Celebrating Earth Week

In honor of Earth Day/Week, the Middle School decided to get our kids out and enjoying the world around them for 1 hour everyday.  While this meant shorter class periods and trying to get 11-14 year olds to class on time with no bells. it also meant (hopefully) getting the students to see and understand some things that they might miss on a normal day.  There were several activities planned for the week, such as: a water walk to represent how far some people have to walk for fresh water, garbage and recycled art, yoga and meditation, Frisbee golf and a nature scavenger hunt.  I decided to sign up to help make and chaperon the nature scavenger hunt, and a good decision it was; as it turns out, our students really like to complain about walking and touching garbage, so some activities didn't go over as well as intended.  It took some time to get groups engaged in deciphering the clues and wandering ALL over campus to find the nature objects, but in the end we had two teams get all 21 of the clues and several others come pretty close.  On the second day we had students complete the hunt, I was wandering myself to make sure students weren't slacking off, and I decided to capture the images for the clues too.  Here's what I found:

1. Never say you can't, just find a tree with a hanging plant.

2. Near the place you learn the ABCs, you'll find fern-covered palm trees.

3. Don't give excuses starting with but, do your best to find a giant hut.

4. Look for flowers that appear just like the sun, but don't be fooled it must be a real one.

5. A place you can go to sit and eat too, here you will find trees waiting to greet you.

6. Follow the path to walls made of stone, the green coverings offer a cool natural tone.

7. Finding a palm tree will fulfill this stop, but in order to succeed you must leap, jump or hop.

8. I normally hang high in the trees, but it is possible that I have fallen to the ground.  No matter which way, I am a tasty treat for animals all around.

 9. A natural looking door is what you should look for

10. We’re easy to find, we crawl, we fly, and we can even sting.  Of one of us a small image you should bring .

Do you see what I see?

11. Look for me near the base of a tree.  I am often poisonous, so make sure you don't eat me! 

12. I am the color of t-shirts, shoes, backpacks and sometimes even ink. Combine the red and white and you get the color______. Go find something this color and take a great shot. Just make sure it´s grown and not bought!

13. Look for me, I’m everywhere among the other colors in the ground; Over there in deep violet pigments I am around.

14. You can find me in all those places where the Gods bled;
And stained Mother Nature with this beautiful color instead.
The blood painted pieces in the puzzle of creation;
You will find on the Bolivar Campus and across the nation.

15. Parts and pieces painted with drops of sunlight are found in flowers and TREES where they shine so bright!

16. Near the soccer field, the water tumbles clean and free.  Snap a photo of this and be sure to capture the palm tree.

17. Near a great waterfall you will have a good vantage, take a picture of your team in the middle of this bridge.

18. A scary plant that grows out of the dirt, it is best to not touch it, for you just might get hurt.

19.  Near a place where Bolivar is feared, you will find some trees that wear a long beard.

20. A typical palm tree this is NOT, it is shaped in the form of something we use when we´re hot.

21. Although it has no organs and has no feathers, find this bright bird all grouped together.

OK so I may have had an unfair advantage considering I made the scavenger hunt with Jeff and our principal, but you will notice that technically I didn't fulfill some of them since I couldn't be in the pictures, like the jump shot in front of a palm tree (because I was the photographer).  I also snapped this of a baby chucha, which is kind of like an oppossom, that the had to catch from the boys bathroom.  Super cute as a baby, not so cute as an adult, especially when it runs across the science building balcony (or in some cases into classrooms) while you are trying to teach.

Bonus points?

I think our students got at least something out of the activity and I might dare say that some even enjoyed it.  Hopefully they can appreciate the amazing campus we have with such diverse natural beauty that we can see almost on a daily basis. 

BINGO! Casí...

Remember when I shared with you that my name in Spanish is pretty much the same as the word for "almost"?  The more and more I think about it, I have to say, my mom did a pretty good job naming me, at least if she was the Spanish dictionary as a guide.  While I wouldn't say my life is full of "almosts", the word seems appropriate in plenty of situations.  Like the time I almost won a huge Bingo prize at Bolivar Day at school.

Bolivar is a huge celebration at school with many food vendors and whats turns out to me a small amusement park for the kids.  There is music and dancers among other things, but the highlight (for most adults at least) is the intense Bingo game.  I'm not kidding, the Bingo ladies from Annunciata were put to shame.  The outdoor cafeteria was packed to the brim with those ready to win.  Bingo cards were sold for $10.000 each and got you 4 rounds, with 8 games total.  Each round included a letter to be completed (L,X,C and U) followed by a full card or carta blanca.  Now, I never win anything.  I mean anything, so I wasn't getting my hopes up and wasn't too confident that my two cards would get me very far.  The first and second rounds were a bust, but the third round brought me some luck.  The "C" prize had already been claimed, but my card was pretty full until I was down to the O 67 that had been haunting me all afternoon.  I squealed "one more!" when Kristin noticed that Kelsi and I both needed that troublesome O 67.  In other words, if it was called we would have to fight to the death for the prize as they only allow one winner, kind of like the Hunger Games.  Sure enough O 67 was pulled and we danced our way to the front to have our cards read, both convinced we had a number wrong as we didn't double check our card, ad sesentas and setentas can be easily confused.  We both had legitimate BINGOs and so to break the tie, the Bingo guy pulled one more ball from the numbers left for each of us; whoever had the higher number would be the sole winner.  I quickly looked at the numbers not yet lit up on the board: most of O was gone, with the highest number left being 70.  Of course, the number he pulled for Kelsi was 70 so I didn't stand a chance.  He pulled another anyway for show and I think it was 48, but I hardly bothered to listen. 

