While I am positive no one will throw me shade for getting behind on blog posts during this international pandemic, I must admit I feel sad I didn't capture February before COVID-19 rocked our world to its core. Though it is tempting to write solely about the chaos of Corona, I want to challenge myself and do justice to ALL the big events of the past two months. Thus, this blog is split into two sections, "The Best of Times" and "The Worst of Times." "The Best of Times": Medellin In retrospect, all the fun we had in February seems even sweeter now, and almost otherworldly. The month started for us with a trip to Medellin, Colombia's second-largest and world-renowned city. Globally, most people know Medellin for its most infamous resident, Pablo Escobar, the leader of the Medellin Cartel. The highly acclaimed Netflix series, "Narcos" prominently features him and the city; however, Medellin has changed immensely since the '90s. After hearing our trusted Bolivar colleagues gush about their trips there, Con and I knew we had to go! After a quick 50 minute flight from Cali, Con and I were instantly dazzled by the sparkling lights of the thousands of homes nestled into the towering mountains of Medellin. Later that night we hit up a cool bistro recommended to us by our friend, Dylan, and soaked in the nightlife of the El Poblado neighborhood. The colder air, the city walls covered in street art, and the bubbly pink cocktail I sipped instantly put a spring in my step. Medellin felt like a present I hadn't unwrapped yet, and I couldn't wait to tear in. Over the next few days, Con and I did it all...maybe even too much, but looking back now, I am glad we explored as much as we did. Favorites: -Exploring the city with "Real City Tours", a free walking tour company. Our guide gave us a complete history of Medellin and referred to Pablo Escobar as "Voldemort" due to his infamy and his desire to make sure the Medellin locals we walked past did not think the tour glorified him. -Laughing at the overly fat sculptures of famous leaders by Fernando Botero in Botero Plaza -Climbing to the top of the giant rock, Piedra del Peñol, in the lakeside town of Guatapé -Marveling at the gorgeously vibrant street art of Communa 13, a section of the city once incredibly dangerous due to its homicide rates, now transformed into a mecca of art, community, and culture -Enjoying an amazing Colombian fusion dinner at Carmen, one of Medellin's most highly rated restaurants -Riding the public transportation of the city...the above-ground metro was spotless, so efficient and boasted breathtaking views of the city. And don't even get me started on the Gondolas that soared above the hills and highways! The cherry on top was that our friends from school, Jamie, Jess, Owen, Ally, and Michelle, were also visiting Medellin. Cue karaoke, a bar crawl through the most bumpin' section of El Poblado and a delicious Indian food feast. If you guys are reading this, we miss you! Overall, Medellin was a dream, and more than that, a beacon of hope. Seeing the transformation of a city, once known as the most dangerous place in the world, to a beautiful, vibrant epicenter of art and culture helps me believe that nothing is hopeless and change is never off the table. If you're interested in reading more about the metamorphosis of Medellin, due to initiatives like democratic architecture and expansion of public transit, check out this article here!
"The Best of Times": NYC At the very end of February, I had the honor of taking a group of 17 students from Bolivar to New York City for the National High School Model United Nations Conference. Now before you think, Wow, Taylor, I didn't realize you were so involved in Model UN, let me assure you that my areas of expertise in student activities are and continues to be musicals, acapella groups, art clubs, and book clubs. Previous to the big NYC trip, I had never set foot in a MUN meeting, nor acted as a chaperone in any capacity for this club before. So, how did I get this sweet chaperone gig? My friend at school who was supposed to chaperone the trip had a last-minute conflict, and the club needed a female teacher who also spoke English to go in her place...pick me! It also didn't hurt that I either taught or currently teach about 3/4 of the students, or should I say delegates! Delegates? That's right! For those of you noobs who don't know what Model UN is all about, let me give you a little overview from one outsider to another. Model UN is a giant “role-play” game in which politically enthusiastic high school students pretend to be UN delegates. In pairs, they represent a particular country on a specialized counsel in which they explore and mitigate world issues. According to the official NHSMUN website, the conference in NYC was the super bowl of MUN: "Established in 1975, NHSMUN is the world’s largest and most prestigious Model UN conference for secondary school students..known for its diverse, talented attendees, its world-class staff, its highly engaging debates, and its academically rigorous material." Don't worry! The other chaperone on this trip, Diego, is the director of Bolivar's MUN clubs. From what I could glean, I was along for the ride as a head counter, problem solver, and most importantly, tour guide! We had an open day Thursday and a few other windows of time to explore NYC. Since it was Diego's first time in NYC, I stepped up to organize touristic bliss for us and the kiddos according to what they most wanted to see. Miss why are you walking so fast?! Because we have a tight schedule, kids! Keep up!! Highlights: 1) NYC bagels for breakfast, duhhhh 2) Central Park walk, zoo, and ice skating...plz remember it is always over 80 degrees in Cali so this was truly #magical 3) Chick-Fil-A for lunch (the kids STAN) 4) Shopping on 5th Ave...teenagers love shopping, especially when $$ is burning a hole in their pockets. Miss, do you want to come to Hollister with us? 5) Times Square at Night #doublymagical 6) The Plaza Hotel and shops underneath for hot cocoa 7) Subway ride! More than one kid got stuck in the turnstile... 8) The Highline 9) Chelsea Market 10) 9/11 Memorial and One World Trade Observatory The amount of walking and exploring we did was insane. At the end of each day, my feet were THROBBING, but seeing NYC through the eyes of Colombian teenagers was both refreshing and hysterical. Miss, these buildings are so tall they make me feel like I'm going to throw up! Above was just a small sample of the touristy things we did. We also had the honor of attending the opening ceremony at the official UN headquarters, as well as attend a question and answer session at the Pakistani Mission with some of the actual Pakistani UN delegates since our delegates were representing Pakistan in the Model! During the Q and A session, I was blown away by how much research the kids had conducted leading up to the conference. The questions they asked the delegates were incredibly specific and thorough. During the actual model, which took place on Friday-Sunday, my responsibilities were minimal. I mostly just popped into the different conference rooms to check on the students and had my phone on me in case they needed anything. Seeing as I had so much free time, my parents took the train in from CT and we squeezed in a visit, which really was just an added bonus to an excellent experience with my students. The crazy thing is that all of this fun happened only one month ago. COVID-19 was barely present in any of our conversations aside from the fact a few kids had been sent with hand sanitizer and orders from parents to wash their hands carefully after our trek through the airport. On March 3rd we left NYC on and hopped a plane back to Colombia. If our trip was one week later, I am positive it would have been canceled.
