Colombia pics

hi everyone, for many
colombia pics go to my picassa album at

http://picasaweb.google.com/100650672747658634178

enjoy!

Besos,

Neta

Month 2 in Manizales

Hi guys so here it is, i have been with out internet for over a month so i will try to update you on all the happening in Manizales, Colombia. I have met some very nice people here in Manizales. People of these three cities, manizales, pereira, and armenia are called paisas. they are normally very strict when it comes to finances and work, but are also very warm hearted, open, and soulfull people. in fact manizales is called mi alma de manizales, my soul of manizales and is known for the expression puertas abiertas, open doors. i am learning a lot of spanish here, talking to people, getting to know the colombian culture, food, and way of life. life is fast paced, lots of work, but at the same time the people are easy going and friendly. you walk almost everywhere in manizales, the streets are as busy as a shopping mall. i walk to work everyday 30 minutes each way, its nice, there are a lot of people, and beautiful green mountanous landscapes all around. the only hard part about walking is that there are a lot of really steep heels, at least in the next town over pereira it warns you that the heels are steep saying, go up at you own risk, here in manizales they are all high risk, lol. sometimes even cars can't go up these hills, and people are supposed to climb them everyday when walking to work!

A few weekend ago i met with some friends that i met and the colombian american center here in manizales and we went to this guy's farm outside of manizales. it was very nice we where there saturday and sunday. as always the landscape is beautiful! in this farm there were also lots of colorful flowers, a jacuzzi, and a pool. my friends brought this colombian drink called aguardiente, any party you go to colombians drink loads of it. aguardiente is the local drink of antioquia and caldas, the two regions of the eje cafetero, the coffee producing mountain region. this drink is acutally really nasty, it tates like mint cold medicine, but it wakes you up. so that what we did my friends make me colombia food, platanos, chorizos, chusos, rice, beans, arepas, empanadas, choclo, and more. we stayed up most of the night listening to music and tv in spanish, eating, drinking aguardiente and talking. everyone here is very open and welcoming. also one of the guys played the guitar so it was really nice he introduce me to colombian music such as salsa, salsa merenguera, merengue, bachata, and doble paso, the traditional colombian music.

The following weekend i went out with one of the teachers from the school called adiela. she introduced me to her family: her husband and her two children, sergio and diana. first i went with her and her children to eat lunch and a cafeteria close to her house, they call the local restruants here cafeteria. the typical colombian lunch consists of soup, a seco, the actual meal. i have chicken, rice, fried plantano, and salad. also lunch is accompanied by a fruit juice, such as, strawberry, guava, guayaba, lulu, blackberry, mango, orange, mandarine, and much much more! Later, I went with her to parque caldas, a comercial shopping center and she got her hair done there. this is a really big shopping center in the center of town, with the cheapest shops, there are four floors stacked with shops with everything from clothes, food, makeup, and household items. After this i went with adiela and her two children to have this drink called granizado de mango, its a mango icy that you add salt to, but surprisingly it was really delicious! lastly we went to the center of town carrera 23. carrera 23 is the street with the most shops in all of manizales. its a small brick road that almost no cars go through and on both sides there are many shops, or here they are called almancenes. these almancenes are usually individually owned by families and have names such as tienda de andres, or the store of a colombian person. others are chucheteria, panaderia, carneceria, for every item there is a different specialized store. mostly in latin american stores are seperated by needs, so to get the cheapest prices you have to go to the various different stores. its kind of fun, you get to see the culture through the stores. the people there will talk to you like any other family member and are very eager to please. At the carrera 23 we walked around a saw all the stores and she gave me tips of where to get the best prices and items. Colombians are very money concious, due to the rise of unemployement in the country right now. que mas, what else, adiela took me to eat dinner with her family. we ate fried chicken, normal, right? Colombians put on plastic gloves to eat friend chiken!! also they eat friend chicken with honey and arepas, which are corn tortillas. Wherever you travel there are very different local costumes. After dinner i walked with her family to a local artist fair. there she bought me a really cute bracelent with the colors of colombia, red, yellow, and blue, and coffee beans to symbolize the eje cafetero, the coffee growing region. Throughout the day i talked to her children, got to know her family, different colombian traditions, and as a mazileña, walked a lot! My goal is it to delve myself into Colombian culture. i wear bracelets with colombian colors, eat any colombian food that is served to me, no questions, and do as the colombians do. as the expression, go when in greece, do as the romans. As much as manizaleños are workaholics they also really value family time, so during the weekends, i get to spend each of my weekends with a different teacher`s family. muy rico, sweet. Next weekend i am spending saturday with pilar and sunday with emily, one of the teacher`s whom is my best ally here in the school.

