Goodbye.

By request of my mother, i will be writing one more blog. this blog will recount briefly what i have been doin in my last weeks of colombia. as i told you all last blog i went to the coffee triangle to a town called armenia to stay with my friend who lives there. i went with the three girls of my city and we stayed the week there. we all had a great time travelling around there, drinking cheap good coffee- 50 cents. one day we went to this little town up to the north of armenia called salento and there we walked around enjoying the veiw and shopping. i didnt do too much shopping but i did buy a pretty sick poncho. we also went on a horseback ride through a valley and that was great. ive always loved horseback riding because i always felt like a cowboy and then we did something that absolutely blew my mind: we crossed a river horseback. oh yes. it was so cool, it wasnt like the horse was swimming his way across or anything but i got wet up to my shins and i felt super proud after we did it. we also went a city called manizales where we saw some awesome cathedrals and my second host sister. it was great because we dedicated the entire day to this city but we literally went to two big churches said we were cold and hungry so we bought bread and went into a cafe and drank their coffee and ate our bread for hours. we played go fish which was a blast from the past. what was super funny was none of them knew the correct pronunciation of ace and in spanish it kinda of sounds like ass so i was laughing so hard when they would ask if someone had an ass or give me your ass. so yes we spent an entire day in a cafe drinking coffee and playing card games, and to be honest i wouldnt have wanted it any other way. we had such a great time. we also went to a coffee farm where they taught us the process of making the coffee and the old culture of the coffee pickers which was fun. we picked coffee, learned about how to plant it, how its all done basically and then they taught us the correct way of drinking coffee. this day was amazing for me cuz im really interested in coffee and it was awesome to see how its all done. we did some other fun stuff but those were the highlights. we then went to a district wide rotary meeting which sounds really fun doesnt it? well it wasnt. we were basically being shown off like a county fair prize, but the good part was that all the exchange students were together so afterwards we just hung out and laughed and spoke in english. i have a good story about what happened at the farm that we were staying at so ask me when i come home. and we all said goodbye there and headed home a little sad to say goodbye to our friends. fortunately i still had mine with me. and we spent literally everyday after that trip together. i did not return to my host parents after that but my host sister since my host parents are changing apartments so everything is a disaster over there so im hanging with my host sister and her fiance. they work a lot. and i mean a lot, so i pretty much have free time every single day, and i took advantage of that to spend it with my friends. it started off great but as my date grew closer and closer we all became sadder and sadder. the thing is we became a family here, none of our host families had one exchange student but 4. we spent hours upon hours with each other at each others houses, at their fincas, and just together, so this will prove to be the hardest part of my exchange: saying goodbye to my best friends. we spent all last night together first at jennys house then to an ice cream shop, back to jennys, then to the jankiest bowling alley ive ever seen, back to jennys where we sat till one thirty in the morning. we were all super tired but whenever i opted to go home they refused. goodbyes are hard dont you think. the worst part of it is is that i have no idea when im gonna see them again. when i left home i just told myself over and over again its 10 months i can do this for ten months. what do i tell myself now? year? 2 years? shoot. its hard. i envy the europeans. dont get me wrong i am as excited as can be to go home and see you all again but unfortunately that excitement is marred by this weight of uncertainty of when ill see my friends again. eh ya that about sums up my thoughts and feelings for the past two weeks. sadness and happiness. got to hate paradoxes right?

well my friends, ive survived. colombia did not kill me. im not addicted to cocaine. and i have learned spanish. good year wouldnt you say. i came here with zero expectations and i was pleasantly surprised all the way. we´ll see each other soon. y para mis amigos de colombia que estan leyendo este blog, gracias por todo su amor y jamas olividare mi tiempo aqui gracias a ustedes. hasta luego.

