterprise. I’m also working towards establishing a relationship between the school and “el SENA” which is an organization that offers training in all areas from sewing to cooking to farming. The company that sponsors me is a flour mill, so I’m setting up a meeting next week to see if they can be of any help—either donating raw materials or offering workshops in bread making, etc.

Last Saturday, I went to a kickboxing/martial arts class with an AIESECer. It reminded me a lot of the BoxBlast class at the SERF. It was really fun, and I think I’m going to join the gym and go to some more of the classes...they have everything from pilates and yoga to taebo and dancing. People here are so friendly; I was jogging on a treadmill and the older guy (probably about 50 years old) next to me started talking to me, asking me where I’m from, how I was liking Cartagena, where I’d been downtown, what I was doing for work and fun, etc… It’s so different from my experience in Spain, where my own “family” wouldn’t even talk to me! I feel like in Europe, they kind of reject Americans and hosting a foreign exchange student is just a source of income, but so far in Colombia, the people so happy that you weren’t scared to come to their country, and they want to share with you their rich culture and talk to you all the time! I love it.

I’ve also started to feel more comfortable doing things by myself. Since Andres has been really preoccupied with his family, I have started to venture out more, spending time downtown, calling other AIESECers, etc. It’s been really good. I finally visited Marilene (the trainee from Holland) at the foundation where she works and I am so glad I live where I do. She is living above the foundation right outside the center in probably the poorest neighborhood I’ve ever seen. I don’t think anyone owns shoes, but yet somehow every “house” has huge subwoofers and is blasting salsa music so that you can hear it 4 blocks away. I want to take a picture to show the contrast, but I’m scared to bring my camera out! She really likes her job though, and the director of the foundation is a saint, really an amazing woman. I am going to try to start going once a week in the afternoons to hang out and help out with some of the activities for the local children.

Another note on the buses…I should just carry a bag of candy with me when I need to go somewhere, because everyday, at least 5 people hop on my bus and walk up and down the aisle trying to sell candy, apples, pencils, crackers, water, icecream etc. and then hop off again. Do that five times, and you make it to work free and maybe make a few pesos from selling a piece of gum. Then there are the men with guitars, the clowns, and the man with no legs and cement blocks for hands that dragged himself down the aisle begging us to put money in his mouth…

Word Vomit

2008-06-04T09:16:00.003-05:00

So, how´s attending a family funeral for cultural immersion? Andres´grandpa, who we lived with, died yesterday morning. He´d been real sick for a couple months and spent all day in bed since I´ve been here. It´s strange because Andres was going to come with me to work at 8am, but when I went to wake him up, he said he was too tired and would meet me later. So, he was able to be there for his grandpa´s last moments. His grandparents have taken care of him his whole life—they are more his parent than his real parents that split when he was real young and lead new lives with new families. The wake was last night, and all of the extended family came to the house. A ton of AIESECers showed up for support, so Andres knows we´re all here for him. I´m going to be staying at a friend´s house for a couple of days while family stays at Andres´. This is a situation where I really wish I could speak in English, it´s kind of hard for me to express sympathy in Spanish.

Other than that, last Friday was the opening conference for the official launch of our project. It went really well—about 80 people showed up for it. The conference was divided into three sessions. The first was a debate between three people in different sectors about the current situation of Cartagena. The second session was lead by a woman from Ashoka about social entrepreneurship. The third session described AIESEC and its accomplishments on an international, national, and regional level. Andres introduced the project, and Marilene and I both gave about 5 minute presentations on what we’re doing and why. I had a speech prepared and practiced, but when I got up in front of everyone and started talking, I couldn’t remember anything and just started blabbing. Everything else went really smoothly…we spent a ton of time interviewing children at the school that I work at and at the foundation where Marilene works and making a video to show the reality in Cartagena and then showing AIESECers in action. I’ll try to post the video, it turned out really well.

After the conference, we all went out for Chinese food and then headed over to an AIESECers house to hang out. And by hang out, I mean drag mattresses out onto the roof and drink beer and listen to the neighbors’ vallenato music. Beautiful.

