A full week has passed--full of classes, meetings, trips to various places, different languages and new faces. This weekend was pretty crazy too. We started it off with 8 am Spanish class with our teacher, Elvira, a lively woman from Antigua. All five of us, Rebecca, Sam, Chepe (Joe), and Elvira shared our pictures of friends and family, helping to give another perspective of who we are as individuals.
After classes, I helped with lunch in the kitchen. We had a big stew of vegetables, chicken ( not me), rice, tortillas, and avocado. Delicious! It seemed that it wasn’t too much longer when Dona Susana was asking me if I wanted to eat again--this time the corn that she forgot to serve, sweet bread, and tea. I talked with her sister, Maria, and the too of them kept complimenting my hair and talking about how fair my eyelashes were--”iQue Canchita!” Then Dona Susana asked me if I wanted to go to a funeral with her. The anthropoloigst in me jumped and I ended up getting myself ready to attend the funeral of …well I’m still not sure who, but she lived in Pueblo Nuevo, the next town over.
We took the camioneta to the funeral, which was being held in a courtyard of sorts next to the church. We first greeted one of the women who was a daughter of the lady who died. I realized then that it was a bit odd that some tall, redheaded, white girl showed up to pay her condolences. We walked into a large dirt courtyard where Dona Susana was greeted by a few people. We continued walking up stairs to another area, and then the last, which was a tiled platform, well-lit, covered in bouquets of flowers in large cans as ominously burning candles nearly burned the imposing flower arrangments. In the middle of it was a pastel colored coffin with silver angles on the corner. Below the coffin was a painting of a saint or virgen and some ribbon crosses. We sat on the chairs that bordered the small room and got up to greeat the women who were mourning. One of them squeezed me tight, sadly whispering “Muchas gracias,” extending the hug longer than expected. Dona Susana and I sat there for awhile with conversation drifting in and out--most interesting landing on the man who was fast asleep and starting to lean on one of the other women in the area. “What a good sleeper!” “And such a nice pillow!” I couldn’t help but laugh. Apparently he goes to all the funerals. I asked if he normally sleeps through all of them too. Yup!
Saturday was an interesting mix, and Sunday proved to make the weekend even better! I slept in since I didn’t have class. I guess 7:30 seems indulgent when you have to wake up at 5:40 to catch the bus. Everything’s perspective! We had a big breakfast of French toast, more breads, and beans. After all, what’s a meal without beans?! I spent some time doing homework and playing guitar on the roof and then came downstairs to help cook in the kitchen. I had forgotten that we were having all of the kids’ godparents come. As I helped chop, mush, and grind, some attendees arrived--Maria Ines and Lucia Ines. Then came a whole slew of new people--ls just say I felt a bit awkward! Luckily, Yansy, took an interest in me, asking me questions and telling me about Guatemala. After we had already had our massive Sunday feast--Yansy’s family was going down the street to visit Rebecca’s host family so I decided to hop along. It was nice to speak English for a bit and share stories of our weekends. We chatted with Rebecca’s host family and drank some hot chocolate--darker and grainier than our version in the U.S.. After visiting there, we stopped by another house on the street where I ended up meeting some of my neighbors. Dona Susana was pleased to have me back, and I felt like my confidence had been renewed after meeting and talking with all these new people.
After spending some time helping Brenda, my host sister, dry dishes in the kitchen, Dona Susana called me outside because she wanted to show me something. I looked up to see her pull a full chicken out of a pot. She was about to de-feather it and prepare it for Dona Matilde. I laughed in surprise for a while as she told me to sit down. “Your first time?” How’d she know?! When I strated to ask questions about what it was like, I ende dup plucking some feathers myself. Then she showed me how to burn the rest off, cut the nails, chop the legs off, separate the head with the blood intact (Dona Matilde wanted it that way), and pull the gusts out. “This is useless,.” she said about one sack of guts. The latter part of this happened next to me as I ate my dessert and more hot chocolate. In all honestly, it was definitely the highlight of my weekend! At that point in the evening, I had chatted with almost everybody, smiled at jokes, laughed at the two (almost) three years dancing and hitting the pinata, and helped clean up. By the time everyone left, I felt a lot more connected to the family and very lucky to have been welcomed into such a clan. iQue suerte!