Teachers playing Bingo at Bolivar Day!

A full card Bingo and I got nada.  Kelsi's prize included highlights of a new watch, shirt, bathing suit, a partially paid cruise for one, in addition to some dental work and laser hair removal and a bag of Colombian candy.  Now while the watch and clothing may have been the only things I probably would have wanted, its the principle of the matter; I almost won.  Kelsi offered up the hair removal and dental work too, but it just wasn't the same.  It didn't really belong to me.  I may have considered that cruise for one.  Who am I kidding, I'm not bold enough for that.  Casí, Cassie, casí.  Maybe next year.  Looking forward to Bolivar Bingo 2013.

Christmas Time in Cali

This post is coming a little late, as Christmas in Cali sees to actually start mid to late November. I'm not kidding.  By the flirt week on December the holiday decoration section in Exito has turned into a toy and gift section as any Caleño clearly already has their decorations up by then.  But there's good reason for this.  In Cali, as well as the rest of the country, Christmas is a month long celebration, almost.  The season usually kicks off December 8th with celebration of the Immaculate Conception, the conception of Mary, not the conception of Jesus as many people quickly assume; do the math: December 8th to December 24th?  This isn't some creepy vampire-human pregnancy.  I can't believe I just made a Twilight reference (actually, I kinda can); if you don't get it just smile and read on.  Anyway, on the night of the 7th people celebrate the conception of Mary by lighting candles to guide her into their homes, also known as Día de las Velitas, Day of the Little Candles.  Bolivar invites the school community to celebrate the Friday before, which is where I go most of my velitas fix.  It was amazing to see so many families, faculty and staff there celebrating with candles, food, music and of course Santa.  Don't tell the kiddos, but it was actually Allain the physics teacher, not Santa.

Everywhere you go in Cali is decorated for Christmas, and there is an especially huge lights display in the north in the Rio Cali, the Alhumbrada.  The display itself is not specific to Christmas, the theme this year in fact was "Myths & Legends" and on the night of the 7th friends and I went to view the beautiful display after some cookie decorating and ornament making.

La Muneca

A favorite of my red-headed-mohawk-sporting-biology-teaching
 science neighbor friend Stetson.

Cutie Patootie

Although it was rainy and the ground was muddy (poor Lauren was in sandals!) and there were HUGE crowds, it was all together a pretty cool view and experience.  Can't wait to see next year's display!

Giving Thanks in Colombia

As you might assume, Colombia doesn't usually celebrate Thanksgiving, and for obvious reasons (no Pilgrims, duh).  However, because my school is a bilingual school AND there is a large population of American teachers at our school, I actually got to celebrate it twice this year.  This almost made up for the fact that I was missing my first Thanksgiving with my family.  Ever.  I made the trip home every year in college for the family party and food and never had a serious enough significant other to render missing dinner with my own family (we got lucky last year that David's family had Thanks-o-ween so we could both go to both celebrations).  Oh and work shwork.  Thus giving me, I think, the title of the only cousin/granddaughter to never miss a turkey dinner.  Until now.  Sad.  But like I said I had TWO celebrations here with friends and what I can call my Colombian family. 

The Saturday before Thanksgiving, Mike and Mandi hosted 70+ people for Friendsgiving.  They made three turkeys, and the rest of the dinner was left up to the guests.  Of course I immediately signed up to bring dessert, the same Sour Cream Apple Pie I made for my family last year, but this time I had to make it with homemade pie crust.  However, as the dinner approached, it looked like there was going to be a lot of desserts and not so many sides, so I offered to bring something else and Mike requested stuffing.  I promised nothing, having never even thought about making stuffing before, but set on my way to track down my Aunt Lori's stuffing recipe.  Growing up, I was never a fan of stuffing, until I tried this stuff, it's awesome.  And upon getting the not-so-recipe-recipe (which is great because its pretty clear I never follow recipes anyway) I discovered the key to delicious was butter, and lots of it.  Mmmmm.  I did end up cutting down, especially because I was making a double batch.  And of course nothing ever goes smoothly, like when I realized the GIANT aluminum pan I bought for said double batch was not going to fit in our tiny oven.  No problem.  Stuffing loaves it is!  They turned out preeeettty tasty.  Thanks Lori for the yummy recipe!  I also made homemade spiced apple cider from scratch: 'lotta apples, little cider.  But also pretty good.

Homemade crust is a lot easier than I thought

Mmmmm Apple Pie

Too big.

Crispy Stuffing Loaves!

On Tuesday that week, our school hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for the whole faculty and staff.  It was nice to see so many people come together from so many different backgrounds to celebrate and enjoy time together.  I am extremely grateful for the wonderful community at my school, which has made this transition amazingly easy.  For this dinner each section was in charge of something different; David had vegetables in high school and middle school had desserts.  I thought about making the Sour Cream Apple Pie again, but then decided to try something a little more traditional, and so I stumbled upon this video and recipe for caramel apple pie:

http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2008/10/my-favorite-apple-pie-recipe-getting.html

also with homemade crust.  Other than having to make to batches of caramel because the first hardened too soon and having a crust that stuck to the pan a bit, it seemed this was a hit. 

Flour coated apples for filling (caramel added late)

Lattice crust with a little CB pride.

Toasty and warm in the oven.

Although I couldn't be with my family in the States for Thanksgiving, I have to say all of this and the friends down here were quite the place fillers and I think in the future these celebrations with friends and my family away from home will be something I miss too.