It is time for us to check out the school! El Camino Academy (http://eca.edu.co/) is about 3 mile/5 km away from us, so we could walk or run there if we wanted to or needed to. This time we went with Glenda on the bus. We walked two blocks or so to the 'bus stop' and found out which bus to get on. It cost 1300 pesos (right now it is 1800 pesos to the Canadian dollar and 1730 for a US dollar). I guess that was the cheap bus, the other one was around 1700. We got to see both entrances to the school grounds. The whole school has a fence/wall around it with barbed wire on the top then there is at least one guard on at all times. We met Santiago, one of the guards who has been at the school for many, many years! Glenda then gave us a tour of the school and we met a lot of people. We were introduced to all the principals and the director (who all seem very nice) as well as a number of wonderful office staff members. The school just finished a new phase of their transformation. So there is a new building to house the classrooms, office and library. It is beautiful! The old building is being renovated and some of it was demolished to make room for their new soccer field, which in theory will be ready when school starts in just under two weeks. When we saw it, it was being dug up and had a rather large piece of machinery in the middle of it. But from what I've heard they have the sod all ready to go in on Aug 6th. We've been told that they would appreciate it if we used the outdoor court for the first few weeks. That is fine with us since it is also very nice and looks pretty new. We also have access to an indoor facility in the old building but it has rather low ceilings and currently is filled with stuff. Next we saw where our offices are going to be, they were locked up and one was filled with stuff as well. So they have a lot of work to do but I guess they've come a long way. After lunch with some of the staff members, we caught a ride with the head architect who was working on the school and is a parent of an ECA student. He was really nice and use to be an olympic fencer! We were dropped off to tour some apartments and visit some other new teachers. This was all on the West side of the autopista (the main North/South highway). The two areas that teachers usually live in are 3 or 4 blocks from each other, so really it isn't a big deal at all. We did a lot of walking and talking to a lot of people. Oh, we got to stop at a bakery and try a couple treats! Yum! We also met some newer teachers who live in the complex we are currently staying in. Oh goodness we met a lot of people and had dinner at Glen and Glenda's apartment then chatted with them before heading to bed.
Saturday we got up early (I was awake at 7:00) but we weren't suppose to go over to Glen and Glenda's till 9 to make waffles. After breakfast we went in their car with them to tour the local grocery and produce stores then further towards downtown to look at bikes. We found the bike district and a lot of really nice bikes; however, we do not want nice bikes since they are more likely to get stolen. I think we also stopped at a couple furniture places as well. There is such a range of prices for household items and furniture. It seems like you can really save a lot of money just by shopping around. They have a store like Ikea but it is extremely expensive. I mean the furniture and other items are really nice and seem to be pretty good quality but really expensive. We were going to go back to school to drop off some supplies that had been brought back to Colombia but we ended up going to another teacher's house first and there wasn't enough time. So we had chicken, potatoes and a mango/lettuce salad at Mel's place. And seriously we started getting ready for bed around 9:00. That is a big adjustment for me. I am use to staying up really late and sleeping in. Here that is not the norm. Here the sun is up at 6:30 and down by 6:30, so people are up way earlier. I just found out today that during the school year the van that picks up all the teachers comes at 6:30 AM and school starts at 7:30! Please pray for me!
Sunday (this morning), we went to a Spanish church with Melody. It was so warm and welcoming! We did understand bits of what the pastor talked about and some of the lyrics to the songs. We brought along a Spanish Bible as well as one English one. So we got to follow along in both. I took down all the notes from the power point slides then translated them when we got home. But the people at the church were so friendly! I have never had so many hugs and kisses from people at church! It was great! We met a few other ECA staff members and they got to practice their English and we attempted to comprehend some conversational Spanish. Then on our walk home we stopped in for rotisory chicken, potatoes and empanadas (they weren't very good but we were warned not to judge all empanadas on these ones). After lunch we stopped by the second largest mall in South America, which is just across the autopista from us. There we were able to convert some American money that we had and found out that there is a much better exchange rate for Canadian... who knew! But I have only seen one non-bank place to exchange money. In the Dominican there are money changers everywhere. Oh well, we know where to go now. Since we had some pesos, we bought some pots/pans and silverware before heading home. We had an appointment to view an apartment in the same complex we are staying in and it went really well. The only issue other than some lights that were being fixed and hadn't been put back in the walls, was that the main floor bedroom smelled musty. The realtor called the owner and found out that he had hand washed the carpet then left it to dry with the windows closed. So they were going to get it all cleaned and properly aired out before we would move in. We really, really love the place and are praying that things work out for us to move in. I guess it would take a day for paper work then three days to make sure it was cleaned and aired out. So hopefully by the end of the week we should be moved in... Lord willing! Our orientation for new teachers starts on Wednesday. Matt and Melody made soup for supper and it turned out really good. They used the leftover bones from the chicken from last night to make the stock as well as the leftover chicken from lunch! Chicken is very popular here. I guess the beef is rather tough. We'll probably still get some to try it.
Anyway, our big adventure for tomorrow is to go shopping by ourselves to find pizza toppings. There is yet another brand new teacher living with an ECA family who lives on the fourth floor that is going to come on our adventure tomorrow. So we are hoping that three people who each know a little Spanish will equal one person who knows a bit more! I'm more worried about getting lost, especially places that don't have street signs on all the streets, but Matt's good with directions in all places. I can find my way to certain places but not everywhere. So keep praying for us as we are working on our Spanish, and exploring Bogota! Thanks for reading!
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