Flashback to November

Oh my, I'm so horrible at blogging! Seriously, sorry folks out there waiting for an update from me. You probably thought I was dead by now....nope! So let's start with November...well, from my last post, we learned that I was able to get out of teaching Kindergarden and switched over to teaching Typing for 1st-3rd grade and the Learning and Sensorial skills class for all of Preschool plus Transition (a grade the Colombians have between K and first grade). I started this new position in October and I must admit I am so much happier doing this. I don't have to be with kids 24/7 and I also get some time to myself to either chill or catch up on grading, etc. It's soooooooooooooooooooo much less stressful!!!

So for those of you who are wondering what a typical day looks like for me, it goes a lil something like this: I may have a few Learning and Sensorial skills classes with kids anywhere between the ages of 1 1/2 to 5. Pretty much all they do is work on their fine motor skills, memory, and logic through games like puzzles, blocks, patterns, etc. A few days a week I may also have the Transitions kids (about age 6) for their games class, in which they learn how to play games like Monopoly, Poker, Chess, Sorry, Boggle, Scrabble, etc. Those kids are the most hyper and crazy though! Then in the afternoons (mostly) I have my Typing classes with anywhere between 2 to 4 classes per day. In these classes the students are basically learning how to type correctly, using the Home Row position, etc. It's fun to teach and the kids get a kick out of the games they can play to improve their speed and accuracy. All in all, I enjoy my new schedule a whole lot more.

Aside from school, November was a good month socially since we had a couple of back-to-back puentes, the Colombian term for three-day holiday weekend. Since a few years back the former Colombian president declared all holidays would be moved to Mondays, when we have a puente we have a three (and once in a while, four) day weekend. So because of the two back-to-back three days weekends in November, I was able to get out and explore a little bit more of Bogota and the surrounding areas. The first puente, I went to Melgar, a town about 3 hours away and where it's hot!!!! I went with a bunch of friends from school and we rented out the cottage of one of our teacher friends at the school. Melgar wasn't anything fabulous, but it definitely had wonderful weather and all in all it was just nice to get away from the pollution and craziness of Bogota. Meglar did have a couple of nice clubs, one with a swimming pool that you could swim/dance in! I had never been to a club with a pool as it's dance floor before. Nice!

On the second puente in November, my friends Jeni, Carolina, Nicole and I decided to explore a little bit more of our home, Bogota. We ended up taking a few day trips into El Centro to see the Museo Nacional, eat some good comida tipica like Ajiaco, and make the journey up to Monserrate, the famous cathedral on the mountain overlooking Bogota. The view from up there was spectacular, but of course it started raining in the afternoon so we got really wet and cold. And poor Jeni--at this time she was still on her crutches recovering from her achilles tendon surgery--so she had a bit of a time trying to get around up there.

And for Thanksgiving a bunch of us North Americans decided to cook a T-day meal for us and our Colombian friends. My roommate Jordan and I decided to host the meal, and my other friend Michael cooked the turkey, stuffing, and green bean casserole while Jeni and I assisted. We had a bunch of the other American teachers over, plus Jordan's mom who flew in from Colorado for the occasion, and some of our Colombian friends. It was a nice low-key holiday, celebrated on a Sunday instead of Thursday (since Colombia does not recognize it as a holiday, of course, so we had to work).

Well, there's November for you. Be on the lookout for a recap of December!

Peace!