Sempertex Balloon Convention Bogota Colombia

I have just returned from Bogota, Colombia from the second international balloon Congress. Sempertex Balloons sponsored the Convention, where Jan Iiams and I were the guess instructors. There were over 120 students eager to learn new and exciting balloon techniques and designs.

The students were divided into 2 groups. We taught the same class to each group in two different days. This was good because we were able to keep the size of the classes smaller.
My Español is no bueno. I did try and use as many Spanish words and phrases as I know. Thank goodness we had interpreters in the back of the class in a booth, and the students all were wearing headsets. Wearing headsets made things go much smoother.

When I was in teaching, I wondered if some of the words I used to describe techniques like “duplets” and “quads” would translate. In order to make sure the students understood everything, I would often look back at the translator and give her a thumbs up sign to confirm what I was saying was being translated.
The World Cup had just finished with an incredible performance of James Rodriguez that made him the Colombian’s Futból hero. The soccer’s fever gave me the idea to show them how to make a giant soccer ball. In the end, the class had a lot of fun playing with it while listening to Shakira’s song La La La.
I’m sure the hotel thought we all were a bit Loco, but at the same time we were enjoying all of the fun balloon decorations that spread out of the classroom into the hotel. The hotel staff was even muy feliz when it came time to popping all the balloons. All my hard work over the past 3 days,S inflation and creation was gone in what seemed like only a few seconds.
The whole trip was quit and adventure. I was truly honored to be included as the instructor to be with Jan Iiams. She is a leading educator in the balloon industry with a huge fan base, and I am grateful to be apart of the team.

Enjoy the video.