Life is a Game we Play.

thoughts...

On Colombian traffic:
It has been described to me as "diverse." I guess that´s the best way to put it. I call it INSANE. There´s only one rule: Cars come before pedestrians. There are no crosswalks...or nice drivers. I told the AIESECers here about the crosswalks we have that talk, and now they all yell "Wait!" when it´s not clear. I am glad that I have locals to pull my arm across the streets before I get flattened by a bus. The busses are a mix between the party bus we rented for Katie´s 21st birthday and the VW van from Little Miss Sunshine. They are painted bright colors and blast loud latino music, but they don´t exactly...stop. There´s a helper hanging out of the open door and you just kind of jump on. Then there are always strange things hanging in the windows like tweety birds in ziplock bags...??

On Colombian time:
8:30 am means noon.

On AIESEC Cartagena:

I LOVE these people. I already feel like a part of the family. I have attended their EB meeting, a GMM and a meeting for our PBoX. Each meeting has lasted about 4 hours!! I barely understood a word of the EB meeting, but every day I am getting more and more used to the accent. I am just absolutely exhausted by the time I go to bed from spending all day concentrating on understanding people. But everyone is so nice and helpful. Andres and I are going to have ¨class¨every weekend to help each other learn spanish and english. I am living in andres´house...weird thing is that we actually share a room...but it´s cool, yesterday we sang BackStreet Boys´"I Want it That Way" into the mirror! haha

AIESEC Cartagena has about 60 members, and they are all super motivated and work really hard. It´s really exciting to see the different dynamics between our LCs!

I start my work TOMORROW! I am a little nervous to meet the children and their parents that I am going to be working with. I hope I can understand them! The opening ceremony for our project is going to be May 30th, and there are going to be 150 plus people there...businessmen, government officials, AIESEC alum etc... and I have to give a presentation at it!! The other trainee for my PBoX is from Holland. Her name is Marilene, and she´s real nice. we are going to be featured in a video showing the current situation in Colombia and what we are trying to do to help. It´s going to be amazing, and I can´t wait to get started!!

oh and Jason Hall, if you read this, just so you know, you are known throughout Colombia as "el famosisimo jason" and you´re also a drunk :-)

Besos!!

posted by Erin @ 2:46 PM