More pictures!!!

 Halloween!!!

Prom 2013 

Chiva (my future car)

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas???? (Where's the snow????)

Hey everyone! So we have officially entered the holiday seasons, school is out for the year and I couldn't be happier for that! The last week of school was uneventful because we were all done with finals. Two days until the end of school, I walked into my living room to find my club president from the U.S.A. and his wife (good family friends of my family in the U.S. and my family here!) I wish I would have a video of my reaction for you guys because it was great!

They stayed for my host sisters graduation, and I ended up being in the ceremony too! I received a diploma for exchange and learning the language, presented to me by my club president from the U.S. One of the most special experiences in my life! That night of course we celebrated!

(Mariachi is native to Mexico, but there are an abundance of Mariachi bands available for parties!)

The next day we relaxed and our friends from the U.S. broke out the brats and cheddar cheese they had brought. I can't describe how delicious that was, and I didn't even realized I missed it until I ate some!

One of the most beautiful sites for an exchange student from Wisconsin!

The day after our friends flew out and we headed for Santa Marta. It was awesome, we stayed in a resort about fifteen minutes from Santa Marta, we were there for 8 days, resting, swimming, and soaking up the sun. We were there over Thanks Givings, my first Thanks Givings that I had to use sun screen, but I loved it! (But missed the turkey, potatoes, and gravy a bit!) There we got to go to a concert of one of a very famous vallonato artist! Also while we were there I learned that the iguanas are not always friendly to the foreigners! I had one drop an orange and white "gift" on my head. We returned to Bogota about a week ago and now we are in Paipa enjoying the Christmas lights with my Aunts, Uncles, Cousin, and Grandparents. They are pretty amazing, however for me I am yet to feel in the Christmas Spirit due to the lack of snow. Right now I hear it has been well below zero where I live in the U.S. I don't quite miss that cold. My family is bundled up with scarves, three jackets, boots, and gloves, mean while I am in a hoodie. All is going great! I am enjoying every moment with my friends and host sister, how are preparing to head to college, and in the case of my host sister, she is preparing to go on exchange!

Season Greetings from Colombia!

~La Gringa

I have officially hit my three month mark here, and I don’t know where the time has gone. Everything is going great! School is ending in the next two weeks, I am pretty excited for a break from school, however, the school year ending means my grade is going to graduate. I am going to be very sad to see them leave because we have become very close, however I am looking forward to getting to know a new grade! Last weekend we had our prom, you would think prom is pretty much the same all over the globe right? Well my prom had a vallonato band, and two reaggaton artist come in to perform live. Pretty much all the music was salsa, which I love to dance to! I can’t dance like a Colombian yet, but I will get there by the end of my exchange!

For Halloween my sister, our friends, and I went to downtown Duitama to go trick or treating.  Many people said we were too old for sweets, however to this I replied, “But it’s my first Halloween in Colombia, I am an exchange student!” And then I sang the trick or treat song in English…… that usually earned us some candy! On Friday our school had our costume party, and on Saturday my family participated in a parade of horses and all the riders were in costume. It was only my second time ever riding a horse in my life so it was a little rough, however I assured my family that I will be a cowgirl by the end of my exchange.

Two weekends ago all my family on my host mom’s side drove about five hours through the mountains to a small town, to get there we drove through what looked like an issue of national geographic, the mountains were incredible, and with a ton of waterfalls! Once we got to the town we went to a tiple festival, tiple is an instrument native to Colombia, it is similar to a guitar, however it has only three strings.  Along the way we stopped at a national park which was very cool, there I got to try some of the local dishes, which included fried ants. Surprisingly to me it tastes exactly like sunflower seeds!

In the first two weeks of summer I am going to work with the English teacher from my school and some of the student’s and their family in a language camp. It also will include lessons in dancing and field trips to amusement parks. My rotary club has started working with an organization here that assists financially and emotionally families with kids who have cancer. We are collecting bottle caps for the next two weeks to donate, which the charity can sell to recycling companies for a small amount. 

Last weekend I went with a rotarian and his family to Yopal at town about three hours from my town that has a very nice tropical climate. I learned that Colombian roads are on a level of their own, above roller coasters in the U.S., I am not one to get motion sick but I was happy to get out of the car. We stayed in cabanas with thatched roofs, well kind of it had concrete underneath it and air conditioning. We had a very nice pool so we relaxed, swam, and a local band came and played some of the traditional music of the region. 

This week is our finals week here. While I don't have to stress about it like I do in the U.S. I take all the tests. I have taken five tests in comprehension and was very excited that I passed three! I also found out the my comprehension level for reading is at a 7th grade level, not too bad! 

So everything is going great, my Spanish is coming along nicely. The other day my friend was making fun of the fact that I can't roll my r's I called it even by telling him to say, "the thing." I won that argument! So all is going great! I will get you guys some pictures when I have a chance! Hasta luego amigos!