Last weekend my uncle leon from Cali invited me to visit his farm, finca, in pereira. his girlfriend`s mom doña dora has a farm called camino al cielo, pathway to the skype. it is exactly what is indicated in the name. the path to get to the farm is very steep, the path is located literally almost as high as the sky. this is also considered a high risk path for cars, becuase many cars get stuck going up the hill and don`t make it. i had a wonderfull time getting to know my uncle leon, i am his third cousin. savta ruty is his first cousin, so becuase i am her granduaghter i am his third cousin. as we say in hebrew, mishpacha, it´s always nice to have family no matter when i go in the world. Doña dora is an amazing cook. for dinner we had chuzos, meat on a stick, planatos, fried bananas, rice and lolu juice. for breakfast we had arepas with cheese pineapple, juice, hot chocolate, and coffee. for the next day for lunch we had refried beans, banana chips with ehogado, a suace made of tomatoes onions and lots of spices, rice, and of course fruit juice. All the meals here are a big deals. Becuase colombians are really big on family they sit down for all the meals. lunch takes about two hours. all the working force in colombia get a two hour siesta, break for lunch from 12-2pm. Everyone goes out to a restruant or home for lunch to have the mandatory three courses. The farm was awesome i leon's girlfriend ester lucia, leon's cousin alex, his wife sophie, and their two children yohel and natan. I also saw many animals such as geese, two dogs, cows, and i got to ride a horse for the second time in my life! Most of the day i talked to the children, made bracelets and arts and crafts with them, leon taught me how to do sudoku, and ester taught me how to knit. The next day i went with leon to see his almancen, or store in peireira. he has one store is pereira and one in cali. the store is called La Victoria. in the store they sell materials for arts and crafts, button, woll, beading materials, and more. Leon gave me beads to make bracelets and wool to start knitting a scarf, which i will make for his girlfriend ester, who taught me to knit. Also i plan on meeting them in Bogota for semana santa, a vacation i have the first week of April, which happens to coincide with pesach! All it all it was a very relaxing weekend, a nice break from manizales, but i am glad to be back at work socializing with the teachers, and teaching the children.

Lastly last night i stayed over at another teacher`s house, her name is Pilar. She introduced me to her two children, andres who is 13 and laura who is 10. they are lovely children, really lovely, and friendly. i went to her house at 6pm and as is colombian culture we had a big family dinner. she served us friend plaitains also called tajos, a fried egg over rice, a piece of cake, panela water, (panela is a very sweet substance like brown sugar only produced in colombia. ), and un turron, a sweet. she also told me how she educated her children to save money. she gives her children candy to sell to thier neighbors, and the money they make they can use for thier spendings such as buying snacks at school. she also raises her children catholic, like most colombians. she says a prayer every night, and every morning, and they go to church twice a week to listen to lectures, and on sundays for service. it's actually quite humbling. she explained to me that her family including her are very real, and warm hearted people. that she said things as she sees them, then people should honor values such as love, honesty, respect, and be good citizens. This is part of what i like about south american culture, and as as colombian culture, that people are real, not fake, tell the truth upfront, warm hearted, and friendly. After dinner we went to Olimpica the local supermarket. Andres, her son, brought the dog there, but becuase dogs are not allowed in he hid the dog matthew under his shirt, lol, or course rules are rules, but that doesn't mean everyone obides by them, when it comes to colombian rules there is always room for more flexibility, lol. When we came home her son Andres showed me how he sings and plays the guitar, and also taught me how to dance, salsa, merengue, bachata, and paso doble. He also danced with his mom and sister and i took pictures. I passed the night super bien y muy rico, very good. it was a good thing i stayed with her, since for the next to weeks i have to report to the school at 6:45am!

