Sunday, November 9, 2008

Panamericno Days at School


Ok, I am going to talk about something that happened a week ago. We had a celebration at school called Panamericano Days. It was school wide celebration, that lasted for 3 days. From Wednesday to Friday, no teaching, just hanging out and watching the kids as the competed during the celebration. I had to take care of the group called the Costenos. That is the name for the people from this area of Colombia. The other groups were the LLanos (from the rolling plains in the East), the Pacificanos(from the Pacific coast), and the Nortenos (from around Bogota). Wednesday was a room decorating day, with an assembly that ended with a high school dance contest. It was wild! The kids did things that wouldn't fly in the States. But, we were told that this was a cultural norm here.
Thursday was sports day. They high schoolers played boy and girl soccer, volleyball, basketball, and ping pong. They also had water balloon fights and eating contests. I was asked to compete, and said yes. My mistake! I had to eat little red onions in vinegar, called Cebollitas. Yech! I got have a jar down, but came in third of four. But, I did beat a native Colombian that like those things. After that I hung back and watched the games the rest of the day.
Friday was another dance contest, and I got asked to judge it. Little did I know that the contest lasted for 2 and a half hours. It was and endurance dance. I was deaf and sore from sitting on concrete the whole time. They brought in some Colombian rappers who were not to bad. It was just a long 2 1/2 hours. After that we had a closing ceremony, with cake and drink. My group came in second (we were robbed). Anyway it was fun and the kids had fun. It is just interesting that they have so many holiday and off days here.

Check out the pictures at: Ok, I am going to talk about something that happened a week ago. We had a celebration at school called Panamericano Days. It was school wide celebration, that lasted for 3 days. From Wednesday to Friday, no teaching, just hanging out and watching the kids as the competed during the celebration. I had to take care of the group called the Costenos. That is the name for the people from this area of Colombia. The other groups were the LLanos (from the rolling plains in the East), the Pacificanos(from the Pacific coast), and the Nortenos (from around Bogota). Wednesday was a room decorating day, with an assembly that ended with a high school dance contest. It was wild! The kids did things that wouldn't fly in the States. But, we were told that this was a cultural norm here.
Thursday was sports day. They high schoolers played boy and girl soccer, volleyball, basketball, and ping pong. They also had water balloon fights and eating contests. I was asked to compete, and said yes. My mistake! I had to eat little red onions in vinegar, called Cebollitas. Yech! I got have a jar down, but came in third of four. But, I did beat a native Colombian that like those things. After that I hung back and watched the games the rest of the day.
Friday was another dance contest, and I got asked to judge it. Little did I know that the contest lasted for 2 and a half hours. It was and endurance dance. I was deaf and sore from sitting on concrete the whole time. They brought in some Colombian rappers who were not to bad. It was just a long 2 1/2 hours. After that we had a closing ceremony, with cake and drink. My group came in second (we were robbed). Anyway it was fun and the kids had fun. It is just interesting that they have so many holiday and off days here.

Ok, I am going to talk about something that happened a week ago. We had a celebration at school called Panamericano Days. It was school wide celebration, that lasted for 3 days. From Wednesday to Friday, no teaching, just hanging out and watching the kids as the competed during the celebration. I had to take care of the group called the Costenos. That is the name for the people from this area of Colombia. The other groups were the LLanos (from the rolling plains in the East), the Pacificanos(from the Pacific coast), and the Nortenos (from around Bogota). Wednesday was a room decorating day, with an assembly that ended with a high school dance contest. It was wild! The kids did things that wouldn't fly in the States. But, we were told that this was a cultural norm here.
Thursday was sports day. They high schoolers played boy and girl soccer, volleyball, basketball, and ping pong. They also had water balloon fights and eating contests. I was asked to compete, and said yes. My mistake! I had to eat little red onions in vinegar, called Cebollitas. Yech! I got have a jar down, but came in third of four. But, I did beat a native Colombian that like those things. After that I hung back and watched the games the rest of the day.
Friday was another dance contest, and I got asked to judge it. Little did I know that the contest lasted for 2 and a half hours. It was and endurance dance. I was deaf and sore from sitting on concrete the whole time. They brought in some Colombian rappers who were not to bad. It was just a long 2 1/2 hours. After that we had a closing ceremony, with cake and drink. My group came in second (we were robbed). Anyway it was fun and the kids had fun. It is just interesting that they have so many holiday and off days here.Ok, I am going to talk about something that happened a week ago. We had a celebration at school called Panamericano Days. It was school wide celebration, that lasted for 3 days. From Wednesday to Friday, no teaching, just hanging out and watching the kids as the competed during the celebration. I had to take care of the group called the Costenos. That is the name for the people from this area of Colombia. The other groups were the LLanos (from the rolling plains in the East), the Pacificanos(from the Pacific coast), and the Nortenos (from around Bogota). Wednesday was a room decorating day, with an assembly that ended with a high school dance contest. It was wild! The kids did things that wouldn't fly in the States. But, we were told that this was a cultural norm here.
Thursday was sports day. They high schoolers played boy and girl soccer, volleyball, basketball, and ping pong. They also had water balloon fights and eating contests. I was asked to compete, and said yes. My mistake! I had to eat little red onions in vinegar, called Cebollitas. Yech! I got have a jar down, but came in third of four. But, I did beat a native Colombian that like those things. After that I hung back and watched the games the rest of the day.
Friday was another dance contest, and I got asked to judge it. Little did I know that the contest lasted for 2 and a half hours. It was and endurance dance. I was deaf and sore from sitting on concrete the whole time. They brought in some Colombian rappers who were not to bad. It was just a long 2 1/2 hours. After that we had a closing ceremony, with cake and drink. My group came in second (we were robbed). Anyway it was fun and the kids had fun. It is just interesting that they have so many holiday and off days here.

Check out the pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/nbbeachteacher

Chow, John

1 comment:

Unknown said...

and My daughter went to panamericano 2006 and 2007. We are planning on moving back in June. I havce been trying to contact the school to find out if we have to pay the inital again and the monthly fee with no success.Could you help me with this? My name is Larry Hatfield email address larry1hatfield@ yahoo.com Thanks Larryemych