Welcome to Ms. C's Mini Classroom!

As I type this reflection, the past week and a half swirls through my head. It’s Thursday evening and I have not even had my 18 third grade students for a week so far. The past week has been nonstop. My feet hit the ground and I have not stopped running, planning, decorating, or smiling.
I think about all the emotions I have experienced in the past week and many of those emotions are still fresh. The excitement, nerves and butterflies, frustration, tiredness of working 12 hours a day, and being anxious to get started still overwhelm to this day. Part of me hopes it never goes away because it shows that I am continuing to grow and learn as an educator.
I think about the adjustments I have had to make from going unemployed, not even sure if I wanted to teach this year to being put in a third grade workroom with less than a week to prepare for my classroom full of kids with very little material. I also think about the adjustments my students have made and how well they have done the past week. They went from getting attached to one third grade teacher to being moved into a new class with new classmates and a first year teacher who deep down was just as nervous and scared as they were this time last week. Now we have built relationships with each other and continuing to learn from one another. Our classroom is finally beginning to form into “Ms. C’s Mini-Class.”
I think about how amazing the staff and employees at Roebuck Elementary has been. Since the first time I stepped foot into my old stomping grounds, constant smiles, hugs, help, and encouragement has been offered. From the principals and assistant principals stepping in to make sure my needs are met to the teachers giving me supplies and helping me decorate my mini classroom to the custodians who are there until 7:00 with me reminding me that a door will be unlocked for me to leave when I’m ready. Who could forget my amazing team of third grade teachers? Instant bonds have been formed with them over lunch and after school conversations that included chocolate that I have stored in my classroom. I always felt welcomed to Roebuck Elementary when I was a student there, but this is a different welcome. This is a “Welcome! You’re part of the Roebuck Staff now!” A week later and I’m still having staff and teachers stop by to offer help and welcome me to the school. They have made the transition so much smoother than I ever expected.
I think about all the things I have learned at Winthrop and how I am going to put them into effect. I think about the teaching techniques I should use and strategies I need to implement into my classroom. Performing my best as a teacher has been instilled in me for the last four years of my education career. My desire to achieve that yearns daily as I prepare lessons and materials. I think about my wonderful professors I miss so much and think, “If Dr. Norton was in here watching me read to my students, would he approve? If Dr. Evers saw me teaching this lesson, would she give me an A for my variations of teaching so that I’m accommodating all learners? If Dr. Ingram were in here, would he tell me I should be sterner with my students? And if Dr. McNulty were here, would she tell me I need to make more time and activities for my South Carolina social studies lessons?” I am no longer writing out plans and turning them into to be graded. I now have actual students that I have to actually teach so that they can learn information so that they will perform well on MAP and PACT testing to prove that I covered all standards (not that I do not have enough to do already).
I also think about the future. I constantly think about what the end of next week is going to look like (and what I’m going to look like), the end of the first 6 weeks of grades, the end of the semester, and the end of the year. Are my students going to love me or are they going to hate me? Are they going to walk away more knowledgeable or are they going to walk away confused? Will all the copy machines ever work consistently? I wonder if I’ll ever cover all six subjects in one day with enough time to go to two specials and have a 30-minute recess? I wonder if I’ll still be at Roebuck Elementary next year with the desire to continue to teach? But I constantly have to remind myself, “Inch by inch is a cinch. Yard by yard is hard.” I have to live in the moment and make each day the most of it for me and for my students. I have to remind myself that lessons aren’t going to be perfect and something just might go wrong—and that’s ok. There’s always another day.
At the end of a crazy day like today I sit down at my desk of craziness that includes newsletters, homework, notes, and two cups of sweet tea and I laugh. I look around my mini classroom to see the snacks left on the counter, pencils on the floor, scribbles on the board, and I enjoy the quietness. I tell myself, “Welcome to third grade Ms. C. You have arrived!” And I cannot wait till the next day to see what new adventures hold for us in Workroom 3 at Roebuck Elementary.

!Fiesta! all weekend long...

Let's see, where to begin?

With it being the flower festival, it's been a pretty busy weekend! The flower festival is a huge there in Medellin and they celebrate it all weekend. The only downside of it is that instead of people leaving the city to go to "las fincas" or the farms on the weekend, everyone stayed in town so traffic was pretty crazy this weekend.

