Foreigner - not suitable for the little ones

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!

No tengo llaves otra ves!!!

This is beginning to be a real problem. Here I am again in my favorite coffee shop, completely soaked from running from my bus stop to my house and from my house to the coffee shop without an umbrella, but with at least an hour on my hands to finally write a blog again. I know its been too long, because couldn't remember my logon information for my own blog. Seriously took me 5 minutes to access this thing. I am still loving life in Beautiful Bogota. Just not the two people making out at the table across from me. Usually I dont mind all the lovey couples here, but these two make an especially loud smacking noise when they kiss and they have kissed at least 57 times in the last two minutes. I am refraining from throwing my coffee cup at them. I wish I knew what my best friend thought about all the passionate souls making out everywhere in Colombia. Oh wait, I will find out in 3 days!!!!! I have the priveledge of picking up Jamie Marie Peckous at El Dorado Airport Saturday night! I dont know if I have ever been more excited or thankful to see her. We will get to have a whole week of galavanting around Bogota during Semana Santa. A week off of school and adventures with my best friend couldn't come at a better time. I have been feeling exhausted and a little burnt out lately. Somedays all I can do is go to school, teach English after and then go to sleep before 8 like a wimp. School has been great because we have been studying the Easter Story. Throughout the whole year, I always feel closest to my Savior at Easter. I love the beauty of the whole story coming together, from the passover to the last supper, seeing all the prophecies coming true, and reflecting on what Jesus did for us. It was nice to worship this morning in English and Spanish with all my co-workers. Man, am I going to miss worship wednesdays next year.

We have had some great oppurtunities to serve in the past month. Two weekends ago I went with some 10th graders to Luz y Vida, a special needs orphanage. I have been wanting to visit this place all year, but honestly when the day came I wasn't that excited. After waking up at 6 on a Saturday, I actually arrived on time to our meeting point. A miracle I know. The van driver was the only one else there. After about ten minutes, two other teachers showed up, but no students. 30 minutes later we are still waiting, start calling around and realize the girls who had signed up aren't coming anymore and there are only two boys still going. One of the boys was confused, had ridden a bus to school, realized no one was there and was on his way back. So after a hour and a half, we have two high school boys. Was it worth it? Two high school boys and three teachers going to an orphanage with over 900 special needs children? Yes, almost a 1000 children. We had developed some pretty terrible attitudes during our wait. We decided to take the long trip there anyways and prayed God would use us however small a group we were. When we arrived they took us to the top floor where the children who have the most profound disabilities are. I have worked with plenty of special needs kids during college. I've smelled the smells, seen the feeding tubes, heard the strange sounds of a trach, watched the repetitive movements, and seen the vacancy in children's eyes before. But I was still caught off gaurd when we entered this room. We stood awkwardly for about 1o minutes and then slowly started trying to connect with the children. Only 4 out of about 30 children and babies could sit up or move on their own. We were told not to pick up or hold these children because they would be too sad after we left. The rest of the children were strapped into wheelchairs or laid flat on mats on the floor. There were about six staffed-workers in the room who were constantly changing diapers, feeding tubes and giving medicines so they didn't have much time to love or show affection. It was a joy to get to do that. One beautiful, but rather demanding, girl attached herself to me when I first arrived. She would point to her arms, legs or back for me to rub and anywhere I went, I had to have one hand on her at all times. I loved her. One girl just wanted to rub and hold my hand, every few minutes she would pull it to her mouth and kiss it. Other children didn't respond much or even make eye contact. Some cried and could not be comforted. It was overwhelming, but the sadness I felt was nothing compared to the joy I felt everytime I looked over at one of the 10th grade boys clapping with the children, rubbing their backs or pushing them around in their wheelchairs. Some of the children would make the most high-pitched squeals of happiness when they were given any attention at all and it became the boys goal to hear that sound. I had to make myself not watch them or I would tear up everytime. So, so beautiful and 100% worth it. It was neat to see their hearts soften so much in just the 3 hours we were there and become true servants.

I would like to take a moment to brag about one of my friends who does way cooler stuff than I ever will, but invite me to help her. Maggie Long, my closest friend here, Colombian sister, and empanada-selling business partner started a sandwhich ministry with the 5th graders she teaches. There is this awesome place called The Jungle who opens their doors to street kids in Barrio Santa Fe once a month. This place is a YWAM run ministry and built by a team of people in Texas. It is pretty well equipped with a rock-climbing wall, a foam pit to jump in, a suspending bridge and of course a Wii. The perfect place to have fun and escape reality for a few hours. The children that come truly need an escape and deserve it more than once a month. Its in a neighborhood where drugs, prostitution, and homelessness is everywhere you look. Not the safest place, so I know it made Maggie a little nervous to bring her group of 5th grade students there every month. The thing I love about ECA is that they don't sugarcoat anything for the students. They explain to them that you will be working with children who come from abusive homes, whose parents are fighting addictions and choose not to provide for their families and who are sometimes involved in prostitution. If there wasn't a D.A.R.E program in my elementary school growing up, I wouldnt have known what drugs were, let alone prostitution. I was so sheltered. It has been so awesome to see them raising money every week through bakesales, fundraisers and by just bugging people to give them 2 mil. Once a month they make over 200 sandwhiches and head down town early on Saturday. We get to play with children, hold babies, visit with the pregnant teens who bring their babies, worship, eat and have fun. The 5th graders hold nothing back. I am so proud of my friend maggie, her class and their willingness to meet a need for an amazing ministry already in place.

