Buenos dias (good morning)!!!!!!!!!!
Tis time for Colombia update number two!
I’ve now been in Monteria for over a
month
(sheesh)! Time is flying. Included in this update is a blurb of
the
most vacano (coolest), annoying, and interesting things
about living in
Monteria for the past month. I’ll do
what I can to keep this post at an acceptable length. Also, before I begin - since I wrote my last
email, my computer crashed. Before my computer crashed, a
handful of you wonderful people passed on the emails of
people that would like to receive these Colombia updates.
However, my notes and list of who I didn't include last
time was lost when my computer crashed! So again, if you
notice that someone that wants to receive these emails was
not sent this
email, please let me know and I will add them to the list
(again)! Sorry for being annoying and asking multiple
times :S Also, again, if you are receiving this email and
don't want to be, let me know!! I really won't be
offended.
Chapter 1. The
Heat.
For those of you that know me well, I am
not a big fan of
hot weather. When I lived in
Wisconsin,
I used to complain about the heat. When
I
lived in Minnesota, I used to complain about the heat. Then I came to Monteria.
Ay caramba.
I have never had such a strong desire to lay naked on
the floor under a
fan for an entire afternoon (I wouldn’t think twice about
laying on the bed…
too much heat retention). I’m
getting
used to dripping with sweat (literally) - in class, on the
bus, at home, at the
mall, and walking down the sidewalk. A
lot of people here just kind of shine all the time. Sibley is coming to accept the fact
that her
students feel that they need to let her know when she is
sweating (as if she
doesn’t already realize it). Also,
every
day, I wish that my cold shower could be colder. If only if only, the woodpecker sighed…
To give you a more specific idea of what
the weather is
normally like here – depending on who you ask, the
temperature during the day
at this time of year typically averages from 90-105 degrees
from noon till
about four (or, on a day like today, from nine am until five
pm). The humidity doesn’t help. When I arrived, I was excited to see
that the
name of my building was “Brisas del Rio,” or “River
Breezes.” Unfortunately, until now,
the building hasn’t’
lived up to its name. I am currently
sitting in my room drinking bottle after bottle of water and
saying a prayer
every 30 seconds begging for the power (and the fan) to come
back on. Of course the power would
go out on the
hottest and most breezeless day of the year.
There also never seem to be any clouds in the sky. So, no natural protection from the
sun’s
death rays. Shucks.
Regardless of my body’s troubles dealing with
the heat, I am enjoying the warmth as best I can, and
thinking of it as part of
the Colombian experience. Plus, it’s
really not that bad - I’m just the world’s biggest whimp
when it comes to the
heat.
Chapter 2. CONALCO.
My experience with the school system
until now has been
interesting. Wonderful!! And interesting. During
the month of February, I taught at a
school called Colegio Nacional Jose Maria de Cordoba. Aka CONALCO.
At CONALCO, school starts at 6am and lasts until
1:30pm. Early for me, nothing for
the students. Everyone here likes to
wake up early (before
the heat hits). When I explained to
my
students that in the US, school starts between 7:30 and 9
and that it is normal
for high school kids in the US to enjoy sleeping until noon,
they first gave me
a confused/disappointed look, assuming that I was mixing up
my numbers in
Spanish and I really meant to say “nine” or “ten” instead of
“twelve.” Once they realized that I
do actually know my
numbers in Spanish and that I really was saying that high
schoolers sleep until
noon, their confused/disappointed looks transformed into
expressions of
confusion/disgust/pity. “But WHYYY
teacher?!” was their response. Well, I tried to explain why... but
found
myself unable to come up with an answer that they were happy
with. I guess the sleeping habits of
Americans will
remain a mystery to my students.
Next on my list of CONALCO updates is the
teacher strike. Apparently, getting
paid on pay day rarely
happens at the colegios (high schools) here.
Rather, the process works something like this: pay
day comes, and the
teachers see no money in their bank accounts.
