Taxis make me happy.

The slightly cool mountain breeze zips through the open windows and tousles my hair. We zoom past mountains and palm trees into the center of town, where men juggle in front of the windshield and women yell about how sweet the grapes they are selling are. We get stalled by a traffic jam and Warren mutters under his breath. The driver makes some sharp turns and honks and yells at the traffic, and suddenly we are free. Flowing with adrenaline after the recent jam, he drives faster and faster as we zip around curves and up and down hills, at least until we almost hit a motorcycle. Then he slows down, mutters something under his breath, and deposits us at our building. It's exhilarating.

There's something so fundamentally cosmopolitan about taking a taxi that it makes me feel like I'm living Sex and the City all the time. You see, I grew up in the suburbs and went to college in what could barely be called a city, but half the television shows anyone watches are set in NYC (of course!), and taxis just seem so New York, and New York just seems so cosmopolitan, city-girl cool that I just can't help but love them.

My first real taxi ride was probably the day I landed in Denmark. Taking taxis in Europe was something I did after a night on the town when the bus stopped running or when I was traveling. I have very good memories of taking a taxi in Prague and Italy on my first backpacking trips in Europe. I also have very fond memories of a very pricey taxi ride that my family took from Florence to the Cinque Terre because of a train strike. (Thanks again, Mom. I hope you still think those hundreds of Euros were worth it!) The point is, taxis for me have always been a bit of a luxury and almost glamorous.

In Colombia, taxis are a standard form of transportation. Of course there are buses, and lots of them, and really I should just suck it up and take the bus... but taxis here are very cheap, and I can't help it--I just love them.

The standard rate for a taxi in Pereira starts at 3,700 pesos. That's roughly $1.75. We rarely go over that because we normally don't take taxis very far, but I don't think I've ever paid more than 15,000 pesos for a taxi anywhere in Colombia. The rate goes up at night and on Sundays, holidays, and for trips to places like the airport. However, it's still just dang cheap. It's cheaper than taking the MetroLink in St. Louis--especially because you can get 3 people in 1 taxi!

Some of my favorite experiences have been in taxis, too. The taxi drivers tend to be friendly, and if we ever take a ride with one we've had before, he gets really excited. (I'm not trying to be sexist, I've just never seen a female taxi driver here.) I've had a few real conversations with them and so has Warren. One of my favorite drivers of all time heard us speaking English and put in a CD of old '80s and '90s American music once. He barely said a thing, but we appreciated his gesture a lot. At the end of our ride, he said thank you and gave us his card. It just makes me feel like someone actually wants us to be in Colombia. In fact--a few of them have asked how long we've been here, and they always say "Welcome to Colombia" when we tell them.

Although some of the little yellow cars are super old and falling apart, a lot of them are fairly new. My favorite ones have these cool blue lights in the back and good music. It's just plain fun. Just ask Elaine Benes or Carrie Bradshaw. Those ladies know what a good taxi ride is all about.

The doctor thinks I speak great Spanish.

Above: Doctor's orders!

So, it looks like the dangers of Colombia might have caught up with us after all. Last summer, it was the attack of traveler's diarrhea, but this year? DENGUE!

Dengue is a lovely virus that is spread by mosquitoes, those ubiquitous little bundles of joy. As I mentioned a few posts ago, dengue is currently making it's way through our area. The mosquitoes carrying dengue breed in stagnant water... or, as we recently discovered, on wet shower floors or toilet tanks. Yeah... we've got some lovely dengue-carrying mosquitoes right in our own apartment! Basically, they're more fun than our other house guests, the Cockroach family, that took up residence here before we moved in.

The virus itself is super fun. There are two main strains of it: one that is like the flu + diarrhea (dengue classico) and another one that causes a rash and hemorrhages. Sounds like a party, si?

My first dengue-inflicted student caught it last weekend. Warren had a student absent with dengue this week, too.

The real fun, though, started today. Warren complained all day about feeling sore and having a headache. He also enjoyed symptoms similar to the ones that put me in Urgent Care last summer... and this afternoon, after sleeping for two solid hours, he woke up with a fever of 100 degrees F. That's when I stepped in.