Friday we just pretty much hung around the city. I don't recall us doing anything major. We went and ate at the club with Beatrice that night but I recall that being the only thing we really did...


Oh! I did get a mani and pedi! Papi has a professional come to his apartment and give him one, so after some coaxing, I got one! I'm not a big "pedi" person because I'm really ticklish on my feet and not held responsible for my reflexes when you touch my feet. But I did good! I refrained and got through it successfully.

Saturday I went to the "horse parade" with Elena and some of her friends. It's a parade of horses needless to say and half of the people drink and ride the horses so their drunk throughout the whole parade. Picture Carolina Cup Colombia style. Except, no one really dressed up in dresses--the girls wore tight jeans, boots, halter tops, and cowboy hats. And of course, there were so many people there and they were drunk and you couldn't really walk through the crowds...I probably saw 10 horses in the parade because I didn't have a good view. I saw more horses on the street than I did at the parade! Needless to say, Elena got very mad at the crowd and the crappiness of it in some way soo we left to get a late lunch.

Papi and Dad just informed me that at the horse parade there were a couple fights. A guy and his girlfriend were riding on a horse and someone said something to them, got in a fight, and a gun was pulled which resulted in a death or two. Yikes.

That night we went and ate at Camilo (Elena and all of them---their dad's) house for dinner. Of course, Camilo, Papi, Dad and my other cousin Carlos love spicy things sooo of course, we had "spicy shrimp and sauce" for dinner. But luckly for the rest of us, they had "milder" shrimip and sauce for us babies, which was still pretty spicy. It was good non the less though.

Afterwards, Elena, Ana, and myself met up with some of their friends at a discoteca (latin dance club). It was like a mexican dance club in a barn but fairly nice. It was quite an experience I must say so myself. Apparently, I don't have the latin rythm like the rest of them. My hips and feet don't really sway together. Ana had a friend there...we'll call him Juan--I can't remember what his name was that tried to teach me how to dance. But the tricky thing is that he didn't speak english so communicating was pretty funny. He kept telling me in spanish that I had pretty teeth and mouth and squeezing my cheeks to make me smile. Did I mention he was pretty drunk? But quite hilarious. We danced for a long time but then a fight broke out about 12 feets away from us that included broken bottles and tables so we decided it was time to hit the road and leave. I got home around 2 AM, which isn't bad. But I was exhausted...party! party! party! sleep. That's all they do.

Sunday, or yesterday, we went to the Flower Festival Parade which was the whole point of this trip. It started at 1:00...well supposidly. But when we got there, come to find out that we were at the wrong entrance. They are certain entrances for certain numbers on your ticket. So we had to go alllll the way around the street to the other side. On the way, we bought me a hat I had been wanting but it was too small. Hah. So I have a small Colombian hat now! We finally got to our gate and we had a seat at the bleachers. On one side of the street you could just come, and stand or sit and watch the parade. On the other side, you could have bought tickets in advance and sat at the bleachers. Well, we got there, and waited, and waited, and waited...for 3 hours or so until we saw the parade. The parade is over a mile long so it took them a long time to get to us. I was about to fall asleep waiting for them! But the parade was beautiful and interesting.














We didn't do anything else the rest of the day. We just came back here to the apartment about 6 or so and stayed the rest of the night. Dad's been sick soo he needed to rest. Poor baby.

Then today, we went shopping. Finally! I couldn't really find anything I was looking for specifically. All the clothes here are smaller and the girls like to wear them tighter than I like too. But I found a few shirts. AND--(I was really excited about this) a Coach purse for $45 and a Lousi Vitton for $60. Amazing! I was really excited!! Well, they're not the REAL thing, but you can't tell. Those are my favorite purchases by far....

And now, I'm not doing a whole lot. Anticipating returning home that's for sure.

"You'll be Alright."

Well, tonight, I was searching on Facebook at 1:45 AM Colombia time because I have nothing else to do while chatting with Josh and I saw that my friends Ben and Jessica are engaged (congrats to both of them) and a week or so ago one of my bestest friends from high school Kelly got engaged, which I am estatic for her.

