A Sad Day for Partido Verde

Above: The presidential candidates

Today was a disappointing day for Mockus supporters. Although there is another election June 20th, and although Mockus did make it to the top two, and despite the fact that he could, in fact, still become president, he received a much smaller percentage of the vote than anyone predicted. Less than 22%, in fact. And Santos... well, he took around 46% of the vote.

I'm very disappointed because it is fairly unlikely that Mockus will win the next election. The next highest candidate, Vargas, who took around 10% of the vote, is a conservative, so that means all those votes will go to Santos. Sanin is also conservative--the only votes Mockus will take are those of Pardo (Liberal) and Petro (Democratic Poll).

I'm sure Mockus and his fellow Greens are both surprised and slightly devastated by the results, as I am. The polls consistently gave Mockus around 32% of the vote during the weeks leading up to this election, and I don't think anyone expected Santos to get such a high percentage during the first round of voting

My guess is that the polls did not accurately represent all the geographic regions of Colombia. Also, I think a lot of people came out of hiding to vote for Santos out of fear (secretly, many Colombians are still worried that without Uribe the country will return to the dangerous chaos of the past). I also think Santos did some dirty campaigning in the last month--for example, there is a Party of the U billboard in downtown Pereira that says "En Colombia, nosotros decidemos los Colombianos", which essentially means "In Colombia, we choose Colombians." It's a jab at Mockus's background... his parents are Lithuanian, but he was born here. Also, I'm not putting Santos above paying voters or altering the vote, as that is sadly a fairly common practice here. (Another billboard it town encourages people to vote for what they believe and to not let anyone buy their vote.) I'm not saying he did, but it has happened before.

Anyway. I'm not happy, but at least Mockus made it into the top two. There is still a chance he could win, and even if he doesn't, the Green Party has established a firm base of supporters here, and hopefully it will continue to grow.

Vegan in Colombia

Above: a typical Paisa lunch... bandeja paisa.

On Wednesday, I walked into my classroom and one of my favorite students looked at me with a sad, worried look and said, "Miss Melody, I forgot you are a vegetable."

"A vegetable?"

"Yes," she said, "I brought you some of my birthday cake, but you can't eat it because it has eggs and milk."

"But, am I a carrot or a piece of broccoli?" I countered.

"What?"

"Don't worry, (insert name here), we can give the cake to Warren. He LOVES birthday cake," I said, since she seemed so worried.

Being vegan in Colombia is challenging, and that's an understatement. This past week at school I didn't even each lunch two days because there wasn't anything to eat. Lentil days have become few and far between, and they started putting bacon in the beans whenever they serve them.

There is one other vegetarian at LPV, but very few people understand what veganism is. I'm often offered chicken or soup with chicken broth. The school cafeteria is also a little lax about cross-contamination, so I've found meat in my veggies before.

I'm really not complaining about the school, though. I chose to be a vegan almost 3 years ago, and I knew when I moved here it was going to be a challenge. I deal with it and don't stress. Veganism is a choice I made to help the environment and for my health, but I totally get that it is weird and abnormal. I'm not judging anybody.

Although it's a weird thing to teach, I'm pretty sure my students will understand veganism at the end of the year, simply because they are always offering me bites of their arepa burgers or their ice cream, and then want to know why I turn them down.

Also, because we live in a small city and it's extremely difficult to find the things I depended on at home for easy meals, I've become a more creative and resourceful cook. It's been a fun, albeit slightly difficult, challenge. The world should know: as long as you have your own kitchen (and no maid/cook), it is totally possible to be vegan in Colombia. It just might take a little more effort and a lot of resourcefulness.

Oh-and when people forget you are a vegetable, just shrug and ask if you are looking like a red pepper that day.

Translating the Colombian Constitution

As my students' primary social studies teacher, I have to teach the topics that the Colombian government requires 5th graders to know. The topics are fairly varied, and I incorporate a heavy dose of "global" issues and ideas, but I also get/have to increasingly add more specific information about Colombia.

At the beginning of the year, we were learning about elections and government, so I learned a great deal about both in Colombia. It was fun to research and to teach. Not many people spend a great deal of time (Warren not included) researching the voting systems of other countries, but I now understand the Colombian system really well because I was able to teach it. Having a background in Colombian elections has helped me to appreciate the current presidential campaigns.

