The first flight of my scheduled trip was actually cancelled, which ended up delaying my travel by almost 24 hours. Being the philosophical over-thinker that I am, this got me thinking about what it means to be "globally connected." It put things in perspective and reminded me to not take international travel for granted. Most people do not have the means to travel internationally very often or at all, and it isn't a sustainable use of resources to expect that this is what we mean by global connection. 

It reminded me that our connection to other places needs to start with a connection to our own place (or places). In our Global Education class, we watched an interview with Kwame Anthony Appiah where he notes that we all have a place that is our "first place." One we are anchored to our first place, we can "celebrate connections among different places, each of which is rooted in its own something."  

I finally made it to Colombia and met up with the rest of the group in Bogotá. After an amazing lunch, my first outing with the team was a school visit to Colegio Usaquen, a    K-11 school in Bogotá (the standard Colombian school system goes through Grade 11, then University or other post-secondary options). 

We got to be a part of their school's Independence Day celebrations. Each grade level performed various traditional Colombian dances and they even included us in some of the dances. The kids were a bit shy at first, then pretty much swarmed us at the end of their performances! They wanted to know where we were from, and practice their English, and I got to practice my Spanish as well. 

Some takeaways from the school: Having K-11th on the same campus gave a great sense of community with other kids looking out for younger ones. Kids definitely seemed to look out for each other! The plants and gardens were an important part of the campus, and seemed to be cared for by students, which gave the campus a distinct indoor/outdoor feel.

We had met online to do some preliminary planning, but it was exciting to meet our host teacher Diego Mantilla in person! He showed us around the Universidad Industrial de Santander, and we went to a very impressive choral concert put on by students at the university. We also had some interesting conversations comparing and contrasting the Colombian and United States education systems, and we discovered many of the same challenges. 

After several very busy days, it was nice to stay a bit closer to home and get to know our surroundings. We visited Girón, which is one of the original Spanish colonial pueblos. It was bustling with families and visitors before and after Sunday evening mass. It was a good chance to experience the community around Bucaramanga and relax a bit before things got busy again. Because then it was time to get ready for a full week with Diego's classes at Dámaso Zapata school!

The best parts of today were the less formal conversations and interactions. Students were less nervous, everyone knew where they were going a little bit better, and we had some great conversations during break times when students would just stop by to chat. We got to share favorite books and movies, hear about goals for the future, and just talk about what life is like where we live (in an interesting mix of Spanish & English, depending on everyone's language skills). 

We were also invited to the home of a family with several students at the school. We ended up talking about favorite family traditions, how we celebrate different holidays, and comparing superstitions between our cultures. There is something about sitting around a table and eating a home-cooked meal with a group of people that really builds connections in a unique and special way. 

Today we got to learn more about the "Technical Specialties" at Dámaso Zapata. The school has 14 tracks, each focusing on different technical skills, including technical drawing, metal working, computer programming, electronics, and others. During grades 6-9 students take introductory classes in each of the specialties, and before they start 10th grade they decide which specialty they will focus on. This becomes their focus for their 10th and 11th grade years, where they develop expertise and skills in their specialty area, and have the chance to design their own projects based on their interests. 

We also learned about some student projects through the Entrepreneurship specialty. Teachers helped students brainstorm and develop a problem they care about solving, and the students spend their 10th and 11th grade years developing and refining a solution for this issue. One group of six students wanted to improve accessibility for those who are blind, so they learned the programming & electronics skills necessary to build and program an electronic cap with proximity sensors. They went through a design process including two prototypes and then a final design, and developed hypothetical business to market their product. Other projects included 1) developing organic ink from avocados, 2) designing a robot to measure weather and soil conditions, 3) programming an app to inform and enroll people in drug education & treatment programs. I am inspired by this project-based model, and I plan to find ways to incorporate more of this design thinking into my science classes. 

Today we started the day with an awards ceremony that celebrated academic excellence for the top performing 10th graders, as well as a celebration of Colombian Independence Day. There were anthems sung for Colombia, Santander, and the school; some teachers performed a traditional Santanderian dance, and students performed musical numbers (both traditional and modern). It was an honor to be a part of this celebration with all the students and faculty! 

But wait, there's more! One more class had presentations for us about aspects of Colombian culture, including Colombian legends, famous Colombians (such as Diana Trujillo who worked on the Mars Rovers at NASA), and the fight for LGBTQ+ rights and representation in Colombia.

Then came the hard part - saying goodbye to everyone after an amazing week together. So many hugs and photos! But there will be continued collaboration between our classes. Now that these initial connections have been made there are so many opportunities to continue these relationships! Hasta luego Bucaramanga!

After travelling back to Bogotá, we met up with all of our friends and had so many stories to tell about our adventures in our host schools. There were seven teacher teams who had each visited a different region of Colombia: Dibulla & Montería in the north on the Caribbean coast, Bucaramanga & Piedacuesta in the east, Armenia in the heart of the coffee country south of Medellín, Villavicencio in a ranching region south of Bogotá, and one group stayed in Bogotá and became experts on life in the big city. It was exciting to reconnect and hear about everyone's experiences!

We also had the chance to visit the Museo del Oro in Bogotá and learned about the relationship the Indigenous Muisca people have with gold. Gold represents the Sun, and Water represents the Moon. There are ceremonies where gold is given back to the water as an offering. Some Muisca and other Indigenous people in the area feel that these ceremonial objects should not be kept in a museum but instead returned to the People. In the meantime, some people come to the museum in order to perform their ceremonies.

Our last day together in Bogotá  was a full one! In the morning we got to be tourists one last time. We visited the La Candelaria neighborhood, which is the "old town" where Bogotá was founded as a Spanish city in the 1500s. Beautiful architecture, stunning street art, many museums, all on a rainy Bogotá  morning. We visited the Botero museum, and enjoyed a traditional lunch of ajiaco soup.

After lunch, we regrouped at the hotel conference room where we heard everyone's highlights from their host school visits. We also had a chance to talk about big ideas and themes we noticed, and help each other process what we want to take back to our own schools and classes once school starts. 

We said our final goodbyes, though I know many of us will keep in touch. This is just the beginning! Many of our group were heading home, and some of us had made plans to stay in Colombia for a few more days to see more of this beautiful country. Personally, I visited Medellín for a few days, and then Santiago de Cali near the Pacific coast for a few days before heading home to California. 

One of our last assignments before we left was to write a letter to our future selves in six months about 1) what we want to remember about this experience, and 2) what we want to incorporate in our classes. In the interest of accountability I'll record my thoughts here:

1. I want to remember WHY I teach - which is to give students and myself HOPE! That we are all in this together to build a better world. Now I can add to this the reminder that students & teachers are basically the same everywhere, and my community of co-conspirators has grown.

2. I want to incorporate more ways for students to connect with others outside their science classroom. This includes within our own school and district, but also more broadly. I have new friends and colleagues across the country, and in Colombia - many opportunities for students to connect and collaborate!