Meredith is getting married Sunday.

Hayley is getting married in May.

And I'm sure I could name some more.

Out of my group of girls from North Spartanburg, only Shawn and I are left that aren't married or with a baby. And I'm talking out of 9 girls.

But honestly, this is crazy.

I am happy for my friends that are getting married and engaged but it still blows my mind that we're moving on to that stage of our life. It doesn't seem real. I mean, are we really ready to move to that part of lives? Are we too young? Or are we at the right age? Or should we just wait till we're older?

My friend Taryn is pretty much begging for a ring at this point. Everyday she asks Chase when she is getting her ring and he finally told her by the end of the year (we're all hoping it's soon so she'll shut up). She is ready for that point! She is making wedding plans, setting dates, and doing the whole thing before getting the ring. She's already moved on to that part of our lives.

Me, on the other hand, I've always been "fly by the seat of your pants" type of girl. Never got serious with anyone because I never really wanted to. My longest relationship has been 3 months (crazy right) But I always enjoyed the single life. I liked having different guy friends to hang out with and date here and there. Pretty much most of high school and college, all my friends had signficiant others while I was just the girl that tagged along, made friends with the "boyfriend" so I could "approve" and not feel left out (which happened a few times) but I dealt with it.

I think I always wanted to prove you could have fun being single and I did. I wanted to be independent and not become the girl that relied on her boyfriend to make her happy or make her whole world about a guy and forget about her friends. I wanted to prove that I was not like that because I didn't like it when girls did it--I thought it was stupid. I've been told it's because I didn't know what it felt like to be "in love" (which I didn't) and I couldn't make judgments until I was there myself. Fair enough. I still think it's stupid.

But one day, my mom and I were talking about relationships and she said that she could tell deep down I wanted someone to be with. And I did. I longed for that companion. Too many times have I heard, "Aw.Why doesn't Jess have someone?" or "We would have invited you but we didn't want you to feel left out since you don't have a date..." (which is a slap in the fact---never say that to someone). And I know someone is going to say, "Jesus should be your companion! He is the lover of your soul!!" Yeah. Ok. I know He is everything I need, but Jesus can't treat me to a Peanut Butter malt at the Beacon or be my date on date night with the girls. Can you see me walking up to them and saying, "Hey everyone. I brought Jesus tonight. He's got dibs on the blessing though."

Yeah I don't think so (but at least I could tell Mom He's a christian and goes to church). Haha.

All this rambling goes back to someone else I know getting engaged. I kind of went a round about way there. This has just made me re-evaluate me and where I've been in comparison to my friends in the past years. I don't normally compare myself to them and try to be better than them because thats what makes us such great friends--because we're all different! But I've always been lagging in the love department and now I'm lagging in the job department (but that's going to be a whole other blog with lots of thoughts on it).

I feel like life and everyone is moving ahead and I'm just trailing behind, yelling, "Y'all go ahead! I'll catch up with y'all in a couple years. You know me...Don't worry. I got this!"

But part of me thinks that I don't have this. That I'm going to screw up and not be what I want to be---someone with no motivation living with 10 dogs (because I won't do cats). But I know God isn't going to let that happen. I know He didn't waste a perfectly good body that has brains, a college degree and functions normally on nothing. But it's just that deep...worry. That I'm like, "ok. Now what? Where to?" Because honestly, I have no idea. I don't know where I'm going. That's what scares me. The last 8 years of my life have been planned.

You go to high school--check.
You graduate from high school--check.
You know what you want to do in college--check.
You go to college--check.
You graduate from college--check.
You...get a job? (nada)
You...get engaged? (nada)

Now, don't freak out on me quite yet. I know some of y'all are thinking, "Sooo...you want to get engaged?" Yes and no. Yes, one day, I would love to be engaged to my best friend and know this is who I'm going to spend the rest of my life with. But ONE DAY. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not 6 months from now. I'm no where ready for that.

And Lord knows Josh isn't. We're not. Only 2 and half months into a relationship hardly calls for marriage talk. Duh.

But knowing someone else is engaged--wow. Marriage. That's a big step. They're ready. I'm obviously not. And I think I'm coming to terms that I'll be ok.

When I told Josh about Ben and Jessica, his response: "You'll be alright."

