More After School Fun

Sometimes it amazes me how much I fun I have had since I got here.  It's no wonder I am loving this experience.  Before I left for Christmas break, I played a lot.  As I stated in an earlier post (which, by the way I just reread and I can't believe how many typos I had in that entry), school was over for most of the students after November 19, and those who failed classes only had to be at school from 7:00-noon, so I had a lot of free time.

Many people say the biggest problem with Barranquilla is its lack of culture. Although there is no theater company and musicians seldom come to the city to perform, there is a strong dance presence in the city. Costeños are born dancing and because of that almost everyone dances and much of the dancing is amazing. I am continually shocked and amazed at how well the girls at the school dance. One of the best dancers in the school (ok, the best) is Laura Muñoz. Laura not only dances the dances all Costeños dance, she also dances in the Arabic style. In December she invited me to a perfomance at the one nice theater in the city because her dance company was going to be performing. I was excited to go because as everyone knows I live for live performance. The performance was called Entre Dos Aguas because it combined Spanish-style dancing with Arabic-style dancing. Surprisingly it worked...and it worked well. I enjoyed the entire performance, including the part in which the smallest of the girls in the dance company danced. What impressed me the most, however, was how Laura stuck out above the rest. If I hadn't known it was Laura, I would have still been drawn to her because of the way in which she embodies her movements. She is truly a gifted dancer who has figured out how to become the dance she is dancing. All of my pictures are blurry because I was using my phone camera and the theater was dark, but the essence of Laura is still there.

Another fun thing I did, and have done twice, is drive go-karts.  In the parking structure of one of the shopping centers, there is a go-kart track.  I went with Luisa and Luisa the first time, and then with Luisa, Luisa, and Gina the second time.  Anyone who knows how I like to drive can imagine that I loved driving the go-karts.  The track is a good, windy track and the karts seemed faster than the last track I had been on in the US.  (Maybe they seemed faster because it had been months since I had driven a car.)  It was super fun, but no matter how fast I tried to go I couldn't seem to catch Luisa.  On both nights I went with her she had super fast track times.  Someday I will beat her time.  The second time we went, Luisa's boyfriend at the time, Michael, also came with a buddy of his and they rode mini motorcycles.

In an earlier blog, I posted pictures of the primary school English teachers when we went out for ice cream.  Libia, the pregnant one at the time, had her son Christian David in September and I finally went to meet him.  What a darling baby he is.  He is chubby and happy.

Another day I went with the nuns to visit Araceli, the woman who mops my bedroom, cleans my bathroom, and empties my trash every day.  She is super sweet and always offers to do more to help me.  She has told me several times she would be happy to do my laundry for me.  One day she actually took some of my blouses from the drying line and rid them of their armpit stains.  What a nice surprise it was to have blouses that look brand new.  The reason we visited Araceli is because she had an operation and was away from work for two weeks.  Her daughter and her family live with Araceli so I got to meet her newest grandchild.  The picture is of Maria Victoria holding him.

The Saturday before I left for California, the school threw a Christmas party for the teachers and staff.  It was great fun.  We ate huge pasteles, which are a mass of rice, potatoes, meat, peas, olives, capers and some sort of binding wet flour-like concoction steamed in a huge green leaf bound with string.  They are delicious.  After eating, we had a carnaval-like celebration with lots of music and dancing.  It was a fun day and a fun way to end the school year for the staff.