Patricia L. Woodard

Twice Colombia: Adventure, Friendship, and Adoption in the Andes Mountains Patricia L. Woodard

Patricia Woodard had always wanted to teach in a foreign country, but the dream seemed to be elusive. Then, in the summer of 1975, while she was teaching summer school in her hometown of Whiteville, North Carolina, she received a telegram asking her to teach in Bogotá, Colombia. Excited and stunned to finally be realizing her dream, she accepted the teaching job and began a crazed summer of preparation for her August departure for South America. Twice Colombia shares her story of realizing her dream and the realities of teaching in a foreign country like Colombia, two different times over the course of two and a half years. Teaching in Colombia was the ultimate adventure and the achievement of her dream to live and work overseas. Counter to her expectations, when she arrived, she was jolted by the cosmopolitan and sophisticated people she encountered. She fell completely in love with the country and its people and eventually adopted a child there. Twice Columbia is a memoir of a wonderful time of adventure in a country that few Americans have experienced firsthand!