LMFAO

Yesterday was a great day. I helped my sophomore class with a skit . They decided to do a dance to LMFAO “ I’m sexy and I know it”. When I heard they were doing this song I was a little confused. They have no idea what LMFAO even means, they just got away doing this song because no one in the school besides myself know what the songs says. This is a direct quote from their act of completion and why the were performing this song.

“The musical group LMFAO, through this song shows us the effects of low self esteem and insecurity that normally affect teenagers who want to run away and hide.

To finally feel safe is apart of a growth process and an achievement. Being normal requires a personal effort and our own acceptance of how we are and what we want to be”

I’m not sure if this is what the songs represents….but I like where there heads up. A for Effort!

RADIO SHOW

Friday I was asked to be on 103.3 FM CPC radio show. I was interview by a fellow teacher asking about my experience here in Cartagena. Its very warming to know how welcomed I am here. 

There is a saying here " pueblo chico, infierno grande"

which means little down, big hell.....and when an american arrived here that is exactly que pasó. charming!

WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE

So this week has been going good. It was my Dads birthday on Monday, so we celebrated with a cake and my brother and I bought him a gynormous bottle of vino.

AS far as classes… I’m love teaching, the students are so hilarious. CPC is good times. Yesterday I walked into my 5^th grade class and this little boy starred directly into my eyes and said “welcome to the jungle” I about lost it, I was dying laughing. My laughter provoked this student to show off all his English and he began to sing his on rendition of “ my humps”. I couldn’t stop laughing, and then all of a sudden a few more students started singing and dancing and HUMPING! I finally had to tell them to calm down, but really I wanted to ask them what other songs they could sing for me.

Tuesday night I attended my first dance class. Here in Cartagena they have a gimnasio that is open to the public and it offers a Latin influenced dance course. It was so much fun. I made a few new friends and I got to shake my tail feather! Also, this week I started running with my brother. He is a P.E. teacher and is super sporty. It’s been nice to have him around to do activities with.  Last night we went for a run and after I made him do yoga with me in the hallway. We have fun together. 

THE WEEKEND OF SEMANA SANTA

Friday we had the day off school because of Semana Santa. My co-teacher invited me to her house to have lunch with her family. I took her up on her offer and was excited about it. She lives in San Antonio, its like 10 minute in bus from Cartagena. San Antonio is a much bigger city, and is where I will have to go if I need to comprar. My gentleman of a brother escorted me by bus to her house. She lives on a cliff that has the most amazing view of the ocean and of the port. Patty is a very nice lady. We talked in her living room for about an hour and listened to some Cat Stevens. I was loving it. Now every time I hear morning has broken, I’m going to think of this day, so great!

After I got from Patty’s my brother and I met up with some of hi friends and drank some beers on the beach. Because it was Easter weekend the beach was full of people. After our beers they wanted me to check out the laguna. It was closed, but naturally with boys we hopped the fence and entered. It was beautiful, reminded me of home and the back bay. We did some bird watching and had some good laughs.

When I got home to our house, my dad’s sister and family was there. Great group of people. I enjoyed the uncle the most, always handing me glasses of red wine… I was like HELL YEAH! We all over-ate and told stories, it was a good mellow night.

Saturday I woke up late around 12 and chilled with my brothers and primos all day.  During they night however I went to my first Asado in San Antonio for the birthday of my brothers friend. ASADOS are like BBQ’s. I got to meet a lot of his friends from the University and eat some dank food. We drank all night long, it rocked!

THURSDAY afternoon

So Thursday I went on a walk with my older brother. He is like my personal tour guide of Cartagena. We went to this place called “el atún”. It was so beautiful. You climb down these cliffs and into these rocks. From there you have the most beautiful view of Cartagena. When we got there the waves were pretty good size, so it was fun watching them smack against the rocks. After we hiked back and continued our tour. Im so lucky to have him, he is so patient with me and has the best attitude. Below I have attached some pictures of our walk and of Cartagena.

After our walk we went home and hung out for a bit. And then my brother asked me if I wanted to dance. Confused I looked at him and said “que”. So I guess every Thursday and Tuesday at the public gym they have free dance classes. He said I can dance while he plays basketball. Laughing I told him I would go with him to watch his basketball game, but I would have to observe the class before I joined. I was nervous because I know latin woman can shake it. We got to the gym and Eliseo and I hung out on the bleachers as I checked it all out. The dance class looked so fun! They were rocking out! I wanted to join, but I felt a little embarrassed. But on Tuesday I told my brother I was going to go and that I’m bringing our mama. She said yes so vamos haber….