Sunday was Andres’ birthday. I’ve decided that birthdays are a bigger deal here than in the US. You don’t just get a “Happy Birthday!” on Facebook, you get a paragraph, and a phone call, and probably a card and a hug too... Angie and I took Andres out for lunch and ice cream, and I finally got to see Bocagrande (the touristy side of Cartagena). It definitely has a different feel to it than the residential area I live in…high class hotels, familiar stores, clean sidewalks, lots of, um, Americans. We had a birthday party last night which was really fun. Learning to dance…I’m so white. I really like the LC here, and I’m glad that I feel like I have real friends already. It makes it a little easier not to be homesick and missing good times in Madison.
I started helping out with the English classes at the school I work at, which has been wonderful. All the kids are super friendly, and it’s really fun to interact with them. Two girls have started to come eat lunch with me and help me learn “costeñol” (the Spanish slang they speak here on the coast). A boy also made me a CD and wrote “From: Luis, To: You” on it because no one can remember my strange name.

Two things:
I’m still trying to adjust to how slowly things move here. The other day, I tried to take my sweet time when meeting a friend to go shopping, and I showed up 15 minutes after the time we’d planned on meeting. She came 45 minutes later.

There’s definitely a stereotype that Americans have a lot of money. I think Andres has tried to spend more of my money than I have. He’ll point stuff out and say, “This is really cheap for you, right?” and then sort of expect/hint that I pay for it. After converting to dollars, it usually isn’t cheap for me. Most things cost about the same. It’s kind of annoying, and I try to emphasize that I took out loans to come here, and I’m not really even spending my own money!

A Trabajar...

2008-05-28T09:09:00.002-05:00

So, I´ve been coming to the school Fe y Alegria every day since last Thursday, and finally today, I feel a little more stable about what I´m actually here for.

Fe y Alegria is a school for children ages 6-18 and is located in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Cartagena. My job is to help make the educational experience more of a community effort. In most cases, there is little to no communication between the parents and the school, and we are trying to get them to participate more actively in their children´s futures instead of treating it entirely as the school´s responsibility. I´m working on a project called Familias Productivas, and I am going to be teaching the parents entrepreneurship, so that a) they can hopefully start their own business (making bread, jewelry, sewing, etc) and b) they can relate to the learning process their children are going through. Most of them have very little education themselves, so I´m going to be starting with the bare basics of creating a business plan.

While I feel entirely under-qualified for this and was really worried about everything yesterday, today I´m trying to look at it with a new perspective. If I wasn´t here, they wouldn´t be doing anything, so any help I can provide will make them better off than before. This is a brand new program/idea, so there are no guidelines for me to follow. I am still a little (a lot) worried about the language barrier- while I know I am improving, it is still difficult to understand the thick coastal accent, and even more difficult to understand people that aren´t educated. I´ve been doing a lot of research though, and there is a lot of material online about teaching entrepreneurship, so I know I can do this. I HOPE.

1 Week Anniversary

2008-05-22T17:55:00.003-05:00

So "Spring Break" is over, and now LIFE in Cartagena begins...after being here for one full week, I finally got introduced to the company that is sponsoring me here (Molina 3 Castillos--they make flour) and to the school (Fe y Alegria) where I will be working. So, Erin, what are you doing? you might ask... I STILL HAVE NO IDEA! I am not working with the children directly but rather with their parents. I don't understand exactly what I'm supposed to do with the parents, or how exactly I'm supposed to contact them etc. Tomorrow is my first 8-6 day (I hope to God it's also laundry day!!) so hopefully I don't make a fool of myself...

In other news,

I’m glad I like bananas-because they work their way into every meal. Fried, doused in butter, you name it. And I’ve discovered that there are at least 5 different varieties of bananas. My favorite: Platanos a la Tentacion (bananas cooked in sugar water and butter)

My new favorite hobby is listening for the mangos to fall from the tree outside the house so that I beat the neighbors to them in hopes that they'll end up as mango juice for breakfast. :-D

An AIESECer here is going to take me to his martial arts class on Saturday...can't wait! I feel like I haven't worked out in months! and since we take buses everywhere, I don't even get any walking exercise. I'll probably end up joining the gym that's on my way home from where I'll be working. I've proposed that after "la conferencia de apertura" for our PBoX (May 30th!!) we have an AIESEC Sports Day...at the beach... The idea seemed to go over pretty well, so I'm excited for that!