After making some phone calls, I scheduled a visit from SER. SER is this AWESOME emergency medical service that people with money use in Colombia. Basically, a doctor and a nurse come to your house and treat you. (That's right: in Colombia, the doctors make house calls.) Within an hour, a lovely doctor and her nurse were taking Warren's temperature and checking his arms for spots. Unfortunately, they diagnosed him with a possible case of dengue. They are coming back tomorrow morning to give him a blood test to be sure. Even if he doesn't have it, he isn't going to be teaching tomorrow. The doctor demanded that he rest for at least 5 days. She also prescribed Tylenol (Dolex, in Colombia) and Pedialyte. Another awesome Colombian service: pharmacies deliver. The lovely doctor even called the pharmacy for us.

The upside to all of this? I used a lot of Spanish tonight, and the doctor eventually started talking to ME in Spanish instead of Warren because she thought I understood and spoke more than he did!! (Happy dance!)

The downside: Well, obviously it will stink if Warren actually has dengue, especially since this is a three-day weekend... but the real downside for me is that I have to sub for him tomorrow. While teaching my own classes. Yep... I get to teach 37 fourth and fifth graders tomorrow. How do you say "chaos" in Spanish?

Learning Spanish

I took 3 years of French in high school and 2 years of French in college. Before arriving last summer I knew how to count to 10 in Spanish (thanks, Wolf Branch Kindergarten) and how to ask "Where is the bathroom?". Oh--and I knew "hola" and "gracias". That was all. I could speak more Danish than Spanish, and that's a pretty rare occurrence.

After six weeks, I had absorbed a lot of language (mostly food related--being a vegan in a country like this requires some fairly advanced language skills), but I certainly wasn't having conversations in Spanish. After accepting a job here that started in January, there was only one practical option...

I had to learn Spanish. Quickly.

Last fall I enrolled in a class at the community college in Springfield. Spanish 101. Not exactly a "learn-quick" method, but I did have an excellent teacher. Although my Spanish wasn't advanced by the end of the semester, the class was certainly helpful. I learned to count beyond 10 (I can get all the way to 100 now!) and I learned a lot of the basics. More importantly, taking that course helped me retain the Spanish I had absorbed and begin using it. A little.

As a language teacher, I am totally aware that the best way to learn a language is to be immersed in it. I've learned enough about language acquisition to recognize certain stages, too. For example, by the end of last summer I could recognize the beginnings and ends of words and phrases (thank goodness Spanish is so rhythmic), and I could even recognize a few individual words on occasion. When we came back, it took me a few weeks to get comfortable with Spanish again, but my comprehension quickly improved. By the end of January, I was repeating chunks of language. Now, I'm putting together my own sentences (with the worst grammar in the world!) and having short conversations.

The director of primary (my boss) doesn't speak very much English, and while I was very frustrated at the beginning of the year, I'm incredibly grateful now. I am literally forced to speak in Spanish to her because otherwise I would be unable to communicate with my boss. She is patient with me and helps me out with verb tenses as I speak, but I am the one speaking Spanish. It is very empowering.

I'm also having short conversations with other people... last week I ordered 18 pastries to be picked up the next day at the local bakery, I got a pedicure and explained I wanted French tips all by myself, I talked to the taxi drivers without Warren's help at least twice, and I asked a salesman if he had Sex and the City, 30 Rock, or The Simpsons on DVD.

I mentioned it before, but on Friday we had a few people over, and I spoke in Spanish about 60% of the time. Of course, I've demonstrated my advanced Spanish skills many times after a glass or two of wine. Stellita, my favorite Spanish teacher in Colombia (and the principal of LPV) encourages the habit because she notices drastic improvement in my Spanish when I've had a little to drink. I think it helps that she is also drinking... but there was a study in the '60s that demonstrated people do speak foreign languages better after one drink. Less inhibited and all that. Go figure.

Oh--I forget this: I can write in Spanish, too. I've been planning our upcoming trip to Ecuador, and I force myself to write emails to the various hotels and tour companies in Spanish.