And he is right. I'll be fine.

Because I'm a big girl. And I'm in a relationship that I see lasting longer than 3 months.

Three

I'm going to do a quick survey. It's late and I'm sending a song to Josh over IM (since that's what 50% of our conversations normally revolve around and what we talked about 70% of the time on our first date) and I need something to do. So I copied this from Brookie.

Three things that scare me:
1 - Weird people
2 - Gas stations at night
3 - Snakes! Or any amphibians for that matter
Three people who make me laugh:
1 - Taryn
2 - Josh
3 - My lil Maveric
Three Things I love:
1 - Jesus
2 - A good comfortable summer dress
3 - Sweet Tea
Three Things I hate:
1 - Heavy Metal Music
2 - My "P" food
3 - Seeing someone I love hurting
Three things I don't understand:
1 - Why things change
2 - The need for brussell sprouts
3 - Why you lose and gain weight in your boobs first
Three things on my desk:
1 - Wallet
2 - Remote
3 - Camera
Three things I'm doing right now:
1 - Typing
2 - Searching Myspace Music
3 - Trying to ignore my new bug bites
Three things I want to do before I die:
1 - Go to Greece
2 - Offspring a lil Strosie
3 - Get Married
Three things I can do: (doesn't say how well I do it :) )
1 - Play the cello
2 - Drink a Peanut Butter Malt in less than 5 minutes
3 - Collage pictures
Three ways to describe my personality:
1 - Creative
2 - Sesnitive with a tough side
3 - Goofy
Three things I can't do:
1 - Guitar
2 - Cook
3 - Speak Spanish

We have arrived. Finally.

Whew!

After looking back on this past week, it's amazing to see and think back to where all and what all we have done since Friday...Saturday...whatever day it was that we left Medellin.

It's been a long trip. And drive. But a good experience. At some points, I admit, I was thinking, "I'm ready to go." But I always instantly realized that I was really lucky to have this opportunity to travel parts of Colombia and see parts of Colombia that a lot of people will never see--heck there were parts of the country that my grandfather had never seen until this week! And it was beautiful.

San Agustin was amazing. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I was more up to par health wise and we weren't so pushed for time. We only spent a day there but my grandfather says that there is so much more to see. He wanted to travel farther south of Colombia but....we didn't do that. Maybe another trip.

Bogota was ok. Nothing too impressive. The traffic is horrible! We left Bogota at 6 AM this morning and it took us an hour to get out of Bogota. An hour to get out of the city. Is that not crazy? So needless to say we didn't get on the road until 7 AM really. All the fumes and stuff from trucks is crazy. I thought Charlotte was bad. But that is nothing. I can't wait to take in a long deep breath of fresh country air.

My stomach has been cramping if you know what I mean. Josh said that he doesn't like to think that about me because girls don't do number 2. I told him I'm on a schedule and it's been disruptive from me not eating enough veggies. I know you're thinking, "Ha what? Jessica eat veggies?" But I'm telling you, I would give my right arm (almost. Ok maybe my pinky toe because it's pretty ugly anyways) to eat some squash, okra, or a good salad. You have to be careful with the veggies down here because alot of times they're not cleaned well enough and still have "junk" of them. I don't know what to call it but they're just not clean enough to eat. Papi told me to take a double laxative. I said I would just try to wait it out.

The drive back from Bogota to Medellin wasn't that bad. Papi and Dad tease me because I slept most of the way down and they joked saying I would sleep most of the way back. I only slept the first 2 hours or so. Then I just kind of dozed in and out because the roads wind back and forth like a dragon tail. Think Highway 5 times 10 worse of curves. And the roads were horrible in some part. Dad did most of the driving (thank the Lord because Papi--he's getting old incase you didn't notice). But we trucked on through. We were all exhausted. At about the last hour or so I put my jacket over my head and fell asleep because I couldn't stand to watch my dad pass truckers on curves anymore because I know one hit and we would be over that side of the mountain and I would be meeting Jesus tonight.

But God decided to keep me here a little bit longer so we made it back ok.

Tonight we went and ate at Club Union, which is beside the apartment. We dressed up (somewhat) and went and had a good meal. I had a Ceaser Salad (yummmmmmmm) and Almond Trout. It was delish!