I hope that you are enjoying Spring break with your families! Love you all!

I am in the fourth quarter at school and am seeing so much fruit from my Kindergarten students. They make me so happy and are learning so much. Here are some recent pictures of my class:

Colombia is..... Part 2!

Colombia is a gorgeous country with some of the happiest, most carefree, warm, affectionate, generous people in the world. Colombia is never having to lock your doors because your gaurd stands outside your door all day everyday. Don Manuel has become my friend to share coffee with since my roomates don't drink it and having someone to help me eat all the dinners I make. He holds open my door every time I come home and keeps me company when I lock myself out side of my house (read the post below). Colombia is buying your fruits and vegetables for insanely cheap prices in the back of your neighborhood, your meat across the street and getting your haircut 2 streets over. It is built-in community, walking everywhere, and stopping to buy empanadas or fresh bread on every corner. It is kissing everyone on the cheek to say hello and goodbye and feeling perfectly at home in every house you visit. Colombia is beautful, clear Spanish, loud traffic, salsa music and Andes mountains in every direction. Bright colors, beautiful flowers and delicious food. Colombia has adventure waiting for you at all times.

This past weekend I went on one of the craziest adventures I have been on yet with Beth and Rafa Afanador, the directors of my school. They invited the first five teachers to sign up to go on a short weekend trip. I signed up as quickly as I could because I have missed spending time with them lately and I am always up for seeing more of Colombia. We left Friday after school in Rafa's landcruiser for a wild 7-8 hour drive. If you were to hop in his car for even five minutes, you would think he did not value his life or anyone's in the car with him. Agressive does not even begin to describe it. Beth says driving here is like learning a different language and you cannot compare it to the states at all, I believe her and try to trust Rafa a little more. We ended up in a tiny hotel that sat on Rio Claro at midnight. We went into our room that had a distinct smell of cat pee and no glass on the windows, only bars. To unlock the door you just reached right in with a hanger in your hand and pushed open the handle. Seemed a little unsafe, but no one else seemed to worry so I didn't either. I even ignored the roach on the floor and the very, very dirty matress. I have learned that I can sleep anywhere here.

The next day we rented some innertubes and went to the natural park that was waiting for us on a very sunny Saturday. We hiked for about 30 minutes and sat our tubes in at the same spot that they were taking groups white water rafting. Seemed a little risky, but again no one else was worried. We quickly approached rapids, flippped out of our tubes, banged up against rocks and limbs and then floated lazily down the river some more. We stopped to swim and jump off ledges. It was so fun we did it twice and ended up with double the amount of bruises. Our group went ziplining through the tropical trees and over the river while staring at the Andes the whole time. My first time ziplining and hopefully not my last. Beautiful and so fun.

Later after a quick and very late lunch we went back to the hotel to get ready to go caving. I was very excited to get to do two things I have never done in one day. I thought we would just ride back over to the public park, buy a ticket, read a brochure filled with exciting facts about the cave we were about to explore and maybe rent a headlamp or flashlight. Oh how I was decieved. A dark cave seemed a little scary before, even when I imagined handrails to hang onto and lights hanging about everywhere. Rafa proceeded to take me to my worst nightmare. At around 6:30, just when it was getting dark, we stopped on the side of the road and let three young boys hang onto the car. Their ages were 8, 10 and 15. Our 15 year old friend had a machete tied to his waist and they directed Rafa to a farm. I kept wondering what could he possible need that huge knife for, what kind of cave will we be entering. We drove through cow pastures and had to dodge horses. We rode through a creek and up and down hills and I was sure we had lost one of the kids hanging on. We got out to walk for 30 minutes in complete darkness while trying to dodge huge piles of cow poop. When we found the entrance to the cave there was no one selling tickets, no tour guide in an official uniform and no headlamps to be rented. This is Colombia I reminded myself, Colombia is adventure. Just go with it. We went into the entrance to the cave and instantly heard the most terrible noises that sounded like tortured creatures and lots of wings flapping. 100s of birds live in this cave called guacharos (oilbirds in english). Our young guides tell us repeatedly to not shine our flashlights on them because they will swoop down and attack you because they HATE light. I hated this cave with all my heart and I hadn't even entered. We keep our flashlights on the ground where we see roaches, spiders as big as my hand, dead baby birds, egg shells and lots of bird poop. TONS of bird poop. Within the first five minutes we are wading through water up to our chests and having to hold unto the dark, wet, slimy cave walls. For two hours we held on to each other, climbed up rocks, slid down rocks, waded through more water, crawled through holes, tried to determine if our guides were confident in the direction they were leading us and slapped Rafa for grabbing the backs of our legs and making us thing a terrible creature was coming for us. My own personal hell was what that cave was for me. Never did I grow used to it or become less frightened, if I even started to feel a little confidence creep in a bird would swoop down near my head or I would see a huge bug on the person in front of me knowing that one was probably on my body too. We had to swim out of the cave for our last challenge and I was so thankful to see trees, the moon and sky, to put my feet on grass and never to hear the sound of those dreadful birds again. Just another hour walk back to the car covered in mud and soaking wet. We just laughed as we tripped over rocks and slid down hills because nothing was as bad as the cave. We got back to the hotel after 11:00 and the sweetest kitchen staff made us the most delicious Colombian dinner and we all sat and stared at each other in disbelief while Rafa just laughed and laughed. While I didn't enjoy it too terribly much, I am thankful I did it and I don't think much else will scare me from here on out during my stay in Colombia. I will get Rafa back soon though somehow.

