Killmers In Colombia: Things We Have Learned in One Week

A view of Bogota from CNG

Where to begin? Last week we gave you a blow by blow of what we are doing. However, I thought the bulk of this post should be stories of what we are learning.

A church on the mountain

Colombians are intensely proud of their country. Though they realize the problems, they almost desperately want visitors to see Colombia the same way they do. In fact one of the first questions they will ask you is, "Do you love Colombia?" They hate it when people associate Colombia with drugs or crime and they are doing their best to change that. Here is an example, I was asking if the Galapagos Islands were a nice place to travel to. A Colombian said "Yes, I think so but why would you want to when there are so many nice places in Colombia to see?" Here is a link to a video that brings together 80 musicians from all around Colombia playing for change. If you watch, notice the backgrounds. It is a beautiful country and I don't think it is going to take too much more for us to fall in love with the country and its people.

Inside a church

We are beginning to meet some Colombians outside of school. For example, our apartment has a doorman (we've already met Christian and Manuel) on duty 24 hours a day. He has to unlock the door to let you in or out of the building. We were heading out to find a place to eat supper and we were waiting for the doorman when a woman walked up also waiting for the door. I tried my 10th grade Spanish on her only to find out she spoke excellent English. Furthermore, she lives directly below us. She was on her way to meet some friends and go to a movie. We were going the same general direction and walked and talked together before going our separate ways. The next day, we found that she had left a bag of cookies and a note for us, welcoming us to Colombia. I told this long story just to emphasize how friendly and how sincere the people are. Although this is our favorite example, it is not the only one.

Llamas in the mountains

The people here are very diverse. In Japan, we could not help but stand out. In Colombia the people are all different colors and shades. Hair ranges from blond to red to brown to black to none, eyes from dark brown to very light blue. There are not too many Asians but anything else would easily blend in. In fact people assume we are Colombians and we have to explain in our broken Spanish that we are not from around here. So far, they have been nothing but gracious with our shortcomings, often trying to talk back to us and apologizing for their broken English.

The church bell - I suppose you guessed that

Another church front

The food is amazing, with a huge variety and plenty of places to eat. We found a beautiful Italian restaurant, an Arabic restaurant, a teriyaki restaurant, a steak house, a sports pub, and an upscale hamburger place all right next to each other about two blocks from our apartment. We ate at the Italian one which had one wall covered with columns of plants and a centerpiece area, sort of like a fountain except it was fire instead of water. Add in some live music, a few drinks and a fabulous meal (I had spinach raviolli). We hope to try out all of these restaurants and this is just on one small block!

A ceremonial guard at the presidential palace

Inside one of the many churches

I think this is the congress building

We have learned that there is plenty to see and do right in Bogota. Every Sunday they close down many streets to all automobile traffic just for pedestrians, bikers, roller blades, skateboards and most any other form of manual transportation. This will be a topic of a future post. We also went on a grafiti tour, also another topic for a future post. There are numerous old, beautiful catholic churches to see. The mountains are to the east (that's where the school is) and from up on the mountains are numerous spectacular panoramas of the city. There are many holidays to check it all out. I think I said it before, but I will say it again. Colombia has more holidays than any country in the world. Our first is next week Wednesday, August 7th. The next is Monday, August 19th. When I figure out what they are for, I will let you know, but they provide us more chances to get out and about. Finally, we have learned that although our school is not perfect, they try exceedingly hard to make sure all new staff are happy. They say that if there is something you want, just ask and they will do their best to make it so. For example, one of our new faculty was not happy with her apartment (they provided us with fully furnished apartments). She likes to cook and her kitchen was small. She has lots of artwork, but not many walls. Etc. So the school moved her to a new apartment that fits her needs much better. It is the same with everything and anything you could ask for. It makes us feel well taken care of.