Last week we started discussing human rights. Human rights in Colombia and the world are a serious issue right now, so I'm trying desperately to treat the subject with the seriousness it deserves. As part of my curriculum, the government issued text book includes a long chapter about the human rights the Colombian constitution guarantees. My Spanish is definitely better than it was at the beginning, but I still needed SpanishDict.com to translate a lot of the words! (For example, today I learned the word difundir, which means disseminate.)

I really love the human rights Colombia chose to include in their constitution. The American Bill of Rights, in comparison, is vague, short, and slightly out-dated. (I had to translate around 40 specific rights listed in the constitution of Colombia, but the American Bill of Rights only has 10 amendments!) While our Bill of Rights causes a great deal of controversy because it can be interpreted in many ways, the Colombian constitution keeps it simple and straight-forward. It guarantees things like protection from torture, a right to education, fair treatment of the elderly, a right to a family, the protection of intellectual property, privacy of correspondence, the right to work and have a career, protection from kidnapping, freedom of religion, respect for individuals, their personality, and their development, and protection from human trafficking. Yes, it gets specific, but it also serves as a very real guide for Colombians.

My students had to write journals last week describing what they thought every person in the world should and what the government was responsible for. Because the Colombian constitution is so specific, we are now able to compare their journals to the law of their own country. Many of them wrote that the government should provide housing, which surprised me, but the Colombian constitution does actually state that a fundamental human right is to have a home in good condition.

Perhaps my favorite part of this unit, though, is not the constitution itself, but what it represents to my students. Although I know human rights in Colombia improve every hour of every day, the American government still refuses to a trade agreement with Colombia because of human rights violations. I have my disagreements with the USA, but I understand that human rights are a critical issue in this country. The reason I like teaching my students about the human rights their constitution guarantees is because the Colombian government has outlined such a clear goal. The human rights they have guaranteed are concrete and noble, and the government and the country can look to their own constitution as an example of the perfect society. No offense to the founding fathers, because I really do have great respect for them, but wouldn't it be nice if the American constitution was so specific that we could look to it for a model of what our country should be instead of arguing about what "Freedom of the Press" really means?

Just a thought. Good night.

p.s. In fairness, the current Constitution of Colombia was written in 1991, but the current American Bill of Rights was written in 1789. The founding fathers couldn't predict everything their constitution and Bill of Rights would face, so they made it vague on purpose so it would be open to interpretation. I just like how clear the Colombians made everything. Much easier to teach!

Dia del Maestro: Teacher's Day!

Above: A presentation at school to thank the teachers.

Today is Dia del Maestro, or Teacher's day, and because LPV is the best place to be a teacher, they gave the entire teaching staff the day off. We also have Monday off because it is some saint's day, which means that we have a four day weekend!

I'm not sure if every school in Colombia is off today, but I know that schools in the USA don't cancel class for Teacher's Appreciation Day, so I feel quite blessed. Also, I really do feel appreciated.

The school also gave us presents--Warren and I both got an awesome canvas bag filled with an LPV coffee cup, a nice notebook, a pen, and a t-shirt! Even better, our students gave us presents, too! Warren's students got him a new water bottle, because his broke in class. One of my girls got me jewelry and gave me a card she made that showed me teaching division! SO CUTE!

Some of our loot:



To celebrate, I made a pineapple-orange vegan cake, which is yummy. We also slept until 10 a.m. today! On a normal Friday, by 10 a.m. I've been on a bus for an hour, had a meeting with my supervisors, taught 2 classes, and I've watched kids run around during morning snack.

Sadly, we can't afford a trip right now, so we're staying in PEI for the long weekend, but I'm excited to just relax and get caught up on errands and such.

I hope everyone has a great weekend, and congratulations to all of my friends graduating today!!

Important Tips for Living in Colombia

1. Live in an apartment complex with a pool and a beautiful view.


2. Buy and try exotic fruit.


Even when you don't know what it is...