The next day we went to the notorious Pablo Escobar's finca. It was very interesting and I learned a ton about Colombia's past during the 80's and 90's. He influenced the country so much and dehumanized the culture during his reign. He is someone that should not be honored, but could never be forgotten. He became famous at first by having a Robin Hood feel about him. He made millions and millions quickly, built churches, libraries, schools, houses and fixed up neighborhoods. He also began to buy out public authorities and control people with his wealth. He had a huge hate for the goverment and state authorities, but somehow managed to serve in congress and run for senate even though everyone knew he managed all the cocaine that was being exported from Colombia during this time. He gave a set price for any police officer that was killed. He bombed an airplane with 107 people on it just to get one goverment official. He bombed goverment buildings (DAS and the Supreme Court Justice building) killing hundreds to go after just a few. Car bombs everywhere. Kidnappings and torturing victims a certain way before their death so everyone knew it was him who did it. He had everyone in the country after him and everyone bowing down to him at the same time. People worshipped him and despised him. The paramilitary didn't think the goverment was doing a good enough job so they began to try to capture him as well, only to use the same evil he used. Kidnapping and torture of people and families that could be in anyway related to Escobar's movement. When we went through the museum the Colombians I was with had tears in their eyes because it is still so real and fresh in their memories. The pictures I saw of buildings on fire and tons of bodies tied up had been real for some of them.

He was a genius and very eccentric. Before he was killed he built a huge farm that has now been turned into a strange type of tourist attraction. He imported hippos, zebras, kangaroos, and all sorts of exotic animals to create one of the world's greatest zoos that Colombia could gain recognition for. He had a airplane runway and helicopter pad to arrive and leave easily. Escape tunnels and a bull fighting ring where he would have hundreds of guests for a private bullfight on any given weekend. Politicians, actors and beauty queens of Colombia all visited and spent time there. He was training and Israelian army to fight for him at his farm. He had a beauiful house and pool for his family. He kept all his evil from his family and would not even smoke in front of his children. His house and car collection were bombed by the paramilitary, but they still sit on his property in their unrestored condition. It was a lot to take in and very sad, but intriguing all at the same time. I want to learn a lot more about him, I can't wrap my head around how someone so evil could have had so much control over a country.

Back to those awful birds though. I googled them immediately when I got home because I never saw what they looked like when I was in the cave. Again, they did not sound like birds, they sounded like tortured men screaming. A few interesting facts. Alfred Hitchcock used a recording of these birds in his famous 1964 movie. They make nests out of their own droppings ( how lovely) and have all sorts of bat-like tendencies. I found a video for anyone who is interested in what they sound like. They don't look scary at all and they only eat fruit. Wish someone would have told me that at the beginning instead of the attack scare I was given.

http://ibc.lynxeds.com/video/oilbird-steatornis-caripensis/group-birds-calling-cave

Hope that doesn't traumatize anyone too much. Viva Colombia!!!

Yo no tengo llaves!!!

I lock myself out of my house at least once every two weeks. Usually one of my roomates shows up within thirty minutes and it always creates an opportunity to practice spanish with Don Manuel (the greatest gaurd in the world). Usually its no big deal. Today I waited for a very long time before the rain started to pour and I had to seek shelter in a cozy coffee shop down the street. But no worries, the opportunity to blog has been created and I am sipping the most delightful chai tea latte. Im only slightly drenched.

All is well in Bogota. Staying busy with school and English classes. My "Shepherding Your Child's Heart" conferences have been going great. The one for parents was very well-recieved and I have been able to speak at length with parents who attended. Parents shared a lot in areas where they struggle and fall short, and it is amazing that God's Word has an answer for every teaching/parenting problem. I have finished only 1 of 3 for the ECA staff but it went well too and I felt like it was really good timing. Wasn't even as scary as I thought it would be. It has been a wonderful reminder for me of how to make teaching your full-time ministry.

