I’m Legit

I, Christina, take thee, Peace Corps , through the thick and the thin and until 25 months do us part. It’s official, as of Wednesday, December 14^th, 2011, I’ve had enough of this trainee business; after 8 weeks of training, I am an official Peace Corps volunteer! After wanting to join the Peace Corps since I was in middle school and the extensive application process last year, I have to admit that I am pretty darn proud. To help us celebrate both our initiation and the 50^th anniversary of the Peace Corps (Colombia was one of the first two original countries where Kennedy sent volunteers in 1961) were Colombian families and friends, Peace Corps employees and returned volunteers (even two from the first, 1961 Colombian group), and a panel of speakers with fancy-schmancy titles. Among these were Michael McKinley, the US ambassador to Colombia who flew in from Bogota; Stacy Rhodes, Peace Corps Chief of Staff flew in from the Washington DC headquarters; Eduardo Verano, the governor of the Atlantico province of Colombia; and finally, Alejandro Char, the mayor of Barranquilla. Formalities started with Ambassador McKinley swearing us in with the same oath that the president of the United States takes and ended with a gigantic cake.

I will continue to train and live in Barranquilla until January 14^th, so really my life has changed little. However, I now have a legitimate title and a new cell phone and plan (*my number has changed—my cell phone will be 312 451 4274 for the next 2 years*). Last but not least, I now make… wait for it... wait for it… $10 a day instead of a measly $5! When was the last time you suckas got a 100% raise?

We even had a full spread in the newspaper, and the back of my head made the cut: http://www.elheraldo.co/local/vamos-a-fortalecer-cooperaci-n-en-educaci-n-biling-e-embajador-de-eu-49700

The group of 22 volunteers and staff

Swearing In

My host brother, Carlos, and me eating the cake

With my host family

Cartagena Site Visit (where I´ll living starting January 14th)

Cartagena… top travel destination in Colombia and my hometown for the 24 months. No big deal; look it up folks; read it and weep. But no matter what, be excited to visit me! I am back in Barranquilla after my four day site visit until I officially move to Cartagena in mid-January. WOOHOOOO!

The link below shows various settings and peoples of Cartagena. The students who are using sign language (there is a large amount of deaf students at my school, although none take English class) and wearing red and white striped shirts (their uniform) are from my school:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLhxJVn9AM4&feature=related

In our group of 22, nine volunteers will remain in Barranquilla, six will go to Santa Marta, and seven of us to Cartagena (pictured below with a counterpart from each school). In placing volunteers, Peace Corps accounted for friendships in the group and some good friends going with me. The three males going to Cartagena are placed in “semi-urban” sites; two are in smaller towns on the outskirts of the city and one is on an island off the coast. The remaining four girls will be living it up in various neighborhoods throughout the city.

The best way to describe my Cartagena homestay would be “The Golden Girls: Colombian Style”. I will be living with my three abuelas, two of which are in their 80’s, the other in her 60s. The Peace Corps response volunteer living there now is totally positive about her experience. My new grandmas have 60+ years of cooking experience under their belts, are super sweet and adorable, speak no English, and finally are very hands-off in terms of giving me full-independence, letting me stay out however late and generally doing whatever I want... what’s not to love. Two sisters live next door, and various other uncles, sisters, and brothers live on the street; from what I gather I’m basically related to the entire neighborhood. We have three dogs and two cats, although it’s actually really sad because the dogs are attached to chains no more than four feet long and never able to roam around. The house is large with a big front and back patios, big sitting area, 3 bathrooms, and 6 bedrooms. Somehow I have the largest bedroom, complete with my own bathroom. The joke that Colombia is the “Posh Corps” experience seems to be holding true compared the otherwise mud-hut and pooping-in-a-hole stereotype. Although I have found myself wanting a more “roughing-it” experience at times, on second thought, I can live with a flushable toilet for two years. That being said, I will not get consistent internet, there is no hot water, I am not in a wealthy neighborhood (it is a 25 minutes bus ride from the posh/expensive tourist areas; 80% of the population of Cartagena lives in poverty according to a coworker), most of my students come from the lowest socioeconomic stratums, my school has limited resources (a library the size of a large closet, for example), I will not be getting paid very much (to say the least), and it’s going to be hot as hell come summer with no air-conditioning. I am happy that I am living and working where I’ve been placed; these challenges are maybe the most exciting part of this experience as I did not join the Peace Corps to live the lifestyle that I left in the US. Meanwhile, if I do want gorgeous beaches, stellar coffee or white people in general, I can hop from my barrio to mini-Miami in less than half an hour.

