Kate in Colombia

back to bogota!

2011-04-29T17:11:00.003-05:00

I'm blogging (after 8 months of being back in the states) because I am leaving tonight to visit Bogotá! Brittany and I have been talking about this return trip since we left Colombia and the day has finally arrived. We are going to stay with Myriam, our amazing host mom, for a little less than a week. Though it will be a short visit, words can't express how incredibly excited I am to see our kids at the missions and the rest of our Colombian family.

My church youth group is sending over clothes, toys, letters and special gifts for all of the children. My checked bag full of everything just made it at 48 pounds! A big thanks to St. Andrew the Fisherman church in Edgewater, MD for continuing to support this special relationship with the churches in Bogotá.

I'll keep you updated!

Love, Kate

homecoming

2010-09-09T20:24:00.010-05:00

August 24, 2009: I left for Colombia with a big smile on my face, ready for an adventure in Bogota.

August 24, 2010: I flew back home to the states with a big smile on my face, knowing that I'll be back to visit Colombia as soon as possible. It was an incredible year!

After leaving Bogota at 730am, I arrived in Houston! After about 2 hours of customs, immigration, intensive bag searches, and rechecking my bags to Baltimore, I ran out to international arrivals to spend the rest of my layover (we ended up pushing my flight back to spend more time together) with my awesome boyfriend, Sam! He met me with open arms, flowers, and a big "USA" gift basket full of my favorite foods that I had missed so much this past year. I opened the bag of tostitos right away...so good.

Hard to beat a homecoming like that, right? Well, it got even better when I arrived in Maryland. I saw the big "bienvenidos" sign and Colombia and USA colored balloons right away. My grandparents, parents, and best friend, Suzi were all there waiting for me.

Life back in the states has been great so far! My first few days I had trouble remembering that I don't have to speak spanish and that toilet paper doesn't go in the trash can. I was a little nervous to start driving again, but Annapolis roads are much easier/safer than those in Bogota!

I started classes the day after I arrived. I've already been to a Navy football game and taken a microbiology test. I've been back to St. Andrew the Fisherman church and felt so at home. We had our annual labor party on September 4 and it was awesome to see friends and family again! It's good to be home.

I still expect to wake up every morning in the church basement, ready for a day in Usme. I miss my kids in Colombia more than anything. I have yet to really sit back and reflect on my year away and honestly, I don't even know where to start. This weekend I have a presentation about Colombia at my church. I am really looking forward to the YASC re-entry retreat in New York this October.

Thanks for all of your love and support throughout this year!

Love, Kate

last few days in colombia

2010-08-27T14:54:00.005-05:00

Saturday: Anna and I went to Usme for a big health brigada. There were about 150 people there throughout the day and they all paid 1,000 Colombian Pesos (50 cents) for a full day of doctor's visits and a hair cut. There were optometrists, physical therapists, general physicians, lawyers, and barbers. While the families did the rounds, I helped the general physicians while Anna worked with the kids. It was a big day and our kids looked great after their haircuts!

Sunday: My last Sunday was spent in Soacha. My dad flew in to deliver pillows that were made by kids from my church in Maryland. When we walked into the church, one kid yelled "la gringa!!!" and about 15 kids ran up to me with big smiles and lots of hugs. It was a great service and the kids all came up to 'lay hands' as padre carlos gave me a 'goodbye' blessing. After the service we went upstairs and delivered the pillows. The kids loved them! It was so cool for them to know that they were made by kids in the US. Thanks to St. Andrew the Fisherman Vacation Bible School for making them! I've seen the community in Soacha grow throughout this past year and I met so many strong people there. I am so grateful for Padre Carlos and his amazing family for welcoming me into such a special place.

Monday: My last day in Usme with my kids in the after school program. It was a fun day and they absolutely loved the pillows. They all made bracelets and wrote notes for the kids in Maryland and then we watched a video of our year together. Watching that video and hearing the kids laugh reminded me of how special this year was with them. It was hard to leave my nenos but I feel much better knowing that Anna is there to continue our work with them. I can't believe that our time together is already over and I will miss them so much!

Tuesday: I was off to the airport early in the morning for a 7am flight to Houston. I arrived home in Maryland at 1130 at night. More on my homecoming in the next blog!

Love, Kate

anna moves to bogota and darcy visits!

2010-08-18T17:58:00.015-05:00

As I waited for Anna at the airport on August 12, I thought back to my arrival a little less than a year before. I remember long lines and a huge crowd waiting for people at the airport exit. Her arrival wasn't much different, with 5 planes all arriving at once. After finding her in the crowd, we went to Myriam's apartment, where Anna will be staying for at least a month.

A couple of days later, one of my best friends from high school arrived for a five day visit. It was perfect timing because I was able to show them the city at the same time. Being their tour guide was a lot of fun. Here are some highlights of our time together:

Checking out the city from Monserrate:

Helping Anna buy a 40,000 colombian peso (20$) guitar from an open market. Spending time with Panchon was a lot of fun!

Spending time with my Colombian mom, Myriam and taking her out to dinner!

Padre Diego introducing Anna to the cathedral congregation and saying goodbye to everyone on my last Sunday there.

Teaching Anna the transmilenio system. Doesn't look like she was paying much attention....

Spending time walking through the center with our new friend, Andres. People thought we were famous because we had a 'police escort'!

Playing 'memory' with the kids. Thanks Major family for the cards!

Making picture frames with the kids in Usme. Darcy brought the pictures that were printed at Wal-mart. Toots and Grandpa sent foam picture frames and things to decorate them. All the children went home with a picture of themselves and their "profes", Brittany and me.

Welcome to Colombia, Anna and thanks for visiting, Darcy!

Love, Kate

medellin/quito

2010-08-12T13:00:00.010-05:00

Medellin was once known as the most violent city in the world. Today it is a beautiful city full of happy people. It's a perfect example of the resilience and optimism of the Colombian people. Brittany and I stayed at the church and ate breakfast every morning watching about sixty 3-5 year olds at Medellin's Episcopal School. The kids were adorable and they had some amazing teachers.

Lorena, Juan and their seven year old niece, Samara were our tour guides throughout our three days in Medellin. They showed us Colombia's impressive metro, complete with a teleferico to take people to their houses up on a hill. We went to Plaza Botero, full of Botero's statues..you can't help but love them. We were there for the Feria de Flores (flower festival) and saw a concert in a park on our last night!

From Medellin, I flew to Quito to spend a few days with one of my best friends from college, Raleigh. He has been teaching english there for almost seven weeks to teenagers. They all love him and are learning really quickly. I think it's due to the fact that they have such a great teacher...I even learned a few things! He surprised me with a trip to the pacific coast where we spent two nights in a cute beach town, Manta. It was relaxing and fun to get away from the city. It was so great to experience another culture and to spend some time with Raleigh!

Arriving back in Bogota felt like arriving home. Brittany left last Sunday so I really miss having her around but Anna (the next YASCer) arrives tonight! I have two weeks left in Bogota and really can't believe how quickly a full year has flown by. My remaining time here will be spent helping Anna transition to her new life in Colombia, spending as much time at the missions as possible, sharing my life in Bogota with a best friend from high school, and finding a way to say goodbye to a beautiful country that has become my home throughout this past year.

Love, Kate

bucaramanga

2010-07-31T21:22:00.014-05:00

Yes...bu-car-a-man-ga. It's the name of a city that Brittany and I visited last week. We stayed with Padre Jorge and his wife, Esmeralda and they were so welcoming and hospitable. We heard over and over again how much they wished we could stay longer than four days so that they could show us everything. We would have loved to stay, but we had to get back to spend some time at the mission before our next trip to Medellin.

The first morning, we visited the church's mission with Ernesto, a missioner of the church. We drove up a dirt, rocky road and finally arrived at a very poor community up on a hill called Pueblo Viejo. The view was amazing and we couldn't believe that there was actually a neighborhood so secluded from the city. As we cleaned off the makeshift benches, Ernesto rang the bell to notify everyone that the church service would soon be starting. Families started to arrive and we had a really nice service on top of the hill.

Afterwards, there was a sunday school class and we ate lollipops with the kids. They were intrigued by our english and asked when we'd be back. We decided that we'd try to come back as soon as possible after we saw the church's land and heard about their future plans. Next time though, we would like to bring a mission trip to help build a school and church. The Bishop of the Diocese of West Virginia has expressed an interest in taking a trip to Colombia and we are excited about working together to make this happen.

We also went to Padre Jorge's service later that day. It was a very interesting and lively 2.5 hours. As always in Colombia, we were welcomed with open arms and were given the opportunity to talk about our years here. Another highlight of our trip was when we visited a colonial village close to Bucaramanga called Girón where all the buildings are white with black doors and brown roofs. It was a very pretty town and a nice break from the city. We walked around trying to find their speciality, fried ants, but didn't have any luck. Don't worry...I bought some at the airport on our way out! Thanks again to Padre Jorge and his wife for a great visit!

Love, Kate

heyyy macarena

2010-07-24T10:48:00.003-05:00

We met the bishop of West Virginia, Mike Klusmeyer, and his wife Marsha last week. West Virginia has recently become Colombia's other 'sister' diocese (along with Connecticut). Bishop Klusmeyer and his wife were here to get to know the diocese and Bishop Duque of Colombia. We met with them on one of their first days here to talk about our work and lives here in Bogota. They had lots of questions for us and it was nice to be able to speak english!

We went to Usme to show them our kids and the mission. We had a lot of fun that day teaching the kids a country line dance and the macarena. The best part is that both bishops and their wives joined in!

The day after we went to Usme, it was a national holiday because Colombia turned 200! During the day, Sam and I checked out the big concert in parque simon bolivar and saw Colombia's current and future presidents speak. Then, we went downtown to grab an early dinner before the main event in the plaza. The doors opened from 4-7 to get into the plaza for the bicentennial show. Apparently all of bogota arrived early (definitely a first) because the entrance was closed by 5. Brittany, Sam and I couldn't even move in the crowd of frustrated colombians who were trying to push through. We decided to take advantage of a hotel contact and ended up on the roof of hotel casa deco with a bottle of wine watching some great fireworks. It ended up being a perfect way to celebrate Colombia's 200th birthday!

Today, Brittany and I are flying to Bucaramanga to visit a mission for about four days. Also, today marks my 11th month here! I can't believe how quickly time has passed. See you in a month!

Love, Kate

san pablo vbs

2010-07-21T16:00:00.013-05:00

After a great trip to Cartagena, we jumped right into our last VBS in Bogota with San Pablo church, the one we attend almost every weekend. All of the children came from a poor neighborhood about 25 blocks above us. We met a lot of children from this neighborhood back during novena (the nine days before christmas). Like novena, the families said that the program would be best at night, when they could bring their kids down after work. The first night, we were waiting at 6pm with our t-shirts and songs ready. We decided to get started around 620 with only about seven kids. Around 645, ten more kids showed up and we had to adjust the schedule to make sure everyone could make a shirt, sing the songs and play. By the last day, we had over 20 kids and they started arriving at 5.

After the last day of VBS, the kids walked all 25 bocks up the hill with a few parents to their houses. It was pouring rain and they didn't have umbrellas. They told us later that the kids all arrived soaked to their houses but were so happy to have new t-shirts and some treats from the US that my boyfriend Sam brought.

The kids loved Sam and Brittany and I were so grateful for his help. Moises was a little boy who is one of eight children. He kept acting out and leaving the group because he wanted attention. Brittany and I were getting frustrated because Moises is one of the kids who we know best. We were counting on him to be a good example, but he just couldn't handle us sharing our attention with a group of other kids. Sam took him in as his little helper to solve the problem and his behavior completely changed.

Thanks again to everyone who helped us make these programs possible. We have been able to have five vacation bible schools all over colombia with your donations!

VBS ended and we went to Soacha for our usual Saturday program. Like I have mentioned before, Soacha is outside of the city and is where the majority of the internally displaced families start their new lives. For that reason, our group of kids is constantly changing. This past Saturday, we had four new children from the same family. The entire group was really well behaved and they loved their new hot wheels cars and hair accessories from the states (thank you Major family!).

This week, Brittany and I have been showing the bishop of West Virginia our work/Bogota and celebrating Colombia's 200th birthday. We are also preparing for a quick trip to visit a mission in Bucaramanga this weekend.

Love, Kate

mission trip with the diocese of connecticut

2010-07-07T17:43:00.013-05:00

Last week, Brittany and I flew to the coast and met up with a mission group of 11 from connecticut. This was our first time working with other americans and we were excited to experience a new part of colombia with them. We arrived and went straight to planning. The plan was to have 4 VBS programs between the 13 people. We were told there would be about 25 kids at each location. That number ended up doubling as we had almost 40-50 kids at each location!

