more pics from Bogota field trip

field trip day in Bogota

Today was an awesome day. After many days of having lectures on how to teach TEFL and learning Spanish, worldteach took us on a day fieldtrip. We ate breakfast at the hotel downstairs. Every morning from 8am-9am they have a nice buffet of fruit, bread, cheeses, fresh squizzed juices, coffee and more. Also they offer special Colombian foods like arepas with cheese or egg( a mass of corn) tamales, and omelets. The fruit in general is wonderful. My new favorite fruit are the pitaya and granadilla. A granadilla is like an orange tenis ball with a hard shell, but inside there is sweet juice and seeds to suck. The pitaya is a yellow bumpy fruit on the outside that is white and has tiny black seeds on the inside, and is super sweet. In general the fruits and vegetables here are great. Other favorites are friend plaintains, empanadas ( masses of dough with either cheese or meat) and a sausage stuffed with rice. I really don't understand it

colombia offers really amazing food, yet all Colombians are really fit!

We got on the bus to go to Laguna de Guatavita at 9am. The path there had a lot of greenery. This land was once owned by the indiginous Colombians who believed that the mountains was the male and the water or spiritual was the female. The male mountains conqured the water to form a laguna by penetrating the water. It's a mix of really wonderful spiritual believes, and i can't help but to think that it has a bit of machismo. Also our tourguide told us a story of how to be a casique (chief) the nephew of the chief has to spend nine years of isolation in a cave, when he gets to the next stage he has to spend 4 years in a different cave, but with the four most beautiful women of the village coming to tease him every night. The chief in training has to force himself not to give into the relations with the females for 4 years every night in order to prove himself as the casique. It's a funny story that reflects a lot on the culture that is still strong now in day in most of latin america, which is machismo.

The lake sits between beautiful greenery. It is believed to be created by a crated that fell to earth harboring the gold god, which up to then has lived on the bottom of the lake. Throughout the years this had been the reasons for the Spaniards trying to extract gold from this area in Colombia and calling it 'el dorado'.

Laguna de Guatavita is located about 50km outside of Bogota. It was a spiritual lake for the Muisca people (indiginous Colombian). It was about an hour walk to the top of the mountain, with twists and turns, many lush green mountains, farms out in the distance, and many curved trails that were hidden by tree branches. It felt like being in an enchanted rainforest. There were also many stone stairs to get up to the lake, which reminded me of many of the hikes in Mexico. Once at the top, the laguna was incredible. In one picture you can see the greenery sorounding the lake, the lake itself, the skyline, the farms out in the distance, the trees and green mountains in the surrounding areas, and the clear blue sky dotted with clouds.

The next place we visited was called the city of Guatavita. All the houses have white walls and red rooftops made out of clay. The town is really nice and has a friendly atmosphere. It's mostly restruants, music, and indiginous artists selling thier arts and crafts. If you keep walking down there is also a nice waterview. Some of the indiginous Colombian arts and crafts include: dreamcatchers, handmade earing and neckleces, handsewn bags, ceramics, clay pots, straw-woven baskets, brightly knitted ponchos, and more.

More then the arts and crafts what really surprised me about Bogota was its people. When I went to buy my brightly colored bag, i started speaking to the man selling them, and he told me that he had been living in Bogota for a while and that he moved to this laid back town to sell his artwork. He told me about Manizales my placement site, and assured me that if I was to come back he would show me all the good places to eat and give me a tour of the town. A 'buenos dias' 'buenos tardes' or 'buenas noches', good morning, afternoon, or night, can turn into a conversation with a Colombian. As an American coming into a new culture I was very hessitent about what I should do and how I should act with Colombians. At first i didn't great anyone and that was a shame. My field director Courtney ( the one in charge of the volunteers while we are here) told me that if i simply greet Colombians they are superfriendly. Now I greet everyone with a hello and good day, thier attitude totally changes, they open up and give you the biggest smile. When i went to the restroom, i said good day to a girl and her face lit up, she gave me a genuine smile side to side, with a mouth full of braces. Colombians, are most likely the warmest people i have ever met! For example the other night when i went out to dance salsa at a discotech with the worldteach group, even if a 30 or 40 year old guy asked me to dance that would be acceptable. Here the culture is to be happy and dance, if a guy sees a women not dancing he will ask her to dance not becuase he's interested but for the pure joy of dancing. Guys in Colombia are amazing dancers, even the old men! They are also very willing to teach, so I have a good feeling i'll be a much better dancer when i come back to the States!

