La Conferencia de Clausura
August 22nd, 2008.
The closing ceremony for Cuenta Conmigo, the PBoX (once again, that's AIESEC for Project Based on Exchange) I dedicated the past 15 weeks to. I remember writing about how nervous I was for the opening ceremony back in May. I remember writing about how excited I was to get started and how I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. I look back over the past 15 weeks and can't even believe I was able to give a presentation about my experience...so much happened.
But I did it. I talked about my job: I described the process, the class, the parents I worked with. I talked about the breadmaking workshop: how motivated the parents were, how they've already started working together to start a business, how they invited me to their houses to show me what they learned and how much they're practicing, how they send me emails and call me to see how I'm doing and just say thanks. I talked about what else I did in the school: how I made true friends with the faculty and administration, how I had a group of students come in to talk with me over their summer vacation, how 3 little boys would bring me ice cream because I let them play with my computer, etc. I talked about how I got more than just a professional internship, how I got the multicultural exchange we as AIESECers hope for: how I now have more than 60 friends in more than 10 different countries, how I perfected a foreign language, I felt like a part of the culture, of my local family. I ate "arepas de huevo," I sang "vallenato," I became addicted to the coffee from Juan Valdez. I assured them that I was leaving with a much better image of Colombia, and that I was going to act as an ambassador defending it. I said that I felt 50% "gringa" and 50% "costena." And I meant every word.
And then I started to cry.
Me gusta, me gusta
Finally, I am sane enough to talk more about what happened in the last couple weeks...baby steps. Here's August 17th. More to come...soon.
I did end up going to Sincelejo with Andres to visit his cousins, aunt, and uncle. We traveled with his uncle, so we took some really strange forms of transportation because he refused to take the Brasilia or other well-known bus agencies. They were too expensive. So, we hopped on two different buses, the second of which my seat wasn't attached, so at every sharp halt, I went flying into the lap of the man in front of me. Our trip there ended up being about 2 hours longer than it needed to be, but I think we saved about a dollar. In Sincelejo, there was a band festival going on, so we went to a parade with drums, trumpets, and fandango dancing. It was a blast from the past because we went out at night with Andres's 16-year-old cousin, so we could only go to bars/clubs where they weren't checking IDs. Too bad, because we couldn't go to a disco called Jolywud (pronounced HOLLYWOOD!) that seemed pretty sweet. We went to this bar that had a live band for a while, and when the band left, they played a DVD of a concert of Silvestre Dangond, one of my favorite vallenato singers. We ordered a jirafa of beer (way cooler than a pitcher). It's like having your own tap on the table. We went to Sampues, where they are famous for making sombreros vueltiados. I bought one for my brother. They are also famous for making beautiful furniture, such as rocking chairs. I really wish I'd had a way of getting one home, or even buying one for my little Colombian grandma, Rosi. They were beautiful, and I think they only cost about $40! They sell these little balconies to hang on the wall with typical Colombian things on them, like a guitar or a mochila and I was going to buy one for my mom but I didn't think it would make it through the trip home. I was telling Andres's aunt that I liked them, and she immediately pulled one off of her wall and gave it to me to give to my mom. It was so nice of her to do that, and she didn't even think about it. I found that to be a common attitude there, always giving, even when there wasn't much to give.
Sincelejo was a cute, typical, little town without any tourists at all. The water only comes every four days, which I still am not exactly sure why. One of Andres's cousin's friends invited us over to her house for dinner, and we all talked about AIESEC for about 3 hours. I think we recruited her. It was really cool to talk with them about my opinions of Colombia. They are so patriotic and love their country so much, so you could tell they were really happy and honored when I raved about my experience. They are really truly saddened, even the youngest cousin who was 12, by the image that the rest of the world has of Colombia. It was a totally relaxing weekend, and I loved hanging out with the family.
I've got two more weeks to get through, and then I will address the culture shock that is making me nauseous...