Last weekend I was able to visit a new ministry called Simon Bolivar. It is for street kids in the poorest part of Bogota and was a really neat place. My good friend, Edgar, started the ministry a few years ago almost immediately after becoming a Christian. He is an architect here in Bogota and felt the need to get to know his neighbors in the south of the city. God has been teaching me so much about intentional community. Simon Bolivar is a really cool place and definately much needed. It is a place to seek refuge from the oppression of poverty, a place to be fed, a place to be loved, a place to play and laugh, and to hear truth. The children are invited to come every Saturday to get help with homework and participate in fun activities. They also come on Wednesday nights with their families. I went with five 11th graders from school to help with registration for the new year and to clean the entire house from top to bottom. The students from school were so much fun and very helpful. It was neat to see all the families greeting Edgar and the children filled with excitement for the ministry to be opened back up after break. I hope to keep visiting and cant wait to go when the house is filled with the children of ciudad Bolivar. Edgar really wanted us to see what the community was like and the affects of December flooding so he got us to pile in his jeep for a wild ride. The students had to stand up in the back and I was scared for their lives as we rode to the top of a mountain to get a clear view of the city. So many houses had been destroyed and tons more were barely standing. I heard about how devastating it was in the news, but had no idea what it was really like. I was struck at how terribly selfish I had been during this time. I had been praying for the floods to stop because I knew of all the devastation in the poor areas from the news, but it was only halfheartedly and only for a short time. Really I was annoyed the whole time because our school grounds were so muddy and we couldn't go outside. One week we had to teach without electricity for 3 days and I thought the world was ending. And in the back of my mind, I was also worried that the airport would get flooded and I wouldn't get to go home for Christmas. I was seriously thinking about that. I was disgusted with myself after I saw what happened there and how many families were displaced. I really am so far seperated from the poor people in Bogota, going to visit a ministry in the South of Bogota every other weekend obviously isn't teaching me and changing me enough. I have some amazing friends who just moved to this neighborhood so that they can be changed and live how the people they are serving really live. I will write about them after I visit their new home this weekend.

Meredith scrubbing chairs and tables and families signing up across the street.

All the places where there are steps, there used to be a house.

Our crazy jeep excursion

Que Linda!

Cleaning up the kitchen with JuanFe


I am having tons of fun with my kindergartners as usual. Two of my students became Christians over the weekend so we celebrated in class this morning big time and it was a beautiful thing to hear them share their simple but truthful testimonies. Last week we made pizza and playdough for "P" week. We are learning that God loves all kinds of sinners even the "worst" ones and that has been a great reminder for me. My high school student and I started going through the book of Romans after Christmas break and we are still on chapter one. We are learning so much together. Hopefully we can start moving a little faster and get at least halfway through before the end of the year. I hate the words, end of the year. I am hoping to have her and two other girls over this coming weekend for a fun girl's night.

I have had two very serious goals since living in Colombia. To make Needtobreathe wildly popular here (everyone should love them) and to become a street vendor. I am still working on the first goal one student at a time, but I became a real life empanada selling street vendor last weekend with my dear friend Maggie. We made shirts, signs, aji sauce and the best empanadas that we have ever prepared. It was really our social experiment to see if a Colombian would trust a gringa to make one of the most "colombian" foods here. They did. The night before my Colombian mom, Gladys and her son Alex came over to bring a table over and see how they could help us. They spend at least 30 minutes telling us all the ways we had failed in our business endevour by explaining how cheap we could of gotten our meat if only we had gone there and that you have to use double the amount of potatoes to make profit. We were not discouraged though and set out with determination the following morning. People got the biggest laugh out of us but we sold over fifty empanadas. We made a profit of 40 mil pesos (almost 20$). Some people hung out with us and ate 5 empanadas and some people wanted their picture taken with us. Some people walked by with their mouth hanging open. It was beautiful and one of my favorite experiances so far.

I am missing home a little and starting to get anxious for next year. I will definately be back in SC and will have to start worrying about my living situation, car, and job soon. Please pray that I will stay focused for my last few months here and also be able to take care of the things I need to for next year as well.

Back in Bogota!!!

I have been back in my beloved Bogota for over a week now. Completely back in my routine and am feeling good about my 2nd semester here. Christmas break was too good to be true and I felt like I had been gone for a really long time. I couldn't even remember my logon information for the computers at school and the transimileno felt exciting and dangerous all over again.

My time with family and friends had been highly anticipated and it couldn't have been better. From the second I saw my nephews waiting for me in the airport until my mom and aunt were driving me back to the airport I was in heaven.


Highlights from time at home:

Getting to go to my home church for 3 different services and spending time with my small group one afternoon. It was great to catch up with them, share about Bogota in person and feel their constant support and encouragement.