My group was placed at San Francisco mission for 3 days. It was the farthest away and was built on top of an old trash dump. We started with a bible story, sang songs, drew pictures, made bracelets, played with the parachute and gave them juice boxes and cookies. The ages ranged from 3-16 and we had more kids join us every day. Since there were only 3 american leaders and one colombian woman (Betty) helping us with the 40+ kids, the best way I can describe those days is organized chaos. The kids loved it and they all left with big smiles and their art projects.

Every day, the kids would get on our bus with us until we reached their houses. They were so excited to get on a big air conditioned bus and it was incredible to see their faces light up for those few minutes. On our last day it was tough to say goodbye. Betty had tears in her eyes as we hugged goodbye and the kids didn't want to let go of us.

We also visited a mission church in Malambo, about 3 hours away. It was worth the long bus ride as the kids put on a show for us. Then the professionals came in and blew us away. Their ministry is through dance and the kids line up at 8 in the morning on saturdays waiting for their lessons. It's a really special community and we loved seeing them perform!

The four churches/missions in Cartagena and the mission Malambo are run by Padre Rafael. He works with missioners to make them all successful. He has a wonderful family with three daughters and it was so great getting to know them. He has a big heart and he let us stay in his house by the church. Thanks again to the Diocese of Connecticut and Padre Rafael for an awesome week! It was so great to get to know you all!

After a great week with the group, Brittany and I stayed a few extra days on the coast. We went to the beach, went on a rumba chiva (party bus) and walked around the walled city. We visited a family from the church a few hours away in Barranquilla (shakira's birth city!). They were so welcoming and gave us SO much food.

Now we're back in cold, rainy Bogota. Definitely too cold for us to believe it's july! We are back with our work in usme and soacha (the kids are back from their 3 week summer vacation) and we are gearing up for another vbs program with an impoverished neighborhood above us next week.

Love, Kate

VBS soacha/encuentro de jovenes

2010-06-26T11:10:00.008-05:00

Last week we took our VBS program to Soacha. It went really well! Brittany and I are really getting comfortable with teaching the music and art projects, and how to adapt when things don't go exactly as planned. We had about 25 kids from the neighborhood and had to be strict with our 6-12 age limit. It was so tempting to allow the little 3 years olds play with us, but we wanted the older kids to get a break from taking care of their younger siblings. We were really fortunate to have the help of my awesome grandparents and padre carlos' family. Without their help it wouldn't have run nearly as smoothly. Thanks grandi and pops and christian!

This past weekend the Diocese of Colombia put on a youth conference and it was so exciting to see pre-teens from all over Colombia (and a group from Ecuador) representing their parishes. Brittany and I ran a work shop with the girls about respecting others and themselves. This is very important for young women in Colombia because the teenage pregnancy is very high . Overall, the 'encuentro de jovenes' was a great success and it was great to meet youth from all over colombia and ecuador.

Now we are in Cartagena with the Diocese of Connecticut mission trip. It's been a busy, HOT few days. We are having a great time getting to know the group and working with over 150 children from four different churches/missions. I'll update all about the trip next week!

Love, Kate

yopal

2010-06-22T19:58:00.016-05:00

Brittany and I recently visited a mission church in Yopal, Colombia. Yopal is in los llanos, or 'cowboy country'. We drove there with Ferney and Alex (the church pastors) and saw so many cows and horses on the 9 hour trip. We were immediately introduced to lots of families and children in the town. We were welcomed with open arms and right away I knew it would be a great week away from the big city.

We were there to teach english and to do a program for the children. We ended up combining the two programs and did an hour of english before two hours of games, music, and art. The kids were a lot of fun and picked up the english vocab very quickly. They made t-shirts, watercolor paintings, paper crosses, and picture frames. Afterwards, we walked to a nearby park and played soccer during the afternoons. Luckily, there was only one skinned knee that I had to clean up!

Before church on Sunday, we went to the rio (river) to swim and relax. It was a fun experience with really great people. After the church service they sang happy birthday to Brittany and me (our birthday's are not until next week but they wanted to celebrate with us)! That night we played 'tejo', a typical Colombian game, with a bunch of members of the church. It was a great ending to an exciting week full of new friends and fun kids.

Our trip to Yopal was awesome and I really love the city, mission and people there. This week, we are doing Vacation Bible School in Soacha and are helping plan a youth workshop for this weekend. On Sunday we fly to Cartagena to help the Diocese of Connecticut with their mission trip. We are very excited about this trip!

Love, Kate

a blog from toots and grandpa

2010-06-14T23:57:00.006-05:00

As most grandparents know, time with a grandchild is very precious and we, Kate's grandparents (maternal side), had the opportunity to spend ten days not only with our Kate but also with her younger brother Tommy.

Nine and a half months ago Kate left for Colombia as a member of the Young Adult Service Corps. We thought it was a wonderful opportunity for her to improve her Spanish and be a part of a culture perhaps a bit different than that in Maryland. We were to find out that this time away from family was so much more than language or surroundings. But I am getting ahead of myself.

We met Tommy and Kate in Lima, Peru. From there we flew to Cusco and then on to our "adventure" destination of Macchu Pichu. We had an unbelievable time. Seeing and learning about the ancient Inca civilization was fascinating. The majesty of the setting was incredible. After a special five days we flew to Bogota to find out what our "Katem's" world was all about.

Our very first day we were off to Usme - the "closer" mission that Kate and her co-missionary, Brittany, minister to. The bus ride itself was an experience - an hour and a half of belching black smoke from cars and buses that don't seem to follow any specified lanes. The landscape changed from bustling city views to "houses" of corrugated roofs, graffiti and an abundance of stray dogs roaming the congested streets.

In Bogota the bus driver may allow a person or persons to come on the bus to beg. The first was a young mother carrying a little girl that on closer observation had a huge scar covering the top of her head. With Kate as our interpreter we learned that her husband had left her, the child had brain surgery and she had no one to help. The second was a beautiful young blind woman who was escorted on the bus by her brother. I don't remember what her story was but her lovely voice had our fellow bus patrons for the most part reaching into their pockets to give both woman a peso or two. We wondered how anyone living in this part of Bogota could afford to share anything but we learned quickly how even those of little means tried to help others.

It was a pretty sharp climb up to the mission but there perched in between some houses was a tiny church facade with a wooden cross perched on top. We knocked on the heavily locked metal door and were admitted to Kate and Brittany's world. Thirteen adorable faces that lighted up when they saw the girls and Tommy. We were introduced and they all introduced themselves in English. The rest of our time there was spent with English lessons, games, crafts and helping some of the children with their homework. Tommy at 6'3" was a huge hit and he was a natural with the children. Watching from the sidelines were four adults that the pastor of this mission had literally picked up from the streets of Bogota. Four abandoned people - they had no one in the world to take care of them and Father Romeros had taken them in. They spend most of their time just staring out in space or sleeping in their chairs but they have a roof over their heads and three meals a day. We ended our time there with soccer - they have to play on the street. No playground or area other than the street to play.

Soacha, the girls' other mission was an even longer bus ride! But even the long distance could not take away from the shear joy we experienced spending our day with the mostly "displaced" children of Colombia. We had the opportunity to visit a house that two brothers (themselves displaced at an earlier time) had set up to take in families that had left their homes with literally what they had on their backs. Political refugees from their own country!

We asked Kate if she thought she had made a difference or had this experience made a difference in her. Her answer - "both". We could certainly agree. People might say "it's just a few kids" but we could see that her presence, enthusiasm, caring and love touched children that probably received very little if any of the above. The difference in Kate - well as grandparents we are a bit biased. She had always been an amazing granddaughter. Even as a little girl she had that energy that made anything she tackled, whether it be academics, sports or personal relationships special. Perhaps these little observations show best how she has grown in the past nine months. The clerk at the hotel in Bogota calling her by her first name and giving her a hug. The love in the eyes of Myriam her "Bogota Mom" - the sweet smiles of the parishioners of the church as she read the second reading in Spanish - the children of the missions lifting their arms up to be carried or hugged. The respect and gratefulness of the Bishop of Colombia whom we met.

She is the first one to tell you how much she loves what she is doing and how much she loves the Colombian people. We left Bogota with such glad hearts and overwhelming pride.

Toots and Grandpa

peru!

2010-06-07T12:52:00.009-05:00

After a busy few days of mission work and adventure sports, Tommy and I flew to Lima, Peru to meet my grandparents! Arriving in Peru was an adventure. For the first time in 9 months, I had to learn how to use a different currency, barter with taxi drivers and get used to a different spanish accent. I loved the challenge. My grandparents arrived a few hours after us and it was so great to give them big hugs! We spent the first night catching up, The next day, we took a city tour of Lima and learned a lot about Peru's history.

After a couple of days getting used to the altitude in Lima, we were off to Cusco, Peru. We also took a city tour there and learned even more about the Incan empire and their history. We were able to see a big parade in the middle of the city plaza full of colors, music and dancing. It was such a neat experience to witness a different part of South American culture. While in Cusco, we also visited old Inca places, including an Inca fortress and religious complex called Sacsayhuaman (aka sexy woman). It was a really impressive sight and got us excited for the main event; machu picchu.

We woke up at 330am and started our trip to "the lost city of the Incas", Machu Picchu. It was worth waking up early! We took the 'long' trail through the urban and agricultural sectors (good job Toots and Gpa!) with our tour guide, Mariela. Tommy's favorite part was getting up close to the llamas. It was such an awesome experience and it was so special to see such an incredible site and country with my grandparents!

We all flew back to Bogota and they spent a few days in Bogota, visiting the missions in Soacha and Usme. There will be a blog about their time in Colombia soon!
Love, Kate

san gil

2010-05-31T12:21:00.000-05:00

Tommy, Brittany, Christian and I took a quick trip to San Gil and it was awesome! San Gil is the adventure sport capital of Colombia and it really lives up to its reputation. We left at 230 on Sunday in a bus and arrived around 10pm. It was a long bus trip but totally worth it. Monday morning we were up early for white water rafting. We went down a level 4 river and had a great guide. We even jumped in the water and let the current take us for a little while.

Later that day we went paragliding. It was incredible! The company picked us up in a bus and we went up a mountain. We strapped into our backpacks with our guide and before we knew it we were up in the air. It was such a cool experience and a we had a great view of san gil, santander, colombia.

Tuesday morning we went rappelling down Juan Curi waterfall. Out of the three adventure sports, this one was by far the most intimidating. First we had to hike up the mountain to reach the waterfall. Tommy went over the edge first and I was second. It was great because we were able to rappel down right next to each other. The water was beating down on our helmets and our feet were slipping all over the place as we descended. It was exhilarating and so much fun.

Our trip to San Gil was such a great adventure. It was nice to get out of the city for a couple of days and have some fun with Christian. I am so glad we made the trip and still can't believe we all made it down that waterfall!

Love, Kate

tommy visits the missions

2010-05-26T23:10:00.009-05:00

My brother Tommy arrived to Bogotá on Friday! After 9 months apart, it was so great to see him walk through the airport doors and start our adventure in Colombia! I couldn't wait to show him my city, the kids I work with and colombian food and culture.

On Saturday, we left for Soacha at 8:30 and arrived to the church around 10. The kids were really excited to meet and play soccer with Tommy. We took them out to a nearby court and split into 2 teams. It started to rain after about 10 minutes of playing. The kids didn't seem to notice because they were loving the game. When it started to pour I had to drag them back to the church.

There, we played head-catch (a game where if I say "head" you catch the ball and vice-versa). It was a lot of fun and. It was a great morning and they loved getting to know Tommy just as much as he enjoyed getting to know them.

After spending the morning in usme, we went to Miguel-Angel's (Padre Carlos' son) 8th birthday party. We helped decorate, coordinated some games and ate lots of ice cream, marshmellows and arepas. Feliz Cumpleaños Miguel Angel!

On Sunday we went back to Soacha for church where the Bishop did confirmations and first communions to many members of the community. It was another great morning in Soacha and we were off to San Gil with Christian and Brittany for a couple of days of adventure sporting in Colombia (more on that in the next blog).

We arrived back in Bogota from San Gil late last night. Today, I took Tommy to

Usme to meet our kids! They were so happy to meet my brother and were impressed

with his soccer skills and how tall he is. Right away they made a line for him to

pick them up over his head. Tommy showed them some soccer moves and then we taught them about the copa mundial (world cup). We asked them what countries they thought were in the

tournament and they said "libertadores" and "millionarios" (their neighborhood and

a local club team in bogota). After a little bit of teaching, we played soccer and head-catch with them. We'll be going back to the mission next week after a trip to Peru with my grandparents, Toots and Grandpa!

