No matter how hard I try, I still look like a foreigner in this amazingly beautiful country all the time, all day, everyday. It's kinda fun, embarrassing at times and a bit annoying as well.
Some examples are:
1. When I cross the street, I still think the quickly approaching cars are going to slow down a little bit. For some reason even though I have been here for 10 months, I still haven't understood that cars are first and people 2nd. A common remark from friends, "Marianne, you really almost got run over that time."
2. Im always walking in a hurry. At the mall when I am going up the escalator I even climb up the stairs while it is moving at a quick pace. Colombians look at me like, "donde es el fuego, gringa?"
3. At lunch I can never eat the whole meal. Colombians eat a huge lunch starting with a big bowl of soup, a large portion of meat, rice, potatoes or plantains, fruits, a salad and juice. I'm always trying to rush through my meal, wishing I had a sandwich to eat so I could go do some more work, and have to give my leftovers away everyday. A Colombian would want to smack me for not enjoying lunch fully, taking an hour to eat and finishing everything on my plate.
4. I like to do things myself. In the copy room, we have the loveliest assistant named Liliana to make all our copies for us. I always try to slip past her and make the copies myself even though this is her job. She yells at me a lot, but for some reason I still feel like I will be bothering her when I know how to make copies all by myself. She will kill me for being so American. Thank goodness my teacher aide knows me well and knows what I need before I even have to ask.
5. I don't wear jewelry everyday or get manicures often enough. Colombian women get a manicure once a week. no lie. It only cost $2.50 and it is amazing. I, however, do not take advantage and get a manicure only every once in a while. Then I have chipped nails for 2 weeks too long until my teacher aide shakes her head and says, "Miss. Parrish, there is no excuse."
6. Sometimes I play sugarland at a very high volume in my classroom before the students come in. Colombians don't approve of country and definitely not Jennifer Nettles.
7. I am always caught outside without an umbrella when it is raining. My gaurd, Don Manuel, always watches me come up to the house soaking wet, shakes his head and tells me I will catch my death. It rains here every single day, it is time to learn to keep up with my umbrella.
8. The two things I hate the most about being so different is that my Spanish is still horribly embarrassing and I am so wasteful compared to Colombians. Wasteful with food, wasteful with water, electricity, and resources all around. Im going to keep on working on both of those areas even when I return home.
Here are some ways that I have grown more Colombian though in my time here:
1. I now know if I am supposed to dance meringue, salsa, or bachinata according to the beat of the music playing and Im learning to pick out if the music originated in medellin, cali, bogota or the coast.
2. I am obcessed with Colombian food. Give me bandeja paisa, ajiaco, arepas, platanos, chorizo, and empanadas everyday for the rest of my life.
3. I can drink really, really strong coffee. Coffee that grown men add water too. Coffee that will make you want to run a marathon when you arrive to school at 6:45am.
4. I participate in Ciclovia every Sunday with 1000's of other people in bogota. It is so fun to ride bikes, run or walk all over this beautiful city and visit the different outdoor exercise stations.
5. I loose track of time worse than ever before. This is not beneficial to my habitual problem of being late, but it is very Colombian so I don't stress about it here. Until i piss off my American friends.
6. I don't stress much at all. Hardly ever. I went out of town with my Colombian family a few weeks ago and there was a tarantula in our cabin's kitchen. I watched them take it outside and put it on a tree and never thought of it again. Not even when I went to sleep. It didn't worry them any, so it didn't worry me. I hope this doesn't go away when I get back to the states, life is so much more enjoyable when you don't imagine spiders crawling on you when you are going to sleep just because you saw one in your house earlier that day.
7. I participated in a protest. Ok, really I just signed a petition in my neighborhood for the police to do something about all the men who use the bridge outside our house as a bathroom. I cannot explain to you how bad it smells and how hard it hits you first thing in the morning on the way to work. It made me feel slightly important, but nothing has been done. Colombians seem to love a good protest. Every week I get an email from the embassy listing 5 to 6 protests happening throughout the city. Here are some police getting ready for a good protest.
Some angry kraft workers.
A picture from the embassy showing 4 protests going on at one time on one day. 
8. I have spray painted graffiti. Bogota is covered in graffiti everywhere you look. Some of it is beautiful and some of it not so much, but its interesting none the less. My crazy friend Maggie, also our art teacher, decided we had to paint a bra on a topless woman that was painted on another bridge near our house. We waited until late at night, dressed in all black, and went and gave the topless lady a nice blue bra with orange frills. No police saw us and all the bystanders who saw us only laughed. Just look at how disgusting it was before, something had to be done. Maggie and I will be cleaning up the streets one bridge at a time from here on out.
This post was to avoid reality. School is over in 1 week and my time in Colombia is coming to an end. Next post will be much more reflective, including my this year's highlights and how excited I am to still serve here for a bit longer during the summer. Hope everyone is enjoying the beauty of South Carolina's summers back home, I am looking forward to the warm weather, even if it is 100 degrees. Be on the lookout for a post from the one and only Jamie Peckous telling of her travels here during April, we had way too much fun!