Afternoon with mis hermanos

Tour of Cartagena

First off I want to say how much I have enjoyed my experience here in Cartagena. My family is so great. My brothers couldn’t be cuter with each other, always watching out for one and other. And my sweet mom, who is so giving and may I say a marvelous cook. She makes these amazing soups like Canzuela de vacuno and Porotos Granados. So good and healthy, me encanta!

Anyway. Today my brothers Hector and Eli took me to see more of Cartagena. Here in Cartagena we have two beaches, playa grande, where my house lies, and down street is playa chica. It was a bright in sunny day so it was nice to get out and see the town. My brother was telling me how Cartagena in the 40’s use to be a place for the “VIP”. Although many of these beautiful sites are abandoned, you can see how this city used to thrive como churches, castles, and other beautiful estates. The president once had a huge house here. Below I took a few pictures so you can check them out. Hoy en día during winter many of the stores and restaurants are closed because there’s not much traffic. But the city flourishes in the summer so they say… so maybe I might have to stay until then.... :) also the surf rocks and the graffit is genial!

Second day with my ALUMNOS

Vida as a teacher….. So today was my second day of class and it was lovely. Once again the kids made me feel so loved. However today I was with younger students. The lower grades in my school have a lot more students like 25-45.

Below is my schedule and I’m going to share some funny things that happened today in each class

1^st period= 8^th grade 

In this class there are many of what we as teachers call “travelers”. Students who get up for no reason, always roaming the class. In the states this would never be tolerated but here its not a big deal.

2^nd period=6^th grade

My babies. Sixth grade is thus far my favorite. Today they kept swarming me asking me a million questions. What is the capital, do you know Micheal Jackson or Brad Pitt? How do you say” me gusta jugar fútbol”.I would move about the class trying to help different  people but I kept finding myself in a huddle of students.

3^rd period=6^th grade S

aSme deal as class before. I noticed that my students have a hard time pronouncing the “j” and it comes out in the sound of “h”. From this I learned that many of the kids like to “hump rope”. I was dying laughing.  Also two students got sent outside for trying to teach my bad words….

4^th period=5^th grade

My little ones,que lindos están. This class for my co-teacher was lost cause. He couldn’t teach them anything because they kept swarming me, but they didn’t give me as much room to breath as the 6^th grade. At times I was feeling claustrophobic. The kept shouting “I love California” and  wanting me to draw them pictures?

5^th period=5^th grade

Same deal. Que bueno!

I think I received over 1000 kisses today. I gotta say, I just love it!

El Colegio Particular de Cartenga

I never thought I would know what it was like to be famous…But here at El Colegio Particular de Cartenga this is how the receive me…the stares, the smiles, the giggles, the screams, the whispers….Students constantly, I mean constantly, coming up to me kissing me and hugging me. The small ones stand in front of me and just stare and say “hola”. Its amazing how much excitement an American can bring to a place such as Cartagena.

So yesterday was my first day at my school. I met my director and many other teachers, all greeting me with smiles and besos. The principal, a fat man around 65, runs the school. The school is built around a large courtyard where students like to play soccer and hang out. When the bell rings the all gather and line up according to their grade. The principal approaches his podium and commanding the students, “look straight” “feet together” “turn forward”. I couldn’t believe it, I started giggling to the teacher next to me and she told me that for some weird reason he like to run announcements as if the students where in the military. Like a dictator his speech was very slow and direct, taking long pauses in between words. We did are saludos and sang the national anthem and then he introduced me to the school. As I walked to the front I could feel all 800 eyes starring at me and it became awkwardly silent. I greeted them in English, and said thank you for having me. As they marched off to class, I got a tour of the school. I didn’t spend the whole day there because I had to go to Vina del Mar with the school director and my co-teacher for a seminar.

After the meeting we all headed back. On the way home we stopped at the most amazing place and ate Costillar de cerdo, a tradition of Cartagena. I'm not kidding it was the best pig I have ever eating, I will dream about this for rest of my life. Not only did we eat but we all enjoyed wine and beer together. Tipsy and full we headed back to the school. I thought to myself, isn’t this weird we are going back to school tipsy? But of course not. We ran into the principal  and we told him how we enjoyed some wine, and he was loving it. God Chile is awesome and so relaxed. They always want to have a good relaxing time. I thoroughly enjoy this culture of peace and love.

Best thing in the world!

10th graders

Monday was my first day of actual classes. This week I am not doing any teaching but more observing. The students are all so hilarious, and fun. The pedagogy is much different here. The teacher I work with has a very casual and fun relationship with her students. In general the whole student and teacher interaction is much different. They are always kissing and joking and laughing with each other, but not in a foolish way because I noticed that the students show her respect. I seriously love, love the affection they show here. I wish that it wasn’t so unusual as in the states.  I am excited to work with all these wonderful chileanos!