Our Colombia Experience

     It was a pretty typical week before school, with lots of new teachers.  I actually really do appreciate the meetings that Beth (ECA Director) held, even though I am whining about not having enough time to get ready to teach.  The meetings were very spiritually uplifting, informative and team building.  I personally felt incredibly welcomed and feel that I really understand what ECA is about and what to expect during the year.

     My first revelation came on Monday when Stan Owens-Hughes gave the devotional.  He is the dad who drove us to the mall the first day we were here.  His son Carlos loves paintball and has been over to the apartment and out to play with Andrew.  His daughter Sierra will be in Kirsten’s class.  Stan is a missionary with the Southern Baptist church.  He chose as his text for the devotional the old testament story of Sodom and
Gomorrah.  What was so great was that it was exactly what Rev. Gonzalo had preached on just the day before at the Catedral!  The whole concept of looking for a few God fearing people and the overall concept of speaking with God and having the type of relationship where you can keep going back to ask again is something I really needed to hear.

     A large part of our meetings focus on making sure that everyone understands the mission/vision of the school.  Let’s see if I can list the 6 goals….

            1.  Help students to develop a personal relationship with Jesus.

            2.  Have bilingual students

            3.  To nurture servant leaders.

            4.  To help develop respect for various cultures in each student

            5.  To encourage a well-rounded development in each student…academics, socially, spiritually, etc.

            6.   To produce socially conscious students who respect the government and law.

 

I think I got them all!  In addition we spent a lot of time going over the handbook and making sure we are all on the same page.  Some issues are universal, but there are some interesting issues particular to this type of school.

     One of the more important and valued issues is language.  Apparently there are a few students who continually want to slip back to Spanish; it is important to encourage them to speak English at all times.  The classrooms are strictly English.    Other fairly standard Christian school issues are cell phones, late homework, tardies, and most importantly, discipleship.

     I continue to be impressed with Beth’s ability to pull people together.  Even under all the pressure of getting school going…finding enough teachers, the physical plant isn’t where they wanted them to be yet, so many new teachers, she still find the time to answer little questions and find out how you are doing.  There about 6 new teachers, also new to
Bogota with minimal to average Spanish, a few with none.  Most of the returning
US teachers speak Spanish well enough.  There is a large Spanish department with about 7 teachers, all but maybe 2 speak English.  The Colombian who was hired to coach soccer and do PE speaks no English.  But he is a professional soccer play with lots of experience.  He will be great for the kids.  Most of the staff in charge is Colombian and bilingual but the staff below them for the most part do not speak English. Beth has been able to coordinate and lead all these people to get the school ready for the 250 K – 12 students arriving next Tuesday.

     We did have a few entertaining episodes during the week.  Monday afternoon Kirsten and I had to take the bus home because Noelle had to leave early.  We got on the correct bus, but it broke down about half way home.  Luckily a cab soon came by and we got home pretty well on time.  It was Friday afternoon that really gave me a chuckle.

    
Bogota is incredibly crowded and they have a huge traffic congestion problem, not to mention pollution.  They instituted a program that is commonly called Pico y Placa.  Pico being a time period (rush hours…6-9 am and 4-7 pm).  Placa is the word for license plate.  On designated days, if your license plate ends in a particular number(s) you are not allowed to drive during rush hour (You are exempt if your van seats 9 or more.  Unlike the HOV lanes in the
US, you don’t have to carry other people, just be able to seat them!).  They are diligent about checking and the fine is fairly stiff, if your car isn’t taken away.  We were at school all day on Friday and the new teachers were supposed to leave at 4 pm to go downtown with Beth, take the tram up to Monseratte to see a wonderful view of the city and then go out to dinner.  Apparently there was a really bad accident downtown and traffic was at an absolute standstill on the autopista.  There is really no other way to get there so we waited.  Eventually at about 5:30 we decided to brave the traffic and head toward town, skipping Montseratte, but going out to dinner.  The traffic on the autopista was moving, albeit slowly.  As we drove I was really surprised at all the cars that were just parked, mostly empty, along the sides of the highway.  At that point we all noticed that the license plates were pico y placa numbers.  All of these people were stuck in this huge traffic jam, but at 4 pm they couldn’t drive anymore for the next 3 hours.  So they just parked their cars on the side of the road until they could come back after 7 pm to get them.  The law is the law, that is, when it is a law that is enforced! Of course what would never be enforced was that we had about 16 people crammed in a 12 person van!

     We did have a spectacular evening.  Beth took us to her husband’s brother’s restaurant.  It is a dark smallish place towards the mountains about ½ way from the school to downtown.  Their specialty is all types of crepes.  There is a small walkway in, the walls are all stucco’d in a dark gold and the ceiling has burlap that is held up by dark wood beams and between them the burlap drapes down in a semi-circle, making a very low ceiling.  It actually looked a little Arabic.  The only lighting was from candles on the tables and very few wall sconces.  All of the tables, chairs and floors were dark wood.  Kirsten and I each had crepes…mine was chicken, spinach and mushrooms, au gratin and Kirsten had ham and chicken au gratin.  They each were the equivalent of $4.50.  We tried some of the juices, I had maraculla which is pretty sour, but really refreshing. (I bought some of the fruit today to try to make it myself.  The fruit is oval, average 6 inches long, 3-4 in. across, hard yellow shell like a gourd.  You cut it open and there are lots of little seeds and pulp.  You scoop it all out and just blend it all up with some water.) Kirsten had berries and milk that she really didn’t like.  If it had been really cold it would have been like an unsweetened milkshake, but it was a little too warm.  For dessert Kirsten ordered a brownie and ice cream that was incredible; the brownie was not too cakey and not overly sweet.  There was a little bit of whipped cream, all sprinkled with coarse sugar and drizzled with caramel and a few strawberry slices on top.  It was a great dinner and the atmosphere was fantastic.

     After dinner Beth drove us up one of the windy, switchback mountain roads for a view of the city.  This is a very popular evening outing.  At every switchback there were cars parked with people out looking at the city lights below and, of course, the requisite little bar, probably serving panela (I think that is what it is called) with aguardiente in it.  (The panela (?) is a tea like hot beverage and aguardiente is the Colombian national liquor…anisette flavor but not sweet like Sambuca, I guess around 40 proof, although I really don’t know….Each state makes it’s own brand of aguardiente; Bogota’s happens to be called Aguardiente Cristal.  Figures.)  It was pretty cold up there. 
Bogota is at 8500 ft. and we must have gone up at least another 1-2000 ft.  But the view was spectacular.  The light spread as far as you could see to the North and south and you could see the smaller western hills far across the city.

     Unfortunately Andrew didn’t go with us.  The day before he went with Kaleb and his cousin to a water park about 3 hours SE of the city in what people refer to as hot country, basically, much lower altitude.  He was exhausted but he had to be a school Friday morning for new student registration.  After registration he went with Kaleb and Carlos to play paintball.  I am sure he will tell you all about it on his Myspace blog!  We got home around 11:30 pm and, of course, Andrew was waiting for me to make him dinner!

     It was an exhausting day.  On the other hand, there is so much that I want to see and do and we only have 10 months.  Hopefully, life will settle down when school starts (I think I am being naïve!)

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