The end of the year

Man, it is going to be a shock when I have to start waking up early again. Yes, it is nearly time to go back to work- Tuesday to be more precise. Good job that I am only doing it for four days really:)

That is right, ladies and gents, trip time is nearly upon us again. Two weeks yesterday until the big day. Which means that I only have one more Friday until I get on a plane and get the hell out of here.

People keep asking me why I am going to Colombia, to which I have no good answer. Why do I go to any of the countries that I go to? Usually because someone has suggested it to me. And I have many Colombian students who have spent quite some time telling me what a great country they are from. I also have Turkish, Korean, Japanese, Italian, French, Thai, Vietnamese, Brazilian ,Taiwanese, Chinese, Hungarian, Ukbekistani, Kyrgystani, Mongolian etc students. Some of the countries I have been to, some I can't find on a map (but would make great Scrabble scores) and I have decided to leave Asia alone for a while. I would love to go to Brazil one day too but it seemed silly to head off there when I have been learning Spanish this year.

And the Colombian Spanish does seem so much easier to understand than Spanish Spanish. And why have I been learning Spanish? Well, it was a resolution that I made last year on the way home from New York. I was really worried about how I was going to survive back in England without my friends around me. That is not to say that I didn't have friends here but the friendships are not the same when you are not relying on people as your only source of English conversation.

I was worried about money, work and housing. Also I felt that since I had made the choice to come home after an eventful three years in Korea then I really had to make the most of being here. I had to do all those things that I had missed while hidden in the depths of Asia for so long.

So I ate a lot of cheese.

And went to a comedy club. Went book shopping. Flirted with men! And I could do all this safe in the knowledge that I had a plan. And my plan was pretty simple. If I hadn't got a job by Christmas then I was going to leave the country again and do a DELTA (geeky TEFL qualification) somewhere. I also wanted to learn a new language, do a photography course and get a photo in a magazine.

Well I didn't have time to do a photography course this year but everything else I managed. I started work about three and a half weeks after arriving home and just before the Chritmas holiday last year I had arranged to have Spanish classes with one of my students.

And that was about the time that I got the first invite to Colombia.

Which I accepted.

So really this holiday has been a long time coming. I can't think of any other trip that I have been on which I have anticipated for so long. All of the others have been spur of the moment things really.

Originally I was going to go for a month and stay with a student. I have lost touch with that guy, more or less. Then I was going to study Spanish over there for a month. But that plan changed when the school that I had signed up with stopped answering my emails. Which is a shame but does give me more freedom to do what I want. And I might well sign up for a week or two in a school in Cartagena- seems a popular thing to do.

Who knows really? My students have made me an itinerary- which seems to include visiting a lot of parents' houses (cute) as well as seeing a lot of the country. They seem to think that there is a real danger that I will fall in love with the country and not want to leave. Half of them are predicted me married in two months. Never say never, I guess!

I am not sure what is going to happen. My Spanish seems better again though I still have a lot of studying to do- A LOT- so far this holiday I have only managed two hours at the books but have chatted in Spanish online a lot- including two weeks chatting to some guy in Colombia who I thought was a friend of a friend until he turned on the webcam!! He was cute though and it as a good chance to practice my Spanish with someone who doesn't know any English.

I am looking forward to the challenge. And seeing this amazing country that I have heard so much about. Right now I am more worried about the fact that I am staying with a Colombian student's parents for a few days. I don't know how to act with English parents(!) In between winding me up about me spending the next twenty years tethered by the ankle to a bed in their basement, Alex also tells me that they don't speak English and that I shoudn't worry so much. To be honest, I think that he has lost of a bit of interest in the plan since discovering that Shakira is coming to London. Not really.

Anyway, I should drag myself out of bed.

Any advice for trips to Colombia or South America in general would be greatly appreciated.