Catching Up

So, yes, it's been a long time since I've written, but that can only mean that I've been dedicating ALL of my time to teaching. Right. Not exactly the case, but it has been hard lately to find time at school to dedicate towards blogging. Bad news for my friends and family, good news for the administration and kids! Rest assured, things here are going well. All of the girls are still driving me a little crazy, but I've pretty much gotten used to it. School has been pretty hectic, and a lot of the teachers, myself included, are in a sort of slump. February has been going by very quickly, which is good and bad (mostly good), but I think March will be a different story. However, I do have "Semana Santa" to look forward to (our equivalent of Spring Break). I'll be heading out to Orlando to spend some quality time with Kelly, Alain, Paige, Colby, and my mom. We're going to do the typical things, like Disneyworld and maybe a water park or two, but mostly this is an opportunity to help me remember what my niece and nephew look like, and to also remind them who "Unkie Ben" is. It's going to be a lot of fun and I'm really looking forward to it.

Speaking of family, I recently had my mom and Mike here. They came on Wednesday the 14th and left this past Tuesday morning. We had a really good time together and did lots of things. I went to pick them up at the airport at 9ish, and waited nervously until virtually every passenger had exited the terminal. Finally, after asking the guard to go look for the confused looking Gringos, they came out. We went back to the apartment where I had a freshly cooked meal (by the maid of course!), a big bottle of red wine, and another bottle of Aguardiente in the freezer. I had initially though that we'd have a glass of wine, but it turned into somewhat of a party. Considering that we started at 11 PM, 1:30 AM was a good stopping point. My mom asked me, "Aren't you tired? Shouldn't you get to sleep?" to which I replied, "Nah, I'm not tired." Big mistake, and one you'd think that I had previously learned, but no. I woke up 5 hours later wishing I had put just a little more thought into the night before. They took off on a tour of Santa Fe de Antioquia, which was the former capital of this region. They were gone all day, and had a great time with their tour guides, two women who used to work at the school. We met up that night and went over to my neighbors' apartment, where we had "Fondue Night", which is always a treat. There was, of course, plenty of red wine and aguardiente being passed around which always makes for good times, but once again, the next morning was a little rough.

Friday, they both came up to school with me to hang out with the kids. As I've mentioned previously, the kids love visitors. They know that I won't bore my friends and family with a bunch of teaching that day, but rather group dance competitions, kickball matches, candy eating, and the like. I asked them to find some books that they could read to the class, and Mike chose The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, as well as Pirates of the Caribbean. They both did a great job of reading to the class, and the kids enjoyed not having to listen to me for once. For lunch, we headed down to a restaurant called, "Sancho Paisa" which has great typical food. We headed back up to the school and finished out the day.

On Saturday, we jumped on the City Tour bus and drove around town. We were out for about 5 hours, and saw lots of parts of the city that were previously unknown to me. Later that night, we went to a very happy Happy Hour, that led to a great steak dinner at "San Carbon", which ultimately led to an entertaining night at "Mango's", which I think needs no explanation. I had left it up to them whether or not they wanted to do something that intense, but both were up for a little adventure. Adventure is exactly what they got. My mom, and she's tired of hearing this I'm sure, became a little infatuated with one of the dancers, while Mike also found his own little fantasy. I was, as usual, obsessed with the midgets. My mom got a little kiss on the cheek from the guy, Mike stole some pictures of the dancer's sidekicks, and I got handshakes from all the midgets. They are hilarious. As the night progressed, my mom and I got up from the table and did a little dancing. We have the most hilarious video clip of it all, but unfortunately, I can't upload videos onto this thing. Then again, maybe it's better if I don't show that clip to the world. I might later regret it.

