COLOMBIA TIP #30 – If you happen to score a goal with your head while playing futbol with Colombians, just smile and act like it’s an everyday occurrence.
So this post is about two things:
-The Binationals weekend for teachers hosted in Armenia
-The Finca weekend with the school from Cali
Firstly, a few weekends ago now (I am so behind on the blogging!), GI School hosted the Binationals sports tournament for teachers and staff. There are other Binationals tournaments in Colombia for the students (high school just had theirs in Cartagena two weeks ago), so I am happy they didn’t forget to include the staff in the fun too! There were four sports to play – futbol (of course), basketball, volleyball, and softball. There were also three other schools with groups of staff that made the trip too – Colegio Bolivar from Cali, Colegio Jorge Washington from Cartagena, and Colegio Karl C. Parrish from Barranquilla. With the attendance of the last school, it meant that I got to see my good friends Sarah and Eric! It was so great to see them, talk about how teaching is unbelievably harder than we thought, that we have the same problems, and that Colombia is an awesome country. I still owe Sarah $50mil pesos, so this is me writing it down and recording it for the next time I see her!
Eric, me, and Sarah at the games!
The three sports I decided to play were basketball, volleyball, and futbol. Basketball came first, and I wasn’t anything special. Neither was anyone else, (okay, some of the other gringos from other schools were pretty good), but I don’t think basketball is Colombia’s sport. When it came time for futbol/soccer, I started to get a little nervous because THIS was Colombia’s sport. All of the guys suited up with their shin pads and cleats, while I used the tiny shin pads I’ve been borrowing from Allison and my trusty old running shoes. The girls aren’t very sporty here in Colombia, probably only with the exception of these sports teacher girls. I was one of three girls that opted to play the first game, alongside Allison and Elia. So even the female sports teachers didn’t want to play with these supposedly pro guys! I was nervous. I was sorry to say that some of the people on my team that were staff at our school I had not ever seen before. But then when I found out they were sports teachers and were constantly on the opposite side of campus, I felt a little better. But still, I wish there were more events for all staff at GI so that these situations didn’t happen.
No one really discussed positions, not that I’d be able to understand them anyway, so I quickly made my way up to the front to play forward. Only sprints for running, not having to come back on defence as much, just hanging around the centre line or the goal line – that’s me! The game started and as expected, us girls were just decoys, running around and not being passed to. I guess this happens in every country. I was getting a little frustrated, but then something strange happened: I got the ball. As I dribbled up the field, I tried to cross the ball over to the net but instead the ball decided to go at the net instead. It looked like a decent shot, even though it wasn’t meant to be, but either way I think the door was open for us ladies. We still didn’t get the ball as often as I would’ve liked, but I was happy to say that every time I did get it, I didn’t do anything stupid with it, so the passes started to keep coming. Then I had an amazing move where I knee-kicked the ball over a defender and blew past him. I got the “OOOOOOH” from every person on the field, which was kind of awesome. Our team went 2-1-1 – not too shabby! My highlight of the night was when a beautiful cross from my co-homeroom teacher William (a sports teacher) came straight to me and with my head I made no mistake. He came over, picked me up, and everyone was so excited for me. Even the guys on the other team gave me a little clap. They watched me a little closer after that. I felt very accomplished being able to keep up with the Colombian boys. I am once again going to blame the altitude – I think it has helped my breathing efficiency or something cause I wasn’t as tired as I usually am. Or maybe it was just the thrill of playing soccer on a real field again kept me going!
This is me and Veronica lined up playing a game before the sports started at the games.
That night there was a night of dancing after that, so I was definitely hesitant at first. After four months in Colombia, dancing is still not my thing. Luckily, a few dancing partners took on the task of trying to teach me. I even stepped on one guy’s feet (how unbelievably cliché), but I think I improved a bit. Until next time when I forget everything.
The next weekend, we had organized a trip to a finch in Cali with our school and the same Cali school that was in the sports tournament the night before. Sam from Queen’s was there again, and I met a lot of new people here as well. It was mostly foreign teachers – good for feeling at home but bad for practicing Spanish. Basically the weekend was full of sports, swimming in the pool (though I didn’t because it was too cold. We were up in the mountains, so it wasn’t the typical Cali heat we had), playing games, and drinking. It was really fun and I tried my very best not to talk too much about school. There were probably about 25 of us that were sleeping in this one giant estate, just to give you an idea of how big this place was. I was in a room with bunk beds with Veronica, Allison, and Rebecca.
This is the finca sitting up on a hill in the mountains – pretty nice!
Elia and I had a fun photo shoot which I think is going to be a new tradition for us in each place that we go to. Her karate kicks are better than mine to date, but I’m hoping the practice improves them!
We also had someone organize some Minute To Win It games which was fun! If you don’t know what Minute To Win It is, it’s basically a bunch of random tasks that you try to complete in one minute or less. Here is a picture of me with a bucket on my head waiting for someone to thrown ping-pong balls into the bucket from different distances.
And here is a few of the GI School crew that came to the Finca – Katie, Caitlin, Ben, Vero, me, Allison.
It was a good weekend to get away from Armenia for a bit and meet some more people like us that have made the crazy decision to teach in Colombia!
Katie En Kolombia 