The last part of our tour was the well known 'catedral de sal Zipaqueria', the salt cathedral. In this case pictures are worth much more then words, but unfortunatly i was not able to put great pictures, becuase it was very dark inside, so i will try to describe it. As we walked in out tourguide explained to us that salt is a natural resource of the mountains and that in just 3 years Colombian workers created a cave made entirely out of salt within the mountain. The cave includes many displays of crosses, some made out of plaster, and others out of salt. It also includes scenes of the resurrection of jesus, and beatiful reproductions of statues such as angels, and works of michaelangelo and davinci. For me the most amazing part was the ceiling in the center of the salt cave. As you looked up you could see the milkyway made out of salt, and the while illuminated by a blue lights to display the details. The whole construction is 1.5km, or tunells which run underground, and which include, many statues, croses, and prayer rooms, all made entirely out of salt.

At the end of the day we came back to the pension viaggio and our field director bought us pizza. We were all so hungry from a day of walking that as a group of 20 people we finished 8 pizzas. There were hawaiian, peperoni, mushroom, tomato, cheese, and also pizza without cheese! Up to now the orientation in Bogota has gone above and beyond my expectations, the lectures are very relevant, the trips are fun, and of course the food is amazing! Hasta pronto. Next time I write will be from either Bogota or Manizales. Que tenga un buen dia

Miss everyone,

Besos,

Neta

Colombia!!!

First of all i came to colombia with a program called worldteach, so all things that i write on my blog will be my opinions and not the ones of worldteach. i came to bogota two days ago. right now we are staying in a hostal in bogota and we have orientation for two weeks before myself and the other 24 volunteers, so 25 volunteers all together go to out placements sights. my placement sight will be manizales in the mountains of the cofee growing region. although it sounds far away manizales is actually quite a developed city with a skyline, 6 universities, and all the advancements of today's society. i will be be co teaching english as a foreign language in an elementary school and i will be living with my roomate angela in a flat. in total i will be in colombia for 11 months plus the incial, middle of semester and final orientation, so almost a year.

During the first day when i arrived here i needed to get my visa processed in order to get a cedula which is my identity card here in colombia. i also had to get a blood type test and go the the colombian embassy that same day. when i went to the embassy to get my cedula i met an israeli couple whom has a hostal where they host israelis whom travel in south america after the army. the israeli couple was very friendly and invited me to the hostal to hang out with israelis in colombia, eat israeli food and learn about colombia from the other travelers. it's always something that surprises me in a good way, that whenever i meet other israelis or people that speak hebrew, it instantly feels like home, like family, and they always treat me like they have known me forever, which is nice when i am travelling in different countries.

Throughout the day the group of volunteers in colombia has lectures about learning spanish, how to teach english as a foreign language, learning how to use visual aids and games in the classroom, how to handle behavior problems, how to travel safely, etc. up to now the program has been really good about preparing interesting lectures that will be usefull in the future once i get to my placement site. i am so excited to be teaching english as a foreign language to children in elementary school in colombia! i got tons of books, cd's, and movies in english. i also got some stickers supplies for the classroom and lesson plans i have used in the past. this job description is perfect for me it combines my passions of spanish, teaching, and also working with younger children. i also feel that this job is different then any job i have ever taken upon myself in the past.

