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.

hace dos semanas lo siento

its been two weeks sorry.

so when i dont write for two weeks i start to forget all the minor happenings that take place during the week so i dont really know where to start. all i can say is that a lot has happened. so lets start off with one major thing i finished FOTR so now im deprived of an awesome adventure through middle earth and everything seems a little more bland. i found that i really wanted to inside the book and take part in the adventure. this is really embarrassing but whatever its not like im going to be seeing you guys face to face anytime soon. ok so i went on a hike through this ecological reserve that belongs to host grandpa and it was like a jungle so i really enjoyed it but anyway thoughts of FOTR kept on coming into my mind and i actually wanted to see if i could walk and make almost no noise... like a hobbit. anyway i miss the book and i want to read the other two which i dont have. but since i havent been reading FOTR i read The Merchant of Venice which is a fantastic story and play i really enjoyed it but then i finished that in like 4 days so now i need to move on to another book. i think ill start miracles by cs lewis . The bottom line with this is that since there arent very many people to speak english with i find comfort in reading in english so im going to need to pace myself or else im gonna be stuck here without a book.

oh and ive made really good friends with the other foreign exchange student from taiwan we spent like a good 6 1/2 hours hanging around a mall. it was pretty cool because we had to order everything in spanish like icecream hamburgers movie tickets it was pretty exhilerating (dont think i spelt that right. i guess it runs in the family ryan) to only be able to speak in spanish with all the food people. we watched inception fortunately it was in english with spanish subtitles so we could still understand. the malls here are absolutely amazing they totally put the galleria and arden to shame. the one we went to had like 5 fountains, a climbing rock wall, rollercoaster, that funny thing where you put these kids in clear ball and put them in water and you can just laugh at them because they hardly stand for 3 sec. and the fall hard. its like watching a hampster wheel but with kids instead. and they have a legit food court. it was a super fun night and when we got into the cab jenny (other foreign exchange student) realized that she forgot her address, so we had to stop by my house wake up my host bro, it was midnight, and have him look it up online and then we went back to the cab i dropped her off and then i went back to my house. i barely had enough money to pay the cab driver i was about 50 cents away from having to make him wait again while i got more money from my room. it was a close one.

the next day i hung out with Mrs.McKeons cousin which was super fun we went to another mall and hung out there and had dinner. she brought her husband Ricardo i believe and her other cousin Orlando and we just hung out at the table doing our best to to communicate because neither of them spoke much english. they asked me what i wanted to be when i grew up and i said i wanted to be a missionary then a pastor... theyre all christians so that was good but they started asking all these questions about my church, why i wanted to be a missionary, questions about denominations, so basically questions that i have no idea how to answer. but i did my best to answer them and i think i did well enough. were gonna meet up again sometime soon theyre all very cool people Ricardo looked like pastor Ramon from vino nuevo it kept on tripping me out. also that friday my host bro got so sick that he couldnt drive so then i didnt need to go to school upon request from my host mom. so that was awesome. i chilled and walked down to our nearest juan valdez where i chilled, read, and drank delicious coffee. on that sunday i went to my host g-pa´s finca as i said before and chilled there all day i did this ridiculous -walk-across-this-skinny-rope-thats-hanging-over-dirty-water-and-try-to-make-it-across- thing and i got wet, first because i weigh a lot so the rope sagged into the water up to my knees, and second because i have horrible balance so i was swaying to and fro if you want the actual visual go onto my facebook and watch the video. we also went on a hike through the jungle to a sick waterfall that we stood in and relaxed. it was amazing i loved it.

