¡Yo he llegado!

So...my second evening in Colombia. I already love it here.

But before I talk about Colombia itself...I think I'll mention some of the events from the journey here.

Let's just say that I almost had to postpone the trip. I arrived at the airport with my parents yesterday morning, and everything was running smoothly until I arrived at the gate. I sat down to rest from carrying my bag, and I overheard a conversation between some travelers and a person at the counter. It was not a happy conversation. From what I could tell, the flight to Miami (my flight) was severely overbooked, and there were not any other options to get there. I wasn't sure whether or not this would affect me, but I became a little uneasy. I decided to find out for myself what was going on, and talked to the counter-lady (idk what her job is called). She looked me up after I showed her my ticket, she and told me that I was confirmed for the flight but I didn't have a seat. In a nutshell, unless some people with flexible schedules were willing to give up their seat, I wasn't going to Miami any time soon. I asked her to be honest about my chances, and she said they weren't good.

So I went to call my parents at the payphone. Then I prayed...a lot. I was a little stressed, but not worried, because I knew that God would take care of the situation whether I made it to Colombia that day or not. They told me I'd have to wait until the last minute to see if I could get on. After everyone had already boarded, all the people who were denied seats were anxiously waiting to see if their name would get called. Praise God, some people didn't make the flight in time (maybe not praise God for them, but for me...haha), and I was the fourth or fifth name called to get one of the open seats. I almost shouted with joy.

I don't care what the economy is like...airlines should not overbook their flights. It's bad business.

Anyway...the flight to Miami was fun, because I got to know the guy sitting beside me (who also almost didn't get a seat). Unfortunately (and rather stupidly), we never exchanged names. But he was around 30 years old and lived in Charlotte, but he was originally from Israel. He had a very interesting story...grew up on a kibbutz (a sort of socialist, Zionist agricultural community), served in the military (like every Israeli) in Lebanon, moved to Alaska and worked in commercial fishing, worked with a moving company in LA, went on a backpacking trip in South America, drove an ice cream truck in Greensboro (and attended UNCG!), and now owns a small business in Charlotte. I may have left something out. Anyway, he had been in Colombia for two months, and he told me a lot about the country, the people, great places to visit if I had the time, etc. It was pretty awesome. He let me call my parents on his cell phone when we landed in Miami, because I didn't have time to call them again when I left.

The Miami airport was somewhat intimidating. It was a new experience, because for the most part, Spanish was the primary language on signs, documents, etc., and most of the people working there were Hispanic...me gustaba. When I arrived at my gate, I sat for a while, and while I was filling out my customs form, and elderly Hispanic man, whose name was Luis, came and sat beside me and struck up a conversation. His English wasn't fantastic, but it was still very understandable! He was on his way to Cali, Colombia (where he was originally from) to visit his 98-year-old mother, who was sick. He brought up politics and the economy, and told me how bad Bush was and how he was sorry he voted for him. I thought it was pretty funny. We talked about his long time here in the US, his experience learning English, how the letter "t" doesn't count here in the south in many cases (like in the word "water"), among other things. The best part was when he said he needed to go "make a pee-pee". I think I might start using that phrase myself.

The flight from Miami to Medellín was somewhat uneventful. I was a little concerned because of Mrs. Laventure's past experience with the Avianca airline, but apparently it has improved greatly over the past 20 years. Outside my window were some of the most incredible cloud formations I'd ever seen. Sidenote: I hope that when heaven and earth are restored that Jesus lets me walk on the clouds.

Throughout my experience with the Miami airport and the flight to Medellín, I was beginning to feel, as Mrs. Laventure and others had warned me, that all my previous Spanish classes were a waste of time, haha. Well, maybe that's an extreme way of putting it, but Spanish in the real world is a lot different from the classroom. I could only catch words here and there and get a very small gist of what people were saying overall. But I think it's already starting to get a little better.

Besides someone in a military uniform frisking me in the Medellín airport, nothing else of significance happened until I was found by the family with which I am staying currently. Their names are Brian and Katherine Miller. Brian is a 33-year-old (I think) American, originally from WV, and his wife is a 26-year-old Colombian woman. They have been extremely friendly, welcoming, and helpful. They took me out to dinner at this place called "Crepes and Waffles," where I got this thing called a Panne Cook with curried chicken (it was basically a bread bowl). Delicioso. They kind of showed me the ropes there (well, talked about the ropes really), let me ask questions, told me about Colombian culture, and recounted past stories that had happened at the foundation. They're both very funny and down-to-earth, and I already feel at home.

Their house is absolutely beautiful, and it's way up in the mountains, about 25 minutes outside of the city of Medellín, which is in a valley. The power was out when we got here last night, so we had to use candles and flashlights, but it was an adventure. I will post pictures of the house and the outdoors here when I get the chance, because it's hard to describe. Just know that it's very quaint, quiet (except for some of what I assume are family gatherings from neighbors, but they're fun to listen to), beautiful, with different kinds of flowers everywhere. Today I helped with chores, drove to the market with Brian, Katherine made an amazing lunch, and I worked a lot on my Spanish. It's really a lot easier to learn in this context, and Brian and Katherine have helped a lot. Katherine asked me if I would be willing to go to a store within walking distance to buy some cabello de angél (angel hair pasta) and a soft drink called "Quatro"...my first experience buying something in Spanish. I accepted, and the trip went very well...I was excited, haha.

Basically, I think this trip is going to be life-changing and a real blessing. Yeah, I know I'm kind of cutting this short, but I'm tired of typing. Hopefully my future blogs will not be so detailed, wordy, random, and boring...but I just wanted to share a lot since I just arrived and everything is so new.

Thank you guys for all of your prayers and thoughts!!

Love, grace, & peace,
Nick