Three very important friends came to visit: Sara Davis, Jamie and Caroline. I was so thankful they took time out of their busy Christmas breaks to come see me in SC and had the best time with them. There is nothing like time with the girls who know you better than anybody else. Here's a picture of a girl's night out, thanks angie and heidi for meeting in Greensboro!


Sleepovers with my nephews, seeing them open their gifts on Christmas morning,seeing how much they've grown and changed and getting tons of hugs and kisses from those sweet boys.

Doing last minute Christmas shopping with my brother on the 23rd because he is crazy. We had lunch and coffee downtown, walked around everywhere and got most of the shopping done at the end of the day thanks to Target. He is so fun.


Time with the best big sister in the whole world.



Getting to spend time with my family and celebrating Christmas at my Grandma's house.

My mom spoiled me by making sure I had all my favorite things at home and cooked me the most delicious meals. Truly have the best mom ever.

I made my first venture out to Europe, to the great country of Moldova, to see my love for Christmas. David is there with the Peace Corp. I was able to meet his wonderful friends, some of his host family, hear him speak in Russian, and see what his life has been like for the past year and a half. We stayed busy the whole time and had the chance to go to Romania for a day as well. He took care of everything and even cooked for me a few nights. It was perfect.


I learned all about the inconveniences that can occur when traveling. Lost my luggage both ways when I went to see David, had a 30+ hour layover in Frankfurt on my way home, and found out how comfortable the chairs are to sleep in at the airport. On a positive note, I met the sweetest friend imaginable on the subway who showed me all over her city and had a fun day exploring with her.


I was able to see my friend Katie Parshley Barber get married. It was a beautiful wedding. She had a big part in me becoming a believer in college. I love her.

I prepared a Colombian dinner one night with my family, had a great Christmas party with some of my closest friends at home, went out to see a show with my sister and crazy fun cousins at Cafe and Then Some, was lazy and read books while in my pajamas all day....


SC was hit with blizzard like snow (anything more than 3 inches is a blizzard to me) the night before I was supposed to fly back to Bogota and I was blessed with two extra days with my family. It felt so nice and cozy at my mom's house and the snow was beautiful. I did some serious sledding with my brother and two cousins, made snow cream and was really, really lazy.




And now I am back home in Bogota. It is "summer" here and I am loving the warm sunshine. No torrential downpours or need for a coat during the day. I am hoping not to go into a deep depression when it leaves us next month, I have really fallen in love with it. It was so good to get back to school and see my sweet students. They have been really good since school started back and they didn't seem to lose any of their English over break. We are working on much more challenging content and our classroom is full of excitement all the time. They have absolutely no translation during the day now. The first day that I got back in Bogota was at 5am and I was driven directly to school. One of my favorite students, Santiago, greeted me at the classroom door with a surprise in his bookbag. Thought it might be a nice little welcome back present. But no, it was a scorpian in a jar that he brought to share with the class. They keep me on my toes at all times. I will post more pictures of their beautiful faces soon. Here is my prayer for 2011:


Two exciting things are that I will be taking two extra Spanish classes a week and will be teaching three English classes a week. I won't be teaching my classes at school anymore because we didn't have enough students sign up this semester. I am sad about that because I loved my adult classes that I used to work with. I randomly met the nicest family though who needs extra help with English and they will be paying me the same amount I made at ECA. I will meet with them twice a week. I spent most of the day with them on Sunday riding bikes, eating icecream, having a huge traditional Colombian lunch and spending time in their home. They are extremely generous and joyful like most Colombians. I look forward to getting to know them better and learning about them. The third class is just for a friend in exchange of Salsa lessons, so that will be fun and a good break from my busy schedule. The best part of this whole situation is that I dont have to teach English on Saturday mornings anymore, which means I will get to go on as many Ministry outreaches as I want. I am looking forward to visiting the special needs orphanage that our 10th graders work with. Last weekend we went back to the Penuela house for the teenage mothers. I helped lead a kickboxing class with my friend Claire and it was so fun. The girls got so into it and pretended they were punching boys and kicking them in the face(claire told them to imagine the most disgusting guy they had ever come in contact with). It was a good time for sure. The girls really love any physical activity that we plan because they dont get many opportunities to exercise, next time we are bringing Zumba DVDs with us.

One of the things I realized when I was home that I love about living in Bogota and working with ECA is that I feel like they see my strengths and make sure they are being used as much as possible. This weekend I get to teach two parent workshops on shepherding a child's heart and throughout the semester I will get to lead 3 workshops for our falculty and staff. I am slightly terrified about teaching my peers because they are all amazing and very accomplished, but thankful for the oppurtunity to focus and prepare for something I am passionate about. I am excited to work with parents this weekend and see how they respond. Most of the information is very counter-cultural even for Christian families here, so pray that it goes well. I think it is counter-cultural in the United States as well, just not as much in the Christian community. It is all about not just trying to change a child's behavior, but focusing on their heart. It uses every behavior problem you have with a child and gives you a chance to share the gospel in the most grace-filled way. It has completely changed the way I teach and disciple my students.


