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!