{"id":2602,"date":"2018-09-11T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-09-11T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-09-12T14:11:54","modified_gmt":"2020-09-12T18:11:54","slug":"so-your-character-is-from-colombia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/so-your-character-is-from-colombia\/","title":{"rendered":"So Your Character is From Colombia … Featuring Kathleen @ One of Each Shelf"},"content":{"rendered":"


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<\/span> It’s time for this week’s So Your Character is … Post! This is a weekly segment where I interview lovely volunteers from around the world to give you a firsthand account of being a citizen of their respective country or having a disability. I’m hoping to encourage international diversity, break stereotypes, and give writers a crash course on how to write a character from these different places on our planet. If you haven’t checked out last time’s So Your Character is from Chile … be sure to hop on over there and give it a read!<\/span>
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<\/span> Disclaimer: The content below may be culturally shocking to some. Each of these posts is as uncensored as possible to preserve the authenticity of the cultures of each of the interviewees.<\/span>
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Hello there! This is Kathleen writing thanks to the incredibly interesting invitation from Victoria, who sent me a message all the way to where I live, Bogot\u00e1, capital city of Colombia, South America, to meet you, guys; and as a 31-year-old professional journalist who is always in the search of all kind of stories I could not resist since writing and reading are among my deepest passions along with the dark hot coffee and all sorts of treats, that I enjoy as much as anime, cartoons, and movies. Please, be my guests! <\/span>
\nBlog<\/a>|Twitter<\/a>|Instagram<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span> What do you feel is unique to your country? Landmarks? Celebrations?<\/b><\/span>
\nWell, probably you\u2019ve heard or read this a lot, but I would say Colombian people are unique. Most of us are friendly and outgoing people, full of pride for our country, always laughing about everything, and always willing to work hard. I bet you\u2019ve heard that we are kind of the partygoers in the region (we have around eighteen labor days per year) and we take advantage of that in all sorts of celebrations that have to do with religion and culture of each region.<\/span>
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<\/span> Long story short, my country is divided into five natural regions, each one with its distinctive geography and celebrations. Most known are: Carnaval de Barranquilla and Festival de la Luna Verde (Caribbean coast); Carnaval de Blancos y Negros and Festival Petronio \u00c1lvarez (Pacific coast), Torneo Internacional de Joropo (Orinoquian region), Festival Piraruc\u00fa de Oro (Amazonian region) and Feria de las Flores and Festival Internacional de Teatro de Bogot\u00e1 (Andean region) among others. <\/span>Sounds good, eh? I wish I could explain them all, but we can always count on Google, right?<\/span>
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\nTell me about your country’s environment. What are some of your favorite places?<\/span><\/b><\/span>
\nFirst of all, you must know that we do not have seasons in here. We are in equator line, which means that you can be in Bogot\u00e1, my city, experiencing a cold weather and then have a two-hour trip and find heat. Let\u2019s not talk about Bogot\u00e1\u2019s weather, which particularity is to be unpredictable and that\u2019s why, if you travel here, you\u2019ll find people dressed for both heat and cold in a same day (but that\u2019s exactly what I love of this city). <\/span>
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\nSome others of my favorite places are: San Andres Islands, that is famous because of its 7 colors\u2019 sea; Mompox, a beautiful colonial town on the banks of Magdalena river; Barichara, another stunning colonial town where most of the houses were built in sandstone; Nuqui, in the <\/span>Pacific coast, where you can see humpback whales one time in the year; Villa de Leyva, another of this beautiful towns that are going to make you hold your breath; Valle del Cocor\u00e1, where you can find Colombia\u2019s national tree; Ca\u00f1o Cristales, one of our most known places and Ipiales, where you can find Las Lajas Sanctuary, a modern world wonder.<\/span>
\nNot been in most of them, but I will. \ud83d\ude09<\/span>
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\nTell me about your country’s food. What are some of your favorite dishes?<\/b>
\nUmmm! Where do I start? Colombian food is delicious! And again, each region has its own epic treats. But, if I have to describe something national: it has to be rice, bread and arepas. In here you\u2019ll hear that if there\u2019s rice, there\u2019s a meal and you\u2019ll hardly know a Colombian that does not eat rice at least once per day. My favorite meal in the world: rice with fried egg. Simple and delicious. <\/span>
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\nSame story with bread: if you ever head to a Colombian city or town, you\u2019ll probably find a bakery and inside, all kinds of bread, salty and sweet. Then we also have arepas, which can be described as a piece of heaven made of flour and the good news is that each region has its own version, so you have a lot to taste. Also, we have a lot of fried food such as empanadas, which can be fried or baked, and they are perfect to stop hunger. If you ever come to Colombia, please ask for one. I prefer mine with some chili pepper, but I\u2019m going to leave it there because I\u2019m starting to feel hungry\u2026 and you?<\/span>
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\nTell me about any different speech patterns in your country. Slang? Idioms? Words for things such as \u201cbiscuits\u201d instead of \u201ccookies\u201d?<\/b>
\nThanks to our history (we were a Spanish colony) our main language is Spanish, but you must know that there\u2019s plenty of communities with their own languages that are not Spanish (think about the indigenous people and ROM people) and even there\u2019s a part of our country, San Andr\u00e9s Islands, were you can find some creole English speakers. On top of that, we have different accents in the whole country and a particular slang in each one, which makes this topic a complete world itself. <\/span>
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<\/span> Anyway, if I have to describe a general aspect of the way we talk, it has to be the use of what we call \u201ctutear\u201d, which is a familiar way to talk. Imagine that there was another \u201cyou\u201d word but only to use with the people you are close the most, or maybe to not sound so formal to somebody. The contrary form of this is \u201custed\u201d, which we use to address somebody older or in an authority position, or a stranger, just not to be disrespectful.  <\/span>
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<\/span> An example using the phrase \u201cHi, how are you?\u201d would be:<\/span>
\n\u201cHola, \u00bfc\u00f3mo est\u00e1s?\u201d (Informal way)<\/span>
\n\u201cHola, \u00bfc\u00f3mo est\u00e1?\u201d (Formal way)<\/span>
\nI know sounds complicated, but is not, trust me.<\/span>
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