After 48 hours in P--- (And a Plug for Avianca)

First of all, I need to thank all of you who have been reading my blog. I really appreciate you. It's comforting to know that people are investing their time into reading this because it helps me feel more connected to the outside world. Also, I really enjoy sharing my experiences because I think that people still tend to have some misconceptions about Colombia (and don't we have those about anywhere?) and I want to change both my own misconceptions and hopefully others as well.

The other topic I absolutely must address is Avianca Airlines. Avianca is Colombia's largest air carrier, and it is phenomenal. I mean it. Honestly, I was really worried about flying with them before we got on the plane (there are those misconceptions again!). I expected something sort of like a (really) ghetto version of RyanAir, or maybe a really old plane that was dirty and gross. Let me just say, I think Avianca on its own is enough to change misconceptions of Colombia. The plane was literally the nicest plane I have ever ridden. It was new, the seats were extremely comfortable (and a big bigger than usual), every seat had it's own touch-screen TV, the food was fantastic (there were even artichokes in the salad!), and the flight attendants were incredibly kind. The movies/television shows/documentaries/music available for in-flight entertainment were up-to-date and well-chosen. (They had Slumdog Millionaire, a documentary about food, Milk, that Benjamin Button movie, and a number of other Oscar nominees.) They played a game with the entire plane where 1 person one a free trip, and everything was incredibly pleasant. Also, the flight attendants spoke English and were very helpful. Overall, the flight was the best I've ever taken. I can't believe they offered so many nice amenities just for a four hour flight.

Okay, I'm done advertising. (But seriously, if you ever have the chance, take an Avianca flight!

Today was fun. It was slow, as was yesterday, but I'm very grateful for that. We're only here for 6 weeks, so I don't want it to go by too quickly. We spent most of the day preparing for the screening tests we will be administering. We start screening the kindergarten tomorrow, so that should be interesting.I think one of the best parts of our day was riding the school bus. It took us home yesterday, but today it picked us up too! We got to ride with all the little kids, and they are absolutely the cutest kids I have ever seen. All the students at LPV have begun to warm up to us, and we've begun to have extended conversations with many of them. Justin is Warren's favorite. He sat with us at lunch and near us on the bus today. The child talks more than any kid I know, but he is really sweet. He sang me a song today when we were riding home, and HE MADE US CARDS! They are cards welcoming us and telling us that he is glad we are his friends. We've also been invited to Ricky's house on Saturday. Ricky, was one of our students at Camp Bear International last summer, but he was a handful then. Now, he is very mature and polite, and he sat with us at lunch and talked for a long time. He's grown up a lot since we last saw him.The other fun parts of the day:

1. Spanish/English lessons with Gabriel, the bio-chemistry teacher at LPV. We learned a lot of words, few of which I remember, but he's a lot of fun to talk to, and he really wants to learn English.

2. Spanish/English lessons with D-ita!!! We walked around the entire apartment, and she would point to things and say the word in Spanish, and then we would teach her the English word. I'm definitely learning the most Spanish by speaking with D-ita. She's very patient with me, and she is easy to comprehend. Even if I don't always know what the words mean, I usually know what she wants to tell me.

3. Going to the bank! Believe it or not, we managed to go over 48 hours without having a single Colombian peso. That's how nice everyone in Colombia is! We just never needed any money. We really want to go to the grocery store, though, but to get there we have to take a taxi, and to take a taxi we needed cash. Andrea was kind enough to pick us up and take us to a bank. She dropped us off downtown, and we walked around a bit, but we want to go back tomorrow and explore during the day. We had to take a taxi back to our apartment... guess how much it was?! 3,175 pesos, which is roughly $1.75, $2.00 with tip. It wasn't a short trip either, it was definitely over a mile!