Sorry to have kept you waiting on more info from me, my dear Readers! I’ve been living in Bogota for 2.5 months now. That paradoxical feeling that describes the passing of time: “wow, it feels like such a long time, but not…” is definitely in play. Every passing day I settle in a little more. I am now not so terrified of the bus system, I have more confidence in speaking and understanding Spanish, I’m meeting people, making some friends and many connections that bring opportunities my way all the time. I’ve done a little exploring outside the city, and tried some new things within the city as well. I’m getting to know my English students more and really developing some nice teacher/student relationships; this makes the work I’m doing really meaningful.
At the beginning of April, I moved to an apartment where I will stay for the duration of my time in Bogota. I live with three other people, all foreigners to this country like me. I really lucked out because I hadn’t met any of them before moving in, and they have turned out to be really great people. I like them all! We all are busy with work schedules and life, but we find ourselves crossing paths during various parts of the day, and it’s a nice thing. Kitchen use in the evenings is a challenge because it’s so tiny only one person can reasonably use it at a time…however, when necessary we are all pretty adept at the intricate “kitchen dance” (Baile de la Cocina) (this is not an actual Spanish term), trying to prepare our dinners. It’s laughable as we try to get out of each other’s way but it’s impossible.
Fred is from Germany and is in his mid-20s. I think he was surprised when he found out I am the age of his oldest sister! He works at a Colombian law firm (though not a lawyer) as support for their German clients. He moved here because he has a Colombian girlfriend who is very smart and sweet. Fred likes to cook and is good at it; I call him “Chef “and we have made dinner together a couple times. He speaks great Spanish, as well as English and of course German, which is so impressive to me! He and I speak Spanish almost all time because I told him I wanted to practice. When I just can’t make myself understood, we can revert to English.
Lexi is from the UK, is in her early 30s, and moved into this apartment only a couple weeks before me. She is also an English teacher, working for another language school here. She’s a sweetheart and has an adorable British accent. We’ve hung out a few times together, at the house drinking wine on the back terrace; we’ve also gone out in the evenings a couple times. She’s a lot of fun, and has great travel experience from working in Thailand and Brazil, and has plenty of stories to share!
Stephanie is from Germany, is the same age as me, has lived in Colombia more than 2 years and in this apartment for most of that time, so she’s the guru of how things work here and is very helpful. She speaks German, English, and Spanish all pretty fluently. And wants to learn French. I’m blown away by her capacity to learn! She teaches Spanish and German language classes online, and is a very interesting and intelligent person. I discovered her love of red wine and so we share this and conversation some evenings. She and I speak in Spanish often, but also in English when it seems more convenient!
I am really enjoying getting to know each one of them, the reasons they are currently living here, and their future dreams and goals. They’re inspiring, and also a source of support and reality. Stephanie shared with me how frustrating it was to plateau in her Spanish after a year, thinking she’d be “fluent” by then. She had some good words of advice and wisdom for me on this. And Lexi has traveled much and been out of her element a lot; she has interesting stories and words of wisdom as well.
There are plenty of challenges each week, but I am truly feeling like I’m better at “riding the waves” and not letting things get the best of me. I am less in control of most things in my life here than I ever was in Colorado, and to some degree that frustrates me but in other ways it feels quite freeing. I don’t have to control things so much; I plan and do my best to be ready for my job and stay on top of life’s responsibilities, but when there are aspects I cannot plan for I am growing in capacity to be able to handle them as they come. Doesn’t that sound lovely and grown-up? Well, it often looks and feels really messy!
Over the past month I’ve tackled (and been tackled by): a disorganized move-in; a lockbox snafu where I thought my laptop, iPad, all my chargers and my credit card were stuck inside a safe (fortunately I finally figured out I had the password wrong…DOH!); setting up my local bank account and making an international transfer that took 3 trips to the bank, a long phone call, and lots of Spanish language challenges; continued paperwork for my job with getting a Colombian tax ID number and setting up my public healthcare account; signing a local cell phone provider contract and figuring out what that means; signing up for a gym membership; taking a couple week’s worth of Spanish classes followed by conversation sessions 1-2x/week; figuring out the best modes of transportation to and from each of my student meeting/class locations. I have only felt truly lost on the bus once, missed my stop once (by 30 blocks), and have asked 100 questions to fairly-friendly Colombian bus staff.
I borrowed a bike for a few weeks, intending to buy one but when I moved into my apartment I found that a previous tenant had abandoned hers here, so I have adopted it! I took it out for a spin, slipped on some wet pavement and whacked my tailbone. Welcome to today’s challenge, Whitney! There is always something…I got it tuned up and took the basket off the front. Now I ride it weekly in Ciclovia (see post “Being a Tourist…”) and occasionally to do an errand. I have found that riding for transportation to my classes isn’t as convenient as I thought it would be; sometimes there is not a good place to lock the bike during class, and other times the daily rain make riding really wet and dirty.
My favorite part of living here are the encounters with people. I am pretty friendly by nature, and here I am taking the opportunity to get to know the local culture and practice Spanish by interacting as much as I can (without seeming like a weirdo). Some that stand out are: conversations with talkative Uber drivers; a gregarious 14-year-old outside Simon Bolivar park who (said he) had taught himself to speak English and gave me 2 tips on how to really correctly pronounce Spanish ll’s and r’s; a checker at a neighborhood grocery store named Diana who calls me “mama” and recognizes me every time; the 4 guys and 1 woman (Paola) at bakery downstairs who I really think all think I’m a tad crazy but seem to really like me (well, I do give them a lot of business…); and some fairly in-depth conversations about coughs and phlegm with three different drugstore staff after I developed a really bad cold a few weeks ago. I never before knew the Spanish word for “snot” …education all the time!
Because I walk to get to as many places as I can here, I see and feel a lot when I’m out and about. It’s one of the reasons I love walking whenever I can instead of riding a bike, bus, or Uber. Something funny I’ve been noticing are t-shirts that people are wearing. There are plenty of graphic-tee’s, brand names and known-slogans, but the funny thing to me is how many I see that are in English… and don’t really make sense to me, as an English-speaker! They are phrases that maybe are supposed to be funny but they’re just…out of place. I wonder where the shirts are from, and also why the person wearing it decided to buy and wear it. Here is a list I’ve made from random t-shirt sightings in the past couple weeks:
- I’m Not Sarcastic
- Join the Moments
- Tennis Champion (no image, no sponsors, just the words)
- Be Creative in Your Life (Thank You) ….yes the ‘Thank You’ in parentheses was on the shirt
- Not Today
- Cliche
- OMG (Nobody Cares) ….again, the parentheses ??
- Long Read for Road Trip
- My favorite so far and actually does make sense to me is: That Smile Looks Extraordinary on You
