Greater Than the Sum of Our Parts

A few months back, while I was on lunch duty, one of my students from last year stopped me and said "Miss, I've been meaning to ask you: what are your thoughts on the afterlife?"  Of course I was caught a bit off guard, but my response was honest: that I wasn't quite sure where I stood on the idea yet, I was still trying to figure it out for myself.  He asked how anyone could possibly think that there is anything more than to just being dead and then ensued a bit of a debate in Spanish with some of his friends.  I shared my thoughts, saying that I believe a large part of it is that those left behind after someone dies don't want to think that their loved one is simple gone; they want to believe that they are still with them in some way.  The conversation went on and we had a small circle and students asked about my beliefs on other things like the beginning of life or the universe: they were curious if I believed in the story God created everything or I had a scientific point of view.  I gave them the answer I always give: both.  As a person who has a strong foundation in science I cannot help but believe that evolution has occurred and that the universe began with the perfect alignment of particles and that after millions and millions of years it allowed life to eventually form (forgive me for simplifying it, they are only 13).  I explained that while these theories tell me how these things happen scientifically, my faith has always played a part as well and that I do not believe that these perfect conditions happened by chance, that I believe there is a greater being at work that allowed for all of this to be set in motion.  I explained that I know that others on either side of the spectrum may disagree with me, but that this is the balance that I have found.  I could see the wheels turning, as they processed what I shared and considered their own thoughts as well as those of their peers.  We all agreed that this, like many things, was something that each of them would decide their stance on in their own in time, and that there was no rush to do so.  

I share this story because I remembered it myself last night as I was finishing a book, Looking for Alaska.  I will try not to give away too much of the story because I hope you all take the time to read it, but be warned, there may be a few inadvertent spoilers (even if there are, you should still read it).  In the last pages, one of the main characters is also reflecting on the afterlife and at first shares the thoughts of my student, that we simple are gone and eventually become part of the earth again and that's all there is too it.  Done.  They also agreed that perhaps "the afterlife is just something we made up to ease the pain of loss", as I once shared with my curious 8th graders.  But then they say something spectacular* (well I suppose the author John Green does):

"I believe now that we are greater than the sum of our parts.  If you take [a person's] genetic code and you add [their] life experiences and the relationships [they] had with people, and then you take the size and shape of [their] body, you do not get [them].  There is something else entirely.  There is a part greater than the sum of [their] parts.  And that part has to go somewhere, because it cannot be destroyed.  

Although no one will ever accuse me of being much of a science student, one thing I learned from science classes is that energy is never created or destroyed...We are as indestructible as we believe ourselves to be...We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken.  We cannot be born, and we cannot die.  Like all energy we can only change shapes and sizes and manifestations...But that part of us greater than the sum of our parts cannot begin and cannot end, and so it cannot fail."

 *As much as I wanted to include the entire last two pages of the book I didn't for the sake of not giving too much away, but trust me when I say, it is even better than it is here.  You will have to get the book and read it all for yourself, and no John Green does not pay me.  

I generally get emotionally invested in the books I read, but this truly hit home and hit hard.  Since losing David I have thought a lot about a lot of things.  One thing I soon realized is where I stand on the idea of the afterlife: it exists.  It has to exist.  And not just because it makes me feel better, but because I feel it, I know it.  I realize my Catholic faith told me this many many years ago and reiterated the point for 12 years of schooling, but no one would ever accuse me of being very religious and there just wasn't enough for me to say steadfastly that yes it does exist.  Maybe the science behind it doesn't fit as perfectly as the quote from the book might make it sound, but regardless, I have found my balance, my explanation.  David had so much energy when he was alive and so much life to yet live, that all of that couldn't have just disappeared or been destroyed.  I know it wasn't.  The energy that is David simply has changed shape or size or manifestation and I think (and hope) that anyone who knew him would agree.  I hope that others too see that energy in a beautiful mountain view, feel it in an early morning run and hear it in every sound of laughter.  Because that's where that energy is now, and trust me when I say there is plenty of it to last all of our lifetimes.  

