life has been getting busier and busier as we get ready to head out of here. this week i received my flight itinerary, leaving at 845 tuesday morning, may 5. looking forward to getting to the coast and beginning some training time out there and getting to zambrano. feels like its been a long time coming. on the other hand, it is sad to think about the goodbyes. seems as though i've finally built some community and solid relationships here in bogota, just in time to leave. i think we're all grieving a bit, but for the most part, the majority of the group is really excited to finally get to our assignment locations. in these last two weeks we're cramming a lot in, which makes the time go even faster.
last week, as part of our "development" theme, we visited cazuca, an area just south of bogota, that has approximately 500.000 displaced people. two of our participants - jordan and diana - will be living and working in cazuca with development projects, mostly working with young kids. cazuca is a whole different side of bogota that we hadn't been able to see yet, and it was really good to visit. i think it visually showed us a reality we've been talking about for months, gave us a chance to experience a small window of it. the living conditions in cazuca are some of the worst i've seen, i think. we actually visited a few houses, while, although a good experience to see i guess, was really ackward and uncomfortable. one of the women who lives in bogota and commutes daily to cazuca, with whom diana will be working, gave us what felt like a tour of a few houses. i felt like i was in a museum, it was so uncomfortable. we'd show up at a house and ask to come in and while we were there she'd ask questions about how many people lived there, what they're living conditions were like, etc. i think it opened a number of eyes, but personally i felt like it was at the expense of the people's dignity, which i was really uncomfortable, and, well, pretty ticked off about. seemed as though they were trying to evoke pity and, to me, seemed really inappropriate. the visit also brought up a number of questions between group members about what it means to live in solidarity, i think. how do we, as mccers, live in these situations when we have more resources? i tend to think we should be living in the same conditions, which mcc agrees with, however for some it may end up wearing on emotional health. interesting questions to ask, at least, and see the difference between group members and our tendencies. seeing cazuca made me really anxious to see my own placement, too.
on saturday i went to paloque mao, the largest market here in bogota. it was wonderful and made me sad i hadn't been there before in these three months. there were unbelievable amounts of fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers, spices, meat...just incredible. and extremely cheap. jordan and i had a wonderful morning walking around smelling the fresh fruits and veggies and flowers. and it made me even more excited for when i can get a gardenish something going on the coast once i arrive.
i've been alone in the apartment this week. we had an accident last week and diana ran into a playground bar and fractured her nose in two places. so monday she had surgery, and opted to stay here in the apartment where she could be with the group during the day, rather than being at home alone. i think the 5 flights of stairs sounded a bit much, also. she's doing much better, and everything went well, just in the recuperation stage now.
the addition to our apartment, however, came last night with the arrival of MY MATTRESS. finally, after i don't know how many weeks of bad sleep, i finally got my butt in gear to buy a mattress. i love shopping so much i think i was there for a maximum of 10 min. laid down, asked the price (pretty cheap), and bought it. my three companions thought i was crazy for deciding so quickly, but i slept on it last night and awoke thinking i was in paradise. ha. not really, but it was wonderful. so, two weeks of a great mattress. its something, at least.
this week we've been talking about peace building. its been a good week, although i'm sensing our group to be functioning somewhat like a second grade classroom at the end of the year when their focus is...terrible. ha.
my cilantro plant has two solid leaves now. oh, and i transplanted some mint that i bought at paloque mao, which i'm almost 100% positive will NOT work, but we're trying our best. ha.
sorry, my only pictures are those of when i was goofing around with my camera with its macro-zoom lens, taking pictures of the flowers i bought for 50 cents. and diana took a few pictures of the view of bogota out my bedrom window. faces next time. much love to all.