Time is a funny thing- in many ways, it feels like we have been here in Bogota for months and in other ways, we still find ourselves waking up amazed that we are really here!  Things have definitely gotten busier at school with the start of week 3 upon us. Jeff is actually sitting next to me grading papers and preparing his lesson plans for the week and asked that I do the blog entry this week, so here I am J.

Although my days tend to be quite busy, I do appreciate the fact that I don’t have to give and grade assignments and I never have to deal with homework!  So while J deals with teaching 3 of a 4 block-schedule (90 minute classes) per day, I am honored to serve the needs of ‘my’  136 ninth grade students and families. Although they don’t know it yet, they are going to be the best class ever and I am looking forward to continuing to get to know them all. The good/fun news is that I will actually be their counselor for the next four years and will move up in grades right alongside them.

 Some news from Bogota: we continue to love this country and her warm and welcoming ways. We had a fun “it’s a small world after all” experience last weekend when one of my brother’s colleagues was here in Bogota. He and his family are from Bogota and he was here for a conference and invited J and I to his mother’s home for a family reunion/party/celebration.  Such fun when worlds collide and we felt so fortunate to meet so many really wonderful people.

 The school too continues to have welcoming ceremonies and celebrations. One of the sweet traditions of the first assembly is that all students get settled in the gymnasium and the Seniors walk in hand-in-hand with the K-4 students. There weren’t too many dry eyes up in the parent section! The Head of School offered a great welcome address complete with the official ringing of the school bell.

 

Yesterday, the PTA hosted a beautiful breakfast for all staff and faculty off campus in a gorgeous renovated mansion. J was the lucky recipient of one of the raffle items!

 

 We’ve also found a church and the fun part is that it’s 4 blocks from our apartment! Union Church is the only English-speaking Protestant church in all of Bogota and we are so grateful to have it so close by! The church has a rich history here in the city and appears to be primed for a renewal with a newly hired youth pastor (from NC!) who has a heart for youth and young adults. We are praying about how to best serve the congregation and all the possibilities that exist.

And of course, we continue to love watching the world....

a local market

The city's recycling efforts!

 

Every morning and evening, you can see several different companies picking up and returning dogs from their ‘doggy care’ programs. 

meeting new friends

 enjoying some great storefronts

and watching an artist at work

 

We continue to love hearing from each of you and appreciate all of your notes, emails, prayers and love!

Hogar Nueva Granada

The main entrance

The main school building

In Colombia, there is a HUGE separation between the wealthy and the poor. A whole class system has developed and become self perpetuating. So this week I wanted to share one thing the school is doing, to help break down the class walls. About 13 years ago, two of the Colombian workers at the school had their preschool daycare shut down. The school stepped in and started a 4 year old program, separate from Colegio Nueva Granada. By the time they finished Kindergarten, there were 36 students and the school faced a decision. Do they send these kids to a regular public school, or do they continue the program? So, the school opened a public elementary school. Separate from CNG, yet fully funded by CNG families, faculty and campus fund raisers, Hogar Nueva Granada was born. The school continued to grow, adding grades as the original students moved up as well as adding students in each existing grade. Middle school grades were added, and then later high school grades were added. Today there are over 580 students and in May, 2014, the school will graduate it's first class. Again, this is the cool part, it is completely staffed by a Colombian faculty, it is part of the Colombian public school system, yet all funding comes from CNG. It is one of the few - perhaps the only - Colombian schools with learning specialists for learning disabilities. Every year CNG does fund raisers, seeks donations for scholarships and provides tutoring and many other services to the school. Every school I have been with has always emphasized fund raisers and service learning but this seems to take that to a whole new level with Hogar

The playground

Nueva Granada. We watch the kids walking to school in the morning. They are easy to recognize because of their uniforms. CNG seems to have completely adopted HNG and I am finding myself completely impressed, enchanted and proud to be associated with HNG. The school is far from perfect, with 40 students per classroom (according to Colombian law) and I am still not sure why it is next to, but separate from our school. However, for a public school it stands out as one of the best and it gives kids from poor families and neighborhoods an unprecedented chance at success. I'm sure we will write more about this as we get more involved and learn more but it seems like such a great program that I wanted to share what we have found out so far. I feel like I haven't done a great job explaining it, so if you want to watch a 4 minute video about the program you can click HERE!

A view of Bogota from HNG

Changing the subject, our school just revamped their web site. Check it out here. If you click on "Join Our Staff" and then "Overview" you can see our picture along with most of the new international faculty. There is also a 20 minute video describing the school if any of you are so inclined. Next week I think I will write more about our discoveries and tours around Bogota. So until next week, ciao!

The Graffiti Tour

Artwork - I like how they incorporated the door

Last Saturday we rented bikes and went on a Graffiti tour. Our guide, Carolina, had been a political science major and knew many of the stories behind the graffiti. Many pieces are political in nature, trying to make a point or protest an event. Some are tributes to a person, place or idea. Other pieces are simply fun and done for the artist's pleasure. The average time a piece will stay up is four months, though some of the more prominent pieces will stay up for as long as 18 months. Most of the artists sign their work,  some have web sites and a very few have used the graffiti to spring board to a full time art profession. These are some of the pieces we saw (I took over 100 pictures and I did not get them all) and for some, the story behind them.

These were some lumps and rocks sticking out of the house - or maybe purposely built in - and they painted around them. Notice the tree on the right side. Part of it is paint but part of it is a real tree growing up around the corner.

Not completely sure what this means, but I think it shows our fascination with war and fighting. What do you think?

