My Trip

Right now I feel like absolute crap, so forgive me if this blog lacks that sense of "voice." About an hour ago, I started feeling nauseous and now my body aches. The school doctor says I have a virus, which sucks, but on the flipside, I get to take off some work! But enough about that. You all don't read my blog to hear me complain about my medical issues.

Amazingly enough, I survived the 4 day trip with my friend Kristin to Santa Marta. It's funny because I honestly think people were taking bets to see if we'd get along for that much time. In fact, when I got back, Sarah called me and asked how the trip went. She sounded disappointed that there was no drama to report. That's pretty much how we operate around here. We live for drama.

We left on Wednesday after school got out. We rode in the shittiest car I've ever been in. The car kept sputtering the whole way there and I honestly didn't think we'd make it. The funniest part about the car is that it said, "Injection" on the side. What was really scary was when the driver decided to pass a car going uphill. I thought that was it for us.

We took off on our first flight to Bogota and as we were heading down the runway, I thought to myself, again, that we were going to die. The plane seemed like it wasn't going to take off. My inner dialogue was saying things like, "Why aren't we taking off yet? Shouldn't we be taking off? If we're not going to take off, why doesn't he hit the brakes? If he hits the brakes now, will we have time to stop? Will KOVR 13 do a special report on the local teacher who went to Colombia and died in a plane wreck?" I leaned over to Kristin and said, "I think we're about to die." She didn't think that was at all funny, but I was serious. Finally, we took off and then the pilot started making these crazy turns. He'd bank to the right, then turn to the left, and he did this about 3 times. I told her that I thought we were going to die again.

We made it to Bogota and I immediately found a bar to calm my nerves. I threw down some tequila and cervezas and as we were heading back to the waiting area, I spotted a huge man with a tiny head, who I immediately named Beetlejuice. The more I thought about it, the funnier it got. When we got on the plane, this guy was the last to come on and since I was in the aisle, I could see his head at all times. I literally put myself into a laughing fit for about 10 minutes. I had tears running down my cheeks and started making a mild scene. I think Kristin got a little scared that we were going to be kicked off the plane, that, and she was completely embarrassed by me. What's new?

We got into Santa Marta about 9PM and found an apartment to stay in for the night. We headed out onto the town for drinks and dinner. Nothing exciting to tell about there. Oh, I did lose my cell phone, but that's about it. The next morning, we got up and headed to the beach where we laid out for about 4 hours. Oh, but not before I had to go buy the two things that I forgot to bring TO A BEACH TOWN. Swimsuit and sandals. That's what happens when you pack at 6 in the morning still drunk from the night before. Nothing really funny happened there besides this 2 year old boy who I caught out of the corner of my eye who had dropped trow and was pissing right behind me, but he didn't stop there. He then proceeded to fondle himself for about 10 minutes. I got up and left and waited for the show to end. When I got back, Kristin told me that she had had a staredown with the kid and that he sat there as if to say, "What? Do you have a problem with this?" While on the beach, I was also harrassed by about 150,000 vendors who wanted to sell me this and that. The only ones who I took up were the shrimp cocktail guy and the cerveza lady. By the end of our day there, she and I were buddies.

That evening, we headed to Tagonga, which is a small fishing town. We stayed in the ultra backpackers hostel. It was cheap, dirty, and full of people from all ends of the world. We had a kick-ass view of the ocean and I slept listening to the lapping of waves all night. It was great.

The next morning, we packed our stuff and took a bus to Parque Tayrona which is about an hour away. We got there and met up with 2 of Kristin's friends, Juliet who is 24 and Consuela who is in her 40's. Both of them were very cool. We hiked in for about 2 hours. The park is absolutely breathtaking. It's Colombia's version of Yosemite or Yellowstone. We hiked all the way to the end, which is where we stayed. In the pictures, you can see that we stayed in a hut that was fitted with lots of hammocks. I was kind of nervous about sleeping like that because I'm a stomach sleeper, but it was all part of the package. The weather there was great. It literally stayed at about 70 degrees all day and all night. The water was just as warm. The next two days, I pretty much laid in the water all day long. Oh, and we went to a nude beach, but you don't want to hear about that, do you?

So, that's about it. It was a good trip and Kristin and I are still friends. Good times.

16 days!!!

Lightning Storm In The Caribbean

Parque Tayrona-Colombia's Northern Caribbean Coast

Up On The Rock Is Where We Slept (In The Hut)

Tagonga- A Small FIshing Village

Santa Marta

One Of Those Times Where The Picture Doesn't Do It Justice- 18th Floor Overlooking The City

I'm Sore-Continued

Sorry about that last one. I looked back today and realized that I didn't even explain why I'm sore. And I am still sore, even 3 days later...

I played tennis with one of my students and his dad last weekend. Now, you have to imagine that I haven't used the muscles associated with tennis in quite some time, and to go and play 4 sets is really quite foolish. I played like crap and it was really embarrassing. Seriously, I couldn't get a shot to save my life. My saving grace is that my serve was "on", so I didn't make a COMPLETE jackass out of myself.

