Hi guys so here it is, i have been with out internet for over a month so i will try to update you on all the happening in Manizales, Colombia. I have met some very nice people here in Manizales. People of these three cities, manizales, pereira, and armenia are called paisas. they are normally very strict when it comes to finances and work, but are also very warm hearted, open, and soulfull people. in fact manizales is called mi alma de manizales, my soul of manizales and is known for the expression puertas abiertas, open doors. i am learning a lot of spanish here, talking to people, getting to know the colombian culture, food, and way of life. life is fast paced, lots of work, but at the same time the people are easy going and friendly. you walk almost everywhere in manizales, the streets are as busy as a shopping mall. i walk to work everyday 30 minutes each way, its nice, there are a lot of people, and beautiful green mountanous landscapes all around. the only hard part about walking is that there are a lot of really steep heels, at least in the next town over pereira it warns you that the heels are steep saying, go up at you own risk, here in manizales they are all high risk, lol. sometimes even cars can't go up these hills, and people are supposed to climb them everyday when walking to work!
A few weekend ago i met with some friends that i met and the colombian american center here in manizales and we went to this guy's farm outside of manizales. it was very nice we where there saturday and sunday. as always the landscape is beautiful! in this farm there were also lots of colorful flowers, a jacuzzi, and a pool. my friends brought this colombian drink called aguardiente, any party you go to colombians drink loads of it. aguardiente is the local drink of antioquia and caldas, the two regions of the eje cafetero, the coffee producing mountain region. this drink is acutally really nasty, it tates like mint cold medicine, but it wakes you up. so that what we did my friends make me colombia food, platanos, chorizos, chusos, rice, beans, arepas, empanadas, choclo, and more. we stayed up most of the night listening to music and tv in spanish, eating, drinking aguardiente and talking. everyone here is very open and welcoming. also one of the guys played the guitar so it was really nice he introduce me to colombian music such as salsa, salsa merenguera, merengue, bachata, and doble paso, the traditional colombian music.
The following weekend i went out with one of the teachers from the school called adiela. she introduced me to her family: her husband and her two children, sergio and diana. first i went with her and her children to eat lunch and a cafeteria close to her house, they call the local restruants here cafeteria. the typical colombian lunch consists of soup, a seco, the actual meal. i have chicken, rice, fried plantano, and salad. also lunch is accompanied by a fruit juice, such as, strawberry, guava, guayaba, lulu, blackberry, mango, orange, mandarine, and much much more! Later, I went with her to parque caldas, a comercial shopping center and she got her hair done there. this is a really big shopping center in the center of town, with the cheapest shops, there are four floors stacked with shops with everything from clothes, food, makeup, and household items. After this i went with adiela and her two children to have this drink called granizado de mango, its a mango icy that you add salt to, but surprisingly it was really delicious! lastly we went to the center of town carrera 23. carrera 23 is the street with the most shops in all of manizales. its a small brick road that almost no cars go through and on both sides there are many shops, or here they are called almancenes. these almancenes are usually individually owned by families and have names such as tienda de andres, or the store of a colombian person. others are chucheteria, panaderia, carneceria, for every item there is a different specialized store. mostly in latin american stores are seperated by needs, so to get the cheapest prices you have to go to the various different stores. its kind of fun, you get to see the culture through the stores. the people there will talk to you like any other family member and are very eager to please. At the carrera 23 we walked around a saw all the stores and she gave me tips of where to get the best prices and items. Colombians are very money concious, due to the rise of unemployement in the country right now. que mas, what else, adiela took me to eat dinner with her family. we ate fried chicken, normal, right? Colombians put on plastic gloves to eat friend chiken!! also they eat friend chicken with honey and arepas, which are corn tortillas. Wherever you travel there are very different local costumes. After dinner i walked with her family to a local artist fair. there she bought me a really cute bracelent with the colors of colombia, red, yellow, and blue, and coffee beans to symbolize the eje cafetero, the coffee growing region. Throughout the day i talked to her children, got to know her family, different colombian traditions, and as a mazileña, walked a lot! My goal is it to delve myself into Colombian culture. i wear bracelets with colombian colors, eat any colombian food that is served to me, no questions, and do as the colombians do. as the expression, go when in greece, do as the romans. As much as manizaleños are workaholics they also really value family time, so during the weekends, i get to spend each of my weekends with a different teacher`s family. muy rico, sweet. Next weekend i am spending saturday with pilar and sunday with emily, one of the teacher`s whom is my best ally here in the school.
