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.
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
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