Love, Kate

quibdó

2010-05-20T13:21:00.012-05:00

Brittany and I flew to Quibdó, Chocó, Colombia last week. If you google 'quibdó', you will see this:

This is a very good picture of where Brittany and I spent 5 days working with an episcopal church mission. Our plane flew over an entire jungle of trees until we landed on a runway in the middle of nowhere. We arrived at the brand new airport and met Padre Edinson. We walked through the city for about an hour to his house. Along the way we stopped and met almost every person we saw. Padre Edinson seems to know just about everyone in Quibdó and they all love and respect him. Throughout our time there, we were introduced to so many people.

We went to Santa Ana our first afternoon. Santa Ana is a foundation for boys. Every day after school there is a program that is run by the government. During our time there they made jewelry and Padre Edinson taught them about the different surfaces of the foot that can kick a soccer ball.

The highlight of my trip was working with Padre Edison's mission for three days. It is centered around soccer and he teaches teamwork, concentration and determination. It was so much fun to play soccer and help him with his work. On the first day the sun was really strong but I couldn't bring myself to stop playing...it was too much fun. Thanks to that stubbornness, I am back in Bogotá with a pretty bad sunburn on my shoulders...but it was so worth it!

One kid hurt his leg and the others decided to 'pull' on it to help him. This is obviously something that they have seen on tv and I love it!

Brittany carrying home one of the tired kids after a long morning of soccer. Too cute!

On our last day, we taught english to a few classes at a local school. We taught them heads, shoulders, knees, and toes and the english alphabet. The kids were great and there were so many of them. Try to find me in this picture of their recess (hint: I'm the only gringa!).

After morning at the mission, we had a lot of down time. With the heat, people like to just hang out in front of their houses and talk. We spent our free time reading and playing uno with Edison's children, Edverg and Kizzy. Brittany even got her hair braided! It was nice to spend some time with Padre Edison's kids and see a completely different culture. Everyone in Quibdó was very welcoming and interested in who we were. To see more pictures of our trip check out our website: click HERE.

It was a great trip and I'm looking forward to visiting some other missions in Colombia. We were back at Usme this week and are back to some colder weather. My brother Tommy arrives tomorrow and I'm so excited to see him! I'm putting him to work in Soacha and Usme, visiting another city, and then we're meeting my grandparents in Peru for a few days!

Love, Kate

airplanes

2010-05-10T18:48:00.017-05:00

After spending a lot of Saturdays with our kids in Soacha, we're really starting to click. The time we spend with them is meant to bring a few hours of 'kid time' in their otherwise pretty stressful lives. Their energy and excitement makes them so much fun to be with. Last Saturday was great. Brittany came up with the fun idea of having a 'paper airplane contest'. We gave the kids the materials, and told them to go for it. Their airplanes were awesome. After gluing and cutting for an hour, we tested them out.

We gave out awards to every child, from best design:

to most colorful:

to the plane that looks most like a sheep (...i meant to say bird....oops):

All of the planes were really creative and the kids had a blast making them.

We're looking forward to our VBS with the Soacha community in June. Thanks again to everyone who is helping to make this all possible. Our group in Usme put together a special thank you. It only took about 15 tries to get the picture:

Jefferson (bottom A) cut in front of Daniela (bottom C):

Jessica wasn't looking and dropped the G:

Dilan had his A backwards:

Perfect! Thank you everyone!

Brittany and I will be flying to Quibdo, Colombia on Friday. We will be working with Padre Edinson and his missions there for a few days. We are really excited to visit another city and experience a different part of Colombian culture.

Love, Kate

vbs in usme

2010-04-30T20:28:00.007-05:00

When we told our kids about vacation bible school, they were so excited about it. The week before the camp we had a serious talk with them. We told them that other children from the neighborhood would be joining us for a week of vacation bible school, and we were counting on them to behave well and help us. We were under the impression that they all understood and were ready to start the week. We were all really looking forward to an exciting week full of bible stories, crafts, snacks and games. The first day was great. Everyone made shirts and they were so cute! They loved the songs and all got along well.
Day two was a different story. Our program kids segregated themselves from the others, were not listening to us, and were fighting and running all over the place. It got to the point where we had to tell everyone that VBS was canceled on Wednesday and would resume on Thursday. On Wednesday, we had a long talk with our group. We told them that we were not mad, but we were very disappointed. We try to do fun things and keep the program exciting, but we will stop if we do not get the respect that we deserve. We had them write in their journals and it seemed that they all understood. We also came up with the decision that they're all going to start giving back to the community by picking up trash or painting pictures for the elderly. We're counting on them to think of more ideas.
The last two days of VBS went really smoothly. Padre Romero did the bible stories and the kids did a great job drawing the 'three kings':
Sunday was our big VBS wrap up. The kids performed for the congregation and it was GREAT! Padre Romero told everyone to get on their feet and follow the kids' lead. The kids were all smiling and did a wonderful job!

Thanks to everyone who helped make this possible! We're looking forward to our next campo biblicos later this summer.

Love, Kate

easter egg hunt in usme/olympics in soacha

2010-04-23T09:51:00.005-05:00

Our kids in Usme were treated to a really special event last week when Brittany's boyfriend Andrew arrived for a visit with tons of colored eggs filled with hershey's kisses. To say they were excited about their first Easter egg hunt would be an understatement!

Last weekend, we headed to Soacha to give them the Olympics experience with about 30 kids. It was a little more difficult than it was in Usme as the majority of the kids were under 7 and we didn't have much space to work with. It was a lot of fun and great to work with a new group of kids. Most of the kids in Soacha that we work with live at a foundation for displaced children. They were internally displaced and most have lost their parents in the process. Despite all that they have been through, they are great kids and were really enthusiastic about the program.

This week, we have been at Usme every day kicking off the first of at least 3 vacation bible school programs. It has been very busy and we have learned a lot. I'll update about VBS after this weekend! Again, if you'd like to donate to our VBS fund, click here! Thanks to those who have already generously donated. We really appreciate it!

Love, Kate

campos biblicos!

2010-04-14T11:45:00.012-05:00

The first half of our time in Colombia has brought many lessons, adventures, and experiences that we will carry with us long after our year here is over. Getting through the various challenges that we have been faced with was made possible by your continued love and support. Your encouragement, prayers, and financial donations have helped to make our lives here both joyful and rewarding and have enabled us to become a part of the community.

Our biggest joy has come in the form of a small group of kids who have become such a tremendous part of our lives. At least twice a week we make our way to the south of Bogotá, to a mission church in Usme, to spend time with these kids, our kids. Our time there includes lunch, homework, English lessons, culture lessons, crafts, and games. We have seen wonderful changes in our kids over the past six months: progress in English and Math, better behavior, increased responsiveness, outgoing spirits, and greater displays of love. We have hosted holiday themed parties, the olympic games, created a place for the kids to play, and were able to provide them with special Christmas gifts. Your continued support has made all of this possible.

Along with the time we spend with our kids in Usme, we also spend time working with other churches in the diocese. At the cathedral we engage in outreach through helping with the children, planning upcoming events, and assisting with a medical clinic. We also spend time in Soacha with Padre Carlos. This is a small church community that is trying to grow. We consider ourselves a part of all three of these communities and are excited to announce our latest initiative.

When thinking of ways we could be more involved we quickly came up with one answer - Vacation Bible School! We plan to hold a VBS at each of the 3 churches, and are considering doing a couple more weeks of VBS with other churches in other cities. Each VBS program will be one week (5 afternoons) and each day will include a Bible lesson along with crafts, snacks, games, and worship. Our theme is outdoors and adventure. Padres Diego, Jose Romero, and Carlos are all very excited about this plan and are supporting us in our venture. They have given us the autonomy to run the program as we see fit. As such, we don’t have a budget, so all of the expenses will be covered by us and through donations. We want to do a lot with our VBS programs, but we can only do as much as money will allow. We will start with our first VBS in Usme at the end of April with about 50 kids in attendance. In June we will work with the cathedral and Soacha and will have about 50 more kids each. We’re really excited about this project, and are working hard to make sure that it is successful.

All of our costs are in the form of supplies: snacks for everyday with a lunch on the final day, craft supplies, t-shirts for every participant, and game supplies. Any supplies that are left over at the end of our program will be used to sustain our ministry for the rest of our time here. We are asking for financial contributions as well as any words of encouragement, suggestions, and prayers. 100% of financial donations will be used specifically for our ministry first. If we do not use all of the donations on our VBS programs, then we will use the remaining funds for our mission trip with the Diocese of Connecticut to do a VBS in Cartagena in June. We have set up a paypal account to accept donations. Please click HERE to donate.

Thank you again for your continued love and support!
Love, Kate and Brittany

feliz pascua!

2010-04-05T12:35:00.010-05:00

Happy Easter from Colombia!

Brittany and I shared time between Usme and the cathedral for Semana Santa (Holy week).

Tuesday: 5 pm service at Usme was a nice, relaxing prayer service with members of the community.

Thursday: 2 pm service at Usme, back at 6 for a service at the cathedral. In Usme, couples were invited to wash each others' feet as a symbol of reconciliation.

Friday: 2 pm procession/service at Usme. We started by walking through the streets of Usme and stopped at 14 stations of the cross. I helped a lady (in the picture below) walk from station to station and had a nice conversation along the way.

Saturday: 6 pm service at the Cathedral with lots of candles and singing.

Sunday: 9am service at Usme, 11am service at the cathedral. Both churches were full and there were lots of happy families.

Needless to say, we went to a LOT of church this week. It was busy, but a fun and exciting experience. I think we both missed our traditions, families, and churches back home, but they always do a great job of making us feel welcomed here in Colombia. Also, it's great to be part of so many special communities because we almost feel like we're home.

After the cathedral's easter service on Sunday, we were ready to head back to the apartment and take a long nap. On our way out, the bishop told us to sit down. Then, he introduced us (one by one) to his 40+ family members who were there celebrating a first communion.

We ended up celebrating with them (music, food, long stories...) and it was a lot of fun. I took a bunch of kids outside and taught them how to play 'futbol americano' (football) with a junior sized ball my dad sent me. They didn't really get the concept of stopping the play after getting 'tackled' (two hand touch), but it was a lot of fun!

We're hoping to get some easter eggs out here to have a hunt with the kids later this month. There wasn't a single easter egg or easter bunny here, so I think it will be a new experience for all of them.

Happy Easter! Love, Kate

hiv/aids education, world cup, and palm sunday

2010-03-28T18:57:00.011-05:00

Brittany and I spent the weekend in Soacha. Like I've mentioned before, it's about 1.5/2 hours away in bus so we stayed with Padre Carlos and his family for a couple of nights. As always, it was great to spend time with his 3 children and his wife, Janet. On Friday we met up at the church in Soacha. We played uno with a few kids and taught them colors and numbers using the cards. We are starting an after-school program there on Fridays.

On Saturday, we had our first HIV/AIDS education workshop. It went really well and 13 people showed up. We used a video, information from a book and the internet, and a few review questions to complete the lesson. We are going to have our next workshop in April, followed by a day of olympics for the kids in Soacha. It's been great forming this relationship with the community and we are really excited about starting these programs there.
Saturday afternoon, we took the soccer ball out to a field and played for two hours with some boys from the neighborhood. We played one of my favorite games, World Cup, and they loved it! It was so much fun to play soccer again, especially with a bunch of enthusiastic kids and with Padre Carlos playing goalie. After playing soccer we made decorations for the church, including a tree with our handprints.

The Palm Sunday service was great. We arrived early to decorate and set up. Then we started our procession through soacha. We started at one family's house,

walked through the streets of soacha,

and ended up back at the church to start the service.

It was a great weekend with an awesome family and community. This week we will be busy working at Usme for Holy Week (Semana Santa). It should be a great experience and a very interesting week. I'll be sure to update about it after next Sunday. I hope everyone has a great Easter!

Love, Kate

San Andres w Suzi!

2010-03-21T16:44:00.011-05:00

Suzi and I have been best friends since I moved to Maryland in 6th grade. Eleven years later, we are practically sisters.

She and her boyfriend (Andrew) came to visit me last week. We met up in San Andres, a beautiful Colombian island. While there, I had fun translating for Suzi and teaching her some spanish. We had all kinds of adventures:

We visited the first baptist church in all of South America (and went all the way up to that bell tower to see the entire island),

visited a pond full of crocodiles,

watched a beautiful sunset (island style),

saw where Captain Morgan hid his treasure,

learned a typical island dance,

took a tour around the entire island,

enjoyed clear beautiful water,

snorkeled for 2 hours straight, bought about 10 bottles of sunscreen, played countless games of uno at night, and ate a year's worth of fish and rice.