On Sunday, we rode the Metrocable up to the barrios, where my mom teased the local vendors into thinking that she was actually going to buy something. They both seemed to enjoy their time up there, and I'm glad we went because it's a part of the city that tourists are typically afraid of. We pretty much farted around the rest of the day, walking through downtown, visiting the Walmart-esque grocery store, and finally, eating an XL Domino's pizza. Yum. I could eat that crap every day. I'd be 800 lbs, but I think it'd all be worth it.

On Monday, I took a personal day to go with them on another tour to a town called El Pinol. This time, we contracted with a local tour company and found out why their prices were lower. We got picked up in a little "Busetica", which is a miniature bus. I felt absolutely ridiculous in this thing and was only slightly concerned for our lives. Our driver was very socially awkward in the beginning stages. We were told that he spoke English, but it turned out to be very limited. Once he found out that he could speak Spanish to me and that communication was slightly easier in this mode, things got better. We toured a bunch of little towns and finally got to El Pinol itself, which is a MASSIVE rock that sits in the middle of an amazing series of lakes. We debated climbing the 700+ stairs that led up to the top, and then decided to give it a shot. It was quite a trek up there, but the view was one of the most amazing that I've ever seen. They left early Tuesday morning, which made it a pretty quick trip, but I don't think we missed a thing.

Other than that, things have been pretty tame. Oh, actually, last Thursday night wasn't tame at all. My Colombian friend, Jeff, and I went out to a club called "Babylon", which was a blast. Instead of hanging out in ultra-fake Parque Lleras, where a certain percentage of the women are made of plastic and silicone, we decided on this club in another part of town that I have not personally frequented. Needless to say, I got a hell of a lot more attention than usual. We enjoyed the situation until about 4 in the morning. Then, being the geniuses we are, we headed downtown to another sort of "clothing optional club", where I had nice conversations with some lovely ladies sitting out on the sidewalk. I'm not quite sure what they were doing there at that hour, or why they kept asking me for money, but they seemed nice enough...

I'm going to have Kelly post some of the better pics from the trip to help with the visuals. I'll try to do a better job in the future with the blog. Sometimes I feel like there's so much I have to tell, that I just don't bother. I'll try to keep them more frequent and a little more to-the-point. Don't give up on me!

Ben

Sunny Medellin

It's been a long time since I've blogged, and that's a little depressing because it means that life hasn't been all too exciting lately. It really hasn't. Things are pretty tame these days. I've found that a lot of the staff hasn't been very energetic lately. Plus, there's a whole bunch of drama around here. Lots of people have completely disengaged from Columbus School life as they are getting ready to head out on their next adventure or back to reality at home. In fact, I think this is the biggest hiring year that the school has ever faced. In elementary school alone, there are 15 vacancies. I'm actually really excited to see the new staff come in next year. As I've said to lots of other teachers, it really can't get any worse than it is right now. Most of the teachers in elementary really suck. They're just not really that fun. Some of them don't go out, period. How you can come to a country like this and not enjoy yourself is beyond me! Barbara, my boss, is out at hiring fairs in Canada and the US. It's amazing to think that almost exactly 1 year ago, I was being interviewed for this position. I remember time going by really slowly after getting the job, but it's been FLYING lately. It's amazing that it's already February. I have some events coming up that I'm really looking forward to...

Next week, February 14th, my mom and her friend, Mike, are coming down to see me for about a week. They come in on a Wednesday night. The next day, I have them set up with a city tour company so that they can familiarize themselves with their surroundings. They'll get to see some things that I probably haven't even seen! On Friday, they'll come up to school with me to see the kids. They have learned that when I have visitors, that's a minimum work day! Then we'll hang out for the weekend, and I'll take the next Monday off. They will probably come back 10 pounds heavier, but it'll all be worth it.

In March, I have a very unexpected visitor coming. My Aunt Kathy, who lives in Colorado, will be going down to Santiago, Chile to visit some family, and has decided to take a little detour on her way back. She'll only be here for a few days, but enough time to see a bit of the city and the school as well.