3. Enjoy the flora.


4. And the fauna... (especially when it's your boss's friendly schnauzer).


5. When you are homesick, make pancakes.


6. If that doesn't seem very adventurous, try them with mora sauce.


7. Buy a toaster oven so you can make chocolate cake.


8. And homemade cinnamon rolls.


9. Remember the cheapest place to buy wine is Alkosto.


10. Spend some quality time with Juan Valdez.


P.S. For those of you who just don't have enough Melody in your lives, check out my post on Medellin Living today!

Mockus Campaign Rally, Updated!

Above: The crowd that gathered to see Mockus at Plaza Victoria. Warren and I are both in this photo--see if you can find us!

I never meant for my blog to get so political, and so I apologize if I am alienating any of you. I'm going to stop posting about the campaign until the actual election, but the campaign rally was not just about politics for me, it was also a cultural experience. I was able to meet up with fellow teachers from LPV and shout in Spanish. I waited with everyone for 2 1/2 hours (Mockus was 2 hours late!) and understood the frustration and the anticipation. I memorized the words to Mockus's campaign song because they played it so many times (he was really late, even by Colombian standards). It is not an experience I will forget. Despite myself, I understood a great deal of what Mockus said (which means I understand SPANISH!), and that meant more for me personally than being part of a political rally.

I'm not going to write much more, but I do want to include one anecdote from the rally. At one point, Mockus had three volunteers come on stage. He had them line up, facing each other. Then, he did that "trust" building exercise where the person in the middle falls back, and then forward, trusting the other two people to catch her. Each volunteer did it a few times, and then MOCKUS did it, too. He stood there and caught one of the volunteers, and then he also let himself be caught.

The reason I like Mockus is because he is a teacher. He is an academic. I relate to this man in many ways, because I am also a teacher. He truly values education, and I know he will put a great deal of effort into making education a priority in Colombia. He also wants to teach people to be better citizens, and he places a great deal of importance on culture. The thing is, his approach is totally different than most politicians. He doesn't just stand up and give a memorized speech (in fact, it felt like he was just winging his speech). He lectures. He gives demonstrations. He uses examples. The man is a teacher, and it permeates his style as a politician.

Anyway, that's all. I won't get all political on you again for a few weeks, I promise.

Warren and Jose/Flaco (the religion teacher).


MeryLu (a teacher at school) and me before Mockus arrived.


Symbols of his campaign (from Mockus's own website)


The pencil that represents his emphasis on education, legality, and culture. One of our favorite lines from his speech was this: "The future of Colombia will be written with a pencil, not with blood."


Thanks for reading. Just in case you like politics, be sure to read Warren's blog, Crashing the Political Party. Warren's so cool he saw President Uribe and Antanus Mockus in the same day. Be jealous. I didn't see Uribe, just his motorcade!

Photo Post: Mockus Rally, Plaza Victoria Pereira, May 11, 2010

Today Warren and I went to a campaign rally for Antanus Mockus. We also saw Enrique Penalosa and Garzon. I'm going to write about the experience in uno momento in a different post, but I didn't want it to be too long with pictures and everything else. So, here are a few of my favorite photos!

When we arrived. La vida es sagrada: Life is sacred. His main message tonight was that every life in Colombia is important and we need to value every person and protect every person. It was refreshing, but also made me sad that a message like that even needed to be spread.


Thumbs up, like Mockus. Notice the Mockus bracelet on the hand to the left.


Mockus and his team arrived very late (almost 2 hours!), but it was worth it!


"The next chapter of Colombia will be written with pencils, not blood." (Regarding his push towards education.)


It was a lot of fun to be part of this event. More info in the next post.

Recipe: Jugo de Lulo

Above: Lulo, a typical Colombian fruit that tastes like an orange, pineapple, and kiwi mixture.

As a vegan, there aren't a lot of truly Colombian foods that I can enjoy. (Okay, I love platanos, patacon, lentajes, yucitas, frijoles rancheros, and arepas slathered in avocado, but besides those...) Generally speaking, I don't make "Colombian" food at home. We get our fix (if we have one) at school, and I like to have a little more variety when I cook at home. However, the recipes I make at home that are completely Colombia are the various "jugos" or juices that are basically only found in this region of South America. I have numerous favorites, including mora (like a raspberry/blackberry) and maracuya but my absolute favorite is jugo de lulo. We specifically bought a blender and a wire mesh strainer solely for me to embark on juice-making adventures.

