Here at the school, the students in each class draw the name of a classmate who they will buy a gift for. They keep the name secret. The class decides the price limit and sometimes a theme. The week of the celebration, sometimes the students will give hints to their classmate about who their secret friend is. On the day before the actual celebration day, the school celebrates. And boy do they celebrate. Students roam the halls giving each other candy and gifts. I got more candy that day than some trick-or-treating years. Much of the candy I got was wrapped like a gift. At 10:30, the real celebration begins. School that day ends at 12:30, so for two hours all of the students come together for somewhat of a spirit assembly/dance contest. Before the talent portion, there is a game in which the grades compete against each other. The game this year was an obstacle course-type game with other various twists and turns. After the game comes the dance contest. Each grade (6-11) creates a themed dance routine with a variety of songs, costumes, and sometimes a little acting at the beginning and end of the dance. Watching the girls dance made me wish I were born with some Latin rhythm. The groups only practiced 2-3 days and they came up with amazing routines. Each year there is a winner of dance contest. Ninth grade won this year and they were extremely excited because they always lose to the girls who are currently in 10th grade. In actuality, I thought the 10th graders’ dance was better, but the 9th graders performance was better. The 9th graders had one girl dressed as a cowgirl, another dressed as a donkey, and the rest were dressed as the cutest cows I have ever seen; they had on black and white dresses with cows spots. Before they all started dancing, the donkey and the cowgirl had a cute little interaction while “You’ve got a Friend in Me” played. Then the cows came out of the circle they were in on the ground and started dancing. After the music ended, the cowgirl jumped on the donkey and rode away. Super duper cute!
One small negative was when I sat in a freshly chewed piece of gum. I was sitting on the ground enjoying the performances and I shifted to get more comfortable and felt a tug on my jeans. I felt my bottom and sure enough, I had a big wad of pink bubblegum stuck to the pocket of my jeans. I stood up to try and decide what to do when a nice 11th grader walked over to inform me that I had gum on my booty. Fortunately, I was next to the cafeteria, so I asked for a small bag of ice (in Spanish no less). I then stood watching the performances holding a bag of ice to my posterior. Gustavo was fascinated with the gum on my pants and my removal process, so we spent several minutes talking about and looking at my bottom. Each time I froze a portion of the gum, I removed it. Finally, with a frozen and wet bottom, I removed the final traces of the gum. Exito!!
Once the performances ended and the winners were announced, the DJ started playing dance music. Imagine some 400-500 girls dancing together and going crazy - that is the picture I saw. Somehow I got pulled onto the mayhem and found myself dancing like I was 15. Everyone who has seen me dancing knows it wasn’t pretty.
The English teachers also decided to “play” the secret friend game for Love and Friendship Day. I chose Kelly De La Hoz’s name. When we were talking about whether we wanted a gift theme, she said she wanted socks. Shockingly, I bought her socks. I got a cute black v-neck t-shirt from Lina (the new 7th grade teacher).
Because everyone had explained to me how important Love and Friendship day is to Colombians, I decided I better get something for the nuns. I know how much they love sweets, and especially Colombian sweets, so on Thursday Virna accompanied me to the city center where I could by some cheap authentic sweets. I went once before with Virna and Kelly, but this time I realized how much it is like Canal Street, Santee Alley, and the market in Chang Mai in Thailand. The difference, however, is that that this one is not as clean or organized. Virna’s brother was nice enough to drive us, but because it was raining and there were arroyos on the roads, he could only take us so far. We got out of the car and found a bicycle-taxi to take us to the stores. In Huntington Beach, it’s kind of cool to take a ride in a bicycle taxi. Here, it is the cheapest form of transportation. No one is taking it for any other reason than to get from one place to another. Once we got to the store, I chose what I wanted and paid for it. I was expecting to pay at least $5.00 for each nun, but I was able to get a container of candy for each nun (6 of them), a container for Virna, and an extra bag of candy. The grand total: $13.00. Colombia is awesome!!!! After making the purchases, we left to find a taxi. Because it had been raining, no taxis were available, so we took the bus. There are several bus companies that provide city service. It’s quite interesting. I don’t know exactly how anyone can tell which bus to take, but Virna knows and she got us on the right bus and we made it home safely. Whew!!!!
I must report that the nuns were all very surprised and pleased with their gifts. I am sad to report, however, that I totally forgot to get something for Amira (the wonderful cook) and Sely (the woman who mops my floor and cleans my bathroom every day). I will make amends at Christmas.
On Friday evening, I went to Mayra’s house where I joined her, Romina and Lili for pizza and lots of talking and laughing. We had a great time. Mayra is chatty, funny, and little crazy. Romina and Lili are perfect friends because they balance her with their calmness. In the pictures, Mayra is the one with the black ears, Romina has the devil ears, and Lili has the halo.
On Saturday, the actual Love and Friendship day, I hung out with Virna and Jose. It was nice.
¡Su blog me hace querer empacar y embarcar para una gran aventura! Inspira recuerdos de mi año en México D.F. en años pasados. ¿Supo que los Colombianos son de los mejores salseros? Hay tienes algo mas para tu lista de experiencias maravillosas. ¡Como siempre, le deseamos que pases tu tiempo en Colombia feliz, sana, y fantástica y que sigue la aventura!
ReplyDeleteDeb
I like the idea of Love and Friendship Day much better than Valentine's Day. Before we were dating-- Mark and I were friends for 7 years before we started going out-- we'd have an anti-Valentine's Day party each year in which everyone would wear black, lots of See's candy would be served, and we'd watch that touching tribute to romance, Dangerous Liaisons. :) But the idea of a Love and Friendship Day doesn't leave anyone out (unless they're exceptionally anti-social, I suppose.) As always, looks like you're having a ball. I hope you managed to fully remove the gum-- need me to send you some Goo Gone? :)
ReplyDelete"In actuality, I thought the 10th graders’ dance was better"
ReplyDeleteYou totally made my day!