My neighborhood is in a great location. I live right off of a main road, and so all buses pass by my house. A mall and two huge supermarkets are two minutes walking distance away. It is safe and my homestay is about 8 houses away from my school where there are security guards on-duty 24 hours a day.

The best part about my school (pictured below) is unquestionably the teachers. Everybody is cheerful, talkative, and excited to have me. My school is the largest one where Peace Corps is sending a volunteer. A total of more than 4,500 students pass through daily, although this accounts for 3 jornadas (students and teachers go to school in one of the 3 sessions: in the morning, afternoon or evening). I also have the largest amount of English teachers to work with, or nine secondary teachers. Running out of things to do should not be an issue. 

And finally, Jairo...

He is my main counterpart and my closest thing to a boss. He works as an English teacher both at my school and at the University of Cartagena and speaks fluently from living for five years in England. He is organized, knowledgeable and surprisingly on-time despite his Colombian background. He also is one of the most charismatic people I’ve met and impeccably embodies the “work hard, play hard” motto. Dancer, drinker and talker, he seems to know everyone in Cartagena and loves to go out when not working. He took Monica and me on a tour du Cartagena both in the day and nighttime and made a point to show us the two sides of the city: one of white tourists, weathy Colombians and skyscrapers and the other of displaced people living in cardboard boxes and in trash. We saw only part of what is the historic central/walled city area and spectacular coastline. I will most definitely not be bored amongst the museums, historic buildings (Cartagena was the main slave trade city of the Caribbean and a major Spanish colonial city), theatre, festivals, carnivals, parades and other activities.

In Peace Corps official jargon, these are the three main goals of my “Teaching English for Livelihoods” program:

Goal 1: English Technical Training (co-teaching/planning, workshop development for English teachers, English material and curriculum development)

Goal 2: English learning through extracurricular activities (English language training for non-English teachers or community members, supplementary English activities and initiatives for youth)

Goal 3: Support community initiatives within the field of education and youth development (life skills development through community based projects--does not need to be in English and can range from HIV prevention, to youth development, to economic development projects, to environmental awareness…)

Placement Assignments and Thanksgiving

CARTAGENA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

... is where I'll be living for the next 2 years. Placement announcements were last Thursday, or on Thanksgiving. I couldn't be more excited for CARTAGENA! Ahhh! I will be visiting my school, Soledad Román de Núñez, from Tuesday until Saturday this week, and so, although I know a little about the school, I will keep you in suspense but promise full details upon return to Barranquilla. In the meantime, you can read alllll about Cartagena and how great of a place it is going to be to visit (but seriously, #1 travel destination in Colombia; you have no excuses).

Thanksgiving dinner couldn't have been better. Although I tried to 'keep my expectations low', it was hard to do as Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. Nevertheless, we were not let down. Peace Corps directors and their families all cooked up delicious (and American-style) food and we had a FEAST with about 60 people. From turkey, salad (woohoo vegetables, finally!), stuffing, casseroles, humus, green beans, carrots, pumpkin and apple pie, cakes... I might have eaten more than anyone and had a food baby that extended about 5 inches over my unbuckled jeans. It was glorious. Furthermore, we were able to watch a little US football and relax as digestion set in. Tons of fun, especially since everyone was so elated and relieved that site assignments were revealed and therefore the waiting/guessing game was finished.

10 Reasons why Barranquilla is not Denver

1.       Personal space/touchy-feelyness—family and friends are constantly around; I’ve been home alone once for 30 minutes since arriving (although they respect my space if I go into my room and close the door). Everyone is always touching, stroking, kissing, or holding someone else. I sandwich myself between Colombians and their butts so I don’t fall over while riding buses. Thank goodness people use deodorant here; I think I would have died of BO if I was surrounded by antiperspirant-less Turks in this heat.

2.       Wildlife—my roommates have included a cockroach, ants, lizards, and mosquitos. Most mosquito bites are on my legs; I counted 46 today. Bruno, my nemesis; aka the hyper, yappy poodle that lives in the back of the house. GIANT iguanas at the Peace Corps training facility.

3.       Fruit—there are a bazillion different varieties. I still know none of their names, so enough said.

4.       Party, party, party—people love to drink, dance, talk, and listen to music whenever given a chance. Every night is not necessarily a party, but for every holiday (which there are lots of, thanks to Saints) or weekend everyone comes out of their homes, pumps the music and dances in the streets or bars. Below: my neighbors' sound system.



