Martha Stewart says....

that every woman should own a bottle of Chanel No. 5, so you can imagine my delight when I found one for $7.50 in a Barranquilla market today. I never realized that it came in plastic bottles.

Sometimes I just really love Colombia

Today we have parent-teacher conferences. We cancel school to have conferences during the day, but the school doesn't schedule conferences after 12:30 so that we can have the afternoon free. Parents sign up for a conference time and come sometime within an hour of their appointment. The conferences are always pleasant and conversational, how could they be anything else when they start with a hug and a kiss?
So, I have 26 four minute conferences and the rest of the day is free. But I don't have any work to do because tomorrow is a free reading day, Friday we dismiss at 10 am and we have next Monday and Tuesday off for Carnivals.

Pet Paragraphs

Because the 7th graders are going to start reading Where the Red Fern Grows I had them write a paragraph about one of their pets. Here are my favorites, the spelling and grammar mistakes aren't mine.

Pepe was a very happy turtle. He was the fastest turtle on the world. He died when I took him to a camp summer (summer camp) and their a crocodile eat my little Pepe. Since that day I hate crocodiles.

As you may see my pet parrot, has a name: phillip. He is very handsome, I always feed him, play with him. For the past 5 months he hasn't died, I hope he doesn't for the next ears, because I am having a pretty nice time with him. Like all parrots he repeats what he hears so most people have fun and laugh when they are with him.

I wanted a squirl but my father and mother didn't let me. One day a man bought it and gave it to me and I started giving it milk and pasitire (?). When it grew up I started giving it nuts and it went up all the doors to eat the nut. It ate the doors and did things that distroy the house. I gave it to my chofer and he let it free.

My dad went to Argentina, the southern part of Argentina. Mt dad liked penguins so be brought me one. I named him Bob. Bob lived with me only one week, he walked all over the house with the air conditioner on. My dad told me that he died because Barranquilla was not an habitat for penguins.

Guacherna

Brad's monocuco outfit

just to clarify...

My father expressed concern about my students saying I was DRUNK during the garabatos. I wasn't drunk, they saw me drinking a beer and reached their own conclusions. It's very hilarious for them to see me outside of school and even better if they see me drinking outside of school.
The thing is that during Carnival the students see everyone drinking: parents, teachers, grandmas...the whole city parties. Colombians have a funny way of excusing themselves for this behavior, they blame it on Joselito. Joselito is the Colombian version of the devil on your shoulder (I've never heard of an angel counterpart) and he is to blame for all types of bad behavior. The last day of Carnival is a funeral for Joselito, complete with a coffin and priests, where people line the streets to weep, "Ay Joselito..."
I think my Joselito is already dead. About the only thing I've done this weekend is watch movies.

Guacherna

Brad and I are dancing in the Guacherna tonight, which is a parade on the south side of town. We will be dressed as monocucos. The idea of the costume is that people who want to have a wild time during Carnival can do so without being recognized, which for me is a good thing. After Garabatos last weekend the kids came to school saying, "Ay Missis, we saw you Friday and you were DRUNK!" Here's what the costumes look like:

Garabatos

Los garabatos is a parade featuring the economically elite of Barranquilla. People from the country club dance down the streets of the northern part of town. Like any Carnival event everyone who came to watch the parade was armed with a can of foam and a bottle of rum.
Our friend Leslie brought me a CD of the pictures:

Leslie and Amber are standing in front of our new piece of art.


I did a flying leap into the picture and then immediately got foamed. Everyone, no matter what their age, carries a can of foam during Carnivals. The potential spraying targets are limitless, even old people get foamed. Kids are really into it, and because I saw almost every single one of my students at the parade I was drenched in foam by the end of the night.



It was my job to make sure the alcohol didn't get stolen.

