America is Doing it Wrong

A lot of people have asked me what my life is like here, how I’m doing, how are my classes, what the family’s like, etc. It’s weird to already be on month two, because like I said last time, the time has gone by so fast. A lot has happened, and I’ve already learned so much; so let’s catch up on a month’s worth of stories.

First of all, let’s meet the family. I won’t use last names, but I don’t think anyone really cares if their first name is on here. There is Tania and Andres, the mom and dad, Camila and Alejandra, the two older sisters, and Andrea and Carolina, the twins. Camila got married this past summer so she doesn’t live here with us but she served a mission in California and will talk to me in English sometimes. Alejandra turned 20 a few weeks ago, and is currently living at home but spends a lot of time at school where she’s studying law. The twins are 17, and I hang out with them all day long. I go to the almost all of my classes with them, go around town with them, and even share a room with Andrea (the only reason they put us together is because of our names). It does get confusing once in a while because we have the same name, but they just pronounce my name in english and hers in Spanish to make things a bit easier (Andreeuh vs Ahndraya). The family is super sweet and home life is pretty laid back. I can sleep whenever and as much as I’d like, as long as I’m getting my homework done. They also have a maid who comes by every other day or so, which means my only household chores are to keep my room organized, and put my dishes in the dishwasher when I’m done with them. That’s literally it. Of course, I do help out when needed, but it’s way less work than I had in Utah. None of the daughters know how to cook either, so I like to help out with that especially; mostly because I actually enjoy it. It’s nice to have such a lack of responsibilities, but I still try to pitch in and do my part.

The absence of school in my life has really given me a lot of freedom as well. I get to schedule my day according to how I want to spend it; which has made me so much happier overall and has actually helped me be more productive as well. This control over my daily life is one of the biggest reasons I don’t regret leaving home. People have asked if I’m sad that I’ll miss my Junior year of high school. The truth is that there’s really nothing substantial that I’ll miss other than my friends and maybe even the events like dances and sports games. High school has its pros, but yeah, I’m not really sad to be missing a year of it. I get a whole year of sleeping in as long as I want to, my online classes are pretty easy so far with very minimal homework, and I get to take art classes, eat at bakeries, and watch movies instead of spending 6 hours a day in a classroom. It’s too bad that I have to do my Senior year still once I get back, but I’m grateful to have this one year off of high school that most people don’t get. All in all, it’s pretty amazing.

Every once in a while we’ll switch it up and do something out of the ordinary like eat out or go to the movies, etc. Here’s a picture of us having lunch at Frisby’s, basically the Colombian version of KFC (but I think better), and the fried chicken came with plastic gloves for us to wear. First of all, why is this not a thing in the states? It’s actually genius and made the whole fried chicken eating experience so much better. Second of all, there actually is KFC here (I even saw a KFC kiosk), but it’s not as good so nobody really cares about it.Basically, KFC needs to step up their game.

Fried chickeeen. Andrea doesn't like showing her beautiful face in pictures

We’ve also gone to the temple a couple times, and it was packed. The first time we only did confirmations because it was that crowded. It takes about an hour to get there, but mostly because of the traffic in Bogotá. My first weekend here, we went to the temple and afterwards went out for lunch with a bunch of the families in the stake presidency. That week was stake conference, and was when I was first introduced to the majority of the people I know now. This is the family that put me in touch with Andres and Tania. They were another option for me to live with, but they have 13 yr old twins who both speak English. We figured I wouldn’t learn as fast if I lived with English speakers so I didn’t go with them. They are a really sweet family though, and we’ve gotten together with them several times. Fun fact about the twins, one looks like Zendaya, and the other talks so fast that even his English is hard to keep up with. Bless his soul.

Twins on the ends and either side of me.

Although Colombia is technically considered a third world country, it has many prominent aspects that makes it feel just as (if not more) nice as living in the US. One example would be the malls. The shopping centers are incredibly modern, and there was even one that we went to that would make the University Mall weep in shame. El Centro Comercial Fontanar was stunning. I did find it really funny that H&M and Forever 21 are considered really nice (cuz they’re newly available here) and are even on par with stores like Zara and Topshop. I don’t know about you, but for me XXI and H&M are the cheaper, more affordable clothes you can find at the mall. We’ve seen two movies so far in the theaters: Alpha and Johnny English Strikes Again. First of all, I don’t recommend seeing either, both were bad even in Spanish. Sadly, there weren’t a lot of options so we had to settle. Second of all, I was so impressed with the theater food. What the actual heck are Megaplex and Cinemark doing with their money? Americans have no idea what they’re missing out on. They served nachos, hotdogs, kettle corn, slushies, etc. That’s the normal stuff. There was also a restaurant selling sushi to take in the theater, and another one that offered pizza. Overall, the malls in Colombia are doing it right.

