Things I miss in Colombia: Seasons!
One of the strangest parts about living on the Caribbean coast, so close to the equator, is not having seasons. The chief issue here, for a former maple-everything lover, is missing fall. I love...everything about fall. The drawback of course, is the winter that follows, since extreme cold is only sometimes my thing (snow fights and ski hills and snow-plastered forests = awesome, icy streets and missing fruit short days and having to dig out cars = ...not awesome)
Some of the most fun classroom discussions I have with my students is about seasons. Imagine never experiencing a time when something isn't growing. Imagine never experiencing trees without leaves. Or shortening and lengthening days. Or extreme weather differences. I hear that might be a thing on the US west coast, at least in terms of the food...but since I'm from Wisconsin, I plead ignorance.
My students and I sometimes do seasonal food mapping, and they teach me about the times of different fruits, like mango time, June-July, when trees drop almost a hundred fruit a day (Friendly PCV Jessica is lucky enough to have one in her yard, so I've witnessed this. Mangos EVERYWHERE!). Then there are the times of guanabana, guayaba, ciduela and more, when these fruits become, for a time, crazy-ubiquitous. We're not talking just local farms dropping these fruits, but trees on every street corner of the city. (Of course, the street vendors mostly score them in the early morning hours and sell them back to city dwellers, sometimes pre-chopped, for the rest of the day...)
I'm lucky enough to have scored a lime tree at my house--these trees have fruit all year long(!) The limes here are about the size of a ping pong ball or smaller. Nothing like squeezing 10 or so to spice up black beans or roasted garlic hummus...oh wait, that goes on a different blog. Anyway. The point is, the idea of times of a year where there is NO growth, not just different growth, is completely foreign. One of these days I'll bring in Laura Ingalls Wilder excerpts to the classroom. Nothing like The Long Winter to drive that point home...Digressing again. But boy did I love those books growing up/still do...
And of course, my students and I talk about snow.
Things I don't miss: having limbs so cold they turn white, jumping up and down in pain when blood returns to fingers, snot freezing on my nostrils just walking outside...sometimes, when I'm sweating gallons of salty liquid doing nothing more than sitting at our kitchen table, I think to capture the moment, to save it up for times when I'm miserable from cold and will want to think back to such "glorious" warmth. Grass is always greener, I taunt myself. It gets me through the days and nights, imagining that one day I may be nostalgic for it. Hah.
Anyway, this may or may not have all been a lead up to put my most recent GoGirl post up. Six months of writing with them, woot!
Also, Monday = Vacation time in the cooler interior, double woot!!! Updates on that in a few weeks.
On loving fall: http://www.travelgogirl.com/2012/09/20/missing-seasons/
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Thursday, September 13, 2012
11 months
Not that I'm counting, but tonight is my 11 month anniversary in Colombia. Whatever that count is worth--since although we arrived in Colombia last October, we didn't arrive at our sites until January, and with Carnival, it felt like we didn't get started with real work until March. Lots of benchmarks, different realities, different situations, and whatever else to stop those 11 months from feeling like a terribly solid sort of count, in some ways. Heh.
11 months since leaving the US.
There's a solid thing to measure by, at the least.
That said, time has flown by in the last few weeks. Sometimes I'm not really sure if what I did in the morning was actually what I did last week. Or vice versa. Needless to say, I haven't been hanging my memories up on any sorts of hooks or anything. Honestly, I sort of forgot I had a blog. Oops.
One big thing that happened a few weeks ago was our first group of new trainees came--30 people starting the journey here that my cohort began almost a year ago, now. Which makes my group, the first of the 2-year volunteers to come to Colombia since 30 years prior, technically the veterans. How little I know, and yet how much more than when I started! Crazy to remember how I viewed the people I met my first weeks in Colombia, and realizing I'm a part of that for these new folks. Cringing a little at what they must be thinking...first impressions and all that...haven't had to deal with that in a long time! Whatever else, I live life here about as unfiltered in every way as I've ever been. You want to know what I'm thinking? I'll probably tell you, no questions asked :)
Last year at this time, I was heading off to Austin City Limits music festival to enjoy a last (North) American adventure before quitting my job and heading south. I'll spare the reminisces...Just got lost in my head for a bit there..
Hah. But here's the thing-I promised myself that I'd take this time as a true, integrated part of my life. That I wouldn't consider it an outside detour or taking time "out" but I'm not sure I've kept to that promise, for so many reasons. For example: I've realized that I'm often not a terribly nice person when I'm living in super hot weather as a volunteer in a strange land. At least in my head. Also around others.
I'd like to think I'm a "good" person. Doesn't everyone? I guess I could be a not-good person doing worse things with my life, but that doesn't actually make it better that I catch myself feeling resentful/petty/frustrated/negative here much more often than I'm comfortable with. And of course, since I don't want to think of this as a character trait, I'd like to think that's a conditional thing. Except turns out that life catches up, anyway. Things I thought were or could be just "me-in-Colombia," 11 months later, I'm coming to terms with the fact they may actually be just "me." On the visible side, this Emily sweats a lot, is less conscientious about diet, gets surprised looks when wearing jeans INSTEAD of a skirt, is not at all phased by detailed discussions on bowel movements, has a consistent, stationary group of wonderful friends seen sometimes too often and sometimes not enough, and is bad at answering emails. (Okay, that last is maybe not new...) And that hasn't even touched the crazy!
