Ella Baila: Birthdays a lo Colombiano!

I've always loved my birthday. I think September is the best time of the year, and the US conveniently gives everyone a long weekend right around my birthday every year. There's no September Labor Day holiday in Colombia, but the month is celebrated as "Love and Friendship" month. More on that in another post, but I'm glad my birthday month still shares some special recognition. Last Wednesday was the big day, and this is how I celebrated a lo Colombiano... the Colombian way.

Part 1: Celebrations at school

I was lucky enough to have two of my favorite people, Ben Dahl and Megan Nicholson, visit for my birthday week. On Wednesday, they came to school with me. There wasn't much teaching to share with them because both classes I had that day threw us a big party. There was cake, my favorite snack popcorn, cards, candy, and lots of hugs. My students were wonderful and showed me lots of love. I have enough chocolate now to last the rest of the year. They know the way to my heart. Ben and Megan got to talk with a lot of my students and I think they were impressed with my students' English levels. It was a great gift to see how far some of my students have come.

Carlos Acevedo drew my profile. He's super talented!

Awesome boys of 1006!

9th grade girls from my workshop class

Part 2: Colombian mall with American comforts.

Something very exciting just came to Bogota. I'm not much of a shopper (or consumerist in general) but even I was celebrating the grand opening of the first FOREVER 21 in South America. And this new American young adult goldmine happened to open literally next door to my school! This brand new mall, Titan Plaza, is chock-full of new comforts and treats like GAP, Victoria's Secret, and our favorite (Colombian) cupcake place. We shopped around a bit after school on Wednesday and went to Crepes & Waffles (American-ish, but a Colombian chain with Colombian charm) for dinner and dessert.

Part 3: Chiva! aka Colombian party bus.

This plan had been in the works since about week three of this year. One of my favorite fellow gringas, Natalie, has her birthday 8 days after mine. Naturally we needed to plan something big for a joint birthday party. This was the perfect excuse to check off another must-do on our Colombian bucket list.

Chivas used to be used as regular transportation throughout the country, and as modern buses came to be, the colorful, open-air buses gained a new purpose--parties! About 30 of our closest friends (OK, it was more like everyone we know in the whole Cundiamarca region) danced the night away while rolling through the streets of Bogota. It was definitely a unique Colombian experience. The best part of obviously the great company I shared it with-- Colombians and Americans (and a few Canadians for good measure). Overall, all birthday celebrations were a success!