Always dancin'

Dia de Deportes

Every section (primary, middle and high school) has a Sports Day at Bolivar, and every teacher has an opinion about it.  I'd heard near horror stories from primary Sports Day, but heard high school Sports Day is always fun.  Going into middle school Sports Day this past Friday, I really hadn't heard anything good from the other teachers or students about it, but I decided to go in with an open mind anyway.  In middle school, students and teachers in 6th-8th grade are placed in one of four houses: Dolphins, Squid Squads, Sting Rays and Barracudas (my house).  Yes, kind of like in Harry Potter, minus the Quidditch.  And magic.  In these houses students compete in various events throughout the day to earn points in hopes of winning the day overall.  They also get points for things like helping clean up trash or the sports equipment and sportsmanship.  In the morning we rallied with our houses to get pumped up, practice our cheer and make our way down to the soccer field to meet up with the rest of the houses. 

House flags & bulletin boards

Barracudas getting pumped.  Really.  We are.

When we made it down to the field, every house sang their cheer and then we got started with events.  Students from each grade in each house participated in track and field events including short and long distance relays, followed by a sort of obstacle course which had three-legged race, potato sack racing, something involving an inner tube and an army crawl. 

Then came the tug of war competition, which is were the teachers' "spirit" really came out, I for one lost my voice from screaming at students to "Puuuulllll!!!!!".  The muddy fields made for extra interesting conditions.  I had a FABULOUS video clip of Rob and Kristin really "encouraging" their Sting Rays, but I accidentally deleted it.  Dammit.  It was good.  But here is a quick clip of a fellow Barracuda teacher helping our kids out:

 

Our 7th graders kind of got smoked on this one.

After all this we finally got a break, time I took to go order our Breaking Dawn tickets online, obviously.  After break was time for other various sports, I watched the boys 7th and 8th grade basketball games, which the Barracudas took 1st in both.  Then there was boys soccer then time for lunch.  As you can tell, the day got less and less exciting, I got more and more tired and hot and the kids became less and less well behaved.  After lunch there was the pool events which were at least some what entertaining if for no other reason than our boys who participated (and were generally the only ones who participated throughout the day) had no idea what was going on, and to be honest neither did I, but amusing nonetheless.

The Dolphins won the day overall, with Sting Rays in 2nd, Barracudas in 3rd and the previously first place Squid Squads in 4th.  Overall, I think there are some definite improvements that can be made to the day to make it better for kids and teachers alike, but I wouldn't say it was a terrible day (just long and hot) but it wasn't my favorite day either; I'd call it a draw.

More pictures from throughout the day:

The Other Kind of Day

Remember when I posted about that terrible, awful, frustrating, pull-my-hair-out day I had not too long ago?  Well I figure if I am going to post about days like that, I sure as heck better include the other end of the spectrum too.  After all, isn't that the life of a teacher?  One day your kids drive you so nuts you think about not teaching ever again and the next they bring the biggest smile to your face and remember why its all worth it?  Well, it is.  Of course, I am going to have moments or days where my kids drive me nuts (you try to spend just 1 hour in a room with 15-20 7th graders and not be annoyed or go crazy).  Sometimes frustrating moments like these happen to occur at just the right time or all together, or when its already been a long week, at which point my next train of thought goes something like this:  "I have a degree in Biomedical Engineering, one that I spent THOUSANDS of dollars in out of state tuition on, I could be doing so many other things (and paying off my massive debt a lot faster) and I choose to spend my days with 12 and 13 year olds.  Really?"  Yes Cassie, really.  You do.  And here are some reasons why.

Last Friday, 11-11-11 was my 25th birthday.  In the States it is Veteran's Day, and in Illinois that means no school for Chicago Public Schools (CPS), so my first two years teaching I didn't have to go to work on my birthday, pretty sweet.  But this year, I am so glad that I got to share my birthday with my kids.  In addition to the birthday wishes and hugs from numerous co-workers, every one of my classes that day came in and sang happy birthday to me and there were lots of hugs as well.  Some students even gave me handmade birthday cards/notes, one of which read

Ms. S you are the BEST Science teacher I've ever had.  You are very nice with us and you have a lot of patience.  Thank you for all you help.  You really are a great person.  Happy birthday, I hope enjoy your B-day and I hope you continue being such a great teacher.