But that's not really the point. I digress. Bubbles, a friend here tells me, are the way in which I tend to tell stories. Nothing stepwise. This is apparently confusing and somewhat ineffective. Sorry! But... I'll continue forgoing organization, for a minute, or a lifetime, to just say that in so many ways, a year ago seems just a small step backward.
Theory: Most of my life here isn't building on an accumulation of other things; I'm a teacher (new), I'm living with a host family like a child (new), where I went to college doesn't mean a thing, and slightly related, I have no plans to be anywhere in the next year except here, doing basically the same thing I do now (hopefully better at it, personally, but job position/salary/etc are sure not changing). By leaving the US, I hopped right out of "normal" expectations onto a happily random tangent. This makes it hard to think of a year ago as anything but a hairsbreadth behind me, and deceptively easy to slip back into, if I so choose; I have to consistently remind myself not only will I not be returning to that life, I wanted nothing more than a complete change, when I left it.
Meanwhile, those I left behind in my old life are in a place I couldn't return to if I wanted to, not the least of that based on the fact they've spent the last year adding to other experience that probably proceeded it in a stepwise fashion. This seems potentially more sustainable, in life.
Not that this, my experience, can't be stepwise as well! Maybe not quite so obviously? Or maybe it will be, depending on what I do with my life. (someday I'll stop wondering that and actually get on with it...) And who cares about sustainability, anyway...at least in terms of settling down with a white picket fence. Then again, there are lots of potential variations on that white picket fence, fortunately, I have to believe. Haven't even approached it yet, so this is just supposition.
Either way, These two + years down here (11 of the 25 months now complete) are officially a part of my mid-twenties, and I don't get those back. There's a pretty delineated before and after in the sense of arriving in Colombia, but less so in terms of who I'm becoming, down here--and whether my Colombian-born character traits will really fall away when I go back to the States or wherever comes next...and if I live here with the assumption that some of my lifestyle choices are temporary things, then why would I live with them at all? These 2+ years aren't just a static measure of time, turns out, but a dynamic span, and SHOULD affect who I am; the rest of my forever.
Oops, that was more reflection than planned. I think I'll leave it as is anyway? Moving on.
In two weeks a US friend is coming to visit me, and we're going to the interior and I will be escaping the daily 117 real-feels that threaten to melt my corporeal and spiritual being into a puddle of Colombian-Corn-Fed muck, and if the trip is only half as wonderful as I'm imagining it will be, I might just spontaneously combust with happiness (mountains, under 80 degree weather, scarves, nature, a good friend...you know, the whole these-are-a-few-of-my-favorite-things-the-hills-are-alive-style rigamarole) ... how amazing it is, to live in a crazy gorgeous country..Caribbean coast, a couple sets of mountains, lakes, hot springs, valleys...Yeah.
Okay, that's all I got.
Well, one more thing: I started a food blog. Figured it was time. I'll be migrating things over there, updating. This blog shows it on the right; the link turns bold when I update. You can follow there as well--the plan is to have recipes from the Colombianified kitchen, kitchen stories and an excuse for total food-related self-indulgence on my part. Can I just repeat, one more time, that cooking keeps me sane? I've been stocking up on my own supplies, finally, and there's nothing better than a cast aluminum pot and a growing pile of spices under my bed to chase away the monsters.
Disclaimer--this is very much a beginning effort AND work in progress--
www.elbowfood.wordpress.com https://elbowfood.wordpress.com/
I'm planning on a much more tangible one year update/fun travel updates. Wasn't planning to do a thinker-style post tonight but here you have it...so I'll leave you with these half-baked thoughts for now. Missing lots of you, to be sure.
11 months since leaving the US.
There's a solid thing to measure by, at the least.
That said, time has flown by in the last few weeks. Sometimes I'm not really sure if what I did in the morning was actually what I did last week. Or vice versa. Needless to say, I haven't been hanging my memories up on any sorts of hooks or anything. Honestly, I sort of forgot I had a blog. Oops.
One big thing that happened a few weeks ago was our first group of new trainees came--30 people starting the journey here that my cohort began almost a year ago, now. Which makes my group, the first of the 2-year volunteers to come to Colombia since 30 years prior, technically the veterans. How little I know, and yet how much more than when I started! Crazy to remember how I viewed the people I met my first weeks in Colombia, and realizing I'm a part of that for these new folks. Cringing a little at what they must be thinking...first impressions and all that...haven't had to deal with that in a long time! Whatever else, I live life here about as unfiltered in every way as I've ever been. You want to know what I'm thinking? I'll probably tell you, no questions asked :)
Last year at this time, I was heading off to Austin City Limits music festival to enjoy a last (North) American adventure before quitting my job and heading south. I'll spare the reminisces...Just got lost in my head for a bit there..