Like sheep among wolves

We went to our first carnival celebration on Friday. As soon as I got to the parade I started composing a beautiful blog entry and I took about 100 pictures.
Sadly, at the end of the night our camera was stolen along with the memory card and all of the pictures.
I was really upset on Friday, crying, "What about the blog?" But I guess it could have been worse: apparently thieves come to Barranquilla from all parts of Colombia just to rob people during carnivals. This morning when I was telling my students what happened, they said, "Your camera got stolen? Well, we got stolen!"
"You mean you were robbed?"
"No, the robbers tried to take us. They grabbed us and we were crying and screaming and then the police got them."
So, like I said, it could have been worse.

Saturday we went to comparsas, which is a huge, extravagant dance put on by the junior high and high school students at their country club. It was unlike anything I've ever seen, over 300 kids, professional choreographers, pyrotechnics, arial entrances and lots of sequins. I recieved an invitation from one of my eighth graders who was the event's captian. She had at least five outfit changes and I'm guessing each outfit cost three to four hundred dollars. Brad and I sat at her familiy's table and were served whiskey and array of appetizers.

Of course, I didn't have a camera for that event.

The good news is that some people's cameras didn't get stolen on Friday night, so I will have pictures to post.

The only reason I haven't been blogging is because my life is really boring...

I keep thinking that I should put up a new post and then I spend about 5 minutes thinking: What could I possibly write about?
Here are the exciting things I've been doing:
Yesterday a 7th grader got his finger stuck in a plastic locker shelf. The shelf was free from the locker so he came to me for help with a pink piece of plastic hanging from his hand. I thought it was hilarious so I took him around to all of the other teachers on the pretense of seeing if they could help before sending him to the nurse.
Brad and I went to an art fair and bought a lamp, some cups, 2 bowls and 7 refrigerator magnets.
I made a New Year's resolution to work out 5 days a week, so I've been at the pool every day after school. Lap swimming is difficult in Colombia though, because Colombians have this thing about personal space: it doesn't exist. So if I get into the pool and there's only one other person in the pool, that person will come to where I am swimming without fail. I guess it's their way of showing me that they like me.
I've only thrown up one time since we've been back and I think it was just from some greasy food, which never sits well with me.
My fight with American Airlines continues and probably will until I give up.
That's about it. We will do some real excting things this weekend and take pictures so that the next post will be more interesting.

"A mysterious change seems to come over Americans when they go to a foreign land."

Or, it's really not such a big, freakin' mystery when this is what you have to go through:
On Monday I was happy to see that at least most of our luggage made it to the airport.
On Tuesday I was hopeful that our two hour trip to the airport to get the bag would be fruitful, it wasn't.
On Wednesday I waited.
On Thursday I was productive. I called American Airlines no less than 3 times, and managed to get my bag out of Costa Rica and into Barranquilla.
On Friday I was cooperative, "Oh, the reason why you haven't delivered the bag is because you lost my address? Well, I'm pretty sure I've given that to you three or four times, but let me say it again. Do you have a pen ready?"
By Saturday I was pleading, "I don't understand why you're doing this to me."
And today I turned into The Ugly American. I started to force people to speak to me in English, I even threatened to call my lawyer (I don't have a lawyer). I was a bully. My behavior was terrible, and I feel like a bad person. But, I did get my bag back.

vacation frustration

Adjusting to life after vacation is always hard, but it seems to be particularly hard in Colombia.

First: The airline (American Airlines) lost a piece of luggage. On Monday they said it would be at the airport Tuesday, so after school we took a cab to the airport where there was no bag. Today I called the missing baggage number and they assurred me, "Yes, your bag has arrived at the airport...in Costa Rica."

Second: Our phone and internet were turned off. I only have access to the internet at school.

Speaking of school, here is the third: The administration has "invited" me to attend a drug prevention workshop from 7:30 to 11:30 this Saturday.

I was trying to think of a fourth, but there isn't one, which, I guess, is a good thing.

Hola Barranquilla

We're back!
Iowa was wonderful, of course, but it's nice to be back in Barranquilla. Brad and I had dinner by the pool last night in shorts and sandals and my skin is soaking up the humidity after all the dry winter air.
I'll be back to blogging now on a regular basis. We have a new camera and there are going to be some interesting things going on here. Barranquilla's carnival, which is the second largest in South America, officially begins February 2nd, but the pre-party starts Saturday.