The other day one of the volunteers colombia/ world teach directors Luis gave the group of volunteers a really inspiring speech. The jist of the speech was that this is a volunteer program becuase it aims to bring native english teachers not to the richest people in colombia who can affort it and have probably had many such opprotunities in thier lives, but to the poor people in colombia who could probably not affort to have a native english teacher without the aid of the nonprofit organization. Also the main goal of the program is to bring EFL into the school systems of the impoverished areas in order to give the people of the next generation an upper-hand and competitiveness in world trade, in thier communities, and in thier life in general. For example one area of tourism here in colombia is cartagena. in cartagena there are many touristy areas, becuase it is known as the center of salsa in colombia, and probably the world. Due to the high number of tourist flowing in each year many hotels have been built recently. Most of the higher class in colombia learns english very well whereas the middle class and definatly the lower class don't learn english as well, or barely any at all. Now, take into consideration who is more likely to get a job in a hotel where english tourists visit, the upper class student who has excellent english, or the lower class student, who most likely dropped out of high school. In my mind worldteach tries to bring new opprotunities such as having a native english teacher to impoverished communities, families, and students, that would have otherwise not been as competetive in english in the scheme of things. All in all i am very happy that i am a part of such program which is devoted to helping the less fortunate and truly making a difference in the peoples' lives for years to come in the future.

Now for the adventure! This morning the group leader Pedro took about 18 people from the volunteer group including me on a hike at 5am! This was not some easy, breezy hike. About half the group ran up to the top of the mountain. we scaled up rocks, jumbed over branches, crossed rivers, saw the beautiful greenery, heard the birds, and saw the sunrise. i felt as if i was in the rainforest. Now normally a 5 mile hike would be no problem for me, but the elevation was absolutly ridiculous. Every time i stopped to take a break i heard my heart jumping out of my chest and i felt as if my legs were falling under me like jelly. All in all it was a great refreshing hike. although it was extremely difficult at the end i felt great! when we got to the top of the mountain i was so out of breath and it was just amazing to see the whole view of all the high building in bogota with the background of green mountains. it's always amazing to be riding in the bus be in the big city, and look out the window and see huge green mountains. Bogota is really a mix of the jungle and the big city.

This year worldteach has placement sites in manizales, cartagena, baranquilla, baru, kimbaya, and montenegro.

Today in spanish class we learned about the different things to see and do in colombia and what makes the country special. there are so many different regions, natural resources, and scenery. There is the andinian, carribian, amazonal, and much more. all together there are 32 provinces in colombia. it's a country of such variety, you can go to the beach, go to the tropical rainforest, go to the beautiful coffee growing region, go to the lost city of santa ana, learn about the centers of salsa cartagena and cali, or visit the capital of Bogota.

I'm very excited about this year in Colombia and i hope to be putting pictures up soon. Besos to all my family and friends, miss you lots, and i will see you soon, or you're welcome to come visit me here in Manizales, Colombia once i have an adress.