And its little things like that which keep me coming to work everyday.  Now, this particular girl's class period also had a lot more planned for me Friday.  It was the last period after lunch and we were set to review for our upcoming Mastery Exam on climate,  As students were walking in, they were rambunctious as always, with the added "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" screeches.  Meanwhile, Claudia, one of the middle school secretaries came to my room too.  Although she only speaks Spanish, we usually manage to communicate pretty well about who she needs to see or what she needs me to do.  I got that someone needed to go to the office, but she usually goes with them, and she seemed to be walking further and further into my classroom so I asked "Quien?" and then I finally got that I needed to go to the office for something, and she said she'd watch my class, no worries.  So I jogged down to the offices where Marlene, the high school secretary told me we'd take care of whatever it was I needed to do when Claudia got back.  Now if you were paying attention, you too would know that Claudia was supposed to be watching my kids so she wasn't going anywhere until I got back to my room.  Marlene then said she had a letter she needed to translate for me, but it would be a minute and just to wait and not worry about my class.  Normally, this change/interruption of schedule would have really gotten to me, but it was Friday, it was my birthday and it was a review day for a class that generally already does better on average, so I waited. 

While waiting, I then saw two of my students scurrying across the lawn in front of the offices and had a look of shock when I saw them.. They came to the office, started making some lies about another student falling from the balcony outside my class and told me I had to wait in the office for the principal.  Clearly I already knew something was up.  Some more distractions occurred, Marlene called me back over to tell me David had yellow roses delivered that I could pick up after school and then my principal walked in looking very confused.  And then he seemed to pick up on something.  He said the kids should go back, and that I could probably go back too.  So I get back to my class and the kids are just everywhere and they've written birthday messages on the board, but that was it.  Oooooook....I said thank you to Claudia and handed back their graded quizzes and realized three girls were gone.  More lies about where they may or may not be and then the 6th grade science teacher Amanda came to my room and said the principal needed to see me again.  I protested, she said with a straight face "I just hope you don't get fired" and so I was off to the office again.  When I got there Mr. Kelly said I could turn right back around and that they should finally have it all figured out by now.  Walking back to my class I decided to come in from the outside where I would walk past a wall of windows to the classroom, rather than from inside the science building.  I saw all my kids shock and then them hiding under desks, but not before one of them opened the door for me.  I walked in and they all shouted "surprise!" and there was a cake with a candle in it for me and they all started singing happy birthday. 

Don't ask what the boys are doing, I have no idea.  I blew out the candle and they told me I had to take the candle out, bite the bottom and make a wish.  They could have completely made that up, but I did it anyway.  Then were all had some delicious arequipe roll they had the cafeteria make, in addition to some little ice cream sundaes.  Apparently they had been nagging Mr. Kelly all day about the surprise and planned it out themselves (hence the not so perfect plan) and were so excited when it finally all came together.  We took some some photos, awkward 7th grader style and then finally with 15 minutes left, they got to reviewing before heading home for the weekend. 

"Normal"

Funny Faces!

This will definitely go down in the birthday books as one of my best memories, and is something I have already used to remind myself about the GOOD things when I feel myself start to get annoyed by 13 year olds. 

One of THOSE Days

Yep.  Today was the day.  Today was one of those days.  Today I did not like my kids. 

It was Friday, I had my lesson planned and copies made and it was about to be a three day weekend (for what? I have no idea), but not before my students drove me absolutely nuts.  Don't believe me?  My science neighbor Stetson can attest, at least for 1st period.  Now, being a TFA trained teacher I immediately think of my teacher actions that may have lead to my student actions blah blah blah.  But sometimes they are just being idiots.  And I say that in the nicest of ways.  Not idiots like lack of intelligence, but rather just lack of common sense or consideration of others I suppose.  There's this thing they do, that I have generally gotten used to, of just calling out when they are in need of something or have a problem, or a comment, or thought, related or not, but when I am already trying to deal with the fact that I got an email at 8:03 telling me I didn't have the computer lab reserved for first period (which starts at 7:30 by the way) I kind of can't handle it. 