But I can say that I cannot wait to have...
--Sweet TEA!!
--Chicken Salad
--Grilled Chicken (In case I haven't mentioned it, Chicken is very expensive down here so it's hard to find and eat. But I don't know why. They have chickens running all over the place everywhere you go)
--THE BEACON. Mom was talking about it tonight and I envied her.
--Outback Cheesie Fries as Scott and India call them.
--My BIG BED. And I know Dad feels the same way. Poor thing has been sleeping in a little twin bed the last 2 weeks.

I cannot wait to carry on normal conversations in English (I mean I do with my dad and some of my cousins but it's different...)...Hear people's voices....watch a movie in English (I've done that some but I really want to see a few movies when I get back)...see my friends and family...

Don't get me wrong. I have enjoyed my trip! I don't want to seem like I'm complaining. It's just a lot going on and me being sick on and off hasn't helped (because I'm a baby when I get sick. Blame it on Mom, Dad, and Jason always taking care of me when I got sick). But I can say I'm looking forward to getting on that plane and landing in the United States. Because a lot has happened while I've been gone and all the good stuff happens when I'm away! I'm ready to be back and making my 'rounds!

I have so many more thoughts to add but I think I'm just going to end it here and put some pictures up. I'll udpate tomorrow because here, the internet connection is way better than Bogota.

Once again, thanks for the prayers! I think an angel sat in the backseat and in the driver seat the whole trip to keep us safe. I love and miss everyone!


Me playing pretty at the park in San Agustin.


Luce, Myself, Dad and Papi at the River Magdalena. It is the river that runs from the top of Colombia to the bottom pretty much. The Spanish settlers used this river to settle up and down Colombia. Where the narrowest point of the river is at is in San Agustin so we we got to climb down there and take a few pictures.


The narrow point of the river.


Can you see the face in the carved in the rock?


What else do you see?? This was a river area in San Agustin that the Indians had created and carved images and faces in the rocks. The water still flows there but they only run the water half the day now because the water is weathering away the carvings and what not. But you can see still a good bit.


THESE are the students we met in San Agustin. I know yesterday I mentioned them in my blog and stuck a picture of an orchid there and I didn't realize it until it was too late. Whops! So here they are!



It's Speedy Gonzalez! I'm going to own one of these dogs one day.


Here's a chicken! Eat THAT!


And is she just not precious? I always said I was going to adopt a Colombian little girl single (heaven forbid) or married (praying to God).

A few pictures...

So I've been around the world it feels like the last 72 hours. I am exhausted from traveling so what I'm going to do right now is just upload some pictures with some captions. And then I'll add detail later. We went to SAN AGUSTIN (like St. Augustine) where Indians lived a long long long time ago. So we saw ancient ruins and other neat little things. So I'll just some pictures up of our adventures of this past week so far.

P.S. Mom, we are alive!! We'll call Thursday when we get back to Medellin :)


This is from the elementary school we visited. I found this picture that Papi took and I liked it.


Me chillin' at Papi's


These were students that were also touring San Agustin. They were in awe that I could speak fluent English but very little Spanish. 3 of the girls followed me on the trail, "trying" to ask questions in English. They were so funny! And one of the girls wanted my address so I have a new pen pal! Later on that day, we went to another historical monument (pictured here) and they were there! Great group of kids!


These are some of the "tombs" that were discovered in San Agustin. Each tomb stood for something by looking at the mask. It was pretty neat. Supposidly there are more tombs and statues to be uncovered but there isn't enough money to uncover them and they're worried that if they dig them up, they're going to be damaged some more and ruin them so right now it's a battle.




This was another sight of ancient Indian ruins. It was discovered in 1985 when a truck got stuck. As they were pulling out the truck and spinning the tires, the tires began to dig a hole and they discovered these tombs, where Indians were buried. They say though, on the surrounding mountains, there are more tombs and places like this except drug lords and kidnappers are using them to hide out, keep hostages, and hide valuables such as gold. Such a shame.


Well, I would add more pictures but the internet is being extremely slow! We leave tomorrow (Thursday morning) for Medellin--thank the Lord!

Hey Papi, how do I eat this?