A cloud hangs over this city by the sea
I’m realizing that I’ve been very lucky in this experience. I’ve lived on the safe side of Cartagena, met the nice people of Cartagena, and have always had people looking out for me. But bad things do happen. Last week, at a friend’s house, Andres was robbed at gunpoint. Two men on a motorcycle came up to the house, stuck a loaded gun to the back of his head and said “Desconecta esa vaina, no griten, no se muevan…” (Disconnect that thing, don’t yell, don’t move) and then rode off with Andres’ laptop. It just figures that we were in a meeting for our project talking about the closing conference. You know, youth working towards bettering the image of Colombia and helping its citizens. Yea, rob them. We lost a ton of information from the project, not to mention 6 months of work he’s put towards his thesis. Yesterday, Rafa’s father was also robbed at gunpoint…one million pesos. Marilene, the trainee from Holland, has had stuff stolen 4 times from her own room, and the son of the owner of the foundation has come into her room twice in the middle of the night, drunk, with condoms in his hand. In Medellin, I was going to meet up with someone to go to some park at night, but I got her phone number wrong so I couldn’t go. That night, she was robbed with a knife held to her throat. I was almost at the point where I thought EVERYONE was wrong about how dangerous Colombia was, but I realize now that I’ve been very lucky. It is very different here, and I’ve been somewhat naïve and sheltered. When you’re around people that are so poor, they steal out of necessity. I respect the people that are selling phone minutes for 10 cents all day to pay for a dinner for their family. I don’t respect the assholes that don’t do shit all day and then rob a laptop to eat for a week. There are so many things that I see everyday, that I can’t even explain, and I wish I could take pictures of, but it’s not safe. My photos don’t show most of what I see on a daily basis. But there are some images in my head that I am sure I will never forget even if I don’t have photographic evidence. You just have to live it and be thankful for the experience.
Winding down...
My work is basically over, thank God. My classes all went really well and it was a really rewarding experience, but it was extremely stressful. I taught classes to a group of 20 parents about how to create a business plan, how to create a marketing plan, the life cycle of a product/business and how to promote it in each phase, and indicators of evaluation and control using basic accounting principles and other checkpoints. I gave up on trying to work with the teacher that was supposed to be helping me, because I would have been here 3 and a half months without ever doing anything, so I just pulled from stuff I learned in my intro business classes and tried to apply that to life in a third world country. I used videos, visual aids, activities, and competitions to really keep the parents involved and interested. Andres was a huge help to me with all of the classes…I don’t think I could have done it without him. The last day, my “students” filled out evaluations of the course, and it was really incredible. They were all so grateful for the work we’d done, saying things like “thousands and thousands of thank you’s”, “God bless you”, “You’ve given me hope for my future”, “You really put love into your work”, “Thank you for paying attention to us and helping us”, “We hope we can attend other classes with you” etc. The only complaint was that the workshop wasn’t longer.
Last week was the first round of breadmaking workshops at Harinas 3 Castillos. There were about 45 people there for the workshop. My 20 students were able to attend for free, while the other 25 had to pay to participate. Andres and I went to the first class, and it was great. Our group showed up early (I didn’t know that was possible in Colombia!) with notebooks open, ready to learn. I couldn’t attend the other sessions because I left for Medellin on Wednesday, but one of the mothers sent me an email telling me that the rest of the classes were really great, and that they learned a lot and everyone was really content and satisfied. She thanked us again and said she wanted to get together with the other parents and invite us to one of their houses to make bread/pastries for us to show us what they learned. It’s a cool feeling to know that because of something you did, a group of 20 people that didn’t know each other before want to work together and start a business together!
But now, I’m kind of lost again, because I have 2 or 3 weeks left of time to work, and once again, no guidance or work to do. I am really fed up with dealing with the teacher that was supposed to be helping me because she didn’t show up to a single one of my classes nor the breadmaking workshops, but now she’s asking me for copies of all of the work I did to show to the director of the school like it’s hers. She also scolded me for not asking her for permission before going to Medellin, but I told her that I didn’t feel it was necessary to ask her because she hadn’t been involved or interested in anything I’ve done up until now. I asked permission from my project director and the people I’d been working with. She just loves to create problems. I’m really frustrated about that right now, but it’s not really worth talking about. All part of the fun of an unstructured developmental AIESEC traineeship…
Anyways, I’ve mentioned it twice now, but I went to Medellin! I took an overnight bus by myself on Wednesday night to arrive in Medellin on Thursday morning at 6am. I had three phone numbers of people who knew I was coming. I called Ana…answering machine. I called Daniel…answering machine. I called Santiago…answering machine. I ended up waiting at the bus terminal for an hour and a half before I got a hold of Daniel, who told me to take a taxi to his apartment (which by the way is where Jason Hall stayed during his traineeship!!). He gave me the address, but somehow my taxi driver had no idea where he was going (neither did I) and I got an unplanned tour of the city. But I arrived just fine. Todo bien. I basically dropped my stuff off at Daniel’s house and hopped in another taxi to the University of EAFIT for another round of Global Village. More international food from the trainees from all over the world, aka strawberries and cream from the UK, treats from Bahrain, meatball soup from Bulgaria…and “grilled cheese” sandwiches from the US. I bought the bread, the butter, the cheese (tipo Americano), but turns out there was no way to grill them, so they just ended up being American cheese sandwiches…o well. Not quite as successful as my M&M cookies from the last Global Village, but people ate them nonetheless. Thursday night, I got to discover the wonder that is Parque Lleras…the sweetest barstrip I have ever seen in my life (not that I’ve seen many…but it puts my beloved State Street to shame!). Although I barely slept the night before, somehow I managed to stay out dancing until about 4am.
