And we’re off again.
After a summer in our hometown of Albuquerque – enjoying first
world comforts, hating first world prices, soaking up some beautiful high
desert weather, spending quality time with old friends and new, stockpiling money,
a whirlwind east coast visit with family – we have set our sights on a new continent.
It was an incredibly open-ended job hunt – Turkey?
Indonesia? Bhutan? Costa Rica? Cameroon? Ethiopia? – leading us to settle on
Latin America. Faced with dishearteningly low pay compared to teaching in Asia,
our options were few (though job opening were numerous). Immediately, the
volunteer jobs that want volunteers to pay were ruled out. The remaining options
were a high-paying job in a capital city teaching business English six days a
week or a low-paying job in a rural school. We went for hidden Option D: working
four days a week in exchange for room, board, and Spanish lessons.
And sometimes, following instinct rather than money pays off
in a big way.
Our instinct has led us to Olits Insitituto de Idiomas in
Ocaña, Colombia. The school is new; students are few and classes small for now.
Olits is run by a couple, German
Christine and Colombian Camilo. Along with Christine (and their two children),
we are the only foreigners in all of Ocaña. Possibly this little bit of celebrity
will help the school to grow.
So, here we are, in Ocaña. Built in among the landscape, the
houses tier up and down hills, stacked like blocks, all terracotta roofs and beautiful
balconies. Buildings crowd up to tight winding streets, restaurants, churches,
and shops interspersed with the residential. Spanish rattles all around us,
still indecipherable, but becoming more intelligible.
Language is shared, taught, practiced. And through this
exchange, our international family grows ever bigger.