cody martin alias alias ¨codito¨

Long time no write wouldnt you say

Yes it has been quite a long time, about 2 months i guess and let me tell you, a lot has happened in these past two months. im gonna try not to write a novel in this one but it inevitabley always happens. well see. so i last left you with my visit to popayan with some friends of mine which once again was awesome, and that week i got back i changed host families. this will be my final host fam which is kinda weird to think about but they are really nice. i love this new house were livin in, its actually an apartment but were on the southern outskirts of the city called ciudad jardin, or garden city. this place is spectacular. before i was living in the middle of the city where i would fall asleep to the sounds of cars and dogs barking but here im falling asleep every night to the peaceful sounds of crickets and other bugs. the only small miniscule downside in comparison is that i wake up to these birds that sound like the raptor call from Jurassic park three. but even that is somewhat rare. i live on the eighth floor looking over a small rainforest reserve which is just great. I have 3 host sisters and a brother. the brother went to argentina to study, the two older sisters are twins and one of them just moved out to live with her fiance and the other one moved in for a week or two and will be bouncin out soon. the younger daughter was on an exchange to brasil and she just came back last week. the only thing i can say is ¨i miss you ryan¨ sisters are a bit much for me. there is always at least 1 thong in the bathroom everytime i walk in. WHY? i dont know. i once saw 3 pink one hanging all over on the shower on the towels on the mirror. it was crazy. and i just miss having a dude here with me. they are all very nice people though my host dad is hilarious and my host mom is just super sweet.
speaking about my host mom she actually got me out of the high school and into the college to take classes. and this has been one of the coolest things ever. ive only really been taking philosophy classes because shes a philosophy teacher and knows all the philo teachers at the university but its great cuz i really like philosophy. my favorite class so far has been my intro to ethics class. its just super fun to listen to all the different theories of how to live ethically. but the best thing about all of this is that my host mom also convinced my friends host mom to let her come with me. so now its just hangin out whenever walkin around campus eatin icecream and watchin movies late at night cuz we dont have classes till 2. its so nice. and school gets out this friday so then were just going to goin to free seminars in the libraries and all those kinds of things. bottom line im very thankful. i did not like my school. i got a lot of reading done but it was wastin my time really.
another big thing was that i went to the amazons. i really should have written a blog on this alone and it would have been huge... but i didnt. why? i dont really have a good answer to it but i assure you all if you want to here some stories, when i get back we´ll sit down and look at some pictures and i will tell you all i can remember. it was definitely the best trip that we went on, solely because the amazons is a completely different world. technically i was in 3 countries on this trip peru brasil and colombia but im gonna say that amazons is just one country in itself. we visited indian tribes, spent hours in the boat goin up and down the river, looked for crocodiles, saved a womans life, went to museums, paddled by ourselves up the river without adult help, climbed trees, and other cool things. im sorry im saying much more but i assure you it will be better in person.
the week after amazons kinda sucked cuz i missed the other students, i was still in the high school at the time, and i just wanted to get to know more about the regions of colombia, but thankfully i had a light that kept me pushing through. My Mom. she came and visited me during easter break and it was legit. we did so many things i dont know how she survived, i barely did. well im gonna give you guys a rough outline of what we did but i highly suggest that you talk to her personally cuz everything has become kinda normal for me and so what i think is like an everyday thing is something worth a story for her. for example we walked to a mall one day just to buy some stuff and she sees this big guard with this huge shot gun and she stops and asks me what this guy is doing, i calmly reply that hes a security gaurd and i continue walking. ive gotten acustomed to seeing people with rifles shotguns and ak47s just walking around on the street, but it was quite a shock to her. anyway we did a lot with my host families here. we went to a finca in a city called jamundi with my first and third fam and spent the night there, we met two of my exchange friends and went out with them. we went to linas (exchange student in my house) family finca and we chilled there danced and told jokes, my mom picked up salsa quite easily actually and i was very surprised. i kinda became a translator which was very cool and kinda hard. met my second host fam and ate pandebono and coffee with them. if you dont know what pandebono is ask lina its just a typical bread from cali and its so good when its warm. But my favorite part was when my mom and i went to this city called Medellin and it was so much fun, we stayed in a hostal walked around in national park, met with two exchange friend and they showed us around the city we walked over 5 miles a day, and we ate bandeja paisa. Bandeja paisa is one of the most delicious, scrumptious, fatty, unheathy meals you could ever eat. Beans, rice, egg, chicharron, ground beef, plantain. all dripping with greasey goodness. on our way back to cali in the bus we popped a tire at 3 in the morning which was great as you might imagine. and when we got back after walking aimlessly till we found the bus to my house, we planned to sleep for 45 min and it was pushed to 2 hours. i was so tired after this and my host dad was wondering how she could keep up with me. i also have pictures of our adventure on my facebook so look it up we had a great time.
so i went out dancing again for the first time in a while with my friend monika and her friends and then the next day with our salsa teacher. I had a great time with all of them dancing, the gay man who danced with me the last time was there. he didnt dance with me again but he still kissed my cheeks and he pulled my hair... which was odd. about my hair, i think im gonna need to cut it soon, not because its gotten long but because my host fam wants me to cut it. my second day in this house my host dad asked if i liked long hair, and then just stared at my head, and then two nights ago everyone at the dinner table asked me to cut my hair, my host sister even invited to pay for it. i dont know though. i might just keep it long till i get back home.
i think you guys are caught up on my major adventures for these past two months. im going to be heading to the coffee triangle on the 30th which is the last major region of colombia that i can go to safely and easily and after that im only a couple weeks from being on US soil. im excited to be back home soon but sad to leave my friends and families. My time of running around and exploring a foreign country has come to an end, but now the time to apply this experience and start my college carreer is about to begin. i dont know if im ready but i felt the same way right before i came to colombia and look at me now. i think im ready for a new adventure, i have a feeling its gonna be harder though. this will probably be my last blog till i get back home, so if youre wanting to find out what im doin find me on facebook or skype and we´ll talk it up. Pues hasta luego y espero que ustedes estén bien y nos vemos pronto no? Hasta pronto amigos o si quieren hablar como un colombiano hablamos parceros.

