Staff Retreat, Dia del Amor y Amistad, etc...

Thursday, Sept. 6 all of the El Camino Teachers left for staff retreat weekend in Tocaima, a small city about 3 hrs down the mountain away from Bogota. The retreat center was simple but incredible. We had the whole place to ourselves. All weekend we were served Colombian foods, and, of course, soup before every meal because T.I.C. The retreat center had two pools, a meeting room where we had meeting, worship, and devotions, and two hotel type buildings. We were assigned rooms randomly so that we would get to know staff that we often do not get to spend time with which meant mixing the English speakers with Spanish speakers (fortunately I speak spanish unlike some of the other americans). We had a great time getting to know everyone better and developing the relationships that will helps our staff work together and get along well this year. A few of the board members came along on the trip so we were able to spend time getting to know them and their vision for the school. Most of them are missionaries themselves so it was neat hearing their stories of how God brought them to Colombia and the work they are doing. They all have children at the school, some of their own and others that they adopted from Colombian orphanages.

We played lots of games in the pool and the last night learned a few spanish games. My favorite is "el rey y la reina se van a casar" which is a fun game of repetition and sequence that I can't explain without teaching it. It was a very refreshing weekend and we felt very blessed that the school could budget such a trip. It's awesome that they know that the school will not function without those relationships being strong.

The retreat ended when we returned to Bogota Saturday night exhausted. Sunday morning a few of us stayed home and listed to my church in Raleigh's sermon online (which I am soooo thankful to have access to). Those have been talking about social justice and charity which is pretty cool because God has been teaching me alot lately that related to the past few messages at Visio Dei (my church).

I've been pretty upset lately that most of my time is spent at the school and hanging out with staff because everyday I pass by homeless people, or hear of how little people are paid for their services, or learn more about the orphanages all around the city. I really want to be involved in other things and find other ways to give to people in this country but everyone continues to remind me that God called me here to teach and that I am also still adjusting to the culture and getting to know my surroundings. Hopefully I will soon find more ways to serve the people here.

One thing I haven't mentioned to many people is that we have a maid. Her name is Patricia and she is incredible. She works for many of the Americans here and calls us her gringos. I'm sure it sounds a bit weird that missionaries are paying for people to clean their homes and that's how I felt at first. Then, after meeting Patricia and hearing her story, we learned that she is from a poorer part of Bogota and supports her daughter and grandchild. She is an amazing lady and treats us like her own daughters. In many ways, we are her ministry and she is ours. In this country, jobs such as hers pay very little. We pay about 15 dollars for a whole day of her work which is more than she would normally make and she does way more than we would expect of her. She has become a friend and part of our family here in Colombia. She goes out of her way to make sure we are comfortable. She even offered to clean the guys place knowing that they don't have sufficient support raised to pay her because she says God is the one who gives her the finances she needs to survive and support her family.

After everyone else got back from church Sunday, they came over to watch the cubs play san diego since everyone expect me seems to be from Chicago area. Afterwards we cooked dinner and moved the furniture out to do some salsa and merengue dancing. (Did I mention that I love this part of the culture?!) It was muy chevere.

The following week was pretty busy for many reasons. The President of our missions organization, RCE, came to visit us to make sure everything was working out with our support and insurance type stuff. Beth, our principal put me in charge of organizing and hosting a dinner for him on Thursday night. It was stressful but fun getting that together. Patricia helped with the cooking of Ajiaco, a Colombian soup, and plantanos, yuca, guacamole, arepas, maracuya juice, lulo juice, and the deserts. It was muy rico and a fun, informative night.

Friday we celebrated "el dia de amor y amistad" at school. This is Colombia's equavalent to "Valentines Day". The student council had a flower sale which was very sucessful. We have sooo many flowers around our house that the students and staff gave us!! Saturday we celebrated again at Johnny and Susie's home, a couple that work at the school. They had a dance party and invited people from their church that are our age. It was fun getting to know more colombians and they taught us more salsa and merengue and a few other dances.