so this last week was my first day of water polo practice it was awesome but shoot im out of shape. by the end of practice my arms were shaking. oh and as it turns out here you dont really need to egg beater so all these guys are just jumping their way around the pool and it takes all the fun out of game to be honest. and they dont play rough here i would hold a guys arm and he would get angry with me on my second day of practice i pulled a guy back by pulling on his suit and he told on me to the coach i mean come on really. anyway i guess ill just have to water myself down so i dont get in trouble. but it was great to be in the water again ive already started to get back my speedo tan. oh and thats another thing here they dont wear speedos its either jammers or suits. during the second day of practice i went to go get a drink of water and everyone was staring and smirking at me, but the cool thing about being an exchange student is that i dont have to care what they think so i just continued walking right in front of them. something really cool this week was that we have these cool days called interclases and its basically a full day dedicated to having sport competitions between the other 3 classes in our grade. and you dont even need to participate so you could just be a lazy bum all day and do nothing. this was my original plan because i am a lazy bum but then i realized if im going to be here for a year might as well participate in school so i played volleyball. at first i was worried about my knee but then i starting hitting a ball around with some other people and it didnt hurt so i was super excited. it was our turn to play so i went out onto the court and we start to play its been a good three years since i actually played a game so i was a little rusty to start but as soon as i got into a rhythm i was rocking those tenth graders. we ended up winning too so that was great and the best news was that my knee didnt bother me in the least so thank you physical therapy for the hell that you put me through two times a week it really helped. oh and i changed buses which was a surprise for me but this bus is primarily older kids so thats cool in which my other bus was all elementary school kids. i wont have any long debates on justin beiber or how many seasons of avatar last airbender there are but thats not necessarily a bad change. and this bus is much more comfortable because it has head rests. it doesnt sound like a big deal but i assure you when youre trying to sleep and you dont have a head rest and you hit a pothole (which are everywhere here) and you smack your head on those two little plastic circles where the head rest is suppose to be, a head rest makes all the difference.

so today i wake up and i have to have a physical for my insurance policy deal so i cant drink water i cant eat and i cant go pee... what a horrible way to start the day. anyway we get the physical started and he´s asking me all these questions which surprisingly i could answer and then he starts to take my blood pressure and my weight and height. and then he starts to leave i was confused because i was supposed to be taking a urine test and blood test as well. but as it turns out i dont because the only reason why i needed to take them was because he read my weight from a report a long time ago with my height info so he thought i was fat, but then he saw that im just a big dude so he called it off. good and bad came out of this good: im not a fat guy who needs a blood and urine test; bad: i didnt drink water, go pee or eat all for nothing... i hate physicals. also today while i was writing this blog my mom comes up the stairs and then calls me and signals me cutting my hair... ok cool lets go. so we go to this hair place and after waiting a while the guy calls me up so i start to head over to the seat. and then he starts to ask me what i want i immediately turn to my mom with a face of both panic and amusement. panic because i have no idea what he´s saying amusement because i already told my mom that i didnt care about my hair so the guy could do whatever he wanted. then the guy and my mom started talking i caught the words Juanes (rockstar here) and moderna and then the guy turned back to me and started saying stuff so i just said si and nodded and let the guy work. i figured if im gonna live here might as well look like i live here, and this guy could make that happen. his first order of business was to thin out my hair cuz i have a mop for a head, then he grabs a buzzer and then angles out my sideburns, at this i had to try my hardest not to laugh. and then he just starts to clip wildly at my hair. then he grabs a lot of gel and spikes up the back of my head and the back of the top of my head leaving the front flat... and then my mom said moderna. she then proceeded to call me a papacito (translated-hot stuff) and we left my maid said that i look like teenager for once (good? bad?) and my fam likes it so i guess its fine ill need a couple days to get used to it but it really doesnt look that bad and im sure i can make it my own i dont think ill spike up the back though. and ya i just got back from youth group so that was fun i feel like a punk because they translate for me but they say they like it so they can increase their vocab im looking forward to the day when i wont need one.

so yup thats about it. until later

unfortunate but necessary lesson week

ok so title of this post is alluding to my culture shock experience, and it was quite unfortunate for me, yet quite necessary if i want to live here... and socialize with women. yes that is correct i had women problems this last week because of a major mistake on my part in the context of this culture. I am finding out with each passing day that the women here are very sensitive to words and want to be loved. now i will tell you of my mistake...