It was an amazing vacation with two incredible friends. I'll miss you guys...see you in September!

After getting in late last night, I was back to work this morning. I went out to Usme and spent the day there at church and a big planning meeting. I thought novena (9 days before Christmas) was the busiest time of the year here, but I had no idea how important/intense their 8 day Easter celebration was going to be. Brittany and I will spend 3 days in Soacha this weekend and then we'll be at Usme almost every day during holy week. After talking about the long days (holy thursday: 2-9), I'm a little overwhelmed, but really excited!

Love, Kate

los olimpicos!

2010-03-12T09:38:00.014-05:00

Brittany and I celebrated two days of olympics with the kids this week and it was so much fun! First, we taught them all about the winter olympics and how different countries compete against each other for the gold. We broke the kids into their three "countries"; red, yellow and blue. Below is a group picture with the Colombian flag behind us.

After painting the kids' faces, we had the captains light the olympic torch to officially start the olympics...let the games begin!! We had relay races, individual events and team races. They were able to win medals and points for their teams and we kept track of them on our medal chart.

The kids loved the games and were so excited. They cheered each other on really well. Look at their faces when Katherine won...they're not even all on the same team.

While the Majors were here, we made medals for the kids. After every event, they all received either gold, silver, or bronze. Jefferson (boy with red pants in the picture below) loved his gold medal so much that he wore it back to the mission for day 2.

To finish the games, we gave out special awards like "best helper", "spirit award", "best sportsmanship" and "mvp".

The olympics were a huge success! A big thanks Mr. and Mrs. Major who made it all possible. They planned the games and brought all of the medals and other supplies. The kids all loved it!

Tonight I'm going with Myriam to a national day of prayer celebration. Tomorrow I take off for a week of vacation to San Andres, Colombia with my best friend from middle school, Suzi. It will be so great to get some sun and to see her again!!

Love, Kate

el paro

2010-03-08T11:20:00.010-05:00

Last Monday, I walked out on the usually busy carrera septima with Sam and tried to get a bus. I quickly realized that I hadn't seen a single bus going in either direction. For a street that is normally full of buses, I knew something wasn't normal. I jumped in a taxi and asked what was going on. The driver told me that it was a paro, there wouldn't be buses all day because the drivers were on strike. When I arrived in the office, Myriam told us not to worry because bus strikes in the past had never lasted more than a day.

Below, a man directing traffic in the streets for money. He would let people go if they gave him change.

Little did we know that it would be 4 whole days until we would be able to hail a bus. The second day, over 21,000 taxi drivers joined the strike. Bogota was paralyzed and over 8 million passengers were affected. The strike spread to other Colombian cities and caused more chaos. Frustration and growing tension led to violent protests in the outskirts of the city. Bogota's mayor called in the army to deal with the violence. Private cars became taxis/buses and groups of people would pile into the backs of trucks to get around. After four long days, the buses came back and now everything is back to normal!

Unfortunately, we weren't able to go to Usme last week because of the strike. Sam and his parents were visiting and had planned an entire day of olympics for the kids. We will still do the olympics tomorrow, but it's such a bummer that they couldn't see the mission and meet our kids! Luckily, we were still able to do a lot of other things in the Bogota area. We spent an afternoon at Monserrate and it was absolutely beautiful. You really could see the entire city!

The Majors were able to meet the kids and people from the cathedral during the coffee break after church. They tried arepas, obleas, chorizo, and drank lots of coffee! We even played rana, the typical Colombian game. We also went bowling, colombian style: the pins were put up by a person who also rolled the ball back. We went to an open market where dogs were doing tricks for money. We went out to lunch with Myriam and drank coffee at her apartment afterwards. It was a special afternoon and I'm so glad that we were able to spend that time together!

I loved sharing my Colombian family and the culture here with the Majors. I am so thankful that they came all the way to Bogota to visit me and even brought lots of new books and movies from the states that we are really excited to start. I am so grateful for everything and appreciate their support so much. Like I said earlier, Brittany and I will be doing the olympics at usme tomorrow. We will be sure to take lots of pictures of all the great decorations and olympic medals that the Majors brought for the kids. They are going to love it!

Love, Kate

"mira esto!"

2010-02-26T20:32:00.000-05:00

We heard those words, meaning "look at this", about 4000 times this past weekend from the cutest little 2.5 year old boy, Juan Jose. We visited Cali, Colombia and stayed with Juan Jose and his parents, Daniel (a man who we met at the church during our last visit) and his wife, Erica. 'Juanjo' never stopped talking, had the cutest smile, and we immediately fell in love with him. I even got to help him fly a plane at a mall we visited!

The main reason we went was to be there for the ordination of Daniel, a man who we met the last time we were there. The bishop was there and we had a fun reception afterwards. There was champagne and a mariachi band to celebrate the occasion. We spent the rest of our time in Cali with the family. Although we were only there for the weekend, we really got to know them well and got a taste of the Cali culture. It is much warmer there and we loved not having to carry around a jacket!

Right now I am in the Bogota airport (enjoying free wifi AND dinner at crepes & waffles) waiting for Sam and his parents to arrive. They are going to spend a typical week with me here, visiting the mission and exploring Bogota. Mrs. Major, Sam's mom, came up with an idea to do a mock olympics with the kids. We told them about it yesterday and they are very excited..so are we! I'll write all about it in my next update!

Love, Kate

feliz dia de san valentin!

2010-02-17T11:15:00.013-05:00

Last week's nutrition classes at the mission went really well. The kids were engaged the entire time and understood the concept of the new food chart. After learning about the different food groups, I split up the boys and girls for a competition. It ended up being a close game, so close that the girls needed to set up a barrier to keep the boys from looking over (see picture below). Their answers showed that they learned some english words and about how to eat a balanced diet.

This week, as we have done with every big holiday, we taught the kids about Valentine's Day! They started off with their homework and then the party started. We had lots of supplies for them to make valentines for their penpals in Maryland. I'm pretty sure they used every sticker and piece of glitter that we gave them. I loved Edinson's gluing skills (see picture below of a huge amount of glue for a piece of confetti..after that, we kept an eye on him).

After they all made cards, we taught them the cupid shuffle . They loved the dance and learned some new words; "kick", "to the right", and "to the left". I'll work on getting the video of the dance on here soon.

We spent Ash Wednesday in Soacha. It was great to see the congregation and Padre Carlos again. There was a good turnout and the kids loved getting/watching everyone get a cross of ashes painted on their foreheads. The start time was pushed back from 4pm to 6pm so we had some time to discuss plans with Padre Carlos. We talked about HIV/AIDS education classes and an after school program on Fridays (both starting late March).

Brittany and I are going to Cali tomorrow for an ordination on Saturday. We're excited to go back to Cali and are thinking about stopping in Armenia (coffee country) on our way back!

Love, Kate

fresh start with the niños

2010-02-10T22:10:00.003-05:00

Our updated schedule in Usme has been great so far. The new star chart works wonders with the kids. We keep it up on the wall to remind them that they have to behave if they want another star by their name. We even have a huge stack of stickers that they love to chose their own 'star' from (thanks mom!). We decided to be more careful with giving out the stars, but last Thursday they ALL behaved well. Brittany and I just had to give every kid a star...

They are bringing their homework to the mission and we spend a while working with them to complete it. We even had to learn the "Colombian" format of long division so that we can help them. If they don't have homework, they write in their new journals. We give them questions and they write the answers in their books. One of the questions from last week, "What would you do with a million colombian pesos?", gave us some interesting answers. We were expecting race cars and ponies, but they wrote that they would give it to their parents, to buy food for the family, to pay off debt, or to buy a house.

We are getting organized and creative with our space and had all of the kids make 'name plates'. Sam's Aunt Cathy sent some art supplies for the kids and they were perfect for this project (thanks so much!). They had to find their names from all of the foam letters and decorate their foam circle. We are now using them to mark their 'puestos' where they keep their notebooks and backpacks.

We were able to watch the superbowl this past weekend! We went downtown and found a hostel with the game on. Even though there were only a few other people there, it was a great game and fun to share one of our traditions with our Colombian friend, Lucho.

On Monday, we went to a surprise party for Ferney, a good friend from the church. The party started about an hour and a half later than planned because it took a while to get everyone together outside of his place (yes, outside...Ferney was already inside). We went into the house and yelled "sorpresa" and had a great time. Andrew, Brittany's boyfriend, is visiting and he was able to share in the Colombian fun with us.

Brittany and Andrew are in Manizales (coffee country) right now, so I'm staying with Myriam for a few days! Tomorrow, I'm heading to Usme to teach a little bit about nutrition and healthy eating (because I'm such an expert...). I realized yesterday how much having Brittany with me makes a difference. They are a little bit more difficult to control when there's only one pair of eyes looking. A fellow YASCer, Curt, is teaching alone in Ecuador and I give him a lot of credit!

Happy Valentines Day (and Feliz Cumpleaños Toots and Sara)!!

Love, Kate

plans for 'dos mil diez'

2010-02-03T22:22:00.000-05:00

NEW ("STRICT") SCHEDULE IN USME
While the kids were on vacation Brittany and I met with Padre Romero and were told that we needed to be “extra strict” when they returned. So, they’re back and we’re committing the first hour after lunch to having them write in the journals we gave them and helping them with homework. If they behave well during 'homework time' (and so far so good), then we spend time playing a game (bingo is their favorite). We spend the rest of our time (until 4 pm) teaching them English/health class. Like last year, if they behave well, they get a star at the end of the day on the 'star chart'…I’m happy to report we have a LOT of star students!

USME HEALTH CLASSES
A big part of our after school program this year is going to be dedicated to health related issues. Brittany and I have decided to focus on nutrition, conflict management and hygiene. We’re also planning to teach them about the risks & consequences of getting involved with drugs, violence, and gangs. Unfortunately all of these kids live in a high risk neighborhood, so anything we can offer to provide them with an alternative is really important. I have spent the last five months getting to know and love every one of them and their potential is limitless.

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL
Brittany and I are planning 3 weeks of VBS this spring/summer at Soacha, Usme, and the cathedral. We are really excited about this and so are the missions. If anyone knows of a place to get materials, songs, or videos in Spanish, please let me know! We're thinking that we're going to have a 'camp/adventure' theme and I know the kids are going to love it!

SOACHA AIDS EDUCATION
We’ve been talking with Padre Carlos about opportunities for AIDS/HIV education in Soacha, and how we can help to get it started. Carlos has been collaborating with some psychologists who could help the people of Soacha, so we’re anxious to meet with them too and get this program off and running. I have been so fortunate in getting to know some of the displaced families in the congregation and can't wait to work with them more closely.

CATHEDRAL
The cathedral is our home and we are planning to support this congregation by continuing with the weekend workshops for families from the poor neighborhood above us. Hopefully, now that the Christmas season is over, they will continue to come to church. While I was shopping in Exito a few days ago, I saw a woman from that neighborhood and her daughter ran up to give hugs to Brittany and me. She asked me when the next "taller" (workshop) is, so that's a good sign! The first one is February 6th and it will be great to see everyone again.

SPANISH CLASSES
Brittany and I have been up early every morning taking spanish classes with Alejandro, a man from our church. He's a great teacher and we are doing a lot of reading and speaking in Spanish.

TRAVEL
Finally, we are hoping to visit missions all over Colombia this year. We are looking into opportunities in Cali, Medellin, Barranquilla, Quibdo, Bucaramanga, etc... I have also been in contact with the Diocese of Connecticut. They are planning a mission trip to Cartagena in June that Brittany and I are excited to help with.

I hope that everyone is having a great start to 2010. Thanks again for all of your support and love as I start my 6th month here!

Love, Kate

2009 in review

2010-01-25T10:47:00.026-05:00

Five months ago, I arrived in Bogota with two big suitcases, a backpack, and no idea what to expect. I was immediately welcomed into Colombia by Audra, Laura-Catherine, Myriam, Oscar, and the Bishop. After a few months of learning the ropes, I feel like Colombia is my home. I love this country, the culture, and the people here. While looking forward to 2010, here are my top ten experiences/accomplishments of 2009 in Bogota:

10. Mastering the transportation system. After taking a few wrong buses with Brittany at the beginning, we have figured out the ins and outs of the buses and transmilenio. Of course, now they are trying to change the system on our street. We are a little confused, but I don't think anyone here really understands it yet.

9. Keeping up with my blog and emails. It has been so great to hear from everyone back home through emails and skype. I really miss everyone but it's so nice to know that I have your love and support...thank you! We also have a new site with all of our pictures from Colombia.

