The final countdown

I KNOW, BOSTON. I don't understand why anyone would want to leave you, either.

Okay, so this is it. At 9 a.m. tomorrow, I’m on a flight to JFK, then it’s off to Bogotá that afternoon. My brain is not so much wrapped around this whole ditching-the-country-for-a-year business, although saying goodbye to what feels like everyone I know over the last week or so has impressed upon me that something, at least, is happening.

A brief logistical note, for all of my fans: We’re spending most of January in orientation/training, in a town called Cota, which is here, just outside Bogotá. We do not have consistent (or possibly any? The details of this are slightly unclear) internet access while we’re there. Even if we did, we’re apparently getting our brains stuffed full of all kinds of information about how to teach English and what the hell the pluperfect tense is and occasionally, how not to behave in a way that will reflect poorly on the US, because we’re representatives of the country etc. Point being, I will probably not be updating this blog much, if at all, during the month of January. Do not assume this means I’ve already been kidnapped. It doesn’t. I’m just busy, learning how to try to do my job. If it’s possible to update it, I’ll do my best, but don’t expect much action around there here parts between now and the end of the month.

On that note, however, I am pleased to offer a bit of last-minute advice to anyone else considering international travel sometime in the near future. I present to you…

An Expert’s Guide To: The Mature Way to Flee the Country

Waiting for your friend in Panera, unsure whether or not she’s already arrived, you wander slowly downstairs, just in case she’s already at a table. Upon clearing the blocked view of the ceiling, you spy, sitting at a table with some random blonde girl, your Terrible Ex-Sort-of-Boyfriend from freshman year of college. How to deal with this situation like an adult:

1. Proceed to almost fall down the stairs in shock, because what in the name of Rob Gronkowski is he doing here? You work on this block! This is YOUR turf. There is an invisible “Step Off It” sign hanging all around the greater Camberville area, and it is to be respected.

2. Whirl gracefully around, creating a blinding flash of swirling color in your bright green peacoat. CIA experts and decades of research can confirm that this is the most effective way to stay incognito.

3. Scamper back up the stairs as quickly as physically possible without sounding like a herd of stampeding, Lion King-esque wildebeest.

4. Feel incredibly proud of yourself for how well you confront surprising and mildly horrifying situations. Feel totally prepared for anything South America is going to throw at you.

I’m so ready for this. Bring it, Colombia 2012!

Geography lessons

So, it’s Bogotá! Word came down from on high this week, and in exactly 17 days, I’ll begin waging my campaign to convince Bogotá that it wants to be my home. It’s hard for me to express how excited I am about this, and even harder for me to say with certainty why I’m excited. Or, more accurately, I don’t yet have the slightest idea of ALL the reasons I should be excited, and I won’t know them until I’m there. Or maybe even until I leave and start to figure out what I miss.

But I’m getting ahead of myself here. The point is: BOGOTÁ! For those of you who failed seventh-grade geography, that’s the capital of Colombia, home to about 8 million people and perched way up in the Andes, right about in the geographic center of the country. As an unabashed city girl who’s never lived more than 8 miles from a major urban center in my life (and has no intention of doing so anytime in the immediate future), I couldn’t be more thrilled about my placement. I can’t wait to get lost in Bogotá, and even more than that, I can’t wait until I’m at the point where I stop getting lost and begin to actually know where I am.

If you need me, I’ll be spending the next two and a half weeks dreaming about mountains.