Pointless picture of us waiting in line at the movies

Cute carousel inside the mall

Weird but cool chairs also at the mall

A couple weeks ago we visited this beautiful lakeside town called Guatavita. It had very Mediterranean-esque architecture, and the landscape was stunning. The town itself was pretty quiet and empty at the time, which helped it feel even more like a little paradise from Spain. It was way up in the mountains amongst forests and fields, and was just so stinkin cute. Ugh I loved it. Please enjoy these lovely photos taken in the town and by the lake. There are a lot. And excuse the vertical center alignment. Blogger is not very user friendly and this is the only way I could get the pictures to work without warping them and creating a huge mess.

I really liked this clock tower

Beautiful action shot

Pretty typical of me

I feel like a tourist

We also went to a wedding a couple weeks ago, and although I enjoyed it, I was told it wasn’t much of a party compared to most Colombian weddings. We showed up around 9:30, which I thought was super late, but we didn’t actually start eating or dancing until 10:20. They served a full on dinner, and there were lots of… interesting games… that I’m sure are tied to traditions. I had a good time, but I was so tired before long that by the time we actually left around 1, I was ready to crash. Colombian’s do not mess around, but considering the fact that that wasn’t even a party to them, I have a lot to look forward to. Especially because Alejandra got engaged a couple weeks ago, and she’s getting married in January! Her fiance is pretty cool, and I’m told that I get to be a bridesmaid. I’m pretty excited.

Alright, the last thing I’ll mention will be general conference which happened just a couple days ago. We watched every session in the church building in Suba which is a convenient 45 minutes away (once again, mostly because of traffic). It was definitely different than the lounging on the couch in my pajamas that I’m used to, but I actually didn’t mind it too much. I guess not everybody goes to the chapel to watch, but they told me that because Andres (the dad) is the stake president, it’s kind of expected for us. I was fortunate enough to be able to watch it in English in the family history center. Tania accompanied me (bless her) so I wouldn’t be alone, but there were others in there anyways. They were missionaries, one from Idaho and the other his companion who didn’t speak English. Not sure why he was in there. We just watched on the computers with headphones on, each person in their respective language. Get this, the missionary from Idaho is actually more specifically from Shelley, the town my cousins live in. This was pretty wild because NO ONE lives in Shelley. They’re high school’s mascot is a freaking russet potato, which just goes to show… Anyways, it was just a wild coincidence that I’ve been to and even lived in Shelley for months at a time, and this guy who I meet in Colombia grew up there. It really is a small world after all. It was interesting finding out his perspective and experience of living in Colombia, one gringo to another. It also gave me a little boost of confidence finding out that he’s been in the field for three months already, but his Spanish is sooo much worse than mine. I’m not trying to judge him or anything, language is different for everyone, but it was reassuring to know that I’ve been here for half the time but can actually communicate effectively. Especially compared to someone who spent two months straight learning only Spanish in the MTC. I guess I’ll take this opportunity to add a little update on how my Spanish is coming. I still use Duolingo and Memrise a lot, but I’ve been pushing myself to talk to people more, little by little, day by day. I feel like I can understand a lot more, and I’m at the level where I can actually hold a conversation with strangers. In fact, I did just that last night at our voice concert, and they said they had no idea I was from the States until I told them. It felt really good to know that my accent could pass as native. I’m feeling really optimistic. Now I just need to speak as well as I can understand. Anyways, back to the point, conference was pretty decent. This was the first time I’ve actually paid attention to every single talk without falling asleep once, and I really enjoyed all the messages about serving one another and loving thy neighbor, etc. Also, 2 hour church!?! Crazy right?! That’s all I have to say about that.

I hope you all had a great September, and once again I’m apologizing for missing a week. This time was less of my fault though, because halfway through writing this I went to bed and when I woke up the computer had decided to start updating itself overnight. Unfortunately this dumb computer literally took DAYS to finish updating, and there was nothing I could do about it. We’re back though, so it’s all good. Also, I'm so proud of all the pictures I included. I'm not the kind of person to take pictures everywhere I go, so this is quite the accomplishment. I'll even add a few bonus ones below just for fun. I just might even have another post out in a couple days, because we’re on a break. For everyone else, there’s no school which translates to no seminary for me this week! Yeah, forgot to mention that. It’s kinda like Colombia’s fall break, except it’s like the only one all year. I still have my art classes though, so I won’t be completely bored all week. Also, once again, hit the subscribe button if you’d like to be notified every time I upload a new vide-I mean blog. (Am I an influencer yet?) Yep, life’s pretty good, yadda yadda ya, stay chévere, and be kind to one another.