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Only Asian person here so far!
Wow! In the month I’ve been here, I haven’t seen a single asian person! We even went to a chinese restaurant, and there wasn’t any there either! This is just a fun fact, because a lot of colombians would point it out or stare at me in awe. I’m special here!
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Adults don’t usually wear shorts.
Apparently, shorts are reserved for the youth. Once you’re an adult, you are to dress properly! And dressing properly means wearing pants instead of shorts. I’ve only brought 2 pants on this race.. And I already ripped a hole in one right where my crotch is (thank you to Mama Christina for sewing it back up!). I might need to buy more. Haha!
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They like their fireworks.
Quite often, we hear loud bangs! Sometimes sporadic, sometimes a few in a row. We’ve debated if they were fireworks or gunshots. I think we’d like to think they are fireworks!
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There are no bus stops in the rural area.
If you want to get a bus in the rural area, stand on the side of the road and wave one down! If you want to get off, just tell the bus driver and he’ll pull over! Sometimes they don’t even fully stop. If you’re a young and healthy lad, they just barely slow down and you jump off. Intense!
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People rope up trucks and ride uphill on their bikes.
So this is illegal, but it doesn’t stop some people from doing it. Since we are staying in a rural mountainous area of Medellin, we see people attaching ropes to the back of big trucks, and riding up hill on their bicycles. This, of course, is very dangerous! But it happens!
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Spiritual Warfare is real!
I’ll need to write a whole blog on this one. This is something that surprised me big time. Back in Canada, I haven’t experienced this much spiritual warfare than here doing mission. Its probably because we are bringing God’s kingdom and love in this community that the enemy is really pushing back hard. I’ve seen and experienced things that I haven’t before.
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Not many vegetables in meals in Colombia
When we are offered meals from families and our ministry host, we’ve noticed that their meals are mainly comprised of bread (arepas) and meats, with the occasional plantains. I think you’d have a hard time finding a salad in the rural areas of Medellin. You can follow my instagram at http://instagram.com/worldraceeats for our food!
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Sim cards are cheap, minutes are cheaper!
This is so cool! So it cost about $2 USD for a sim card, and then another $2 USD for some minutes and texting. (We actually don’t know the exact numbers, but its been enough for us so far!)
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It is not disrespectful to call you by your ethnicity or size.
So many times, kids and people would call me Chino! Which means “Chinese”. They would also pull their eyes outwards to make the squinty eyes. You have to know that this isn’t disrespectful in this culture. They have no intent of being racist. Also, if you’re a plus size person, they would just call you ‘Big Girl’ or ‘Fat Boy’. It’s also not out of disrespect, its more of a matter of fact in their culture.
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Toilet paper doesn’t go into the toilet.
As like many other countries, the toilet systems aren’t set up the same way as it is in North America, and it may not support toilet paper in the toilet. So usually there is a garbage can beside the toilet where you would throw your toilet paper way in.
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You have to finish your entire meal, no leftovers!
Its pretty disrespectful if you don’t finish your entire meal. So we try our best to finish everything! If someone can’t finish, we pass it off to someone who can eat more. This is sometimes difficult, beecause they give us quite a lot of food!
