Some Good Things

A few photos and stories of moments of Joy

While at Holden in December I took an afternoon and threw a few mugs on the pottery wheel.  But as our time was short I had to leave them and hope that somebody would glaze them and that they would eventually find their way to me.  Becky took them under her wing and glazed them with glazes made by the school kids from local Holden materials.  She then passed them off to Kari, who just visited us, and ensured their safe passage to the land of great coffee, that requires great mugs.

Beverage bearers from fabulous friends

Yesterday while grocery shopping we realized we needed an Orange squeezer.  I am not sure why it took 6 months to get a simple $4 tool to help us take advantage of the abundant fresh oranges, but the results have been refreshing.

Overdue Orange Juice

Volcan Totumo, a mud volcano, amazing.

Tara, loving it?

Hands

and feet.

Loving it!

Barranquilla is not known as a tourist city.  But it is known for its Carnival, a UNESCO World Heritage Event.  We went to the parades on Saturday and Sunday.  I entertained myself by taking some photos during the parades (1,500 give or take) a few of which follow.  Both days we left after 3-4 hours, about 1/2 way through the parades.

Garibato

Ms. Colombia

Go Pro

Cumbia

Mr. Tiger

Team Jesus!

We ended the weekend going to Taganga for two days and some time at the beach.

The Beach, a 20 minute walk from town.  I hiked up to the ridge on the left.

Happy Couple!

-bvl

Catch Up

or is it Ketchup, or Katsup, or Catsup

1/12/2013

A rough landing

The plane touches down smoothly in Cartagena, taxis to a stop.  Everyone is up grabbing bags and asserting their place in the aisle, no one waiting for anyone else. 

Cross the tarmac in the midday sun and I am still in jeans from cool, beautiful Seattle.  

Through customs and out on the street, we need to find a way home. 

Carry luggage until we find a bus bound for Barranquilla, haggle over the price. 

Wait for an hour and a half for the bus to fill with passengers. 

Back in our apartment, unpack, we need to organize this place, not today. 

Connect new DVD player to watch a show before bed, can’t figure out how to turn off the subtitles.

In bed at 8, let’s beat this jet-lag.

Get out of bed at 1:30 in the afternoon, the jet-lag beat us.

Go to school to prepare for the first day back.  What am I going to do?

Bus ride home, its hot, my body had not yet adjusted.

Back to the apartment, we don’t want to be here.

Make pizza to try to take our mind off the fun we had and the mountain of work ahead of us, try to feel at home.

To bed at 8, lets beat this jet-lag.

Wake up at 10, fall back asleep around 2, alarm at 4:47.

Make coffee, here we go.

Student’s don’t want to be back, neither do I.  Put on a smile, act happy to be back and excited for 2^nd semester.

1^st period – I have finished all I planned and still have 20 minutes of class left.

The day drags on.

Last 3 classes; engage students in a discussions, it works.  Only 10 minutes left when we are done.

Go home as soon as possible, its hot.

Sleep well.

One more day.

Introduce new rules and classroom procedures to make class better for the 2^nd semester.  Students don’t like them, obviously.

Introduce 9^th graders to microscopes.  Give them the rest of the class to play with them, experiment and look at cells and slides.  Their response, “Que chevre!”₁ and a light in their eyes.  Teaching is a pretty good job.

Go to the pool, swim, read, finish book.

It’s the weekend, I think we can do this.

-bvl

1 – Que chevre – cool

1/19/2013

Mis Suenos

Christmas break: A 3.5 week break from our life of work in Colombia and a return to our life in WA.  A life with people who know us, children, snow on the ground, skis on feet, and good beer; God bless Boundary Bay Brewery.  A life with hopes and dreams simply stated as; small house, big garden. Five acres maybe 10; a little piece of land to grow our own food.  A place to enjoy the beauty of a life simply lived, close to the sustaining ground.  And to this end we started looking for a place to root this dream.  To possibly start it growing while we live this dream, teaching in Colombia. 

The weather has dramatically changed since we left a month ago.  It is cooler, breezier, comfortable.  After the last week we, at least I, are feeling a little bit more settled back into our life here.  The routines and responsibilities usher us through the day and the week.  It was a week of good teaching where the reward comes from the students: their enthusiasm, their learning.  It was a week where we left school at a reasonable hour every day and had energy when we got home.  It was a taste of what next year will be like.  A dream while we keep our nose to the grindstone.

-bvl