It seems that there is always a reason to celebrate in Colombia. Whether it is a birthday, an equivalent to a Colombian Hallmark holiday, or a newly elected class president, I guarantee someone somewhere in the tiny town of Santa Ana is throwing a party. The people of Santa Ana may not have a lot as far as possessions but they will someone how always manage to secure a seat for you. As you approach they open their home with “adelante” and play musical chairs with one another until you have a place to sit. Something about it is very comforting. I have been to a wide variety of parties in Santa Ana and Cartagena and I have found some common ground among all parties no matter the cause for celebration or place. At all Colombian parties somebody will always find a place for you to sit. The parties never start on time and there is always a ton of food.
In my first weeks here I went to a student’s house to celebrate her birthday. My co-teacher bought her a cake, soda, and some other snacks. It was interesting to see the different teacher student relationship here in Santa Ana. I tried to imagine my 7th grade teacher coming over to my house for my birthday bearing food and singing songs and for some reason I couldn’t picture Mr. Nelson in my house.
The principal of Barbacoas retired earlier this school year ago. The administration and professors threw her a going away party. We grilled out, songs were sung, and parting words said. That was the first Barbacoas party that I attended. Since then I have also been to the Dia de la Mujer (Women’s Day) fiesta. That party followed a similar itinerary but this time the men did all the work preparing food and decorating while the women just enjoyed their day off. The men even prepared a slideshow with awful individual pictures of each teacher set to music and accompanied with quotes.
Men’s Day was a few weeks later, a holiday that is not widely celebrated in Colombia but was going to be celebrated at Barbacoas to return the favor. The women collected money and planned a similar party. Unfortunately, on Men’s Day one of the teacher’s father died. The professor lives in Santa Ana (unlike most who live in Cartagena) so the death really affected the entire community in Barbacoas and in the town. The Men’s Day party was canceled and the money was used to buy better meat for lunch one day in the following week. On Men’s Day almost all (if not all) of us who worked at Barabacoas went to the teacher’s house. I did not attend the funeral, which was the next day but I did go to the teacher’s house that night. The mood was obviously very somber. The house was filled with people. Whenever Barbacoas people arrived they were ushered to the backyard (people seemed to be grouped by how they knew the family). All of us were given chairs of course and we sat down outside sometimes making conversation with each other and other times just sitting in silence. We said some words to the teacher before heading back home.
On a Thursday a few months ago class was canceled because of student body president elections. After the election a bunch of professors went to “the Cove,” a beach within walking distance to celebrate. A few of the professors cooked up a stew for everyone at one of the nearby houses. And we celebrated with the students the newly elected class president.
A few weeks ago I accomplished a longtime dream. I went to a wedding in another country. I did not crash it (though that is another dream) I was actually invited. I happened to be in the right place at the right time when I was in Cartagena. I was hanging out with some of my friends (teachers from Barbacoas) and I went with them to meet their friend and his fiancé. We went out to eat. The couple was super sweet. The guy was from Oregon and the girl from Cartagena. He spoke limited Spanish and she did not speak much English yet they were getting married in a week. As we were saying goodbye the soon to be wife invited me to the wedding which was the following weekend. The wedding was absolutely beautiful. The ceremony and reception were outside on a part of the old wall in Cartagena overlooking the ocean. The whole affair was very elegant. And yes it started late, very late, every party does and even wedding receptions I guess. After the ceremony the bride and groom took pictures with every table before food was served and so we ended up eating around 10:30 or so in the evening.
Colombians love to take pictures, especially at parties, and with every single person at the party. My birthday was earlier this month and I had the fortune of having a super Colombian party; it was great. I went to my friend’s house in Cartagena and they decorated the place, bought a cake, and invited a bunch of their family and friends (most of whom I had met before). My friends are very musical so they sang while playing guitar and bongo drums. Then everyone said some sweet words to me and I took pictures with everyone before we dug into the cake. I actually got to celebrate my birthday multiple times this year. Since my birthday landed on a Friday my students in all my classes that day sang to me and my 6th grade class threw me a party. They decorated the room and bought a bunch of snacks and soda it was so cute. Then I went to Cartagena for the weekend. I had the Colombian party. In the morning I went to the mud volcano with my American friends. Later we went to dinner, had the best chocolate cake in all of Colombia, and went out dancing.
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