Barranquilla: the Beginning!

On August 6th, I flew into Barranquilla, the incredibly hot and humid city on the northern coast of Colombia, where I will be living and working for the next ten months. A lot goes on when you move to a new place, especially when that place is located in a foreign country -- new living arrangements, new job, new friendships, new climate, new foods, new methods of transportation, new accents in the language, etc. etc.!

My first day in Barranquilla, I went straight from the airport to la Universidad del Norte, the university I am now working at as an English Teaching Assistant. I toured the campus, met some of my coworkers, got the keys to my office (wow, that makes me feel grown up to have an office), and learned about what my duties would entail as a teaching assistant. Within UniNorte, I work at the Instituto de Idiomas (Language Institute), which offers language-learning programs not only in English, but also in German, Portuguese, Italian, French, and Mandarin. I love love LOVE working in such an international environment. I share my office with a Brazilian girl, our neighbor is from England, down the hall are two professors from Germany, and there are a couple other gringos from the U.S. as well. Of course, I work with Colombians, too!!

I couldn´t have been any luckier with how my living arrangement here played out. UniNorte had arranged for me to visit three different apartments on my first day in Barranquilla, and then I could choose the one I liked best for temporary housing until I found something on my own. But as it turns out, I won´t need to look further for another living arrangement - because where I am now fits me perfectly. I live with a Colombian woman, Sandra, who has become like an older sister, mother, teacher, and friend all in one. My Colombian "familia" includes not only Sandra, but her 12 year old daughter, Gaby, as well as her best friend, Pablo, who is 25 and hangs out with us in the apartment all the time.

Mi familia colombiana, just before enjoying ajiaco, a typical Colombian soup that Sandra had prepared for all of us!

My first day, Sandra and Pablo took me to the Colombian equivalent of a Super Walmart, so that we could buy some groceries. As we were walking through the alcohol section, Sandra and Pablo grabbed two cans of beer out of one of the fridges, and then asked if I wanted one, too. I replied with a "sure," thinking that the beer would be for later - but nope! They opened the cans right then and there, and we drank our beer as we continued grocery shopping!

Wait, WHAT!?!? You can drink beer from the store, as you shop, before paying for it? -- Claro que sí!!!! This is Barranquilla, Colombia! Salud!!!

What else is it like to live in Barranquilla?

My shower doesn´t have different temperature settings - there´s just one knob, for water. With 90 degree weather every single day of the year, there´s no point in taking a hot shower - you´d just get out sweating.

Traffic "rules" include honking as you approach an intersection or to warn pedestrians that you´ll run them over if they don´t move. If you´re not the driver, seat belts are optional, and sometimes, completely nonexistent: I have been in cars where, out of habit, I reach back to buckle up, and there is no belt to be found. People on the street will splash your car´s front window with soapy water and squeegy it off, hoping to earn some Colombian pesos, unless you vigorously wave your finger NO at them as they are approaching you. Of course, those who are moving throughout the city via donkey and cart don´t need to worry about that!

There´s really no such thing as a "quiet hour" or curfew in apartment buildings. There is always, always music playing, and if you hear a party going on, then the proper reaction would be: Why didn´t they invite me??? 

The mosquitoes love my gringa blood, and for some really odd reason, even more so from my right foot than from my left foot. Last week, I had one or more mosquito bites on every single toe on my right foot; this week, they decided to enjoy the skin on top of my right foot. My left foot? Eh, just a couple bites now and then...

When it rains here (which it does pretty much every day), it pours. And along with the downpours, come the arroyos: the rivers that pass through the streets because the drainage systems aren´t quick enough to catch up
to the heavy rains. The arroyos, when really, really bad, can sweep away cars, humans,or pretty much anything in their path. One day, Iris (fellow Fulbrighter here in Barranquilla) and I braved the rainy weather to go exploring, and crossed some arroyitos, or little arroyos. In order to cross one particular arroyo, which was deeper and running much faster than the arroyitos we had walked through before, a man wheeled us in a cart from one side of the street to the middle of the street, where a homemade bridge of simple wooden boards set across stone blocks, spanned the remainder of the street. I don´t intend on letting any arroyos swallow me whole while I am living in Barranquilla, so thank goodness for this man´s arroyo-crossing invention!!

Luckily, right now the skies are sunny and I don´t think I´ll have to battle any arroyos on my way out of work. More curiosities of mi vida Barranquillera to come!!