So, yeah, we had another 3 day weekend, which was pretty much unnecessary. It's hard to justify taking so many breaks when you don't really need them. It's not like life is rough here. I'm totally settled into my job, which means that I plan from day to day. It was tough at first, to actually prepare lesson plans. Now, I just wing it like I always have. It works for me and the kids like it too...especially when I walk around the room looking for things or forget to give them homework. Today I played a funny little trick on them. They don't know me well enough to understand that when I get this shitty little grin on my face, it means I have a trick planned that I think is going to be hilarious.

Every week, we do something called a "Logic Number Puzzle." I come up with a mystery number and give them 10 clues to figure out what it is. They've had a tough time with it in the past, but have gotten better. Today, I made one up that was relatively easy, so I knew they'd all get it right. Plus, I always say that if every group gets it right, they all get candy. Huge motivator. They've never actually succeeded because there's always one completely clueless group. Anyway, today we start in on this puzzle and I tell them that if they all get it right, they're going to get a "surprise." They're pumped. I'm grinning. They don't know why. I start giving them clues, and I can tell that they're getting it. I go around and pick up their post-its with the answers on them and we begin to debrief the problem. With each clue, they are all getting closer to the "surprise." You can sense the excitement. As I get to the last clue, they all realize that they've gotten it right, and when I announce the answer, they all start screaming! I say something like, "Nice work, everybody!!! Way to go! Are you ready for your surprise?" They can't wait and they are SO excited. I go over to my desk and grab a stack of math homework and say, "Here it is! Your surprise is math homework!" There is an immediate silence. They're all sitting waiting for the punchline, but there is none. The "surprise" truly was math homework. I started busting up. I thought it was hilarious, and in time, I convinced some of them that it was. They're so spoiled, they won't miss a piece of candy.

Going back to the weekend, it was really boring. Practically everyone went away, which left me to my own devices. I got lots of sleep, and enjoyed plenty of DirectTV. I watched the movie, "Alexander" on HBO. It was great. You should see it when you get a chance. I give it two thumbs up.

Last night was interesting. I tutored a kid for an hour and then took myself out to sushi (which really sucks down here and isn't cheap). I overheard some people speaking English and so jumped on the opportunity to make some friends. My Spanish comprehension is much better, and I've got a lot of vocabulary, but I'm still pretty bad at speaking it. Anyway, I ended up making acquaintances with this girl and her sister. They were really nice, and the sister's boyfriend, who was also there, is in a band. We're going to go check them out sometime. It was funny though the way this girl was interacting with me. Talk about a "Gold Digger." Everything I said was hilarious to her and I could tell what she was after. It was nice, all the attention, and I like to think I really was charming and funny, but I think she went a little overboard.

Well, I guess that's about it. I can't believe that I'll be back in about a month. I hope I get to spend some time with everyone while I'm back. However, I'm not going away, so I'm going to have to try to convince everyone to come see me in, you guessed it, the 209.

I'll drop another line after next week. I should have some more tales. On Thursday, a bunch of teachers are going out to a Cuban joint for drinks and dancing. Next Tuesday night, the school is sponsoring a fancy Thanksgiving dinner at a local restaurant, and of course, next weekend I'll be in Santa Marta.

Talk to you all later. Have a great Thanksgiving.

BK

I´m Sore

Hi Everyone. It´s been a while since I´ve added anything, I know. Sorry. Last week we had conferences. Actually, they were called ¨3 Way Conferences.¨ You can imagine the jokes associated with the title...

They were good, but long. The idea is supposed to be that the kids present some reflection pieces regarding communication and interpersonal skills. The idea that I had to sit and listen to the kids talk for 3 hours each day was a little too much to bear. I had no choice other than to interrupt them constantly and add my two cents. In fact, there were a couple of kids who didn´t get to present at all because I had my own agenda. Grand total...4 kids and 3 parents cried. Good thing I had a box of Kleenex there waiting. I decided to do my usual Dr. Phil thing and pry into their lives, offering advice and insight. Ha. It´s funny how seriously parents take advice from someone who has no parenting experience at all. I even went so far as to offer the advice that one of my kids, who gets picked on a lot, should begin Tae Kwon Do or Karate just to scare off the others. Kids always make fun of him and he´s got self confidence issues, so I thought this was one of my better suggestions. I told him that violence is never the answer, but I wouldn´t be mad at him if he popped someone in the nose. His parents liked that idea, especially his dad. Anyway, those lasted all week. The kids were out every day at 11 AM, which was nice for them especially.

This weekend we had another Puente, which means that when you read this, I will most likely be laying in bed watching Direct TV. Two weeks in a row with 3 day weekends. Not bad, huh? Next week we are off on Wednesday for Thanksgiving. I´m heading to someplace called Santa Marta, which is a beach area on the Northern coast. That should be fun. Check out the link...

http://gosouthamerica.about.com/cs/southamerica/p/ColSantaMarta.htm

Oh, gotta run. I just got a call from a friend who wants to go to Chinese Food. Can´t turn that down. I´ll write more later.

Ben

Me, Carolina, and Mandy

Carolina and Jose- My Neighbors

Rock Stars

Karaoke Madness

MySpace

As if there isn't enough to read, I am now actively using my MySpace account. Elena Vosburg, my new HERO!, fixed up the page. I'll take the credit for adding Frogger though.

Check it out sometime:

www.myspace.com/el_gringo_grande