quick update, and by quick i mean long

so as you all can see i have changed the background of my blog. why? you ask, well i have received quite a few requests to have it done so, i guess white on black after reading a novel of a blog is hard on the eyes. anyway lets get on with it shall we, so i am now goin into the home stretch of my trip ill be changing families on saturday and then i will have roughly 3 months left. its really kind of odd to think that ive passed almost 7 months outside of the US its now starting to hit all of us exchange students that were gonna need to jump back into reality soon and not gonna lie were not really looking forward to it. think about it, if you were chillin in a foreign country just to chill, no obligations (except highschool over again,) no job but still being paid 70 a month, able to travel the country, learn a language and a culture stress free, would you want to return. we do want to return to families and friends, but to the universities, jobs, and chores (for those of us still living at home) heck no. but hey, youre not truly adventurous until you can apply exciting adventures to the mundane everyday life, so thats gonna be my next challenge.
i should now talk about all the stuff ive been up to for the past month. well ive gotten involved in some salsa and bachata dance classes with the other foreign exchange students in my city and i absolutely love it, dancing is super fun and its really pushing me to have confidence in myself. cuz when youre dancing you need to lead (if youre the dude) and if you cant trust yourself to execute the turn or to move across the dance floor youre goin to look foolish and sloppy and lost. and ive been thinking about this a lot actually, that ive never had that kind of confidence in myself in my everyday actions i love to follow people im good at following directions, not the best at giving them, ive always been timid in the chance that i might be doin something that another wouldnt appreciate, so i would do nothing. But since ive been in this class the teacher, who is super cool, has been teaching me how to handle the girl, how to hold her tight and lead her through the turns, the turns that i want to do and have to initiate. so i cant pause and think if my partner wants to do this turn or not, no, shes going to do this turn and its up to me to guide her though it. it has been a super cool experience learning all of that and this last thursday i had a great day in the class because it was just me and my friend monika that night so we were just dancing and dancing and dancing, and i finally started to let go of this idea of what she would want and just started ¨to do¨ and in a dance the girl wants to be lead she wants to be shown where to go by someone who has confidence in their actions, and im gonna guess that thats how it is in a relationship as well. no girl wants man who cant choose, and doesnt have confidence in himself and where the relationship is going. of course a relationship isnt a man tyranting over the woman but neither is the dance, a nod of the head, a lock of the eyes, a push or pull of the hand, a whisper in the ear are the communications between the two, so the girl isnt lost and being swung out of control. so ya thats what ive learned from dance class. and just a funny story now, my dance teacher took monika and me to a dance club/bar where there were just a bunch of old people dancing these fantastic dances, i was just mesmerized (thats not how you spell it is it) by the fluidity and grace of these viejitos. and every once in a while monika and i would dance and it was fun and all the old people sitting would be staring at us cuz we were the youngest ones in there at least by 25 years, and some other people danced with me, one of the people how worked at this place, my teacher of course and my teachers friend, and were gonna focus on my dance with my teachers friend. first off hes gay... yes. we were all just sitting at the table i had my ginger ale and some trail mix just snacking away when this man, really tall, kinda old, wearing a very tight red shirt and very tight pants grabs my hand and takes me to the dance floor. i had no idea what to do, so i went along with it. i was always used to leading so i held my right hand up, but he just shook his head and grabbed my left hand and pulled me close. at this point i think i had a face of panic because my teacher was shouting at him through her laughs to stop dancing with me, but he continued on for a bit longer putting his head close to mine as we swayed back and forth but then he finally let me go and i just kinda looked at him with a nervous laugh and then he let out a belly laugh and we went to the table, everybody was laughing and then i realized that he was just a funny gay man. he did wink at me a couple times through the night though.
lets see what else.... i had a bad experience with a river. two other guys and i got in an intertube to float down this river so i was pretty excited. our adventure started in us trying to situate our weight evenly on this tube which was difficult and we fell more than a couple times but we got on finally and embarked down the river. we realize that we were vearing to the left a bit to much so we tried to paddle to the right, but of course it didnt work and then my friend yelled out HIJUE PUTA which is kinda like son of a b&%$# (i censor myself in english but not in spanish) and then he bailed i had no idea what was goin on so i stayed on the tube... bad idea. we were heading for this bamboo branch thing, but it wasnt bamboo as i found out a couple seconds later. it was something like bamboo but it has 3 inch thorns on it so i was pretty scratched up after that, but the tube was fine. so we all mount up again and we had a choice to see what was further down the river or we could walk back up and do it again, so we continued on... another bad idea. we were goin down no bamboo thorns this time but we did hit some small rapids which were fun and when we finally stopped ourselves we realized that we were kinda far away and we needed to walk against the current with this giant tube... barefoot. one might ask why didnt we just walk on land? there was about a 7 ft cliff on both sides. another one might ask whats wrong with being barefoot? rocks. lots of rocks. big rocks small rocks smooth rocks pointy rocks ( i want to read dr seuss now) but the majority of the rocks was the big pointy ones. not very feet friendly. so we go despite the feet pain trying to find the best way to lugg this giboondous tube with us. after much pain and about 10 meters we finally find sand which was like fresh rain on wilted lettuce ( stole that from jrr tolkein) it was great, what was great too was that there was a trail heading up the cliff, so after a couple minutes rest i told the other dudes that i would check it out so i start up the trail and about my third step in i let out a scream. i lift up my foot and i find a thorn about a centimeter long lodged in it. crap. ok so i went on i yell again. thorn again. and then another, and then another. crap. so i stopped walking the trail went on a bit more and then it turned so i lost sight of it. i then turn around to tell the others that this might work and when i lift my arm there are 3 gigantic mosquitos lined up on my forearm so i kill them one hit since there were so close but then i see 2 more on my other arm and then i feel them on my back and then on my legs. crap. so i run back down the trail of course finding some more thorny friends along the way and i jump into the river. i told the other guys that there was a trail but a lot of thorns and mosquitos they said well try it, because we were so exhausted from those ten meters and now the water was even faster, so we all head up the trail of doom and were goin along making plenty of friends with the thorns and mosquitos when the trail stops. crap. so one friend says that he´ll go into the water and we´ll roll the tube over the edge and he can catch it. so he went and me and the other dude stayed but with each passing second the other dude is getting more and more ansy and then he finally lets out a scream saying damn mosquitos and takes off running, i too then realize that i was being eaten so i start to walk back when sudennly ¨PSSSSSSSSSSS¨ oh yes the tube popped. now the bugs are all over me so i throw the tube over the edge and run to the water. after soaking in the water and a couple good scratches we think of a new strategy, daniel (other dude) and i will float down and hopefully find another way out while cristian (other dude) stays and yells for help. so we start to float down and then we come to a fork in the river one to the left and the other to the right more towards where the cars are, so i stop myself but daniel keeps goin on unable to stand, when he finally gets his footing hes about 20 feet away from me and unable to move. he gives all he has arms and everything and he gained like 5 feet, so i start to look for a way to help when i find a bamboo pole (thornless) pretty well attached to some underwater roots and debris so i grab it and start walk out holding on to it to help fight the current when i felt it break lose and then i go into survival mode and start to swim as hard as a could and then daniel grabbed my hand so i got my footing but then he lost his so he fell back and as soon as he got his footing i fell back. but then we stand up and were up to our upper thighs in this stream. i feel like this story is getting very long so im sorry im gonna speed it up. so after many tiring attempts i finally arrived at another bamboo tree this time it was actually living above ground so it was strong i grabbed daniel and we swung ourselves to the shore where we were able to climb out just in time to see the sun decending behind some giant puffy clouds and behind the mountains, we called to cristian and then we hiked through farmland over and under electric and barbed wire fences all the while being eaten by mosquitos. when we finally got to the car i was pissed, swelling up and itchy. no good. but it was an adventure.
so i just got back from a trip to a colonial city where all was white plaster and wooden windows it was super cool to see and it was also my first experience in a hostal which was cool. we went to this little town about 45 min out where there is still an indiginous population but the funny part is that this isnt like the leather loin cloth animal skin hats or anything like that stereotypical northern american indian, these indians live in the mountains in a rainy climate, so heres their attire: leather sneakers, long socks, purple skirt with pink trimming (for dudes too), shirt, dark pancho, and a small fidora looking hat held down with an elastic band, and most importantly and funniest part they all ride motorcycles. i guess there was a time they rode horses but they exchanged it for an iron one. it was a super cool little trip just the weekend but it was fun.
im sure some cooler things have happened during this past month but i cant recall them at the moment, but im positive that a story will pop up sometime when im back home. well yup until later.

parte dos

well i hope you had a nice break for your eyes i assure you i did as well, if you cant remember the post that you read just before you started this one you should go to a doctor to check your memory, if you didnt read the one before, learn spanish and know that when someone says part two it implies that there usually is a part one previous to it and you should read that one before this one if you so please (really its not necessary cuz this one has nothing to do with the first part but if you like reading in chronological order it would be preferable).

well the month of january.... where to begin... i was still in vacaciones (did that on purpose), i pretty much just hung out with the other foreign exchange students and my fam as much as i could. oh so i finally had my thanksgiving dinner which put the world back on track. you may think that im joking about this but its for real my holiday internal clock was way out of wack because i didnt have a thanksgiving dinner, christmas didnt feel like christmas and therefore there shouldnt have been a new years oh i should probably tell you of new years after this, but ya all this because there was no turkey dinner. in the end there still was no turkey cause its super expensive but we had chicken with turkey gravy so it was fine. thanks again aunt lisa for the food it really made the world catch up to its real time. unfortunately our green bean cassarole didnt turn out well, its that our cream of mushroom soup was literally a soup and no so much cream so we couldnt bake it but we just had soup and green beans that we could dip in it. we didnt eat all those delicious little french´s fried onions thing so it became my snack when i was watching bones. if you dont believe me that theyre a good snack talk to ryan. all in all it was a delicious dinner that all of us foreign exchange students loved.