so there are these girls in my class and they keep on taking pictures of me on their blackberries and one day they took a picture of us together and then posted it on facebook. then another guy in my class commented on it saying that i looked frightened, which i kinda was, and then the girl who took the picture said no i wasnt. and im looking at this picture i obviously looked a little freaked out and so i thought it would be funny if i said yes yes i was scared.... no good. so i walk into class the next day and when usually i am greeted with a smile and a thumbs up, today i was greeted with two very sad very angry faces. uh oh. so i sit down and then one of them asks me why i would post yes i was scared in a very serious tone. i laugh, bad idea, and once i notice that they were serious about it i started to backpedal. it was i joke i said with smile, i did not receive a smile but a cold shoulder and then the second followed in suit... crap. so then for the remainder of the day they wouldnt talk to me. they would give me dirty looks but no words. so i start to feel like crap because i legitimately hurt these two girls. so i start to try and make them laugh, smile, anything, but i received nothing. so i finally go up and ask them what is wrong (i obviously know what was wrong but just to get them to say something). and then one asked me if i loved her... -pause ok so she said me amas which means do you love me, at this im caught off gaurd, and i have no idea what to say, BUT lets also take into account the culture. here everyone says te amo i love you and they say this to everyone so it is less romantic than it is a friendly gesture... i didnt know this... play- so i said no and the face i got could break your heart. i then realized that she asked if i like her as a person, crap. so once again i start to backpedal and say no wait i didnt mean that i think youre really nice and all and that youre super cool, of course she doesnt speak english so she didnt catch any of that and then she said no me quieres, and then i said no again because thats another way of saying do you love me, crap again. so now both are super sad and now i seem like a horrible person seperated by a humungous cultural chasm. and then later on in computers class, in which were learning the algorithmic language... poop, she gives me another chance to redeem myself. she blows me a kiss... i look at the dude next to me with a face of horror he shrugs and leaves me to sweat. so i had a choice: to return one or to stay in my cultural box and deny it. so i manned up and i returned it, a simple hand to my lips and then lowering it. and as it turns out that was all she needed. her friend blew me a kiss to see if i would react the same and i did so then she was happy. it was a big step for me to step out like that, but hey it worked. i was talking to my english speaking friend about this whole debacle and she just laughed and said the girls here are sensitive and want to be loved, even more by you since youre the american, you need to be careful with what you say to them. ok i replied having learned my lesson. thats that. this was on tuesday and i think i finally made it back to my level of friendship on friday because friday was their valentines day holiday called amor y amistad, love and friendship so it was for friends of the opposite gender as well not just romantic couples so i grabbed three candy bars that morning and i gave them to those two girls and my english speacking friends. they were really happy and hugged me and then all was well on that front. a very important lesson learned. be careful with how you treat the women here in colombia.

so other events this week on wednesday we kicked off the interclass competitions. we have for classes within each grade for example i am 10A and later on in the year we will be having competions in all the sports offered at school against the other 3 classes. so we had this grand ceremony to kick it off and it was interesting, boring at first but then they ended with this game that was really exciting. i have no idea what its called, but its a mix between basketball soccer and waterpolo. it was played on a basketball court but they had soccer goals, and the ball handling and strategy was like waterpolo as well as the physical contact. it was super fun to watch i really enjoyed it.