Last weekend my uncle leon from Cali invited me to visit his farm, finca, in pereira. his girlfriend`s mom doña dora has a farm called camino al cielo, pathway to the skype. it is exactly what is indicated in the name. the path to get to the farm is very steep, the path is located literally almost as high as the sky. this is also considered a high risk path for cars, becuase many cars get stuck going up the hill and don`t make it. i had a wonderfull time getting to know my uncle leon, i am his third cousin. savta ruty is his first cousin, so becuase i am her granduaghter i am his third cousin. as we say in hebrew, mishpacha, it´s always nice to have family no matter when i go in the world. Doña dora is an amazing cook. for dinner we had chuzos, meat on a stick, planatos, fried bananas, rice and lolu juice. for breakfast we had arepas with cheese pineapple, juice, hot chocolate, and coffee. for the next day for lunch we had refried beans, banana chips with ehogado, a suace made of tomatoes onions and lots of spices, rice, and of course fruit juice. All the meals here are a big deals. Becuase colombians are really big on family they sit down for all the meals. lunch takes about two hours. all the working force in colombia get a two hour siesta, break for lunch from 12-2pm. Everyone goes out to a restruant or home for lunch to have the mandatory three courses. The farm was awesome i leon's girlfriend ester lucia, leon's cousin alex, his wife sophie, and their two children yohel and natan. I also saw many animals such as geese, two dogs, cows, and i got to ride a horse for the second time in my life! Most of the day i talked to the children, made bracelets and arts and crafts with them, leon taught me how to do sudoku, and ester taught me how to knit. The next day i went with leon to see his almancen, or store in peireira. he has one store is pereira and one in cali. the store is called La Victoria. in the store they sell materials for arts and crafts, button, woll, beading materials, and more. Leon gave me beads to make bracelets and wool to start knitting a scarf, which i will make for his girlfriend ester, who taught me to knit. Also i plan on meeting them in Bogota for semana santa, a vacation i have the first week of April, which happens to coincide with pesach! All it all it was a very relaxing weekend, a nice break from manizales, but i am glad to be back at work socializing with the teachers, and teaching the children.
Lastly last night i stayed over at another teacher`s house, her name is Pilar. She introduced me to her two children, andres who is 13 and laura who is 10. they are lovely children, really lovely, and friendly. i went to her house at 6pm and as is colombian culture we had a big family dinner. she served us friend plaitains also called tajos, a fried egg over rice, a piece of cake, panela water, (panela is a very sweet substance like brown sugar only produced in colombia. ), and un turron, a sweet. she also told me how she educated her children to save money. she gives her children candy to sell to thier neighbors, and the money they make they can use for thier spendings such as buying snacks at school. she also raises her children catholic, like most colombians. she says a prayer every night, and every morning, and they go to church twice a week to listen to lectures, and on sundays for service. it's actually quite humbling. she explained to me that her family including her are very real, and warm hearted people. that she said things as she sees them, then people should honor values such as love, honesty, respect, and be good citizens. This is part of what i like about south american culture, and as as colombian culture, that people are real, not fake, tell the truth upfront, warm hearted, and friendly. After dinner we went to Olimpica the local supermarket. Andres, her son, brought the dog there, but becuase dogs are not allowed in he hid the dog matthew under his shirt, lol, or course rules are rules, but that doesn't mean everyone obides by them, when it comes to colombian rules there is always room for more flexibility, lol. When we came home her son Andres showed me how he sings and plays the guitar, and also taught me how to dance, salsa, merengue, bachata, and paso doble. He also danced with his mom and sister and i took pictures. I passed the night super bien y muy rico, very good. it was a good thing i stayed with her, since for the next to weeks i have to report to the school at 6:45am!
Since there is still not English teacher in the primary school for the next two weeks i will be observing secondary school, which takes place in the morning. When the english teacher comes i will go back to the afternoon schedule, if not maybe i will continue in the mornings, who knows, things, politics, situations, are very relaxed here, colombians are very relaxed and in no hurry. This is how i look at the situation, wherever i am put, i will make the best of the situation, like a true colombian ;)
This is it for now, hasta pronto. con mucho cariño
Besos y abrazos,
Neta