Another day or two pass, and the teachers still don’t
get paid. The teachers then go on
strike and stop going
to classes. The really proactive
teachers go to the Secretary of Education to voice their
disapproval of not
being paid on pay day… or being paid in general. After about 2-4 days of being on
strike, the
teachers are paid and classes resume.
I’m still not sure how it works at other schools (I
will probably find
out soon enough), but when the teachers at CONALCO are on
strike, they attend
classes for the first three periods (until the first break)
every day before
going on strike. If they still
haven’t
been paid at that point, they refrain from returning to
class. The day the strike begins,
the teachers all
go to their classes after break to let their students know
that they can go
home. After the first day though,
the
students just kind of figure out on their own that their
teachers are still on
strike, and they slowly trickle off of school grounds once
the first three
periods are over. While all this is going on, everyone (the
parents and the
public in general) chastises the teachers for going on
strike. The newspapers print articles
talking about the “lazy
teachers” that refuse to work. The parents complain. Too bad for the teachers - it's not their fault they aren't getting paid....
Okay, onto more stories of school. Famous people deciding to drop in to
school for
a visit - hooray! It was February 13th
and I had just begun my second class of the day. So far, everything had been going as
planned. I was going over the phrase
of
the day (probably “sweet” or “dang it” or “ready freddy?!”)
and one of the
teachers that works in the office poked his head into the
classroom/library
looking a bit distressed. “Jenna, I
need
to talk to you now,” he said, and walked out of the room,
assuming I would follow
him. Well, I did follow him, and
soon
found out that Farid Ortiz, a famous vallenato singer, was
in Monteria, and was
going to perform (in an hour) at CONALCO.
Woah! This would be like Lady
Gaga or Michael Jackson randomly deciding to drop in to
perform at a high
school in the United States. Everyone
at
CONALCO knows who Farid Ortiz is, and is probably on the
list of top 5
favorite singers for 90% of the students at the school. I was thrilled!! I
walked back into the classroom, trying to
constrain my excitement (and not succeeding very well)
before telling my
students what was about to happen. Of
course,
they went a little nuts. To
finish the story, the concert was great.
Crazy – as to be expected, and great.
By the middle of the concert, water bags were flying
everywhere and
exploding when they hit the ground like water balloons (in
Colombia, you buy little
plastic bags of water rather than bottles -
normally. There are also
bottles,
but bags of water are cheaper. You
bite
the corner off of the bag and suck the water out of the
little hole you bit in
the bag. Yum). Students
were dancing on the stage (in a way
that would get students expelled in the US, not to mention). Everyone was happy. It
was a fun day. Here is a link to
Farid Ortiz, in case you’re
interested:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoVTHoq0QFk&feature=related
Chapter 3. Colombian
fiestas.
You know you’re in Colombia when you are
woken up by your
host grandpa at 9:00 in the morning because he just got back
from partying all
night long and wants to see his amigas gringas.
Oh my. Colombians, or at
least a
good amount of Colombians, take partying to a whole new
level. Sleep is forgotten and
exchanged for
dancing. All night long. How they do it is beyond me. I have yet to experience an entire
night of
Colombian celebration, but I can only anticipate that the
next day will be
spent sitting and lazing. I’ll save
it
for a weekend I don’t have anything to do.
I’ll also have to make sure to have a pot of coffee
at the ready for when
my body starts to shut down.
I’m going to finish up this email now… I
don’t want to bore
anyone with a 10 page description of how my last month has
been. Quickly though, a couple
other notes :
- My Spanish is improving and now Sibley and George and I
speak
in Spanish all the time. I find
myself
constantly thinking in Spanish and trying to figure out
how to phrase things in
my head. I understand the people
here
much better now, although I still have a lot to learn.
- I bought a guitar and am learning how to play – lots of
people here play guitar and almost everyone is willing to
teach me something
here and there.
- I have decided that it is too dangerous to buy and ride
a
bike in Monteria, so am going to wait until I come back to
the states to bike
(tear… although I can rent a bike in the park and ride it
through the park
safely)!
- I have pictures up online! For those of
you that haven't seen them yet, here are the public
links:
Thank you for reading!
Miss you all!