what else... oh im helping the other exchange student learn spanish, we took a walk around her neighborhood and i helped her learn conjugations, so that was fun. as it turns out she doesnt do much in her classes, and im kinda jealous because my teachers are wanting me to do the homework, my history teacher wants me to explain the us constitution when my vocab better, but good news the other day in physics we had a test, and the teacher was passing them out and when he got to my row he passed me i stop him and ask him why not and he said that im here to learn spanish not physics so dont worry about it. and then i proceeded to read so FOTR for an hour. similar story happened in chemisty on friday, we had a sub and we were given a packet to complete by the end of class i do the first problem and then i go to the sub and said that i cant read spanish and that i have no knowledge of basic chemistry concepts so therefore it was impossible for me to do it, then i return to my desk and read some more FOTR for the next 45 minutes. i went to the church again on wednesday the guy spoke in spanish but i made pals with their translator so we sat in the back and he translated for me, it was super legit. im finding that i really like the church. this morning i went to their mens meeting where their church apostle (the guy who travels between multiple churches that he helped start and he teaches for a couple days to build them up spiritually) spoke and it just so happens that he is from good ole california next to tracy. so thanks once again God for hooking me up. the mens meeting was awesome, tonight im going to their youth group, and in the weeks to come they want me to be in their worship band. im super excited the pastor heard me play a little guitar after the meeting and then asked if i would like to be in the worship band, a little taken aback, i said sure why not, so ill be meeting with their worship guy who is the dude who plays a keyboard for church and well talk about whats going to happen. im actually really excited. also tonight im going to have dinner with my second host fam and then go to the finca. good deal. and my host dad just walked in and gave me a candy made of cow hooves... different... smells aweful... but the taste isnt too bad. well until later friends

And we´re back again in front of our computers, sorry for the long delay i got kinda busy during the week, by busy i mean exhausted and by exhausted i mean taking a lot of siestas. anyway lets get on with it shall we?

So i left you two weekends ago with my new experiences, and now we will continue with the going-ons of last week this last weekend, and this week. so fasten your seatbelts because this one is going to be a big one.

Last week...

so this would be the start of week number 2 in colombia and i was not ready to start the new school week. As i told you all last post school is doing quite a number on me and i feel inadequate everytime a class begins. nothing really exciting happens in them except for the fact that the students make the strangest noises. for example in the united states when a principle or vice principal walk into the room and ask for a student you usually hear a resounding chorus of the other students crying out ¨ooooh¨ it is very similar here except that it is not exclusive for when someone is seemingly getting in trouble, and that there are about 4 more different types of noises. let me list them for you there is the typical ¨ooh¨but there is also the ¨huuh¨which is similar to the ¨ohh¨but it is shorter and has more umph in it, it kinda sounds like a gorrilla tarzan noise, there is also the ¨hu-yssh¨ which is always funny to hear, the ¨hoooo¨s and of course the whistles. all of these are being proclaimed throughout the entire day used because a joke, unexpected homework assignment, or just to make an obnoxious noise. its pretty interesting all the noises that come out of their mouths.

so for the faint of heart and easily disgusted you may not to read the next paragraph. so some of you might be wondering why i have given such a disclaimer well lets just say that the food finally caught up with me... yes. so im hanging out with some of friends during our first break and we realize that no one is outside anymore so we start to head back to the classroom and when we get there we find that nobody is there so we start looking around and asking where the other students were. turns out that we were having an assembly for our class so we rushed over to the presentation auditorium and sit down just in time for the power point. it was about us going on a really big fieldtrip at the end of the year to the coast, but anyway were about two-thirds of the way through the presentation and then my stomach starts to growl. ¨weird¨i thought because i just ate a snack, but then it starts to hurt, and then all the connections are being made in my brain and i come to the conclusion that i need to get the heck out of there. so i ask the teacher closest to me if i can go to the bathroom and he says yes so i start to leave and then the pain increases, so i get out of the room and then i start to run, bad idea, because that only agravates it more, but now i cant stop running or else i wont make it in time. I arrive at the bathroom and throw the door of the first stall open and its a urinal- pause why is a urinal in a stall? ok play- so i run out of the stall, throw open the doors of the second stall, and then i realize that theres no toliet paper, run out of that stall throw the door of the third open and i already had it set in my mind that this is the stall no matter what because i was about to expode, so i start fumbling with my belt (i hate uniforms) and i sit down only to realize that there is no toliet seat, just the bowl so im having to hover and then it all... happens... and once i start to relax i start to look for the toilet paper-pause, theres the problem right there im needing to look, play- i soon find out that there is no toilet paper. at this point i start to freak out, what the heck am i suppose to do without toilet paper, especially in the case of diarrhea. so im getting mad at the school for first not having any toilet seats and second for not having toilet paper. so i open the stall door and i begin to look for some paper towels anything for that matter, but then i see that they have hand driers not towels, so once again i am getting angry, BUT then i see over underneath the sink a toilet paper holder-pause need i ask the question of why this picture doesnt make sense, play- so i let out a sigh and then i start to waddle over to the sink and grab a lot of toilet paper and then waddle backwards (which is quite hard) and then proceed with my business. after all is said and done i was more relieved than angry and i went on with my day.