Now back to new years i cant believe i forgot, maybe because in the shadow of thanksgiving it disappeared ( i like thanksgiving if you couldnt tell). well new years was another different experience for me. United states-party with friends and family watch the countdown in new york time wait three hours watch it in our time eat and drink and go home. Colombia-eat, drink, drink some more, maybe a bit more, dance, using a cell phone scream the countdown, 3 2 1... stand on your chair to get a girlfriend or wife, put lentels in your pocket for prosperity, eat 12 grapes a wish for each one, wear yellow underwear, grab a suitcase and passport and run around the neighborhood, light a scarecrow on fire symbolizing all the bad that will happen in the next year, and then eat drink and dance once again. it was different. but fun.

to be honest i kind of forgot what happened in between vacation and when school started back up so im just gonna go to when school started up. so school was to start up on jan 11 a wednesday and so i was very lazy with the entire thing but nevertheless i woke up at my usual 5 15 to get ready my host mom was kind of lazy about it too, but we left at 6 05 for our schools (shes a teacher) and were goin to my school and were passing the gate for all the buses and all the buses were still inside which was kinda weird because it was 6 30 and usually they would be going to pick students up. at this my mother turns to me and asks me if i was sure that i had school today i said i was positive and we continued on to the front gate and only the guard guy was there so that was a bad sign so i asked the guard when all the students come back and he told me tomorrow. shoot. but by this time my mom couldnt drive me all the way back home so she dropped me off at the bus station and asked if i knew how to get home. sure i said and i did kind of know but this was first time doin it alone so she left me and went on to her school so i was standing there fat backpack, uniform, and a lost look on my face. unluckly for me the window where you buy the ticket didnt have a hole in it so i could hardly hear the women asking what i wanted it was just a lot of que´s and como´s on my part. but eventually i got back home and i a good quiet reading time and then i slept until like 11 it was nice. but wait it gets better (gameshow voice) my sister wanted to take me to the finca with her friends on thursday, the next day, so i would be able to miss school. so we asked my mom she said claro que si and it was on. but wait it gets better i was all ready to go on thursday but when i woke up my sister told me that it would have to be on fri, so i unnecessarily missed a day of school. good. and now i could invite the other foreign exchange students with me because honestly i didnt want to chillin with a bunch of people i could have only a half conversation with, so i got two out of three others to come the other one had to go to school, but we still had a lot of fun. something that i learned from that weekend was that colombian marshmallows suck and are even worse over a fire. i missed jet puffed marshmallows for sure. and then school started the next week which was fine, boring but fine, and then i bounced to go on a trip with the exchangers for a week in the capital and the tiny little pueblos in the surrounding mountains.

So now i can talk about the trip so we went to bogota the capital of colombia and to be honest it was just like a more crowded and little dirtier spanish speaking LA oh wait LA is pretty much spanish speaking so never mind about that part. it was kinda cool though we went to a money printing museum which was ok but we got bored after a while and it turned into just a conversation about why the west of the united states is different than the east. so that was kinda cool. oh and we went to one of the highest mountains in bogota called montesurrate that veiwed the entire city. which was cool but like i said it was like LA so although you could see the city it had this dirty cloud hanging over it. oh and i got food poisoning here with a friend. it was kind of funny because we were on the same schedule of diarrhea for a while which i realize sounds a bit awkward now that i write it down but im gonna keep it in here. we both woke up that night after lunch at around the same time running to the bathroom, unfortunately his stomach was 15 min ahead of mine so i got stuck with the stinky bathroom, but yes the next 2 and a half days sucked... especially the time in the bus. we also had a sort of food fight in an italian resturant earlier that night. my austrian friend was trying to make me eat sugar from a spoon so she was trying to force feed me it so i blew it in her face, kinda mean yes but what follows is worse. so she was upset as well as my other austrian friend next to her who was caught in the overspray so they put a ball of butter in a spoon and prepared to catapult it at me. naturally my hands go up to protect my face and i was trying to talk her down because we were in a nice resturant and we were representing rotary club, and other crap like that. and then my german friend, at least who i thought was friend (this is my diarrhea friend) grabbed my arm to pull it down i fought him off but in that split second while my arm was down my friend took her chance a flung the butter. and it was in slow motion for real but the unfortunate thing about slowmotion is that youre stuck in it as well so you cant move out of the way and soon i found myself with the butter stuck in my mouth which was good aim on her part, but still a little disgusting. in the end i was the ¨bigger man¨and i didnt react. will i react at sometime in the future? probably but for now i will remain quiet. the next day we embarked for the other surrounding towns. im sorry to say i cant remember all the names of the towns but ill tell you the all the cool things we did. well i already told you of montesurrate, and the italian food fight, so we went to la catedral de sal. and its a cathedral in a salt mine basically, and let me tell you this place was crazy cool and the walls tasted like salt. yes we all licked the walls, in secret of course because we didnt want to disrespect the cathedral. but ya it was beautiful. outside of the cathedral in like a courtyard there was an intense climbing rock wall which of course we had to do i was kind of pressured past my inhibition of my finger and knee to do it. so i went up barefoot which was new, wat i forgot was my fear of hieghts so as soon as i got half way up and realized how high i was i kinda freaked out and with this extra burst of adrenaline i raced to the top. the bad part was that i couldnt use my arms for like a half an hour. but it was nice to know that i can do it. we also went to a nice little town where pretty much every building was shop and i bought some cool pants. im sorry ryan i didnt get you some like you got me so everyone can make fun of your wierd foreign pants but i did get you that tunic shirt you wanted. so we went to two sun temples in this trip. one of them was really cool the other was just kinda weird so ill start with the weird one. this one had penis sculptures. yes. it looked liked an immature highschooler who had a knack for rock sculpting had a feild day in this place. what made it more awkward was that our adult rotary leaders were the first to take pictures hugging them. now the second one was really cool it was in our last day and our guide was estatic with it. our guide is in love with native american cultures and he just loves the mythologies and philosophies behind it so he somehow got us the chance to enter into the sacred holy temple of the sun god of a tribe and we were able to go in and sit there and take it all in. we were asked to meditate on all of nature and the magnificence of it all and the connections weve been making with people from around the world so i made it into a time of prayer and worship to my God. it was really kinda cool and afterwards on the bus almost nobody was talking, it was kinda weird but cool at the same time. later that night in our hotel there was a group of english teachers and students at our hotel for an english retreat and it was their last night too and they were having a party and they invited us so we went and talked to these people in english some of us danced with them but what was originally just a group of us going to get water turned into our own little dance party out in front of the hotel. mainly a dance course for the americans because apparently every other country in the world knows at least some kind of dance really well. theres a girl from namibia africa with us and we became friends and we were on the dance floor and we were dancing the chacha but she was in flats and i was in my dusty toms and the floor was super slippery so we were basically just slidding everywhere with style and rhythm it was great. so ya those were my highlights of the trip for me and now were in feb and so ill leave the rest for a later post. hopefully it wont be too late. ok well until later guys.