~La Gringa

Some pictures for all you lovely people

Lago de Tota

Patona de Vargas

Half Colombian, Half Gringa, just like me!

My English students!

2 1/2 months in Colombia

 Greetings from Colombia! Everything is going great here, school is going well. All of my classes here are classes of Spanish grammar, or comprehension with the exception of gym, and helping with my English classes.  I hit a landmark in my classes the other day, I took a test and didn’t fail….. baby steps. However, you will be interested to know that I scored higher than some of the other students who speak Spanish as their first language, I am kind of concerned for them. I help the elementary English teacher with classes, which I enjoy a lot, my third grade class is particularly talented and we enjoy working together a lot.  Some of our lessons have included watching Disney’s American Legends DVD and learning the trick-or-treat song. The other day one of my students approached me, and asked if I had learned Spanish yet. I responded that I more or less, but am learning. To which they responded, “oh no Marina, you need to learn more, your accent is way too strong.” Well…..out of the mouths of babes I guess. On that note I also have been told that I have a weird accent, because some words I pronounce with an Argentinian accent…… my sister will be proud to hear that.

Two weekends in the past we had all the exchange students in my state (about ten of us) come to Paipa for the weekend, to see the band festival that featured bands from all over the country. It was held in the plaza, which was absolutely filled with people! It went from about eight in the morning until at least two at night, which is when we left! Last weekend an exchange student from Taiwan and her family was vacationing in Paipa so we invited them over to the house. The next day they invited us out on Lake Sochogota to go water skiing. Funny, I have lived my whole life near the water and never water skiid until now. I was a little nervous at first and was surprised when I got up on my second time! It was love at first ski, it was also my host sister’s first time skiing, we both really enjoyed it so we are going to try to go some other time too!

This past week we celebrated my birthday here, we had a party with all my friends and family at my house. I learned about an interesting Colombian tradition which includes crushing eggs, and throwing flour on the birthday girl. So the lesson of the story is if you are ever in Colombia for you birthday and someone asks you if you want a, “salada,” RUN! 

Una Salada

 On the 18^th I got to go plant trees with my grade that I will be with next year. It was fun to get out of class for a bit, and it was a great way to get to know some of the people I will be with next year!

On the note of Futbol, Colombia tied in the match against Chile, securing us a spot in the world cup, and we won against Paraguay last week, which put us in a very secure spot. So everything is going great I have been here for about two and a half months now. I can't believe how fast the time is going! Well that is all for now folks!

~La Gringa

6220 October Rotary Youth Exchange conference 2013

My districts outbound video!!!! Love and miss you guys a ton, enjoy!

Hola amigos! So the strikes have finally calmed down , and everything is back to normal. Well not quite, the government agreed to buy the milk from the farmers to give to charity, so life is better for a lot of people, so the end result is positive. And I don’t think the students had ever been that excited to go back to school. At school I have quite a few classes with seventh and eighth graders, it is interesting to be back in middle school, but this way I will learn the language well! Also I will have the opportunity to help in the some of the English classes of the elementary school here, in the past year I worked with an elementary student who spoke Spanish and was learning English. I really enjoyed that, so I am looking forward to working with the kids here. 

My School

My School Bus

 Two weekends ago, I rode a horse for the first time! It was a little nerve racking at first, but I assure my family I will be a cowgirl by the end of my exchange. This past Tuesday my family headed to Bogota and I got to go to another fair, which was very fun.

 All the qualifying games for the FIFA world cup are taking place now, and if a game takes place during school hours, my whole school gets off of classes to go down to the auditorium and watch the game!  So far we have lost one game, but are still in the running for the world cup. It is safe to say I have a new favorite sport to watch! GO COLOMBIA!

This Friday I went to an opening of a playground at a school in my town that Rotary sponsored. I got to meet my Governor of my district of Rotary and I also got up to give a short impromptu speech in front of a few hundred people.

The kids and their new park!

 The 21st was my first conference with all the inbounds from my district, there are about 25 of us in our district and thirty in the other district of Colombia. It was a lot of fun, but a little different because the majority of it was conducted in English. Since I only speak English on rare occasions here, it was pretty different, and at times difficult, it was a relief to switch back to Spanish.

My Inbound Group!

SOY BOYACENSE!!!!

  My Spanish is coming along pretty well for how long I have been here. I have been told that my accent isn't too bad. 

Well that is pretty much everything new, until next time! Hasta luego amigos!

~La Gringa 

Pictures!

 Native Dancers

 

The thermal pool!

 Buffalo Wild Wings! Comida de los gringos!

Go Colombia!

My school uniform

Presenting my sponsoring club banner to my host club President!

week #2 and #3

Week #2 and #3

Hey everyone!  My second week here I went to school all five days. On Wednesday night I met my host Rotary Club for the first time!

