Its been awhile....

Almost an entire year has gone by without any words uttered by either Jesse or I on this blog. Over the past year, so many life decisions have been made and our life together is taking a new direction. We decided back in November that our time overseas needed to come to an end. Mixed feelings definitely abound while we try to rationalize with ourselves this incredible change of lifestyle.

Anyway... We have not traveled around Colombia as much as our other "homes away from home", so the Classroom Without Walls trips actually allow us to see a bit more of Colombia. I went to the Zona Cafetera or Coffee Zone again this year with a bit change. I spent three nights camping in the Valle de Cocora, with 40 kids each night. The Valle is absolutely gorgeous and I was reminded of how much I enjoy waking up in the fresh air, snuggled into my sleeping bag, only to emerge surrounded by beautiful landscape. Despite the lack of sleep endured because of excited students shouting into the wee hours of the night, spending time in this immensely gorgeous area of Colombia certainly rejuvenated me and lifted spirits. Enjoy my favorite photos of the Valle de Cocora.

 This last one may be my favorite of all...

Zona Cafetera

Our school year includes a week-long (for Middle School), classroom without walls, trip for the students. For the past few years, the sixth grade trip has been to the Zona Cafetera, or the Coffee Zone of Colombia. The Zona Cafetera is about a 30 minute flight from Bogota, to the north-west. Most of our students do not travel within Colombia, so a strong focus of the Classroom Without Walls trips is that they learn about their own country and the differences in culture throughout the country.

It was incredibly interesting for me to see the area where the biggest, legal export of Colombia comes from and to learn about the coffee culture. It is completely agriculture, with small towns dotting the countryside. In addition to coffee, this area also grows plantains, bananas, and other tropical fruit. Coffee plants/bushes grow on the mountainsides, at about 5,000 feet in elevation.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the trip.

One of my students picking coffee. One key feature of the trip was that the students had the opportunity to pick coffee and realize how difficult a job it actually is. The mosquitoes were biting, it was hot, and they could only pick the red beans. Coffee workers make very little per kilo, so for the students to actually be able to conceptualize the difficulty of the work and the amount earned, was incredibly powerful.

Above, is the mythical Cocora Valley. Those tall trees are wax palm trees, where palm oil comes from. The Valley is often shrouded in fog, and has an incredibly feeling of peace and tranquility. We spent a morning here with a hike for the students to experience hiking and see this famous landscape of Colombia.

The most important part of our trip was the social project. We went to a local school where we planted trees and painted their outside wall for them. Often, our students are used to donating money, clothes, or school supplies for the less fortunate, but they don't often spend their time to help others. For the majority of the students, it was an eye-opening experience. They talked with the students from the school, got to know a bit about them and their culture, and then realized how poverty affects children. Most of our students assumed they were working with second or third graders, due to their low height, but they were actually fifth and sixth graders. Some of the local students told my students stories about their home life which included drugs and violence. My students realized how fortunate they are because of their education and the quality of the school structure in which they go to school. Many of the local students thought we were from Argentina because of the paler skin of the students. Before we left the school, we gave each student school supplies (pencils, pens, notebooks, and folders) since the majority of the local students do not have enough money to purchase them on their own.

Overall, the trip was a success. My students got to learn about a different area of Colombia, learn what poverty really is like, and they had some fun as well.

Andres Carne de Res

There is a semi-famous restaurant here in Colombia, called Andres Carne de Res. It is considered to be the best place in the country for steak, and has an eccentric personality. An artist is the person who started the restaurant, with the original location still up and running in a suburb of Bogota named Chia. Our PTA took the whole staff there for beginning of the school year celebration. Here are some of pictures of the madness.

The man on the right performed a nice show for us. He also hosted our sunglasses competition.

Decor.

Our tray of meat and potato-stuffed tomatoes.
I was "dirty", so I got feather dusted. I tell you, this place is nuts.

Oh, good store bought salsa, how I miss you....

We are really sucking this year about posting regularly- sorry about that, loyal blog followers. The truth is, we really haven't gone out and seen much of what this beautiful country/city have to offer yet. We've been lazy; I apologize. We've been busy with school; I realize no excuse. Yes or yes (to use a favorite Paraguayan phrase) we are doing something next weekend around the city so we WILL have something to post about.

In the meantime, I will tell you one of my living abroad woes- the lack of good Mexican food. In Paraguay, it was basically non-existent. I made better Mexican food at home with my Penzey's spice mixes than the Mexican restaurant. I was hoping, since we were coming father north, and with Bogota being known for their restaurant scene, that good Mexican food would be available.

