Halloween

"Each year, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch that he thinks is the most sincere. He's gotta pick this one. He's got to. I don't see how a pumpkin patch can be more sincere than this one. You can look around and there's not a sign of hypocrisy. Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see." In 2016 will be the 50th anniversary of the Charlie Brown Halloween special. I do believe that will be the time for a dedicated party. Start sending your ideas now -- avoid the late rush! 

At CNG the costumes go pretty far out. I saw numerous Mario's, oversized Converse shoes, astronauts, traditional Coca Cola bottles, and a Square Root tree (yes, it was a math teacher) to name a few. Below is one of the winners from the group-dressed-alike category: Avatar!

As for me, I kept it simple and dressed as a college student. Wearing a Wisconsin hat, Wisconsin sweatshirt, Wisconsin long-sleeved t-shirt, and blue jeans, I was still cold when waiting for the bus this morning. When I got to work, I got some coffee and add the following prop to my costume for the day.

That lead to this conversation with a sophomore girl.

HER: What are you dressed as?

ME:  I'm a University student, and this is coffee from my favorite coffee shop because I stayed up studying all last night.

HER: (with some attitude) You saved the cup?

ME:  Excuse me?

HER: (with more attitude) You saved the cup?!

ME:  (after a pause, leaning in, with a calm and deliberate voice) I wrote the name of it on the cup this morning.

HER: Oh, that would have been really weird.

The student behind her rolled her eyes.


Here's one more good picture just to round out the costumes.

Richard Gere was right

"People'a reactions to opera the first time they see it are very dramatic; they either love it or they hate it. If they love it, they will always love it. If they don't, they may learn to appreciate it, but it will never become part of their soul."


Last night, it was hard to use a ticket ordering website because I don't have a Colombian credit card. I therefore headed over to Blockbuster this morning. They have a Tu Boleta stand that is much easier to use. After some confusion about their technology not working correctly, I used the ATM that is also right on the property... and that is the story of my successfully obtaining front row seats to today's 5 PM performance of The Barber of Seville.

After returning my bank card to my apartment, I enjoyed the Bears game at my friend Tim's apartment. We've been watching games together since the season started. I've also been making picks and am pleased to be 8-4 today going into the last two games of the weekend.

My friend Jennifer (from Atlanta) and I then took a taxi to Teatro de Bellas Artes. The Tu Boleta lady had told me the theater was a 45 minute ride and confirmed that one hour was more than enough time. So, we left at 3:35 PM just in case there might be any rain. That really slows traffic here. At 3:47, our taxi passed security and we had arrived! That left some time for going over the mediocre Wikipedia synopsis of the opera over Dunkin Donuts (mine was filled with arrequipe, also known as dulce de leche) and my favorite Juan Valdez Latte ChocoCoco.

The first act opened beautifully. Fiorello had a very good voice, and Figaro was outstanding. It got a bit slow for maybe 20 minutes (the first act was 1 hr 40 min) but was strong ending the act. Trying to follow the occasional Spanish subtitle for that long gets really tiring. Thus the 2000 peso Colombiana downstairs at intermission was  (basically a full bottle of cream soda for $1) was very refreshing. I stopped by the doorman to get some idea where we could arrange for a taxi after the show. Incidentally the picture below was taken at 6:45 PM. Once it gets dark here, it's like midnight until dawn.

Returning to our seats, the older couple sitting next to us asked how I like the opera so far. "Me gustan la voz de cada actor, y tambien la musica de la orquestra." They were so friendly! Act two's opening was hilarious! Also after one scene that seemed important to follow, I was able to completely let loose of the translations. The music really did get that powerful. There's a love duet between Count Almaviva and Rosina that was absolutely cathartic (right around "Alfine eccoci qua.") It brought tears to my eyes that were released later during the wedding scene and in the bows. Whoa! I can't imagine seeing opera from seats farther away. I just wouldn't get the same connection with the play. After the show, the couple clarified where each of us was from and commented, "Bienvenidos!" They added something along the lines of we're glad you're here. We welcome Americans. They were delightful!