We went to Carlos' orchid farm on Thursday. It was beautiful. As we were walking through, Papi pulled a fruit off the tree. I'm not even sure what it's called. He pops one in his mouth and tells me to try it. I'm hesistant because I never know how it's going to taste. I ask, "Hey, Papi, how do I eat this?" and he said without a beat, "With that thing below your nose!" It was pretty funny. I tried it. It was good. It was sweet and sour. But that one little piece of fruit had 6 seeds in them! My other one only had 3. So it varies. Pretty good!

Earlier that same day we went to one of the bakeries. I haven't seen the bakeries in "full production" so we went and I took another tour of one of them to see stuff being made. Quite interesting. And we're coming out with some new stuff like sandwiches and stuff so we did some "tasting" and figuring out what we liked and what we didn't like. It took us a while to come to a head on the sandwich because it had too much cheese, and then we didn't like how it was presented but in the end, we all came to an agreement!

The orchids were beautiful! I was in HEAVEN when I saw them all. It's a beautiful farm Carlos has out there and wow so many to see!! You definitely can't find these in South Carolina or anywhere in the States for that matter.







Later on Thursday night I went out with my cousins. First Leo picked me up and we went and met 2 of his friends for pizza downtown. Very good! Then his sister, Elana and her boyfriend came and got me and we walked down a few bars to another place. Except this one was an Irish pub. A few of her friends that were there went to college in the US so I was able to talk to a few of them. And Elana's cousin from the other side of the family was there and she lives in Ohio so I talked to her most of the time. It was a fun night! They kept saying that they want to take me out one last time before I leave for the states..they've planned a few things...we'll see. Next time I'll have to take pictures!

We left Friday morning for Bogota. Ooooo what a trip. It was a beautiful ride but I was still getting over my cold or whatever I had. It should have been an 8 hour trip. Instead it took us almost 12 hours to get here. Needless to say, I'm not a big fan of Bogota. It's a city of 7 million people and it's Colombia's capital (it's like our Washington, D.C.). It's very...dirty. The other morning Papi and my dad were walking down the street to go to the Harley Davidson shop (yes, a Harley shop. You would know my Dad would find one here) and they said people were just throwing trash out their windows from the building. "A very dangerous place to walk!" Papi said. Anyways, back to my story, Luce, my grandmother's sister (whom we are staying with while here) gave us bad directions so we got lost on our way in. It was a Castro heated temper for about 3 hours. It was horrible. We couldn't find her street or anything.

Well then... there's this thing called "Pico y Placa." What it is that there are so many people here in Colombia and in their cities that depending on your numbers on your license plate are the times that you can't drive. For example, when we arrived we found out that if the last digit of your license plate was 6, 7, 8, 9, or 0, you couldn't drive between 5 and 7. So if you're on the road, you have to pull over and wait for your time to drive, literally. And if the police catch you driving, it's like a $100 or $200 fine. They have "Pico y Placa" to reduce the traffic on the road--but it's kinda of stupid. So we had to pull over and wait for 45 minutes for it to be 7 so we could start driving again. Then we started off again in search of Luce's apartment. Still couldn't find it. So we go this brilliant idea for my dad to get in the taxi, give him the address, and Papi and I follow them. Well the taxi driver didn't know where it was either so we kept going in circles. The driver was going to fast, Papi couldn't keep up....it was insane. Needless to say, we FINALLY go to Luce's apartment and I was in tears I felt so bad and so sick. I was tired, and achey, my throat hurt, and I was coughing. It was horrible.

Luce fixed me some of her "magical" tea to warm me up because it is cold here. And then she fixed me kiche and chicken broth. I ate as much as I could but I was so weak. So Dad ushered me to bed and I slept for 12 hours that night.

The next day, Saturday, I felt much better. Still kinda "blah" but better. I had a big breakfast because Friday I felt so bad I barely ate anything. Luce fixed me some croissants and cheese sticks from the bakeries, and some hot chocolate. Yum. I finally got the energy to get a shower and get dressed for the day.

