Comedor

Through a program that directly translated means "dining room" in Spanish, the Mennonite church here in La Mesa has endeavored to help feed disadvantaged kids every day after school. This program is known as the "Comedor," and is one of the places that my team and I have been working in. Every day around 12:30 the kids start to trickle into the church building from area schools. Originally the only task we had there was to help serve and bus tables, but almost as soon as they realized that we were North Americans they asked if we would teach them English. Our job has morphed into much more than just waiters, now we are maestras! Every day we pull out the white board and learn things like numbers, colors, animals, and family members.


While there is a definite desire to speak English in La Mesa, I don't feel like that is the main goal of our teaching. Kids need to be loved and nurtured, and they clamor for attention. The greatest gift we can give them is our love, our love that we have the ability to give because God loves us. They learn about God through daily devotions after lunch, but it is different when put into practice. In turn they can teach us so much about life and friendship and family bonds. The other day a girl brought in her two year old brother. She was quite obviously playing mom for the day, although she herself couldn't have been more than ten or eleven years old. I was amazed at the love and care she put into sharing her plate of food with her brother. It is this love that they can share with us, this bond that is strong enough to transcend the reality of siblings taking care of siblings.

There Are Even Violins in Colombia

I have been delighted these last two weeks to find that there are indeed violins in Colombia. What a relief! My host sister Mayra plays in a community orchestra, and on Monday I went with her to practice. The teacher´s name is Mauricio and he´s a really nice guy. It was a little difficult to understand what he was saying...music language in Spanish is a whole other ballgame. (For you musicians out there, a half note is a blanca, a quarter note is a negra, and an eighth note is a corchea.)The teacher kept asking me to play this song or that song, none of which I had played before. It was a little scary! Sometimes he asked me questions, which wouldn´t be a big deal normally, but in Spanish I had no idea what he was asking! Is far as I can understand they were all about rhythm, time signatures, and accents. Plus they play a lot of Colombian songs that have difficult salsa and bolero rhythms.

At one point Mauricio asked me to play something, so I played my little ditty that I wrote in history class last year (yes, I was bored!) Afterwards he asked me if it was written down and whether I could have it written for vioin I, II, viola, cello, and piano for two days later! AH! Luckily I have Spanish class that same time Wednesday so I don´t have to have it ready quite so soon. I´m not sure I have the capabilities to write for viola, cello, and piano. I´ll have to experiment with the music software my host family has and see if I can turn my little history ditty into a string orchestra piece!

Eight Months of Silence

Wow, it seems like it has been forever since I've been home, and yet it was only a little over a week ago that I left Kansas. What a week it has been! We spent last weekend in Miami with the DOOR group there and then on Monday morning we flew out to Bogota. Bogota seemed like such a foreign city! The buses were different, the street signs were different, and the mountains surrounding the city certainly were different than Kansas! We stayed in a hostel there and during the days did some sightseeing and learning from various speakers about culture, safety, and the Colombian Mennonite Church. Then last Friday was the big move: we drove to La Mesa to meet our host families! We were greeted with a reception and many blessings from the families, all of which had to be translated for us!

I was excited to finally meet my host family, the Garzon family. They have been very gracious to me, and although the goal is to be integrated into the family, I still feel somewhat like a guest. Omayra and Jose operate a quite successful drugstore that I visited briefly yesterday. Mayra (my host sister, 12 years old) has played violin for two years, and is rather shy and very beautiful. Elkin (my host brother, 16 years old) has played piano for one year (at least that's what I understand...he told me in Spanish) and is really good. On my first night here they asked me to play something on my violin, and Mayra and Elkin in turn played something for me. It is so cool to be in a house surrounded by musicians! The Garzon house is really nice and quite clean. I have my own room that has one beige wall, one aqua one, one pink one, and one that is primarily a window into the hallway. It's a little small but I have my own bathroom attached, so it's all good!

The hardest thing right now is communication with my family. Elkin speaks a little bit of English and helps translate some, but many times when I don't understand we just look at each other and laugh. They want me to speak in English to them some so they can practice, but asked that I speak slowly. I said sure, as long as they speak slowly to me! Amy, Steph and I have a running joke going on now that this will be the ultimate silent retreat: eight months! The three of us don't speak as much Spanish as Melina and Karin, so we have similar difficulties understanding and speaking. Hopefully by Christmas we will be able to break our silence!