as for the rest of the week nothing too interesting happened at school, we had a dance party in the quad on friday for no apparent reason and i participated which was a big step for me. it was kinda like their version of the chacha slide so it was fun, a lot of hip movement though... and we had a conga line which is always fun. oh i forgot i went to a church on that wednesday and thursday. one of my host sister´s friends came over to pick something up and she saw me passed out on my bed and she woke me up and said hey want to go to church tonight, i said sure why not, she told me to be ready by 7 30 then left. so i got ready and then her mom picked me up and we started to head over to the church, as it turns out the speaker that night was american and he had the gift of prophecy. so i go expecting to struggle through translating and then im pleasantly surprised by an american sermon, thanks God for hooking me up. so anyway that was nice and enjoyable. they werent speaking heresies or any false doctrines, and they all seemed pretty legit. so i went again the next night, same guy different message and it was really nice. and that brings us to the weekend

weekend: i went to a little party on friday with a group called interact, its like rotary but for teenagers, they usually do service projects and stuff but this friday they were doing a secret buddy party. so we all meet at the mall across from this guys house. the malls here are humungous and beautiful, there was a carousel in this one. anyway we went to his house afterward to exchange gifts i got some orbit gum which i really appreciated since i was kinda a last minute guest. after that fun little experience i went to the apt of the guy in charge of the exchanges and ate dinner there, and as it turns out one of the other exchange students lives in the same building so i met her and we talked till like midnight and then i realized that the rotary guy still needed to drive me home so we said goodbye and then left. on saturday i went to the finca for a bbq with my host bros friends from swim which was fun i danced some more but this time with a woman i didnt know haha i felt awkward because i had no idea what i was doing. you know those times when youre running downhill and you feel like your moving too fast and that youre about to miss a step and eat it, if you dont ask ryan of his mexico experience he can explain the feeling pretty well, anyway thats how i feel when i salsa, supposedly im pretty good at it so they say but i really have no idea im still getting the hip motion down. sunday i went to catholic church... it was interesting had no idea what was going on only saw a lot of hand movements and heard a lot of chanting, ill probably go back when i can understand more so i can actually get a real idea of whats going on and then we went to this place called the 18th kilometer which is, surprise surprise, 18 km outside of the city in the mountains. and let me tell you this place was beautiful, it was so green it had that peace about it that can only be found in the mountains, the sounds of nature were surrounding us and it was just so cool. we went to a bbq resturant there it was delicious and i wouldnt mind going back. so its kinda late over here and i still have another week so ill write more tomorrow. well until later...

I milked those udders dry or udderly dry if you will

Sorry for not finishing yesterday´s post but it was getting pretty late down here. and now we continue the adventure and we can begin by explaining the title to this post. after we carried out all of our tasks given to us by the migration office, my mother and i went to the finca with my tia y tio. we arrived late in the night enough time for me to knock out a chapter of FOTR in the hammock before bed time. next morning i awake with mosquito bites all over but ready to begin the lazy day. after b fast my host mom threw me a pair of rubber boots and told me that it was time to milk the cow. as i said in my previous post i needed to make up for lost time and get as much farm experience as i can, so i took this mission with joy. we are walking over to the stable area and the cow is waiting there for me. the rancher comes up to me with this little wooden stool and sets it beside the cow and gives me some instructions in spanish that i of course nodded to and pretended to know what he was saying. so i sit myself down on the stool and i take hold of the udder and i begin to milk the cow. at this point i was starting to become giddy because this was a totally cool experience for me, and on top of that my host mom comes over to me and says that she was never able to do it, so now im feeling so good. so good in fact that when the rancher asked me if i would like to go i said absolutely not. now there was a downside to this experience, one time i got ahead of myself and i became reckless with my aim of the udders and suddenly i feel this sickly warm liquid on my arm and it was dripping down slowly. i realize that i shot myself with this purest form of milk. i shuddered quickly then proceeded with more caution of where i pointed the udders. soon my wrists became tired and i called out to the rancher that i was done. so he came over and sat in my place and took 2 to 3 squirts from the udder and then proclaimed that i milked her dry- hence the title.

