This fragrant white gardenia (thanks to my friend, Mary who helped me identify it) greeted us from our patio garden as we arrived at our apartment in Medellin, Colombia last week. The "City of Eternal Spring" will be our home for the next four months as we work to improve our Spanish while getting comfortable spending time in a foreign country. With twelve hours of sunlight year round and an average daily high temp of 80 degrees, Medellin is a pretty comfortable place to hang out for the winter. We spent our first week learning the basics of our surroundings. Our first impressions reassure us that while we have a lot to learn, Medellin is going to be a great place to figure it out!
We rented a small apartment through Airbnb in one of the nicest areas of Medellin, the commune of El Poblado. With tall apartment complexes everywhere we look, it appears to us that this is the way that the locals live. Our secure complex has a pool, sauna, and exercise room. It is walking distance to a grocery store, two major shopping malls, many restaurants, and the Metro station that can get us easily to most other parts of the city. Our apartment is not much bigger than the Wildebeest was, but it has all the comforts of "home".
I have to admit that I was just a little bit apprehensive when we arrived here week and a half ago.
I had (and still have) plenty of "What if" and "How do we" questions.
What if our minimal Spanish isn't enough to get us by?
How do we learn the basic things that we need to know in order live and get around in a foreign country?
What if we really don't like this new and different lifestyle?
Successfully finding, ordering, and paying for dinner the evening that we arrived and finding a comforting cup of Colombian coffee the following morning provided the initial reassurance that I needed. And Doug's constant reassurance that "we can do this" helps also! While I am sure that we will have lots to learn, here are some of our first impressions that reassure me that ... at this moment ... we have made the right decision.
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| We were welcomed by the neighborhood "dog-squad" as they patiently waited for their hired human "walker" to take them out. |
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| The neighborhood "art" promotes an active lifestyle and provides a daily reminder of our skate-board loving sons! |
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| A trip to the market provided the fresh ingredients to create a delicious chicken salad complete with locally grown avocado, mango, papaya, and greens. |
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| Our new healthier "snacks" ... platano, papaya, granadilla, mango, mangostino and murrapo. All this for under $5! |
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| The Medellin Metro system ... We can get just about anywhere once Doug figures out how to get the Metro Civica passes that will help us avoid long ticket lines. |
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| Many great "people watching" opportunities at the Malls. We loved the excitement of the children playing in the Colombian "snow"! |
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| Lunch at an outdoor cafe along with Doug's favorite guanabana juice came to only $23 including tip. Restaurants are very reasonably priced, so eating out is becoming the norm as we try all the local specialties. |
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| During our first Sunday Mass at the local church we realized that Colombians speak very fast. It's going to take some practice to understand the priest's sermon, but not surprisingly, Mass only lasted 40 minutes. |
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| Embracing "Ciclovia" as we walk amongst the joggers and bicyclists on one of the main roads, Avenido Poblado which is closed to vehicular traffic every Sunday from 7 am to 1 pm. |
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| It was good to try to figure out our new hometown by ourselves for the first few days. But we are always happy to meet up with friends, Luis and Piedad when they are in town. They introduced us to local shops, restaurants, and brews this past weekend. |
After some initial apprehension, we have experienced great first impressions of our new home for the next four months. Medellin is a large city that offers an engaging environment in which we can improve our Spanish while immersing ourselves in the local culture. Yes, we have a lot to learn ... and we are in a beautiful locale for the lessons to begin. Thanks for following along. As always, we look forward to your comments.
Until next time ... Be impressed by all the beauty that surrounds you ... and enjoy the adventures in your life!
Next up: Formal Spanish lessons begin! Why didn't I pay better attention during Spanish class in high school??!!
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