The Car Crisis - 28-29 October 2011

My friend Kris and I had to cover a shift at the evening Halloween Party at school.  Long story short - since we didn't want to take our purses into the Halloween Party we shoved them under the front seat - not visible to the outside.  Our friends went to a sports bar, parked the car, and went into have a beverage.  An hour later we met them at the bar along with some other teachers who had the same shift.  Our friend Brian came in and said he was going to park in the back lot but the parking guy said there were a couple of cars that had been broken into - guess where our car was parked??? Yep, the back lot.  The passenger side window was broken and our purses were gone.  We talked to the owner of the bar and called the police.  Some of our friends stayed while we went home to cancel credit and bank cards.  The next morning the police came to the house and took our report.  Our friend Gretchen brought us a "care package" (see photo) to help us get through!  About 4pm, there was a car in our driveway  - the police - someone had found our purses on the side of the road and turned them in to the Police Dept.  Everything (credit/bank cards, IDs) was there except about $15 of cash and both of our cell phones.  Unbelievable!

Car crisis

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First Curacao Cook-off - October 22, 2011

Following the tradition I had begun in Colorado, we held our first cook-off here in Curacao.  The theme was appetizers – could be hot, could be cold.  We had 14 official entries – a couple of people came with food after the judging – we still ate their food, but they didn’t get to be in the contest.  The first place honors went to the elementary school principal – she made an appetizer she called, To Mexico with Love.  Basically, a tortilla chip-like cracker – with black bean spread, sour cream, a pico de gallo, avocados, and some sort of homemade salsa on top.  Her husband, one of the HS Spanish teachers, took second and our friend Becky took third.  I came in 4^th.  About 25 people came – we had a great time eating, drinking, and dancing the night away. 

Check out a few of the pictures above.

UN Day @ School - Friday, 21 October 2011

UN Day @ school...UN Day happens yearly on October 24.  Since the 24^th landed on a MON this year, our school decided to celebrate UN Day the Friday before.  It is such a cool experience.  We had a couple of classes in the morning and then the rest of the day was spent having fun learning about other cultures.  You are encouraged to dress in the colors or costume of your country.  I wore red, white, and blue.  They started out with an assembly in the gym – each elementary classroom had studied a different country and did a little song or dance from the country.  This year the theme of UN Day was Human Rights – so the Mock UN Class read the preamble to the Declaration of Human Rights and then we saw a short video.  The senior class did this drum line and lead everyone in the gym over to the food booths.  They had about 15 booths set up and parents had volunteered to bring food, games, info from their country and you basically just walked around and ate, listened to the different music, watched dancing from different cultures, etc.  It was a tiring but such an enjoyable day.

Un day

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Oktoberfest - Curacao Style - October 15, 2011

There is a weekly brochure here called K-Pasa and it lists all the things going on for the week – music, happy hours, special events, etc. – so one week at the beginning of October it listed the Curacao Oktoberfest.  We took our chances and went, not sure whether or not there would be anyone there.  As it turned out there were several tents and a fairly big music stage – while they didn’t play any oom-pa-pa music , they did have some contests – yodeling and who-could-do- the-chicken-dance-the-best – I didn’t participate in either one – but the 5^th grade teacher did and won the yodeling contest – won a blackberry-type phone! 

Check out a few of the pictures.

Oktoberfest

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Beach Clean-up - 8 October 2011

Every year the school has beach clean-ups as a way to provide students and staff with community service opportunities.  Here are a few pictures.

Beach clean up

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Bogota, Colombia - 30 September - 7 October

Bogota - Regatta Break

Went to Bogota for our Regatta Break.  Enjoyed it.  It was a big city...some good parts and some not-so-good parts.

Things that were good...
-The temperature - when you have spent 2+ months in 90+ degree weather - it feels good to be in ~70 degree weather - got to wear socks and a sweatshirt! - which was a blessing. :)
-Sunday Art Market in Usaquen - a quaint little part of the city.  Tents and vendors all over.  I bought a hand-knit (by a little Colombian woman) throw-over sweater that I definitely won't wear in Curacao but will come in handy when I come home.
-Crepes and Waffles - while there were many yummy restaurants this was was especially nice since it employs only struggling women trying to get back on their feet AND they have outstanding food.  Plus they have to-die-for dessert crepes.  :)
-On Sundays, they close down this main thoroughfare in the city and it becomes a biking/walking/running path.  It was cool to see all these people come out and exercise in the middle of the city.
-Restaurant 1492 - in the area of the city called Zona Rosa (Pink Zone) - spent many a happy hour there - vino caliente- hot wine - with a sugar-rimmed glass - which was a nice treat amidst the rainy weather.
-Got to get plunged, yes, I mean plunged into working on my Spanish - VERY few people spoke English - it was great practice.
-This hot chocolate drink that is served with delicious hot chocolate, white cheese, and bread.  You put the cheese in the hot chocolate and then dip the bread in and scope out the cheese - bread, cheese, and chocolate - how could you go wrong?  Although it may not sound like it goes together it was surprisingly tasty.  :)

Not-so-great things...
-The number of homeless people
-The pollution
-The graffiti - although there was a lot of this - on ANY building - government buildings/churches/businesses - it was very artisitic.
-Some of our communications got lost in translation!  :)
-Coffee was not so great.  One of the taxi drivers said all the good coffee is exported to the States and therefore there really isn't any good coffee in the city - he was kinda right! :)

Check out the pictures for a glimpse at life in Bogota.

Bogota

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