Click here to see it!

8. Operación de los pumas. We cleared out a hill and turned it into a place for the kids to play. The teamwork required to make it happen was amazing. Our kids really came together and worked hard. My Dad also made a huge difference, with the help of little Diego. It's great to know that they will have a place to play this year!

7. Arepas, ajiaco and bandeja paisa. I have tried almost all of the traditional colombian cuisine. Rice, beans, and fruit juice are an integral part of our diet now. Some of the "local treats" that I would rather not try again are chicken feet, liver, and cow hoofs.

6. Español. I can communicate pretty well with everyone now and my confidence level is much higher. We even learned the Lord's prayer in spanish so Brittany and I don't have to use the book of common prayer anymore.

5. Catching a piranha. My trip to the Amazon with Sam was amazing and I was able to see and do so much. After seeing pink dolphins, catching piranhas was the best part of the trip!

4. Novena. 9 days before Christmas: 3 in usme, 3 in soacha, 3 at the cathedral. It was a whirlwind of traveling to the missions, learning new songs, and celebrating Christmas. It was great to be able to share a few days of it with my mom and I really miss the songs we sang over and over and over again!

3. Building relationships with families throughout the church. Brittany and I had a blast exploring Padre Diego's family farm in Palmira. I have become very close with a displaced family in Soacha and I love staying with Padre Carlos and his amazing 3 kids. We always enjoy spending afternoons and saturday mornings with Padre Romero and his family.We have many special relationships with the cathedral congregation as well. A lady who cleans the office has a granddaughter, Sara, who hangs out with us during our office days. She's like a little sister to us. Lastly, Myriam and Oscar (my Colombian parents) were such an important part of my transition process and I am so fortunate to have had that special time with them together.

2. Oscar. My Colombian host dad made such an impact in my life in the short time I knew him. He opened his heart to me and made a huge difference in my life. Through him, I learned how much reaching out to people can help them feel more comfortable. I will never forget this life lesson that Oscar taught me during the brief time we shared such a special friendship. He will always hold a special place in my heart!

1. The pumas! When Brittany and I showed up that day in December and the kids came running down the hill to hug us, we were overcome with love and happiness. Those kids are so special to us and we love working with them. The relationships that we have built with every single child are so strong and remind us why we're here.

As you can see, it's been a great five months and I'm so happy to be here. I am so fortunate to be surrounded by such loving and welcoming people. This is an amazing experience and I'm learning a lot. Thanks to everyone who has helped make this possible! We've been meeting with the priests here, and have a few meetings lined up this week to discuss the rest of our time here. My next blog will be full of our plans and goals for 2010.

Love, Kate

the amazon!

2010-01-15T19:19:00.010-05:00

On my second trip to Colombia, Kate and I decided to explore the Amazon. When Kate first brought up the prospect of trekking into the jungles of Colombia, I was skeptical to say the least. After a little research we discovered that the town of Leticia was not only safe, but an excellent starting point for an Amazonian tour. We booked our guides through Amazon Jungle Trips and at 9 o'clock Monday morning, Kate and I departed the small port town of Tapatinga, Brazil with our boat driver Jorge and his son Frank. It was a 2.5 hour trip down the Amazon and Javari rivers, and we were able to meet some locals from the village of

Gamboa as well as a monkey named Martina that a family had in its backyard.

When we arrived at Zacambu lodge, our base camp for our 5 day tour, it seemed as if we might have the place to ourselves. Our solitude did not last long, as we were soon joined by an Irishman, a group of 4 Americans (2 young sisters, their mom and their aunt) and a group of 6 Americans and 1 Colombian (most of whom were teachers in the northern Colombian town of Baranquilla). We ended up sharing a boat and guide (also named Jorge) with this group of 7, and Kate now has a great group of friends to visit.

I don't think either of us fully knew what to expect from the jungle, but each day was full of new adventures. From a three hour trek through the jungle where we viewed a variety of plant and animal life, to piranha fishing and pink dolphin spotting, Kate and I now have numerous once-in-a-lifetime memories that I never thought I would have the opportunity to experience. Some of the best times were even just relaxing on the river, enjoying each other's company, as well as that of our guides and new friends. On our last night at the lodge, we were lucky enough to view not only an amazing Amazonian sunset, but multiple pink and gray dolphins. It was a perfect ending to a great trip.

Returning to Leticia, we were able to enjoy a few of the luxuries we had missed...like cell phone service and a few ice cold beverages (only $.80 each). As our plane took off and we looked back on the vast sea of trees, all I could think of was Dr. Alan Grant when he leaves the island of Jurassic Park, and I couldn't believe the trip we had been loking forward to for so long was already over.

My second trip to Colombia not only opened my eyes to an entirely new world, it also made my appreciation for the city of Bogota grow immensely. Kate is amazing for all that she has done and all that she has learned while being down there. While it is difficult to be away from someone I love so much, I know that she is in the right place and that the Colombian people are fortunate to have her. I look forward to my return!

Love to Haiti

2010-01-14T21:07:00.009-05:00

I was shocked to find out Tuesday evening about the 7.0-magnitude earthquake in Haiti. I immediately thought about Mallory and Jude, fellow YASCers serving at an Anglican seminary in Port-au-Prince. Brittany and I were very worried about the safety of our friends and of all the people of Haiti. The next day, after many hours of refreshing my email and facebook messages from Curt (another YASCer serving in Ecuador), we were relieved to find out that they were both safe! Please keep Jude, Mallory, all the people of Haiti, and their families in your prayers.
(Mallory is in the middle with the yellow headband. This is from our orientation in Toronto)
(Jude and Emily at our orientation)YASCers 2009-10. I love this group! While waiting to hear about Jude and Mallory, everyone was in touch with eachother from 3 different continents (South America, Africa, and Asia). We are a very close-knit group and are always looking out for each other. For more details and for ways to help Haiti, click here.
Love, Kate

hija mia!

2010-01-09T16:05:00.007-05:00

My Colombian host dad, Oscar Ariza, would always greet me with those words and a big smile. It means "my daughter"! He truly loved and treated Audra, Brittany, Laura-Catherine and me as if we were his daughters. Yesterday afternoon, I got off the boat with Sam from our amazing five day tour of the amazon in Leticia, Colombia. After only about an hour of getting cell phone service back, my mom called and broke the news to me; Oscar had passed away just a few days earlier.

It took a few minutes for it to sink in. I couldn't believe it, and still am having trouble comprehending this incredible loss. Arriving to Colombia about four months ago, I was nervous and didn't know what to expect. When Audra and Laura-Catherine dropped me off at Oscar and Myriam's apartment, I immediately felt at home. That first night, Oscar kept me up until 1am, telling me all about his family, his travel adventures, Colombian politics, how to stay safe in Bogota, etc...

Throughout my month living in their apartment, we shared meals together every day. We would alternate saying grace, and his would always be the longest, being sure not to leave anyone out, including my family and friends back home. He would always ask about my family and "tio sam" (his nickname for Sam). One morning, when I went to Bosa for the first time, he surprised me by waking up at 6:45am just to walk me to the transmilenio (metro) stop. He was always looking out for me.

I have spent time with his huge family through many reunions and dinners. He loved talking about his kids and grandchildren, and how much he missed them all the way in Canada. The church community loved him and he would always bring lighthearted humor to every service or meeting. Everyone at the apartment complex knew him and his jokes. Needless to say, he touched a lot of lives and will be missed greatly.

One of my favorite memories of Oscar happened about a month ago. I went to Exito (my favorite Colombian store..basically a "target") to buy my usual cornflakes and granola bars. As I was getting ready to check out, I saw Oscar walk in. I ran up to him and gave him a big hug. With a huge smile he told me that he was very happy to see me and that he was waiting for Myriam to get there. I decided to wait with him and we spent about 20 minutes talking on a bench in the women's clothing section. He always knew how to make me laugh and it was so nice to spend that special time together.

Like I mentioned in a recent blog from when my mom was here, we went out to dinner with Miriam, Oscar, Brittany and Andrew. Oscar didn't order dessert, but he knew that he could get away with eating over half of my bowl ice cream...and did. I know that my entire family is so grateful for all that he and Miriam have done for me. I'm so glad that my mom was able to express that to them in person that night.

After hearing the news yesterday, I thought about all of my special memories with Oscar on the plane back. Even though I only knew him for about four months, they are endless. When I arrived in Bogota last night, I gave Myriam a call and I couldn't help breaking down. She is such a strong woman with an incredible faith. She reminded me that he is in a better place and will always be looking over us. Oscar knew how much we all loved him and went peacefully in her arms. This morning, Brittany, Laura-Catherine, and I went over to her apartment for breakfast. There were moments of laughter and tears as we reminisced. I'm sure church tomorrow won't be the same, but I know he will be there with us.

I hope everyone had a great time ringing in the new year. Feliz 2010 from Bogota. I will soon post an update on my incredible trip to the amazon with Sam. Please keep Myriam, Oscar's mother and family, the church community, and all of those who knew and loved him in your prayers.

Love, Kate

Cali!

2009-12-30T14:55:00.005-05:00

Christmas Eve in Usme:

Silent night came on while Mary held the baby Jesus with Joseph, the angel Gabriel and padre Romero nearby

Julian and Dilan patiently waiting for Christmas presents!

Nelcy and Alejandra loved their new shirts/dolls! We gave gifts to the kids from the mission, while Padre Romero and members of the congregation gave toys to the others. There were over 200 kids!

Santiago happy about his new shirt and dinosaur!

Feliz navidad de usme!

Christmas morning: I skyped my family during breakfast and while they opened their presents from Colombia. They were celebrating in Davis, WV and it almost felt like I was there with them!

Christmas night: Brittany and I went to the bus station and boarded our overnight bus to Cali, Colombia. We were in pretty comfortable seats, but we had to go up and down mountains so it wasn't the steadiest trip. The last time I took an overnight bus on Christmas was with my old soccer team, the vipers, to Florida for a soccer tournament. It brought back some great memories. :)

December 26 around 8am we arrived in Cali. A little bit sleep deprived, we found a taxi on the road (completely missing the huge line of 'official' taxis...oops) and took it to our hostel. Later that day we went to the Cabalgata, a big parade of 3,000 horses. It was a very cool parade and the horses were all doing 'dressage' (Brittany taught me that word...it means that the horses were doing advanced trotting/tricks). We were impressed.

December 27 we went to the 830am service at Trinity church. It was the first episcopal church built in Colombia and is beautiful. We met lots of people, including one man (Daniel) who gave us a quick tour of downtown Cali.

Then, Daniel took us to the bus station, where we took off for Padre Diego's finca, two hours away in Palmira. Padre Diego is the 11am priest at the cathedral and we have worked a lot with him recently. It was great to get away from the city and spend some time with his family. His kids and nephews loved showing Brittany and me the chickens, cows, huge pigs with their newborn babies, rabbits, etc... We even were able to share in his eldest daughter's birthday celebration and play a traditional Colombian game!

Our third (and last) day in Cali was spent with Daniel, the man from the church. He invited us over for lunch and then we went to the parade of 'cali vieja' (old cali). This parade was packed with people and there was lots of music and dancing. It was so much fun to see all of the different styles and costumes. After the parade, we ate cholados (traditional snow cones from Cali). Late afternoon, we left for the airport and made it back to Bogota.

Cali was a great trip, but way too short. We have a long list of things to do/see when we go back. There are a few missions there that we would like to get involved with. We are definitely going to plan a trip there this spring!

Feliz navidad de Bogota!

Love, Kate

novena! part 3

2009-12-24T10:54:00.009-05:00

Days 4/5. December 20/21. Cathedral.

My mom's quick trip ended on day 4 of novena..just when she was starting to get some of the songs down. The kids brought in new noise makers, including maracas made out of beer cans, and were encouraged to sing as loudly as they could. There was an 'angel tree' program at the cathedral where the congregation bought a special present for all of the kids from the poor neighborhood. Unfortunately, we missed the gift-giving night because we were in Soacha (dec 22), but it was big success, and there were lots of happy kids!

It was sad to see my mom leave Colombia, but I'm so glad that she was able to share some of the novena with me. Brittany and I decided to see her off at the airport..and it's a good thing we did. With all of the snow in NY/DC, we had to reroute her cancelled flight. Then we realized that they never stamped her passport when she arrived. We had to help her get a stamp, a tax exemption, and finally...a boarding pass. And not just any kind of boarding pass...the computer was broken so it was handwritten (without a date/time...amazing):

here are a few quick 'non-novena' highlights of mom's trip:

walking along calle 53 to find wrapping paper and ribbon to wrap the kids' gifts; skyping to family and friends back home; long, crazy bus rides to the missions, watching mom and clemencia (padre jose's sister) become friends...even though they don't speak the same language; watching all of the kids ask her questions in spanish; christmas shopping at an open market; coffee downtown at juan valdez, taking myriam and oscar out to dinner, with Brittany and Andrew, to say thank you for being our parents away from home.