Not only am I a teacher, I'm an improv artist as well, especially when it comes to technology.  So after writing an email about not having computers reserved (in both English & Spanish) while my students brainstormed what they knew about precipitation, I figured out a way to make the five laptops I did have in the room work.  But then they were too slow for the children and hence the whining, and complaining and the "meesus come please!" and the "eets not wooorking!" while I am actually trying to give them directions on what do do and how to fix any problems.  And this all after it took them several minutes to even listen to directions, minutes that of course were added to their "time bank".  Ugh.  Oh and then there's the boy who doesn't make it through a class without a "eeewwww meeesus" in reference to something he sees or that happens in class.  I'll give it to him the time another student accidentally drooled on his binder (I'm sorry, do I teach 7th grade or obedience school?) But today when I asked him what he could possibly be whining about it was because there was paper on the floor under his desk.  Oh, that, and a hair.  Seriously?!  SERIOUSLY?!

In general, my students like to complain and pay little attention to what they should be doing.  For example:

• "Meesus! This computer isn't working!"  Funny how when I walk over and type in your information it logs on, without all the incessant beeping.  Weird.
• "Meesus! What do we open?!" Precipitation Web Resources. Said it 7 times, and its written on the board. And the person next to you managed to find it, did you think to ask them?
• "Meesus! I can't find it! It's not here!" Are you sure? Maybe you should try looking under this week on the class site. You know, the one that is highlighted orange and says "Oct 31-Nov 6th". Might be helpful.
• "Meesus the links in the document you gave us aren't working?!"  Oh really?  See that #1 you copied from the resource list?  Yeah.  You can't paste that into the web bar and expect to get very far.  Oh and tell the five people next to you because they are having the same problem.
• "Meesus!  I don't like this computer, it's weird!"  It thinks the same of you.  You have 5 minutes left to work.

And then they pack their things and head out of class with big "Thank you meesus!" and "Bye meesus", I don't know how they do it.  I told them they were driving me nuts and acting horribly, I yell, they continue and then a thank you and cheerful goodbyes?  Weird. 

Perhaps it had just been a long week and my patience were already thin.  And maybe sometimes 7th graders act like they don't have brains.  Either way, a beer at Mr. Wings after school was much needed, and I sure am glad it's the weekend.  Three days nonetheless. 

Halloween in Colombia

So now that it's actually close to Halloween (as in tomorrow) I feel like I can share my Halloween in Cali, which I have celebrated twice already.  With two costumes.  Yes, I'd hate to admit it, but I was one of those people who was dressed up and at a party on October 22nd, but please, hear me out.  It really wasn't my fault, nor the fault of anyone else, except maybe the Colombian government.  You see, they decided to hold elections today, the day before Halloween, thus making this what we call a "dry" weekend in ALL OF COLOMBIA.  Yep, you got it.  No alcohol was sold this weekend anywhere.  Well, actually I found out Friday it didn't start until 6pm last night, but whatever.  Yes, we could have bought alcohol last week and partied it up much closer to Halloween, but then you run the risk of having someone call the police on your party and apparently you can get in a lot more trouble when it's supposed to be a dry weekend.  Confusing I know, but I don't really ask questions, I just went to the party.  And then there was Halloween at school and having kids dress up on a Friday is a way better idea than dressing up on Monday, can't disagree with that.  So there you have it, there is my semi-explanation of why I had a costume on in my Facebook picture last week.  Judge me.  Go ahead.

Well now that that's out of the way, here's how it went.  If you don't know already, I love Halloween because it means I get to be crafty and try to be creative.  Oh, and I don't do slutty/sexy Halloween.  Tried it freshman year of college (sort of) and hated it.  So stupid.  I can't remember the last time I just bought a costume, put it on and was done.  If you ask me, that's cheating.  C'mon people, use your imagination.  I suppose when your mom makes you a homemade werewolf costume (did I mention I was kind of a tomboy as a kid), it starts to become a tradition.  She started with some of my old sweats and sewed patches of fur from the inside as she would take the train to and from work.  Add some scary teeth, lots of face paint and black hairspary and there you have it.  I requested a picture, but we can't seem to come across it, but trust me when I say: it was awesome.  There was also the year I requested to be a "ghost cat"...yeah I was just a white cat...Even as an adult, I find immense joy in coming up with a costume and piecing it together from scratch.  Last year for "Thanksoween" with David's family, I made him the Operation guy and I was a doctor; my costumes my not always turn out looking the best, but at least I put in the effort.

