los primeros dias

By: Tara

Here we are! We’ve already spent four nights in our new home. We have been overwhelmed by the support the school has given us, the kindness of our Colombian co-workers, and the instant camaraderie with our fellow “new import” teachers.

For those of you just catching up with us, we are at the beginning of a two-year committment teaching at an international school in Barranquilla, Colombia. Brennan is teaching HS Biology and I'm teaching 7-8th English Language Arts. School starts in a week and a half!

I have been speaking Spanish a lot, and am really excited about how much is coming back to me. I try to find opportunities to keep quiet and let Brennan practice, too. He’s still working with Rosetta Stone and then practicing with fellow teachers and people we meet in restaurants, etc.

The climate here is hot and humid, but we are adjusting better than we expected! Often there is a nice breeze coming in from the Carribean Sea. We’ve been told the weather these past few days is not typical for July here- much cooler- but perhaps that is what is easing our transition! If so, we’ll take it! Our bedroom is air conditioned, and the rest of the apartment is cooled with fans. All of the floors are tile, so that helps.

The night we arrived, Wednesday, we were exhausted from about 24 hours (on and off) of travel. We were picked up at the airport (along with four of the five other new import teachers) and taken to our apartments, where we were greeted by snacks and food in the fridge! That night B and I unpacked our boxes, again creating piles around the house- agh with the piles!!!- but knowing these would be our last moving piles for a couple years.



Thursday and Friday we were picked up by a school chauffer, and spent most of the day in orientation, meetings with our principals, meeting new Colombian co-workers, getting a physical, filling out paperwork for banks and immigration, and having our photo taken for school ID. Each day we enjoyed a delicious breakfast and lunch at the school, and after school they took us shopping so we could get some things for our home, like trash cans, towels, blankets, lamps, etc. It felt like freshman year of college all over again! We spent those evenings walking around our neighborhood and eating dinner at local restaurants, and adjusting to the Colombian peso. A Costo-sized package of toilet paper costs 26,000 pesos! But, converted, that is roughly $15 US dollars, so on the whole, it seems like prices are similar.



Saturday was our first free day, and the import teachers unanimously agreed we wanted to spend it at the beach. We spent the day at a beach about 20 min. outside of Barranquilla. We had a great afternoon of swimming and relaxing, and our lunch was AMAZING- fried white fish with fried plantains and coconut rice. Top it all off with a couple glasses of sangria, and you have yourself a lovely afternoon with new friends.







The new import teachers had decided to meet up at 7:30pm back in Barranquilla to get some pizza at a local restaurant, but at around 7:00, there was a ring at our door, and B and I were greeted by two fellow teachers from the states who have been here four years, as well as their friend. So we chatted for awhile and ended up going out for pizza together, along with a couple more teachers who’ve been here up to 10 years, and the other new imorts. It was a great evening.

Now it is Sunday. Brennan and I plan to do some schoolwork and maybe some grocery shopping- we haven’t had to cook for ourselves yet. Mostly we are looking forward to a quiet day around the house with some time to settle in and get ready for the week ahead.

Ciao!
tvl