COLOMBIA TIP #7 – Forget Valentine’s Day, Colombia has a whole month for Love & Friendship.
Teaching Abroad Tip #1 – Keeping a blog is quite difficult when you have marking and planning and a lack of sleep and ten other things on your mind at once! A lot has been happening and so I haven’t had much time to write, but tonight I have found myself (dare I say it) a day ahead in the planning department (but years behind on the marking part, but whatever).
A few weeks ago, a bunch of the teachers and friends decided to book this thing called a Chiva – basically it is a bus with benches along the perimeter and an open middle for dancing! It reminded me of Across the Universe when they went on the big party bus. It was very fun and crazy, with lots of aguardiente (it is a clear alcoholic drink that tastes like black licorice. As I Google what exactly aguardiente is, turns out it has between 29-60% alcohol – no wonder it tastes terrible)! There was a live band consisting of a clarinet, and two kinds of drums in the back of the bus, which was really neat. We made a few stops at a few nearby towns where the band would get off the bus and continue to play for us.
We also decided to climb up on top of the chiva at one point…
That’s Vero, me, Elia, and her friend Kerstin that was visiting from her school in Cali. Kerstin also came with another teacher from Cali named Sam. Crazy story – Sam was in Con-Ed at Queen’s three years ahead of me and was on the Exec for Con-Ed’s Frosh Week before me as well! This is her fourth year teaching in Colombia and she loves it.
The Queen’s ladies – Vero, Sam, me.
The chiva was definitely an interesting experience, one that would never happen in Canada!
In Colombia, the month of September is deemed Love & Friendship month. There is a day (usually the third Saturday of the month) that is Love & Friendship Day (or Dia del Amor y Amistad). So throughout the month, you can play “Secret Friend” with a group of people, which is the same thing as “Secret Santa.” After a couple weeks of giving small gifts every few days (so far I have given things like chocolate, candy, bracelets, a coffee mug, a key chain with my person’s name on it, etc.) there is a big reveal where you give a final big gift. I did Secret Friend with my Grade 10 Homeroom class and received some lotion and perfume as my final gift (so maybe I smell bad?) and the big reveal for the secondary teachers is this Friday (I’ve asked for a soccer ball, so we will see)! I like the idea of giving small gifts throughout the time period because sometimes when I haven’t eaten breakfast and haven’t had time to go grab a snack from the snack bar, having a chocolate bar right in front of me is very useful! It’s also really nice to see the students be kind to one another, more than they necessarily would. On the Friday before Love & Friendship Day, there were a bunch of activities at school for students to buy candy, flowers, and take pictures together. I received no less than five flowers from different students! Vero, Sheryl, and I took a nice picture together and one with the 10A class (that Sheryl technically had that period while Vero and I had a free period) which was fun. And no Love & Friendship month would be complete without students making speculations about my love life with other teachers (one day it is me and Bill, another it is me and Ferney the Colombian Physics teacher, and every time I am seen with another male teacher, my students give me the look – GAH).
Speaking of the students, classes are getting a little easier, but it is still a ton of work. I keep thinking that next year will be easier, and the year after that will be even easier, so getting through this first year is the biggest hurdle. Slowly but surely – we have October Break in a week and a half!
PS. The Leafs season is about to start which is definitely something to look forward to – Go Leafs Go!
Katie En Kolombia 