12 months = one year = NOT halfway quite yet.

One year ago today, I arrived in Colombia. Crazy, right? Well, to me it is. All this time thinking about time passing--I can't lie, I pour over my calendar at least three times a week, marking off days and highlighting upcoming events--and bam, a year. Time is just, so, measurable here, between the stark delineation between BC and CC (Before Colombia and Current Colombia), and the knowledge of an expiration date (AC), and plenty of landmarks in between...well, it happens. Thinking about time, I mean. Days and weeks often pass slowly, but months have FLOWN by.

Not a huge accomplishment, in and of itself. Time has passed. Not to mention, the first three months were training, and on top of that, in terms of productivity, this has got to be an occupation with one of the biggest ever learning curves. Also, service is 27 months, so this isn't the halfway point or anything. Still. A year. In Colombia. That's a thing.

Not going to pretend like I know what umm, exactly I'm doing quite yet, but I can at least say I have a better idea. And that things are only going to get better, at least in that respect, from here on out.

So in honor of this not-so-auspicious-but-still-somewhat-noteworthy occasion, I started making a list of things that I no longer find totally strange. Let me tell you, it really takes it out of you when practically every single moment is the craziest thing you've ever seen, so this on its own is going to add up to super amounts of extra energy this coming year. Things becoming normal = adjustment = some sort of personal success, no?

I thought I'd make a small list. Just scant minutes later (seemed like), I'd reached 100. So I left them.

For your entertainment, and in no particular order, here are 100 things that I've come to find normal, or at least a predictable part of life, for the past year in Barranquilla, Colombia. 

1. Mule carts galloping next to  cars
2. So. Much. Sweat.
3. Bloody Jesus watching over my school hallways

4. Speakers that are 5 feet tall blaring salsa in my house

5. Hanging out the door of a bus while trying to get somewhere
6. Flagging down buses so they'll pause for me with a floppy Hitler salute

7. Not using canned tomatoes

8. Not using any sort of bullion or stock to cook
9. Rice made with oil and salt with grains fried prior to boiling

10. Mall food courts being the most productive place in my life to work

11. No air conditioning

12. People knowing how to dance. Every single one of them.

13. People dancing everywhere (Bus. Grocery store. Street corner. School. Clubs. Home. …)

14. Carrying an umbrella everywhere

15. Using umbrella in the sun as well as the rain. Often in the same day

16. Getting called "my queen," "my heaven," "my daughter" on a daily basis by strangers and acquaintances alike

17. Getting cat calls even on my frumpiest days

18. In terms of frumpy: my best days here were probably my frumpiest in the US
19. Wearing sandals every single day
20. Buying my fruit off of carts
21. Haggling over prices, from taxi to fruit to spices

22. Not knowing 1-3/4 of what is said around me

23. Getting told blunt, personal observations on a daily basis (your acne is looking suuuper bad today. Is that everywhere on your body? You're getting fat!)

24. Lots and lots of touching

25. Kissing to say goodbye and hello

26. No windows in my room.

27. Never being cold
28. Spending most of my money on food
29. Getting inordinately excited over vegetables

30. Getting fed things that are so garlicky they give heartburn (who knew overdosing on garlic was POSSIBLE)
30. Heartburn

31. Vegetables being called a salad no matter what sorts of vegetables/form they're in

32. Beans being called "grains"
33. Cilantro being called a vegetable
34. Putting cocoa powder in my oatmeal to get my chocolate fix
35. Not having an oven

36. Getting questioned on whether or not I'm Mormon for wearing skirts

37. Having Spanish come to mind instead of English when thinking of synonyms

39. Being mistaken routinely for people who look nothing at all like me

40. Getting asked if I know famous people on a daily basis
41. Getting asked if I'm from Miami on a daily basis
42. Getting asked about God on a daily basis (do I believe? What's my church like?)

43. Never wearing my hair down

44. Soap operas as a daily feature of life

45. Not walking alone after 8:30 at night

46. Living in a city

47. The fact rain paralyzes daily activities
48. Masses taking place during school hours regularly. In school.
49. Sounds that could be gunshots actually turning out to be gunshots

50. Drinking hot chocolate in 100+ degree weather w/o a/c

51. Eating soup in 100+ degree weather w/o a/c

52. Seeing a flowering plant bloom multiple times a year

53. Eating things cooked in butter on a regular basis

54. Passing a fried food stand on every corner

55. Hour-long bus rides, half of which are standing up in aisles 3-people deep, to get anywhere

56. Living with 9 people in a 3 bedroom house

57. A parrot as a pet

58. 3 chihuahuas

59. Feeding house scraps to the pet turtle pack. Or parrot.

60. Being able to talk about people behind their backs without them knowing it

61. Traffic

62. Traffic noise

63. Living in a city

64. Explaining the difference between real-life US and Hollywood

65. Weekly cultural in and outsights
66. Carrying hot sauce around with me to ensure life has a touch of flavor
67. Carrying toilet paper around with me everywhere
68. Throwing toilet paper in a trashcan instead of the toilet
69. Cold showers
70. Explaining what it means to be a vegetarian
71. Eating chicken

72. Working, officially, on Saturdays

73. Letting someone know every time I leave my house for a night
74. Letting someone know I'm alive, officially, once a week

75. Being watched. All the time.

76. Speaking incorrect English using Spanish structures
77. Hearing incorrect English being used by everyone who (thinks they) speak it

78. Loudspeakers/speaker towers everywhere

79. Public spaces routinely being louder than a crazy punk-rock-dubstep-name-that-concert

80. Sweat pouring out of every pore while sitting at the kitchen table, my desk, lying on (note, definitely not "in") my bed

81. Speaking a second language. (Not claiming fluency, but, I get around…)

82. Being referred to as "La Gringa"

83. Playing soccer

84. Signing up for a fantasy football league
85. No real measurement of success
86. Living in the same city for 12 consecutive month/planning to live there 12 more.
87. Seeing my parents/US friends only by virtue of Skype (minus the super awesome ones who visit!)
88. Having small children around the house
89. Watching Will Smith in terrible tv movies, dubbed over in super deep voices
90. Sitting in plastic-style beach chairs
91. Sitting. A lot.
92. Representing the US
93. Using hand gestures while speaking--not the unspecified Italian sort, but sort of like sign language
94. Having many siblings
95. Seeing extended family on a regular basis
96. Cooing over babies
97. Working as a teacher
98. Thinking every day about how I'll make a difference
99. Thinking every day about if I've made a difference
100. Being in the Peace Corps