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. 

Fond Farewells

Sometimes categorizing for an entry is a little tricky. If I were on top of things and blogging about my experiences within days or even weeks of them happening, I wouldn't need to worry about catergorizing. Unfortunately, I haven't yet figured out how to do that. I am, therefore, obliged to categorize. I decided for this entry to categorize events for the purpose of people leaving the city or country. Four of my favorite seniors decided to flee Barranquilla for greener pastures, at least temporarily. For three of the four I was able to share in farewell experiences with them.

The first farewell was for Laura Torregroza. Several months ago Laura decided she wanted to study English intensively in England, so she did some research and found a program in Oxford where she could study English for a year. To some people that may not seem amazing, but to me it is amazing that a 17-year-old girl from Barranquilla, Colombia is studying English for a year in England. Before Laura left for England, her mind was full of many dreams and possibilities for her future. One of her dreams was to become a chef and design and create her own restaurant. We decided, therefore, to have a goodbye dinner at one of the nicest restaurants in the city (about which I have already written), Beit Quessep. Originally, only Laura, Camila, Valeria and I were going to go to dinner, but because Laura is so loved our party of four turned into a part of nine. Alex Quessep, the owner and chef of the restaurant came out and met Laura and I think that made the night extra special for her. We had a wonderful time talking and laughing and hanging out at the restaurant until closing time. 

I did have another mini-farewell with Laura because she, Camila, Valeria, and Maria Jose came to hang out with me and say goodbye the afternoon and evening before I left for California for a month in December. Camila showed up at 2:00, Valeria at 3:00, Laura at 3:30, and Maria Jose at 4:00. We hung out, talked and laughed, walked on the roof (which I didn't realize previously is something most of the girls want to do), talked and laughed, went shopping for traditional Colombian sweets and treats to take home to my family, talked and laughed, ordered chuzo desgranado to be delivered to the convent for dinner, and then ate and watched Protagonistas (a Colombian reality-TV program). At one point, the girls wanted to see my HUGE closet so I opened it and Valeria asked if it was big enough for a person to fit inside. She told Laura to check it out and as soon as Laura stepped into my closet Valeria closed and locked the closet. It was hilarious, although I am pretty sure Laura didn't think so. A bonus for the day was when we were on our way to Exito to buy things for my family and we ran into Laura Vizcaino (who was going to join us in the convent but had another commitment) and she came shopping with us. Although it wasn't a party or some preplanned event, I had a fabulous day with some of my favorite girls in the world.

The second farewell was for Julieth Davila. Julieth and Ana Maria Gonzalez both went to New Zealand to study English intensively for 8 months. Ana Maria left before I returned from the US after Christmas so I didn't get to see her and share in a farewell for her, but fortunately I got to celebrate with Julieth. Julieth's mom threw a big farewell party for Julieth in her brand new condominium. The condominium was so new no residents had moved in yet; Julieth's mom got special permission to use her apartment for the party. It was super fun to hang out and talk with Julieth and all of her friends who talked all about how much they would miss Julieth.

The third farewell was for Valeria Serrano. Valeria is an actress if ever there were an actress. She was made for the theater. In Barranquilla there are few, if any, opportunities for a person interested in drama. Valeria, therefore, decided to study drama in Bogota. Before she left we celebrated with her at a gourmet burger retaurant called El Corral Gourmet. It was the most California-like of any restaurant I have been too, maybe because they serve some 20+ versions of burgers and charge way too much for them. Again, I thought it would be a small group of 4-5 people, but because Valeria, too, is so loved the group became ten. As with the other two farewells, this one was wonderful. It was fun to catch up with several of the girls who I hadn't seen since graduation. I really enjoy talking with Valeria, but we have our own special language because neither one of us is confident in the other's native tongue. When we are talking and no one is listening, we communicate perfectly. Unfortunately, when other people hear us they feel it is their duty to comment on the lack of rectitude in our language. I, for one, don't care what they say because Valeria and I have found a way to understand each other. One final comment: Although it is not evident in any of the pictures, Valeria wore a gorgeous black dress and high, high heels. She looked beautiful.