Normally I like to get crafty with fabrics and dyes etc, but I was worried about finding those things here, and the date kind of snuck up on us, so we decided to go with something that we could sort of piece together.  Nonetheless, I think our costume this year was still a hit.

Anyone who used to watch the Price is Right and thus the awesomely bad commercials in between should get the reference.  In case you missed it, David is from Publisher's Clearing House and is presenting me with a check for $10 million, flowers, and the random assortment of balloons Cali had to offer.  I clearly was caught by surprise and had to jump out from the shower to answer the door.  Clever right?    The only problem was, it wasn't very cross-cultural.  Colombian and Canadian friends just kind of stared confused, or politely gave a forced laugh and complimented me on my "just got out of the shower" costume.  Hrumpf.  Also, if we didn't have our props, then everyone was confused and thought David dressed as the President or a politician.  Finally sick of having to go run and grab props, David kindly told anyone who showed up late that they missed the surprise and didn't deserve to see our costume.  Harsh, but fair.

I also goet in a crafty cooking mood for the party and took some goolish treats to Amanda's too.  Eyeball Oreo balls and monster toes made with chorizo looked gross, but tasted delicious.  I was glad to be able to find almost all the ingredients I needed and made other improvisations as necessary, like cherry juice for red coloring.

There were a lot of other great costumes, and so many creative and homemade!

Mr. President with rocker and pirate

Ninja Girls

Incredible Hulk

All the fellas

Then there was Halloween at school.  Of course I needed a different costume, and I struggled all week with what to do.  At different points I considered a bag of jelly beans, a pencil, a gumball machine among others, but finally decided on a skunk, or in Spanish, zorillo.  With a borrowed black hooded sweatshirt, my black sweatpants, a white towel, a black sock and a clothes hanger a was a homemade skunk.  Oh and tape.  Lots of tape.

Most middle schoolers didn't dress up, or changed right before the Halloween assembly.  Middle schoolers can be pretty lame.  I managed to get a picture of some my students that were dressed up.

My kids all loved my costume and said how cute and creative it was, some didn't even know I had made it myself (OK it wasn't THAT good, but I'll take a compliment).  I meant to take a can of Febreeze to school to "spray" people, but in the rush of the morning I forgot.  I think it could have made a difference.  Unfortunately when it came time for the teacher contest, a certain math teacher dressed as a greaser won for his black T-shirt and jeans and gelled hair.  Yeah, I'm sure his on stage hip thrust had nothing to do with the screaming 12-14 year old girls...I'm a little bitter.  Oh well, I'm just glad my kids liked my costume and lots of them saw me later and said they wanted me to win.  And that science is cooler than math.  Fine, that last parts a lie.  Some of my 7th grade girls below won for the group costume for being candies.  Cute.

Middle school group costume winners

UP! High school group winners

When I saw the UP characters as I was walking back to my class after lunch, I made them stop for a picture.  So good!  I told them how creative I thought it was and wished them luck, and they won! 

Some high school teachers dressed as super heroes.  David was Wolverine from X-Men and had some fellow 10th grade teachers joined him on the theme as Beast and Storm.

All in all it was another successful Halloween and I'm glad I had so many creative friends to share it with!  Happy hauntings everyone!

Panaca

First of all, I would like to say that MY grade school fieldtrips were a joke.  Trip to Chicago?  Thanks I've lived here all my life.  Springfield?  I'm sorry I know its the capital and all but NO 8th grader thinks its cool or entertaining.  And my class never even got to go to Medieval Times like every other 6th grade class.  What a ripoff.  Now Bolivar knows how to do it right.  I probably had more on our fieldtrip as an adult than I had on any trip I had in grade school or high school, with maybe the exception of New York. 