Friday was “día turístico.” I met up with a girl from Medellin and some people from AIESEC Manizales to explore the “city of eternal springtime.” It really is the most beautiful city I have ever seen in my life. It’s surrounded by mountains on all sides, and the weather really is perfect, like springtime all year long. It’s also very obvious that there’s more money in Medellin than Cartagena. It was much cleaner and more advanced. It’s the only city in Colombia with a metro. We rode the metro and the metrocable where we were able to get a view from above of the whole city and the poor houses built in the mountains. We ate bandeja paisa for lunch and then walked around downtown for a bit before returning home to get ready for the CHIVA DE AMOR! A chiva is basically a party bus. It comes equipped with a vallenato band and alcohol. Some have seats, some don’t. We had one of each. The chiva for Trainee Weekend in Medellin has a reputation for people starting off the night drinking and dancing and finishing off the night making out. Hence the name chiva “de amor.” I woke up the next morning with a hoarse voice from singing so much and a sore head, from a mix of hitting it on the ceiling of the lower chiva and from drinking too much. All in all a great night. It was cool because I got to meet a ton of Jason and Molly’s friends from their traineeship last summer! (It made me miss you guys so much…but you definitely made a huge impression down here!! )
Saturday we kicked off our day with a bucket of fried chicken and some aguardiente around 1pm and headed downtown for la Cabalgata (basically a huge horse parade). It was the start of the Feria de las Flores, a ten day flower festival in Medellin that draws people from all over. I didn’t actually get to see any of the flowers, because apparently all that starts this week. Saturday night, we went back to Parque Lleras for another round of drinking and dancing… cocaina rusa… (shot of vodka, chased with a lemon with half instant coffee and half sugar on top)
I woke up early on Sunday hoping I would get to see more of the city, but my Colombian companions decided not to roll out of bed until after noon, so I didn’t get much accomplished before hopping on another 13 hour bus ride back to hot, sticky Cartagena.
Now I’ve got about 20 days left, and I really can’t believe how fast this traineeship went. This weekend is my last one in Cartagena, so it better be packed with all of the stuff I said I was going to do but never did. Next weekend, I’m off to Sincelejo to visit Andres’s cousins and the following weekend to Tayrona!
