The Search for Jubilee in this month of June

Sorry it has been so long since I wrote anything.  The truth is I've been in a funk because it is the beginning of June and usually this means June Jubilee.

In Texas, a large number of friends have their birthdays in June.  School is also over.  The combination results in constant celebrating the entire month, hence June Jubilee.  This weekend was the graduation of the third class of students I taught (so proud!) and following the graduation, my friends (as is tradition) are packing up and having a week-long vacation somewhere in Texas.  I'm not with them (in spirit yes, physically no).  I'm so glad they've kept the tradition going and will really need to find a way to be there next year for Doublewide Cinco (yes, this vacation is called Doublewide because the first place we ever rented was apparently a Doublewide - according to my friend Andria who seemed to be some sort of expert in the topic).

Without the Doublewide and without my Houston friends, I'm struggling to feel the jubilation of June.  That's normal, right?  Yes, I have friends here and yes life, for the most part, is continuously surprising me with it's awesomeness... but for the moment June feels a bit less jubilant.

Thankfully it's only June 4th.  For the rest of the month I will focus on making my own sort of Colombian June Jubilee.  A friend and I have already discussed that we should go out more and enjoy the month because while we do have to work, we don't have to teach.  I also just stepped away from a bound-to-be-toxic relationship situation with my pride and self-esteem fully intact - definitely something worth celebrating if you ask me and a sign that my 29th year of life is going to be fabulous because I'm not acting a fool (quite as much at least...a little foolishness keeps life interesting).  Still, I am on the hunt for even more jubilation in this very special month.  I am open to suggestions and hope to share some stories and pics with you as the jubilee transpires. :)

Just a few pics to commemorate the wonderful tradition of June Jubilee and Doublewide:

Hot dogs, Texas Tea, and Rachael showing as the she "got your crazy"...what more could a person ask for?

First thing after my arrival in Texas last summer for the kickoff - a beer at Cedar Creek.

Love this B!

2 years ago, June Jubilee included skydiving on my birthday.

Election Day at GLM

On Wednesday we didn't have classes at the school because it was the students' election day.  Instead it was a day of discussions around tolerance and democracy, a very formal presentation by the school band and the candidates that are running, an AMAZING lunch with more Colombian food than I could possibly eat, and bizarre performances by acrobats and a theater group (that put on a 45 minute production of the earthquake in Armenia without words....unfortunately I didn't know there had been an earthquake in Armenia and I couldn't understand the introduction to the presentation, so I had NO IDEA what was going on....turns out the folks who were supposed to know what was going one were also very confused). :)

Anyhow, the day was very interesting the director of the school presented a lecture on tolerance to the middle school.  To my surprise I was able to understand the entire presentation and it was very interesting.  She began my talking with students about what they thought intolerance meant.  The students talked about mistreating people because of their race and their religion.  Maria Mercedes then pointed out that at our school students don't really differ a whole lot in terms of race and religion but that she sees a lot of intolerance among the middle schoolers.  They begin to share examples of intolerance that exist in our environment - "she's fat", "he's ugly", "he only wears x brand so he must be poor", etc.  It was very interesting.

With the sixth graders, following this presentation, we watched some clips of Latin American soap operas with examples of people making fun of people because they are poor.  The kids laughed a lot.  They were then asked to share all the jokes they knew about poor people.  More laughing.   Then the director of the sixth grade started showing pictures of real poverty - starving children, people sleeping in the streets, and the children got very quiet.  "Not so funny, is it?" she asked.   The students then made a pact to be tolerant of each other and of others.  The last activity was to blow-up balloons and tie them around our ankles.  They represented the weights that were used to make sure slaves and other indentured servants couldn't escape.  We then got to pop the balloons.  The kids walked around all day with strings holding popped balloons around their ankles.


Overall, the election day was successful.  The students - at least the fifth and sixth graders - seem to be happy with the results and they were very mature about who they voted for.  One fifth grader "I'm voting for Torrijos because he is serious.  The other candidates are making jokes and are too confident that they will win.  Torrijos cares."  Wow.  Not once did I hear "because he's cute", "because she's my friend", etc.  I LOVE these kids! :)

Furthermore, the rest of the week has been amazing.  I don't know how long it will last but I really feel like the discussion about tolerance stuck with the students.  Thursday and Friday were incredible - the students worked together and were supportive of each other.  Again, I LOVE these kids!  Also, after every class, every activity, every paper I give them the students say, "Thank you Kate".  Ahhh, it's love.  :)

Jazz al Parque

This weekend I finally got out of my house! :)

I went to Jazz al Parque with some friends from school to see John Scofield . The weather gods were in our favor - finally - and it stopped raining long enough for us to enjoy a picnic and listen to John play for about an hour and a half. I'm not sure I was supposed to bring in food or wine but my friends assured me if I just acted like I didn't know what the security people were saying when they checked my bags, they'd let me in.  I didn't really have to act.  They security guard asked me something about comida.  In English I responded, "I'm not allowed to have this?!"...and then he let me pass.  They then explained that it is considered very Latin to try and find a way to trick the system or get what you want out of a situation, and that can be bad...but in this situation for wine, cheese, crackers and fruit with our jazz, playing the clueless American was worth it. ;-)

(In the picture from left to right: Sandra and David.  They are married. David is a history teacher at my school.  Sandra teaches at another school.  They both speak English, Spanish and Chinese (Crazy!).  After living in China for a few years, they both understand the desire to learn a new language and so they are very helpful.  Next is another David.  David de musica.  He is a music instructor at the school. Next is Anita.  We actually ran into her at the concert.  She is a primary school teacher and rides on my bus with me.  She is very sweet.)


Afterward, we went to a low-key bar nearby a friends house and spent the night talking. It was very nice. Everyone speaks Spanish and English - and they are all very encouraging about my Spanish. We spoke Spanish for a large portion of the night but I think when they noticed me zoning out (because my brain was exhausted) we switched to English.

I feel very lucky to be at my school, because it is full of such kind people. We talked about taking some weekend and/or weekend trips to explore some different parts of the country (very exciting!). So hopefully will have some photos to share...sorry I haven't been better about taking photos. Eventually I will post photos of my school and students.