christmas in colombia

well lets see i left you guys off at the end of my first trip with the other exchangers and just about to head out to my new house and family that awaited me. and now two months later i can say that i greatly enjoy this new fam. i have a brother who is just turned 19 in jan and a sister who just turned 22 and a mother whos age i have no idea and i probably will never ask. my host bro is kinda like me which is cool were both super relaxed people and like to have fun when the time calls for it... and he talks slowly so i can actually understand him. in contrast my host sister talks a mile a minute and seems to always be full of bubbley energy so we have a very interesting sibling dynamic in this house. my host mom is just a super sweet person, always looking out for me and cleaning my stuff when im taking a shower so i cant stop her, she wont even let me wash the dishes i have to do it secret. to say the least its been a very fun time in this house.

now its time to tell you what ive been up to for the month of december. so i went back to school and we had a week of boring school in which i did very little, but then the following week was Semana Berchmans which was one week of intense competitions. one class from each grade 6-11 was placed in one of the four teams: Black white orange and blue. i was on black. these competitions ranged far beyond the simple sports games there were academic competions like math physics and english, there were artistic competions like poetry, dance and music, and of course the sports competions. so i wasnt planning on doing much this week just because it didnt seem necesary for me to participate but as i was sitting in the cafeteria one day reading myself some much ado about nothing a group of girls came up to me speaking spanish faster than ive ever heard before so after i gave them my signature blank stare look they realized that they needed to slow down a bit and then i finally understood that they wanted help for this thing called fonomimica (lipsync)... fantastic. turns out they had a rap in this thing and it was in english and it was too hard for them to learn... liars. but i accepted it anyway i just viewed it as me doing another show, i needed a character, a walk, and all that and it was fine. so that was my first event. then another friend came up to me and asked me to help in playing music for the interpretes competition, this is where we need to compose a piece and then perform it, cool so i whipped out my uke and got to work, two events. then i was goin to participate in waterpolo, 3, and volleyball, 4, and that was all that in the end i planned on doing, but then my friend came up to me one morning during the week and asked me to play my uke as backround music for the poetry comp., 5. so it was a busy week. unfortunately after two days of the sports i decided that it was probably better for my finger and knee if i stopped which was a bummer, but it didnt really matter if i played or not we kinda sucked in the first place we lost every game of those two sports... but we did ok in soccer. but in interpretes we got third which wasnt so bad considering that the other teams utilized a teacher to play an instrument for their band when we didnt, so we found comfort in that. but the cool thing was we got first in the fonomimica which i was told was coolest event to win in. we also won the dance competions which were just super cool to watch... all in all we got third. that doesnt sound too bad right? well when you hold it up against the fact that two teams tied for first... it kinda sucks. but really after it i didnt really care because it was now vacations!
so just letting you guys know i started this blog at the very beginning of jan. and i was super proud that i was writing it early but... i got lazy and didnt finish. so i just went through it and corrected all the things that would have sounded weird now that its feb. the unfortunate part except for the fact that my parents are getting on my butt to write a new one is that ive forgotten a lot that has happened in dec. during my vacations. so there probably wont be as many stories anymore and i need to keep this one short so you guys dont go blind from staring at the screen for 5 hours. anyway the rest of december.... well we had christmas party for the group of us exchange students here in cali which was a great time. i wrote my first song on my uke as a christmas present and performed it. i was a little nervous so i screwed up a bit but they said it sounded good. sometimes its nice knowing people are lying to make you feel better. and we made this crazy good drink from austria, but since it was in german i have no idea what the name is. the next day was the 24th now why am i talking of christmas eve? because it was christmas day for us. confused? so was i. yup christmas is the night of the 24th. i guess you could say it went into the 25th because it went till three in the morning but ya all the presents dinner and the whole shabang was the 24th. i had a good time that night, we danced (of course), ate delicious food, did a catholic tradition, wrote letters not to santa but niño dios. who is niño dios? really before this i wouldnt have been able to say but i guess kid God is like their santa, just a little bit more religious. it was a different but cool christmas. the next week was called feria... and this week was a never ending party unless your a kill joy like me and cant stay up late till 3 every day. it was a week full of dancing, parties, booze (not for me), food and more dancing. it was crazy, but i had a good time my mom and i were the ones who always wanted to leave the party at a decent hour... which is like 1 30, but as i said before that was the hour of the kill joys. so we partied and partied and partied some more. by the end of this week i wasnt able to go to sleep before 2 am im still recovering i got it down to 11 30, that doesnt sound bad but the the two austrians im with are out before 10 and are nice and refreshed for their schools the next day. (that might be a lie cuz who really is nice and refreshed waking up at 5 15 to go to SCHOOL that just doesnt happen, what i mean to say is that theyre in better condition for school than me). so although i liked feria it screwed me over big time. and that brings this blog to an end, ill be starting my next one now for jan. so if you would like to give your eyes a break for a bit go for it, it may be necessary ill try to keep the next one short...ish. well until later friend

PELICANO!!

well i need to prepare myself to get some arthritis after i write this beast of a blog. Im only somewhat sorry that i havent written for the past month. that may seem kinda insensitive cuz im writing this blog to inform you all of whats goin on down here and all the crazy things that im experiencing. but let this be somewhat of an encouragement, ive become quite comfortable here, not as many things are quite as crazy as when i first arrived, and things have gotten into a nice little routine... but... all that is going to be changing very soon. and i mean very soon. i change families tomorrow, so this routine of wake up at 5, shower, breakfast already made, walk wearily to the bus, school, bus, home, read, watch tv- is all gonna be tossed out the window and the new adventure starts. im moving to the other side of the city so its gonna be a different environment entirely. nevertheless im looking forward to it.

so now is when the real writing starts up: quick background on what ive been doin this past month- school, church, went to a couple parties, did a rotary thing, and hung out with friends. as ¡ said nothing interesting has happened lately. many of you ask if im still having girl problems. for a while it was a no but apparently ive upset her again, for a while i thought it was a joke but after a week i began to think otherwise, so i tried to fix it, didnt know how, like most men, so i just kept on apologizing and asking her to help me fix it, she refused. so i stopped trying... really i had no idea what to do. I then went out on a trip (which will be what the majority of this blog will be about) and i came back and she greeted me with a hug (good sign) and then she asked me if a brought her anything (bad sign) how the heck was i supposed to know to bring her something i replied ¨a hug?¨ guess that wasnt good enough so were back on not so good ground. thats the latest on that front.

