Finished up an “interesting” experience last week: Catholic Marriage Class. Got our “diploma” even. So the class consisted of five nights, seven to nine thirty. It was held behind a church en barrio Vesralles in the north end. Ok but a little hard to find a taxi afterwards. There were about thirty couples and it looked like nobody (else) was over 26. Some looked really young maybe 18. Looked like people over 26 in Cali don't marry, probobly just live in "uniones libres". Of the five classes two offered genuinely useful information. One required us to separate into three groups. Each group was given this sad story about a poor shmo who knocked his wife up then had to try to pay for her and an extended family on a salario minimo. Ok our assignment was to develop a monthly budget based on two salaries minimos or $700.000 ($254.50US) assuming I guess that both would be working. Then there was some kind of skit where two guys had to volunteer and act out a humorous scenario between couples one of the guys wearing a wig and the other wielding a rose. The girls had to do it too and one of them sported a mustache. The two dramatizations were spoofs on behaviors of the opposite sex and I’d swear the volunteers must have attended acting school. They were a riot. The other worthwhile evening was a two and a half hour explanation of sex by a guy who was a doctor and family consultant. He covered the subject from A to Z with diagrams covering every aspect and function of human sex organs as well as sexual behaviors and how they affect a relationship. He pulled no punches even describing one young couple where the guy practiced anal intercourse telling his young little wife it was “planificacion” or birth control. Holy crimany! Now why didn’t I…Anyhow it was genuinely informative and even with limited Spanish I learned some stuff. The other three classes however were just didactic religious dogma for the most part so not very useful to anyone but Catholic religion practitioners. Of course to be fair that describes 99% of the audience The last class did include outlines of both Colombian civil marriage code and Catholic Church requirements but that evening the speaker was bent on preaching so the time spent on the those important subjects was next to nil. Too bad. But the handout even outlined “capitulaciones matrimoniales” or pre-nup agreements which by the way need only a notary in Colombia, not a lawyer. The final evening also included the exchanging of questionnaires to be completed by each member of the couples that included some good questions to ask your novia or for her to ask you. The class cost $35.000 and we must present the diploma to the church I’m told. So there you have it.
Cali-vet