Observation:

There is such a paradox of old and new here…You can walk into a house that is exactly what you might picture: very old, but very clean, with Catholic statues displayed, scary portraits of deceased family members, and a little old lady singing as she prepares dinner in the hot kitchen- but then you turn the corner and there’s a huge flatscreen TV. You watch a DVD, think everything is normal, and then the electricity in the entire city goes out. (this has happened 4 times in the week I’ve been here, but I’m told it’s a rare occurance) When walking down the broken sidewalk, as you’re being passed by a barefoot boy directing a horse and cart, you notice a pile of abandoned tires, miscellaneous shoes, and other garbage next to a sign offering a cell phone recharge and internet access. it's strange to me.

besitos!

thoughts...

2008-05-19T14:46:00.002-05:00

On Colombian traffic:
It has been described to me as "diverse." I guess that´s the best way to put it. I call it INSANE. There´s only one rule: Cars come before pedestrians. There are no crosswalks...or nice drivers. I told the AIESECers here about the crosswalks we have that talk, and now they all yell "Wait!" when it´s not clear. I am glad that I have locals to pull my arm across the streets before I get flattened by a bus. The busses are a mix between the party bus we rented for Katie´s 21st birthday and the VW van from Little Miss Sunshine. They are painted bright colors and blast loud latino music, but they don´t exactly...stop. There´s a helper hanging out of the open door and you just kind of jump on. Then there are always strange things hanging in the windows like tweety birds in ziplock bags...??

On Colombian time:
8:30 am means noon.

On AIESEC Cartagena:

I LOVE these people. I already feel like a part of the family. I have attended their EB meeting, a GMM and a meeting for our PBoX. Each meeting has lasted about 4 hours!! I barely understood a word of the EB meeting, but every day I am getting more and more used to the accent. I am just absolutely exhausted by the time I go to bed from spending all day concentrating on understanding people. But everyone is so nice and helpful. Andres and I are going to have ¨class¨every weekend to help each other learn spanish and english. I am living in andres´house...weird thing is that we actually share a room...but it´s cool, yesterday we sang BackStreet Boys´"I Want it That Way" into the mirror! haha

AIESEC Cartagena has about 60 members, and they are all super motivated and work really hard. It´s really exciting to see the different dynamics between our LCs!

I start my work TOMORROW! I am a little nervous to meet the children and their parents that I am going to be working with. I hope I can understand them! The opening ceremony for our project is going to be May 30th, and there are going to be 150 plus people there...businessmen, government officials, AIESEC alum etc... and I have to give a presentation at it!! The other trainee for my PBoX is from Holland. Her name is Marilene, and she´s real nice. we are going to be featured in a video showing the current situation in Colombia and what we are trying to do to help. It´s going to be amazing, and I can´t wait to get started!!

oh and Jason Hall, if you read this, just so you know, you are known throughout Colombia as "el famosisimo jason" and you´re also a drunk :-)

Besos!!

In One Month's Time...

2008-05-16T10:25:00.002-05:00

April 7th...my first contact with @-Cartagena
May 15th...I'm here.

I honestly didn't think I was going to be able to fly out yesterday because my visa didn't arrive in Chicago until the day before. So, when I found out that I didn't have to change my flight, I had one hour to pack before my dad was picking me up in Madison...This led to me forgetting a few things (such as the book I was looking forward to reading on the plane and photos of family and friends...) but also feeling like I didn't really get to say goodbye to anyone.

So, GOODBYE everyone! Have wonderful summers...good luck to those of you who are graduating and those who are venturing out on Traineeships!! Keep in touch!!

Ok, now where to begin...
On my second flight (from Houston to Panama) I sat next to this man from California who has been retired for 20 years. He worked for Deloitte (which of course made me bring up AIESEC). He hasn't worked for 2o years, has filled up 2 passports in 10 years, and has two houses in Argentina and Panama. He recommended getting a CPA ($$$). Very interesting man-doesn't speak a word of Spanish. He was super excited that I was going to Cartagena but then scared me a little when lecturing me about how I didn't pack pepper spray.