And now to the trip, are you ready to read all of this? cuz im not ready to write all of it, whatever here we go. So last tuesday we headed out on an epic journey to the atlantic coast, the other foreign exchange students and me. I took the monday before it off to ¨pack my things¨ so i had a nice break from school, anyway i arrived at the airport in the morning with my austrian friend and we were met by the majority of the other FES which was nice. we get through security quickly, which was a nice change from the US, and our trip began. we flew to Bogota where we were met by even more FES, some of which i had never met, our friends from Cucuta, which was a nice surprise. we now had a chance to relax for a couple hours, and my german friend and i were a little hungry, so we started looking around for a good food place and then the place came into sight. all the other fast food places dimmed in comparison and it shined out before us, the sign showed brilliantly over the rest and it said... Dunkin Donuts. i havent had a donut since ive come here and im pretty much writing all of this for Gunner McQuerry so if he´s not reading this ive just wasted 5 min of my time. anyway the donut was cheap and delicious just like donuts should be, and we enjoyed them greatly. and then i played my uke for a long time trying to learn how to play some songs, since i pretty much only knew In 5 years time, and after a while even that song can get boring. and we were quite bored sitting there in the airport with nothing to do, finally our plane came and we were on our way to Monteria, where we would be met by our bus. the bus we would have to learn to live in for the next week. not really live in because we had hotels and all that but at the end of the week it smelt like a bunch of stinky teenagers have been living in it.

we arrive in Monteria and were struck with a wall of humidity. i started sweating in the first 5 min we got off the plane and i realized that i would need to do a lot of reapplying of my deodorant. we then headed off to Tolu a little costal city where we would spend the next two days. we took a boat to this island where they had a sort of zoo and we were walking along and we saw a lot of cool animals but the funny thing was that the tour guide for the zoo thought we knew zero spanish so he only said like 3 words to us at a time very slowly and called out the names of each animal and wouldnt move on until we repeated it, so we would be walking and he would say Arbol and we would repeat Arbol, and he did it over and over again but the one that we remembered the most is when he called out Pelicano and we all repeated Pelicano. so our actual guide for the entire trip made fun of him a lot by over anunciating words and having us repeat them, and the one he liked the most was Pelicano, it means pelican if you didnt know, so we kinda got into a habit of yelling at the top of lungs PELICANO where ever we went. so thats the story of the title. we also took a cool little tour of the city on some bike taxis and we tried to race them.... mine lost. but when we got back it was pouring down rain so we were all huddled underneath the overhang of our hotel. And then me and my friend look out to the beach and we see this little kid having the best time of his life running on the beach and rolling in the wet sand i turn to my friend and i said that we should join him, she didnt want to so i went out alone and started jumping around with him and enjoying the rain and then she finally came out, not to play, but to take pictures of me making a fool of myself luckly my camara wouldnt work for her so there wasnt evidence, however soon enough our guide came out with a volleyball and we started playing soccer (leave it to a colombian) and then everyone came out and we were having a great time in the rain but it soon passed and we started up a bonfire with some damp wood and a lot of gasoline. and then came this little band it reminded me of a mariachi band minus the tight pants and giant sombreros, and they had different instruments, in fact there werent very many things in common except that they sang in spanish and people danced to it. and it was a crazy dance party not because we were good but because we had absolutely no idea what we were doing except for a couple people who knew a little how to dance. but the coolest part was when we were all just sitting down and a song came up that some of us knew and my austrian friend asked if i wanted to dance, thinking that others would join in i said of course, and of course no one else joined in. So at first i felt a little awkward because i had no idea what i was doing we were all alone in front of everyone, but after a while i said to myself screw it im just gonna have fun, and as it turns out i did so Monika if youre reading this, gracias it was one of the coolest dances ever. so that was tolu, we did more things there but that was my highlight. im pretty much gonna give you guys the highlight of each place and then move on unless you guys want a giboondous blog, but the thing is i dont so sorry.

Next was cartagena, and let me tell you this city is beautiful. everyone before hand was telling me that cartagena was magical, beautiful, romantic, and various other flowery adjectives, and i only somewhat believed them but believe me all the rumors are true, it was beautiful... except for the hotel. I guess the hotel was actually pretty nice according to the other students, but my room was far from nice. this is going to be a time for complaining im sorry but its not that im a pampered little boy its that this hotel was a 4 star hotel and it was supposed to have very high standards and here is what me and my roomates dealt with: bathroom light didnt work, no hot water, no toilet paper, toliet didnt flush (which was a major problem one night...) they didnt clean our room... at all. Yea 4 star hotels... but other than that cartagena was amazing we went to the beaches a lot, to some islands, to the old part of the city, to the castle/fortress that was there. the highlight of this trip was this one day where we went snorkling. now snorkling is always fun and it was super cool to swim in the reefs my friend and i even chased after a school of fish. we tried to be sneaky and get super close but we couldnt... bummer. so ya that was fun but after that we went to this other island to eat lunch. as we were pulling in the driver told us that nothing here is free that the venders will tell you that its a gift especially with the Oysters, dont believe them its a trick they´ll take all your money just say that youre allergic and run away. well this caught my attention, because i actually really like oysters (thank you uncle lee) so i wanted to try one. we get off the boat and it was just as the driver said the swarmed us like bees to honey and started yelling things at us and this guy stops me with oysters and he said hey try one it my gift to you, i said no im good thanks, and then he asked where i was from i said the US and he said aw man then youre my brother take one its my gift to you i dont offer this to those europeans. I laughed at that. so i said ok and i tried one and then the next thing i knew he shoved another into my face, saying it was another gift, ok so i took it not really believing him its just that it was so good and he kept doing this 3 more times and then i said i had to go,ok he said 25 mil, 5 for each oyster.... ive been had. i said ill give you 20, ok he said. and then i left, satisfied but 20 mil less. fool me once shame on me. and then we had a game. our guides i guess always play a set of games for each trip that they do, so on our next trips we´ll have them again but with different teams but anyway they split us up into the two ¨tribes¨ and we would be competing for the rest of the trip and this was our first game. so the game was that we had these 4 sticks and we would all hold the sticks while someone ran across the tops of them and we had to run the length of this little, i guess a road, there and back. and it was fun very competitive, high adreneline and all that, the team i was on won, so that was good and we were waiting for the other team to arrive when all of the sudden like 4 steps from the finish, my friend biffs, and she biffed hard. we all kinda laughed at first because it was a funny fall but that laughter turned into concern when she didnt get up. so we all ran over and she was lying on the group just staring at her foot saying that she couldnt get up, that it hurt too much... oh no. so people are scrambling around trying to fix it and bandage it up. the students went to the beach to play. and for the rest of the trip she couldnt walk... why is this a highlight this sucks Cody? because as it turns out she broke her big toe... again that sucks Cody why are you telling us this? because she is from the city from me were both from Cali. so Teresa and Monika if you guys are reading this you guys are next. some debilitating thing is gonna happen to you guys just like what happened to me and Jenny... suckers. anyway cartagena was fun we serenaded in a plaza and we bought a lot of things, and just chilled a lot.

