House calls & field trip for grown ups

So, as anyone who has seen (or, more correctly, heard me) in the last couple of weeks knows that I have had some kind of freakish death cough that would send me into uncontrollable spasms of coughing. I was fine otherwise, just really annoyed and, frankly, a little embarassed by this damn thing. Well, it has not gone away, and I was desperate to NOT have it when school starts. So yesterday I took advantage of my special travelers health insurance to see if I could see a doctor to check it out again. The lady was very helpful and told me that we could arrange something etc. etc. I thought my Spanish was failing me when she said she would call me back to confirm the time that the doctor would come to my house. Yes, people, yesterday I had a house call from Dr. Jorge Ortíz. I learned some new Spanish medical vocabulary words, and he did all the usual doctor check-up stuff -- just in my living room. It was pretty crazy.

Today Catalina, logistics lady extraordinaire of Colegio Los Nogales, took me and the other new foreign teachers to see the salt cathedral at Zipaquirá. It's a maze of tunnels blasted out of a giant salt mine and fashioned into a church. You make your way in through the stations of the cross, before ending up at the "dome" (a chamber with a big curved ceiling), the narthex, and the sanctuary where the altar is. It's a little bit eerie but cool. You shake off the eerie-ness pretty quickly at the end though, when you watch a 15-minute 3D movie about the history of salt in Colombia and of the cathedral. The narrator? A robot named NaCl, of course. Technical difficulties prohibit me from sharing this Kodak moment with you, but stay tuned for it as well as pictures of me licking the walls of salt. I know that's kind of gross, but we all cracked ourselves up doing it.

It was really great to meet the other new teachers, to at least know that there will be a few familiar faces when we hit the all-staff orientation next week. Speaking of the orientation, my lazy (or a little hectic) days of settling in are over. I didn't think I had to work until Saturday, but the principal wants me to come in for the whole day tomorrow. So I guess it officially begins!