Days 7/8. December 22/23. Soacha.

Having spent a weekend at Father Carlos' home before, I was so excited when he invited Brittany and me to stay there during novena. We met him at Soacha's novena on the 22nd. With such a small group, he really gets everyone involved. He asks lots of questions and really gets into the different topics of the novena.

After novena, we went back to his home. It was great because we only had to spend an hour on the bus (instead of two), and we were able to spend some time with his amazing family. That night, we had a big dinner and then left to go see the lights at a park nearby. The next morning we went on a long bike ride and then spent the afternoon coloring with the kids. We left early to go make some home visits in Soacha and visit a lady who just had surgery and was stuck in bed.

After the novena, all of the kids went upstairs for a little Christmas party. Laura-Catherine had picked up a pinata and they were so excited! We lined up the kids from shortest to tallest and gave them the end of a broom to take a few swings. When it finally broke, the kids went wild. Also, when my mom was here, she brought lots of gifts for the kids from the states that my Aunt had bought at a closing sale at an amusement park (t-shirts, bugs, dinosaurs, etc...). Thanks Aunt Kendel!! We came up with a great plan to evenly distribute them between the three churches. After the pinata broke, we handed out the shirts and toys. They were so grateful and excited about their gifts. It was a really special night.

We're going to Usme tonight celebrate the last night of novena. Merry Christmas Eve!

Love, Kate

novena! part 2

2009-12-22T15:00:00.002-05:00

Day 2. December 17, 2009. Cathedral

After a busy day in Usme, we stayed close to home and went to the cathedral's novena. There were lots of kids there from a very poor neighborhood that is located about 5-10 minutes above us. We have been working with them every other Saturday while their parents go to workshops at the cathedral. Padre Diego started this program a couple of months ago, and it has been very successful. It's a great way to get everyone involved and excited about going to church. The people from this neighborhood have quickly become an integral part of our congregation.

The novena was smaller than it was at Usme, but there were still lots of children. They were doing readings and singing loudly. It was great!

Day 3. December 19, 2009. Usme

Back to Usme for another BIG novena. This time, my Mom, Brittany, and I arrived at 4 for a Christmas party with our kids from the mission. We were walking up the hill to the mission when one of the kids, Dilan, saw us from around the corner. He yelled to the other kids that the "profes" (Brittany and I) were there. The next thing we know, 15+ kids were running as fast as they could down the hill to attack us with big hugs and kisses. It was the best feeling in the world.

After hugging all of the kids, we went inside and started our party. Brittany had printed out pictures of all of our kids and thought of the idea to give them to their parents as Christmas presents. We brought art supplies to make their gifts and it was amazing! Brittany was in charge of glitter glue, while my mom and I helped them add confetti and feathers to their creations. They were all so cute!

The second hour of our big Christmas celebration was spent playing a new game. My mom brought 'bingo' from the states and they loved it. The three kids with 10 stars (according to our star chart) got to open the big box. Most of them already knew how to play, but Brittany and I had to help some of the little ones. The padre's nephew, Camilo, was our 'caller' and he was excellent!

Overall, it was a fun party and the novena afterwards was just as packed as our first night there. After the novena, the kids picked up their pictures and gave them to their families. It was easy to see how excited they were to give their parents (or parent) something special.

Love, Kate

novena! part 1

2009-12-21T13:08:00.012-05:00

Day 1. December 16, 2009. Usme.

Taking the bus up to Usme, my mom and I really didn't know what to expect. Padre Romero had told me that over 200 kids would be there to sing and listen to the story of Jesus' birth. We arrived really early because we were on 'refreshments' duty that night. Neither of us had cooked Arroz con Leche before, but it's a traditional Christmas drink in Colombia. Luckily, we had the help of the padre's sister and another lady from the congregation. We went down the hill to pick up 15 bags of milk, 10 pounds of rice, a huge bag of sugar, cinnamon, raisins, etc... We made it back up the hill (with the help of the padre's niece and lots of rest stops), and got to work. Of course, we got the wrong type of cinnamon so we had to make one more trip down and back up the huge hill.

We had just started boiling the water and pouring in the rice when the padre came running in and told everyone to get out! There was a natural gas leak and it was really dangerous. Of course, the padre's sister said, "we can't leave, we're cooking the rice!" After about 30 minutes of waiting around, the bomberos (firefighters) came, along with the police and a gas company. They put up caution tape and eventually fixed the leak. We got back to cooking, but were now pressed for time.

The 200 kids started showing up, including almost all of our kids from the mission. Brittany and her boyfriend (Andrew) were also there. Brittany and I both did readings in front of a packed church! After our readings we had to rush back to the kitchen, because there was lots of work to do. We had an assembly line going:

The lady from the congregation would pour the arroz con leche into a cup. My mom would put in 4-5 raisins, Brittany would pour in some condensed milk, I would put a spoon into the cup (tough job) and then put it on a tray. Andrew would then take the full tray to the table while the padre's sister handed it out the kids. Andrew also helped pour the cookies onto another big tray.

Overall, day 1 was amazing. Everyone loved the arroz con leche and cookies. My mom even brought candy canes from the US for all of the kids. It was so great to see all of the kids', and the padre's, happy faces.

Love, Kate

my weekend 'sola'

2009-12-14T23:00:00.004-05:00

Brittany and LC were both traveling this weekend, so I had the apartment to myself. It was nice to spend some time alone and regroup (although I really missed my online tv time with Brittany at night). It turned out to be a really great weekend. Saturday was a big day at the cathedral. All of the Episcopal priests from the Bogota area reunited to share time together and talk about their missions. There was a big mass followed by a great lunch. Looking around, I discovered that I knew the majority of the people in the room. It was a great feeling realizing how much a part of this community I have become.

A woman (leaving out her name to protect her privacy) who was there with Father Carlos to represent the parish in Soacha. She was displaced from her home, with her four kids, a little over a year ago. During breaks, we talked about her kids and her situation. She invited me to her house for lunch after the service in Soacha on Sunday.

The next morning, I took the 1.5+ hour bus ride back to Soacha for church at 11am. Afterwards, I left with her and her family and we walked to where she lives. When we arrived, I noticed that the roof was basically a sheet of metal. I met the owner of the house and made my way to the rooms that belong to her family. All six family members sleep in one bedroom and have a kitchen area without a roof. I took the kids to a park nearby and we played soccer. We talked and ate lunch (chicken feet) and then I left for my return trip to Bogota. It was a great afternoon and I learned again what it means to truly give...this loving family had very little and yet they shared what they had with me...another treasured gift from Bogota.

Novena starts on Wednesday and it's going to be a very busy 9 days. We have a lot planned and I'm really excited about the entire experience. I'll keep you updated!

Love, Kate

a little bit of everything

2009-12-11T10:03:00.008-05:00

Last night was 'ciclovia' in Bogota from 6pm-midnight. Many of the busiest streets, normally full of honking buses and cars, were completely closed off. The roads were packed with people looking at all of the Christmas lights. There were lots of street vendors selling everything from blinking santa hats and scarfs to corn on the cob and hot drinks. Luckily, we live relatively close to one of the biggest parks where music and comedy performances were going on. It was great to see so many families out sharing time together and getting excited about Christmas!

My spanish classes at the National University ended this week. Not only did I improve my spanish skills, but I was able make new friends from all over the world:

Professor Ballen (Colombia), Renata (Brazil), Camiel (Holland), Jakob (Germany), Colin (Switzerland), Ahmad (Iran), and Alex (California).

On Tuesday, we went to Usme to see some of our kids from english classes receive their first communion. They were all dressed up and so excited. They looked great! Also, I had a meeting with Padre Romero yesterday and we planned out the next few weeks together. Novena (9 day celebration before Christmas) is going to be huge at the mission, with about 200 kids...just wait until I put up pictures of the decorations. We will be sharing our 'novena' time between three churches, starting off at Usme on December 16. I volunteered Brittany and myself to bring food for the kids and make arroz con leche that first day. We have a few days to figure out how to make that... Luckily, my mom will be here to help and share some of the novena with us!

Lastly, Laura-Catherine, Brittany, and I took a day trip to the hot springs just outside of Bogota. It was so nice to get away from the city and relax for a little while. We even put up Brittany's hammock. Next time I will wear more sunscreen and bring bug spray!

Love, Kate

top 10 highlights of dad's visit

2009-12-04T14:43:00.001-05:00

November 27- December 3

10. Surprising Dad at the airport late Friday night (even though he claims that he knew I was going to meet him there...) I had told him that I was going to meet him at the hotel.

9. Taking Dad to Usme and clearing out an entire area for our kids to play. Brittany, Laura-Catherine, Dad and I got a lot done. Some of the children from the mission were there and they are so excited! Later, we went back and he built a fence around the play area. We were able to find all of the materials we needed down the street from the mission.

8. Zona T (T shaped area with lots of fun restaurants and bars) and Bogota Beer Company (NFL, amazing burgers and cold beer).

7. Using the hotel shower (hot water AND great water pressure!) and eating an amazing buffet breakfast every morning.

6. Deciding to take a bus to the Candelaria (downtown, center of Bogota) that had "candelaria" on the front of it. Apparently, there is also a "barrio Candelaria" (a neighborhood with the same name). I finally asked someone where we were when I realized that we were nowhere near the center. The entire bus ended up giving us advice on how to get back. Most people suggested that we just take a taxi there. Well, the taxi we got in was low on gas. We had to go to a gas station, get out of the car (for safety reasons..it was natural gas), and wait for the tank to fill up....while our meter was still running.

5. Shopping at a huge, open market on Sunday after church. Dad paid for my cool, new Colombian shoes!

4. Taking the 'funicular' up to a church on top of the mountain (Monserrate). We watched a philharmonic Christmas concert in the church and confetti poured down as the last song finished up. Then, we went outside to watch fireworks and the lighting of the church.

3. Eating at the typical Colombian restaurant right by the office. Then, drinking bags of water from the little corner market on our way back.

2. Going rock climbing in Suesca. It was a beautiful day and we had a great guide. The only problem is that my camera died right after I took a picture of Dad getting ready to go. I swear that we both made it to the top of a really high cliff!!

1. Spending a week with my Dad, showing him my life here, and watching him try to speak spanish. It was so much fun and we had a lot of adventures. He brought warm sheets, care packages (thanks aunt kate, mom and suz!) and magazines from the states. He even bought us a new toilet seat while he was here. haha Thanks for everything Dad!

Love, Kate

feliz dia de accion de gracias!

2009-11-27T11:03:00.008-05:00

After waking up and talking to some friends and family, I felt like I was missing out on a big thanksgiving celebration back home. I was thinking about the football games I wouldn't be watching, my family and friends around the big table in the back porch, and of course 'black friday' shopping in my pajamas... Little did I know that my Thanksgiving day in Bogota would be one to remember.

Brittany and I headed out to Usme and taught the kids about our special holiday. They really latched on to the turkey part of it and started calling it 'dia de pavo' (turkey day). We asked them what else they thought that we ate on Thanksgiving. Their answers ranged from platano to arroz (rice) to soup (all very colombian foods). We taught them that Thanksgiving day is all about giving thanks. We had them all make turkeys out of their hands to bring home to their family. We also made hands with their names and 4 things that they are thankful for. They colored them all and put them on a big turkey that Brittany drew (she's so talented). Here's the final result:

After we left Usme, we met up with Ferney (a man from church) and went to a Carlos Vives concert! Carlos Vives is a Grammy award winner from Colombia and was amazing in concert! He was full of energy and a great entertainer. The entire place was packed. Luckily, with Ferney's connections, Brittany and I were in the first section and could easily see Carlos and his band. Very cool.

So now I'm going to write some of things that I'm thankful for:

loving and supportive friends, boyfriend and family; being able to form such a special relationship with all of the kids in Usme; my new Colombian family (miriam and oscar, brittany and laura catherine, church community, bishop, etc..) who have all been so kind and welcoming; staying healthy over here; the opportunity to spend a year in this amazing country; ferney taking us to the Carlos Vives concert; bogota beer company (to watch NFL games); sunny days in Bogota (doesn't happen often); and lastly...visitors!

My Dad got in late Friday night and will be here until Thursday. We've been having a great week and I've been putting him to work. I will blog all about it next time!

