off with the rose colored glasses

When you live abroad there usually is a time when one day you wake up and your rose colored glasses have fallen off. When the novelty of experiencing every day new, every path undiscovered, every relationship exciting and fresh has worn off a bit. You wake up one morning and realize that you are just another person in a big (still strange) city doing every day things and feeling every day emotions. And you start realizing that this city is just like many other big cities and you are just you- going to the same grocery store to get your veggies, where the owner recognizes you, getting the same cheese filled yucca empañanda on the way home from work, going to work period...

For years, I feel like I have pushed against routine and getting into a cycle of making money, work, home, buying stuff with that money, then waking up and doing it all over again. But I am realizing here in Bogotá that I enjoy having a routine. I love habits and structure- after all I am an organized type a Capricorn. My routine isn't for money, and it is not just simply based on getting finances to buy more things- (in fact I haven't bought hardly anything down here besides food and transportation). My new routine here in Colombia is becoming more beautiful every day. Yes, the rose colored glasses (rcg) are off- so with the reality of routine and going to work and trying to fit in play and concerts and dinners with friends, the reality of the regular emotional ups and downs is back. I think I was on a novelty high for the first 3 months here-- (which is normal and fun and a great way to protect your heart for a little while you get adjusted to being in a new culture and without your closest friends and family). But now my foreign friends have moved home, I got splashed by a car driving through a puddle, and I'm getting used to getting crammed in the bus like a cow in a stampede. I am not saying I love having a bad day, or spending all day yesterday on public transportation doing errands, going to Batuta meetings or spending 2.5 hours on 3 forms of public transport to only teach 1 hour of English. But I'm doing my best to respect those days- to embrace them as part of this journey here, and as part of my beautiful reality. After all, I was the one who wanted to get to know the real culture of wherever I ended up, right?

I am also observing that this 'reality' of the every day is in some ways even more beautiful than when everything is rose-colored. I am noticing details about Colombian culture that I was blind to before now. One may say they are mundane or simple- but that's just it. If I didn't take off my blinders, I'd never notice them. And they are not all great- but I think they are more real, which must be better or else everyone would go around wearing rcg all the time.

Just a few examples  Like did you know the stop lights here go: green- red- yellow, not red-yellow-green? And that in the bus, most people don't sit in a seat that was just occupied by another person right away. They go and stand over it, so everyone knows it's theirs, but I don't know why, they don't sit down right away. Or how about the man who is always sitting in the same place every morning offering to sell sticks as 'decoration' like one would sell flowers. And Colombians love the word 'marica'- younger 30 somethings use it with friends all the time as a playful gesture (not as an insult to the lgbt community- not saying I agree, but it's true). And how about how women never get asked for their id or stopped on the street by the police, only men. And that same lady that sells me the cheese yucca empenandas is always there when I walk home from work- yesterday she yelled out to me 'sorry- the cheese ones are gone tonight' as I walked by. Then there is my student's parent who always stands outside our rehearsal and one day asked 'can I come sing with you too?' Alejandro the guy at the computer/print/copy shop down the street knows me as I am in there printing lesson plans every week, and greets me with a smile and 'what do you need to print today Cori-ay?'. My bike rides to the Candelaria biking through the main Bolivar Square don't have the same thrill as before, rather I notice that they put up the big tree in the middle for Christmas or that there is going to be a protest today because the number of guards and police have doubled. I can't forget to mention that so many people walk around with bandages on their nose like it is a regular every day thing (which it is) to get a nose job, and half the advertisements have literally a half naked blond woman where the only thing covered is her ass and nipples, laying on the motorcycle or whatever is being advertised. The other night I realized that my beautiful 9 year old singer comes every week with the same outfit on and dirt on her beautiful face, but is just as focused and dedicated to learning how to sing than anyone I've ever taught. And the beautiful but hardened woman at the exit of TM Station Calle 106 makes me want to cry every time I pass her by- with her 3 year old, and her pink blanket turned grey, and her baby cup for change. One of my favorite places in the city is 'Parkway' 2 blocks from my house. On my nightly runs I take out my headphones to hear the conversations, and the soccer balls being kicked around, the kids playing and riding on their father's shoulders, the big beautiful german shepards and that one ugly bulldog or some kind of dog, that is white and black and always walking next to it's owner, and I always happen to come upon them from behind and see it's big dog balls hanging down to the ground, and all the couples not caring if the world ended because they are infatuated with the person on the bench next to them, and the same shoe shine guy always on the 3rd bench from the end after the statue smiling, and the sons and daughters with their mothers walking arm in arm, or hand in hand, and the father walking behind, and that group of Brazilian drummers- not your typical stateside drum circle, and there is always someone who bought ice cream from "Crepes" that makes me want to stop running and eat chocolate ice cream, and finally the painted graffitied rock that every time I run by it reminds me of the spirit rock at Alma College and friends and that night with lots of wine...

I am loving the small things- and am learning to love the realities of life here in Bogotá- downs included. Below are two pics from an up- a rehearsal the other night with some lovely students- cariñosos, todos! <3