We (Dad, Papi, Luce, and myself) ventured off to "Catherdral del Sal" which is a mountain of salt. I don't really know how to explain it. They mine salt here. For example, when you get there you see just see beautiful green mountain and hills. But underneath those hills and mountains are salt mines. And they have carved out crosses and such to be like an actual church cathedral from a l o n g time ago where the spanish actually went in these salt mines for church and weddings. It was beautiful. Each cross told a story of Jesus. They still mine salt from here too.

After we left there, we stopped and ate dinner at a old Spanish style house restaurant. I had pork and it was delish! But I'm telling ya, I can't wait to have a good ole hamburger, salad, and chicken (but not all in one meal).

Last night, my cousin, Andrea (I know you're probably thinking, good Lord Jess! HOw many cousins do you have?? I just keep meeting more and more) took me out with her boyfriend (of course) and some of her friends. We were supposed to go to a relaxing, chill, mexican restaurant. It was the opposite of that. You had to scream over one another to talk to each other. I enjoyed it was first but as the night wore on and as they drank some more, I got a little bored. I wasn't feeling good (again) and I was ready to be back at Luce's apartment. I finally got home around 1:30 and so grateful to be back in a cozy quiet element. I had fun, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if i wasn't so sick and I could actually speak a little bit of spanish.

And if one more person asks why I don't speak spanish or hear ,"English por favor! Habla no espanol!" I'm going to scream or hurt someone.

Today, Sunday, we went to the gold museum where a lot of gold has been recovered and restored from years and years and years ago from the Indians. It was pretty neat. But, Bogota and Colombia's Independence is this weekend and tomorrow so it was slammed pack where we were. It was kind of hard to get through the museum, but it was neat to learn about the Colombian history and their artifacts. I don't have those pictures uploaded quite yet so I'll do it later.


Cuy anyone??? It looks like rat doesn't it? Actually it's a type of guniea pig (did I even spell that right?) Yum Mom!

Tomorrow we're off to more of the southern part of Colombia for a few more days. I'll update later on. Keep us in your prayers. We have at least an 8 hour drive ahead of us tomorrow. And then we're heading back to Medellin (which I've come to appreciate) hopefully Wednesday or Thursday.

I miss everyone so much!! I can't wait to see everyone and eat some good ole southern food....

Let's try this again.

Medellin's own St. John's River. And let me tell you--it stinks. You could smell it on the metro. Sick.


Some of Medellin.


The Children's Library


"I can see God in my brothers and sisters."


"Audios"a los ninos!




Papi, the "Principal" of the school, and myself

Today I conquered the top of the mountain.

Today we rode the metro car (like the subway but above ground) across Medellin's own "St. John's River" as Papi called it. Then we jumped onto a cable car to take to the top of the mountain. They just recently in the last 2 or 3 years made the cable cars to where they can carry people from the top of the mountain to the city part of Medellin. It's so hard to get from the top to the bottom and vice versa so ta-da the cable car!

We also visited a school that Papi's aunt started there. They have 500 children, and only 10 teachers. They have 2 classes each day--a group of students come in the morning, and another group in the afternoon. These children are extremely poor. The children in the morning get fed breakfast and lunch. The children in the afternoon is fed lunch and dinner. These children absolutely warmed my hearts. That little teaching instinct kicked in as soon as we walked into a classroom. "Buenas Tardes!" they would say and stand up at their desk. Very polite. Papi and I talked to a class of 2nd graders--well he did most of the talking obviously. Precious children they are. We visited every grade level and Papi gave mini lessons. He would ask what they were studying. If it was Social Studies, he asked about Colombia's government. If it was English, he reviewed vocabulary with them. We got to a 5 or 6 grade classroom and they were studying body parts and joints--Papi's speciality. We were there a while.


We also visited the Children's Library at the top of the mountain. It's kind of wierd looking because it's a big black building or two on the side of the mountain outside the town. But here, the children and adults can get on the computers, research information, read different books--they're still working on it some on the inside. And they are planning on building more of these buildings throughout the city. Very neat looking. And a good concept.



I'm feeling better today than I have been for the last few days. I definitely had more energy and I slept better last night. I woke up with a coughing fit in the middle of the night which woke Dad up too. So now it's just resulted to coughing a little bit here and there. Thanks for the prayers! We've had 5 people call Papi today checking in on me. I feel loved!