2 Month Anniversary...
So yesterday, finally, after coming to Fé y Alegría for 2 full months, I had my first class with the parents! It went really, really well—much better than I expected. I am so thankful that Andres came with me and helped out because he was able to make it a more fun and laidback atmosphere. Had I given the class myself, it would have been more serious and strictly business. I don’t quite have the Spanish skills to be able to create the kind of environment that he did. In the class, I gave about a half hour overview of the course material. I explained what entrepreneurship is, how it can help them, and the first steps towards turning an idea into a reality. I introduced the business plan and the marketing plan, as well as talked about the importance of control and evaluation using basic accounting principles. Then we did an activity where each mother wrote down three ideas that they felt they could work with and develop without worrying about startup costs. Each mother came up to the front and shared her idea. Then they got into small groups and each picked one idea from the group that they felt was best and developed it more. What kind of food would the restaurant serve? What would its hours be? Where would it be located? What would the service be like? How would it compete with other restaurants? Etc, etc. The first class went really well, so I hope that we can keep the momentum going and spark the entrepreneurial spirit in these people!! :-)
Last night we had a meeting with the OC (organizing committee) of my PBoX, Cuenta Conmigo. This Saturday, the whole LC is going to the foundation where Marilene works instead of our normal GMM (general member meeting). We are planning a bunch of activities with the kids with themes such as personal hygiene and good behavior. The kids are adorable—they performed a traditional Colombian dance at Global Village for NatCo last week. The meeting yesterday was kind of sad though, because a huge chunk of time was dedicated to talking about “la Conferencia de Cierre” or closing ceremony for the project…which means we’re already talking about me going home. The closing ceremony is going to be August 22nd, one week before I leave. We are going to try to go camping on the beach in Tayrona after the event! I still have Trainee Weekend in Medellin to look forward to as well, but I feel like the next month and a half is just going to fly by! I definitely have to return to Colombia. I am seriously considering doing another internship after I graduate in Bogota or Medellin for a year or so. My Spanish has improved so much, but I have learned so much more than just a language. I have made tons of friends here that I know I will keep in contact with and never forget, not only from Colombia, but with trainees from all over the world. This has been an incredible experience—I have matured so much in the past two months and have discovered so much about myself and my surroundings. I am really thankful to have had this amazing opportunity to really become immersed and accepted entirely in a different culture. It’s like that silly swimming pool analogy, where your relationships start off in the shallow end—you’re completely in control and independent, conversations don’t go past the surface, and then you gradually work your way to the deep end, where you can trust people and confide in them. I only had 3 and a half months; I didn’t have time to “test the waters.” I took the chance of jumping straight into the deep end, and I am so glad that I let myself open up even though I was hesitant to do so because it has really made this trip unforgettable.
Post AIESEC Conference Withdrawal Syndrome…
So, last week was NatCo (Colombia’s national summer conference). We hosted it here in Cartagena, and it was a raging success. The actual conference started on Saturday, but people from all over the country came in early. The MCP stayed at our house for a few days which was pretty cool, and then we had a trainee from Brazil and some girls from Santa Marta stay with us for a while too. A huge group of us went to this really cool club the Sunday night before the conference. I’m definitely going to miss the way Colombians party when I go back to the US!! I may not be a salsa dancing expert, but it definitely beats a night of awkward conversation over loud music at the Gritty…
The conference kicked off with a massive Global Village in la Plaza de Proclamación. Global Villages are a little different when the host country’s main focus is ICX (incoming exchange)…I remember the Global Village at SC last summer inside the hotel in Chicago. There was a guy from Jordan, and a girl from Turkey…and then maybe an AIESECer from the US with Chinese roots. In Colombia, we had trainees representing Finland, Poland, China, Japan, France, Holland, Romania, Bulgaria, Canada, The United States, Italy, India, Slovakia, The UK, and Spain, among others. It was outside in one of the largest plazas in the city, and each country had its own tent. We had a live band and special shows. A bunch of us trainees cooked food for our stands-- I made M&M cookies and macaroni and cheese. Haha. It was so crowded between all of the AIESECers and locals that came. It was really fun.
The actual conference itself was very similar to the conferences we have in the US…everyone works really hard all day, and then parties all night, gets up early the next day and repeats for 5 days in a row. I will say that I was incredibly impressed with the energy of AIESEC members in Colombia. They put us to shame. Each committee has a battle cry that they yell when they’re introduced, and everyone jumps around and shouts. I have never seen so much enthusiasm at 9am after only getting about 4 hours of sleep! I really like that every LC is structured the same; there’s an IM (information management), TM (talent management), ER (external relations), Communications, and Finance team. We were able to get right to work on the issues rather than waste time talking about whose LC organization made more sense like we do in the US. I also think that because Colombia is an underdeveloped country, their members are especially dedicated and passionate. They put so much time and effort into working with different foundations and organizations and raising traineeships. The US focuses on OGX (outgoing exchange) mainly because we’re a developed country and there’s not a need for developmental traineeships, and also because we no longer have local sales teams working on external relations and raising traineeships. I can go online and look at the traineeships available in Colombia, pick one and go, with very little effort. But if you step back and realize the effort that was put into creating the PBoXs (projects based on exchange) and everything, it’s mind-blowing to realize the dedication these young people have for working towards bettering their society. I was really taken aback and impressed during the sessions.