Pillowman

Last night I saw a play in Spanish with the middle school theater director, Kaleroy, and one of her friends. After a brief stop for Latte ChocoCoco and a Donut Especial at Juan Valdez (ahhh... sorry Starbuck's, you lose) it was off to the theater. The walk was a surprisingly short four blocks.

Seeing a play in Spanish is was a good experience. The direction was very good, and I'm not just saying that because I met the director before the show. The costuming, character, and lighting all demonstrated the storyline very well. I was able to follow the plot of the first act and picked up the phrase "Habia una vez" (once upon a time). Naturally there was a lot I couldn't here due to vocabulary and pacing, but overall I recognized a lot more words and phrases without finding myself translating them into English quite as much as I had been.


The first act was 105 minutes. Whoa! But it was really good. I'm considering asking for the script to study Spanish and theater at the same time. The second act was another 55 minutes, so the play didn't quite live up to the pre-show promise of a 2 hr 25 minute running time. As so often happens, act two was more cerebral, in the sense that things were coming together so language was often more important than physicality. By this point my focus was pretty well fried. The second act was largely a total mystery, but the acting was enjoyable!


This production combined good interaction among the characters with storytelling. Culturally that helps because storytelling is pretty big here. I've heard there's more of it at a nearby park by the church, so that's going on my to do list. It's also possible the audiences here are less sophisticated in the limited sense of what they expect from (or appreciate in) theater.

In the Classroom

This week I was very worried about a particular class of disruptive students. With the help of our department chair, a far more successfully written lesson plan turned things around amazingly quickly on Tuesday. Today, I have also become one of "those teachers" who can make the picture shown below freehand, in one sweeping motion. It's not like that was one of my goals ... but it's kind of fun. Also, note the bilingual word wall in the top left corner.

It's interesting how things here are somebody else's fault. Below is a fairly common type of conversation from the end of the day today.

     GIRL: Sir, no disrespect but you messed up.

     ME: Oh? What did I do wrong?

     GIRL: I'm in pre-AP math and I'm tutoring her. I can just calculate this problem directly.

     ME: Yeah, that's the same thing as what I wrote down here.

     GIRL: With Ms. Richard we just do this all at once.

     ME: Right, and these are the steps that break down the process to make it easier.

     GIRL: But see, I just multiply like this.

     ME: Great, and not everyone can do that all in their head in one step.

Puente

Last night and this morning I repeatedly prayed for peace going into today's conferences, and by the afternoon that prayer had been answered. The first conference was mediocre, as a combatant student went on and on complaining and saying "What I'd like you to explain to my parents is..." Surprisingly, ten minutes after that conference ended the father had sent his son back to apologize "if" he wasn't being nice to me.


The next six hours straight went well. I managed to speak a decent amount of Spanish a twice, and I was told they could understand my accent. Some parents unexpectedly told me their kids have come around to liking math. (Where that came from all of the sudden I have no idea.) There were also a handful of appropriately constructive conversations. 


For the last conference, two teachers offered to meet with a student and his father with me. This student has been argumentative in class and I've kicked him out a couple of times. The other teachers see the same behaviors, but it was most severe in math. Well, it turns out that the few important concerns he has are surrounded by what must be a mountain of personal issues. I ended up informing the vice principal that the boy really needs counseling. After awhile I just stopped and thought, "No reasonable person would act this way in a classroom." It's at that point when I realized he's simply irrational and emotionally unavailable to solving his problems. Maybe I should take a full out psychology class next year. I never really did take a good one in high school or college.


The Spanish word for bridge, puente, also describe a three-day weekend here. It feels well earned after conferences today. I started this afternoon at the Bogota Beer Company.

 

Tonight we're celebrating Guillo's birthday. Sunday it's back to NFL football all day long, with Monday primed to sleep in. Woo-hoo! Here's to the end of Season 6 of the Office, and the beginning of Prison Break!