Wednesday morning we got to school around 6am and started loading children and baggage onto 3 buses and started on our way to Panaca in Quimbaya-Quindio.  Quindio is the department or state (Cali is in Valle de Cauca) and Quimbaya is the municipal.  I'm still struggling with how exaclty to classify what Panaca is, so I think the best way is simply to describe the various activities we had over the three days we were there. 

The bus ride was supposed to be about 3 hours, but with traffic and a certain incident in which a girl "accidentally" (this is still up for debate) broke a window on a bus with the emergency hammer, it took more like 5 hours to get there, setting our schedule back just a bit.  No worries though, if you know me, you know I slept 80% of the time, when I wasn't catching bits of Transformers 3 or Rio. 

We were originally suppose to stay in big malocas or huts with about 20-25 students each, but Colgate was having a convention there at the same time and partying all night, so they moved us into rooms at the hotel nearby.  When we arrived they introduced the kids to a general outline of the week and we had lunch before we were off to our first activity.  The first afternoon the students were split into "tribes" with Panaca guides to compete in Quim y Baya.  After being war painted with natural paint from seeds, each tribe had to complete different tasks from an egg toss to crossing a small pond and rolling team members in a wheel. 

About 1 min after this the boy in the stripes fell in again, and then again.  Being great teachers and principals, we watched and laughed.  And took video.

After dinner back at the hotel, two of the larger groups, including mine, set out for our camping adventure.  It had rained during dinner and looked like it might rain again, so we opted to camp where we had a roof to cover.  After students whined and fought about who was sleeping with who in what tents, the guides helped them put their tents together.  At which point it appeared as though the 6 teacher chaperones whould be without a tent.  We tried to work this to our advantage and figrue out a way to go back to the hotel, but in the end it turned out the guides had set up 2 tents for us.  One old, rickety tent not under one of the rooves and another on the hard floor right next to all the boys tents.  The females opted for the older tent furthest from the kids, even if it was't covered, and left the boys with the boys.  Of course it started raining again over night, and I was awoken by the terrifying sounds of the guides covering our tent with garbage bags so we wouldn't get wet.  I still woke up with wet feet but was greeted by one of the most beautiful views so it all turned out alright.

Day two was another busy day.  After breakfast, my group one started the day with canopying, or zip lining, a first for me.  I didn't really think much about it, so I couldn't syke myself out.  It wasn't until we started climbing the first tower that I freaked out a little bit.  The climb seemed unending.  Near the top I thought I was imagining the tower swaying or that I was just really shaky until Amy said something and I realized the tower WAS swaying because it was so tall.  Freaky.  Once I got hooked up to the cables it was no problem.  Except on the second line when I didn't make it all the way to the end and a worker had to come get me.  He started canopying toward me, flew into me, said "hola", and wrapped his legs around me and pulled me to the end.  It was a super special treat.  Then on the last line they have a photographer at the end taking pictures as you fly in, I got stuck again.  This time I was close enough I could pull myself in on the cable.  I hope a picture of that doesn't show up on the trip DVD.  Embarasing.

All the boys were the first in line.

Brian, the MS principal and Amy the 7th grade English teacher with me ready for canopy!

After canopying we spent the rest of the morning with the animals.  First was milking cows.  Some students even tried milk squirted straight from the utter.  It was both disturbing and gross.  While I didn't try any "fresh" milk, I did try my hand at milking a cow, and I have to say it was a lot easier than I thought.  In the same area were some baby and adult goats we could buy milk and other treats for.  Two of our most troublesome boys were the first to buy a bottle of milk to feed them, which I found cute and surprising.  They didn't even start teasing the animals until about 5-10 minutes in...boys will be boys.  Martin even offered me the rest of one of the bottles so I could feed the little guys too.  They were super cute.  Then there were the sheep.  The guides let the kids lay in the pens, put feed on the stomachs and had the sheep eat off the kids stomachs.  Weird, but funny.  We also had cows licking molasses off our hands and some students put it on their cheeks to let the cows lick it off, again weird and humorous. 

