This blog post is a collaboration between my teammates & I. We wanted to share some of the silly & some of the hard. The following are 48 things we learned in the first 48 hours {approx} on the field:
1. Papa’s plans are better than our plans {getting to Colombia was intimidating but the Lord brought us hear safely}
2. we are continually perplexed but never discouraged {2 Corinthians 4:8}
3. laughter is the same in any language
4. helpful Spanish phrases: ¿Cómo puedo ayudar? {how can I help you?}, ¿Este bus tiene wifi? {does the bus have wifi?} , etc.
5. the toilets in the Medellin’ airport are surprisingly clean. {poor court!}
6. don’t throw away your customs paper before actually going through customs!
7. hot water = luxury; in fact most of my life has been marked by luxury.
8. language barriers can be broken by games, dancing & working out {aka boot camp, see below}
9. free bathrooms are too good to be true. if you don’t pay you can get locked inside {the security guard at the airport said the following phrase into his walkie talkie: “another white woman got locked in the bathroom”}
10. avocados are the size of a small child.
11. the hills in Bogota are steeper than the ones in San Francisco.
12. katie struggles with math {our treasurer}
13. you aren’t allowed to sit on the floor at the Bogota bus stop. or anywhere in public, really.
14. we’re slightly concerned that Bre might have narcolepsy {she falls asleep within a minute of closing her eyes!!!}
15. using the squatty-potty on a bus requires quads of steel.
16. “i’ll be back in 30 minutes” = approximately an hour and a half
17. hearing our team talk to one another retainers are in requires a translator.
18. how much Lucy and Ricardo love the kids here at Formavida. Over the weekend Lucy & Ricardo hosted over 40 kids in their church & home. The last night, after they had shared the love of Jesus with each of them, we spent the majority of the afternoon & evening preparing “a special meal for some special kids.” Lucy & Ricardo deeply desire for these kids to know how deeply loved they are by the teachers here & ultimately by their heavenly father. Formavida serves as a home away from home & a healthy & safe environment for these kids whose actual homes may not be safe or loving. It is beautiful to be part of it.
19. English has many similar sounding words that have very different meanings: beer & bear; mustache & mushroom; thirty & thursday.
20. Embarazada DOES NOT mean embarrassed {turns out it means pregnant!}
21. five gals and ten backpacks do fit into one small taxi.
22. Courtney should’ve totally packed the larger tub of peanut butter. {she brought a two pound tub with her!}
23. you don’t flush the toilet paper in many places except for the states {oops!}
24. I have a serious coffee addiction {my team learned this, but you already knew it! our hosts are incredibly kind & make us coffee daily. the first three days, however, we had decaf & didn’t know it because my Spanish is not that great yet haha}
25. sunsets around the world still reflect our Heavenly Father’s creativity & beauty.
26. 6 overflowing grocery carts = 3 months of food
27. Hillsong Young & Free is universal worship music.
28. when the locals laugh at your broken Spanish you know you’re in.
29. there are albino cockroaches.
30. recipe for a “hot” shower: shower in 15 seconds.
31. should’ve packed more warm clothes.
32. how great thieves essential oil works {my cold came & went away in literally 24 hours}.
33. bus rides through the mountains are terrifying and beautiful!
34. when the teachers invite you to exercise with them, you better expect boot camp.
35. how to get very creative when hang-drying 5 teammates worth of laundry.
36. laughing keeps you from crying.
37. Colombian uno {aka spicy uno!}
38. how to braid multiple heads muy rapido!
39. there’s no such thing as a 9 to 5.
40. if you look “local,” you will get charged less for a taxi ride
41. you can use your teammate as a mirror in a pinch
42. Spanish worship songs & matching dances with the sweetest Colombian kiddos
43. how to construct & organize a muddy obstacle course with limited materials.
44. the formal greeting for friends & loved one involves kissing cheeks.
45. how to sweep & mop & sweep & mop…
46. how to host a weekend slumber party with 40-ish kids.
47. bunk beds held together by planks will collapse underneath you {sorry Court!}
48. how blessed we are to get to do this for the next 11 months!
love,
maddie
