"Happy Day, Teacher!"

Two Friday's ago was Colombia's Teacher's Day. The office and the school I work at did a pretty good job of celebrating it, too.

The office took all the teachers bowling, complete with free beer and pizza. At the last school I taught at I was the teacher in charge of bolos but apparently everything I learned there didn't quite stick. Somehow, my team came in third (out of ten!) but as my three rounds went on I progressively got worse. And I don't think it was the beer. Either way, it was a pretty fun afternoon and since everyone at the company teaches all over Bogota, it was nice to actually meet some of my coworkers.

The school had an even bigger celebration. School ended an hour early and all classes after 10am were cancelled. The teacher's room was filled with flowers and candy and fruit baskets and thoughtful, personalized notes from the normally crabby academic coordinator. The girls actually organized most of the activities. What I love about this school is that every activity has the girls performing some sort of skit, dance, or song. It reminds me of my cousin's dance recitals ten years ago. The elementary girls danced and the seniors made a slide show of pictures. They also gave out awards. I unfortunately didn't win "The Happiest Miss in the World," but I did take home the most dedicated teacher award! I have a certificate to prove it.

After the performances, each homeroom class organized a party. Since I am not a homeroom teacher, I got to accompany one of the seventh grade teachers to her classroom. I don't teach any middle schoolers, but I have subbed quite a few of their classes recently so I didn't feel out of place. So many desserts were consumed and even more treats were taken home. The final bell rang and all of of teachers got a free lunch in the auditorium. It was catered and quite fancy. We were served wine and serenaded by a Colombian singer/guitarist. The best part about the lunch was the raffle, which I WON. The owners of the school were giving away six prizes, and I won front row balcony tickets to a play!

The play was this past Saturday and I actually understood it pretty well. It's a little easier because the actors speak more slowly and are very articulate. Apparently it was hilarious (according to everyone in the audience) but I guess I did miss a few of the jokes. Either I didn't understand the Spanish or I didn't understand the humor. I may have been a little too excited about the free tickets because I got fairly dressed up and then realized that almost everyone in attendance was wearing jeans. But it was really nice to do something different for a change (and for free!) and I would really like to go to another one while I'm here.

The next non-bank holiday for the school is Student's Day. (Yes, this is different than Kid's Day.) Word on the street is that the teachers have to prepare a dance number. It looks like I may be calling in sick that day.

Note: I started this post on the actual Teacher's Day. A week and a half later I posted it (today).

How persistent of you, Señor.

Well I thought I may have escaped this dilemma since starting the new job and going three months unscathed, but it seems I may have another teacher at my school infatuated with the token gringa.

So I don't know the other teachers at my high school too well since I don't spend the entire day there, so it's actually kind of nice when they take the time to talk to me. So about a month ago I am waiting for my arepa con queso at the snack shack chatting with the physics teacher about random stuff that I am way too programmed to talk about. Music, why I came to Colombia, my family, my Spanish skills, etc, etc. Then he asked me if I liked beer. With absolutely no hesitation I responded clearly that I do. Then out of nowhere I get, "Oh great, we should go out and have one sometime." (Good line. Try it sometime.) Completely caught off guard and being the super awkward person I am in these situations, I was like, "Ohhh sure, okayyy, bye," and completely ruined all chances of never having to be a part of this situation again.

This happened four weeks ago. Every day since then I have been trying to avoid this teacher but can't. To paint a picture... think ultimate nerd (I mean, physics... really), out of my age range, has a daughter that attends the very same school we work at, blah blah blah. Every week I get asked the same question: "So when are we going out? This Saturday?" I even got chased down the hall today after school let out. And for some reason, I just cannot get rid of this guy.

Here are some of my excuses:

I have to work on Saturdays.
I have a farewell party to go to.
I have to hang out with my roommates.
I have a soccer game.
I have plans with my boyfriend.
I am busy.
I can't make plans more than a week in advance.
I don't understand your Spanish.
I need to go take care of that thing, that's really important, and I'm in a hurry, ok bye.

And nothing is working, go figure. And I also don't have the heart to just blatantly say, Nope, NOT INTERESTED and won't be, ever. I am keeping my fingers crossed that my students never witness these encounters.

So it looks like I am just going to have to keep coming up with excuses every week. I hope he doesn't catch on when I start repeating the same excuses. Or that my excuses might not be completely true.

At least he isn't frightened by my eyes, writing me love letters, following me to the mall uninvitedly, or buying me tights. Yet.

Twitterpated

I started twittering but can't (not surprisingly) add it to my links on here. Until then: http://twitter.com/lizzyclaire

Interesting Read

My friend Scott just spent a week in Cuba. Check out stories from his trip here.