We headed cak to the hotel for lunch and then our afternnon activity was horseback riding.  Much better experience than last time.  Nice and slow, no trotting or galloping, but nothing too exciting.  Except the Zorse, or zebra horse, which I thought was a Quagga that I once taught to a Biology class when discussing extinct animals.  Needless to say, when I saw this thing I was utterly confused and somewhat convinced that Colombian drug lords must have somehow had something to do with this.  However, upon further investigation when I returned to Cali, it appears as though zebra horses do exist in the modern world and there are different variations, some of which (the Quagga) are in fact extinct.  Glad I got that one figured out.  After our horseback riding, we watched the least PC rodeo show ever.  There were little people on little horses, who later dressed up as a little indian child that was kidnapped by cowboys after being lost by there hooting blonde pony-tailed indian friends, or so that is what I gathered from the story.  So weird.  After that little piece there was some pretty cool stunt riding though.

That night after dinner, the other group of students and chaperones camped while our groups went on a senses and solo walk.  The kids all put their bandanas on as blindfolds, and the teachers conviniently didn't have any, so I thought we were safe.  Luckily the guides offered their flags from Quim y Baya as blindfolds and we got to take part too.  We were all lined up blindfolded with our hands on the shoulders of the people in front of us.  The idea was to use our senses other than vision.  A special treat for me was also basically being without hearing as well since the guides, and therefore the students, only spoke in spanish.  I got the majority of it but it certainly was a challenge.  We walked blindfolded and then they put different things on us to touch and taste.  I didn't enjoy that very much.  After our senses walk, we took part in a solo walk in which everyone walked the path alone, without a flashlight until we came to a fork in the road that would lead us to our fire for the night.  Again, it waa difficult because I wasn't really sure what the fork was or where to go, but I managed.  And the moon was so bright we didn't need flashlights anyway.  At the campfire, our leader told some history and stories, most of which I missed because the vocabulary was foreign and the translation part of my brain shuts down after too much spanish comprehension.  They had a sort of graduation ceremony and all the kids got a certificate, a t-shirt and a hat, the teachers got a certificate too for completing the week. 

On our last day Friday my group had the dirtiest of all the activities: the Guadaventura.  I couldn't take anything without destroying or losing it, so I don't have photos, but I stole some from Rob the math teacher who has a waterproof/indestructible camera to give you all an idea.  The guides were also taking photos for the DVD they are making for us.  By the end of the activity I was literally covered head to toe, and everything in between, with mud.  We started by having to repel backwards down a steep hill surrounded by ominous looking plants and branches, down to the bottom where a huge mud pit and creek were waiting for us.  Of course the guides encouraged mud fights.  At the bottom it was quite slippery, so rather than trying to stay on my feet and falling, I chose to just scoot down the hill and embrace the mud and filth.  We had to get into the creek, several shoes were almost lost and countless feet stuck in the soft mud on the bottom.  We walked through the creek, got out up steep muddy hills and jumped back in.  Then we were tied to a rope by our wrist and had to follow the rope over and under branches and bamboo, which meant going under the muddy water.  Some girls cheated and slipped their hands out, so I was sure to give them BIG hugs and tell them what great students they are.  At one point I was up to my knees in mud and up to my waist in water, and gave myself some muddy war paint.  The end of our walk though the creek led us to an army crawl which is where things really got messy.  As we crawled through, those looking on were throwing and piling mud on our backs, easily adding 10 pounds as we slowly crawled through.  I reminded students that grades were due mid October, but that didn't seem to stop them.  Afterward we washed off in the water, then hosed off on our way back to the hotel and then rinsed off again in the shower by the pool before finally heading to our room to take a real shower.  So messy, but so fun and worth it. 

View of the army crawl area

Scott the Social Studies teacher crawling through

After cleaning and packing up at the hotel we had lunch and then waited for the buses.  Although everyone was heading back to Cali, Scott, Durkee, Chirstian and I got off the bus nearby about 15 minutes away and hopped on a public bus to head straight to Pereira for binational games.  Stay tuned for that recap.

Longest. Post. Ever.

Hope you enjoyed our field trip as much as I did!