Photo Camp

There have been times in my Peace Corps service where I have questioned just about every last skill I thought I once possessed--i.e. my teaching, spanish, and organizational abilities just to name a few.  Camera camp this past week was NOT one of those times.  Thanks to a PC friend who introduced my buddy and me to the San Diego based Outside the Lens foundation.  The foundation donated 20 digital cameras and a list of lesson plans to my friend.  After the three of us selected two projects: Pieces of me and HOPE we, who all have a pretty limited background in photography mind you, were ready to teach 15 Boquillero high school students how to take the perfect shot.  

Day one started like any normal day.  A few students showed up at 1:00pm, the actual starting time, but the majority nonchalantly strolled through the door around 1:30 and the last group of girls rolled in at 2:15.  Once all 15 students gathered in the cramped room, they all managed to dejar la pena at the door and actively participate and enthusiastically used their new technical language, burs ayh you (birds eye view) was heard around the beach for the next three days.  

The first project we worked on, Pieces of me, had the students selecting their favorite body part and taking photos of it.  Along with pictures, the students also wrote poems about the importance of that body part.  Day two had the students thinking creatively, often a problem in the classroom, and designing photos to depict their definition of esperanza.  My favorite part of the week had to be looking at all of the different definitions of hope the students came up with.  More photos and final projects to come soon.

Hope Project: Wishing for a cleaner La Boquilla

Pieces of me project: 7th grader selects her legs as the focal point for her project

   

Long Overdue

As the final week of a three week school break approaches I only feel it is time to write a new post on this recently neglected blog.  This past month has flown by as the past four weeks have been the busiest to date.  I FINALLY finished writing a grant, worked at a sports camp in Barranquilla, escaped the summer heat in Bogota, celebrated the 4th with fellow Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) and staff, and made final preparations for the photography camp that starts in my community tomorrow.  So where to start???

I will start by explaining the grant.  The high school art teacher and I are working on an environmentally charged grant.  The idea is to make the beautiful La Boquilla even more ascetically pleasing, while at the same time motivating Boquilleros to begin taking better care of the environment.  The grant is going to help create a bring native flowering trees back to the area.  We got a plot of land donated and there we will be raising the two species of trees.  When mature, these trees will be relocated around town. To go along with the reforestation of La Boquilla environmentally/culturally based murals are currently being painted around town and education al workshops will commence in the near future. 

Students working on one of the environmentally themed murals

Needing a break from the grant writing, I spent three days in Barranquilla helping other volunteers with a sports camp for middle schoolers; The camp was a huge success.  I helped out wherever I was needed and lead a few sessions myself.  I even got to take to the diamond and worked with surprisingly talented youngsters hone in on their baseball skills.     

Happy campers

After the camp a few PCVs and I headed to the countries capital and enjoyed a nice few days in a much milder climate.  Contrary to the beliefs of many costeños, Bogota was GREAT.  The people were really friendly, the city was beautiful, and most importantly the weather was in the 60s!  So for the first time in a LONG time I was wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirts and was walking without breaking a sweat! 

View of the big city atop Monserrate

Getting back from vacation, the festivities continued as a bunch of PCVs and staff members meet in Barranquilla to celebrate the 4th of July.  We did this is style with a softball game and a BBQ complete with hotdogs, hamburgers, watermelon, and an assortment of desserts.  By the end of the BBQ and countless hotdogs and watermelon slices, I could barley stand up to go grab a celebratory beer.

Next up two PCVs and I are going to be putting together a three day photography camp at my site. We will then move to another site for three more days of camp.  I promise to post more frequently in the coming month.  Enjoy the AC for those of us who don’t have it! 

Encuentro Intercolegial De Danza C.B.C

Two weeks ago a group of forth graders, my counterpart, and I boarded a charted bus sent to pick us up in La Boquilla.  After a fifteen minute ride to the Colegio Britanico de Cartagena, a British Bilingual school, my 10 very lucky forth graders had no desire to leave the airconditioning.  Eventually my counterpart persuaded them and we all walked to the C.B.C's large open air auditorium, where the first interscholastic dance competition was to about to begin.

The video is of my students stomping the yard to a famous Cumbia, traditional Colombian music, song.

The Beauty of Technology

At the beginning of the 2013 school year, one of my counterparts approached me and brought up the fact that there are not enough opportunities for the students to speak english inside the classrooms.  After this chat we decided that we would go about solving this problem by starting an English conversation club for 7th and 8th grade students.  So technically the club is open to hundreds of students, but since it takes place after school, only the very motivated students show up.  

One of the first activities we undertook was starting a pen-pal relationship with the middle school Spanish classes at the Lowell School in D.C.-- thanks mom!  Now after four months of trying to set up a Skype conversation, last week we finally succeeded.  Sadly this this initial Skype session took a lot longer to set up than I could have ever anticipated.  This prolonged back and forth between the Spanish teacher in D.C. and myself is 100% due to my daily schedule, or lack there of.  The truth is that after more than a year in site I still never really know when school is going to be canceled because of holidays, teachers having a cita medica, the water going out, or if there is a funeral in town.  Although never knowing may appear to be a bit stressful, the silver lining is you never get bored of the daily routine!  

