Day trip

I decided that, since it is a long weekend, I would give myself one day off from my studying up on the Tang and Song dynasties (!!!) and my reviewing of unit and lesson plans from grades 1-11. I went with some lovely new friends (introduced to me by my friend Michael, who many of you know about) to a little bitty town about an hour away via winding mountain roads called Choachí. The idea was to get out of the city and down to a lower altitude to warm up a little bit.

The day definitely got off to a very Colombian start. My friend Kelli had talked to the taxi company like three times on Thursday night and twice yesterday morning to ensure that we got a little van taxi since we were five people. At the appointed hour a hatchback showed up. Many phone calls later, Argemiro the taxi driver in a van that looked like a wind up-toy arrived. There was still only one bench of seats, but the size of the "van" permitted a stool to be placed in the back for a fifth person. Anyway, we ultimately had a really lovely, warm day, a great lunch outside, and a long walk through lovely scenery. This truly is a beautiful country. I hope you get to see it soon!



We had not gotten far outside of Bogotá, and had already driven past soldiers stationed along the road, when we pulled up behing a long line of cars at a dead stop. Not surprisingly, it was a military checkpoint. That wouldn't have been such a big deal, except that the word on the street was that the soldiers had found a package in a car that maybe was drugs. The bomb squad also showed up, so I guess that was a possibility too. When our driver looked into it, we were told the wait would be about a half hour. . . or two hours. We lucked out and got on our way pretty quickly.

Some random things I've learned

It has to be said that a fresh piece of even very mediocre pizza can taste pretty damn good. Anyone who knows me well knows how I feel about chicken on pizza. (It has no place there!!) But I went with the chicken & mushroom (a popular combo here) because it was the only one that didn't involve pineapple or corn.

So I've learned some great tidbits from Dennis, the Irish teacher who lives in my building. First of all, I had wondered why a couple of the entrances into my neighborhood have guard houses and one of those long arm thingies that has to be raised to let cars through. Apparently, a lot of narco-traffickers and other shady but influential rich people used to live around here. I guess it's not so surprising, since at one end of my street is the Bogotá Country Club (known here just as "el Country"), where apparently President Uribe entertains foreign dignitaries. According to Dennis, when the president is there, there are soldiers all up and down our street. I promise to post a picture of that if it happens while I'm here.

The other crazy thing he told me was about how it works when we get paid at Christmastime if you want to get cash in euros or dollars. (We get a big lump-sum chunk of our salary at once for some reason). Apparently, the money exchange bureaus give better rates than the banks, so you have to take out your money from the bank in cash and then take it to the exchange place. Because of [mom & dad don't freak out] the, uh, sometimes precarious security situation here, the bank provides you with an armed police escort -- a couple of motorcycle cops with sirens and the whole bit. The cops stay with you in the money exchange place and then take you home. Maybe I can just do a wire transfer.

Funny how things go sometimes

I think I mentioned to a lot of people in Boston that one of the things I was really ... not worried about... but thinking about before I came was how important I thought it was for me to NOT sit with the other gringo teachers at lunch on the first day of school. I was kind of nervous about having to just jump in with the Colombian teachers and my rusty Spanish, but I felt really strongly that it was important to do in order to start off on the right foot. As it turns out, I had my nervousness completely backwards. Yesterday I happened to sit with almost all of the gringo teachers at lunch, and I was SO uncomfortable after days of easily having lunch and "onces" or "elevenses" (mid-morning coffee break that we have at 9:30?) with a slew of different Colombian teachers. I felt like I stood out like a sore thumb and that I was isolating myself so conspicuously. From here on out, I plan to really avoid doing that. I can't begin to describe how wierd and lousy it felt.

Things are looking better still

The dept. meeting went well today. It was nothing earth-shattering, but I think it went well. It was really good to get to do some work with my colleagues in the department, especially the woman who is teaching the same courses as I am. We did some really good planning together, and I think it's going to go well. That said, I can see it is going to be very difficult to juggle my teaching & my chair responsibilities -- it already is! But, I am relieved to just be teaching one section of each of my two preps, and one of my classes only has five kids in it. And history classes only meet four times a week, so my teaching load could be a LOT worse. Now the next big challenge in that dept. is going to be when I run a meeting in Spanish!!! But I am not going to worry about that now.

In the continuing apartment saga, a guy came and fixed my burners today! Yippee! They actually got REALLY hot, and I am despairing a little less about the cooking situation. Now for the oven. . .

Anxiety hurdle #2

I made it over today, though I was all nerves about meeting the people in my department. They seemed great, and a few of them helped me unpack and settle into my new office (which is a nice space, by the way). Tomorrow I will get to meet the woman who I will be planning with since we are teaching the same courses. Tomorrow is also anxiety hurdle #3: running my first department meeting. I really need to have one of those never-let-them-see-you-sweat moments. After that, it's just garden variety stress until next Monday when the kids come, and I actually have to start teaching.

On the bright side, my boss is on the case about figuring out how to do SOMEthing about my terrible kitchen. And on a decidedly shallow note, I got the number today for a lady who comes to your house to do manicures and waxing for next to nothing. There is definitely something to be said for the bougie expatriate life.

Day off?

Today was the one day I had off this weekend, and I spent most of it working on stuff for school. I am reminded every five minutes of my friend Sarah B.'s reassurance when I took this job and was worried about having bitten off more than I can chew. She asked me, "Wouldn't you rather be challenged than not?" She had a point, and wow, am I being challenged. I still cannot believe that I am the chair of the social studies department. I have been working so hard with my boss Luisa to get a handle on that. I was at it all day today and am so nervous about meeting all 14 other people in the department tomorrow. Yikes! Then there's the whole teaching a course I've never taught before. . .

Besides working my butt off for school today, I tried to cook on my nightmare "stove." It was, well, a nightmare. The thing is a poorly functioning hot plate, and it took hours to make a dish that should have taken one, tops. It was actually really good, but this does not bode well.

OK, trying to get back on a school schedule is hard. The bus (!!!) comes at about 6:30 tomorrow a.m. The earplugs are definitely coming out tonight -- and soon.

Not wasting any time

Yesterday, on very short notice, I was informed that my boss wanted to see me at school, so I unexpectedly had my first day of work a day earlier than I had expected. I met with my boss, Luisa, and then did some work on my own; we didn't leave the campus til it was dark and I was completely overwhelmed.

Now, after the new teacher orientation day, I am only slightly less overwhelmed. I was definitely shell-shocked this morning when I had to participate in the meeting of the school's Academic Council -- made up of the principals, heads of schools, and heads of department. Fortunately, somebody later said to me (the only gringa in the room) that they could tell my Spanish was good because I looked like I knew what was going on in that meeting. Although it was true that I did follow the meeting just fine, I'm not sure how "with it" I look will always be the best indicator of whether or not I actually know what's going on!

As for the rest of my VERY FIRST DAY AT WORK? My colleagues seem really lovely. The campus is beautiful. The lunch was awesome. I have fifteen thousand things to get done in the next 24 hours so I am ready to meet my whole department on Monday. I am so tired I am not sure I'm going to be able to wash my face before I go to bed.

P.S. Don't go to your local Exito supermarket on a Saturday evening because it will be a mob scene of spectacular proportions. Or, go expecting a party! Tonight there was a band, a lady demonstrating the Wii, and free shots being offered by 1. a guy dressed as a bottle of Colombian rum, 2. busty young women in really tight pants and really small tank tops (offering some other kind of rum), and 3. a lady in a different tight outfit + silver knee-high boots (offering local aguardiente).