Finally, at the end of March, I'll be taking my Spring Break (AKA Semana Santa) in Orlando, Florida. It's my first chance to see my niece and nephew, Paige and Colby, since Minnesota last July. Also, not being one to miss the action, my mom will be there to enjoy the festivities and weather...

Speaking of weather, I wanted to mention something. But first, a little background. After I signed my contract in February, I got in touch with some of the teachers who were working at the Columbus School at the time. One of them was named Danny, who also taught 4th Grade. He was nice enough to take some time to email me with some important information about the school and life in Medellin. One of my favorite emails from him was one in which I asked him what his favorite part of living in Medellin was. He replied that he liked to drink beer on his balcony in the middle of February with his shorts on, and then call his friends to brag. Well, friends, that's what I'm here to do today. I spent both days this past weekend at the 5 Star Hotel Intercontinental sipping Bloody Mary's poolside. Both days were about 35 degrees Celsius, which is about mid 90's. We are smack-dab in the middle of our "summer" here right now, and let me tell you, it's wonderful. I'm working on my tan and loving every minute of it!

Moving on to other news, I was involved in a little bit of school drama last week, in two separate incidents. You see, we have a "no running in the hallways" policy that I enforce strictly. The 4th Graders know better, although every once in a while I catch one slipping and promptly give them a "warning ticket", which is serious business for most of the kids here. Anyway, I hear these footsteps coming down the hallway and jump out of my chair to go catch the offender. I see this kid from another class scurrying towards the bathroom and tell him that I'm giving him a warning ticket. He pleads with me that he really has to go to the bathroom and couldn't help it. I told him that usually we have a little grace period and that he shouldn't have to go so badly that he needs to run down the hallway. Feeling bad for him, I decide to let him off with a warning. I leaned in close to him and whispered, "Don't run" and gave him a little poke in the shoulder. Well, this kid runs home and tells his mom that Mr. Ben yelled at him and then made a fist and punched him! Not only that, but his mom actually believed him! I told our counselor what REALLY happened and she called the mom back. Mom said that it was just a misunderstanding, and that she understood, but then the next day, she calls back and says that she's really upset and wants to talk to the principal. So, I told the (substitute) principal the same story, and she called the mom back and told her that if she didn't believe me, that maybe this wasn't the school for him. It was great. I was relieved, but not deterred from busting kids from running in the hallway. 2 days later, we had our second installment of drama...

So, every day, I watch in disgust as the 3rd Graders treat their hallway like a race track. I have written emails to the teachers asking them to curb the running because it's not fair to the students in 4th. Finally, after not seeing any improvement, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I decided that I would spend a solid day picking them off and making them come up to my room for the warning ticket. I figured that if I wrote up enough kids, word would get out and it would stop. So, I proceeded to write up 10 kids that day. After I wrote up each one, I told them to tell their friends about it. Feeling rather proud of myself, I bragged that I must've set some kind of record. Word got out, and the next thing I knew, there was an Outlook meeting confirmation being sent to me from the counselor and Principal. I went in and told them very matter-of-factly that if nobody else was going to do anything about it, I would. Also, I told them that if they didn't want me writing warning tickets, then that infraction shouldn't be on the ticket. They told me that they understood, but that their concern was that the parents of kids in 3rd wouldn't want to have their kids in my class next year! They feared that there would be massive strikes, revolts, etc. I told the principal that I can honestly say that my class is 10X more fun than any other class, and that those parents would be stupid for doing so. She told me that she knows how I really am, but that I should back off of the 3rd Graders because some of them are genuinely terrified of me. I love it. I have also been told lately that some teachers use me as a threat, which makes me feel like I'm back at TCK again. Hey, at least I'm good at something...

I guess that's about it for now. I've been writing this during my nightmare Spanish class (where the kids screw around for 1 hour) with my iPod on, so I hope this whole thing makes sense and isn't too scattered.

Did I mention the weather? 80's, sunny, not a cloud in the sky. Too bad it's only Monday...

BK