Anyway, speaking and writing in Spanish is a little bit thrilling for me. I get a little happy adrenaline rush when I speak in Spanish, and when I've had a successful conversation it really boosts my confidence in my abilities. I'm grateful I get to learn the language here naturally, and not just in a classroom. It has helped me learn how to teach my own students, and I've also learned to really embrace the immersion methods we use here.

My goal is to be able to speak to the parents of my students at the end of the year without a translator. I'll let you know how it goes. Maybe I'll even blog about it in Spanish.

p.s. So, I just tried to ask for my snack in the cafeteria (yeah, we get a free snack every day), and the lady refused to understand me even though I was asking for an arepa, which is like the national food of Colombia. I asked three times and she finally asked if I wanted pan (bread), and then handed me an arepa. Apparently, I'm not as good as I think I am. : )

Sometimes, life is just so good in Colombia.

Picture: A tree in my neighborhood. In January.

So, I've been living in Colombia for over 9 weeks. Combined with my previous 6 week trip last summer, I'm certainly no local, but I do feel like I'm adapting and settling in well. I have an address and just received my water bill; I can happily say that I am a permanent resident. I just received my fourth paycheck, in fact. It's fun making those millions... of pesos.

The past few days have been lazy, lovely days. The weather has been perfect--night-time thunderstorms, cool mornings, warm afternoons. Blue, gorgeous skies. Palm trees. Flowers blooming. Birds singing. Never a drop of humidity, and always a nice breeze.

On Wednesday, Warren and I went shopping and did a very American thing: we bought a grill and garden plants. We then invited our fellow primary teachers over for a little BBQ and some sangria. Friday evening was spent pleasantly speaking in Spanglish with our boss and some co-workers, and we actually managed to light a charcoal grill without lighter fluid. I must point out, however, that we did all this at the beginning of March. It was somewhere around 85 F outside. Like I said, perfect weather.

Yesterday, we got into a taxi with a driver we'd had a few times before. He was cheerful and talkative, and Warren dove into a conversation about the election with him. As we zoomed passed palm trees and horse-pulled carts loaded with fruit into downtown, I couldn't help but smile.

For all its faults, for all the misery of the past and the poverty of the present, Colombia still brings me so much joy. Even at work, the skies are still blue, the hibiscus grow tall and bright, and one smile from a student somehow makes all the frustration disappear.

I've lived in one other country besides the States: Denmark. I lived there during the fall of 2006, while I was studying abroad. Just as I do here, I lived in a small city, not Copenhagen or even Aarhus. While it might sound odd, in SO many ways the culture of Colombia and the culture of Denmark are very similar. I've tried over and over to explain the similarities, but aside from the obvious ones (modern architecture and decor, environmental concerns, long bus rides), I've never exactly been able to figure out how they compare. The only thing I can come up with is this: In both countries, the people love to have long and delicious conversations with friends over a drink or ten. In Denmark, it's called "hygge". We don't have a word for it in English, but it roughly translates to having a cozy, familiar, relaxed time. In Denmark, this equals good drinks, soft lighting, maybe some music, and definitely excellent conversation... for hours. In Colombia, the participants don't even have to speak the same language, they just have to try to make themselves understood. (I excel at this, by the way... especially after a glass of wine.)

I think this is something that is sorely lacking in American culture. Americans need constant entertainment. We can't even sit five minutes in a restaurant after we've finished our food. No food, no entertainment. Our parties usually center around something: a holiday, costumes, themes, or even sports. It is rare for a small group of friends to get together and just... be. We have to play a game or watch a movie or eat chocolate chip cookies. The Danes and Colombians just sit together and talk. Happily.

Oh yeah, did I mention that Denmark and Colombia consistently rank as two of the happiest countries in the world? Another article...

The U.S. never makes the top ten. Perhaps Americans could learn something from those Viking descendants and the citizens of "the most dangerous country in the world". Something about enjoying each other and relaxing. Something about learning how to stop for a few hours and just be... cozy, together.

Or maybe that's too boring. Perhaps we should just play simulated tennis on a Nintendo Wii.

p.s. I just thought of something else Denmark and Colombia share: both countries have a national liquor that is anise-flavored (like black licorice), akvavit and aguardiente. Hmmm...