When we were still living with the principal (back in January), we might have had a maid. Okay, we had a maid. Her name is Dora and we love her. While we were living there, I had her teach me how to make jugo de lulo. Warren photographed us, and I'm pleased to bring you Dora's Directions for Jugo de Lulo.

Enjoy. And if you live in Colombia, make this. (In other countries, like Ecuador, lulo is called narajilla.)

1. Peel the fruit. The outside looks smooth but is a bit prickly, almost like a cactus, so don't touch your face while you are doing this. A ripe fruit should be firm but not too firm... almost like a plum. The inside will be slippery and feel like a kiwi.


2. Cut the fruit into chunks and put into the blender.


3. Add a little water and sugar. (About 1/8 cup of water and 1 teaspoon sugar for each piece of fruit you use. You can add more water or sugar to taste afterwards.) Blend for a few minutes.


4. Strain, obviously catching the liquid into a container under the strainer. Discard the seeds.


5. Pour into a pitcher and stir. Taste... add sugar or water if needed. There should be foam on top. Pose with finished product.


6. Serve and enjoy!


Yummy, healthy, and refreshing! Also, isn't Dora adorable?

2010 Elections: The race is on!

Above: My hero, Antanas Mockus

With less than 4 weeks until the first round of the presidential election, things in Colombia are getting much more interesting. Mockus's popularity has been skyrocketing lately, and, much to his surprise and despair, Santos's popularity just keeps falling in the polls. It's almost inevitable that Mockus and Santos will face off in the 2nd election, but politics in Colombia tend to be dirty, and elections are not always won fairly, so I'm not ready to guarantee a win for Mockus. (Even if I desperately want to!)

It seems that, in Pereira at least, Mockus is the only candidate anyone is supporting these days. A few billboards around town advertise other candidates, but the real indicators are the campaign signs hung in the windows of apartments across town. I have only seen posters for Mockus or Partido Verde--not a single one for Santos. The administration at LPV are wearing Mockus bracelets, the students are selling Partido Verde t-shirts, and the other teachers are proudly sporting Mockus logos on everything from laptops to backpacks. When I hung up a Mockus poster on my desk, my students cheered.

During lunch on Monday Warren and I talked to the school psychologist, and we asked her why she personally liked Mockus. She told us that it was because he isn't a politician, he is an academic and a teacher. She also explained that he demonstrated he can make a difference when he was mayor of Bogota, and that he can help make the future better for Colombians. I'ts a lovely summary of exactly why I support Mockus, too.

So far, my favorite sign of support was a car we saw over the weekend. It had 2 posters hung in the windows, a Mockus sticker on the bumper, another Partido Verde sticker on the windshield, and a fake sunflower (the symbol of the Colombian Green Party) bobbing up and down in the passenger window. Warren and I almost started cheering for it!

Of course, this election is not the only one in the world: today is the British election, which is outlined well on Warren's blog and I just got the first email regarding the gubernatorial race in Illinois. In case you can vote in Illinois and you are a Green Party supporter, make sure you check out Rich Whitney! It's time Illinois gets a decent governor instead of the crazies we've had to put up with in the past!

Graduate School and Black Bean Burgers

This is the first year EVER that May didn't mean the end of the school year for me, and I have to admit, it's a bit strange. Everyone else is studying for exams or finishing up with their teaching this year, and I am grading spelling tests and looking forward to 7 more months of teaching. The school year in Colombia begins in January and ends in December. That meant that this past year, I had to wait through an entire fall before I could begin my "real" job. I made good use of the time, working at my former job doing study abroad work and teaching English at a language institute, but it felt like prison anyway. I had to stay in my old college town and work at two part time jobs just to pay for my tiny little apartment. Not an ideal situation.

I think it was worth it, because I certainly enjoy my job here and I love my apartment and lifestyle in Colombia. The problem is that I'm looking at one more "semester" like I had last fall: next spring, I'll be waiting to *hopefully* start graduate school in the fall. If there's any reason to not teach in Colombia, the fact that the academic year is opposite to the American academic year is a strong one. It basically means that 1 year of my life is "wasted" while I wait.