 The weekend I spent with my Aunt and Uncle here, Sunday we went mountain biking, and I mean mountain biking. Which was a very new experience for me, and was amazing! Once again I promise pictures soon!

Later that afternoon I went to a festival that was taking place in my town.  Monday was a holiday so I spent it with my entire host family. And since we are in Colombia the day included an international basketball match between me and my cousin, music, and LOT’S of dancing! Week number three was a little different. Tuesday and Wednesday I had school but shortened days due to much of Colombia’s agriculture, mining, and transportation workers striking. They are protesting the amount of importing the Government is doing because it is driving the value of their products down. Thursday my host sister and I didn’t go to school, and Friday school was canceled for everyone. The strike continued through the weekend, and is still going on today (Monday) the president is finally talking with the people, but school for tomorrow is cancelled as well. Most of the protests have been peaceful, but all of the major roads have been blocked by protestors so no one and nothing has been going anywhere. Food the farmers are producing is going bad since it can’t be transported to be consumed so much of it is ending up in the streets. However I live in the country so the only affect it has had on my is the change in schedule. Since the President is involved now, hopefully it will be resolved soon and with a positive outcome for all.  Hasta luego mis amigos!

~La Gringa

Week #1 in Colombia!

Week #1 in Colombia

So it has been a little over a week since I left the U.S. for Colombia. It took me a grand total of thirteen hours to get to Colombia, because of all the layovers I had. Everything went smoothly in the airports except that my first plane got delayed so I had, and I am not exaggerating, sprint through O’haire to catch my connecting flight. I got in to Bogota around 11:30 by the time I went through customs, got my bags (both of them made it! EXITO!), and met my family it was midnight. What did we do then? We went out to eat, I love in Bogota I can get an arepa con pollo and a coca-cola at one in the morning!

We stayed the night in Bogota and the next day after meeting all the outbounds from the district we headed on to Paipa. There we went Quincenera crashing, well kind of, my extended family owns the place where it was taking place, so we went to watch the fireworks.

Sunday we relaxed, spent time with family, and went to Hotel Sochagota, to use the Thermal Pool. Which is kind of like a giant hot tub, filled with hot spring water from the mountains, it is amazing!

Tuesday I went to school with my host sister Dani, I am attending a private school here, and am a senior. (high school is only three years here.) School here starts at 7:30, and ends at 5 in the afternoon. However, unlike in the U.S. I get to leave for lunch, and have substantial breaks in between classes. Also unlike in the U.S. I stay with the same group of kids for all my classes, which makes it easier to find my way around, my host sister is a huge help too! Wednesday was Colombia’s independence day so I didn’t have school, so Tuesday night I went to a concert of a very famous Colombian singer named Silvestre Dangond. This weekend I went to Bogota for a culture fair of my state, Boyaca. It was awesome! I have great photos but my internet connection isn't great now so pictures will follow soon hopefully!So in a nutshell that was my first week! Hasta luego amigos!

~La Gringa

Grand Rapids

I just returned from my last conference as an outbound, which was held in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was a conference that included all the exchange students in Central States, so it was HUGE! Mostly we kept to hanging out with students from our districts though, because it is the last time we see each other for at least a year. It was so much fun despite the heat, but even that wasn't bad compared to some years. It took about 10 hours to get there by bus, but it passed by quickly since we talked, and prepared for our last language test. It was fun quizzing each other in our different languages, especially those languages that always sound angry no matter what you are saying. We were particularly entertained by Turkish, which Mutfak is the word for kitchen. We stayed there for four days constantly attending conferences on anything from reverse culture shock, to safety, to talking about how Dorothy from Wizard of Oz was the worst exchange student ever. Every night there was a dance, because it wouldn't be a Rotary conference if it was all business. On the last night most of us pulled an all-nighter together as a district since it was the last time we would see each other for a while.

We finished out our stay in Grand Rapids by have an impromptu volleyball game at six in the morning, South America vs. the World. South America lost...... So a few days ago I returned, my blazer a few pounds heavier with the multitude of pins I gained.

It was fun reflecting on how much we had changed just in our outbound year, the fall conference we had entered shy to talk to each other, over the course of no more than spending two weeks together (when all the conferences added up) we had become a family. I already miss my Rotary friends so much, only after few days of being apart. I wish we didn't have to say goodbye, but that is what makes our friendships so special, we don't know each other for long before we are scattered across the globe, we can be apart for a year or longer, and I am sure we will be just as good friends as the day we part. Friends like that don't come along often in life, and I am so lucky to be apart of the Rotary family! To all my inbound friends have a safe trip home, and have a great rest of your exchange. And to all my outbound buddies, good luck, you will be awesome exchange students, see you in a year!