Hello All,
We have finally arrived in La Mesa. We´ve been here about 2 weeks. La Mesa is a nice little town. THe houses are very nice on the insides because Colombian women place a lot of pride in having clean houses. Yes, we also have running water and electricity. However, the water is not treated and quite cold.
Yesterday Steph and I made peanut butter. I bought peanuts and blended them up with a bit of salt. It tastes very natural. I´m surprised by the things I miss. Peanut butter, pizza, a familiar kitchen, warm showers and a soft pillow. I also, of course, miss people and speaking above a second grade level.
I´ve been enjoying the church and school, even though we don´t really have jobs yet. The school year is ending now for a few weeks, but we´ve been keeping busy sociolizing with people. In this open culture, 1 social event often runs into all day. Also, with the absence of Thanksgiving, the Christmas season is arriving earlier than ever! Sometime I´ll get pictures on my blog. There are a few on facebook you can check out.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
What???We're going to Colombia?
Earlier this week we got our host family information. It was very exciting to see who we'll be staying with. Everyone was placed in families with little kids except me. I'll be staying with a single woman. I think I'll like the quietness of a house without little kids, especially after sharing this space here in Chicago. Melina's family lives just around the corner, and it's a more open and social culture so I doubt the house will be too quiet.
Getting the information and a picture also helped me realize that it's coming up!! We'll be leaving Chicago on the 20th to spend a few days at home, and then leaving for Miami and then Bogota on Oct 26!!! I need to study some more Spanish!!
Getting the information and a picture also helped me realize that it's coming up!! We'll be leaving Chicago on the 20th to spend a few days at home, and then leaving for Miami and then Bogota on Oct 26!!! I need to study some more Spanish!!
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Identity???
For a long time my image of college students was people who are just old enough to be cool and had a radical, hippyish aura. They wore old jeans with multi-colored patches, long, flowy skirts, old birkenstocks, always carried a frisbee in their bags, hung out in coffee shops, and, if they were really working at the college student image, had a head full of unkept dreds.
I may have gotten this image from living in Claremont, CA, home of several prestigious colleges with brilliant students who did everything in their power to hide their wealth. However, this is not just a Claremont Colleges thing. These students also exist at Bethel and especially Goshen.
Since I've been in college, I have not really found myself fitting this image. These people exist at St. Olaf, but in less concentration because, well, St. Olaf is a Lutheran school in Minnesota named after a Norwegian King. St. Olaf students are too busy figuring out the most efficient layers for staying warm outside in the winter without suffocating in the classroom.
I don't usually associate myself with the birkenstock crowd, but today I looked at myself and came to a profound realization.
My hair is so short that at a first impression in bad lighting some people think I'm my brother
Today I was also styling a timeless fashion taboo: socks with sandals (something Phillip would never do). The weather is great, but cold toes ruin the pleasure of being outside. Worn out teva sandals, socks and sweatpants are perfect for fall days. I am also the proud owner of a holly pair of pants, not because I can't patch them or buy new ones, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.
Last year someone called me a feminist, which caught me off guard but then I realized that perhaps it's true.
Just to finish off the package, I added a nose stud. It was a choice between piercing my nose or my eyebrow, and I figured my nose was more subtle and less painful. It is indeed subtle, but it's there nonetheless.
The college image snuck up on me! Now I need to decide if that's really me, which is amazingly tough because I don't know if the outside matches the inside. However, the inside is even more confusing than the outside! I suppose it was me who made these decisions, and I'm okay with it for now.
I may have gotten this image from living in Claremont, CA, home of several prestigious colleges with brilliant students who did everything in their power to hide their wealth. However, this is not just a Claremont Colleges thing. These students also exist at Bethel and especially Goshen.
Since I've been in college, I have not really found myself fitting this image. These people exist at St. Olaf, but in less concentration because, well, St. Olaf is a Lutheran school in Minnesota named after a Norwegian King. St. Olaf students are too busy figuring out the most efficient layers for staying warm outside in the winter without suffocating in the classroom.
