Why Bogota?!

Tonight I arrive in Bogota. I cannot believe it. Tomorrow I begin teaching and it all just feels a bit unreal but I am very excited. There will be many more details to come as this tale unfolds but many of you do not even know why or how I ended up here in Bogota, so here’s the story (I’ll do my best to be brief, but it’s kind of weird twist of events):

I went to Harvard this year thinking I wanted to return to Uganda to work. All my major papers were written about Northern Uganda – policy and program proposals for how to improve the education and thus the economy and quality of life. Despite this fact, I continued to study Spanish while at Harvard. I felt like the only person in the International Education Policy program NOT fluent in at least two languages and because I already knew some Spanish that seemed to make the most sense. I think my advisor and program director disagreed – but now I wish I had take two semesters of Spanish.

In addition to studying Spanish, I also served on my program’s advisory board. Through this position, I ended up helping to plan an international study trip to Bogota and Cartagena, Colombia to look at the country’s education system and some of the innovations in education taking place there. See the blog our group created if you want to learn more about it. The planning of the trip was supported by Cecilia Maria Velez, a visiting professor at Harvard and the former Minister of Education of Colombia. She is an incredible woman and helped us to put together and incredible visit to Colombia. I fell in love with the country.

Finally, prior to graduate school I taught in Houston, Texas. Many of my students come from families where Spanish is the primary, often only, language spoken in the home. I loved teaching and the work I was doing in Houston but I was constantly frustrated that my lack of proficiency in Spanish prevented me from developing strong relationships with families of my students – relationships that would ultimately have increased my students’ success.

So – studying Spanish, visiting Colombia and not wanting to ever be prevented from communicating with the families of my students – I’ve decided to leave the States for two years. I will be teaching at a school called Gimnasio La Montana. The school is for students K through 11 (which is equivalent to 12th grade in the U.S.). I will be teaching 5th grade geometry (which is equivalent to 6th grade in the U.S.) and 6th grade mathematics and geometry (which is equivalent to 7th grade in the U.S. …noticing a pattern?). Additionally, I will be a part of committee to help the school revise its curricula to incorporate 21st century skills in all that they do. It is still a bit unclear what this exactly means but I’ll keep you posted. As far as housing goes, I’ll be living in a hotel my first week until I am able to look at some of the places my school director thinks are nice and can choose the place that is best for me.

This is what I know.
Let the adventure begin!

A longer stay in Colombia

So many of you have already heard, but for those of you who haven't - I've decided to move to Bogota, Colombia. I've signed a contract with a private bilingual school in the city where I will be teaching 6th and 7th grade mathematics and working on curriculum with the school.

I leave on Sunday, August 21st. My goal is to actually blog for the next two years to document my experience living abroad. I think I might be crazy (old news to many of you I'm sure) - but I am very excited.

Stay tuned for the details...

Voy a Colombia!

So after many weeks, or actually months, of planning a study trip to Colombia - the time to leave has arrived!

I will be heading to Colombia - Bogota and Cartagena from Saturday, March 12 through Sunday, March 20.

Will do my best to post pictures and updates as I think this trip is going to be fascinating. I will also be contributing to another blog with my study group...which might be updated more frequently and will have the perspectives of multiple people.

Check it out here

Rain pants, macaroons, and friendly encounters

So not sure what exactly people blog about. I wanted to make this more of a regular thing but I don't have anything profound to say. I tried to jot down things that I should write about but sometimes lists just stress me out.

But just five minutes ago I ate a cranberry macaroon and thought, "Wow, there is some gooooood stuff in my life right now and I should share this with others". Now that I'm writing I'm questioning whether or not anyone really even reads this but if you do here are the greatest things that happened to me today:

1. I met a new student in my program to catch him up to speed (because he did not attend the summer session). We had a great conversation about saving the world. It was fuel for my week...or maybe just until tomorrow when I have ANOTHER great conversation because great discussions seem to be a new trend in my life.

2. I rode my bike in the pouring rain...to hot yoga at 6:30 in the morning...then to campus for coffee with the aforementioned colleague..and then I bought RAIN PANTS!! My bike ride home was amazing. I look a bit ridiculous but it feels very cool to know that I am helping out my environment by not driving my car, I'm getting exercise, and I'm not letting any amount of precipitation get in my way.

3. Hot vinyasa flow yoga. I had to give this its own bullet because it's incredible. Incredibly challenging - it's HOT HOT HOT and fast-paced but I leave feeling invigorated, cleansed,and strong (Ok, I also feel a bit light-headed at this point but my instructor assures me that as my body adapts to this rigorous activity I will feel less of this). Try it if you can. It's the best.

4. Great food. The concept of having time to appreciate my food is new to me - but I'm going to try and remember this when I feel like I have no time. It really makes a difference. I've baked bread (some attempts have been more successful than others), cooked some great meals, and have shared some great meals with new friends.

So, that's all I've got. Perhaps not proper blogging content, but that's all I got.