5.       Dirty dancing—should have been made on the Colombian coast. It awkward enough to watch 8 year old girls dancing very provocatively in tight shorts and badazzled bikinis, but they fact that they are legitimately amazing dancers and that all teachers are cheering them on leads to many “this-would-never-happen-in-the-US” moments. However, it’s not just this, but all types of dance, that everyone here is incredible at.  

6.       Machismo—especially prosperous on the coast. We’ve been warned that stereotypically men here have several girlfriends (of course there are exceptions).  

7.       Arroyos—rain water eventually drains into the Atlantic Ocean, using the streets of Barranquilla as its way to get there. Upon arrival to Barranquilla, the Peace Corps gave us a list of 25+ locations not to be at while raining. These arroyos can swallow people, cars, trees, and anything else in their path; serious business. After a rainstorm many streets remain uncrossable, giving me an excuse to be at least 2 hours late after a rainstorm and a transition into my next number…

8.       Costeño time—you have every reason to have a lengthy conversation with anyone while en route to somewhere, and therefore to be late. People come and go whenever and linger everywhere in between. Everyone here is incredibly social and warm.

9.       Soccer is the new football—no American football here but instead futbol, aka soccer. People are playing it, watching it or talking about it. All of Colombia’s home games for qualifying for the World Cup will be played in Barranquilla’s massive stadium. Venezuela and Argentina teams will play here in November and tickets only cost about $15 USD.

10.   Personal hygiene—my surplus sweating has shockingly led me to be more hygienic. Showering twice per day is standard; in fact, it’s expected when it’s especially humid. Showers, I may add, consist of a single, cold stream of water about half an inch wide. My desire to not be known as ‘the dirty gringa’ also has triggered a need to put away and fold my clothes, make my bed, and sweep my room daily.

Now that I have internet on my laptop, here are some long awaited pictures!!

My host brothers and room.

With students from the first school visited.

My Spanish class (me, Tyler, Monica, and Orlando--our teacher)



From my visit to Santa Marta



Volunteer Site Visit in Santa Marta

Last week I visited Marcy, one of the Peace Corps response volunteers who has been living and working in Santa Marta for 10 months. Santa Marta is only 1.5 hours from Barranquilla and is gorgeous: right on the coast so that the beach is never more than a 15 minute walk away and next to the Sierra Nevada mountain range. It’s a tourist destination, and so I even saw some sunburned gringos along with many Colombians on vacation. It was great to see another city in Colombia and to better understand what I’m up against these next 2 years. I find out my site placement (or where I will live and work for the next 2 years) on Thanksgiving but will continue training in Barranquilla until mid-January.

Marcy works in the secondary school at Leseo del Norte. Much unlike the US, everyone is given a number, or strata, indicating their socioeconomic status. Stratum primarily depends on neighborhood and the quality of houses, safety and cleanliness. Generally, 0-2 are lower class, 3-4 middle class, and 5-6 upper class. It all seems very exposed to me. People in 5 and 6 neighborhoods pay considerably in taxes whereas those in 0, 1 and 2 areas pay none or very little. Schools are scattered throughout; however, anyone can go to any public school (although there are restrictions due to transportation and materials costs). Therefore, although Marcy’s school is in her strata 3 neighborhood, most of the students come from 0-2 areas.

Public school teachers and students go to school either from 6:30am-noon or from 1-5:30pm. At Leseo del Norte the bathrooms have been broken and unusable for 3 months, so consequently both morning and afternoon school days have been shortened by an hour… an innovative solution. Like many Colombian schools, if students are late they are not allowed into the fenced-off campus, meaning that there were a couple stranded outside waiting-out the day by selling things or playing soccer. This is all very curious because once inside punctuality is nonexistent. There were about 70% of students inside classrooms and 30% outside/on-time. The noise level was booming; comparable to my school in Turkey, which I thought was next to impossible to achieve. The students’ English ability was very low but all were super excited to have us and eagerly said “hello” in the halls. A lot to work with for sure. Like all Colombians I’ve met, the teachers were extremely welcoming and happy to have a Peace Corps volunteer at their school. Unlike primary school, secondary English teachers are required to have passed a specific English level in university, so most spoke the language well. I observed a wide spectrum of teaching proficiency, so again, a lot to work with. Supposedly once at site, my job will only consist of 16 hours per week co-teaching with Colombian English teachers in their classrooms. The majority of my job will be educating these teachers on effective TESL methods, specifically experience-based leaning (versus lecture based). I will also have secondary projects in the community, but I won’t decide on those until I get there.