So far, nothing. We have eaten at two different restaurants, and they have been nothing to write home about. Salt and salt, and a splash of heat with no flavor is what we've found. There are two or three more restaurants we are going to try; I've been told they are better, but I'm not holding my breath.

Colombians are not a big fan of heat or spice in their food. Now, I don't like to breathe fire or anything, but a little kick every once in a while would be nice. Having flavor to food would be nice as well. Items labeled picante here, would be considered mild in the U.S.

Anyway, I resorted to making my own salsa in Paraguay since the ones available were not to my liking. However, since I would like chips and salsa to be my easy, go-to snack, whipping up a batch of salsa isn't what I want to do when I want an easy snack. I was hoping to find some good salsa here. In Bogota, I have found three different brands of locally made salsas. Only one so far has been acceptable. Just barely passable. For some odd reason, all the salsas are sweet. I'm not sure why you would add sugar to salsa, but that's what they do here.

And, as much as I hate to say it, the tortilla chips from Paraguay are better than the ones here. I actually resorted to making my own tortilla chips last weekend when I had some people over to watch True Blood (very easy, yet time consuming since I only have on baking sheet- just cut up some corn tortillas, spray with a little cooking spray and sprinkle with seasoned salt, or whatever other flavorings you would like; then bake for about 12-15 minutes).

Wish us luck when we try the other restaurants!

Caught in the Rain!

A group of us are trying to get a running group going once or twice a week. Well, today, we left school and the sun was out and it was beautiful and warm. Well, when we were about 2 miles out, the sky opened up and began to downpour on us. There was lightning and some light hail, and by the time we got back to Amanda's apartment, we were soaked through to the skin! A hot shower, and some warm food and I'm feeling much better, but boy was that cold!!

Villa de Leyva

A few weeks ago, our school took all the new staff to a town about 4 hours outside of Bogota for orientation. Villa de Leyva is in the desert part of the country and was where the declaration of independence was signed for Colombia from Spain. We stayed at a beautiful hotel just outside of the main town, complete with its own chapel and wonderful grounds that we could walk around.
The first night there, the school brought the dance teachers from school and we had a dance party. Jesse chose not to participate and was our photographer instead.
Here's the view of the area from the hotel.
The main plaza of Villa de Leyva. We visited a few museums in the town including an archeological museum. The valley where the city is located was once undersea, and since its so dry, fossils have been preserved.
We got to take a chiva, or party bus, into town. This is something that is done a lot in Colombia- a chiva is rented and then people party while they are driven around an area. The school provided this for us, including a few drinks to enjoy on the way!
A highlight of the weekend was a fruit exhibition. We got to see and taste a bunch of the different exotic fruits that are available in Colombia.
One of the other middle school teachers has a place out in Villa de Leyva. She has invited us to join her sometime there and see more of the town. Hopefully, we will be able to take her up on her offer.

World Cup Under 20

For the past two weeks, the under 20 World Cup has been taking place in Colombia. This is the biggest sporting event ever held in Colombia, and after speaking with a few people who have been here for awhile, a lot of construction and prep work in the city was done in preparation. Colombia won their first few games, so they exited the group stage number one in their group. Jesse and I have watched the games, either at one of the thousands of bars in the area, or at home.

Last night was the first game of the elimination round, Colombia vs. Costa Rica. I was exhausted, so I thought going to bed early would be a good idea. Unfortunately for me, Colombia scored three times, which resulted in everyone in the neighborhood cheering; waking me up with each goal and at the end of the game. The next game is against Mexico on Saturday. I think I'll just stay up and watch that one.

Whew!

After a whirlwind summer, we have made it to Bogota. We've started settling in to the apartment, which included two massive shopping sprees for random furniture, household goods and hangars! I feel like we haven't stopped moving since about two weeks before we left Paraguay, and there is no sign of it stopping anytime soon. Once the apartment is all put together, we'll post some pictures. But we made it, a little tired but we can blame that on the altitude right?

The Super Seven AKA The Bogotá Bunch

So, as some of you already know, Jesse and I are moving to Bogotá, Colombia in July. An interesting little factoid is that we already know a quite a few of our future co-workers, because they are our current co-workers! Last night we had a little fiesta to celebrate our future jobs.
It will be nice to start off in a new country, with new jobs, and already know our principal (Bob, on the right) and other people in the city!