My flight arrived in Cartagena at 945 last night, and 6 @ers were waiting for me at the gate with the AIESEC banner. It was so cool to see them all there! We all piled into a van and whipped around the historical downtown. I got bombarded with information, from why there's a wall surrounding the city to the difference between salsa and merengue dancing...
Haven't spoken a word of English yet :-D

I am living at Andres' (my TN manager) house where he lives with his grandma, grandpa, brother, and uncle. Andres headed off to his university before I woke up, so i just strolled downstairs and ate breakfast with his grandma this morning, and then his uncle (i think?) helped me set up my computer.

And now I wait... :-D

On the agenda for today:
get cell phone...exchange money....??????

La aventura empieza!!! <3

Pepperbruni

2008-04-30T15:07:00.001-05:00

"yeah? well when you were in the third grade, I was already in college and doing it."
-Michael Bruni (April 29th, 2008 8:00pm)

I love AIESEC

2008-04-10T01:41:00.002-05:00

I am too tired to give this an intro, conclusion, or translation, but it gave me goosebumps to read...

10:22 PM Andres: Erin yo estoy hablando muy bien de ti en la organizacion y espero que seas seleccionada, por que realmente estamos haciendo un gran impacto en AIESEC, ahora estoy un poco cansado por que ademas de ser el director del proyecto soy el que busca los trainees, pero a la vez estoy muy feliz y esperando que llegue el momento donde sea la conferencia de apertura para arrancar delante de todo el sector empresarial de mi ciudad este gran proyecto y ayudar a muchos niños y jovenes!

10:23 PM yo creo mucho en la gente de AIESEC... por eso se que seras una excelente opcion y para ti tambien sera una experiencia que cambiara tu vida!....

This organization is really something, and I'm realizing over and over again how many amazing members there are world-wide with the same mission. ... and how you can have a 2 hour conversation in a different language with someone you only first met the day before, yet feel like you've known forever. It's amazing. I'm inspired. I'm also failing school because of the countless hours spent searching myaiesec.net...and GCHAT...damn gchat :-)

2008-02-25T22:19:00.000-06:00

Finance 300...PV now means present value instead of pole vault.

does this mean I'm growing up?

imisseurope

2008-02-11T21:06:00.000-06:00

I love that Paris, France is still in my recent searches on weather.com
(47 degrees and sunny if you were wondering)

:-D

crazy talk

2008-01-04T01:07:00.000-06:00

Is complete insomnia reverse culture shock?
I haven't been able to sleep much since I've been home and barely at all the past few nights. And when I do achieve that sweet REM, I find myself dreaming that I'm in Spanish jail because my hands smell like cocaine or that I'm showing people pictures of me on a camel that's tightroping between mountains. or something equally strange. Must be something in the Wisconsin water I'm drinking.

Is feeling completely invisible reverse culture shock?
I don't really know what I was expecting (some type of slow motion reunion with all of my favorite people with a soundtrack by Celine Dion perhaps?), but I feel like no one knows or cares that I'm back or was gone. Did things really change that much in 4 months?
I moved back to Madison yesterday and discovered that I've lost BOTH of my jobs and have $400 in my bank account. awesome.

In other news, I found $10 in Memorial Library, and internet is free again.
Maybe the sun will come out tomorrow?

It's 1:20 am....I wish I was tired.

