I have made it to the six month mark. It’s crazy to think
that I have been living in Colombia for 6 months. This is officially the
longest I have ever lived outside of the country. Like I’ve said before, time
here is so funny. Some days I feel like I have been here for my whole life.
Other days it seems like I was boarding the plane to Barranquilla just
yesterday. Six months (and some change) ago I was sipping daiquiris on Miami
Beach wondering what the next two years would be like. I was fresh out of college
and still very unsure of what the future had in store for me. I said goodbye to
my friends, family, and everything that I know with the hope that it would all
be worth it. I’ve changed a lot since that night in August. Some changes are
obvious while others are much harder to verbalize. To celebrate my six month PC
mark, I have decided to highlight 6 ways that I have changed/grown.
Spanish Level
One of the more selfish reasons for my desire to serve in
South America, was to gain Spanish fluency. To be bilingual in the US is an
extremely valuable skill, especially if you have Spanish as a second language.
I hoped that by living in Colombia for two years, I would be able to acquire
that Spanish level. After living here for six months I think that I have to
lower my expectations. I do not think I will be able to become fluent in
Spanish, but I am sure I can gain proficiency. In my PC group there are several
people who have studied ESL/EFL or studied language in some other form. They’ve
explained the difference between fluency and proficiency several times, but I’m
still not sure I quite understand it. I think they explained it like:
Fluency: To be able to speak a second language with equal
fluidity as you do your primary language.
Proficiency: To be able to speak a second language very
well. You are able to have day-to-day conversations in the second language. You
are able to speak in a second language at a pace that is considered normal for
conversations. However you are not as strong in the second language as you are
your first.
If you studied languages and I got these definitions wrong
please forgive me! I was a sociology and anthropology major in college, so I
don’t have too much experience in that field. Anyway after realizing this
difference I determined that I would more likely gain Spanish proficiency. I
remember arriving in Barranquilla and freaking out when I had to take my
initial Language Proficiency Interview (LPI). It was the interview that would
determine what level of Spanish we had, and therefore how much we had to learn.
For some reason I was overly confident in my Spanish skills (although I hadn’t
actually used my Spanish in regular conversation since my tenth grade service
trip to Oaxaca, Mexico). Then I took the LPI and realized how much I’d really forgotten.
The LPI is set up like this:
-
The interviewer begins with
basic Spanish questions to see how you respond
-
Judging from your response
the interviewer can determine if to ask harder or easier questions
-
During the discussion, the
interviewer is looking to see how complex the interviewee’s grammar and
vocabulary is
-
When the interviewer
believes that the interviewee has reached their Spanish capacity, the interview
is ended
I don’t remember exactly what was discussed in my initial
LPI. I do remember being asked to describe my room. I remembered that cama meant bed, but couldn’t describe
much more than that. I said something like “uh, I have a bed. My walls are
blue. I have a TV”…that’s it (lol). I probably only understood 30% of what
people told me, and I was completely overwhelmed all of the time. Thanks to
four hour daily Spanish classes my skills steadily increased. As of now I think
I’m gaining proficiency, but have not reached it yet. I understand about 90% of
what people say to me, and am usually able to respond quickly enough to keep up
a conversation.
Weird Spanglish-isms
That brings me to point two. Having two languages in my head
can get kind of weird. Sometimes I’ll catch myself using Spanish words as I’m
thinking to myself. It’ll be something like “It’s Saturday so no hay agua (there is no water) entonces (so) I’ll have to do laundry on
Sunday”. It’s really weird because I’m not trying to think in Spanish it just
happens. Same with conversations. If I’m conversing with a native Spanish
speaker in English, I’ll find myself slipping into Spanish. Usually the person
is speaking to me only in English because they want to practice. However I
always find myself reverting to Spanish then slipping back into English. It’s
completely involuntary and I find it kind of cool actually. I’ve even had a few
dreams where, only after waking up, do I realize were in half Spanish and half
English. Other times I’ll be watching a show (side note: my family has DirectTV
which allows you to change channels from Spanish to English) only to realize
several minutes later that it’s in Spanish. It’s like my brain doesn’t register
the language difference for a while. Sometimes (like now) I’ll be writing in
English and find myself typing certain words phonetically/using words that
sound like that word instead. For example if I mean to write: “I’ve been living
here in Colombia for six months”. I’ll write: “I’ve been living hear in
Colombia for six months”. It’s strange and sometimes I don’t catch the mistake
for a while. I have no idea if/how that’s related to learning a new language
(and just right then I almost typed realated instead of related). Basically I’m
finding it much easier to slip from one language to another which I guess is a
sign of language acquisition.