I don't usually associate myself with the birkenstock crowd, but today I looked at myself and came to a profound realization.
My hair is so short that at a first impression in bad lighting some people think I'm my brother
Today I was also styling a timeless fashion taboo: socks with sandals (something Phillip would never do). The weather is great, but cold toes ruin the pleasure of being outside. Worn out teva sandals, socks and sweatpants are perfect for fall days. I am also the proud owner of a holly pair of pants, not because I can't patch them or buy new ones, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.
Last year someone called me a feminist, which caught me off guard but then I realized that perhaps it's true.
Just to finish off the package, I added a nose stud. It was a choice between piercing my nose or my eyebrow, and I figured my nose was more subtle and less painful. It is indeed subtle, but it's there nonetheless.
The college image snuck up on me! Now I need to decide if that's really me, which is amazingly tough because I don't know if the outside matches the inside. However, the inside is even more confusing than the outside! I suppose it was me who made these decisions, and I'm okay with it for now.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Bit of Wild
A few days ago a bunch of girls on my team got second piercings on their ear lobes, and one girl decided to find a place to get her nose pierced. I have been noticing nose piercings lately, and when Caitlyn said she was gonna do it, I decided to go with her, just in case. We went down to Little Italy where we heard about a good place, and when I came out, I had a stud in my nose and a constant need to sneeze. The need to sneeze has gone away, but I still have the stud!!!
Monday, September 24, 2007
Week 4: Safe Sex
I am volunteering for a AIDS charity called Vital Bridges which helps people who have AIDS with all sorts of life issues. On Wednesdays I work at the south side food pantry, on Thursdays I work at the administration building, and on Fridays I work on the West side food pantry. The work itself is not very interesting. Basically, people come in, decide what they want off the menu, and then I go around and get it for them. But the environment is interesting. On the first day I came face to face with the realization that people have AIDS, and you can't tell by the way they look. These are average people off the street who happen to be HIV+ just coming in for groceries.
The south side is the best place to work because everyone is black and full of energy. It makes for a very lively atmosphere. We were punching stuff into a computer when we noticed this poster hanging on the wall. I think it's hilarious, and SOOOO PUNNYY!!
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Week 3 observations
I have been living in Chicago for 3 weeks. Throughout that time I've been observing what people do, what are their lifestyles like, their routines? I've never lived in a city, and have definitely never lived anywhere like Garfield Park. I've never felt so rich and white in my life. I'm going to mention some of my most profound observations these last few weeks, as basic as they may seem.
The first week I was here we went to a movie in the park. I was amazed by the culture of the neighborhood kids and families. The way families relate seemed so foreign, like I have no idea what these people are like.
My morning jogs are also great for observing people. Garfield Park is 1 block from my house, so I usually jog around there. On my morning jogs I see remnants of the night before. I dodge crushed alcohol bottles, notice the trash in the grass and shyly acknowledge the homeless man still sleeping on the bench. However, the last week or so, I've been jogging a bit latter in the morning and am part of a whole different world. I notice parents walking their kids to one of the 2 schools on our road. I wave to people on their morning walks, I see teachers hurrying to their classrooms, barely beating the kids. I see people biking to work, and even saw a man watering his small bed of flowers. These were normal people in their mundane routines.
This Saturday was also a great observational day. In the morning I gathered all my laundry, filled my backpack and small suitcase, caught a bus, and went to the laundry mat. I have to admit, I've only been to a laundry mat once in my life, but I think I did alright. Saturday morning is when people do laundry, so the place was quite busy. Again, I was struck by the black culture I experienced at the movie in the park. It was harsh, bossy, yet had some loving qualities, like bantering. TO top it off, people don't usually wear their best clothes on laundry day. You wash everything you ever wear, then pull out your oldest, ugliest, dirtiest, barely recognizable pair of sweats from the depths of the dresser to wear. I was definitely guilty of this also.