Best By: 12-27-2007

2007-12-20T09:09:00.000-06:00

...That’s what my milk said this morning. No more boxed milk sitting on a shelf, good for a year. It’s good to be back. It’s weird to be back. It’s weird because it feels normal, like I was here yesterday.
We had a goodbye dinner and cocktail with my program on Thursday night. It was probably one of the most fun nights I had in Spain. Free wine, free beer, tapas, photo shoots... After the bar closed, a huge group of us headed to Buddha del Mar, a 3-level discoteca. We stayed there until after 5am. Hopefully that’s the last time I’ll have to hear Rihanna singing about her umbrella. No kidding, I never want to hear that song ever again! Most of us didn’t leave until at least Saturday, so it didn’t really feel like it was goodbye...but I wish it would have, because I don’t really feel like I ever actually said goodbye to some of my closest friends. We just kind of left.
It took me over 24 hours to get home. We went out again Friday night, so I didn’t sleep before heading to the airport on Saturday morning at 5am. Flew from Sevilla to Madrid, had a 4 hour layover. On my flight from Madrid to Philadelphia, I sat between two people that had also been studying abroad, so we spent a lot of time swapping stories. It was a 9 hour flight, and my TV didn’t work...but my male flight attendant gave me a couple Smirnoff’s for my cranberry apple juice. Good man. Our crew was funny, and our Puerto Rican pilot would sporadically bust out Christmas carols over the PA system. My luggage was the 2nd to last bag to come out...it took an hour and 40 minutes. This led to me sprinting through the Philadelphia airport to try to make my flight to Chicago that had started boarding 20 minutes earlier. I got to the terminal a hot mess only to find out that my flight had (probably a good thing) been delayed 2 hours. According to the weather, it looks like I was pretty lucky to even make it out of Philadelphia Saturday night. I had three seats to myself on the flight and I passed out the second I sat down. I woke up and couldn’t make up my mind as to whether or not my plane had even left the ground. ...We landed 5 minutes later.
My brother had his college graduation ceremony Saturday, so my parents were in Eau Claire for the weekend. Sounds like he's got his life all together...new house, new truck, new job...sounds like things are really working out for him.
I grabbed my luggage and hopped on a shuttle to a hotel for the night. When I walked in, I was half expecting it to be a 12-bed hostel room... My own shower, a TV? O me-o, O my-o, O Cleveland, O-hio! LuXuRy!
Since then, everything has just been an adventure of rediscovering the way things are done here. I’ve tried to push the top of a toilet because I’m not used to a lever on the side to flush...I took a really long shower (my first shower longer than 4 minutes with hot water in 4 months!!)...I drove a car...I spent hours in the grocery store...rediscovered OATMEAL...and have been running around my house turning off unnecessary lights.
I never watched TV in Spain, and I feel like that’s all I did yesterday. Mind-numbing. Spent some quality time with my parents reminiscing about funny childhood stories over some leftover chinese... I’m very much looking forward to getting back to Madison...starting to work, and saving money for a traineeship this summer!!! Shawiiiiing!
Road trip to CO in a few weeks? I think yes.
Merry Navidad. Welcome back.

tomando pastillas, tomando siestas

2007-12-09T04:24:00.000-06:00

Me: I have a cold.
Host mother (sounding like she has a frog in her throat): Me too.

Host father blows his nose for 10 minutes in the bathroom.
Host sister sneezes in the hallway.
Host brother coughs up a lung in his bedroom.

we're gross.

The Spanish 15

2007-12-05T08:45:00.000-06:00

Today, it is 65 degrees and sunny in Sevilla...and I´m wearing a turtleneck and warm coat. What am I going to do in 10 days when it´s 10 degrees? At least I´ve prepared by gaining about 15 pounds of self-insulating pudge...it's all part of the plan, right?!
¡dios mio! i need a diet.

Best of Times, Indeed.

2007-11-30T05:14:00.000-06:00

"If you're traveling in Seville, you're bumping into "No...Do" at almost every turn. Fitted out with a "8", figure-eight-like skein of yarn in its midsection, it adorns the backs of buses and the covers of manholes; it appears on city buildings and in official documents. This No8do insignia is a word puzzle - really a rebus - that recalls old hopes of the people of this city, and the promises made to them when Seville was an outpost of Christianity in the Muslim world of the south. No8do speaks of a city not to be abandoned: The Spanish for the 8, the skein, is madeja, and so the motto reads No madeja do or roughly "I have not been abandoned," (no me ha dejado) a phrase that plays off the disconsolate cry of Jesus on the cross. This "No...Do" insignia prompts Sevillanos to raise their heads high and puff out their chests with pride. Theirs is a city that has been crucified and resurrected, seen the worst of times but rebounded and clawed its way back into the best of times."

William Washabaugh (professor at UW-Milwaukee)

2007-11-29T06:09:00.000-06:00

someone has stinky feet in Finance. la dee da.

Paris holds the key...to my HEART

2007-11-27T05:37:00.000-06:00

Paris was a raging success. It was my last big trip, and I wouldn’t have had it go any differently. Sarah, Liz, and I flew in Wednesday night and met up with Nate (a friend of Sarah’s from high school who is studying abroad in Sweden). Nate is 6’6”...Europe is not built for people his size.