Sweat and Backstreet Boys

My skin knows two states: damp and dripping. I’ve stopped using lotion altogether because moisture is not a problem and moreover it adds to the sweat. Sweating and pounding my Nalgene bottle, I sit next to Colombians who comfortably eat hot soup while wearing long sleeves and pants. If someone’s dress or skin color isn’t an instant give-away on if they’re Colombian or foreign, just a simple glance at the size of their pit stains is the next best indicator. The heat isn’t the problem, it’s the humidity. Conditions are supposed to get slightly cooler until January, at which point they will increase, leaving death by April conceivable.

On Thursday, five other PC trainees and I visited our first Colombian school. In exchange for teaching them a song in English about the US, students from the school reciprocated with quite the performance. As we ate empanadas and drank coconut milk, it started out with a blast from my middle-school-dance past as a student serenaded us with Backstreet Boys and Train songs. Next came the seven year old ballerina, dressed in what I can only describe as a borderline stripper outfit, doing a dance to a Lady Gaga/Katie Perry remix (take Turkey’s conservative dress and reverse it here, but that’s for another blog post). Finally, for the finale, about thirty 10-14 year old girls danced to several traditional Colombian songs. They were amazing! Everyone seems to be born into humidity and salsa here, and therefore are naturals in terms of perspiration control and dancing. The visit made me SO excited to start in working at a Colombian school! The staff and students were exceedingly friendly and enthusiastic that we were there.

Family and dance time

Supposedly the wireless internet at my house will work one day but who knows. Hope this explains why I haven’t been able to respond much to emails, googlevoice, facebook or skype; it’s not that I‘ve forgotten about you already!

My host family is so welcoming and fun, and I feel really comfortable with them. My papa, Ricardo, teaches 8^th grade math. My mama is Carolina. They have two boys Ricardo Andres, 13 years, and Carlos, 10 years. Ricardo has 8 other siblings and Carolina 9 others, so other family members are often at our house or we go to theirs. Jesus, 7 years, is their cousin who lives with us Mondays through Fridays. Family time includes playing soccer (me getting schooled by a 7 year old) and American football, watching TV (dubbed Disney channel programs and American Idol-esque takeoffs), making origami, coloring pictures, playing dominoes, sharing music (out of all my songs, Michael Jackson, Enrique Inglesias and Dandy Yankee are most in demand) and playing hours upon hours of card games (UNO been a big hit along with others I’ve taught them such BS (“Mentiroso” in Spanish, if you will) and Go Fish).

The hardest part so far has been the food. It’s not that Carolina is a bad cook but more that the Colombian diet is on the starchy, carbohydrate, have-you-ever-heard-of-a-vegetable side. Breakfast usually consists of a ground corn in some form with fried plantains or cheese and whole milk or juice. Lunch is always a heaping pile of rice, with a tiny bit of iceberg lettuce, meat, and juice. Dinner is usually the same, note the especially mountainous pile of rice. In retrospect, the Chinese rice bowl that I got in Panama City before arriving in Colombia may not have been such a great choice. All that being said, the fruit juice/fruit is amazing. I’ve also tried cow tong and cow stomach soup to my list of delicacies.

Although I insist that unlike Shakira, my hips can lie and furthermore I can’t gyrate as Colombians do thanks to my lack of culo, everyone is determined to teach this gringa to dance. Saturday was a neighbor’s birthday party and I danced one-on-one with what I assume was each and every person on my street well into the night. There is never a moment in my barrio (neighborhood) when I can’t hear music. People set up gigantic speakers in front of their houses and everyone, old and young, dance the night away. Furthermore, unlike our backyards, everyone has a front patio area, and it’s common for people to set up chairs outside their house or right in the middle of the sidewalk to people watch and talk for hours. I love it! There are sooo many different types of Colombian dance, each linked with unique music type. At this point though, they look and sound the same to me.

Our Peace Corps group remains an amazing ensemble of people. We’re together every weekday. Spanish classes are from 8am until noon. After lunch we have job training and other logistics from 1-5pm. It’s pretty exhausting, but the material is stimulating and working with such energetic people means never a dull moment. Time is flying by, and furthermore the plethora of Peanut M&Ms here makes the adjustment that much easier!