Hah. But here's the thing-I promised myself that I'd take this time as a true, integrated part of my life. That I wouldn't consider it an outside detour or taking time "out" but I'm not sure I've kept to that promise, for so many reasons. For example: I've realized that I'm often not a terribly nice person when I'm living in super hot weather as a volunteer in a strange land. At least in my head. Also around others.
I'd like to think I'm a "good" person. Doesn't everyone? I guess I could be a not-good person doing worse things with my life, but that doesn't actually make it better that I catch myself feeling resentful/petty/frustrated/negative here much more often than I'm comfortable with. And of course, since I don't want to think of this as a character trait, I'd like to think that's a conditional thing. Except turns out that life catches up, anyway. Things I thought were or could be just "me-in-Colombia," 11 months later, I'm coming to terms with the fact they may actually be just "me." On the visible side, this Emily sweats a lot, is less conscientious about diet, gets surprised looks when wearing jeans INSTEAD of a skirt, is not at all phased by detailed discussions on bowel movements, has a consistent, stationary group of wonderful friends seen sometimes too often and sometimes not enough, and is bad at answering emails. (Okay, that last is maybe not new...) And that hasn't even touched the crazy!
But that's not really the point. I digress. Bubbles, a friend here tells me, are the way in which I tend to tell stories. Nothing stepwise. This is apparently confusing and somewhat ineffective. Sorry! But... I'll continue forgoing organization, for a minute, or a lifetime, to just say that in so many ways, a year ago seems just a small step backward.
Theory: Most of my life here isn't building on an accumulation of other things; I'm a teacher (new), I'm living with a host family like a child (new), where I went to college doesn't mean a thing, and slightly related, I have no plans to be anywhere in the next year except here, doing basically the same thing I do now (hopefully better at it, personally, but job position/salary/etc are sure not changing). By leaving the US, I hopped right out of "normal" expectations onto a happily random tangent. This makes it hard to think of a year ago as anything but a hairsbreadth behind me, and deceptively easy to slip back into, if I so choose; I have to consistently remind myself not only will I not be returning to that life, I wanted nothing more than a complete change, when I left it.
Meanwhile, those I left behind in my old life are in a place I couldn't return to if I wanted to, not the least of that based on the fact they've spent the last year adding to other experience that probably proceeded it in a stepwise fashion. This seems potentially more sustainable, in life.
Not that this, my experience, can't be stepwise as well! Maybe not quite so obviously? Or maybe it will be, depending on what I do with my life. (someday I'll stop wondering that and actually get on with it...) And who cares about sustainability, anyway...at least in terms of settling down with a white picket fence. Then again, there are lots of potential variations on that white picket fence, fortunately, I have to believe. Haven't even approached it yet, so this is just supposition.
Either way, These two + years down here (11 of the 25 months now complete) are officially a part of my mid-twenties, and I don't get those back. There's a pretty delineated before and after in the sense of arriving in Colombia, but less so in terms of who I'm becoming, down here--and whether my Colombian-born character traits will really fall away when I go back to the States or wherever comes next...and if I live here with the assumption that some of my lifestyle choices are temporary things, then why would I live with them at all? These 2+ years aren't just a static measure of time, turns out, but a dynamic span, and SHOULD affect who I am; the rest of my forever.
Oops, that was more reflection than planned. I think I'll leave it as is anyway? Moving on.
In two weeks a US friend is coming to visit me, and we're going to the interior and I will be escaping the daily 117 real-feels that threaten to melt my corporeal and spiritual being into a puddle of Colombian-Corn-Fed muck, and if the trip is only half as wonderful as I'm imagining it will be, I might just spontaneously combust with happiness (mountains, under 80 degree weather, scarves, nature, a good friend...you know, the whole these-are-a-few-of-my-favorite-things-the-hills-are-alive-style rigamarole) ... how amazing it is, to live in a crazy gorgeous country..Caribbean coast, a couple sets of mountains, lakes, hot springs, valleys...Yeah.
Okay, that's all I got.
Well, one more thing: I started a food blog. Figured it was time. I'll be migrating things over there, updating. This blog shows it on the right; the link turns bold when I update. You can follow there as well--the plan is to have recipes from the Colombianified kitchen, kitchen stories and an excuse for total food-related self-indulgence on my part. Can I just repeat, one more time, that cooking keeps me sane? I've been stocking up on my own supplies, finally, and there's nothing better than a cast aluminum pot and a growing pile of spices under my bed to chase away the monsters.
Disclaimer--this is very much a beginning effort AND work in progress--
www.elbowfood.wordpress.com https://elbowfood.wordpress.com/
I'm planning on a much more tangible one year update/fun travel updates. Wasn't planning to do a thinker-style post tonight but here you have it...so I'll leave you with these half-baked thoughts for now. Missing lots of you, to be sure.
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