Cali es salsa

Every year Cali hosts a world salsa festival. They have competitors from all over the city and world compete for an international title. We attended the Friday night elimination round. Then we head back for the finals on Sunday. When we entered the plaza on Sunday, a worker asked where I was going to sit, and I told him that I was going up to the seats in the stadium. He told me to follow him, and he guided us past the lines to an International “VIP” section. Since it is an “international” festival they wanted to make sure that they were internationally representing at their festival. Apparently, I look like a foreigner here, so we got to sit in the first row up from the floor where the dancers are. Being blond pays off sometimes! Since this was the finale, we saw the best of the best. The children’s groups that won the competitions performed. It was amazing to see children as young as five shaking their hips, moving their feet at light speed, and dancing in partners all in synchronization with their group. Then the adults performed. There were group dances to live Salsa bands and partner dances. They move so quick and gracefully that I thought my eyes were on fast forward. The music is just so lively that with the beautiful and passionate dance you fall into a trance. The seats were amazing, the costumes were exquisite, and the dancing was breathtaking! I love living in the Capital of Salsa!

Apparently, this guy is famous. So we asked a for a picture with him, but I still don't know who he is!

Calle del Arte

After the Saturday workshop, we hopped on the school bus and headed to the neighborhood, San Antonio. San Antonio is a very colonial looking neighborhood with old colorful buildings and house that are all connected. It is known for its artsy bohemian ambiance. They were hosting a street art festival. One of the teachers and her family live on the street of the festival, so they opened their house as a restaurant and invited us teachers and people from the festival over to eat. Their house is very Colombian looking. It has old, colorful floor tiles. There is a loft above the dining room. They have a court yard between the bedrooms and kitchen and living room. It was so quaint and cultural feeling. Her husband is French, so he was the chef for the day. He made a delicious lunch of quiche, salad, and wine. It was very relaxing to be eating lunch and enjoy the day with all of the teachers after a day and a half of teacher workshops. After we ate our lunch we headed out to the street to check out the art. Many of artisans really make quality handmade crafts ranging from typical jewelry, handmade leather purses and bags, to paintings. There were also stages set up with live music and salsa performances. The temperature and weather added to make it a truly beautiful day.

Professional Development at Colegio Bolivar

Colegio Bolivar recently hosted a professional development day for our teachers and other teachers from around Colombia and Ecuador. I attended a workshop called Destination Imagination, which is a worldwide program designed to help students learn to problem solve by activating their imaginations and creativity. It is an extracurricular program that the students prepare for a National Competition throughout the year, and if successful move onto the International Competition in the USA. The children compete in activities from creating skits to designing tools and machines. It was really inspiring to see what children are capable of when we give them the tools and resources to think outside of the box. It was also fun to participate in the activities ourselves to get a taste of what the children need to do. Colegio Bolivar has won the national competition every year and gets to travel to the US as a team. Hopefully, this year they can keep up the tradition! Although the school had us come to work on a Saturday, they ended the day with a Pacifico Band from the coast to play for us. All of the teachers were dancing down the aisles of auditorium. The performance really left us with a positive feeling and made me realize how refreshing it is to be in an environment where the people truly care about education, and the administration cares about the well being of the staff.