Of course, I'm not REALLY going to waste an entire Jan-Sept period of time. I'm hoping to go to a Spanish immersion school and then find a job in whatever city I end up in for grad school.

Speaking of graduate school, can I just say I hate the process of even applying? When I went to Missouri State for my graduate certificate, I treated it as seriously as applying to Target for a summer job. I knew I would get in, I didn't have to take the GRE, and my only real concern was which assistant position I would get out of the three I applied for. (For the record, I took the one that paid the best and had the coolest job description.) Applying to graduate school for "real" is very intimidating. I want a very specific program (International Education and Development) and only about 5 schools in the entire USA offer programs that really fit my career goals. It's extremely intimidating, and I'm scared to death I won't get in to my top choices. Also, I hate standardized tests with so much fervor that whenever a school requires the GRE I automatically lower them on my list of top choices. (Take that, American University!)

Anyway, I'm probably going to be blogging a bit about graduate schools from this point on as I begin my search and application process. Most of my applications are due in January or earlier, so I'll be writing personal statements, begging for recommendation letters, and taking the GRE here. In Colombia. Oh joy.

On to happier things...

A Fabulous, Homemade, Entirely Vegan Black Bean Burger!


If there's anything I miss about the States, it's pre-packaged vegan faux meat. I know that's disgusting, but it's a lot of work to come up with protein every night from scratch. I miss my vegan sausage and chorizo, and I definitely miss a good vegan burger.

I created these on Wednesday and we ate them again on Thursday. Quick, simple, and very easy, they definitely satisfied my burger craving... and with no preservatives! here's the recipe:

Black Bean Burgers
3 cups pre-cooked black beans in their cooking liquid
1 small yellow onion
1 red pepper
2 1/2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons olive oil (or canola oil)
1 cup bread crumbs
1/3 cup cornmeal (not dulce)
2 tablespoons tomato paste (or 1 tablespoon paste and 1 tablespoon BBQ sauce*)
salt and pepper to taste
*Good and cheap BBQ sauce in Colombia: San Jorge brand, near the salsa de tomate

Directions:
1. Chop onion finely and sauté in 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Don't let them burn, just become translucent.
2. While the onion is cooking, dice a red pepper into small pieces and add to the onion. Sauté until tender.
3. While pepper and onion cook, mash black beans with a fork, potato masher, or in a blender or food processor. They don't need to be perfectly smooth, just broken and mashed a bit. I recommend blending them with about 1/2 cup of their liquid (or water/vegetable broth if you don't have cooking liquid).
4. Add half the onion and pepper mixture to the food processor and blend with the beans. (This makes them less likely to fall apart, but keeping half of the mixture intact makes them prettier.)
5. Dump the blended mixture into a bowl. Add the rest of the pepper/onion mixture and the tomato paste. Stir until everything is generally the same consistency and the sauce is well mixed.
6. Add the spices. You can be creative here--I love a good cumin-scented black bean burger and I eat it with avocado and salsa, but if you have liquid smoke or want to up the BBQ flavor and ditch the cumin, or whatever, really, feel free.
7. Add the breadcrumbs and cornmeal. Get your hands nice and dirty and mix it all together as if you are kneading bread.
8. Add the 2nd tablespoon of olive oil and mix again. If it seems dry, add more BBQ sauce, tomato paste, cooking liquid, or olive oil. (It doesn't really matter, just base it on what you want the burger to taste like. A good, fairly smooth salsa would be fantastic.) If you aren't vegan, I would highly recommend adding a beaten egg, but only because that's what most recipe books tell you to do.
9. When everything feels basically like raw hamburger meat (EWWW), start forming patties. I made mine about 1/3 an inch thick and about 4-5 inches across.
10. Cook over medium heat in a frying pan, flipping occasionally. Be careful when you flip them--if they are dry they might break apart.
11. Serve. We ate them on arepas (so Colombian of us!) with salsa or BBQ sauce or mustard or ketchup or... you get the idea.

Black bean burger on an arepa.



Warren is a fan.