Tuesday, October 12th, 2010
The busride to Medellin is beautiful... I met some other gringos on the bus that I travelled with, and went to the Pitstop hostel. I went out with the guys to dance, pretty late. I made some friends with a trailor, among them, a swedish girl I`m going shopping with perhaps tomorrow. I sent some of my stuff with them in the car down to Ecuador, because they had a lot of space. The next day, I did a nice sunday walk in the sun, and got to job offers: one, as a bartender, and the other, a bit more interesting:
Juan had spotted me while he came from a meeting, jumped in his car thinking: damn, this is going to seem suspicious without my female assistant. But I`ll do it anyhow. He gave me his card and shared information about the company. My first thought was: human trafficing! He`s been working a lot on ridding me of that thought. I called yesterday to schedule, and I went to the studio today with a friend. The studio was awesome! and the people were really nice. My friend knew one of the models, so that gave the final indication that this is legit. They don`t want me to pay anything, but they want 20 % of deals I may get.
We`re doing a photoshoot next week to make a "Referance book" with different clothes and looks.
I`ve been riding around on the back of my friend, Victor`s, motorcycle, Olga. We`ve done voluntary work at a psychiatric clinic; which was very interesting. Pleasant. Not always easy to understand the spanish of schizofrenic people on drugs, but yes. I decided try couchsurfing.org, and after five minutes of searching, I was just rediculously lucky! I`m living with a fantastic family of a doctor father(that will ask the hospital if they want a volunteer), a mother, a grandmother that does all of the cooking, a sister, a brother, and my host: Laura, a passionate girl that loves music and singing. This is fantastic for my spanish. I`ve spent a lot of time in two different universities now: first with Victor, doing his college survey, and today with Laura; for lunch and to watch a jazz-jam session. The house is in a nice area that even has a gate man, I get my own beautiful room, I have internet and they feed me :) How lucky could I get?
Friday, October 29th, 2010
I`ve been welcomed into this family that’s been joking about adoption, and I despite feeling bad that I`m accepting so much from them, I believe in their reassurances that they enjoy having me here. I really can`t thank them enough. I would have gone by, but with a lot of hardships with the little amount of money I have. There are couchsurfers that offers accommodation, but I`ve also been given food, transport, help with sorting out the bank, and a great deal of security. I`ve felt very much like being at home, in a different way than in Salento. The transfer to the account which they have given me, is still not complete, so I`ve been dealing without a refill of money for two weeks, but hardly spending anything at all. I`ve tried to help out with dishes , grocery shopping, keeping the parents company while they run a lot of errands, driving the others here and there. And I`ve quite enjoyed it, as well as it has been good for my Spanish. It`s great just being in a car again, even. Laura has taken me to multiple jam-sessions and concerts, as she is an active singer. The whole family has gone for Alejandra`s ballet performance(I then realized that it was my first one), we`ve all gone out salsadancing in a place called Son Havana, where we`re going out tonight to watch Laura`s band, despite being exhausted. It`s funny to see the parents dancing too. But I have a cold that`s just killed my energy today. The mom in the house is an odontologist that’s fixing my teeth; two holes and removing two visdomteeth, for more then ten times cheaper than back home! I`ve gotten to know some of the neighbours through rumbadancing(it`s the only exercise I`ve done since I came back and I`m dying from it). They`re taking me and a girl I met while volunteering with little kids(organization called Lazos), around the city tomorrow for the aquarium, science museum and some costume shopping for Halloween.
But right. That`s probably not amazingly interesting.. what`s more interesting , at least to me, is how the modeling has turned out. The register photoshoot went okay. They gave me “homework”: to read fashion magazines and look at myself in the mirror. Just like medschool! I arrived an hour late for the real fashion shoot because a stupid bus driver and several people on the bus said yes, when I asked if the bus was going there. Afterwards, the bus driver said: “oh, I didn`t hear what you said!” Ask again, you tard. I`ve now learned, very late, to ask the driver, let the bus go. And then ask either one or the two next buses as well. Today I did that, and it saved me a trip to the other side of town. But the people in the agency were really nice about it.
They didn`t want to put hardly any make up on me for the shoot. I was kind of hoping to be superstyled. The stylist actually loved my hair. What can I say? I cut and cheaply dye my own hair, and haven`t touched it in almost three months. - There you have the recipe for success. I took some close ups after being styled the first time. They would fiddle a lot with my hair and what to put on me, but for every round of photographing with new looks, they were all sounding super enthusiastic. I would just mix up emotions, try new things. The photographer would tell me some things to do and not. They all made me feel very good and professional. They sent photos around to contacts, and in a moment, I had several meetings scheduled. I`ve been to Chevignon, and the head wants to meet me. No one from the bureau has ever been requested by her, so that`s… cool. Surprising! Don`t know how much I`m able to believe it when they they say brag too much. I`m not letting them put too much helium in my balloon, so don`t worry. It's weird for someone that has never known how to look in the camera, and always thought of herself as normal looking, just with red hair. I`m even glad I never realized what a foul little kid I was, once. Now it`s just a hallway-entrance amusement in my house.