I was constantly asked what God was teaching me and what had I learned about Colombia since I moved here. It forced me to reflect a lot. One thing is that I know I want to keep working in full-time ministry with students and families no matter where I am. I love it so much. I am proud to work with an organization that reaches out to so much of Bogota and raises up future leaders with compassionate hearts, intelligence and big ideas. Even though I can say that I see God working everywhere here in Bogota and that there are tons of churches that are thriving and doing great things, there has also been many, many people that I have met who have turned away from the church completely. Many people that I have talked to think that the church is nothing but a business or have been hurt by people so badly that they want nothing to do with it anymore. One reason I think this is common here is because the prosperity gospel message is preached here a ton. If God is not being their genie in a bottle and giving them everything they asked for they are told that they are too full of sin and aren't living correctly. I hate to see that and wish I could change their views so bad. I think my favorite thing God has shown me here though is my love for working with high school students. Just today my Jannett came into my room crying because of something that happened with another student and I got to be the person to help her work through it all. The girls I get to spend time with encourage me a lot. I have been getting secret notes left on my desk for a while now and found out this week that it has been one of my favorite high school girls instead of another teacher like I thought. God is good and I am learning so much. Peace!

This is Bogota, Colombia!

Pause the music at the bottom of the page and watch this realistic clip of Bogota...

BOGOTA D.C. IN HD from BOGOTA D.C. on Vimeo.

I love living in Colombia’s capital, Bogotá. A truly international city, it feels quite different than Greenville, SC - mainly due to the estimated nine million residents. I live in a house in the north of the city, which is the safest part of Bogota. It is also close to ECA and near most of the school’s faculty. Everyday I leave my comfortable home and as soon as I close the door behind me, I brace myself for the noise of cars, buses, transmilenios, crowded streets, people asking me to buy things every ten steps,beggars asking for money, people shouting for me to get on their bus,and the mad rush of the city at 6:15am. I pass many street vendors selling fresh bread, arepas, or black coffee. I dodge trash and breathe in tons of bus fumes. I hold my purse and book bag tight and try to look like I have lived here for years. I reach my street where I wait for the teacher van to pick me up (or sometimes find it waiting on me) then we zoom in and out of traffic until we reach ECA all before 7:00am.

Today is my favorite day of the week. Everyday the staff has a meeting that starts at 7:15. This is nice, because at the end of the day all you have to do is finish your work and leave school. Wednesdays we worship. No one mentions paperwork that is due or tomorrow's modified schedule, we just stop and worship for thirty minutes before we start our day. We sing in Spanish and English. Our staff has amazing musicians, so we have a full band and we sing loud enough for everyone entering school grounds to hear. Some of the high school students join us and you can hear the elementary kids laughing and playing outside the auditorium between songs. It definately sets a different tone for the day and I am always reminded of my purpose at ECA and for living in Bogota. We stop worshipping right before the bell rings and all the teachers rush back to their classrooms, weaving in and out of loud, laughing students. The bell rings and 23 beautiful children enter my room. I get a hug and kiss from each one and a "Good Morning, Miss. Parrish I have missing you or I love you." Sometimes their English mistakes are so cute I can't correct them. After the sweet greetings I start rushing them to unpack and get in their seats so we can start our day. We pray, we sing, we learn, we eat, we play for 7 hours. Then I gladly send them on their way home, because 23 kindergartners wear me out. The best part is that each day I get to share truth, talk about how Great our God is, and shape their character. I quicly go to my spanish class, finish up work in my classroom, and then get on the same teacher van to go home.

I had a very different picture in mind of what I would be doing when I first moved here. I thought I would be working with poor kids, street kids, kids who hadn't heard the gospel before. I was wrong. I get to do that some on our ministry outreaches, but with most of my time I work with students from very wealthy families, many of the families in full-time ministry. After the first quarter, when I had all my parent teacher conferences, I was blown away at the amazing ministries that they are involved in. I have one mom who grew up here as a missionary kid. Her dad was kidnapped by the FARC when she was very young. After he was released he started Christ for Colombia, a huge ministry that reaches out to thousands and thousands. She married a Colombian man who works for Voice of the Martyrs here in Bogota. One couple has a children's ministry with over three thousand children and young adults. They take their students on mission trips to the US every year to reach the Latino community. Pastors, couples planting churches in small cities outside of Bogota, couples reaching the poorest parts of the city. My parents are amazing. Over and over they thanked me for coming here and investing in their children's lives. They invite me to be a part of what they are doing and spend time with their families. Even though it isn't what I imagined, I think it is better, because I get to be another person in their child's life that is teaching them what it means to live for Christ and be aware of world around them. I get to partner with their parents to prepare them to reach the poor, the people living on the streets, and the people who have never heard truth before. Discipleship.

