Junior…¡Tu Papá!

This weekend I completed two more items on my Barranquilla bucket list: going to the zoo and attending a Junior game (Junior is B/quilla’s soccer team). For the past couple months, Granfield (my fellow English professor and “tutor,” or mentor, that UA assigned to me) has been telling me that he wanted to take me to a Junior game, and the opportunity finally came. Since I don’t own a jersey, I wore a red t-shirt to show my support. Granfield and his wife and son did the same. Big mistake. Turns out, at home games Junior fans (Junioristas) wear either the striped jersey or a white t-shirt. Especially when the opposing team is América, the rival from Cali, whose color is red. Junior games are infamous for getting rowdy, meaning you probably don’t want to be mistaken for a fan of the rival team. Fortunately (I guess), Junior was just eliminated from the tournament, which means there wasn’t much of a turnout at the stadium. And América won, 2-0. So although the game might have been lacking the normal hype and hysteria, the bright side is that there wasn’t utter mayhem. Well, actually a fight began to brew when América scored its second point, and a group of América hinchas (fans) behind us cheered, provoking the Junioristas. At this point Granfield grabbed me by the arm and pulled me a safe distance away. The police took their time sauntering over to break it up and kick the América fans out of the stadium. We decided to split about 10 minutes before the end of the game so as not to be the target of the Junioristas disappointment. And sure enough, on the way out, we got asked, “Hey, are you América fans?!” Lesson learned: wear a Junior jersey to the next game!







(I think he wins the prize for most passionate fan. Check out the shark (the mascot) attached to his hat!)



(I believe this qualifies as corroncho--Colombian redneck)

When a dictionary is not enough...

In comparing languages, there are countless examples of instances when two groups of people have different words for the same concept. English: word; Spanish: palabra. English: to travel; Spanish: viajar. The list is infinite. But what intrigues me is that two cultures can have distinct concepts for the same thing (or rather, for the same word, though translated correctly). Here are a few examples I’ve picked up on here in Barranquilla.

1. “on time”: In the U.S. being on time means you arrive no later than 9:00 for a 9:00 appointment. Though running late is, unfortunately, becoming the norm, we still consider anything after the set time to be “late.” Here, however, nobody arrives on the hour. Once I was invited to an event that started at 5:00. As I was walking there, I was sweating a little because I realized I would be 5 or 10 minutes late. When I arrived at 5:10, however, my friend told me, “Oh, Iris, you’re early!” And sure enough, things didn’t get started till 6:00, even though it was programmed for 5.

2. “a week/two weeks”: Here in Colombia (and in many Spanish-speaking countries), a week is referred to as ocho días (eight days) and two weeks as quince días (fifteen days). When I first heard someone say that something occurred eight days ago, I took them literally. But they really mean a week. Seven days. As I was leaving an appointment at the dermatologist one Monday, the doctor told me should like me to come again in ocho días. So I repeated that to the secretary, who signed me up for the following Monday. It’s interesting that when Spanish speakers learn English, they rarely pick up on this conceptual difference and use “eight days” interchangeably with “one week,” and the same thing with “fifteen days” and “two weeks.”

3. “blond”: Though English speakers admit that there is a wide range of blond (dirty blond, strawberry blond, etc.), rubio (or mono, as they say here in Colombia) has an even broader definition. To me, my hair is obviously brown. Not even light brown. I’d say it’s a solid medium brown. My driver’s license even says so. But here, I’m blond. Not only because my hair isn’t black, but because I have light skin and blue eyes.

4. “winter”: Here in Barranquilla, temperatures are in the 90s all year round with very little difference. Well, everyone says that in December, a cool breeze make it much more refreshing. But oddly enough, it’s not the “cool” December that is referred to as winter; it’s the hottest, wettest season. I can’t get over reading about the current invierno (winter) in Barranquilla as the scorching sun beats down on me!

Since I'm a nerd and I love fun facts about language and culture, I find this stuff fascinating! For those of you who agree, I’ll try to add to the list over the next few months :)

Life Is Good

I realize my blog posts are becoming fewer and farther between, and I suppose that´s because life has mostly settled into a routine and I´m lacking new and interesting things to recount.

I´ve been in Colombia just over two months now, which is hard to believe! On the one hand, so much has happened since my plane touched down on July 28th that it seems like that must have been at least six months ago: I´ve moved to a new country, become a college professor, (somewhat) learned my way around this chaotic city, met a ton of great people, and adapted to the weather, speech and customs of life on Colombia´s Caribbean coast (or at least I can say I´m off to a solid start). But on the other hand, these last two months make up 20% of my 10-month stint here. When I think of it that way, I´m saddened by how fast time is flying!

Overall, things are going great here. Of course, there are the little ups and downs of life, just as there are wherever you live. There are days when my lessons go better than expected and I feel like a successful teacher; other days, technology fails, I forget some important material, or for some other reason the lesson bombs. Some days I notice the progress in my Spanish and the language flows; other days I just can´t get out what I´m trying to say. Some days I successfully navigate life in Barranquilla, both culturally and regarding transportation. Other days I feel overwhelmed and long for the familiarity of my stomping grounds and culture. Some days I thoroughly enjoy time spent with my new friends here; however, there are plenty of times I dearly miss my family and friends spread all over the world: North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Turkey, Italy, Indonesia, Korea, Romania.

But at the end of the day, I really can´t complain. I´m living the experience I´ve worked towards for years: living in Latin America, immersed in Spanish, teaching English. In addition to that, I have a God who walks with me through all these ups and downs, and I don´t say that lightly; He is faithful and he never fails. He provides for me daily in countless ways, and every good thing in my life is thanks to Him (James 1:17).

Contentment is a choice. Though I have many reasons to be content in the circumstances of my life here in Colombia, when I´m firmly convinced of God´s goodness and control, I can be content in all occasions (Philippians 4:12)