Lots of Love,

Neta

Judaism in Spain

i haven´t written an update for a long time, becuase i have been busy travelling. unfortunatly i still can´t connect the camara to the computer to upload the pictures, but i will try to describe it to the best of my ability. last weekend i went to toledo. To give you a little bit of history toledo is one of the only towns remaining in the whole world where you can see an influence of christianity, muslim, and the jewish faiths collide. like many towns here in spain it´s a small town with narrow cobble-stone roads. looking at the architecture of the buildings it´s obvious that there is a lot of roman and visigothic influence. i started my tour of toledo at the plaza de zocodover like many tourists. it´s a beautiful plaza with castilian, arab and christian influence in the architecture of the plaza. the buildings are obviously hundreds of years old and in the middle of the plaza you see a golden arch. a mcdonalds! it was so funny i had to take a picture. in a town that looks like it´s stuck in the medeval ages, you can still see modern society. next i went to catedral de toledo, i only saw it from the outside, becuase it was closed. but the city is like a big castle, everywhere you turn there is a castle next to you, i felt like i was walking through a town in the medeval ages, really! next i went to see the alcazar the highest point in the city. from there i was able to take pictures of all of toledo. it´s a desert, sandy background with many castles. i saw a couple of churches. most churches here in spain are amazing, there are many glass murals on the windown, statues and paintings showing christ on the cross, and golden statues of the virgin mary. for me, the most important of all was the jewish quarter in toledo. although i have achkenazi herritage it was interesting to see the separdic traditions here in spain. the hebrew world for spain is sfarad, and the jews from spain are called sefardim. about have off all jews trace thier origins to spain. the jewish quarter is called juderia. becuase the expulsions of the jews from spain in1492 jews could live anywhere in toledo, but afterwards they were forced into what was then juderia, or now the new quater. there are two main sinagoges in toledo: sinagoga de transito and sinagoga de santa maria de la blanca. there could have been more sinagoges before the 1400 considering that jews have been in spain since the 1200, but many sinagoges have been converted into churches when christians took over and later when the moros, muslims came. since i went on sunday many things were closed. the sinagoga de transito is home to museo sefardi, and it´s written in hebrew on the outside with birds of either side. i couldn´t go in that day, but i did go to sinagoga de santa maria la blanca. originally it was a sinagoge, but now it´s home to many pieces of jewish artwork portraying stories of the torah, and also stories of jewish life in antic toledo. i took pictures of many pieces of artwork. it was cool to see pieces of artwork with words in hebrew interwoven into them, and looking at a picture and remembering a story from the torah. then later reading a poem which went along with the picture, and reading about the history the of sefardic sinagoge. lastly i went to the monestary san juan de los reyes catolicos. a monestary of the catholic kings. it was very spacious, with a lot of statues, beautiful cielings, and a nice garden. i took many pictures that i will try to put up soon. there is also an islamic part of toledo, which i didn´t visit, becuase it´s very far to walk on foot, but that i hope to be able to see soon.
the next friday i went to a sefardic sinagoge in madrid for friday night services. when i got there the first thing that suprised me was the amount of security. parked outside was a police car and at the door a guard took a copy of my passport, put my bag in a locker and then interogated me for at least 10 minutes on my intentions on coming to the service. when i asked why, he said it´s becuase in spain the small jewish community is surrounded by moros, or muslims and so they need to be secure. when i went upstaris at first i almost went into the men´s section. i have to go up one for flight into the women´s section. in sefardic traditions the men are at the base floor and the women watch the service from the balcony. there were very few women copared to the men, but more joined towards the end of the service. the sinagoge is very beautiful with a stained glass painting and a colorful lamp in the center of the room. the men all sing very well and in many different tones. i wasn´t able to follow very well, it was hard to understand the hebrew in a sefardic accent, but it was nice to listen. after the service everyone went down stairs to drink grape juice and eat challah. there was a small dinner for the youth that came to the service. i met a few nice jewish people in spain and i hope to go out and explore spain with them soon.
yesterday on saturday i went to segovia. segovia is another town which is known for having a jewish quater in spain. ever since the explusions of jews in 1492, there have not been many towns which have preserved thier jewish herritage in spain, but toledo and segovia did. the first thing you see when you walk into the city of segovia is the acueducto. it´s a series of huge arches,at least twenty all constructed out of stone welcoming you into the city. later you go into plaza mayor as you walk up calle de juan bravo, or calle real as the locals call it, the royal street. there are many tourists on either side of the narrow street, and it´s almost impossible for cars to go through. the most amazing thing is saw was the catedral. it was started in 1525 by a romanesque king. it is an expression of gothic architecture that took almost 200 years to complete, p.s. this is from my book lonely planet spain. from the outside it makes a big impression on you. this is the building walt disney based cinderela´s castle on. as i saw the catedral from the outside it brought me back to when i was 6 years old and i saw the castle and disney world. it does not have all the lighting effects as in disney world, but the stone is carved with much more attention to detail and there is a sort of flower pattern on the rock. inside it´s even more beautiful i had to walk around at least two times to get the jist of the granduer of the church. as you look around it´s so overwhelming you don´t know where to look. there are beautiful ceilings with stone carvings and patterns, there are painted golden statues, pictures of christ, murals, and more. this is one thing you have to see if you go to segovia. althogh it´s only a church it took me at least an hour to see everytings, it´s simply huge beyond imagination! next i saw the alcazar, this is also a castle, although smaller then the cathedral this castle reminded me of walt disney´s sleeping beauty´s castle. inside there are many rooms which show the armory, the bedroom, the living room, the diningroom, the chimney room, and a museum about the catholic kings. although the inside was very pretty with beautifully carved wooden cielings, golden statues of the kings and rich with history, my camara died. i saved all my pamplets if anyone is interested to read about it. later i went to visit the church of corpus christi. it used to be a sinagoge until the christians came and converted it into a church. inside there is not more then beautiful architecture with the traditional roman pillars, and the history of the building. i also went to visit a few churches which accentuated the roman influence and the visigothic influence of the town. in the jewish quarter there was a very nice center which had presentations explaining the history of jews in segovia. this is called the centro didactico de la juderia. before the church of corpus christi was the sinagoga mayor were abraham senneor lived. the jewish community resided in segovia until 1492. even today you can see traces of the jewish community there and there are signs saying spain, sfarad in hebrew leading to the juderia. most probably that jews have been in segovia since 1215. on november 2nd 1412 many of the town´s jews and muslims were obliged to be grouped inside the city in certain barrios. at the beginning of the cathlic monarch´s reign more persecutions took place. in 1480 the catholic kings signed a degree to create the jewish quater which would last for 12 years. there is a famous street in segovia called calle de la juderia vjeja, which leads into the juderia. this is all from the booklet i bought for a euro at the jewish center in segovia. in the guide it tells more about juderia in segovia and the other sinagoges, but becuase i was travelling on foot i didn´t have time to see everything. lastly i went to museo de segovia, which for many years was nothing but a warehouse. recently it was converted into the segovian museum and hold many artifacts such as old jewlery, rocks, roman statues and coton looms. segovia was once very known for it´s cotton industry. when i entered i saw a movie about segovia and it´s natural resources. segovia used almost all of it´s natural resource of stone in order to construct the town back in the day, so the movie was urging people to be aware that natural resources are not infinite. my tour ended where it started back at the acueducto, the series of big arches, which also lead you to exit the town. i took the but back to madrid, and today, sunday i am resting, reading harry potter in spanish and writing the blog. i have saved all the pamplets and i will try to upload pictures when i am in israel or the states. lots of love and hope to write soon.