Since there is still not English teacher in the primary school for the next two weeks i will be observing secondary school, which takes place in the morning. When the english teacher comes i will go back to the afternoon schedule, if not maybe i will continue in the mornings, who knows, things, politics, situations, are very relaxed here, colombians are very relaxed and in no hurry. This is how i look at the situation, wherever i am put, i will make the best of the situation, like a true colombian ;)

This is it for now, hasta pronto. con mucho cariño

Besos y abrazos,

Neta

teaching at san jorge school

hi guys,
sorry i haven´t updated for a while i dont have internet yet. last week i finished my orientation at centro colombo americano and i started at san jorge school. i observed classes for one day and then i leaped into teaching. my job in manizales is to be an english teacher to grades kindergarden to fourth grade. i have three kindergarden classes i see once a week, three first grade classes i see once a week, three second grade classes i see once a week, and three third grade classes i see twice a week, and three fourth grade classes i see twice a week. i also teach teachers english one hour a week on thursday. in total its no too bad i only have to do three different lesson plans one for kindergarden, one for first and second grade, and one for third and fourth grade. i work 21 hours in the school, and then on friday i come to the american colombian center to do lesson planning with the other volunteer in manizales, angela. All the teachers and children are really sweet, or as they say in spanish,queridos. the teachers all invited me for lunch at thier houses one of these weekends, and everyday i spend my break with a really nice teacher Emily, who has the quietest and best behaved kids in the whole school. The kids are also really cute and want to learn English. I enter the class and everyone claps and says yes. when i walk through the hallways all the kids come up to me and hug and kiss me and say the only thing they know how to say in english which is i love you. these kids have whatsoever no english, so most of the time i play games, do songs, and drawing activities. the children really look up to me, which is cute, they give me candy and when i go out of the classroom always offer to help me carry my things to the next class. also its nice to know that i´m making an impact, that i´m not teaching priviledge kids, but kids that are not as well of, and for whom i´m definatly making a difference in their lives. the first week i went over introductions such as saying names and how are you, the body parts, and abc. i do a lot of songs such as head and shoulders, abc, incy wincy spider, little teapot, etc. All the children love songs. as soon as i turn on the music the whole class goes silent. they also love singing and moving around. i do a lot of tpr, total physical response activities. i have gotten the impression so far the colombians are in general good-hearted people that they will do whatever they can to help, from my friend, to co-teachers, to my students everyone has been very helpful. I know that many people in the US fear colombia´s drug problems and violence, but being here, i can say that, that part of Colombia is in the past. In Manizales at least, they are very focused on education, on making the students be good citizens, and see English as a solution for the future, to help Colombia be competitive in the world.
Yesterday there was a meeting to talk about a peaceful classroom. one of the most difficult part of teaching here is the big class size, most classes are 45-50 students. Although the students are really sweet, anytime you get fifty students together there is bound to be some roudiness. Much of the time i only get done 2 out of the 3 activities i had planned, becuase it´s really hard to get everyone to be quiet. Also with so many students it´s hard to give each student the personal attention they need to learn a lanugauge. By no means am i expecting to teach children here perfect english with only one hour of english a week, but i hope to makie a positive inmapct on thier lives and show them that learning a language is fun. I like teaching becuase it´s a challange, i am learning techniques to controlling big classroom, and i am teaching elemntary as oppposed to middle school. On saturdays here i am hoping to visit the many national parks in manizales and on sunday there is ciclovia.
ciclovia is when they close the main street of manizales, avenida santender to bycicles the entire day. last sunday i ran all of ciclovia which is about 2 miles each way. It´s like an organized marathorn every sunday. there is music a long the way, carts along the road for people to buy fresh juice and fruits, people eating ice cream, and big groups of teen girls dancing salsa, and following the dance instructor on stage. There are also red cross tents which show kids safety rules, have aid for the runners and bikes and blast music throughout the streets. this culture is all about music, salsa, merengue, regaton, bachata, pase doble ( traditional colombian music), and much more. wherever i am, i am sure to hear music, whether its on the streets, bus, ciclovia, salsa is part of what makes colombian culture a vibrant one. there is also tons of great food for example: ajiaco ( soup), empanadas with meat, cheese, or potato, fresh fruit juices, granadilla and pataya both fruits, arepa ( corn tortilla) plaintains fried or toasted, and of course lots of rice and beans.
This is it for now, i hope to update soon, and with pictures,
Besos,
Neta