Santa marta! now this was a cool place we pretty much only went to the beaches in this city it was beautiful and fun. ok so our second night here was the best night of trip for me and some of my friends, but it was also some peoples worst night. So that night i went out to the beach with my friends Maria, Monika, and Teresa and we just kinda wanted to walk around and get away from all of the other students for a while so were walking down the beach and this guy calls out to us, well mainly to our friend monika ¨Mona Mona¨ which means ¨blondie blondie¨ come here, so we walk over and hes with a group of people and theyre all dancing and he asks her if she wants to dance we all kinda look at each other thinking that this looks kinda of shifty but we said hey why not so we joined them Monika with a colombian teresa with a colombian and Maria with a mexican (me) and we had a lot fun with it but then we decided to leave, we said goodbye and then left. we were walking a little bit further down and these two colombians stop us again seeing that we had a volleyball and asked to play a game with us, and we said sure we each got a colombian and started playing... my team kicked butt thanks maria. and then we continued onward down the beach we passed this huge party goin on and kept on walking and we kept on seeing these love notes written in the sand, slowly being washed away by the tide, and we decided to make our own, so that was cool. we walked a little further and then we realized that there was a crab on the shore where we were going to walk and we got really close to it and it raised its claws, as if it were asking for a fight, so out of little desire to do something cool in front of these girls and also to prove to myself that i can do something dangerous and that i havent lost my edge ( that was for chris and ryan) i foolishly tried to pick it up. i was always told to pick it up from behind because then it cant pinch you so i tried that, thank you Mom for the advice... that was completely false!!! i pick it up from behind and then fast as lightning it reaches underneath itself and grabs hold of my middle finger, and shoot did that hurt, i flung it up into the air where it chilled for about 4 secs and then plopped into the water. i made a fool of myself true but i gave us a memory we wouldnt forget. and after that whole event we decided to turn back and this time we did stop to see what kind of party was goin on. in fact it wasnt a party it was just two very talented street dancers dancing in the beach with partners that they chose randomly from the crowd and since everyone in colombia knows how to dance it was fine. they were dressed up in crazy costumes and were just dancing their hearts out, i tried to take pictures but they were moving so fast i couldnt catch them. the dances also kinda symbolized sex so that was kinda weird and by kinda symbolized i mean that they did symbolize but it was crazy indeed. and then we finally headed back to the hotel where we found our friends having their own ¨fun¨that night... i like ours better.

now to Tyrona, the final stop on this journey. im gonna say the coolest part of this place was how we entered it. Tyrona is kinda like one of their national parks located in the jungle right next to the ocean. and the only way to get into it is by horse or by foot... and we entered by foot. now one would think that they would need boots for such a trek, but oh no not us, we did things the old fashioned way good ole barefoot. this was one of those moments when you could really connect with your true self like when you go on a hike through the mountains and then you decide to slip off the trail a bit just to see if you could work your way through the heart of the woods without any help. it was kinda like that for me. it would have been even better if people werent sing showtunes and german drinking songs while we walked and a person banging on a drum, but we have to make due with what we have and shoot it was such a refreshing walk, and when the mud slips through your toes, theres no feeling quite like it. unfortunately i had another incident with a rock again... we were hiking through and there were these two rock and my friend asked me to climb through the rocks, and you guys all know how big of a sucker i am when a girl asks me to do something so i went for it not testing to rocks to see if they were safe or not. so im running and then leap towards the rock waiting for my foot to find some traction to push myself up yet again, but... that traction never came, my foot made contact but it didnt stay because there was a good amount of moss/algae on it. so as soon as i step my foot flys underneath me and then first my knee hits ( not my bad one so thats good but now i have two bad knees so thats not good) and then my chest and then i turn around and my elbow hits and then i slide down the crack between the two rocks... once again i made a fool of myself. i was beat up by an inanimate object, pretty badly too. i know have this scrape on my knee that wont scab up completely so im just waiting for that now. the ocean hurt after that accident but it was super fun and i had a good time.

so thats all folks. really a lot more things happened and im sure these stories will pop up in our conversations back home but for the moment thats all you get. well its almost midnight here and i have school tomorrow and im switching fams so big day i need some rest but then again i could just sleep in school... just kidding Mom (maybe). Ok love you all and miss you guys. until later.

whats better than two weeks of vacation?

technically ive only had one week of vacation which im currently enjoying at the moment, but last week was close enough to a vacation for me. so here we go ill set up the scene for you.

i just finished my spanish lesson with one of the english teachers at my school and as i was about to leave he stops me and tells me if he could ask a favor of me. of course i said i would love to. ok good cuz now this isnt certain yet but im going to ask the english coordinator if you could help us english teachers out. - now i was getting excited because it dealt with english- ok cool ya i would love to help you guys. cool well heres the thing we do this week called immersion week where we go to our farm and we only speak english are you interested?- is this guy serious?- ya sure ill help out- in a calm tone but really on the inside im screaming because im so happy- ok cool ill let you know.

so as it turned out i was able to go so i went to school on monday as usual dressed in full uniform and every thing we didnt really do too much that day which was nice, but the next day was the day i was really looking forward to. so i wake up tuesday at 5 10 as usual and then i take my shower im not taking as many cold showers as i once did but i assure you even still i would never take a shower as cold as these back in the states. and then now is where things switch up a bit, i put on a v neck pants and my toms. No uniform for me anymore! do you realize how liberating that was for me? no belt no real shoes no socks no polo, i finally felt like i had individuality again. it was amazing and then i picked up a small bag put some fruit and my swimsuit in it- cuz it was water polo day after school- and then ate some b fast and was on my way to school. when i arrived at school i took my daily morning nap because i arrive at 630 but school doesnt start until 7 so i just sleep or read my bible. and then at seven i said hi to my homeroom teacher and then i peaced out of there and went to the auditorium and i left my spanish behind. we then watched a video, in english, about all these different countries, because that was the theme of the week, it started of with this guy from ireland playing bagpipes and then giving a tour of the county where he lived. i felt like i was listening to Mr. McKeon so it was a very nostalgic way to start off the day, and then we went on to other countries. but then we arrived at the farm and pause- a thats right my school owns a farm here in the next city over what the heck thats crazy right or is it just me whos blown away by this? anyway play- then it was pretty much the same every day in this schedule: listen to presentations, teach a ridiculous game in english- one time i had to have everyone in this one team yodel for 30 secs. now that was hilarious, then eat all the delicious food the kids made according to their country typical food, then listen to them talk about their day. now if thats not as relaxing as a vacation i dont know what is. all the while my classmates were toiling over math, chem, english, spanish work... suckers. and the best part is that i had absolutely no work to make up i asked my homeroom teacher if i need to ask my teachers for any of the work we were doing this week and she told me her phrase that she tells me every week ¨no te preocupes¨ dont worry about it. fantastic. so that was my first week of vacation.