Our school has stopped ministry outreaches for the month of December to give students a break and the people who spend so much time planning all our outreaches. Each grade is collecting items that their ministry is in need of and those will be delivered before Christmas. Before our break started, many outreaches occured. The past trips to the Teenage Pregnancy home were wonderful. One time we did a beauty/spa day and gave manicures/pedicures and did make-up to give the moms a treat. Another time we just shared testimonies that were so encouraging to me, God can change people so much. I love to watch the middle school and high school girls in action there. They beleive the young moms are heros for not having abortions and that is exactly how they treat them. There is no judgement, only love, and it is neat to watch their relationships develop and deepen with girls that they dont have much in common with. God has surprised me with giving me a desire to spend more time with the high school students. This is odd because I usually find high schoolers extremely annoying and self-centered (which reminds me of exactly who I was in highschool, but worse... it wasn't pretty). There are three girls (one of them I disciple) that I have been very intentional about spending time with and trying to plan things outside of school to get to know them better. All of the high school students amaze me though. Last week they ate on less than a dollar a day for World Hunger Week. They waited to eat breakfast at school and at lunch they cooked very cheap meals together. They went home with a snack for dinner, very different from their usual meals. They did it with barely any complaining and grew so much. I don't know if God is changing my heart or these high school students somehow escaped that annoying stage that all teenagers seem to experiance, but I look forward to seeing how God will use this new interest in my life down the road.

Life has been busy and I have seen God moving a ton. I am so thankful to be here and I was reminded of that last week during Thanksgiving. I praised God for everyone who has encouraged me, supported me and prayed for me. For all the friends and family who stop to think about me and make it a point to keep in touch so I don't feel so homesick. I hope you all had a wonderful time with your families and praising God for all your blessings. My first Thanksgiving away from home was a little bit sad, but not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I cooked a big meal that I think would have made my Grandma proud for my roomates and friends the weekend before. We didn't have turkey because it is too exspensive here, but other than that it was pretty authentic. On Thursday morning at 3am, I jumped in a jeep with another teacher from school and one of her friends named, Edgar, that I have never met before. They took me to the second largest city in Colombia, Medellin. It was warm and beautiful. It used to be one of the most dangerous cities in the world (during Pablo Escobar's reign in Colombia) but has changed a ton in the past twenty years. We still had to be careful, but we felt safe and had the best time. We drove most of the day on Thursday and when we got to our apartment Edgar bought us turkey sandwhich meat and we had a little celebration. I love any chance to get out of Bogota to see how beautiful this country is. We explored and it was fun to get to know Giselle better and make a new friend. Edgar is amazing because he started his own ministry in the south part of Bogota just a few years after he became a beleiver. It is for street kids and it is growing and growing. I am going to check it out soon.

To everyone who played a part in making my 27th birthday at the beginning of the month the best birthday ever, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!! I celebrated all week long with my students, families from school and friends. I felt so loved and appreciated the emails, cards and presents that were sent that week. I can't wait to see everyone in 2 and 1/2 weeks to celebrate Christmas!

You have given me more than I could ever have wanted

Sorry this blog update has taken so long. I have been yelled at by many, many people. I will try to do better. I continue to be amazed all the blessings God has given me in Bogota. He is so good. We finished up our first quarter last Friday and are on to the 2nd! My students have grown so much in just 9 weeks of school. I am so proud of my class that I could burst and repeatedly tell them that they are the best kindergartners in the whole world. I think they really could be. Their English is taking off like crazy! I am actually very jealous of their tiny brains that can take in language so quickly. Amazing. We have so much fun each day and their behavior improves all the time. I have 23 parent conferences scheduled for Friday and Saturday and look forward to getting to know my parents more. I have only recieved parent hate mail one time (it was much deserved) and I think that conflict has been resolved. I accidently marked a student absent one day that was really present and when the school called the mom asking why her 5 year old son was not at school she freaked out and thought her son had been stolen off the school van. Whoops. So I am praying for clear communication, biblical truths presented, and strengthened relationships. Today we celebrated Mateo Ramirez's birthday, studied volume and weight with hard boiled eggs, did a play about elephants (it's E week),took a reading/writing test in English, and learned how the ten commandments cannot save us, but show us our sin and our need for Jesus. I am very thankful that I get to be a part of ECA this year. Everyday I walk around school and see God at work. Children from Hogar De Paz visiting for a party hosted by the 4th graders, high school students returning from a local women's prison ministry and telling all the awesome testimonies that were shared, middle schooler's leaving for an outreach trip to a special needs orphanage.... I can't even believe I get to be a part of it all. I am constantly giving God praise that He brought me here this year. Even though I know many of the students at ECA are not believer's yet, I feel like the school invites them into a better story where they are allowed to show compassion and have their eyes opened to the needs of their community and the world around them. The students love to serve and it is beautiful. My kindergartners went on their first ministry trip to visit a nursing home. We sang, hugged, loved, talked and colored with the abuelitos and you could tell that it was a huge blessing for them.