Love, Kate

p.s. we even had a traditional thanksgiving dinner on Friday with about 15 people from the church community!

our weekend in usme

2009-11-23T11:55:00.008-05:00

Brittany and I went to Usme on Saturday morning and had a great english class. On our way out, Father Romero convinced us to stay a couple more hours to decorate the chapel. Brittany and I worked on the carnations and bows along the pews. I wasn't too good at making the ribbons curl, but luckily Brittany had it down. We went to the service on Sunday and it was packed. It lasted about 2.5 hours, but there was lots of singing and even some dancing to keep it interesting. Brittany and I had to get back to the cathedral for a grilling event, but we stayed a little longer because we thought they were going to pop the big balloon in the middle of the chapel (check it out in the second picture)...but it never happened. Que lastima!

We eventually made it back to the cathedral and joined the congregation in an afternoon grilling get-together. It went really well and I was able to get to know some more of the families that attend the church. Like I have mentioned before, this church is inviting people from a very poor neighborhood to attend workshops on communication, money management, relationships, etc.. every other Saturday.

The first workshop was this past Saturday, when we got back from Usme. There were lots of parents there, with LOTS of kids. Laura-Catherine took the oldest group (8-11) and did a workshop with them. Brittany had the 5-7 year olds and they were a little crazy. In general, they don't get much discipline or attention at home, so they got a little out of hand. I took care of the 4 and under group. I soon learned that 3 year olds are too young to play duck, duck, goose. I ended up pulling out a jump rope and had them jump over it and play limbo. It was a lot of fun and they were so adorable!

My Dad is coming to visit on Friday and I can't wait to show him around. I think I'm going to put him to work on the hill in Usme next Saturday...if he can handle the bus trip :) Thanks for all the continued love and support.

Love, Kate

PS: here are some pictures from the bus that we use to get to Usme every other day:

calle 53

2009-11-17T11:04:00.010-05:00

Last week, we started decorating for Christmas in Usme. We cleaned off the Christmas lights and touched up some of the camels and wise men in the Christmas nativity scene. Then, this weekend, Brittany and I walked down calle 53. It is the "Christmas" street here in Bogota and it is so amazing! Every store has lights, reindeer, santas, garland, etc... Big, red christmas trees lined the street and kids were everywhere. You would have thought that it was December 24th. We ended up at the Galerias mall and decided to see a movie, "Los Fantasmas de Scrooge" (A Christmas Carol). It was a great movie and put us even more in the Christmas mood. It was our first time to the theaters here in Bogota and we can't wait to get back.

All of this inspired us to decorate our apartment. We had to get a little creative and make our own ornaments. We even made some special ones including: RICE, the Sewanee S, a Texas flag and cowboy boot, a GO NAVY football, santa, YASC, sailboat, snowman, and of course, Kix (my dog). We even put presents under the tree and an angel at the top!
Check it out:
Last night, we had a sleepover at Miriam and Oscar's apartment. The Miss Colombia pageant was on and we watched all 2.5+ hours of it. It was great to spend some time with our 'Colombian parents' again and we had delicious hot chocolate for breakfast this morning. We are in great hands over here and are so lucky to be surrounded by wonderful people. Oh, and Miss Bolivar won, in case you were wondering...

Love, Kate

Christmas is coming!!

2009-11-09T10:45:00.010-05:00

Sorry about not updating last week! I haven't been able to post because the internet has been down in our apartment. But...it seems to be back right now so keep your fingers crossed.

They don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Colombia (but we will!!), so the next big holiday is Christmas! The decorations are already starting to go up around the city and it's easy to see that it's going to be a big celebration. We have started talking about plans for three different churches that we work with.

Cathedral: This church is in the middle of Bogota and is connected to the office and the apartment where we live. It's not a huge church, which makes it feel like home for me. The people are all so nice and welcoming. Well, up until a few weeks ago, I had no idea that 5 minutes up the mountain, there is a very poor community. We went up to meet with them and started to get to know some of the families and their needs. We decided last week that we will begin to offer weekly workshops addressing family issues, money management, etc.. These will be led by members of the congregation and will allow us to form a community with these families. We are also going to celebrate the Christmas season with them and people in the congregation are going to 'adopt a child' (like an 'angel tree' in the US). There are about 80 kids, so this is going to be great!

Soacha: Brittany and I went to the 11am service yesterday (about 1.5 hrs away by bus) and we had a meeting with Father Carlos to talk about the future plans of the church. As I've mentioned before, internally displaced families are forced to leave their homes and move to Soacha to start their new lives. The second floor of the church has just been finished and it's great! It has come a long way since I first arrived.

before

after

We discussed ideas to start an after school program for the children, a restaurant to give people warm meals for a very low price, and catechism classes for children who attend the church. One thing that I'm really interested in is a VIH/SIDA (HIV/AIDS) education and prevention program. Father Carlos said that he would like for us to give classes to members of the community.

In Colombia, the nine days before Christmas are very important. In Soacha, Brittany and I will each have one day of the 'novena' to lead prayer devotion and songs. We're not quite sure right now what we have to do, but it's great that they're trusting us with such a big part of their Christmas celebration!

Usme: Lastly, there's Usme, where Brittany and I spend about 3 days a week with the kids, and Saturdays teaching english. Father Jose Romero is the priest there and he has big plans for Christmas. We are going to start decorating this week! We have lots to set up and lots to paint (i'm VERY artistic (not really)...so this should be good...). There are going to be about 200 kids there and all of them are going to receive a shirt, or some kind of toy, for Christmas. We are looking forward to sharing this Christmas season with the all of the kids that we have become so close to.

Yesterday, on our way to Soacha, we received a text from Miriam telling us that Father Romero's mom had passed away. After church in Soacha, we ended up going all the way to Usme (another 2 hrs in bus) to spend time with Father Romero and attend a 6pm memorial service. It was packed, and Brittany and I held the candles at the front of the church for the entire service. Ave Maria played, bringing many people to tears. His mom had lived a good, long life, and lots of people were there to support Fr. Romero and his family. We ended up getting home very late, after getting up early to get to Soacha. It was a long day, but it was definitely a special one that we won't forget. Please keep Father Romero and his family in your prayers!

Hope everything is going well back home. Brittany and I are listening to Christmas music right now (sorry to those of you who think the day after Thanksgiving is even too early) and are so ready to get started!

Love, Kate

operacion de los pumas/dia de las brujas

2009-10-29T10:01:00.011-05:00

our group cheer after working hard: "operacion de los pumas!!!"

We kicked off "la operacion de los pumas" on Tuesday and it was great! It was a beautiful day and all of the kids were there. Before we went out, we talked to them about working as a team and being very careful. We were a little nervous because they can get kind of crazy when they're excited, but they were amazing! They picked up all the trash and the hill already looks a lot better. The pictures show how well they worked together:

We also gave them their halloween letters from the youth group at St. Andrew the Fisherman church (Edgewater, MD). They were SO excited. Brittany and I helped translate the letters for them and they loved them! They especially loved all of the halloween stickers that were all over the cards (thanks mom and youth group!).

We have been celebrating 'dia de las brujas' (halloween) this week and it has been a lot of fun. They have been spoiled with candy from the US, and yesterday everyone made masks. We used plates, markers, and colorful pipe cleaners (thanks mrs. major!). We had a costume contest and Nelcy, with a great angel costume, won! Brittany was a super hero and I was a Colombian soccer player. Today we are going to play games and carve a pumpkin! Apparently they don't do that here, so it'll be fun for them to see one of our big traditions from the US.

Feliz dia de las brujas de los ninos de usme!!! Love and miss you all, Kate

rain, rain, go away

2009-10-22T13:54:00.006-05:00

As you can probably tell from the last blog, I had a great time with Sam! It was a lot of fun to be a tourist here for a few days, especially because I really hadn't been able to do that yet. It was so great to finally take some time to explore Bogota. The kids also loved all of the toys and candy from the US. Thanks again to everyone who sent treats to Colombia!

I'll keep you updated on things I might need for the Christmas season. Father Carlos and I are planning a clothes drive for Soacha for the internally displaced people who arrive there with only the clothes on their backs. They need jackets, pants, socks, sheets, etc... My grandmother (Toots!) is going to take the lead on this in her church. Let me know if you're interested and I'll have more information on that soon.

Father Carlos (Soacha) is in Quito until November, so I won't be able to work there for a few weeks. I'll start up again there on November 8th to talk about the health clinic that we are going to set up. The entire second floor is almost completely ready to go to house the clinic. It is really exciting to see this progress and I can't wait to get going in November.

Brittany and I have been patiently waiting for a clear day to start our project with the kids in Usme. The rain has been pouring down our past 4 or 5 times there. We have been using this time to go over key words in english (hill, dirt, shovel, etc..) and we even have a 'star chart' now. If they behave well, they get to put a star by their name. We just introduced it, and they all seem to understand, so we'll see how it goes.

We have also used these afternoons to go over our plans for the hill. The kids even came up with a name for the project: "la operacion de los pumas". We have huge trash bags and gloves ready for the kids. Phase one is trash pick-up because the hill is covered in trash. So, we have to clear it all out before we can start digging. Hopefully the rain will stop soon and we'll get started. Keep your fingers crossed!

Overall, I'm really enjoying Colombia. I just joined a gym with Brittany and Laura-Catherine and we're all pumped about the bodycombat and rumba classes that it offers. I'm even starting to become very comfortable with the transportation system here. Everything's going well and I'm really looking forward to all of the projects that I'm involved with here.

Thanks for all of the love and support!! Love, Kate

ps. The bishop just came in the office and gave me 4 lollipops. Two for me, one for Brittany and one for Laura Catherine. It pays to be the only one in the office right now ;)

Sam visits Bogota!

2009-10-16T10:06:00.009-05:00

Sam came to visit this past weekend and it was so much fun! Here is his recap of our adventures in Bogota:

When I boarded my plane for Bogota, I never could have imagined what I would experience over the next five days. I had anxiously been counting down the days until I would see Kate again, and with a busy week of midterms before I left, I never really thought about the places I would be going or the people I would be meeting. Needless to say, my first trip to Colombia was one that I will never forget.

On my first full day, Kate and I took the Transmilenio to the “Museo de Oro” stop. We toured La Candeleria, the area near the museum that’s full of vendors selling everything from jewelry to books and electronics. I took Spanish in high school, so I was able to offer greetings and carry on basic conversations, but I would often look at Kate with a puzzled look hoping that she would be able to jump in and save me. Her Spanish is amazing, and the locals always seem very impressed with how well she is able to speak and understand. Our tour through the museum was great and it was the first time I noticed how much a city of contrasts Bogota really is. Although the streets are generally dirty and have more litter than you would expect to find in the U.S., the insides of buildings are absolutely immaculate. I would have expected to see something like the Museo de Oro in Washington D.C. or NYC, but In Bogota it was certainly a surprise. That afternoon, I tried Bandeja Paisa, the same dish that Kate enjoyed while in Soacha. I loved it and I told Kate that with the two different types of sausage, shredded pork, fried egg, rice, beans and pig’s foot, it’s absolutely a lineman’s dream. After walking around some more, we decided to buy Colombian futbol jerseys and found a local bar to watch their final World Cup qualifying match. Since Colombia had already been eliminated from the tournament, it was tamer than I expected. My first day in Colombia was eye-opening and I loved just being able to spend time with Kate in the country that I’ve heard so much about.

The next day I went to Mass with Kate and met Brittany as well as Oscar and Miriam. They’re all great people, and you can tell that Oscar and Miriam love their girls very much. Oscar refers to Brittany and Kate as “Mi hijas” (my daughters) and told me as well as everyone else that would listen that he was “Su papi” (their dad). He calls me “Tio Sam” (Uncle Sam) and was very happy that I’d come to visit. The pride that he and Miriam have in their country, church and home was very obvious, and told me many times that I am always welcome to stay with them. After Mass, Kate and I went to Monserrate, a large church on top of a mountain that overlooks the city.
As you can tell from the pictures thick fog prevented us from seeing much, but we had a great time walking around on top of the mountain. It started to pour while we were up there and we waited out the worst part of the storm inside a café enjoying tea and café tinto (regular coffee). Next stop was Bogota Beer Company where we were hoping to just enjoy a Colombian microbrew, but were surprised to also find the Patriots vs. Broncos game on TV and a guy from New Hampshire visiting his Colombian girlfriend. This was Kate’s first time finding football in Colombia and I have a feeling that BBC will become a Sunday hangout for her.

On Monday we took a bus with Brittany to “La Catedral Sal” in the town of Zapaqueria. As you can tell from the pictures, it’s pretty amazing what they were able to construct so far underground. The guide spoke entirely in Spanish but I was able to understand parts and Kate and Brittany helped by translating.