But here, I`m different, and all human. I guess that`s part of why the people I meet say they love my "ettitud"(said in the norwegian way the top model judges do)
We`re looking into the best way of getting me a working visa, so that I can fly in whenever I have a photoshoot, without having to give up on my travels, which I wouldn`t. Monday I`ve got the meeting with the head, after a meeting with a make up company called Avon. I`m optimisticly crossing my fingers for a photoshoot for them next week, and one for Exito, the biggest supermarket brand in South America, who asked for my sizes and is going to see whether they have work for me next week or not. Originally they were busy with one model. But I`m supposed to be heading south next weekend, so there`s a bit of time pressure. I extended my visa(had to go to the das three times), to have enough time to cross the border. Two of the three times, I met friends, so that was lucky, because waiting in line takes for-ever.
As for the family, again, it`s amazing to get to know them and get the inside view of a family living on the other side of the world. Both the differences and the similarities, troubles and love. The grandmother is especially culture shocked, and already a big fan of drama. I`ve taught them what a brownie is, made fajita, and learned how to make tortillas. Can`t believe they don`t eat a lot of taco here, so close to Mexico! I`m definatly visiting them on my trips back here, and I`m hoping to meet the last sister that`s studying in Italy. The job for Chevignon is in January, if I get that one, but there should be other gigs before that time. It`s an interesting twist that I can`t help but investigate. I don`t pass these things up. The one time I did that, when declining a job offer as a singer/coproducer in Melbourne, too early, it cost me a free trip to Singapore. Stupid, stupid girl!
Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010
Last days in Medellin
These days have been efficient, which I love. I`ve volunteered with the kids, been to the dentist, spent almost a day in and outside the science museum, where a big radio channel concert was playing next to it. I`ve celebrated Halloween, where the family lent me a devil costume. I`ve studied a lot of chemistry, been around the town doing and accompanying others in chore-doing, been to the uni researching and thinking about the future: It looks like I might just study for one year in Oslo and then 5 in Martin, Slovakia, instead of 6 years in Riga. Martin is not a big city, it`s closer to nature and there`s a bigger Norwegian society with more references than Riga, as well. It´s further south, close to everywhere for travel, right by the Alpes, and it`s a very cheap place to pay for your leisure time, stay and food. It`s good that I`ve got to thinking about these things. I`ve been to the cinema with my friend, Nicole. We saw The road, a really great movie that`s also really old. Colombia is so far behind for some reason! Inception is still in the cinemas too. Yesterday I was finally well enough to go to the EAFIT gym for two hours, and it was divine. I have to stop forgetting how much I love exercising. Your first day there is free, and it’s a big gym with zumba, rumba, sauna, spa, rooftop, everything. It`s been a weekend and a vacation-day, so any news from the agency has been… slow, because the assistant has been trying to multitask by doing both Avon and Chevignon on the same day, but I only have today and tomorrow to meet them, cuz on Friday, me and Victor are hopefully off to Ecuador! Entonces, I told her to arrange the meeting with Chevignon, that actually answers her phonecall. I`m not exactly going to be offended. I`d be more offended if they had said no After meeting me!
Some reflection about volunteering..
I wanted to volunteer as an English teacher for kids in poor Bolivia, thinking that it was important for them to learn, and something that I could do. But I´ve come to realize how the most important thing for Those people is not a well paid job, money or speaking to tourists, but happiness in the way they live. Because frankly, the odds of that changing any time soon are pretty slim. Bolivia will not rise from voluntary work alone, giving education to a few that might leave the country for greener pastures.(speaking very harshly now, so here`s a teaspoon) Things are going to need time and a lot of pull force. South America is like Asia and Africa; on the move. Especially Brazil, from what I hear.
What I believe we can contribute more with, without taking jobs that other locals could do for less than we sometimes are offered, is information and education that can diminish cultural disputes and give them the courage to stand up for themselves if they have been wronged. They need someone to trust. Politically, they also need a functioning law system and police, which one can`t fix alone. Even in modern Colombia, that has military and police everywhere(!), they have little true power, which is what as I wrote, probably led to the Circasia-clean up, where 25 people got murdered in one month. I don`t have time to be that person to trust, but I can start up something, and help get the wheels going. Direct volunteers, scanning online for work they believe in, that they don`t have to pay to do.. I´ve started collecting info that I will post with time.
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