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2 new class mates - both American - whose spoken Spanish is better than mine, but I'm holding my own on written grammar. The TEFL course was not wasted in that respect. However the only teaching I'm likely to get is as a volunteer in one of the barrios with abused street kids, and I don't think I'd be able to control them long enough to teach them anything. A couple of the guys from school go 3 times a week and generally end up playing football with them - not one of my skills!
Have decided to do a 4th week of Spanish and hopefully by then my mouth will have caught up with my brain. At the moment, while I occasionally know what I want to say, it never comes out right.
In the absence of any new and interesting excursions to report here's some stuff about Cartagena in particular and Colombia in general.
In the old city the police drive around in golf carts, which rather takes the edge off their being armed to the teeth.
When a building is undergoing renovation it's completely shrouded in sheets painted to show its finished state, so there are several cartoon mansions about town.
The city walls, most of the churches and the fort are built of blocks of coral and parts of the city walls are wide enough for a 2 lane road (with parking), so there is probably more coral in Cartagena than the Great Barrier Reef!
The postal system is privatised. Avianca (the national airline) and a freight company do the mail. It costs US$4 to send a postcard. Given the relative costs (US$4 will buy dinner and a beer) that's about GBP6 (if you go to Wetherspoon's) per card. I wont be sending Xmas cards from Colombia, even I'd seen any on sale - which I haven't. Fight Post Office privatisation at all costs!
Perhaps I'll do something other than school in the morning, beach in the afternoon next week - like take a salsa class. Not enough women go, apparently.
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