Day 1

Okay, I need to set the scene for you:

This apartment I am staying in is right on the corner of two busy streets, on an island, in the city of Cartagena. So, pretty much all day long I hear cars, loud music, dogs barking, construction workers, the lady below us washing dishes...

Especially wonderful is the location of my bed and the shower. :) My bunk bed is located right near a window which of course is completely open with no shades all day every day. Conveniently, the building across the street from ours is currently under construction with workers on various stories of the building all day long. It is as if they are perched on my windowsill hollering from 6am until late at night. The better part of this story is the shower. Cold water. A bold, skinny water stream. Open window. a waffle-like shade covering it which blows away in the wind. Now, lets remember: there are worker men in the building across the street. Needless to say I did not spend a lot of time standing up in the shower. :)

Anyway, today I swept the whole apartment and helped one of the German girls, Regina, clean the lavanderia (laundry room). I'm working on my first blister actually...what a wimp I am! Just kidding, it was actually quite fun because since the humidity is so high here, the dirt sort of clumps together and does whatever you want it to do! So sweeping was a piece of cake.

Then I met Diana and Markus (the directors) and we all ate lunch with the cook (Marie). This was when all of the Spanish speaking began. I haven't done a ton of speaking, but my comprehension has been really good! yay!! After lunch, which included this awful tasting salad, we walked to el centro comercial (the mall). There we stopped at Waffles and Crepes and had these beautiful desserts! ...I forgot my camera :(... Then Julienne, the other German girl, and I toured the mall and attempted to get some money for me from the ATM which didn't work.

Also, Julienne was explaining to me that the area we live in is the richer area of town and so the mall we visited had mostly light-skinned Colombians. If we were in a poorer area they all have dark skin. 30% of the population has all of the wealth, but you cannot tell who is wealthy and who is not. This is because Colombians value what they look like even more than food. So the poorest of the poor will buy clothing over putting food on the table. How sad!

I was informed today that Colombia is just coming out of the rainy season, hence the flooding, and will be moving into the hottest time of the year. I think it's plenty warm now, but Regina said by April it will be so hot you can't even breathe!

Truly amazing is God's timing as I continue this journey. Today is the only day at the base without a bunch of people. 20 staff members will be moving back in starting tomorrow and from then we will add 25-40 students for the DTS. Right now there are only 3 people living here! Hardly any Colombians know English, so I will have to hit it hard when they arrive. I'm so thankful that God planned it so I could have a day to ease into things and get settled before the chaos begins!

That's all for now! Hasta Luegoo