Happy Halloween!

October 26 - November 1

Happy Halloween and Happy November! Friday (Halloween) was definitely the most fun day this week! I dressed up as Jane Goodall for classes and we had Trick or Treat and a very interesting Spanish class in which we told scary American and Colombian legends. After classes that day, a lot of us helped with the Noche en el Museo event held at the Museo del Caribe. I was dressed as an ánima, a spirit, whose job was to climb up quickly onto the stair rails every time someone passed to surprise them! I’m not sure how many people were actually scared of me, but a lot of children seemed fascinated by my costume, so playing with them was fun. I was glad to be able to celebrate this holiday with friends, doing fun things, just like always.

- Sunday – My host family and I went to Mass and then to the beach, where I helped my host brother/nephew and sister/niece build a sandcastle and decorate it with shells. I’m still working on trying to fix my computer and another volunteer came to my house to help, which I really appreciate, especially since it STILL isn’t working… I cooked dinner for my host family – creamed eggs and biscuits with pineapple on the side. I think that was a hit, mostly because my host mom asked for the recipe!

- Monday – In technical training, we learned about content-based instruction and how to teach critical thinking. During Spanish, I gave a presentation on one of many theories of 2^nd language acquisition. The vegetarians had an amazing orzo dish with mushrooms and tomatoes and nuts and craisins at lunch – truly delicious Colombo lunches are kind of a rarity, so that was exciting!

- Tuesday – We learned about youth development and working with people (particularly children) with special needs. Both sessions were really interesting and CII-6 volunteers taught the session on special needs, so that was cool, too. In Spanish, we played a guessing/charades game and, after classes, a group of us went to the Museo del Caribe for a pre-event meeting. I’m very excited for Friday!

- Wednesday – We had practicum this morning and my teaching partner and I were able to actually teach a class this time, which was good. In the other classes, we helped students solve a mystery written in English. Later, we learned about monitoring and reporting and many of us were excited to see that the tiny kittens have opened their eyes!

- Thursday – At the office today, we learned about the volunteer experience and heard a safety talk from a representative of the Embassy.  In the afternoon, groups of us went to different schools to help celebrate el Día del Bilingüismo. My group sat at a table with the whole school in assembly and answered very basic questions in English. A few groups of students also performed 2 Carnaval dances for us, which was surprising and wonderful. Everyone was so nice and we were very happy to be there.

- Friday – Happy Halloween! For classes today, I dressed up as Jane Goodall and almost everyone brought candy for Trick or Treat! We learned about youth volunteerism and creating camps in the morning and had a very interesting Spanish class in the afternoon. We “followed the spiders” to a candle-lit room, where we told scary stories (that we had researched in advance) and acted out the Colombian legends we had been practicing. I talked about the White Lady of Beulah and was the medicine woman in El hombre caimán. This evening, a big group of us helped with the Museo del Caribe’s Noche en el Museo. I was an ánima and stood at the bottom of the stairs to crawl up onto the railings when people passed. A lot of children were fascinated by my costume, so playing with them was fun. Toward the end, another ánima and I joined hands and followed people around, which was also fun and delightfully creepy. Overall, it was a wonderful experience and this has been a very Happy Halloween!

- Saturday – Happy All Saints Day! And Happy November! This evening, there was a nocturnal animal event at the local zoo, so a group of us went and were thrilled to see all the interesting things happening there. We saw amazing dancers doing animal-like dances in astounding costumes and makeup, as well as lots of nocturnal animals (the diurnal ones were sleeping!).

- Masamora is rice cooked until it is very soft with banana, raisins, cinnamon, vanilla, and milk and it’s delicious for any meal of the day.

- Apparently, there are places in Barranquilla that deliver gift baskets. They make excellent presents for other people in town or for you from friends and family back home, especially if you want to save them the cost of shipping! My parents sent me a gift basket from Jardín y Floristería Pétalos, which was very exciting! They have a version of their website in English, too, which is helpful.