seguridad

we went to the us embassy in bogotá today for a security briefing.  it was wicked intense--i have been to a number of embassies, and on quite a number of US military bases, and i have never seen anything like this security wise.  it took us a good two hours to get through the gates and through a maze of ever stricter security blocks, even with all the paperwork and IDs we could think of.  i guess it makes sense, though, considering the close links between the US and the colombian military.

the state department fellows scared us a bit, telling us all the terrible things that could happen to us here, and it seems from their perspective that i´ve actually got the most dangerous placement of them all, as urban crime and violence is much more of a threat than rebels, statistically speaking.  i diligently copied down their advice, "don´t go here, here, and here." one of my fellow bogotá volunteers pointed out that "here" was precisely where we were we would be teaching and living. but honestly, i don´t mind that so much.

we learned a word in spanish class the other day, pupi  i know, we seem to be adopting the maturity level of our 4th grade students, but we all found it quite funny.  it means rich or uppity.  the colombian population is divided into 6 social strata, based on income, and it´s usually used by the bottom four to describe the upper class.  colombian society is incredibly unequal--it has one of the highest gini coefficients in the world, and over half the population lives below the poverty line.  at all costs, i don´t want to have a pupi experience in colombia.  that´s not why i´m here.  i want to spend as much time as possible in the slums to the south of the city, to work in soacha and other areas with high concentrations of people displaced because of the war.  i hope my host family´s poor, i hope i have it rough.  a mentor of mine once told me to stay "in the weeds" as much as possible.  he said that in development speak, that means stay in the field, get your hands dirty.  i intend to do just that.

i have determined, however, that i´ll take the state department fellows´ advice in doing all i can to blend in, and try to make myself seem as colombian as possible.  that will be good not only for security, but also for general social acceptance.  i also think this is a great excuse to get more colombian clothes!  the clothes i brought were nowhere near warm enough for the frigid altitudes of bogotá.  there was too much wishful thinking involved when i stuffed my suitcase with skirts and baby-tees, so i bought a sweater and sweatshirt in town.  and colombian jeans are inexpensive and have absolutely magical properties that make everyone look amazing.  (i am certain that the traveling pants of the famous sisterhood traveled from colombia originally.)  the proper term for the jeans is levantacolas (no don´t laugh, that´s what they´re actually called!), but they´re so popular in colombia that they´ve come to be known as "colombian jeans" around the world.  i´ve spent many an evening with the other girls from the program in the nearby town of cota, trying on piles of pants in the little shops, giggling and squealing at the astounding results of the magical jeans.

my roommate marcella and i spent an evening this week dyeing my hair almost-black.  i was a little nervous at first that i´d mistranslate something on the instructions and wind up with purple hair.  but it turned out great--i love it!  i´ve dyed my hair black a few times before, and as my hair´s already so dark, no one really noticed.  it´s subtle, but i think it does make a difference here in how i´m viewed--both by students in the classroom, muggers at the bus stop, and vendors at the arepa stand.