Looks like I made it!

Yes, I am here in this beautiful country in which I cannot communicate with the people. In all my travels I have never felt this helpless. (Well, there was Thailand, but we had a tour guide so that doesn't really count.) I guess I didn't realize not everyone in the world speaks English. I had been fooled into believing (maybe it was me who convinced myself) that I would be fine without speaking Spanish. I'd like to know why all of my Spanish-speaking friends and family did not insist on my learning Spanish - yes, I am blaming this on you because I don't want to admit that I should have studied Spanish for more than two hours over the last two months. Actually, the sisters have been very patient with me and they speak Spanish extremely slowly so I can at least grasp most of the concepts. I have also spent time every day I have been here (3 days so far not including today) with teachers at the school who speak English. Everyone has been very friendly and hospitable. Last night we even went to see Karate Kid (dubbed into Spanish). I understood enough to cry at the end :).

The convent in which I am living is enormous. Since there are only six sisters who live here, they only use the first of two floors. Even if there were 20 sisters who lived here, there would be plenty of room. The first floor alone must be about 8,000 square feet. The pictures are taken of my bedroom and from my bedroom door. I have always loved the look and feel of cloisters, so it is exciting for me to live in a cloistered convent. The picture with the open door at the end shows the door to the school from the convent - yes, I am that close to work. After 21 years of driving 30+ minutes to and from school, it will be nice to only walk a few feet. The picture behind the title of the blog is what I see as I stand looking straight out my door. Pretty nice, huh? BTW, the last picture is of the wall above my bed. It has the one decoration I brought from home - a Gone Surfin' tile (Thanks Michelle).

Today has been much cooler (or should I say much less humid) than the previous three days, which is nice. I am sure it was because of the storm. Last night, beginning at about 4:00 a.m., there was a huge thunderstorm. I don't remember hearing thunder like that and the rain fell hard. The people here told me that since Barranquilla is close to the Magdalena River, when it rains a lot the river overflows, the streets become rivers themselves, and it is impossible to leave home. I wondered last night if that would happen, but I guess not yet.

I did my first load of laundry today. The sisters have a washer, although I imagine much of their washing is done by hand because they have large sinks with cement washboards. I used the washer since they keep telling me this is mi casa. I then proceeded to hang my clothes on a long clothesline to dry, with the help of one of the sisters. At some point I'll include a picture of the lavenderia. It really isn't that big of a deal to line-dry all of my clothes, but the whole operation is something to behold.

I don't want to make this post so long that no one wants to read all of it, but I want to include somethig about the food - delicioso! I am going to be so healthy it's not even funny. The sisters have something of an orchard in their yard so there is fresh fruit a-plenty. They also supplement with other fruits, which satisfies my fruit tooth. There is fruit at every meal and fresh fruit juice. Lunch is the biggest meal and it consists of several courses: 1. fruit; 2. soup - yummy, yummy soup; 3. rice and/or potatoes, meat(s), salad, desert. Dinner has been something simple like soup or left overs from lunch, but it is still good. There is a cook and so far everything she has cooked is sabrosa. Of course she is no Lali, but who is?

I am sure there is more, but no need to give everything away at once. I'm not sure how well this whole blog thing will work for me, but I'll do my best to keep up with it.

Love to all!