And it all begins...

An official "hola!" from Santa Marta. 

I arrived to Santa Marta 2 days after leaving Canada, which was an even longer than anticipated trip here (I was stuck temporarily in a city called Barranquilla - incedentally, where the beautiful Colombian trophy wife on Modern Family is from).

I didn't run into her, nor anyone that looked quite like her though.

Needless to say, it took me a few days to get adjusted to: lack of sleep, the heat (omg - the heat), and of course the usual "get your bearings" stuff that happens at the beginning of any brand new location.

For this type A person (as an aside, an old friend used to say I was so type A that I deserved a new category he called Type A.M.Y.), entering a culture with a big "dis" in front of their "organization" and a beyond relaxed approach to both time and cleanliness ... it is fair to say that my usual conveniences and comforts are so far out the window that I can not even see them anymore.  All for the best.  However, as a confession, I still treat my little bottle of hand sanitizer as my best friend.  We are pretty tight :)

On the upside, I have to say that being so close to the ocean and feeling the sun everyday (even with at least a 30 SPF at all times) is just awesome.  Here are a couple photos of sunset "a la playa" just three blocks from where I am living:

And onto what this blog is all about ... the program!  Today marked "Dia Uno" of Cutting Borders.

After a 15 minute taxi ride out to Barrio Fundadores ... one of two neighbourhoods that the foundation serves ... I arrive with the foundation's director, Oscar and another volunteer, Carla. Carla is from Bogata orignially and will be my assistant/translator for the next two weeks. She is as cute as a button with the most amazing energy. Without her help I simply could not teach. Period. It would have been an absolutely different day without her and we are a dynamic duo. Thank gawd :)

Since the school house in this barrio is under construction, Cutting Borders will be operating out of a veranda of one of the mother's houses just down the street.  In fact, the mother is one of our students as well!

We are greeted straight out of the cab by some kids with big smiles and hugs.  One cutie insisted on being my bellboy for my heavy load of all supplies and toolkits:





We have enough plastic chairs (and a few rocking chairs ... this could be interesting!) to accomodate 10 students at this location.  We had an overwhelming attendance and it broke my heart to send some of the young girls (under 13 years old) home because we didn't have enough space and their little hands couldn't even accomodate the scissors.  Oh, the puppy dog eyes. :(

However, all the girls were very eager and when we conversed about expectations and goals I was more than pleased to hear that every single person wanted to share their knowledge and make a few pesos by the end of "basic training". 

I believe that today was a success in that everyone had a chance to hold their tools and learn how to handle everything, the ground rules of the course and what to expect from the weeks to come.  I can see the excitement in their eyes and it makes everything worthwhile.  Everything. 

Day one ... Success.