hey guys,
everything is going well. i am in zarzalejo a small village outside of escorial, very close to madrid. i couldn´t write becuase i don´t have access to a computer here. soon i will be registering in a spanish language institute and a gym. so things are going well. i am travelling and exploring spain. unfortunatly i forgot my camara this trip, but i hope that everyone is getting my postcards. please let me know by giving me your adress if you want me to send you a postcard. i don´t want to recieve mail at the family´s house, it´s not that reliable, but i can talk on facebook, gmail, blog, skype very soon, etc. lots of love to everyone, missing you!
besitos y abrazos :)

Madrid-the city

hey guys,
went to madrid yesterday, on sunday my free day. i get weekends off. i met up with two au pairs christelle who is french, suzi who is austrian, and another girl who speaks english who works for virgin mobile whose name is melonie. they showed me the city a bit and we sat at a cafe on a terraza and had a drink, ie i drank diet coke not beer. they then proceeded to tell me how awefull being an au pair is, that they work 60 hours a week and only get paid for 25!! in the family i work with the girl is very sweet, i love her, the mom gets mad sometimes, and the dad is very passive. but considered to the other au pairs i now feel lucky to be living with this family. so madrid. yesterday i arrived at madrid at the metro station, la puerta del sol, the door to the sun. i then proceeded to plaza mayor, did some shopping with the other au pair then they had to go early, becuase they live much farther away from madrid then i do. i proceeded to exploring madrid on my own. i walked about 3 hours, taking pictures of various churches and monuments. i ended up walking on paseo del prado, the prado walkway which is a very famous and beautiful arts walkway in the city. i saw plaza de cebeles, palacio de cibeles, museo thyssen, and museo nacional de prado, 2 of the most famous mueseums in all of spain, but for now only from the outside, the real jardin botanico, beautiful gardens, lined with statues of famous spanish people, and pictures from inside the prado, and lastly i arrived at museo nacional centro de arte reina sophia, which was beautiful from the outside, ayuntamiento de madrid, the town hall, and the train station to get back to leganes, atocha. atocha is a very cool train station, you go inside and it is as if you have stepped into a palace. there is literally a forest of trees indoors. in general in spain i find myself not being able to go anywhere without a camara, everything is so beautiful, antic, and gorgoues. the country is so rich with culture and history around every corner, and i want to remember abselutly everything. first from 8am010am i teach the girl english. then today i went running outside in leganes. i ran to the duck pond, which only takes 10 minutes. there is a really nice bike path, surrounded by trees from both sides, which is nice and shady to run on. then i ran around the duck pond, and it´s really nice, a lot of people like to run outside here, you see kids playing in the playgrounds, sprinklers going off, which by the way i jumped into a few on my run, and there is a beautiful landcape. as i was running i saw the ducks walking beside me, the sparkling lake, the bridge across the lake, and the outskirts of leganes. they have a really cool park here, where the workout machines such as bikes, eliptical machines, arm weights, leg weighs, etc, are outside, made out of yellow and red metal. it´s meant for the old people of the community, but everyone uses it. so that´s that, i went swimming, cleaned the house a bit, now lunch time, then later more english with the girl, and off to the pool again,
chao chicos
xox besitos xox