After telling my students that the Skype convo was going to start at 7:45am, they started arriving at 8:20 for the 8:30 meeting, smart right?.  That gave us a little time to have a few laughs and  practice our pronunciation once more.  One we got the call my students students were all smilies.  First the 8th graders spoke (in English) about La Boquilla then the 7th graders asked their questions.  This was followed by the Lowell students asking their own questions (in Spanish).  One of their questions was about dance and my students didn’t only want to talk about salsa and champeta, but they wanted to demonstrate.  So I threw on some Joe Arroyo and all my students started dancing salsa liked seasoned pros, but I guess that is what I should have expected when walking and dancing coincide in regards to developmental milestones in La Boquilla.  On the other hand, when my students asked to see some American dancing, the Lowell students were painfully shy and all refused.  We ended the session with an awkward goodbye when a handful of Boquillera middle school girls confessed their love  for a tall blonde 7th grader named Robert.  At least they were saying “I love you Robert” and “Where is Robert” in English.  I have not seen a face that red since I forgot to put sunscreen on at the Beach last year.  Next Skype session my students will teach the D.C. middle schoolers how to salsa (in English).    

Team Photo

Los Playeros

After five failed attempts by teammates I had to take over the camera.  So this is the squad minus myself.  We now sit at 10-3 and are looking sharper than ever with our NEW uniforms!

Seeing a Part of La Boquilla For the First Time

When I talk about La Boquilla, I often speak about the beach.  I consider myself one of the luckiest PC volunteers in the world because I literally live a stones throw from the shore--granted the person throwing the stone has some baseball experience.  However, after 15 Months in, the small peri-urban paradise, La Boquilla (18 in Colombia) I have not once mentioned the lagoon.  That is partially due to the fact that I really have never explored the religiously named body of water, La cienaga de la virgen.  The majority of the contaminated body of water  lay parallel to the beach, but there is a small portion where the salt and fresh water meet.  Now that you have let the fact that I have been in Colombia for 18 months soak in.....Let’s get back to the lagoon.  A PC friend of mine approached me one day and asked, “have you ever been to the lagoon?”  I responded, “no.”  Well thats the end of that story and now you all know that there is a lagoon in La Boquilla. 

ESTOY MAMANDO GALLO!  Which means I am only kidding here in Colombia.  I know some of you are just dying for the direct translation so I won't let you down. Estoy mamado gallo literally means, I am sucking rooster (or c**k).  Definitly a gem of a phrase here on the coast.  

At around 10:00am, three friends and I embarked in a wooden canoe along with a guy that held a large stick to help navigate the vessel.  The man with the stick, a friend of a friend, stood in the back pushing us through the mangrove tunnels and around various birds.  Now I have never been to Venice before, but I imagine it is exactly like the Boquilla mangrove tour!  

It is getting REALLY hot here so enjoy a few minutes in the air conditioning and send me your coldest  vibes!  Also pictures of the softball team are coming soon.         

I took over for a minute

Mangrove tunnel

We caught a local in the act of fishing

12 Men 1 Cup: The Story my Season Thus Far

Now don’t be crude, I am simply talking about how Los Playeros, the softball team I am playing for this year, drinks water during our games.  Our coach brings a pail, a cup, and three large sandwich bags full of ice.  He then finds a house by the field and asked the family if he can fill the pail with water.  So to start each game we have 12 men using one cup to hydrate themselves for the seven HOT innings, hence the title 12 Men 1 Cup.  I however, can’t partake in this hydration bonding because I was instructed by the Peace Corps doctor to only drink filtered water, so I have to bring my own.    

Now those avid blog readers of mine--I am talking about you Cali, Gio, Sarah, and Sue--you may notice that I am on a different team this year.  Well after last years up and down season with Los Caribes (way too hostile an environment for a small town softball league), I decided to hit the free agency marked.  I quickly became firmado with Los Playeros and so far so good!  I knew I was going to have to earn my spot on this team as there are definitely a few teammates who could have played collage baseball--Boquilla is well known for its athletes and especially its peloteros, ball players.  So I started the season on the bench (my college position), but was soon given an opportunity to play 1st base (my high school position).  So recently I have been platooning 1st base with a 40 something year old mustachioed Afro-Colombian whose kids sit in the dugout at every game.  However, while he is playing, I am usually the designated hitter.  It turns out that I may actually prefer DHing because I get to escape the unforgiving sun for the majority of the game.

Although the ‘stadium’ had lights installed in 2010, Boquilla can’t pay the electricity bill for every game to be after sunset, so there is only one game a week under the lights.  That means that so far this season all seven of our games have started between 9am and 2pm.  I have found the only way to survive the constant low-mid 90 degree heat accompanied with the 85% humidity, in baseball pants, is to think about jumping into the ocean the second the game ends.  It does however make me feel a bit better knowing I am not the only one complaining about the heat.  Many of my teammates often complain about the unforgiving Boquilla climate as well.  For the majority of them, it doesn’t help that they wear long sleeve shirts to accompany their baseball pants.  I was curious as to why they would torture themselves by wearing mock UnderArmour shirts, so I asked a few of them.  They simply responded by saying they didn’t want to get any darker.  I thought this was very interesting because when the typical gringo goes to a hot climate they want to get a tan, but all the Boquilleros on my team despise the idea of getting a tan.      

So about a quarter of the way through the season We sit with a 5-2 record and have another game this weekend.  I will take a team photo during our next game and be sure to post it in my next blog.