I know this post is several days late, but it's with good reason: I had to get to sleep as early as possible on the 31st (since I had to wake up at 3 a.m. for my flight on the 1st), and I needed a couple of do-nothing-but-relax days when I returned to the United States. Now, however, I'm ready to relive my last day in Colombia. The morning started with our second and final debrief session, facilitated by Sarah Bever, our IREX representative. We started the morning with a couple of "writing frames" and filled in the blanks accordingly:
We then chatted with a partner before a few of us shared with the whole group. Our next activity involved us splitting into three groups to talk about specific issues. My group focused on the structure of the Colombian education system, especially the strengths, the challenges, the contributing factors (especially when thinking of the cultural iceberg), and things that U.S. educators can learn from the Colombian experience. Then, Nelson Suarez (from the United States Embassy) arrived, and each of our groupings presented about our host communities. Nelson also gave us a beautiful photo memento from our time at the U.S. Embassy. (This was especially awesome and appreciated since we were not allowed to bring in cameras -- or anything, really -- into the Embassy with us and therefore had no photos ourselves.) I loved listening to Nelson's short talk after our presentations. Essentially, he talked about the importance of education, the necessity of putting emotion into everything that we do:
And speaking of emotions, it was a pretty emotional morning for many people, but I didn't tear up until the next part: when we talked about our "lingering emotions" and the memories attached to them. Many of my peers got quite tearful when talking about their experiences (the strong connections they made with their host teachers, the relationships they built with students, the new colleagues they have abroad, the work that they will continue to do, etc.). I was super happy for them (and sad alongside them), but I became emotional because my experience was so different from theirs. It was still a good experience -- just far different. Our final activity of the debriefing session (aside from talking about globalizing curriculum), was to role play how we would share our experience with a variety of people. While I generally despise role play with a fiery passion, it was actually kind of fun and quite helpful, as we brainstormed people we might encounter (i.e. the salty colleague, the busy administrator, the friend who is stuck on the stereotypes, etc.) and then act out those personas while our peers tried to tell us about their experience. (In the days since, I have actually encountered many of those brainstormed "characters," and I have thought back to this role play experience many times.) After, it was time for lunch. (I mean, we were in Colombia, after all, and we essentially ate every hour.) We had a brief respite after lunch, and most of us spent that short amount of time packing. (We had a full day ahead of us yet and a 7 a.m. flight -- which meant a 3 a.m. wake-up -- so we needed every second to prepare.) Soon, it was time for an (optional) adventure. Several of us -- maybe seven or eight -- boarded the bus and headed back into the heart of Bogota, first to the artisan area outside of the Museo del Oro and then to La Candelaria for a walking tour (that primarily turned into a shopping tour). Yanilis, our in-country consultant, loved my one-earring look, so we tried to track down Carlos, the Rasta artisan who created it. Unfortunately, there was a heavy police presence outside of the Gold Museum, which meant the street artisans were largely closed. Interestingly, as soon as the police left, the artisans seemingly came out of nowhere and re-opened up shop. Unfortunately, Carlos was not there. I did, however, manage to find several things that I needed both for myself and for gifts. I mean, I had Colombian pesos to spend, and I didn't really want to have to exchange them back to USD later, so... Several people bought emeralds (one of Colombia's top exports, remember), but I didn't even step foot in the store(s), as I am much more likely to wear jewelry from the street artisans than I am fancy gems. But dang, they were gorgeous -- and super affordable. Our first stop after the mini shopping excursion was Casa de Nariño, the president's house and workplace. I have to say that these photos may not all be of the president's house (although I know the first and last are for sure). There were so many beautiful (and important) buildings in the area, and I took ALL THE PHOTOS. Before we entered the street next to the building, we had to pass through a security checkpoint, and we were instructed to walk on the far sidewalk or the street only -- not the sidewalk next to the house. There were armed guards lining the sidewalk neighboring the lawn, and while they were young (military service is mandatory for one year in Colombia), they had big guns. We then continued walking and saw lots of amazing things. And we took some fun(ny) photos along the way. (Yes, we are huge dorks.) Then we came upon a church that we had briefly seen during our bus ride into La Candelaria. Unfortunately, we couldn't go inside because it was closing, but considering I'd been in approximately 25,000 churches in the last 16 days, it was probably okay. Also, the lighting outside was pretty much the best ever for photos, so we took advantage of it in likely the most obnoxious way possible. Finally, it was time to get in the bus and head back to the hotel. But, we got some great photos of street art and sunsets on the way. We freshened up a teeny bit, and several of us met in the lobby for a pre-dinner cocktail. (I think we really realized how much we were going to miss each other in just a short 24 hours.) Then, we walked to the restaurant, which was about 30 minutes away. It was a really cool place -- and was five stories high! I guess it turns into a dance club after dinner, which would have been super fun had we not had a 3 a.m. wake-up the next day. While we were in our host communities, we had each purchased a "white elephant" gift, so we had our gift exchange. It was so fun, and I ended up with the gift that Rachel had brought "with Emily in mind." It was a beautiful wooden cat that is now sitting on my bookshelf. I love it and am so excited that I got it since it was quite a hot commodity (alongside the sombrero vueltiao and the coffee wine). We were served some appetizers -- which were delicious and felt like a full meal in and of themselves -- and then our entrees were taking forever. Many fellows opted to leave since we had to get up so early and it was already so late. Unfortunately, this meant that we did not get a "real" goodbye, especially with the fellows who were extending their trip in Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. But, the majority of us still had some quality time together -- starting at 3:45 a.m. Many of us were wondering why in the world we had to leave for the airport three hours prior to our flight leaving, but oh my, thank goodness we did. We had maybe ten minutes to wait at our gate prior to boarding. Checking into the flight and then going through customs in Bogota took forever. When we got on the plane, I was in the middle row between two large, man-spreading guys, so that first four-hour flight to Atlanta was less-than-amazing. My hips hurt so bad from trying to squeeze my knees together so that I wouldn't touch them. Ugh. Also, I attempted to sleep (unsuccessfully) and therefore missed breakfast, so by the time we got to Atlanta, I was famished. Thankfully, I wasn't the only one, and as soon as we got through customs (thank you, Mobile Passport App) and re-checked our luggage, six of us found the closest restaurant, and even though it was TGI Friday's, inhaled our food. We had a couple of hours together prior to our respective flights, and we reminisced about our weeks together, about our culture shock (and price-tag shock) upon returning to the States, about planning a reunion for the near future, and more. It's crazy how much I'm going to miss these people. But I feel so, so grateful that I have such incredible friends not only across the country, but across the globe. And, I'm also so happy to be home. I sure missed my partner and my kitties a whole heck of a lot. My blog has been a day-to-day review of everything that we did, the sights we saw, the people we met. Please stay tuned for some follow-up reflections. I learned so much and grew incredibly in Colombia -- both personally and professionally -- and am excited to write all about it in the weeks to come.
Thanks for following along, friends.
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