We also went on a “Miner’s route” tour which basically included climbing through very dark and sometimes small tunnels. We joked how in the U.S. you would have had to sign about five waivers to go, but here it was just put a hard hat and flashlight on and you’re good to go.

We returned to Bogota at night and stopped at the Exito that Kate has now memorized to pick up food to make dinner at Miriam and Oscar’s. When we arrived at their apartment, Oscar was outside trying to fix a water pipe that had burst. He wasn’t having much luck, and Miriam came out to help him. I tried giving a few ideas in Spanglish, but Miriam insisted on doing most of the work. Once it was fixed, Oscar praised me as if I had done everything…I think he was unwilling to say his wife was able to fix something he couldn’t. Brittany, Kate and I prepared dinner as Oscar flipped through different music stations while asking us what kind of music we liked. His favorites were dance, tropical and classic rock…rap was at the bottom of his list. Dinner was entertaining as Oscar talked in depth about the security of Colombia.

For my last day, we took a bus out to Usme to bring toys and candy to the kids. When we arrived, there was a haircut brigada going on downstairs where everyone in the community could come and get a free haircut or their nails done. The kids adore Kate and would run into her arms as soon as they saw her. They were all excited to meet me and couldn’t wait for the toys I had. As you can see from the pictures, the planes, cars and jump rope were a huge hit.

At one point, one of the boys kept on asking Kate if he could run home just for a minute to drop off his plane…Kate was unsure why he wanted to so bad but finally let him. When it was time to leave, that same boy came up to me and handed me a small bag of milk as a thank you, and it was now clear why he had returned home. These kids have almost nothing and yet all he wanted to do was give me a gift to show his appreciation.

I couldn’t have asked for more from my trip to Bogota and it was great being able to see Kate and where she’ll be living/working for the next year. The people are great and Kate already seems like a local down there. I can’t wait to go back!

Universidad Nacional

2009-10-09T09:17:00.007-05:00

Hola! I hope you are all doing well! Laura-Catherine and I picked up Brittany last Thursday and she has been living with Miriam and Oscar for over a week! It has been fun helping her get to know the missions and adjust to life here. Between the three of us, there is lots of work to do, and we are all motivated to make a difference here.

In order to help us communicate, and get things done, Brittany and I have started taking classes at the National University of Bogota. I placed into level 5, and my class only has 5 other people in it! There are girls from Germany, Brazil, and LA, a guy from Holland, and an older man from Iran. Isn't that awesome!?! Our Colombian professor is great and I'm really happy so far with the class. It is 5 days a week from 4-6pm until December 1. It's really intensive and hopefully I'll improve a lot over these next 2 months.

This week, we went to Bosa and Usme a few times. Brittany and I are really going to try to get started on that big hill in the backyard of Usme and turn it into a place where the kids can play. We have plans to make it a community project, and recruit the help of the families of the kids we work with. We are planning on talking to Father Jose Romero (priest at Usme) about it and starting very soon. It should be a tough, but really rewarding, project. Father Carlos (priest in Soacha) is on school vacation right now, so I'll pick up with that next week.

After class tonight, I am heading to the airport to pick up my boyfriend, Sam! We are going to spend the weekend doing touristy things here in Bogota (gold museum, candelaria, monserrate, etc...). Monday is a holiday here (yes!!) and we're going to a Salt Cathedral in Zipaquira. Tuesday, we are going to the mission in Usme. The kids are so excited because they know that Sam is bringing lots of toys, candy, projects, and games from the United States (thanks Mom, Toots, Mrs. Major, Darcy, Sara, and Sam!!). He's also bringing the cards from the kids in the St. Andrew the Fisherman Church (Edgewater, MD) youth group. They are very excited to hear from their 'penpals'! It should be a lot of fun and I'm really excited to show him my new city, and for him to meet everyone here!

No pictures this time...my camera is in my backpack, which is locked in the office in Usme right now..long story. I will have pictures of my fun weekend and of my class next week!

Thanks again for all of the love and support!

LOVE, kate

soacha

2009-10-01T10:20:00.004-05:00

The last time I wrote, I was preparing for a weekend with Father Carlos Guevara (Episcopal priest in Soacha) and his family . On Friday, Father Carlos and I took a bus to his apartment and met his wife and 3 kids (Christian, Miguel, and Sofia). We arrived there at about 4pm and we spent the evening reading to Sofia (5) and Miguel (7), at the library . They are so cute! Saturday was an early morning. At 6am we woke up and ate breakfast. Then we all took a bus to Bogota, where we attended a 'human rights' class from 8-12. It was really interesting and I was able to start learning about the rights of Colombians.

Later that day, we went to a 'centro commercial' (mall) to let Sofia and Miguel explore the 'divercity'. It's basically a city for kids, where they have to manage their own money and get to try out different professions. There were even buses and traffic jams. Christian (their oldest child) and I were put in charge of the kids in the 'city'. We were given wristbands that had a built in GPS to find them if we ever lost each other. Luckily for us, it wasn't hard to find the two of them. Until about 830pm, we could find Miguel with the 'bomberos' (firemen) and Sofia in the 'safari' section. It was a great night, and then we had a 90 minute trip home by bus. It was a long day, but was so great to spend with a loving Colombian family. They invited me to spend Christmas with them, so I'll probably take them up on it. I am so lucky to have such wonderful people in my life here.

We were up early the next morning to leave for the 'mass' (Episcopalians here say mass) in Soacha. We arrived around 830am and had to clean up the church. We swept, mopped, organized and cleaned off the seats, etc... By 1015, the church was ready to go and people started arriving. The first woman I met (in the blue jacket to my right in the picture below) was displaced from her town, and moved to Bogota a year ago (Sept 29 was 1 year!). She is a single mother of four and told me a little bit about her story. Basically, she and her kids would have been killed if they hadn't left. She showed up on the streets of Bogota with her 4 children, the clothes on their backs, and 20,000 COP (about 10 dollars). She was able to make it to Soacha and has started a new life there. The next lady that came in was also displaced, from a different area, but in almost the same fashion (lady in the picture below with the cane). Their stories are like so many others. Right now, there are about 4 million internally displaced people living in Colombia since 1985. That is second only to Sudan in the number of people displaced from their homes due to violence and war. And people keep showing up, every day. The church service in Soacha was great. It's not a big church, but everyone there was so welcoming and excited that I would be joining them. In the middle of the service, out of the blue, Father Carlos asked me to say something about myself (thanks for the heads up...not!). Afterwards, he welcomed me into the church and said 'this is your home' and a man in the back said, "and Colombia is your country" with a big smile on his face. It was so nice to be welcomed into such a loving community of people. They may not have much in the way of material possessions, but they have what I see reinforced in the amazing people I meet here each day: a wealth of spirit and huge hearts...I am learning so much from them.

After church, and a little bit of coffee, we walked around Soacha. And this is what we saw:

As you can see from these pictures, displaced people move in and build houses wherever they can find space. Houses are built on top of each other, with whatever they can find. As you move up the mountain, it gets worse. 'Houses' are made out of green tarp and cardboard, as you can see in the background of some of the pictures. It was a quiet walk, and I was able to take it all in. Towards the end of the walk, we started to talk about the troubles and problems the internally displaced people face. Most of them don't even know that they have any rights. They don't have identification, and therefore, they basically don't exist according to the government here. If they register, they do have rights to emergency medicine and health care.

I would love to help these families realize their rights and help them to register, but human rights activists have been facing tough times in these areas. Recently, I've come across many articles that acknowledge increasing concerns about humanitarian efforts in Colombia: article. I will definitely have to talk more with the Bishop and Father Carlos to find a way to help, without putting myself, and others, at risk. I do give so much credit to those who are addressing the issue and willing to risk persecution to help others. These scared, displaced families are alone, trying to find their way in a new place, and they need help. They need to know their rights and to be welcomed into their new community.

After our walk, we took a break and grabbed lunch at a cafeteria. We ate a typical meal from a city call Medellin. There was a ton of food; rice, beans, avocado, fried egg, arepa, chorizo, shredded pork, fried plantain, and best of all....a pig's hoof. mmm delicious.... haha

After a wonderful weekend, I took a bus back to the church apartment. I was pretty exhausted, and had a lot to think about. I spent Monday and Tuesday with Laura-Catherine, the bishop, miriam, and some priests in the area representing the Episcopal Church at a "Confelirec"conference for peace among all religions in Colombia. It was pretty interesting and we even got to see Colombia's President, Alvaro Uribe, speak to us (see picture above...he's on the left).

Wednesday, I went to the National University to take a placement exam, but everyone was leaving the school when I arrived. There were guards preventing anyone from entering and I soon figured out that there was a 'distubio', or disturbance, going on in the school. It was probably some kind of political protest (apparently this happens a lot at the university) and all classes were cancelled for the rest of the day. Sooo I have to figure out when I can take that placement test, because classes start next Monday!

Unfortunately, Brittany can't take the class with me because of registration issues. The good news is that we pick her up from the airport tonight! I'm really excited to show her around all of the missions and help her get comfortable living here.

I'm headed to Usme this afternoon to be with the kids and I'm going back on Saturday to teach English to teachers and other adults in the area. Sorry that this blog was so long, but hopefully the pictures kept it interesting!! I'll keep you all updated! Love, Kate

ps. Please keep the people in the Philippines and Indonesia in your prayers! We are thinking about you Melanie (fellow YASCer in Besao, Philippines)

apartment

2009-09-24T18:10:00.010-05:00

I moved all of my things over to the apartment this past Tuesday, after a month of living with Miriam and Oscar. I really enjoyed living there, and was quickly introduced to Colombian culture and food with them. It was a great first month and they were so welcoming and generous. Their place was about a 15 minute walk from the church/office/apartment so it was really convenient too. Last Saturday was the "day of friendship and love"...basically it was Colombia's valentine's day. There was a party at Miriam and Oscar's apartment and it was a lot of fun. There was a dancing contest that night....and I was signed up by Oscar. It was pretty official..they even pinned numbers on us. My dancing partner was a man from the apartment, and he was really good. Well, we ended up winning the contest. And anyone who knows my dancing skills knows that we only won because I was the cute 'gringa' and they thought it would be nice to let me win. It was a lot of fun and feliz "dia de amor y amistad" to everyone!

So now I'm living in the apartment and I'm really excited about it. My room is all set and it's so nice waking up in the same building that I have to work in and the church is right there. The first night was a little chilly, but I have a few blankets now to keep me warm. It's a simple apartment, but it's perfect for what Laura-Catherine and I need. I have a nice, big closet that I've covered in pictures. The main roads to catch buses and a transmilenio stop are really close too. The 'Gran Pared' climbing wall is right next to us so I'm hoping to start climbing more frequently. I went with Laura-Catherine, Lucho and Oscar yesterday and it was tough, but a good workout. The only problem about leaving Miriam and Oscar is that I have to start cooking for myself. haha Please send any (easy!) recipes to kate.schaeffler@gmail.com asap!

Everything in Usme is going well. The kids have been working hard on drawing their families and writing letters to their penpals from the USA. Sam sent me a care package earlier this week (thank you!!!) and I brought them some reeses peanut butter cups. They loved them and want to try more things from 'the United States!'. Hopefully I won't eat everything in the care package before the next time I see them!

I was able to meet with Father Carlos yesterday while I was working in the office. He works in Soacha, a city on the southern edge of Bogota. I had read about Soacha on the Doctors without Borders website, and really wanted to get involved there. Here is an article from 2005, but it's definitely still relevant: Soacha. It's a very sad story, but it's a reality all over Colombia. I was invited to spend this weekend with Father Carlos and his family to get acquainted with the city. He has wanted to start some sort of clinic or mission for a while. Unfortunately, he works outside of the city during the week and doesn't have the time to start something right now. I am very interested on taking on this project and helping in any way I can. He is picking me up tomorrow and I will be there until Sunday afternoon. I'm hoping that I will have a better idea of what the need is, and how I can start helping, after this weekend. I'll keep you updated!

Brittany sent me a message earlier that she will be arriving on October 1st! We are really excited for here to get here and I can't wait to show her around. The two of us will start language classes on October 5th at the National University. I registered today and have to take a placement test next Wednesday. I'm really excited about this opportunity. I'll get to make some new friends while learning how to communicate more clearly. It's an intense 5 days a week class (4-6pm) for 2 months. It is exclusively for 'extranjeros', people from outside of Colombia and should be perfect to boost my spanish skills. Very exciting!

I hope everyone is doing well and I'll check in next week! Love, Kate