God's Got This

I've been reminded by more than a few people that I need to write a new post. So here is an update! I really haven't had much time to myself. From going to projects, hanging out with the housemates, and going to the corner store a couple blocks by our house, I have been so busy! Ok, so I survived the nine hour layover in Miami, but barely. There are some truly odd people out and about in the airport at 3 A.M. Then in Bogota, I almost had a meltdown. I could not find my gate, the security wouldn't let me through and kept harassing me asking if I had a boyfriend. Finally, after a stressful hour and a half, I got to my gate and loaded to Cartagena. On the plane, no flight attendant would speak to me in Spanish. This really wasn't bad because I do speak Spanish, but some of them were a little harder to understand. Luckily, I met a man who fluently spoke English and Spanish. He was asking me about my life and why I was going to Cartagena, and he asked me about my faith. He then showed me a bracelet that made me feel so optimistic about life. It said God's God This. He told me about his wife and kids and how he wants to do the work that I'm doing because being an international tax attorney really isn't helping anyone and makes him feel like he's not doing God's work. I never thought a grown man who is a lawyer and has a wonderful family would be envious of what me, a poor college kid is doing. He was so encouraging! Once I landed, I was picked up and taken to my apartment on a bitaxi, a taxi on bike. I felt so bad for the "diver" as he pedaled, me, a staff member named Carlos, and my two suitcases. Once I arrived, I was introduced to the house mates, and shown my room. I live with four other girls, and they are AMAZING. Sara and Tori are from Albany New York, Martina is from Argentina, and Rachel is from the UK. We are all so different but so far we really get along. Which is good because our room is small and it is so hot and humid here to the point where I have almost cried from being so uncomfortable. It gets better though each day, as I get more used to it. That night we went to the corner store, our new hangout and drank a couple beers and got to know each other even better. the next day was training, and Monica, the leader of the group, asked us to find someone we hadn't met or spoken to, and we all said that we knew everyone and she looked surprised. This group just really connects. We all talk and are totally comfortable breaking out in small groups and mixing with one another. After our training, we went to the bar to watch the soccer game and then came home and went to our corner store. The next couple of days have been filled with experimenting with projects, from daycare to teaching English on an island. This weekend we went and watched the Colombia game in the Center, and then we came back to our house and ate pizza! Today was filled with watching soccer games, going to the beach, and now we are about to start our evening! I'm feeling very lucky to be here, and I cannot believe a full week has passed!