Universidad Nacional

Hola! I hope you are all doing well! Laura-Catherine and I picked up Brittany last Thursday and she has been living with Miriam and Oscar for over a week! It has been fun helping her get to know the missions and adjust to life here. Between the three of us, there is lots of work to do, and we are all motivated to make a difference here.

In order to help us communicate, and get things done, Brittany and I have started taking classes at the National University of Bogota. I placed into level 5, and my class only has 5 other people in it! There are girls from Germany, Brazil, and LA, a guy from Holland, and an older man from Iran. Isn't that awesome!?! Our Colombian professor is great and I'm really happy so far with the class. It is 5 days a week from 4-6pm until December 1. It's really intensive and hopefully I'll improve a lot over these next 2 months.

This week, we went to Bosa and Usme a few times. Brittany and I are really going to try to get started on that big hill in the backyard of Usme and turn it into a place where the kids can play. We have plans to make it a community project, and recruit the help of the families of the kids we work with. We are planning on talking to Father Jose Romero (priest at Usme) about it and starting very soon. It should be a tough, but really rewarding, project. Father Carlos (priest in Soacha) is on school vacation right now, so I'll pick up with that next week.

After class tonight, I am heading to the airport to pick up my boyfriend, Sam! We are going to spend the weekend doing touristy things here in Bogota (gold museum, candelaria, monserrate, etc...). Monday is a holiday here (yes!!) and we're going to a Salt Cathedral in Zipaquira. Tuesday, we are going to the mission in Usme. The kids are so excited because they know that Sam is bringing lots of toys, candy, projects, and games from the United States (thanks Mom, Toots, Mrs. Major, Darcy, Sara, and Sam!!). He's also bringing the cards from the kids in the St. Andrew the Fisherman Church (Edgewater, MD) youth group. They are very excited to hear from their 'penpals'! It should be a lot of fun and I'm really excited to show him my new city, and for him to meet everyone here!

No pictures this time...my camera is in my backpack, which is locked in the office in Usme right now..long story. I will have pictures of my fun weekend and of my class next week!

Thanks again for all of the love and support!

LOVE, kate