Oh and some things I've noticed around here...
-It's silicone valley down here. WHOA. Watch out. You'll get knocked out.
-Mullets and Rattails are coming back in style. I'll try to snab a picture to post. Quite amusing.
-I'm definitely the most conservitive dressed girl down here. Today I wore Madrix capris and a brown shirt--girls were staring at me. I don't know if it's because I just look that good (kidding) or 80% of my body is covered in clothes. I don't know.

And some random events that have happened
-Dad had a run in with the police. Ha. Not really. Well, literally he did. We were getting over the bus and he was stepping away from the bus and backed into one of the cops on the "crotch rockets." They were in a hurry. It was pretty funny.
-Papi talks to EVERYONE.
-We met a Priest today.
-I found a fun jewelry store that I love. Catalina bought me 2 necklaces with mathing earrings, another pair of earrings, and a bracelet. I'm going back though--it's pretty reasonable. And cute and unique.
-Papi is convinced that I'm going to live here and teach at Colombus, the private elementary school here in Medellin.

And the pictures I've posted on here may be random. I click on a pic from my file to upload, and it ends up uploading some other random picture. But I figured some picture is better than none right? If I can figure out how to fix it, I'll do more later.

Yo soy enferma!

The kitchen.


The view of the living room and dinning room.


The living room of the apartmento.

I've been sick the last couple of days. I was fine Sunday evening when I got back from my little adventure in the mountains. But Monday morning I woke up with a stuffy nose, extremely sore and dry throat, and a headache. I stayed in all day, which was a bummer. I just felt like poo! I haven't been getting a whole lot of sleep at night because I've been sleeping in the last couple of days since I didn't feel well. I think I finally fell asleep about 2:30 or 3 AM Colombia time.

But Dad woke me up early, I got a shower, and I'm feeling a little bit better. I'm still really sore from Sunday (I feel abs forming!) and I'm coughing a lot. So please pray for me that God will restore my energy and health.

I'm trying to practice my spanish--somewhat. It hasn't been very successful. I'm just scared to talk because of my southern accent and I've forgotten a lot of verbs and tenses. Needless to say I try to listen in on the conversation and follow along. Sometimes I can, other times I have no clue what is going on. I'm just really struggling--I'm such an outcast. But an outcast can be good. I guess...

I've currently been reading Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. It's about nonreligious thoughts on Christianity. He's talked about how we use Christianity and sometimes we just go through the "verbateum" of speaking about Christ. Before we judge and look at others for doing wrong, we need to look at ourselves. I was just recently reading about Change in our lives. At the end of the chapter, he talks about Paul. Paul had no questions about what God wanted from him. Because of this, he was beaten one day, imprisioned the next, and released to be only beaten again. But yet, he never asked God why. He understood the earth was fallen. He understood that mankind could not save itself--we need to be rescued. We need to trust God. And follow Him. It's a huge responsibility though. It's not easy to trust, especially when you've been hurt and trusted someone, only to find out you've been betrayed. But God wants to preserve us and rescue us--I am wanted by God. Kinda of cool uh?

Today we have quite a busy day. We're going to eat breakfast with some family. Then we're going to eat lunch at the University with Cata. And then we're invited to dinner somewhere else. I'm gonna get fat! "Welcome to the entertaining life of Medellin!" as my father said.

They call me Jane and that place was so good to eat at it's not worth going back there again.

I haven't had time to upload or blog because we've been so busy so here a few pictures to describe the last 3 days!


This was the view from the airplane. It really wasn't that bad of a flight. And customs going out and in were fine too.


This is Medellin at night from my grandfather's apartment. It's amazing. What a view to wake up to in the morning.


My orchids that some distant family brought as a welcome gift (they heard it was my favorite flower--can you see why??) And they smelled beautiful!

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The view from the "country club." You can see the club, golf course, tennis courts, the city, and the mountains. Incredible.


One of the bakeries. Delish!


One of the pasteries I "sampled."


All the cousins about to go zipping through a canopy through the "jungles of Medellin."


Me coming in from my first cable ride. I crashed into the tree. Pretty funny.


If you look closely, you can see me coming in. That was our last cable line and it was a mile long. Amazing view of the top of the trees.


What can I say? I repelled down a tree like a big girl! I can do anything! I am Jane!