first weekend in Manizales, Colombia

hi everyone. everything in manizales is going great. unfortunatly i dont have internet so i cant stay in touch and update as much as i would like to. a few days ago i went out to a bar with my friend from worldteach angela and my boss from the ministry of education andres. we met his colombian friends and they had tragos, shots of aguardiente, this is the typical drink here in colombia, it tastes like anis, mostly the guys and not girls drink it though, becuase its really strong. the plaza is a nice bar located on the main avenue here called santender. the two may avenues are santender and paralela. angela lives closer to santender, while i live near paralelo, but everything is a walking distance in manizales, since its a small city, or you can easily grab a buseta,small but, or taxi from anywhere. after friday night at the plaza bar, on saturday i took a buseta to the center called la plaza bolivar. there you can see a really nice cathedral, the town hall, and there is also a mirador, a place where you can go up and see all of the city of manizales. The bus ride to the center of town takes about half an hour, compared to 7 minutes in a taxi, becuase people can request stops wherever they please. it was a nice tour of manizales with the pleasent music on the bus. people here are very friendly. on the way back i talked to the bus driver and he invited me to sit up in the front sit of the bus. we had a very deep conversation in spanish about the difference between christianity and judaism, he told me about his faith, his family in manizales, and things to see and do here. the landscape keeps amazing me everytime i look around, i feel as though im in a city, but then i look out the window and i see green mountains all around me. outside most of the mall there are ecuadorian musicians in thier typical garb and playing indiginous ecuadorian instruments. there are also many artists on the streets selling indiginous artwork, bracelets, and typical colombia bags saying, quiero a colombia, i love colombia. also there are other vendors on the streets that sell gum, candy, and snacks on thier carts. there are also juice vendors, whom sell kiwi, guava, mango, blackberry, and any time of natural juice you can think of. the streets are a really busy place with everyone walking, music, vendors, colorful statues by a manizales artist and much more.
i feel that i fit in pretty well with colombia, one becuase im short, becuase i know spanish pretty well, and becuase i have a darker hair color.
on another note the other night i got a little bit lost, and its a bit scary at night, becuase the streets are not well lit, and no one is around at night. luckily i met one of my neighbors who was walking her dogs and she accompanied me home. on one had during the day i feel like a colombian, having a grasp of the language, and not standing out as far as looks wise, but on the other hand i feel akward, not knowing the city very well, and being in a foreign country. so far everything is good, y mucho mas para venir
besos

