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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

My Kinda Day



The library after the female teachers put up all the decorations
Every March 19th in Colombia is MEN’S DAY!  This is a day where us gentleMEN get recognized for our contribution to society.  Now honestly I did not remember this day from last year or realize it was yesterday (I wrote this a while back) until around 4:15 when a teacher asked me if I wanted to attend a celebration that the female teachers were going to throw for the male teachers at the high school.  Now as I teach elementary school I felt quite special and said “Claro que si” to the invite.  But like I was saying before, I had not celebrated this day last year :(  and thus did not no what to expect-- A set of dominos for everyone?  A few cases (canastas) of light beer? Strippers? 

As we were all beckoned into the classroom my heart started racing and my mouth salivating as I smelled something meat grilling and strippers...only kidding about the strippers.  But the lovely female teachers really had started an indoor barbecue complete with balloons taped to the ceiling, white tablecloths on the tables, and Ben 10(a popular kids cartoon)  PARTY HATS!  After the initial shock of this incredibly nice gesture we were seated and then served juice.  I know you are asking yourself now, “But what about the prayers.”  Well just hold on one hot minute as I get to that part.

Before I could even lift the juice glass to my lips to taste the sugary goodness, we were all told to close our eyes.  Then one teacher praying led to another and unlike the juice, the prayers were flowing at this point.  After the high praise from the female teachers, they began to serve the fruits of their labor, the beef chuzos (shish kabobs).  After finishing the AMAZING meat sticks, it was getting a bit late so some of the teachers began to head back home.  I soon followed, but the magic of Men’s Day doesn’t stop there.  On my walk back home I witnessed three things that really made this day unforgettable. 

  1. There was a group of teens listening to the catchy rap song, Teach me How to Douggie while dancing the dance---Only the best parts of American culture make it to Colombia!
  2. Four of my neighbors were playing with the dreidels I had given them for Hanukkah.
  3. My host mom was running a comb through a bald man’s head
I can’t imagine a better way to end Men’s Day.  I just wish us male teachers had done something as nice for the female teachers for Women's Day, March 9th. 
Me and my Ben 10 party hat

The Cartagena Film Festival Comes to Town


Last year during the annual Cartagena Film Festival I really did not feel like I knew the public transportation or the city that well and did not even attempt to go into town to see a movie, but this year was a different story.  After a bit more than a year at site I am still horrible with directions, but at least I know how to get to all of the places that matter in Cartagena.  And by that I mean anywhere with wifi or AC within a 10 mile radius.  So I was not going to let the Film Festival come and go again without seeing a single movie.

Some friends came up on Friday and throughout the week I saw three movies costing a grand total of 0 pesos.  Thats right, the Cartagena Film Festival is absolutely free!  And as a wise Peace Corps Response volunteer once told me, “If it’s free, it’s for me and give me three.”  So trying to live by that unofficial PC slogan, I saw as many movies as I could.  One of the movies I caught was a late night movie, under the starts, officially starting at 8:00 (really started at 8:45ish), called Football Rebels.  This was by far my favorite of the three.  It documented how soccer can have a huge effect of the peace process of countries that are at war.  It followed the lives of some really well know soccer players, including Didier Drogba.  And after the movie all of the soccer players from the movie came out, minus Drogba who is currently playing somewhere in Turkey, and answered some questions.  The most recognized player was French striker and ex Manchester United Player, Eric ‘King Eric‘ Cantona.  

However, the surprise of the festival was when I was coming back from doing some errands one night and saw a few things that looked a bit out of the Boquilla norm.  First off, there was a huge long hall truck parked in the middle on one of the roads.  There were also a bunch of people carrying plastic chairs (usually they stay put) and lastly, an overall lack of blaring champeta music.  So I walked over to take a closer look at what was going on.  Turns out that the Cartagena Film Festival took the show on the road and came to La Boquilla.  The previously mentioned truck had a huge projector attached horizontally so the storing compartment became the screen.  I curiously took a seat beside some students and we watched a high school student made movies about Afro-Colombian pride and the importance of preserving the Afro-Colombian culture.  Now I don’t recall the movie’s names, but it was great to see that the organizers of the festival recognized the importance of this topic and came to an Afro-Colombian community to show the locally produced movie FOR FREE!