I escaped a few times during the conference with some other trainees to go exploring in the area. The trainee from Brazil and I took a trip to Volcán Totumo. It’s a natural mud volcano halfway between Cartagena and Barranquilla. You climb down this ladder into the mud and then get a massage. It was the weirdest feeling ever because the mud was so dense it was impossible to sink. It seemed like it was going to be a relatively inexpensive trip because it only cost 5,000 pesos to enter (about $3), but it’s incredible the amount of tips they ask for. While we were eating lunch they just hovered over us…the little boy that carried our sandals, the man that took our pictures, the man who gave the massage, the women who tried to help us clean off, the woman who cooked our food, the woman who brought our food to the table, the woman who cleared the table, etc etc. The next afternoon, a bunch of the trainees went downtown, and I got to act as tour guide which was fun. We went to Juan Valdez (a local café that I am addicted to…but hey, there are worse things to get addicted to in Colombia, right?!) and fed pigeons outside of the Iglesia San Pedro, walked along the Muralla that surrounds the historic downtown, ate mangos, bought earrings from the hippies on the streets, and more. I also went with the guy from Bulgaria, Petko (yes…pronounced like the store for our furry friends), to the Castillo San Felipe. It’s this enormous castle just outside of the downtown. It’s full of deep, dark tunnels. We walked around guided by the lights of our cell phones. Some of the tunnels dropped way below sea level so we had to walk through about a foot of water! We never saw any rooms, just tunnels. Looking at it from the outside, I expected the inside to be different.
The party themes during the conference were: Night 1-Fiesta Caribeña, Night 2-Take Cover, Night 3-Fiesta Infantil, Night 4-Fiesta de Pijamas. The second party was by far the coolest party I’ve ever been to. We took a Chiva ( an open air party bus that blasts music and is painted really brightly with flashing lights) to the Murralla next to the famous (and beautiful) clock tower. The party was held on top of the Muralla so we had a beautiful view of the city. Furthermore, everyone was dressed elegantly in all white. One of the teachers at the school I work at actually sewed me my dress.
The weekend after NatCo, I went with some trainees to las Islas del Rosario…a group of 27 islands about an hour and a half off the coast. We spent some time on the beach at Playa Blanca, which is absolutely beautiful. The water is sooo clear, and the sand is really fine. It’s hard to relax though because there are thousands of vendors walking along the beach trying to sell you bracelets, carved wooden statues, maracas, coconuts, mangos, beer, shrimp, massages, braids, etc. Each vendor sells the exact same shit, and they come around and try to convince you that it’s all one-of-a-kind, hand-made treasures.
More to come SOON.
un monton de cosas...
A ton has happened between my last blog entry and now, and I have no idea how to organize my thoughts, so I apologize in advance…
Starting with last Friday…I about had a mental breakdown. I was left alone in our house from 12pm until the time I went to bed…I watched 9 hours of Spanish soap operas… I had no “saldo” on my phone to call anyone and no pesos for a bus ride downtown. I was literally stuck with my thoughts and horrible Colombian acting. I really enjoy the company of Andres’ grandmother, but I can only spend so much time talking about the fruit here that is so “sabrosa.” All I could think about was running around the Arboretum and jumping in Lake Wingra, sitting at the terrace with live music and a pitcher of beer, riding my bike around the Capitol City Loop, Stella’s spicy cheesy bread from the Farmer’s Market, grilling out at James Madison park, and everything else my friends in Madison were doing. It’s easy to get distracted like that when you’re left alone. I called Andres at 9:00pm to see where he was, and he said he’d be right home and we’d go out for a bit. I ended up falling asleep in my clothes sitting upright at 11:30…
BUT, things got exponentially better. I stopped being a baby at about 7:00am Saturday morning and decided to make the most of the rest of my weekend. We had our LC team building activity at a guy named Carlos Blanco’s farm in Turbaco (a small town about 20 min from Cartagena). Like the farm in Santa Marta, it was equipped with a pool and a patio. It was great...tons of icebreaker activities where I got to meet almost everyone from the LC, and us trainees were given some time to express our expectations and desires which was really good. We played soccer and went swimming, ate some fried rice, and AIESEC role call danced the afternoon away. Picture our LC retreat…but in Spanish. Three other trainees have joined me, and there’s one more coming next week. I’m excited because we all get along really well, Maciek from Poland is crazy, and Maria from Finland is probably one of the sweetest girls I’ve ever met. Hopefully, they’ll want to go with me to the beach and to some of the other touristy sites in the area!
