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