Being Jewish in Bogota

Hello everyone,

Making sure we are ready for the rain

It's been way too long since my last update and I'm going to have to focus on the big highlights or I'll never catch up. Work has been great, but the days are long. We leave at 6:30 to commence our 8 minute trek straight uphill to the school, which sits on a piece of land towering over all of Bogota; more like reigning over Bogota. We teach the elite of the elite and the symbolism of our physical presence over the city is not lost on me. The views are spectacular from almost every classroom. Although the day ends at 2:00, we are always in meetings or working till at least 3:30. Then the after school events start. The school has set up an amazing amount of activities for us, completely paid for. We have Spanish lessons twice a week, spinning, yoga, salsa and personal weight trainers on call. By the time we leave around 4:45, we are completely exhausted. My students are all super sweet and their worst offence is being chatty. With exception to my film and journalism classes, which are quite popular and therefore hover around 20 students, my classes are made up of 12 students or less. Gone are the days of classes with 36 students and the marking that comes with that! School, overall, is really great and I'm loving the faculty and students alike. 

Dominique , Ayla's teacher at preschool

Ayla in uniform

Now, onto the subject...

Ayla at her Hannukah concert

One of the questions we asked the director of our school, with trepidation, when we were offered the job here was about the Jewish population. We were surprised to find out that there was a small, but active population and that they tended to send their kids to our school. Ayla is still a year away from going to CNG, so we enrolled her the Lubavitch preschool run by the Chabad house. On her first day, we put her in her cute blue uniform and went downstairs to wait for the bus. When it arrived, we gave them her car seat and watched as they put Ayla in it without buckling her to it or it to the car. We were assured that they would do it at a later stop. HA!!! As my mommy horns came out, they quickly realized that Ayla needed to be buckled before they were going to drive anywhere. Safety standards are at the other end of the spectrum here from our North American hyper paranoia. I'm happy to compromise, but putting my daughter in a seat that will only catapult her further g-d forbid is beyond my flexibility. 

Making sure our kids still know how to clean

Ayla did arrive safely and has been buckled ever since. She loves preschool and asks to go every day. She comes home on Fridays with her own baked challah and her Spanish and Hebrew both seem to be developing. Her immersion in Spanish has created a very interesting reaction. She uses the odd words in Spanish and often pretends to speak a foreign language in fluent gibberish. At school, they say that she won't speak English because she knows that English is not what the other kids are speaking. Instead, she signs and comes up with other ways of communicating in her own creative ways. 

Ayla with Eva (one of our Jewish friends we
 met the first week in Bogota) 

ayla at Gan Lubavitch picnic outside of Bogota

One of the amazing parts about being Jewish in Bogota is that it seems that the whole community is so happy to have us here. There are only a little over 5000 Jews in Colombia compared to Canada's 370,000. Since arriving, we have been invited to Shabbat dinners almost every Friday, which has been a great opportunity to meet Colombians and of course have some amazing home cooked Jewish meals. One such meal was called Lomo Al trapo, which is a Colombian delicacy. We were hosted by the Silberman's for this beautiful meal which was a massive piece of the best cut of beef caked in salt, wrapped in wet cheese cloth and placed directly in the fire. It was so delicious that Naiya stayed up until 9:30 to eat it. 

Horse back riding at Gan picnic

Naiya soaking it in at the picnic

Enjoying the feeling of the grass

Daniel and girls at  Gan picnic

Our latest Shabbat dinner was at Rabbi Moti's house. He and his father direct the Lubavitch and Ashkinaze synagogue. It was my first time being in an Orthodox home, but our varying degrees of practice didn't seem to matter at his table full of laughter. His jokes always had a moral and he and his family were very welcoming to us. 

Ayla looking at pics of family abroad with Nini

Ironically, it feels like we have come to Bogota to find our inner Jew, as Daniel puts it. Not sure why it has worked out that way, but I guess when you travel far from home, you become thirsty for what you know. Before long, Ayla will be teaching us all the more intricate prayers and practices. As of now, she often breaks into the ha motzi and talks about Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year). 

Loving sistas

I'm also finding that being a Jewish teacher at our school is interesting. At our open house, I had an introduction that went something like "Mom, this is Mrs. Greenberg. She's Jewish!!!"  I've never quite had that happen before. For most of my Jewish students, I am the first Jewish teacher they've ever had. With Rosh Hashana around the corner, we are having an early celebration at our house with some Jewish friends we've made, so that my mother can be here to celebrate with us. This will be followed by dinner at our surrogate mother's house and then at a different Rabbi's house. 

Orthodox Wedding Veiling of Bride before ceremony

Unclear sentiments of Colombians towards Israel. For the most part they love Israel for all of the help the country has given them over the years, especially with battling their drug lords.

In the meantime, I have found myself immersed in a Holocaust unit in my grade 10 English class. We are reading Night and Maus and it has been a tough unit to move through. The kids are remarkably emotional about it all. I had a 16 year old boy crying in class the other day at the scene when the young Elie Wiesel thinks his father has been taken away at "selection." As a fairly recent mother, I am having a horrible time digesting it all and, in all honesty, can't wait for the unit to be over. In the meantime, we are going to have some camp survivors come to speak to my students. There are so few left and I was surprised to find any at all in Colombia, but there are some. 

Bela heller, Holocaust survivor Emily invited to speak to her class after studying "Night"

It has taken me a few weeks to finally finish writing this email. Between our 4:30 am wake ups (thanks to Naiya) and our full work days, I haven't had the energy for much. During this time, Naiya has begun to take her first couple steps. She is probably a week or 2 away from fully walking. She just turned 10 months the other day. Ayla is thriving and the Spanish is starting to come out in very entertaining ways. Apart from her made up language that is full of Spanish sounds, she counts to 20 in Spanish and often says, aqui, aca and aqua por favor. The other day I was reading her a story in Spanish and she said, "mommy, don't speak Spanish, just talk!" 

Cuddle time with nini

Loving her Nini

On that note, I'm done talking. 

Until next time:)

Missing you all,

Emily