School and City Tour

Today the new teachers got to go to the campus to take a tour, meet the administration, and get familiar with a few basic pieces of information.  Here are a few pictures of the campus:

The very back of the school

Outdoor theater

Water purification tower (the school purifies it's own water from a stream)

School grounds

Gym equipment that teachers can use after school

Interesting fact #1: Medellin sits at apx 5,000ft (about Denver, Colorado elevation). The school sits at a little over 8,000ft (that's a 3,000ft elevation difference every day)!!!!

Interesting fact #2: Supposedly this area has the 2nd highest frequency of lightening strikes in the world. The Ivory Coast is #1.

Because of the lightening all the buildings are covered in todd like the one pictured here.....

After we finished Day 2 of orientation they took us on a "City Tour" of Medellin. I'm not 100% sure of where all we went, but here are some interesting pictures of the afternoon!

Plaza Botero

??? Some place you go to relax your feet!! Walk on rocks bare foot then soak in a pool of water.....

Plaza Mayor--- there's a fashion show going on this week!!

Cerro Nutibara

Panoramic view of part of Medellin

I live here!! Totally surreal!

Pretty flowers everywhere!

I am still trying to get use to the city. My apartment is great, but on the main road which is really loud. There's no AC so the only way to cool off is to keep windows open, but that makes everything even louder. Things are crazy expensive here as well. Here's an idea of what I've spent on certain items:

10 plastic hangers- $7.50

Cheap wash clothes (not good quality at all)- $3.50 each

Plastic fan- $42

Tea pot- $20

Cheap throw blanket for bed (super cheap quality)- $32

Small bath mat- $15

Cheapest coffee mug I could find- $5

Needless to say, I couldn't buy much at 1 time and I still have a lot of things to buy. What I have learned, everything is imported (nothing is of great quality) so be ready to fork over some cash!! I'm going to try and do more shipping this weekend to complete my apartment!

Until the next post....