From time to time, on Tuesdays, the students of Nueva Lengua They help serve food to the children of the Ramírez neighborhood, a very poor area of ​​Bogotá. Unfortunately, I only started studying here on Wednesday, so I couldn't make it last time. So I was glad to be able to attend at least once before I left Bogotá.

As I live downtown and study in the Chapinero neighborhood, for me the houses in the Cerros de Bogotá are a completely different world. And it's not just me; The inhabitants of Bogotá tend to describe these neighborhoods as a kind of continent shrouded in mystery and poverty. So even the trip to the neighborhood was an opportunity to see up close what exactly it was all about. With each curve around the hill, the streets grew dirtier and the houses more abandoned. And with the rain just beginning, everything seemed sadder.

When we arrived at the cafeteria, we immediately began helping with food service, handing out candy, and cleaning up. The truth is that we were all quiet and shy at first. But little by little, one after another, we started talking to the children and joking with them. In the end it also turns out that it was a good test in Spanish, because children swallow the words and speak much faster than adults.

Overall, it was an awesome experience to see a side of Bogotá that tourists don't even think about. Obviously the area was relatively run down and poor, but it was fascinating to see a place so close) 20 minutes walk from the center (but so different. Although I still can't say I understand how people live here, at least I can say that I already I do not see the Cerros de Bogotá A mystical and unimportant continent.)

-Weather

This article was originally written in Hebrew