La Vida Cotidiana

Maybe one of my biggest challenges since arriving in Barranquilla a week ago has been adjusting to the pace of life here in Colombia. Before I arrived, I read in the accompaniment manual that on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being highly stressful, the daily life of an accompanier is usually a 1 or a 2. This has proved to be true in more ways than I expected.

Last summer when I visited Bogotá and Barranquilla as part of a Witness for Peace delegation, our days were filled with visits to multiple agencies and multiple communities, to the U.S. Embassy and the Colombian military. We were constantly on the go and dealing with information overload.

As an accompanier, I've stepped into the everyday life of these Colombian activists, which means that the pace of life is slower than I imagined. There are occasional meetings and visits to displaced communities, and we attend services at a different church every Sunday, but on a daily basis, accompaniment simply means being present and available as everyone goes about their lives in the office and the city.

Christine and I must seek creative ways to fill our days. Luckily, the office shares a campus with La Universidad Reformada, so we're usually surrounded by students who love sharing their city with us. We've gone out for cocktails, billiards games, birthday parties, meals at restaurants, and, I'm somewhat ashamed to admit, I went to the Buena Vista mall TWICE this weekend (!) (once for ice cream and a bookstore, the second time to see a movie). (Stepping into a Colombian mall is like transporting yourself to a U.S. suburb where everyone speaks spanish and walks reallly slowly.)

In general, life here is more fun than work right now, although this will vary week to week. In the meantime, I'm studying and practicing spanish, prepping for the english class I've been asked to teach, reading, writing, siesta-ing, taking photos, and welcoming this gift of Colombian time and space.