Monday, November 7, 2016

5 things to know before moving to Colombia

Living in a different country can be a fun adventure, and Colombia has a lot of beauty for everyone to enjoy. Here are five small things from toilets to language use that would have been nice to know ahead of time.

El baño

Unless you are at a big shopping mall or supermarket, it’s rare to find toilet paper provided in bathrooms. We definitely don’t have it in our schools in Monteria. Therefore you should always carry some with you. The same goes for soap; it's just not provided. Since we are on the subject, there are rarely toilet seats either. As you can imagine the toilet bowl rims are gross, so ladies, get those legs in shape with some squats so you don't have to touch any surfaces. Yuck!

You can pay 500 pesos to use a porta potty at the Arboletes beach.

Furthermore you cannot throw toilet paper or anything else in the toilets here. Colombian toilet systems have small pipes with low water pressure, so they just don’t have what it takes to handle the paper. Use the little trash cans next to the toilets instead of clogging up the whole system.

Luckily I found a restaurant with nice bathrooms and even better piña coladas.

Patience is key.

Whether you are trying to plan a lesson with a co-teacher, wrestling with classroom management or getting cut in line at the supermarket, you will need to be patient. Have an open mind about doing things differently from what you are used to. Not only will you have to be patient with other people, you will have to to be patient with yourself as you go on the roller coaster ride known as culture shock.

School resources
My school is the biggest and oldest public school in Monteria, and the resources are scarce. I was a little bit surprised to see that the classrooms have desks for students, a desk for the teacher, a whiteboard, and an old rusty locker. The walls and desks have students’ drawings, names and expletives all over them.
My classroom... students find time and energy to write things like "suck it" on their desks.
To make copies we go to a small shed where a man sits all day making photocopies for 50 pesos a page. The teachers usually collect money from students for the price of their worksheets and tests. To stay away from printing too much and paying for copies (yeah it adds up), we do a lot of white board work which students copy into their notebooks. Sometimes we try to use the projector for images, videos and games when we can. This too is challenging because there is only one projector that is shared between all of the teachers in the whole school on a “first come, first serve” basis. This is why creativity is so important as a teacher here. Role-play activities and interactive group games that get the students moving around are a necessity.


Cancelled classes

In addition to the scarce resources, classes are consistently cancelled. I’m not talking about the many holidays we enjoy as days off. I’m talking about the teacher strikes, whole school assemblies, and just random half days that make it challenging to carry out your lesson plans consistently to all of your different groups. At my school one bell rings to tell students their break is over, or to go to the next class. Two bells means they all must go to the event area for an assembly (this can be to celebrate things like culture, the school’s anniversary, Sports day, Spanish language day, English language day, or just to have Mass for a specific Catholic holiday). These assemblies usually last about 3 hours and the students need a 30 minute break afterwards before carrying on classes as usual, if this happens at all. Three bells will be followed by the elated screams of students. Three bells tells everyone to go home for the day, and teachers are not told beforehand. We find out when the bells are rung just like everybody else.  

Basic knowledge of the Spanish language.

Is Spanish required? No. Will it help you have an easier time navigating daily life? Absolutely. The more you practice, the better you will get.

Dried coconut figures among other cultural items
In Monteria people speak so quickly and often don’t pronounce letters ‘s’ and ‘d’. For example ‘pescado’ meaning fish would be pronounced “pescao”. Instead of ‘estudiantes’, students are called “pelaos” by most of the school staff (from the word ‘pelado’ which just means kid or young adult in Colombia). I had an intermediate level when I came to Colombia, and through arduous use of the language I have improved a lot. That being said, sometimes I still don’t understand many things in conversations with Costeños because of their strong accent and rapid speech.

Sometimes you just need to get away and relax on the beach.

There you have it. Five juicy tidbits that might help you create realistic expectations of your new life in Colombia if you choose to move to this beautiful country.