However, after laundry I dropped it off at my house and proceeded up the road to meet team members at an event going on. As I was walking, I noticed a little league football game going on in the park. There were cars lined up all along the street, and families with kids sitting on blankets watching the game. As I walked some more I noticed several gatherings in different parts of the park. There were people eating and talking together while playing horseshoes and Frisbee in the park on a Saturday afternoon. How picturesque! I felt like I was in suburbia!
I love seeing things like that, because so often I have trouble relating with what I see. Houses 2 feet apart, no yards, locked fences separating the house from the street, trash everywhere, urban people. But then I see those urban people playing horse shoes, walking kids to school, and think that perhaps their lives aren't so different.
The first week I was here we went to a movie in the park. I was amazed by the culture of the neighborhood kids and families. The way families relate seemed so foreign, like I have no idea what these people are like.
My morning jogs are also great for observing people. Garfield Park is 1 block from my house, so I usually jog around there. On my morning jogs I see remnants of the night before. I dodge crushed alcohol bottles, notice the trash in the grass and shyly acknowledge the homeless man still sleeping on the bench. However, the last week or so, I've been jogging a bit latter in the morning and am part of a whole different world. I notice parents walking their kids to one of the 2 schools on our road. I wave to people on their morning walks, I see teachers hurrying to their classrooms, barely beating the kids. I see people biking to work, and even saw a man watering his small bed of flowers. These were normal people in their mundane routines.
This Saturday was also a great observational day. In the morning I gathered all my laundry, filled my backpack and small suitcase, caught a bus, and went to the laundry mat. I have to admit, I've only been to a laundry mat once in my life, but I think I did alright. Saturday morning is when people do laundry, so the place was quite busy. Again, I was struck by the black culture I experienced at the movie in the park. It was harsh, bossy, yet had some loving qualities, like bantering. TO top it off, people don't usually wear their best clothes on laundry day. You wash everything you ever wear, then pull out your oldest, ugliest, dirtiest, barely recognizable pair of sweats from the depths of the dresser to wear. I was definitely guilty of this also.
However, after laundry I dropped it off at my house and proceeded up the road to meet team members at an event going on. As I was walking, I noticed a little league football game going on in the park. There were cars lined up all along the street, and families with kids sitting on blankets watching the game. As I walked some more I noticed several gatherings in different parts of the park. There were people eating and talking together while playing horseshoes and Frisbee in the park on a Saturday afternoon. How picturesque! I felt like I was in suburbia!
I love seeing things like that, because so often I have trouble relating with what I see. Houses 2 feet apart, no yards, locked fences separating the house from the street, trash everywhere, urban people. But then I see those urban people playing horse shoes, walking kids to school, and think that perhaps their lives aren't so different.
Week 3 funny story
I promised my support team a funny story if they checked out my blog. So here it goes:
This is the story of two white, suburban young adults grocery shopping in Garfield Park, Chicago. Once a week our team nominates a few people to grocery shop for most of the week. Aldi's is the store of choice because of their dirt cheap prices and the short 7 block walk from our house. They save money by demanding you buy your own bags and bag your own groceries. They don't waste money on nice shelves, or time on taking products out of their shipping boxes before placing them on the shelves. Nor do they value name brands, Aldi's is all about the Malt-O-Meal.
This nice Wed afternoon Stephenie and I were on grocery duty. Of course we wondered how the two of us would transport a weeks worth of food for 8 people from the grocery store to the Faith House. We came up with a brilliant solution. Jon, one of the 2 men in our house, has a duffel bag on wheels. We would bring his bag and some plastic bags and be good to go. We had high expectations for this shopping trip.
We entered the store, got our off brand cereal and milk, fruits and vegetables, and argued about which ground beef is better. After shopping, we sorted all our food. We put the heavy items like milk and canned food in the duffel bag, and we carried the toilet paper and bread in the plastic bags. It was about that time that our hopes began the sharp plummet to the protruding tree branch saving us from river below the canyon.
