Moving to any new place involves transition and discomfort – in a weird, maybe sadistic way, it’s part of the appeal of choosing to make a huge change. Accepting that there will be unknown challenges but believing you have sufficient tools to deal with them is like playing a “game” of adaptation.
I want to share with you some of the ups and downs of my life since moving to Bogotá in March 2018. In the moment, many of them weren’t amusing but with some time and perspective, most make me laugh now!
Hey Mom and Dad, I’m on my way back…….One of the first important tasks I had upon arriving was to apply for a work visa through the sponsorship of the company, Raisbeck PES, that hired me to teach English. The application had recently been changed to a mandatory online process and there were some hang-ups so of course I was denied the first time I visited the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores. Now as I write this 8 months later, with perspective and more experience, I would know not to feel so dejected and turned upside-down, but at that moment I felt like I might have to move back to the US and all my prep for this move and job was for naught. Here’s a pretty concise, up-to-date site from another blogger that explains what you’ll need for your work visa and ID, if you’re looking for that info https://velocityglobal.com/blog/how-to-obtain-a-work-visa-in-colombia/
So how do I..? And then what?…….There was a lot of disorganization with the on-boarding to my new teaching job. Processes that I assumed would be in place, because that’s how things would have been done back home, simply were not. It took a lot of patience and tenacity to keep tackling the long list of required to-dos without as much heads-up or communication as I have been used to. In hindsight, this really forced me to be more patient and adaptive, and increased my capacity…for everything!
I’m sorry it’s out of order, but it’s still mandatory…….Websites that don’t work, but “it’s required to do it this way”: I feel like Colombia is really good at this. They have either recently changed or are in process of changing things to online platforms in order to be more up-to-date and efficient, but due to many factors it’s often unpredictable whether the site or process is going to work. Yet the expectation that you accomplish it has no flexibility. This is sooo frustrating, and especially was at the beginning when I had to complete a lot of paperwork processes (visa, national ID, health insurance, setting up a bank account, etc).
Who pulled the Welcome mat?……. Moving into my apartment was a disappointing experience. Soon after, I came to really enjoy the place and my housemates. But the first days greeted me with a super-dirty room that was not ready for a new tenant, no clean towels or sheets or a heads-up that I needed those (it was a furnished apartment and I should have thought of the linens but I hadn’t), heavy rain as I scurried around trying to buy the needed linens and new pillows (it’s super-awesome to carry pillows and sheets around in a downpour). The washing machine immediately ruined my new towels with some weird black stains. The rug in my bedroom was grossly filthy and that first night I dreamt about all the dust and bugs that must be living in it ….I removed it the next day.
Cancelled again!……. Getting used to the rhythms of my teaching job was tough. The student scheduling and constant cancellations about drove me crazy for the first few months until I built up enough classes and tolerance to the “system” to understand that it would never be ideal, that I would usually end up with the short end of the stick when it came to eating costs and bending over backwards to accommodate for changing schedules…until enough weeks passed that I began to realize and gain more acceptance, as well as put in place some better boundaries and structures for myself. Until all that, I felt overwhelmed with a lack of control about my schedule and income, and I felt anxious and angry often. Which are not feelings I am used to having nor do I want to be ruled by.
“Patience is not simply the ability to wait, it’s how we behave while we’re waiting” –Joyce Meyer
A lesson in setting up systems……. Delayed payments from students is another disconcerting aspect to teaching private classes. It still happens sometimes but it was my responsibility to set better boundaries and processes, and I learned this fairly quickly. And it was a good lesson and can translate to other areas of life as well.
Rain, rain, rain, and more rain……. There are two rainy seasons in Bogotá and I moved here just as one was beginning – wowww, was I in for a wet treat trying to navigate a huge new city in daily downpours. I wonder how many classes I taught in soaking wet shoes.
The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round……. Huge, congested Bogotá could really benefit from a metro system but instead it has an expansive bus system called the Transmilenio. I’m not exaggerating when I say I was terrified of it for weeks. I could envision myself getting turned around and confused and dropped off miles from my house in the dark in some sketchy neighborhood. It was totally possible. So I walked almost everywhere because I felt much more in control on my own two feet. But after evening classes when it was dark walking wasn’t the best idea. So I took taxis or Ubers, but as cheap as they are, it really adds up. Finally after the first month I felt a little more confident in my Spanish, so I was able to ask and understand answers when I was unsure of which bus to take. All this (and a little research and luck) added up to me successfully taking the bus one day and when I didn’t get hopelessly lost or die, the terror I had about using the system began to subside. Now I find it almost fun- interesting at least- to take the bus a few times a week because it’s really “normal”. It’s what people do here; it’s the transportation many people must take so I really feel like I’m living alongside locals and experiencing some of the same things they do. I like this.
Stop coughing, already!……. Moving takes a toll even on a a hearty, healthy person. The climate is different, the food, drinks, air, pollution, seasons and time changes.. for me it added up to getting sick 3 times within 4 months, each time including a pretty bad cough. During one week I twice had to stop teaching class leave the room in a coughing fit, which was really embarrassing (not to mention uncomfortable). I dreaded having to navigate the medical system even though I have health insurance.. it’s the public health insurance and I have heard about how much time it can take to get service which can be really variable at best… So I hung in there, popped lots of cough drops, drank loads of ginger tea, annoyed the hell out of my housemates at night while they were trying to sleep through my coughing, and each time after two weeks the illness/cough just…..went away.
What the……? I also woke up with pink eye one day. It concerned me and I took it easy for a couple days, looking terrible, and then it “miraculously” (?) resolved itself. PHEW.