second week:

this week was an actual week for vacation in school which was nice, why did we have it? i dont really know which made it all the better because it was like a unexpected gift and those are always good. so i went for that week we went to lago calima which is a lake and it was amazing. so that tuesday we are getting ready to leave and my host cousin and his friend show up because theyre coming with us, and we start to pack everything up and i realize that were packing everything into one car. i was thinking that since there are two families going we would use two cars... i thought wrong. turns out my aunt and uncle were coming the next day so all 4 of us good sized teenagers had to cram ourselves into the back seat. as you can imagine it was not the most comfy ride. but finally we arrive at this club right on the beach of this lake and pretty much they said ¨go¨ so this whole place is pretty much open to us there was a huge kitchen, ping pong table (which i made much use of), couches facing the water and a trail to walk. and later on we had a boat. so as you might imagine i had a really good time there because it was pretty much a place where you can pretty much read wherever you go. unfortunately i was without LOTR so i had to settle with a thinking book: miracles by CS Lewis. and wow it really requires a lot of brain power i was literally tired when i finished a chapter. But on the good side i read a lot of my bible so i read pretty much all of ecclesiasties which i discovered is one of the coolest books ive read in the OT it was super fun to read all this wisdom stuff because i figured that this is stuff that non christians cant write off just because its in the bible, who can argue with ¨there is nothing better for a person that that he should est and drink and find enjoyment in his toil,¨ or ¨the more words the more vanity and what is the advantage to man¨ all of it is legit stuff. and as i said before i made good use of the ping pong table. you see there wasnt much to do there to entertain yourself for a long time, except for of course the ping pong table. so my host bro and i literally played for hours each day, except for the day when we broke the ball that was sad, because then we had to find other things to do, namely sleeping. so we finally went out on the boat to go water skiing, (thank you aunt caren and uncle john for teaching me because i would have looked like a fool), and first i happy just to be doing something really physical, and then i was even more happy when i found out that it didnt bother my knee. i had a lot of fun with it. and i didnt fall too many times though i did have some pretty bad ones. hmmm what else from that vacation... i dont know but it was nice to relax and get away from the city, its really loud here...

so after we got home on that friday i pretty much did nothing my bro went on a date, my parents went on a date... till three in the morning! craziness! they love to dance just like everyone else here, and the party life here goes laaatte. so i stayed home relaxed my super sore muscules from the water skiing and watched some bourne identity with choco milk. good night by my standards. the next day was when the fun really started to happen because we picked up some of the other foreign exchange students from colombia. so that night some of the guys met at my house and we all just hung out telling jokes and making fun of one anothers country. it was a good bonding time for all of us dudes. i got a lot of crap for liking root beer that night. you see root beer doesnt exist in europe like it does in the states. for europeans they just drink beer, , and at my house were some students that were proud of their nations beer so when they got on the topic of root beer i was all alone because i said that i liked it. they all got angry because they thought root beer was trying to be a beer, so after hours of me trying to explain to them that it isnt a beer whatsoever and that it just has the word beer in the name, we came to a mutual agreement disagreeing on our opinions: i will love rootbeer, they will hate it because of the name. later that night we were seranaded by a guitar player and a dude from denmark asked a lot of pretty girls to take a picture with us, now that man has guts... or no shame in being a foreigner. the next day we woke up early and got ready for a tour of cali, it was fun fitting all of us in a van, and unsurprisingly we naturally separated into boys and girl sections. so heres the run down of the demographic of our group: 2 american woop, 3 danes (denmark), 1 austrian (not australlian), 1 taiwanese, 1 belguim...ite?, 5 germans holy crap, and 1 estonian. -Pause estonian? wheres estonia? no one knows and we gave him a hard time everywhere we went, we would of felt bad if he didnt agree with us. and after the tour we went to my g pas ecological reserve, that place with a water fall. so we get there and the first activity we want to do is go to the water fall so we start off and it was a lovely hike, and we had a good time, and then we arrive at the waterfall and i was funny because our guide told us to go into the waterfall but of course we all forgot our swim suits so a danish guy and I said screw it and threw off our shoes and shirts and made our way to the water, thankfully others followed so i wasnt just me and this other guy. and we climb up on this rock and were chillin in the water for a while and then i felt like i should leave so i start heading down the rock, now is where things got interesting, so because we were in the presence of water and rock you can imagine that there was some algae build up on some of the rock so im heading down and im almost and the bottom when suddenly i notice that im looking at my foot, and then i notice that im not touching the ground anymore... poop. so i hit the ground hard and then i start to slide down the rocks. this would have been really fun if wat follows didnt happen. as i was sliding down these rocks the was another rock planted at a 90 degree angle on the path where my hand was sliding... it did not end well. my hand caught on this rock that was jutting out but i continued to slide when i finally came to a halt. i was happy to see i reached the end however something didnt feel too right. i look down at my right hand and i have my answer. i jump up screaming ¨oh! oh! oh my goodness! shoot! goodness gracious!¨ i think my lack of swearing made everyone believe that i thought that my slide down was cool, but their opinions were quickly changed when i raise my hand and they saw that my right index finger was at a100 degree angle... not good. i was half thinking of just pulling on it right there like they do in the movies, but then i realized that the people who do that are action heroes, and i am obviously not an action heroe, so i settled with elevating my finger above my head and high-tailing it back to the building. so this 35 min hike was cut down to a 10 min trek back home. when i arrived my fam knew that something wasnt good and i showed them my finger and some of the rotarians at the table gave a gag so i had to do my best to hide it. and then i went to the hospital where they basically tortured me in the x ray room, gave me an IV for the pain, but turned it of and forgot to put it back on before they fixed my finger, and they fixed it by warning me quickly in spanish and then yanking on it, didnt really warn me at all, and then turned the IV back on and put a splint of my finger that is very dirty at the moment. i returned to the reserve and chilled with all the other students, even risked playing a little ping pong. and we hung out late that night, by american standards not colombian. the next day we went to meet the rotary president OF THE WORLD - i thought that needed some emphasis- so ya this was quite the honor and the students at my table enjoyed this time... by making napkin art. and then we all said goodbye and parted for our rightful cities, and started school the next day.

as you could guess from my two weeks of all of this i was not willing to go back to school in the least, but i did with much reluctancy, and was greeted with much boredom... nothing really happened this last week except for the fact the TTT arrived from my bro back home so i can finally read again - TTT= the two towers- so im very happy about that unfortunately im reading it too fast ill be done with it soon enough.

ok so sorry that i wrote so much and that it was put off for a long time im going to blame it on my broken finger when it really was my procrastination sorry. until later.