What I Eat
My diet has changed dramatically. Contrary to popular
belief, Colombian Costeño food is NOT like chipotle/every other “Mexican”
restaurant you’ve been to. Like most other PCVs around the world, I spend most
of my free time daydreaming about food I could be eating at home. I’ve traveled
a lot, but it’s only after being here for six months that I realized something
big. There are many places in the world with food cultures that are less
diverse than in the US. At home you can have food from a different culture every
day of the week. I can eat Thai pad Thai on Sunday, Korean BBQ on Monday,
Jamaican jerk chicken on Tuesday, and so on. Access to such a diverse supply of
food was something that I took for granted. Here on the coast people eat variations
of the same food every day. Some things are different. Sunday you may have
fried fish with arroz de coco (which is amazing btw), and Wednesday you may
have baked chicken with white rice. But it’s all basically the same thing. I really miss being able to eat completely
different foods whenever I feel like it. I don’t mind eating costeño food but
sometimes I just really want something new. Like my study abroad semester in
Rwanda, I have less access to processed foods. As a result I can’t eat half as
badly as here as I did in the US, even if I wanted to. Now my junk food binges
consist of eating a jar of peanut butter in a week (and paying and arm and a
leg for it at the supermarket) or drinking two 600 mL (which is small) in a
day. I’m living on the edge, I know lol. To my benefit this change in diet,
along with an increase in veggie/fruit/water consumption, has caused me to lose
around 30 lbs.
Tolerance of Small Children
Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not really a “kid
person”. There are some people in this world that are blessed with the
personality to tolerate kids for long periods of time. I have never been one of
those people. I like my space, I don’t like people touching me, and I am far
from a patient person. These are qualities that do not equate to being a kid
person. However after working in my school for 3 months my students have
started to grow on me. I work with sixth and seventh graders who are probably
the rowdiest kids in the school. But I honestly enjoy working with them, and
look forward to getting to know them all better. I get really excited when I’m
walking around the school or my community and a kid shouts “Amanda!”(or
whatever random English phrase they’ve memorized) while waving energetically. I
still wouldn’t call myself a kid person but I’m definitely getting there.
Admitting That I Don’t Know Something
I’m one of those people who hate admitting that they don’t
know something. This, coupled with my extreme confidence in things I do know, has caused people to call me
arrogant (which I think is absolutely hilarious. Would I be called arrogant if
I were a man? Or just confident?). It is almost impossible for me to be like
that here. With constant language miscommunications I’ve had to admit when I
don’t know what’s going on. When I first got here I would nod my head a lot and
say “si” (yes), even when I didn’t understand, with the hope that everything
would turn out ok. This was usually coupled with the blank stare that is a dead
giveaway that someone has no idea what you just said. Now I admit when I don’t
understand (no entiendo) or don’t know (no se). It has helped me learn because
people are always willing to rephrase what they said in another way.
Overall Tolerance of People
Anyone who knows me knows that I
do not like to be touched. I have never been a touchy person, and usually feel
uncomfortable around people who are. I am a reserved, introverted, only child.
This basically means that I really
like my own space, I don’t mind being
alone for long periods of time (I actually quite enjoy it), and I am extremely comfortable with silence. All
of these very ingrained aspects of my personality have been tested while living
here on the coast. I was fully aware before arriving in Barranquilla that costeño
culture was not what I was used to. Costeños are said to be loud, touchy, and
family oriented. When you walk into a room it is customary to do the hug/cheek
kiss greeting—even with strangers. As someone who does not like to be touched
it took a while to get over people invading my personal space. But now it’s
second nature—almost (lol). In addition many families here on the coast live
together forever. For example, I live with my host mom, her teenage son, her
adult daughter and husband, and their two kids. Usually parents build on to
their homes to help their extended family fit in. So, I live in the right
section of my house with my host mom and brother, while everyone else lives on
the left side.
The
thought of living with my family forever and ever makes me shudder. However
living here has made me used to constantly being around people—and not just
family either. The structure of the house makes it easy for people to come
walking through the back, or through the front door (I promise the home is very
secure though). Thankfully my lack of Spanish means that I’m not expected to do
much more than say hello and maybe give a cheek kiss. My family is also really
good about maintaining my privacy. If I am in my room with the door closed no
one comes knocking, or opening my door to talk to me. However I think they
assume I’m always sleeping if I’m in my room, which is kind of funny. Sometimes
I just want time to myself to read or relax. Whenever I come out they exclaim
“oh I thought you were sleeping!” Basically I’m more of a people person here in
Colombia. Shocking right?
I have
now completed exactly one fourth of my service, and have 21 more months to go
(not that I’m counting or anything lol). I look forward to what the rest of my
service has in store for me, and am hoping for the best.
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