It was terribly apparent that the bag was too heavy for us to roll. The bag was not a sturdy suitcase where most of the weight is one the backside of the bag, it was a fabric bag with wheels that require arm strength to keep the bag from clinging to your leg. Of course, being young-adult females, upper arm strength is about the only thing we lack. Feeling totally ridiculous, we stop about 20 feet from the store to re-distribute our bags. We replace the milk and the frozen meat with the bread and toilet paper, and this seems to work alright, except for the unmistakable sensation of my arms struggling to stay in their sockets against the pull of the milk bags. We managed to hobble by the homeless pow-wow on the street corner with some dignity and luckily hit a red light at the next street. We were hanging on to the protruding branch above the canyon river pretty tightly.
Then our worst fears became reality. A plastic bag broke. Once again we had to humbly kneel on the sidewalk to redistribute our groceries. Since the duffel bag at this point was quite heavy, we each grabbed a handle with one hand, a gallon of milk in another, and stuck a package of toilet paper under our arms. We walked side by side jointly carrying our groceries and our wealth. We were burdened by our possessions, and yet could not let them go. Poor people only buy groceries for a few days, and never find themselves in this predicament. However, we were carrying this burden for our team, they had nominated us, and it was our duty to follow through. No one said it would be easy. Although we did make a few panicked calls to the house hoping someone would be there to meet us, they failed, and we were left, carrying our burden for all of Garfield Park to know.
This is the story of two white, suburban young adults grocery shopping in Garfield Park, Chicago. Once a week our team nominates a few people to grocery shop for most of the week. Aldi's is the store of choice because of their dirt cheap prices and the short 7 block walk from our house. They save money by demanding you buy your own bags and bag your own groceries. They don't waste money on nice shelves, or time on taking products out of their shipping boxes before placing them on the shelves. Nor do they value name brands, Aldi's is all about the Malt-O-Meal.
This nice Wed afternoon Stephenie and I were on grocery duty. Of course we wondered how the two of us would transport a weeks worth of food for 8 people from the grocery store to the Faith House. We came up with a brilliant solution. Jon, one of the 2 men in our house, has a duffel bag on wheels. We would bring his bag and some plastic bags and be good to go. We had high expectations for this shopping trip.
We entered the store, got our off brand cereal and milk, fruits and vegetables, and argued about which ground beef is better. After shopping, we sorted all our food. We put the heavy items like milk and canned food in the duffel bag, and we carried the toilet paper and bread in the plastic bags. It was about that time that our hopes began the sharp plummet to the protruding tree branch saving us from river below the canyon.
It was terribly apparent that the bag was too heavy for us to roll. The bag was not a sturdy suitcase where most of the weight is one the backside of the bag, it was a fabric bag with wheels that require arm strength to keep the bag from clinging to your leg. Of course, being young-adult females, upper arm strength is about the only thing we lack. Feeling totally ridiculous, we stop about 20 feet from the store to re-distribute our bags. We replace the milk and the frozen meat with the bread and toilet paper, and this seems to work alright, except for the unmistakable sensation of my arms struggling to stay in their sockets against the pull of the milk bags. We managed to hobble by the homeless pow-wow on the street corner with some dignity and luckily hit a red light at the next street. We were hanging on to the protruding branch above the canyon river pretty tightly.
Then our worst fears became reality. A plastic bag broke. Once again we had to humbly kneel on the sidewalk to redistribute our groceries. Since the duffel bag at this point was quite heavy, we each grabbed a handle with one hand, a gallon of milk in another, and stuck a package of toilet paper under our arms. We walked side by side jointly carrying our groceries and our wealth. We were burdened by our possessions, and yet could not let them go. Poor people only buy groceries for a few days, and never find themselves in this predicament. However, we were carrying this burden for our team, they had nominated us, and it was our duty to follow through. No one said it would be easy. Although we did make a few panicked calls to the house hoping someone would be there to meet us, they failed, and we were left, carrying our burden for all of Garfield Park to know.
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