Saturday night, Andres and I went to a birthday party for the girlfriend of a guy I work with at Fe y Alegría. It was at this really sweet, modern bar in Bocagrande (the touristy area of Cartagena). We all dressed in white, Favio (who I work with) even had white shoes and a white belt on, and then Laura, his girlfriend, wore this gorgeous red dress. At about 11:30 all of us went into the back of the bar and put on these mardi gras style masks decked out in glitter, feathers, and sequins, and surprised Laura with balloons, confetti, and a very enthusiastic version of Feliz Cumpleaños. I continued with my merengue/salsa dancing lessons, and we called it quits at about 4am. While a cold glass of Spotted Cow on the terrace still sounds pretty fabulous, I am completely content drinking a Colombian Aguila on a rooftop…or heading downtown to stuff my face with “fritos” –fried goodies uch as arepas, empanadas, and carimañoles!
Meena, I think I met the Colombian version of your Roxanne… She’s the half-sister of the guy that I live with. She’s eight years old and according to her, we’re BEST friends. She’ll grab my hand and take me around to all of the adults and say “this is my best friend. She understands me, see?” and then ask me a question like “what’s your favorite enter any theme here.” We played a card game that I think is called “Maria Wins.” This is how you play. You pick a random number of cards to keep in your hand. Then you put a card on the table and say what it is. (Cinco, for example) This goes on until Maria decides to clear the pile, or until someone lays a jack because neither of us knows what a jack is in Spanish. If you ask who won, she says, “I did because I put down enter last card she laid down here.” She makes me braid her hair everyday and is basically glued to my side 24/7. As I mentioned in an earlier post, sometimes it’s easier to communicate with little kids than it is with adults, so I enjoy the time I spend with her and my little neighbor Michael.
Update on my job…yesterday freaking rocked. The director of Fe y Alegría held a meeting with all of the parents, and I spoke for the last 15 minutes of the meeting about my project. I am going to be teaching 6 classes on entrepreneurship, starting July 15th. Then starting July 28th, the workshop in breadmaking is going to start. It is 3 hours a day, for 4 consecutive days. There are 5 sessions: Basics in Breadmaking, basics in pastrymaking, advanced breadmaking, advanced pastry making, and hygiene/control of sales/marketing. When I announced that people could come up and sign up for the courses on my little sign-up sheets, I felt like I was in the middle of a mosh-pit at a rock concert. It was a free-for-all. Papers were flying, mothers were pulling on my arms, everyone was shouting out questions…but you know what? I understood them…all of them. And it really made me appreciate my month that I’ve had here to adjust. Before, I felt like I wasn’t doing anything, but now I know that by waiting a month to get started, I’m actually going to be able to do a much better job. Had I started right away, I would have had no idea what these parents were saying to me. Now I feel completely confident with my Spanish (which is the coolest, most accomplished feeling ever!), and I really want to put together high quality lessons. I stayed after the meeting about an hour talking to different parents about the current state of poverty in Cartagena. It’s incredible how grateful they all are to have me here helping out. It’s completely different than any experience I’ve had in the US. I had 50 year old woman on the verge of tears thanking me over and over for paying attention to them and helping their families. Comparing with experiences in my past, I thought that the parents would reject me…what does this 21 year old American girl know? What can she do for us? But, it’s been the opposite. Parents have invited me into their homes for coffee or lunch, and I have accumulated a stack of phone numbers, email addresses and business cards.
I also learned something about my traineeship that makes me feel a little better about everything. Turns out, I was supposed to have a teacher helping me with this project, but she hasn’t been working with me at all. The school is trying to get certified under some code of quality by November, so all of the teachers and the director are extremely preoccupied with that. We’re trying to bring another trainee to the school to work directly with the psychologist, and the director told Andres that it would be better to wait until after the certification, because they were really busy and couldn’t dedicate the time to work with him on the project. Andres got pretty mad, and I feel like he’s forcing this traineeship on the school. Like to be able to say that he had 3 trainees working on the PBoX, but I think it’d be better to wait until the school can actually dedicate the time to get something out of having him (and me) here.
