Well, that's over.

yeeah. I'm back in Bogota after a six-month tour where action on the front wasn't too deadly. I was teaching English (think noun clause as direct object, not Faulkner as direct influence) to the lovely lazy young adults of the Colombian Caribbean coast. Lowdown:

January: no friends, no money, observed classes for a while, I think I rented a movie. Actually, the first week I went on a lovely family trip along the coast up to la Guajira, near Venezuela. There are some pics of that on fotki.com, search 'The Southern Continent' or 'brent meier' or something.
February: 10 hours a day of teaching, afternoons across town in the school's other branch (the dirty east, trust me). After work I was scared to wait for the bus because people get robbed here, plus a week into February two Italians got capped not far from my apt. That wasn't cool and I wanted to leave. But I settled down.
March: March was alright.
April: Hello, Latin America. Oh, I get a week off? We (sister and friend named Pav) went to Medellin and Manizales. Best thing I did in those six months was leave for a vacation. Lots of pretty girls in classes. Being a native English speaker somehow qualifies for University Professor status, so I taught an American Civilization course at the Universidad SanBuenaventura. It was alright. The other side of the desk lets one know the regret of being the same pain in the ass to former teachers as my students were to me. Disinterested lazies. I learned hindsight.
May: Wow, that was quick. Hey, I met some cool people, started strumming some guitar outside of the projects where my sister lived, hanging out in the coffee shop, blah blah.
June: I don't even remember the first two weeks. The routine had me whipped and I'd just drink Aguila beer on the weekends. The last two weeks were brilliant. Safe (British for cool) friends, neat bars, coupla 'despedidas' (farewell parties), I personally had a Despedida Week. I am still tired from that.
July: These entries are painfully brief. If you wanna know about the culture or wanna hear some anecdotes, ask me.
July: First few days in Bogota with some family, mooching room and board and more board. Saved up a decent travel purse, thanks to crazy Colombian job benefits. I got a half-month's salary bonus plus a liquidacion, which I still don't understand but it was a full month's pay. Thank you dual citizenship. Plans, i.e. Reason for blog: I'm gonna backpack for a while, this thing is so you know the answers to the W questions.

Where: Peru, Machu Picchu, Bolivia, Chile, Buenos Aires, Brasil I think. I'm open.
When: I'll come back, don't worry.