Barcelona- city of amazing architecture

guadi museum, water education building, inside & outside of sagrada familia, street art




montejuic castle, olympic stadium, olympic stadium museum, street graffiti




statue head on side of the plaza espanya
view of barcelona from atop the city going down the carrel
view of barcelona from atop
pretty statue in la plaza real, near la rambla street.


i´m here with the family on vacation in peniscola. peniscola is beautiful and i´m getting really tanned from going to the beach everyday. there is a beautiful castle here, lots of shops, and tarrazas, and restuarants. the past 3 days i went to visit jonathan and his girlfriend michelle, he´s a son of friends of my parents. barcelona was amazing. it can´t be described in words. i took over 300 pictures!! when i have time i´ll try to upload some of the really good ones onto the computer. barcelona is basically a tourist´s haven. there are chaotic streets, churches, monuments, castles, restruants, flee markets, shopping centers, mcdonalds, h&m, kfc, everything. in barcelona i visited: la sagrada famila, the castle of montejuic, the olympic stadium in barcelona from the 82´olympics and also the museum of the olympic stadium, picasso mueum, the street la rambla, shopping centers, and much much more. i took sooo many pictures i don´t remember what´s what, it´s all pretty buildings, statues, and plazas. the architecture in barcelona is breath-taking. i couldn´t stop taking pictures, everytime i put the camara in my bag i had to take it out again. there are beautiful buildings, and monuments everyone, and a statue around every corner. the lanscape from the castle montejui was amazing, you could see all the city of barcelona. la sagrada familia is also an old church which is being renovated, and the ceilings and the building where designed by Guadi, a really famous artist. it´s a pity i couldn´t take pictures inside the museum picasso, he is such a genious, when i saw the title of each piece of art, then i looked at the painting, i could see the emotion in his portrait, his reason for painting it, you feel as if you are right there experiencing the emotion of that person, that picasso is trying to portray. there was also the history of the painter his life in barcelona, paris, madrid, holland, which really inspired me to travel europe. every corner in barcelona is enriched with history. although there are many mueseums and important people´s houses to go into, the beauty of the city is not inside the building but on the outside. i visited 3 muesums: picasso, olympic stadium, and sagrada familia-Guadi. the architecture of the building are so detailed. many times i found myself taking a picture of a building on the outside, then zooming in a million shots in order to remember all the esquisite detail. the buildings in barcelona are adorned with naked figures of women, saints, angels, christ, historical figures, historic moments, etc. just by looking at the architecture of the building of barcelona you feel inspired, part of the rich history of spain. anyway gotta go i could talk for hours about barcelona. i rode a motercycle for the first time in my life, frighting and exciting, went out to clubs, took in the atmosphere of the city and more. after seeing all the architecture engrained with history around every corner i am curious to learn more about spanish history, about all the places i briefly saw. hasta luego for now, chao chicos y chicas, xox besitos y abrazos xox

some pics are already of facebook :)