Kick Boxing

A month ago, Becky asked me if I would be interested in taking kick boxing classes with her twice a week.  Wanting a variation to my workouts, I happily agreed.  Every Tuesday and Thursday, we meet at her apartment (a 10-minute walk from my place) with whoever else is interested that day.  We are the two constants, though. 

Our instructor is Thomas, a fourth-grade teacher at COJOWA.  Having spent three years training in China, Thomas is literally a Kung Fu Master.  He's also socially awkward and ruffles a lot of feathers at school, but he is very encouraging and patient with us.  

We either do the classes on Becky's patio or in a larger cement sitting area outside of the apartment building.  That's always fun as people love to watch.  Just what I need when I'm trying to beat up a punching glove.  

Each week, we learn something new, and I have noticed my kicks getting more solid and higher. Pretty soon, no one will want to come near me with my fancy footwork and strong front jabs.  

Thomas really got into the pictures.  I really only wanted one but he kept posing and trying to make each shot look even more menacing.  He really is very limber.

HAY Festival

  Last weekend was the Cartagena HAY Festival, a time when a bunch of authors come into town and hold talks.  In school, a German author came to speak to the seventh graders, and luckily, I was able to watch the presentation at that time.
  The man's name is Boris Pfeiffer, a well-known author in Germany for his Wild Pack books.  His storytelling was awesome, and although I would be interested in reading his books, they are not translated into English yet.  In fact, another international school in Colombia is in the process of translating more of his works into Spanish, hence the talks.
  I had not realized until Wednesday that there was a website to sign up for the presentations held over the weekend.  Carlos, a fellow teacher, helped me look for available options, but everything was sold out.  There was always next year.
  After happy hour on Friday, I was just winding down when Carlos suddenly calls and asks if I would like to go to a presentation that night at nine....which was in 25 minutes.  His wife has the hookups and was able to get a couple complimentary tickets, and they couldn't go.  Sweet!  Elizabeth raced over, and we cabbed to Bocagrande to pick up the tickets from Carlos and back to el Centro to the theater where the talk was held.
  The Pedro Heredia Theater was built in 1911 and was the best part of the talk.  From the tickets, we believed it to be a talk on rain, but instead, the man seemed to just talk about how people acted in libraries.  Of course, only being able to understand every third word or so, we could have been totally off about the subject, but the audience seemed to enjoy him.
  Since I now know what the HAY Festival is, next year I can book tickets early and actually see an English speaker or two.  (Hopefully at that time, though, I will be able to understand the majority of the Spanish speakers as well.)

More on bats...

  For a few months now, every time I walked into my classroom, there was a toxic smell.  Several times, I turned my A/C off just to try to get some relief.  Unfortunately, this had little effect on the odor.
  During a recent conversation with some teachers, I learned this happened to Michelle last year, and it ended up being bat droppings in the air vents.  Aaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!!!!  Needless to say, I asked Pedro, my janitor, to check it out.  He cleaned it last weekend, and man, does it smell better!
  The worst part: bat guano can cause Histoplasmosis, a respiratory infection.  When mixed with soil or dust, the droppings create a fungus that releases spores when disturbed.  Ummm...yeah.  The fungus was disturbed every single day when my air turned on.  Thank goodness Pedro took care of the issue!