next after that little unforgettable excursion i retreated to my domain of the hammock with my trusty FOTR and read. then it was lunch time which was delicious and we had this weird fruity thick drink and everyone at the table starts talking to me pointing at the drink. i said that it was good in an attempt to guess what they were asking of me, but then my mom tells me that it was the milk from this morning. i replied with facial expression of confusion and then she showed me with her hands that it was the milk that i drew from the cow. i was quite proud of myself and i finished my drink with dignity knowing that it came from my work. it was a very rewarding drink. and then i returned to my hammock. fastforward to the night. im chilling in a hammock and my host parents and tia are singing at the top of their lungs to the songs that are playing and then my tia throws up her arms and yells out BAILE!! dance!! and then soon im on my feet and my tia and mom are teaching me how to salsa and it continued like this late into the night. apparently im not to bad at it my host mom tells me that its because i have sangre latina (latino blood) so thats good. next day bfast then my mom tells me that i need pants and shoes and go out to the stable. it was time for another farm lesson: horseback riding. so i mount the horse and were going around the field the rancher giving me more instructions in spanish, again having no idea what he was saying. I only things i know about horseback riding come from my good friend C S Lewis: squeeze your legs as tight as you can and sit up straight, what i would have given to have a talking narnian horse, i wouldnt need to handle the reigns and it would tell me correct riding form. but all in all it was a good lesson and im looking forward to riding in the future. then more reading and resting and music. it was a fantastic weekend and i await more to come. well thats all for now until later adios

1 week down and ? more to go

Well here we are again in front of our computer, you reading, me writing, so lets get this thing going shall we?

Now where shall we begin: the week itself or the weekend? if you really had a say then you would be the writing now wouldnt you? so it seems the choice is left to me... im a chronological kind of guy so lets start where one should always start: at the beginning...

when i left you guys last week i was just about to go to the finca. Finca? what is a finca? well a finca is basically like a little farm house out on the outskirts of town. i am lucky enough to have a family that owns one. if any of you have a facebook account you can see what my first experience in this place was. for you who dont have facebook ill tell you. I arrive at the finca about mid day and my host parents are showing me the house the rooms the backyard and then my host dad turns to me in broken english saying ¨hey want to las vacas¨ vaca means cow for those who dont know. of course i say yes because i never really had a farm experience as a kid so i need to make up for lost time. so we rush over to the cow´s field and were walking around and we see these two cows, one´s a mother the other a little calf, sitting over on the other side of this little stream and there was some spanish dialogue going on that i didnt understand, and then my host dad tells me that the calf was born the night before and then he suddenly jumps over the stream and grabs the calf and then bounds back over and then hand me this calf saying that we need to take outside the pen to safety. now i am to say the least flabberghasted by what is taking place. Pause now lets see what is going on here: my host dad just hopped across a stream and back again carrying a little calf, hands it me and says go, this thing is wet, it pooped all over my dads arm, and it smells funky, and now im running with this thing like im forrest gump carrying injured soldiers and we get through the gate and i set it down. i look down at my shirt and i have poop on it, dirt, and then... this purple stuff that came from the umbilical cord... my host dad is cracking up and i just give a sigh, give a little disgusted shake and then we head out for some more tour. Later we sit out by the pool and relax my host parents are singing to eachother at the top of their lungs along with the music that is blaring and we just have a good time. there are more stories to come of this magical place later in this post. and now we move to the week.