Last week was probably my hardest week since being here. Found out on Tuesday evening that one of my closest childhood friends had been killed in a car accident. She has two little girls and a wonderful husband. She was a beautiful friend, daughter, mother and wife. She was a second grade teacher. Her life had meaning and she loved so many. I have a hundred memories of growing up with her and our two older brothers. I spent a good chunk of my childhood with her family. Going on beach trips, playing softball, watching our big brothers play baseball, being mistaken for sisters, getting into trouble, a million sleepovers, and getting talked into going on a sled that was attached to a four wheeler( our older brothers were evil), only to end up crashing into a mailbox and having a huge dent in my leg for the rest of my life. I wanted to come back home so bad and attend the funeral with my brother, hug her family, cry with them, and spend time with people who loved her and knew how amazing she was. I didn't get to go home though and I am at peace with that. I heard it was a beautiful service. Her life was celebrated and God recieved much glory. While processing all of this, God showed me what a wonderful community He has placed around me. I went to work on Wednesday with swollen eyes and could not stop crying or get myself together all day. I would be fine and someone would look at me to ask if I was okay and I would just bust out crying again. Over and over, people stopped to pray with me, prayed for Lisa's family and to just hug me. There is one lady at school that I admire very much. Her name is Sol and she is the school nurse. We can't communicate a ton, but when we try I know she loves me and she knows I love her. She saw me and immediately pulled me into a staff bathroom. She asked me in her little bit of English, "what hurts?" In my little bit of Spanish, I tried to tell her my friend had passed away. She just held me and cried with me. Then she said, " I like pray." "Jesus help. Jesus, Your presence, we need, Holy Spirit help, Marianne's friend please help, her family needs you Jesus." Over and over she just called on Jesus in her broken English and it was probably the sweetest experiance I have had since I have been here. People here are so loving. Anytime I stop and question why I am here in Colombia, whether Im lost on the transmileno for an hour, annoyed that I can't communicate like I want to, or homesick, God shows me all the ways He has blessed me and I stop doubting my purpose here immediately. I want to become one of those people who stop and pray for people at anytime, it means so much when you are hurting. Please pray for Lisa's two little girls and her family if you think of it.

More quick updates:

I have started teaching 3 English classes a week outside of school. I was a little bit worried it would be too much at first, but it has turned out to be only a blessing. I love my adult students! We laugh and laugh during our 2 hour classes. It is so much fun that I can't believe I get paid for it. I make them do crazy things like act out commercials or pretend to discuss art while walking through a museum. They get really into the lessons and it makes teaching so enjoyable. It is another great oppurtunity to build relationships with the beautiful people of Colombia. They teach me so much about the culture and language too.

The student that I am discipling, Jannett, is simply amazing. l love my time with her and feel like our relationship has grown a ton in the past few weeks. She tells me everything that is going on in her 10th grade world. I tell her I will beat up all the mean boys and she tells me thats not very Christlike. Highschool is tough, I had forgotten. We have had some neat times studying God's Word, praying together, talking and laughing. This is one of my favorite oppurtunities her. God has used so many women to pour into my life and disciple me over the past years. It is cool to be on the other side of the process of life change.

One of my fellow teachers turned into Santa Claus this past week and brought back two packages from the states for me. Two of my best friends and my sister compiled a whole suitcase of my favorite things. I asked Jamie and Caroline for a lint roller and dove chocolate. They sent me a ton of school supplies, 3 new outfits, stationary, organic products, ACV, 2 lint rollers, a big bag of chocolate and all sorts of things I didn't even know I wanted or needed. My sister sent my favorite coffee, more chocolates, and lots of other treats. Thank you, I felt so loved!

-I got to go on a wonderful weekend getaway to a town called San Gil with three other teachers. Colombia is gorgeous! We enjoyed God's creation and found our adventurous side through white water rafting and rappelling. We stayed in a cool hostel that was cheap and full of the most fun backpackers from around the world. We went exploring in a town called Barichara that was breathtaking and endured some crazy long bus rides. We gave God lots of praise for protection and such a refreshing trip. It made Bogota's rain and cold weather seem a little bit dreary upon returning, but only for a minute. I love this place.

-My prayer partner, Claire, was reunited with her biological family last week. She was adopted from Medellin, Colombia when she was 1 years old and brought the the states. She lived in California and Chicago her whole life. She came to teach here in Bogota this year and immediately started trying to find her birth mom in Medellin. After finding our her mom died 7 years ago (that was really hard), she found her Grandma, 2 Aunts, 2 brothers and 3 nieces!!! She had the best week eating huge plates of food her Grandmother cooked, hugging and crying with her family, and hearing stories about her mom. Huge praise! God is good!

Thanks for being a part of this journey with me and for keeping up with my life in Bogota. Thank you 100 times for your prayers and support. I come home in two months for Christmas and can't wait to see everyone!