jammin' witchu!!

Helloo hello!!

It's been a wild couple of weeks. Lots of stress and fun and not enough sleep, haha. Let's see, let's start with last weekend. I went with Milena to Bogota to the wedding of one of her best friends who was marrying a French guy. We arrived early in the morning at the notary for a funny bilingual ceremony, with an old Colombian man reading in very slow broken French for the groom and his mother. The reception that evening was a lot of fun though, lots of dancing and delicious free food and booze. We spent the weekend with Milena's mother and two brothers, feeling a little trapped in the apartment since it was raining and her mom was in a funky mood the last day, but it was nice anyhow.

Then this week. Uff, lot's of activity. Let's see, wednesday was a crazy day because we had a concert with the band in a little rural high school at 9 in the morning. So we left super early, loading the gear into a rickety old bus and chugging along country roads. The fellows in the band for some reason thought that rum was a good idea and so there we were singing and drinking and dancing in the bus early in the morning. We get to the little school and set up to play outside in the middle of the basketball court, surrounded by curious little kids in uniforms who probably had never seen a gringo before, so i got lots of cute questions. We played a set and then headed back, this time dancing in the aisles with the windows open and reggaeton blasting and got back by lunchtime. Then came Thursday. A day for the ages. First, it was the day of my much anticipated concert on American folk music at the university. It went well. A good turnout, an interview from the TV station. I played about 15 songs on banjo and guitar, singing, and with some accompaniment from people in the band. I had slides with lyrics and pictures of the artists, from Doc Watson, to Woody Guthrie, to Tony Rice, etc, and gave explanations of the stories behind each song.

Then it was going straight from the show back to my apartment to prepare for the Halloween party, and an epic one it was. I dressed up a Bacchus, the god of the grape harvest and debauchery in general, complete with a leaf crown, toga, and a wild fennel staff. Milena dressed as a gypsy. About 40 friends showed up, exchange students, students of mine, friends form the band and with such diverse costumes as a shark, a zombie, a preist, a lady cop, etc. One guy was supposed to bring his sound system, but didn't show, so with the band we ended up playing a great acoustic set. Luckily Rafa and Jenny from the band are walking jukeboxes and played one song after another, vallenatos, cumbias, rancheras. So hours of dancing and toasts and good fun and I actually was able to get everyone on their way by 1 am so my poor neighbors could sleep. But a great time. Above is a photo.

Then I had to get up super early the next morning to be a judge at the annual English song contest. That involved 5 hours of listening to dozens of high school students sing American pop songs, mostly with pretty decent English pronunciation, but most of them pretty out of tune. So lots of cringing and sighing and saying, "hmm, too bad, she had good style and whatnot, but oof, pretty out of tune" with the other judges. But the organizers treated us to a tasty lunch and they presented me with a certificate of appreciation with my name spelled Noam Mayers, so that was pretty good compensation.

Ok, that's all the adventures to date. Stay tuned!! Love from Tunja!

Whew! Another 2 weeks has flown by, and that means a new blog post. Certainly an enjoyable couple of weeks. Lots of work, giving classes, ton of students in office hours now that things are getting down to the line. Only 3 weeks more of class after this week- unbelievable!!
But let`s see, besides work, what`s good? Last weekend I finally went to hot springs in Paipa with Milena. Funny because it`s just like a standard public swimming pool, except the water is hot and mineral-ey. Uff, it was really nice. A break from the ever-chilly weather here. We went at night, which was really nice because you have stars and the moon overhead and steam rising all around you. Magical, except for the screaming children, haha. Hmm, so that was over a week ago. What else? THings are getting really heavy here with the reform of the Ley 30, which basically is a law that would open up public universities in Colombia to private investors (not a novelty in the US, of course, where Monsanto, Anheiser-Busch, Exxon, etc. have their way in higher ed), and allows creation of for-profit universities. It`s a big deal here where they have real public education accesible cheaply to anyone who qualifies in entrance exams, and where they rightly recognize it as a first step toward privatizing education. For a couple months now there`s been protests, marches, scuffles, police gassing students, and so forth at the UPTC, the big public u in Tunja. But now things are really stepped up. General strikes, and organizers even coming to UniBoyacá, and possibility of some forums and events here in private university-land. So that`s exciting, but also frustrating. For example, I haven`t been to Portuguese class in 3 weeks because of off and on strikes.
This weekend was really fun. It was a 3 day weekend and I went with Milena, her best friend, and the 3 English Assistants (and 1 French one) at the UPTC to Villavicencio. That is the principal city of the llano oriental (eastern plains) of Colombia. The climate is delicious: 90 degrees and a rain shower almost every afternoon. There you have distinct folk music with harp and a fast beat, mounds of free-range beef cooked over fires, and beautiful rivers and dense tropical vegetation. You also have in many sectors guerrillas, especially a few years ago. But much further east than Villavicencio. We spent 3 great days. A veeeery long trip from Bogota (6 hours instead of the normal 2) because of intense traffic because of the holliday and because the world finals of rodeos were going on. On Saturday we went to a zoo of sorts where we saw anacondas, tucans, and squirrel monkeys (simply the cutest animal ever invented), some in cages, and other wild males from the nearby jungle who come attracted by the females calls. That night we tried to go out dancing, but with so many people there for the rodeo, all the best clubs were absolutely packed. The next day we went swimming in a place where the river comes down from the hills and they made a sort of natural swimming pool, but surrounded by a restaurant and tables. The water was really nice and we followed the river up into the jungle which was gorgeous: the banks were covered with peace lilies, and a family of those squirrel monkeys were playing in the trees above. We ate delicious smoked fish and got sunburned. That night we went out early and got into an excellent salsa club, where we danced for hours until exhaustion. The picture is from there. Then it was early to rise the next morning to beat the traffic back to Bogotá and chilly weather.
SO that`s the latest. The next couple of weeks will also be action packed. I`m preparing to give a big concert of American traditional music at the university next week, plus a big Haloween party in my apartment next Friday, a dinner with my coworkers this Thursday (making pesto pasta!!), a wedding of Milena`s best friend in Bogotá this Saturday, and so on. Uff! But life is great, even if it flies by. Love you all! Hope your great as well. Thinking of fall in the US makes me homesick, but I have a Garrison Keilor book, and hopefully more good reading books soon when mom`s package arrives! Hasta la próxima!