The first 3 of 820 days living in Colombia

Our Peace Corps group is fantastic! There are 23 of us from all over the US. I’m the only Coloradoian, although a couple have lived in Washington. The oldest is in her upper 60’s and the youngest are 4 who just graduated from University; the majority are between 23-31 years. Many people have either previously taught for a year or two abroad (like me) or are have a masters or PHD and have taught in the States for years. Everyone is super personable, energetic, motivated, entertaining, intelligent, and we are all so excited to be here.

Currently there are 77 countries where the Peace Corps serves and over 8,000 volunteers (over 200,000 since its beginning). The Peace Corps was in Colombia from 1961 (it was one of the original 5 countries) until 1981. It pulled out because of escalating violence and a volunteer was kidnapped. However intimidating this may sound, today areas of Colombia are safe. Peace Corps came back in September of 2010 with response volunteers, aka volunteers who previously completed their 2 years of service in another county in order to start-up the Colombian program. My group is the first 2 year group back since 1981.

Although the program is new to Colombia, the Peace Corps staff here know what they are doing. Everything is well prepared and organized, and furthermore, despite their wealth of knowledge the staff remains unintimidating. The director, Geroge, has worked previously with the Peace Corps in Nicaragua and Peru. There are several Colombians who will be our Spanish teachers and we will have Spanish lessons almost every day from morning until lunchtime for the next 3 months. My Spanish has definitely come back just in being here a few days and I feel confident with my level so far, but I am so excited about how good my Spanish will be after these 3 months! Afternoons will be spent doing training for our job, going over security in Colombia and learning more about the culture.

Our first 3 months in Colombia will be intensive training six days a week and living with host families throughout the city of Barranquilla. Home of Shakira, Sophia Vargara and the MVP of last year’s World Series, the second largest Carnival in the world (next to Rio’s), several universities, and 2 million people. My eventual site placement (where I will spend the remainder of the next 2 years) will be in Barranquilla, Cartagena or Santa Marta. All three cities are on the northern Caribbean coast. Costeños, or the people who live along the coast, are supposed to be more relaxed, open, love to party, lots of music and dance. Everything is green and humid, especially since it's the rainy season until January. That being said, it doesn't feel nearly as hot as I thought it would be.

I'm meeting my family who will host me for the next three months tomorrow and then will get into a more regular routine. I've heard that they live in "humble" conditions, so although PC has said that many families have internet, I may not have much access and furthermore don't know how much time I can afford at an internet cafe... During training months we're only getting 10,000 pesos per day from Peace Corps, which is about $4.50.  Awesome. If you need to get a hold of me, my email is christinakuntz87@gmail.com. I also downloaded google voice, and my number is 720-608-6172--you can leave me a voice mail or text me and I can get them from my computer and text/call you back for free. My skype name is christina.kuntz

Miami, aka little Colombia

Thanks to my new roommate, I have successfully created a blog. I promise to try and keep this guy updated; however, you, the reader, should also promise not to set your expectations of my blogging abilities too high.

I flew from Denver to Chicago to Miami, where I will be until tomorrow morning. Highlights of the 7 hours it took to get here include: sitting next to a 400 pounder with BO, eating lots of American food and speaking English to my heart’s content, and finally Peter Forsburg!... yes, he was on my flight from Denver to Chicago. And despite urges to shove his fiance out of the way and scream "I love you", I settled for a classy "congrats" (on retiring his career/jersey #) as we passed each other and made eye contact for 5 whole seconds.

Part of me really cannot believe that I am doing this whole moving to another country without knowing anything/anyone again... however, I am so much less nervous than I was for Turkey (talk about taking a random chance). It wasn't really until yesterday that I started to think about how long 27 months seems. At the same time and despite momentary insecurities, I know that this is really what I want to do and I am SO excited to begin! Colombia will be my 17th country I've visited in the past year; how lucky am I!!! There is definitely a now-or-never type of mentality.

Evidently Spanish has taken over Miami, or at least the mile stretch from the airport to our hotel. People evidently assume it is my first language as I have been addressed in Spanish as much if not more than English, all signs have Spanish before English, and I just had brunch at "Cafe Latina" across the street. If the flight attendant hadn't announced "Bienvenidos a Miami" when we landed and if I didn't know any better, this could be Colombia.

I've only met one other volunteer (although creepily stare down everyone in the hotel wondering if they also might be with the Peace Corps), who is my roomate. Jessica, UCBerkely, from LA is super nice so far (and blog savvy) and it's been great to adjust with her before meeting the whole group--in an hour!