One Down, 5 Months To Go

After a full day of travel and 3 hours of sleep, I can officially say I have conquered my first day in Colombia. If it wasn't for the tradition of breaking 5 times a day for coffee consumption, I am pretty sure my body would have failed me at some point today.

Anxious waves keep drowning my mentality with millions of questions. All of them center themselves around the idea of whether I am ready to stand my ground on my own in such a place. Today's 8 hours of orientation consisting of safety threats and evacuation protocols, definitely didn’t sit easy on my conscious after severe sleep deprivation. I almost want to laugh at the whole situation now that it is over. I could only imagine the likeliness of any of those circumstances actually happening during my teaching experience.

The next 7 days will consist of intensive orientation sessions with no breaks except for of course, coffee and if one so wishes, maybe a cup of tea. Even after one day I am seeing why this is such a tradition in the Colombian culture. Over several cups of hot coffee I found myself striking up conversations with fellow teachers from all over the world. I have been fascinated by each individual who possesses a unique journey that brought them to Colombia.

It baffles me that tomorrow I will be meeting the Executive Director of Heart for Change and the head of the Ministry of Education. When I first applied to this program I did not see my social service to be all that selfless. After much conversing with the locals I have encountered so far, I've learned that the program I have dedicated myself to for the next 5 months is of high importance to strengthening the Colombian education system.

Tonight I will rest easy not just because I never made it to REM last night, but because I have finally thrown myself into the gaming field. After 4 years of reading about corruption and philanthropy in the international arena, I am finally going to make a story instead of read one.