"The Worst of Times": Cali If this experience has taught me anything it's this- in situations like this, I don't think there are "right" or "wrong" choices. Every choice is nuanced and complex and really, REALLY hard to navigate. As I'm sure is true for many of you, the events of the last three weeks have been a rapid blur of hard choices. Things started to change in Cali on March 13th. That morning, we had a full staff meeting of over 100 people (not much social distancing back then!) to discuss the measures the school was taking in the face of what seemed to be a distant threat: coronavirus. Each classroom was equipped with an extra-large hand sanitizer and tube of Clorox wipes. We were also told to immediately send any students who coughed to the nurse. However, the plan at the time was to carry on as usual until further notice. A day later, the second weekend of the school musical, Annie, was canceled, and performances were shortened to just Friday and Saturday. However, after opening night on Friday, all the Saturday performances were canceled as well as the upcoming middle school binational sports tournament. Sunday, Colombia's president, Ivan Duque, made an announcement that all schools in the country would close until April 20th. At this point, Con and I began to talk about contingency plans. Should we leave? No way! We agreed we would stay in Colombia until either of the following occurred: 1) We felt unsafe 2) Someone in our family in the US contracted COVID-19. After all, Cali was our home! All teachers reported to school on March 16th and 17th for PD on how to execute "Distance Learning" for our subjects. We took home all of our essential teaching items. Just in case it was a while before we returned to school, Con and I took a long walk around Bolivar's lush campus and said goodbye to coworkers (and the iguanas). On Wednesday and Thursday, we successfully taught our classes digitally from our apartment through Google Classroom and Google Hangouts. Luckily, Con and I both already had set up platforms for our classes on Google Classroom, so the switch to fully online learning wasn't too difficult to maneuver. We parroted our regular schedule, complete with a walk around the neighborhood at 6:30 am to get our blood flowing. Late Thursday morning, Colombia's president announced there would be a mandatory shelter in place over the long weekend to prevent people from congregating and partying on the upcoming MondayFestivo. We did an inventory of our pantry, ran to the store for provisions, and prepared for the lock-in. We met with our personal trainer, Pablo, at a local park and did a work out 6 feet away from him and tried to find the silver lining in what seemed to be a very strange, but manageable situation. Then, a series of events happened very quickly. First, Con heard that his dad had a fever and cough, and his doctor ordered a COVID-19 test. He wouldn't get the results back for at least three days. A few hours later, the U.S. State Department announced that anyone abroad should come home to the U.S. immediately, or prepare to stay abroad indefinitely. Then, news began circulating that Colombia would soon shut down their airports. Con and I tried not to panic, but worst-case scenarios rushed through our heads: What if Con's dad really did have COVID-19? What if he was hospitalized? What if we couldn't get back to the States to be with him and his family? What if he died, and we were stuck in Colombia? We thought about traveling home, but that brought up more questions: What if we traveled through the airport and picked up the virus, and got our families sick? What if we got sick? What if we were the reason someone in our family had to be hospitalized? What if we had to be hospitalized? After about 30 minutes of frantic conversation, we realized we were left with an impossible choice: stay in Colombia and risk not being able to see Con's dad through a life-threatening illness, or travel through the airport and contract a possibly life-threatening illness ourselves and spread it to our loved ones. We called our families, our principal, and director, and my Uncle who is a doctor to get his medical opinion. We prayed. We decided to go. There was almost no room left on any flight leaving Cali. Finally, after many frenzied attempts to secure seats, Con’s sister, Maggie, found us two tickets on a flight leaving Colombia for Miami the very next morning. Cue a mad dash to pack belongings for who knows how long, and put our affairs in order for an extended leave of absence. The next morning, we wore glasses to protect our eyes, gloves to cover our hands, and bandanas tied around our mouths. We braved the airport. We used hand sanitizer like mad. We Cloroxed every seat and surface we came in contact with and after many hours of travel, we made it the United States. The next day, we learned Conor's Dad did in fact have COVID-19, as well as his mom and sister. Fast forward two weeks (stay tuned for details on this in the next blog!), we are currently staying in an Airbnb in Portland, Maine, where we planned to self isolate even before Con's family had confirmed cases of COVID-19. Conor's dad and sister are fully recovered. There have been some scary moments for Con's mom, which is not surprising as she has asthma and respiratory issues, but over the last few days, she seems to be getting a little better. Con and I drive over to their house every day and visit from a distance of 20 feet: us on their back patio, them through their screen door. We are so grateful to be here with them, even from a distance. Stay tuned for next month's blog post on what I am assuming will be a hilarious stay with my parents in CT, as well as all the ways we attempted and will attempt to keep ourselves calm and entertained during these scary times.