Manizales, Colombia

hi everyone,
wow so much has happened since i got here. this past wednesday i finished the orientation with worldteach in bogota and came here to manizales where i will be living for the next year. on wednesday i met the home stay. its really nice, i have a large room and my own bathroom. the lady i live with, her name is frida. she has three daughters, adriana, christina, and patricia. the middle daughter christina lives with her. also fridas two grandchildren are antonia and sergio. antonia is ten years old, shes a really sweet girl who likes to do gymnastics and play, and i get to practice my spanish with her a lot. the boy is sergio, he is 15 and he likes to go to the gym and play soccer, of course like in all of latin america. the family is all girls, except for the boy sergio, so its really nice, we talk a lot, and my spanish is definatly improving. i have gotten familiar with manizales, its a really nice, quiet town, and all the people are very friendly, theyll do anything to help. im very excited to live here this coming year. every morning i run to the estadio, stadium which is ten minutes from my house, then there is a track where from 6am to 10am people come to run and do exercise. here is manizales its your typical small city,everyone know each other, the pace of life is very slow and comfortable, there are many public services such as the track, everyone is super nice, and if you ever get lost just ask anyone on the street. i also have a supermarket close to my house called la ley, and i live close to the central avenida which is avenida santender. manizales is a city focused on culture and education. there are many cultural activities that take place such as music festivals, art galleries, and cultural events. also manizales is a university town. there are 9 universities in the city and 3 very close by. its a city very focused on bilinguism, there is a special project that started up two years ago, which is an effort of fundacion luker, a chocolate company, centro colombo americano, the link between the us embassy and colombia, and the ministery of education of manizales to make all high school graduates from manizales biligual by the year 2017. there are 62 schools in the community of manizales which take part in the biligual program. out of those schools 12 are currently bilingual, which means they have half thier classes in spanish, and half thier classes in english. the other 12 schools are called escuela activa urbana. active urban schools. this is an educational theory which is focused on student learning through interacting within the students, and have student| lead activities, with teacher guidence. the teacher proposes activities, and the students whom sit around round tables, cooporate as a group, the stronger students help the weaker students to achieve the same goal of bilinguism. it sounds like a very nice idea, and i will know more of the framework once i am teaching at teh school. the other worldteach volunteer that is also living here in manizales is angela. we are both working with different projects in manizales, and will be teaching english in the elementary schools. she is specifically working with the luker foundation and the colomboamerican center in three public schools which are part of the urban active schools system, this means the schools have an emphasis in english, but are not yet biligual. the three schools angela will be working with are INEA, a school focused on producing nurses, pocheli, a latin american school, and one other public school. i will be working at the san jorge school. all of the schools in which we work in a poor public schools that wouldnt normally have the opprotunity or the financial resources to have a native english teacher in their schools. angela will be focusing on the middle school and high schools grades, meanwhile i will be working teaching english to students in grades k-4. up to now it seems to me that manizales takes being bilingual very seriously, and that we have many different organizations supporting angela and i in order to have a positive and meaningful teaching experience this year.
apart from the focus on education, and culture, and having super nice people manizales has a very rich environment. i step out my door and every morning i am stunned by the scenes i see. as i go to the track in the morning i see an industrial city, built into the mountains. the mountain are amazing, rich, green, furtile, snowcapped mountains, fresh air, butterflies, its absolutly heaven. manizales is very focused on biodiversity and protecting the environment. the main coffee company here, the the zona cafetera is one that gives back to the environmental concious projects and is very green. also at each of the universities there is a focus on el medio ambiente, the environment and the biodiversity in manizales.
yesterday angela and i went to two places with the ministery of education, who will be my boss, whom is andres. he showed us the resinto del pensamiento, the farm for thinking. its a beautiful place with green landscapes, a butterfly sanctuary, an orchid farm, and also a cable car. one of the most innovative things manizales has to offer is the cable car. a common form of transportation is the cable car, people actually sit in a booth, and get to work on a cable, in the air, overseeing the whole city! There are many diffent points to take this car throughout the town, mostly from the shopping centers. also in the shopping centers there are plazas which sit at the highest point of the shopping mall and oversee the whole city. there is an open view where its possible to see all the surrounding mountains and scenery. when you walk around at night, the views are amazing, the lush green mountains on the backdrop of a dreamy sunset. everyhting is beautiful the mountain with the sunrise and sunset, the lovely people, the slow and calm pace of live, their way of living, its very happy and positive. i am confident that i will love it here, and if people want to come visit i am sure they will fall in love with the city. i find myself having to take out my camara every second of the day, and saying to myself that this city should be the posterboard for a postcard company, its that beautiful. i will try to post pics asap, im afraid i have way too many pictures.
all in all i am very excited to be starting to teach at the school next week, i feel that i will really make a difference, i have a once in a lifetime opprotunity to come into such a welcoming and warm community, to make friends with the paisas, people of manizales, learn thier traditions and cultures, and also to impact the lives of the poor children and the least funded elementary schools, and the surrounding community.
later on in the year, one of the worldteach missions is to create a special project to enrich the community in which they live in. i am very excited about this, i will have the opprotunity to bring in much neede resources, into low income communities of manizales, which would otherwise not be able to recieve these gifts, where they be of education, knowledge, cultural awareness, the english language, and pure fun. right now during the orientation im being handed a lot of information, and i will try to come out of this 3 weeks orientation with all the information absorbed, and translates it into making a difference for this community, that truly deserves it. i hope to hear from everyone family, and friends, and i will write another update soon. lots of love, amor y besos

Neta

more pics from Ciclovia

Ciclovia

Today was another great day in Bogota, Colombia. Today is 'un dia festivo' a holiday due to 'los reyes magos' the three kings. All Sundays and festive days the central rode in Bogota Ciclovia is closed up for bicyclers and walkers. The whole street is filled with people jogging, running, riding thier bycicles, walking thier dogs, and enjoying family time. On the side of the streets there are people selling fruit juices and playing festive music with thier 'sombreros' and guitars. Since we ( worlteach volunteers) got the whole morning off until 11am we went out for a walk to say 'buen dia' to all of our Colombian neighbors. In addition to all the Colombian people riding thier bikes, and the entreteinment on the side of the street i also witnessed a lot of graffiti art with a political messege. All over the streets there a messeges grafitied to ther wall with saying about subjects such as education, the economy and Colombian culture. The following pictures are what I saw on the street today, a mix of byciclists, juice carts, and political graffiti, enjoy,
con mucho amor,

Neta