Wednesday and Thursday night we stayed in a 1* hotel called Gran Hotel Magenta. With the red wine stains on the beds and toilet that didn’t flush, I would hardly call it “gran.” But with a deck of cards, the Initial Game, and some French wine, we made it work.

Thursday, we were determined to eat crepes. We stopped at the first creperie we saw and ended up paying $15 each for a crepe and a cappuccino... both sub-par at best. We walked through the Latin Quarter to the Luxembourg Gardens, and Liz met up with her mom’s aunt (who happens to be a French Countess who let us stay in her apartment Friday and Saturday night!!).

Nate, Sarah, and I headed over to Notre Dame and climbed the 400 spiral staircase steps to the top. France has a thing with spiral staircases; Sarah has a thing with falling down them... Nate barely fit through the passages. They are decorating everything for Christmas, so everything is lit up, and there was a beautiful tree in front of the Cathedral.

Happy Thanksgiving...we ate dinner in the Chinatown of Paris. A Chinese menu in French is a challenge and a half. We were those kids...pointing and nodding at our neighbor’s food to our waitress. Worth it. DELICIOUS. Most non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner I’ve ever had, but it was great, and I’ve already thrown in a request for a real Thanksgiving meal when I come back to the US.

Our friend Kim flew in and met us Thursday night, so we just hung out in the hotel again.

Friday, we woke up pretty early and headed to the Eiffel Tower. We were a little disappointed because it was raining, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Although all of our pictures are a little ominous, the line to climb to the top of the tower was really short, and it stopped raining before we started. For lunch, we stopped in this little hole in the wall Jewish-run sandwich shop that had to rearrange everything to accommodate us. The man making our paninis was the jolliest guy I’ve ever met, and our sandwiches were so good. We also stopped for some hot chocolate because turns out, it’s really cold at the top of the Eiffel Tower, and I felt like I didn’t have feet anymore.

We walked over to the Champs-Elysees, the famous shopping street, which was all decked out in Christmas lights. We admired some 16,000 euro bags in the 5 story Louis Vuitton store. We made friends with “Paul’s Bakery.” I think we kept them in business this weekend.

All we wanted to do was find the Longchamp store, because we all wanted a bag for our souvenirs. We asked everywhere and got sent in so many different directions, so we eventually gave up and decided to head towards to the Louvre and introduce ourselves to Mona Lisa. About five minutes into our journey, we actually found the Longchamp store. Success! We didn’t meet Kanye West while taking pictures of the Mona Lisa, but it was still pretty cool. The new entrance to the museum was pretty sweet as well. We headed back to the apartment, which was conveniently located between the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. We ended our long day with a homemade pasta dinner with some fresh mozzarella cheese and tomatoes. Listened to the French techno remix to Timbaland’s “The Way I Are”...

Saturday, we took a daytrip to see the chateau of Versailles. We were cool and took an audio tour of the palace. Because of the public transport strike, the metro had been kind of sketchy...sometimes you had to pay, and sometimes the gates were just open. Well, we were able to just walk onto the train to get back to Paris, but then we needed a ticket to get onto the metro which we would have needed to buy in Versailles. We were stuck, so we had to jump over the gates. Spent the 1.50 we saved on a McDonald’s McFlurry and cooked up another pasta dinner. We headed back to the Eiffel Tower to take pictures of the lightshow at night. Asian tourists...

Tried to find a cheap pub Saturday night but gave up after walking in 2 bars with 20 euro drinks and then getting chased down the street by a homeless man bleeding from the face.

Sunday, we gave crepes another try. Glad we did, much better. When I reached my hand out to take the crepe, the man who made it took my hand, kissed it, made a growling noise and asked me if I loved him. We hopped on the Metro and checked out Moulin Rouge and the Opera, took one final lap down the Champs-Elysees, turned down an opportunity to meet Kylie Minogue at the Virgin Megastore, and went back to the apartment to pack up our stuff for the airport.

It was strange to get to the terminal and feel relieved to be able to understand what people were saying again...and not in English. We were kind of worthless all weekend because not only do we not speak French, we don’t even know how to pronounce it when reading something. Made getting directions and food a challenge/surprise. Three more weeks of Spanish. Can’t believe I’m almost done.