school begins... dun dun dun... ok so lets just say that this week was like a hellweek for sports but with my mind. I arrive and i have to take a placement test in math english and spanish and then an appointment with a psychologist. english-easy math-hard spanish-what heck is going on here. psych appointment im just confused. and that was my first day. second- wake up at 5 30 cold shower, now we pause once again sorry this is one thing that separates colombia from the US i choose to take cold showers. let me repeat for those who didnt catch it i CHOOSE to take COLD showers. Its different here it may be that there is something magical in the colombian air that makes us want to do it... or it may be that when we wake up here we are sticky from the constant humidity and need a refresher... come to think of it scratch the first point that is the only reason why i choose a cold shower. ok resume story- bfast delicious, bus or car to school depending on availablility, then we have an assembly for all the tenth graders, yes you read correctly tenth grade. Ben and Chase if you or your parents are reading this congratulations i am in the same grade as you. and then to english for like 30 min. and then to chemistry, for those who thought that chem is like a foreign language you have no idea, then class after class in which i understand nothing the last class of the day though was history and the teacher decided to put me on the spot. He asked me my name easy enough oh and they call me Cody Martin over here since they all have 2 names they think i should too, but then the teacher starts asking me more questions that i have no idea what they mean only going by the default of nod and smile to get me through the grilling, unfortunately not all of his questions were yes and no. so as i stumble and make known to him and everyone else in the room that i have inadequate spanish skills he continues with his lesson. then he asks a question gives us time to write an answer and then he starts calling on people. he´s going around the class choosing people left and right, my brain is tell me that of course he wouldnt choose a poor innocent exchange student who he has already humiliated... oh how my brain deceives me. Yes he chooses me. i read my answer timidly, stuttering over my pronounciation, and i finish, theres a silence, i look up at him and then he cracks a grin that morphs into a smile and then the class starts to applaud me. then he turns and says something that even in other parts of the world history is just as important. i felt good about myself, only to be humbled once again by a question that i couldnt respond to. Then i went home and slept... for 3 and a half hours. next day begins the same classes are different but equally hard and confusing, like ethics for example, how does a student approach an ethics class when he doesnt know what is happening? dont know? neither did i so i sat and looked pretty (which i can be quite good at if i put my mind to it). signed up for music class which seems like it would be fun. home then eat then sleep then eat again then sleep. i feel like a hobbit eating as much i do here i have like 5 complete meals a day spread through out my day separated by work and naps. 3rd same as the others except now i signed up for their water polo class which i hope will prove to be interesting. and 4th went to the migration office only to be sent out to get more paperwork, bloodtests, and photos.

Now i am sorry to say this but the weekend will have to wait for tomorrows post because it is quite late and i have already given you a novel to read so until later ADIOS

Here at last!!