"The food that we eat, the water we drink, all comes from the earth"

I love the cart and horse with the sleeping dog, in front of the graffiti. There are not a lot of horse carts in Bogota, but they are around.

This was one of our guide's favorites, It was done by a woman and talks about all the things she is and how she will not be changed or silenced by anyone.

Is it a camera or a cage?

This was done by a woman who gained world wide notoriety and now does art professionally.

The president was visiting a very poor area and in the midst of all the poverty he came upon this homeless couple kissing. He was so moved that he commissioned this piece, pictured below. It took four artists four days to complete.

We came across these being painted. There were about four artists working on it and it was fun to see how they did it all.

These two pieces were next to each other and represent two leftist political parties that about 20 years ago were eradicated. About 3000 from one and 3600 from the other were targeted and killed including all of the leaders in a sort of political genocide. If you look closely at the one below, you will see faces inside the silhouettes.

This is a woman who grew up in humble circumstances and began to crochet. Her work became very appreciated and highly valued. She then used her influence to "knit" her people together.

I just liked this one.

And this one

Finally, this was a political comedian - like John Stewart or Stephen Colbert. He was well loved and continued poking fun at the government until a rightist supporter assassinated him in 1999. 

There were many, many more. Plus we had the chance to ride our bikes through many different neighborhoods and probably lots of places we would not normally get to see. We rode the wrong way on the expressway and wiggling our way through crowded city streets. In all it was great and we hope to do it again or maybe take the historical bike tour. So until next week, when I think we will focus on a really cool service project that the school does. Cheers.

Things We Have Learned in One Week

A view of Bogota from CNG

Where to begin? Last week we gave you a blow by blow of what we are doing. However, I thought the bulk of this post should be stories of what we are learning.

A church on the mountain

Colombians are intensely proud of their country. Though they realize the problems, they almost desperately want visitors to see Colombia the same way they do. In fact one of the first questions they will ask you is, "Do you love Colombia?" They hate it when people associate Colombia with drugs or crime and they are doing their best to change that. Here is an example, I was asking if the Galapagos Islands were a nice place to travel to. A Colombian said "Yes, I think so but why would you want to when there are so many nice places in Colombia to see?" Here is a link to a video that brings together 80 musicians from all around Colombia playing for change. If you watch, notice the backgrounds. It is a beautiful country and I don't think it is going to take too much more for us to fall in love with the country and its people.

Inside a church

We are beginning to meet some Colombians outside of school. For example, our apartment has a doorman (we've already met Christian and Manuel) on duty 24 hours a day. He has to unlock the door to let you in or out of the building. We were heading out to find a place to eat supper and we were waiting for the doorman when a woman walked up also waiting for the door. I tried my 10th grade Spanish on her only to find out she spoke excellent English. Furthermore, she lives directly below us. She was on her way to meet some friends and go to a movie. We were going the same general direction and walked and talked together before going our separate ways. The next day, we found that she had left a bag of cookies and a note for us, welcoming us to Colombia. I told this long story just to emphasize how friendly and how sincere the people are. Although this is our favorite example, it is not the only one.

Llamas in the mountains

The people here are very diverse. In Japan, we could not help but stand out. In Colombia the people are all different colors and shades. Hair ranges from blond to red to brown to black to none, eyes from dark brown to very light blue. There are not too many Asians but anything else would easily blend in. In fact people assume we are Colombians and we have to explain in our broken Spanish that we are not from around here. So far, they have been nothing but gracious with our shortcomings, often trying to talk back to us and apologizing for their broken English.

The church bell - I suppose you guessed that

Another church front

The food is amazing, with a huge variety and plenty of places to eat. We found a beautiful Italian restaurant, an Arabic restaurant, a teriyaki restaurant, a steak house, a sports pub, and an upscale hamburger place all right next to each other about two blocks from our apartment. We ate at the Italian one which had one wall covered with columns of plants and a centerpiece area, sort of like a fountain except it was fire instead of water. Add in some live music, a few drinks and a fabulous meal (I had spinach raviolli). We hope to try out all of these restaurants and this is just on one small block!

A ceremonial guard at the presidential palace

Inside one of the many churches

I think this is the congress building

We have learned that there is plenty to see and do right in Bogota. Every Sunday they close down many streets to all automobile traffic just for pedestrians, bikers, roller blades, skateboards and most any other form of manual transportation. This will be a topic of a future post. We also went on a grafiti tour, also another topic for a future post. There are numerous old, beautiful catholic churches to see. The mountains are to the east (that's where the school is) and from up on the mountains are numerous spectacular panoramas of the city. There are many holidays to check it all out. I think I said it before, but I will say it again. Colombia has more holidays than any country in the world. Our first is next week Wednesday, August 7th. The next is Monday, August 19th. When I figure out what they are for, I will let you know, but they provide us more chances to get out and about. Finally, we have learned that although our school is not perfect, they try exceedingly hard to make sure all new staff are happy. They say that if there is something you want, just ask and they will do their best to make it so. For example, one of our new faculty was not happy with her apartment (they provided us with fully furnished apartments). She likes to cook and her kitchen was small. She has lots of artwork, but not many walls. Etc. So the school moved her to a new apartment that fits her needs much better. It is the same with everything and anything you could ask for. It makes us feel well taken care of.

The mountains to the east

A greeter outside the Musee del Oro

Inside the musee del Oro. Not sure who the two weirdos are

The entrance to our school

Another view of Bogota from our school

An example of the grafitti we saw

That's it for this week. Next week I think I will focus on our grafitti tour.