Hey all!!
Well, it´s about time I write some new news. What`s new?? Hmm, ufff, well keeping plenty busy with classes, preparing the samba coreography in my dance class, pulling out my hair trying to organize students to do the sqauredance presentation, which in the talent show tomorrow. Man, will I be relieved when that`s over!! I think it`ll be great in the end, me playing banjo and a friend on fiddle and 8 dancers. I definetely am looking forward to a relaxing weeked. The plan: to go to the hot springs with Milena and some other friends and to a winery, both in a nearby town.
But let`s talk about this last weekend- action packed!! I went to Bogotá with the principal motive of meeting up with and playing tunes with the group of celtic music called Espiritu Celta, based in Bogotá. I arrived Saturday afternoon at the Irish Pub in the Zona- T, an upscale restaurant anbd commercial area. The pub is beautiful, old wood, antique Guiness adds, good dark beer, what one might hope for in an Irish pub. But it was packed and they had us play over in a cramped corner and iffy sound competing with loud revelers. But we played some good tunes, I sang a few, and the group is great. They have a bagpiper, a bodhran, an excellent fiddler, and guitarrist. Really top knotch and know their stuff- and all just Colombians who like Irish music. Go figure!! Anyway, that night I stayed with Magda, my friend who was in Columbia last year with Centro Latino. She lives with her brothers and sisters in an awesome flat on the 18th floor with a great view of downtown Bogotá. The morning I went with her family to Palo Quemado, a huuuuuuge covered market with literally every tropical fruit, vegetable, sauce, meat, cheese, spice, whatever you can imagine. They made me try everything, from cocunuts to maracuya, a crazy mango-watermelon hybrid, fresh soft cheese, etc. etc. We got back to the house stuffed with fruits and much more, but then straight to a Pacific-style restaurant where against my protests they served me a huge plate of sauteed fish, rice with coconut (sooooo good), salad, soup, and juice made of a fruit called borojó, which tastes kind of like apple cider with cinnamon. Everything was delicious it was hard to stand up afterward. Then what? To a huge festival of culture with music, artesans, and of course, more food and drinks to try. I met up with another big tall plae ETA friend, and the two of us where quite the spectacle with people asking for photos with us, including some really sweet middle aged women that barely came up to our belly buttons. So we tried chicha (fermented corn), sabajon de feijoa (a creamy licour), and other things i can`t recall. Walking around help, but still, serious stomach trauma. And an uncomfortable feeling being so overnourished and then driving through neighborhoods and passing bone-thin prostitutes and beggars with amputated arms. Thus is Bogotá- all the extreme class contrasts together.
That night was another session with Espiritu Celta, this time in another Irish Pub in another neighborhood with much more room and all the fans present. What a night!! It was fantastic!! Playing songs with the fans dancing and singing along. All accented by tasty micro-brew porter. I caught a bus back to Tunja by 9 and arrived late, exhausted, and satisfied.
And that`s all the news that`s fit to print. Below I added a silly picture with Milena (far left) and a friend at a part a couple weeks ago. Love yall!!