Friends, Young and Old: Changing Your Perception of What Makes a Friend
Five months ago, I was sitting on the sofa at a friend’s house. I took a sip of my Bloody Mary and then frowned a little, looking around. There were about six of us scattered throughout the living room, sipping drinks and eating a homemade breakfast scramble and chatting. It was your run-of-the-mill friendly Sunday [...]
Nature v. Nurture: On Noise and Dancing
After a year and a half of Peace Corps service in Barranquilla, Colombia, I think I’m closing in on about as “integrated” as I will be. Two things I still find astonishing, however, are the love of noise and dancing abilities of everyone on the coast of Colombia. As a Midwesterner from a small, farm-bordered [...]
Minca Magic
Sometimes magic is hard to find. Then there are those lucky days, when it’s simply everywhere. A few weeks ago, I traveled to my favorite place on the Colombian coast — Minca, a small mountain town above the city of Santa Marta – and had that sort of day. Minca is nestled high in the [...]
Barranquilla Carnaval, 2nd Time Around
It’s not everywhere in the world where months of raucous, citywide, business-paralyzing parties are not only permitted, but heavily encouraged. As the home of the second biggest Carnaval in the world, Barranquilla, Colombia happens to be one of those places. And since the city is also my Peace Corps site, entering my second year serving [...]
A trip home, and some thoughts about (Peace Corps) success
Huddled over a cayenne-and-cinnamon-spiced mug of almond milk-hot chocolate, wriggling my toes in striped wool socks while snow fell outside, I knew I was home. Home for a week-long visit, that is. Visiting the United States for Christmas marked my first time out of Colombia in 14 months as a Peace Corps Volunteer. “There’s No [...]
For the love of…meat?
I have a confession to make. I feel I have to make it before the holidays, since I’ll be home with my beloved family and friends who should probably know this thing about me: I… now eat meat. I am no longer a vegetarian, not even by Colombian standards (chicken, here, is not considered meat). [...]
. [...] "Pin It")
Heard ‘Round the World
In the Peace Corps, we are not supposed to discuss politics. Not local ones, not ones back home. In the most neutral of times at my site in Barranquilla, Colombia, this can be difficult: what to do when a local insists that the United States caused the Holocaust? Or that 9/11 was God’s punishment for [...]
Coffee fun for everyone
Even if you don’t drink coffee, Colombia’s Coffee Triangle is a magical place to visit. I hesitate to write this. If I do, you might race and get your plane tickets. You might decide that even without a traditional tourist infrastructure, Colombia’s interior is too good to miss out on. You’d be right to do [...]
Missing Seasons
Fall, I hear, is fast approaching. I can envision the first few maple trees combusting along the bluffs that line Wisconsin’s stretch of the Mississippi where I grew up, briskness interweaving the evening bridge. The tangy scent of fermenting apples must drift, now, from the yard as early windfalls drop, sour and wrinkle so drunken [...]
Love in the Time of Coastal Living
It’s 9:00pm on a Friday night. Relaxing after a long week of teaching English in Barranquilla, Colombia, I wander out of my bedroom to see what my host family is up to. In the kitchen, my aunt bangs pots and pans in the sink. My mother and a few neighbors sit in a circle of [...]
