Medellin Here We Come

We just found out that we will be living and teaching for the next year in Bello, a suburb of Medellín, Colombia!  Medellin sounds like it was made for us.  It has perfect weather year round where it doesn't get much colder then 60 degrees and doesn't get much hotter then 70 degrees. It has beautiful scenery surrounded by mountains and it's main exports are flowers and coffee (perfect!).  It also has many festivals and so much to do!  

You may have heard of Medellin as being the drug capital of the world.  Only 10 years ago Pablo Escarbar and his cartel ran the city. Things turned around for Medellin starting in 1993 and now it is an exciting city and is home to over 30 universities; including Uniminuto Bello which is where Dale and I will be teaching over the next year. Uniminuto Bello is part of the Minuto de Dios University System which is a Christian University that consists of low income students.  We definitely were not expecting to be teaching at a college level next year but that is what we have in store.  Looks like we will be brushing up on our English grammar! 

Last Day of ESL

So, Jess and I have been doing ESL at the Second Baptist Church off of Gaskins and River Road. I have never met such a nice group of people in my life. They were all so nice, willing to help one another, and shared their knowledge with us.. If Colombia is anything like what we have experienced at the ESL program, then we will be in for a real treat. The road leading up to our departure date has been a real roller coaster of emotions. I am not sure what we were doing thinking of leaving our home for some foreign land one minute and then feeling like we can change the world the next. It is hit or miss what emotion I will feel about the future every morning when I wake up, but it is nights like these at ESL that I feel a sort of excitement for Colombia. There is still some frustration about not knowing where we will be living yet in Colombia to which we should be finding out sometime this week. My last 5 days of Best Buy started today and it is all starting to get very real and very exciting!
-Dale
P.S. Yard sale this weekend on Sunday at Jess and I's place, wish us luck.

Donations

Since WorldTeach is an independent non-profit organization they receive no funding from the US government and no significant sustained funding from other sources. WorldTeach asks for a volunteer commitment from us so that we can go to Colombia and have the support that we need while we are volunteering.  We are trying to make the entire volunteer commitment through extra work hours and grants, but we also need your help.  A donation from you would help make it possible for us to contribute what we have to offer to Colombian students.
If you'd like to send checks they can be made out to WorldTeach and marked for us on the memo line.  You can mail checks directly to the WorldTeach office at:

WorldTeach, Inc.

Center for International Development

Harvard University

79 John F. Kennedy Street, Box 122

Cambridge, MA  0213

You can also pay with a major credit by clicking “Donate Now” on the WorldTeach homepage: www.worldteach.org.  Just make sure that you

enter either Dale Brink or Jessica Brink and our program (Colombia 2012) on the “Purpose” field so that your donation is allocated to our volunteer commitment.  Please note that all donations are tax deductible! 

Thank you so much we appreciate all of your support!

One Month Until Colombia!

We only have one month left in the states! After several shots and doctor appointment after doctor appointment we are finally ready to start packing our bags.  Dale and I are making our final preparations at our jobs so that we will be ready to leave in two weeks.  Wrapping things up at home is full of endless to do lists and consumes our every "free" minute.  It hardly gives us time to be excited for our huge adventure that we will be on in only a few weeks.  Here's hoping to finish everything up by December 20th so that we can enjoy our holiday :)