lento lento lento

I have so much to say, no recuerdo todos! Today was my first day of work...I mainly just followed my boss around while he talked to important people, and I smiled and said, ¨Si, estoy bien, me gusta mucho Medellin, si.¨ Afterwards, I ate my lunch, watched the news, and then they said check your email. I´m not sure if they thought it would take me 2 hours to check my email but they didn´t have me do anything for a long time. My boss kept walking by and I would give the half, ¨should I not be on facebook right now, do you want me to do something¨ smile but he said I should stay on the internet and check my email. Well, ok. Then, I started correcting the english translation of one of their documents...which I think they translated in a program because it was THE most confusing english I have ever read, and afterwards I was allowed to leave. I found out that I will only have to work from 10 until 4 everyday, and I get one free day every week because they want me to get to know the city. Well all right, if you insist.

After work I went to the Plaza of Bare feet with mi amiga y companera andrea, and we met up with Sarah Stafford and Jason. It was exciting to finally meet Sarah (a Ser Mas coordinator)in person, because we´ve been doing the equivalent of online dating for a few monthes now...you know, exchanging interests, phone numbers, chatting online for 2 hours a day...you know you´re jealous.

Yesterday I went to the movies with Catalina (my host sister) and some friends. The story of what happened I think very well depicts Colombia: We were supposed to be meeting everyone at the theater at 4. We arrived at 4:30. Everyone finally arrived by 4:50. We stood in the line which was ridiculously long for at least an hour. Then they decided they don´t actually like that theater very much...let´s take the metro and a bus in the opposite direction which will take an hour to go to a different theater. And now, let´s stand in line for 45 minutes here to see Hostel 2. I love it. Before I left carybeth said, maybe you will be more timely when you come back. I can only guarantee I will be mas lenta.

Things I have learned about Colombia cont´d:
3. The noise never stops, and I mean practically NEVER. I don´t know how anyone can sleep straight through the night here. I´m a light sleeper, because even Alex´s attempts at trying to prance around quietly (where a lot of the time her clumsiness got the best of her, love ya alpal) in the mornings would wake me up. I have a friend, Julia, who´s studying abroad in the Dominican Republic and she said it´s the same in Jarabacoa. I think the city assumes everyone would be able to sleep even if a train ran smack down the middle of the house...because that´s the decibel level
we´re talkin with the neighbors music, screaming, etc.
4. HONKING: Julia also said that everyone does the just-wanted-to-let-you-know-i´m-in-your-blindspot-honk. I hadn´t even thought of that, I think it happens occasionally, but honking happens ALL the time here, past reasons have included:
we´re at a red light and it´s still red but I think it might turn green soon, viva colombia, what do you think of george bush?, your car is ugly, i´m breaking the law so i technically shouldn´t be here but you´re still cutting me off, you´re driving gringos, and hey my car is the same color as yours (This really makes for a lot of noise when there are taxis around).
5. I don´t think they have a word for alone time in colombia, because here you are always with people. I am used to being able to read a book, or go on the computer by myself. But here, Cata´s parents will just sit down and watch me on the computer, and they don´t know English so it doesn´t matter, it´s just different. This whole togetherness thing became apparent when I was laying watching TV on a bed...then her dad came to watch to, and then her mom came to watch to...mm hm of course all 3 of us can lay in this double bed comfortably. I like the idea of community, but as an estadounidense I guess I am used to being able to turn it off and turn it on at will.
6. There is a lot of pollution here since the city is settled in the valley between mountains...let´s just say when I blow my nose it´s apparent. mmmmmm

this concludes my list for now, and on a completely separate note: Do you understand the following phrase: "Have you done wash yet?"
is that a wisconsin thing, or an invention of the Reddy household?

gracias por todos, besitos!