So im going to give you all an account of what ive been up to since i left roseville, and what better place to start than the airport. my plane for houston was leaving at 12:00 noon so we got there at around 9:30. Ryan and I played around with the uke for a while and we read and finally the time had come. At this point it was starting to hit me, what i was about to embark on, and i was getting nervious and a little scared but we pulled through it. We all said goodbye and the adventure began. I felt a little ridiculous carrying my humungous backpack through this narrow aisle. i was constantly apologizing to people because it would hit their arms and heads... i felt horrible. and after some aimless staring and a little Fellowship of the Ring (thanks ryan) my first leg was over. now im standing in the Houston airport which is one of the largest airports ive ever been in, and i have a 6 hour lay over, so what did i do for that long? well i explored. i walked through all the terminals except A and i took a couple rides on the tram going in between terminals, which was surprisingly more fun than i expected and tried to find a place where i could eat dinner later that night. After wandering for about 2 hours my back was getting sore from carrying my humungous backpack and i decided to take a rest. I ended up getting into a conversation with these two college, im guessing, marine biology majors who just came back from belize after helping the government count fish and evaluate the coral life. they were very interesting and then they left. so i pulled out FOTR (fellowship of the ring) and started reading. I am not yet 15 min into reading when i see this kid with awkward looking blazer identical to mine so i yell out across the waiting area,¨HEY are you a rotary student?!¨ waving my hand ridiculously, and he said yes and he walked on over and we got to talking his name is Mitchel and he´s from benicia going to Bogota which is the capital of colombia. He seems like a cool dude so im looking forward to seeing him again. And then we got some dinner and chilled. after dinner we still had like 2 hours to kill so we just sat. he sketched while i played the uke and read FOTR. we made fools of ourselves because we cant understand spanish that well and we thought that everyone was boarding when it was just first class and children so we walked right up to the desk with our passes with a good 20 people behind us and the dude had to say that we cant go on yet and he sent us to the back. we soon got on the flight after i pummeled some people with my gigantic backpack and were up in the air. this was the portion of the trip when you are supposed to sleep because it was from 12 to five in the morning, but i was not able to sleep at all, not because of nerves or because i was talking or watching a movie, no it was because it is impossible for me to sleep while sitting up. So im up for the entire 5 hour flight dozing in and out of conciousness not gettting any rest whatsoever, suddenly all the lights went on and the pilot said we were landing. bummer for me. So we get off the plane and go to customs which was another adventure because neither of us had the address for our host families houses. but the guy let us through and this is where Mitchel was leaving so we picked up his bags and were about to leave when a woman comes up to us speaking in spanish, we just stand there like idiots until i finally tell her that we dont speak spanish. she was looking for his baggage claim sticker which he had misplaced so we´re scrounging around his pack for it and we finally find it and were walking up to leave and another woman stops us speaking in spanish, i wised up and said immediately that we dont speak spanish and a nice old woman helped translate for her and she was going off on how we need the addresses of our host families. Well with no way of communicating with our families we thought that we were pretty screwed, so i did my best to talk to her saying that we cant find them and asking if there is anyway else, she said no of course, so were scrambling for a good 5 min until she says ¨hey you can use your own addresses¨ im confused ¨de los estados unidos?¨ i asked ¨Si¨ she replies. Mitch, who doesnt speak a word of spanish is just looking at me and i start to get a smile and hes asking what she said and what to do and we soon worked our way through that ordeal. and then he leaves and im now in this foreign airport not knowing what the heck to do so i did what any lost person does: i follow the crowd. i soon get to where i need to go but i soon find out that bogota is basically an outside airport with a tin roof and a glass wall. and as it turns out its san francisco weather. so im chilling, literally, in this room at 5 in the morning in sandals, shorts, and a blazer. i start to look around and i see all these families and people bundled up in heavy coats boots and pants, and a lot of them staring at me. and im doing this for 3 hours. again bummer for me. and on the flight to cali i finally get some rest even if it was for only 20 min. and i arrive in cali thrilled to see that it wasnt bogota weather. it was 70 degrees with a strong breeze and a humidity. it felt fantastic. I met my fam, and they seem pretty legit so thats good, and they lived close to the airport which was even better. and we had b fast together: scrambled eggs, amazing fresh bread, fresh fruits that ive never tasted before, there was this one fruit it kinda looked like an orange on the outside but the inside were all these seeds with a weird gel holding it all together. and when you eat it you dont chew you just kinda swish it around your mouth and swallow it, sounds gross, tastes delicious. and one of the best things about b fast was the juice its called LULU and it was amazing. then i met some rotarians, took a nap and then off to lunch which was gibondous (pronounced jie-boon-dos) and we toured the city a bit. and now im here in front of the computer writing this out. Now youre all caught up sorry it was so long and now i say goodbye and until next time, ADIOS!

The time is approaching

I was just told yesterday that i will be leaving for Colombia on the 27th of August. I am very excited as you might imagine and i am very ready to leave... mentally at least, i havent started packing yet. But i will start soon... maybe.

Testing testing 1 2 3

Well here we go im just testing this thing to make sure it will work. obviously it does so cool. well yep im going to colombia, dont know when but hey i will soon enough. Ill be keeping everyone updated through this. well see ya.
-Cody