Three Days to Go!

I really came to Colombia for the Gold

Right now, the WorldTeach teachers are practicing teaching in front of classes of the richest, best-behaved students in Bogotá. The founder of Volunteer Colombia, WorldTeach´s partner here, is the son of the owner of this very expensive bilingual private school. The students all speak English, and have been approaching me all day with their notebooks, asking, "What did you eat for your Christmas meal?" Well, I was in Chadds Ford eating Pork Chopps, thank you very much! Thanks for reminding me :) They´re really cute.

I don´t have to teach here, because I will be a University teacher. Instead, I´m teaching "American slang" to my co-workers tomorrow...I dread it!

I am finally feeling those little love pangs that I get for countries sometimes. I´ll admit that I have been feeling not a little longing for Rio de Janeiro...that city really effected me! But, Colombia stands a chance, and finally I will be moving to Barranquilla with just 2 of the 40 people I´ve been cooped up with the past 2.5 weeks. Yay!

I went out dancing last weekend, to Andre de Res, a Über-rich parilla-club. The clientel was interesting...I was invited to country-clubs, which I´m not opposed to, but the guy seemed pretty young, and every time I blew him off, he came back a few minutes later, drunker. The next day, we went on a field trip to a salt mine, one of the Maravillas de Colombia. It was pretty amazing: the second layer of the mine was now used as a cathedral, a grand, gloomy, underground cathedral, smelling of sulfer (ironic?). There are many chambers, starting with the stations of the cross, and moving onto enourmous rooms with 40 foot cealings, columns blasted out of the rock as they mined through, and relief crosses.

Miner art

The pastures around are green because of the rain, fuzzy cows graze outside of their fences, the grass is fuzzy, too. The town Zapariquá (?), where the mine is, is a little hamlet with plazas surrounded by long, low, white buildings and churches. Very lovely.

We also had a day of Colombian food: milk and egg soup for breakfast, blood sausage for lunch, and tripe soup (mondogo) for dinner.

Sorry you had to see this

Yuck. And...my phone works: 316-225-2008. Just remember, you`re calling Colombia!
Besos!

Super Gold man!