School´s Out for Summer!

Unlike in the U.S. the Guatemalan school year ended last week with the end of October.  This is simultaneously a relief and yet complete panic.  What the hell am I going to do with my time?  Luckily (or sadistically—I’ll get back to you on that) I tend to over plan and I have a ton of activities lined up.  Before I get into that thought, the week before last involved meeting with parents about my all girls sleep away self-esteem camp, playing a ton of games with the kids there, attending several graduations, and oh yea…winning a dance contest in front of 150 teachers.    

HIGHLIGHTS

Monday: The parents meeting went well and 5 out of 7 girls will be attending.  The number is slowly climbing but still quite low.  I still have a lot to plan and I think I might change the time frame.  After the meeting silly old me said, ‘’Yea, I play soccer.’’  Using this term far too loosely the kids told me not to be afraid of the ball as I sweated and ran across the field.  At least it was fun.

Tuesday: Kindergarten graduation (more or less).  I was invited to a pre-kinder/kinder graduation in which the kids put on a play, accepted gifts, and looked unbelievably cute.  After the graduation we stopped for some good old barbecue where the ladies argued over who would receive my meat.  Apparently being a vegetarian is a good move for making friends.  We joked around for a while and I laughed really loudly at an inappropriate joke to the delight/surprise of my fellow teachers.  It was funny!  When I mentioned the possibility of camping out in the local municipal park, they got really excited—something else to look forward to!  Since it was the last week of school, the teachers had to send in their grades and other information via confusing forms on the computer and ridiculous requirements for printing that were in English mind you!  What does that mean?  ‘’Meri, are you really busy this afternoon?’’  I did not leave until 7:30 that night.  We pretty much just hung out trying to figure out these forms to no avail until one of the seños called her husband who is also a teacher.  He fixed it in under 5 min. OMG.

Thursday:  I was invited to another graduation at the same school, but this time for the kids leaving sixth grade.  It began with a mass, followed by a lovely ceremony, pictures on the rooftop of all the teachers, and a really delicious meal provided by the parents.   There might have also been a few toasts in there.  Unfortunately, I had to leave the party early and head to another graduation in the neighboring community.  On the way to the other school I couldn´t stop grinning: life is so funny and so great!  I showed up to the second graduation, poorly presented myself in K'iche (Mayan language), and butchered some poor kids names as I handed out their diplomas--all of this to much laughter.  I have discovered that the key to being a good PCV is being able to repeatedly and willingly make a fool of yourself.  I seem to be pretty good at that.

Monday: Cierre de Labores.  This event is the official close to the school year.  All of the teachers come and socialize and then select a board of representatives that will plan all of the incoming year´s activities.  I enjoyed greeting all of the teachers and chatting in between activities.  All was fine until I was chosen as a participant.  I was purposely avoiding the gaze of the MC until he shouted something along the lines of ´´Hey, you!  Blondie!´´  So I guess he was pointing to me afterall.  I asked the participant what the activity was: a partner dance contest.  WHAT.  My partner was ´´Profe.  Chino,´´ one of the only people around my height so I guess you could call me lucky.  All of the teachers got in two large lines and the 4 pairs of us danced in between the 150 remaining coworkers.  People cheered me on, clapped, and gave helpful hints such as ''move your hips more,'' as I laughed my way through the unfamiliar changing songs.  Needless to say it was a landslide win.  And for my troubles?  I won three ballpoint pens and a notebook that says ''Nature World''--in English of course.  

Forget Halloween! (ok I don´t really mean that but...)

It was ten o’clock on Halloween and the lights were already out.  I would be asleep in mere seconds.  Why?  Well, for several reasons one of which is that they don’t celebrate Halloween here, but rather, All Saints Day.  At 4:45 Nov. 1st, my alarm sounded.  Then it sounded again ten minutes later then again…anyways the point is that I arrived at my friend, Andrea’s house a little after five a.m. where her five-year old son was anxiously awaiting our departure to…the cemetery!  We gathered the flowers, tissue-paper chains we had made a few hours earlier, and some other decorations.  Heading down a rocky path until we met the equally dark street, we were ironically greeted by hanging lights in the walkway to the cemetery.  Vendors had long since been established, preparing food since god knows when.  When they offered us an array of snakes, Andrea replied back, ‘’It’s not time to eat yet!’’ 

In the dark of early morning we meandered to the graves of her family members, and began to make flower arrangements using the empty paint cans that littered the cemetery as vases.    We covered the graves in pine needles, carefully created flower petal crosses, and placed colorful tissue-paper chains and scraps on the graves and plants.

Needless to say, Guatemalan cemeteries are quite different from those in the U.S. as many of the dead are buried above ground in what is more or less brightly painted cement block boxes.  Adding to all the color, on All Saints Day people adorn the graves with flowers, wreaths, decorations, and also often leave offerings in the forms of meals.  When I mentioned how U.S. cemeteries are far more somber than those in Guatemala, Andrea’s mom, Amparo contested, “But you have grass there!  That’s beautiful!”  

As we rested a little bit, a few girls who are my friend Rosa’s nieces came up to greet me.  I had passed by their house the evening before, and they had warmly invited me in.  Their mom and dad motioned for me to join them, ‘’Meri, are you going to help us make ‘’pan de elote’’(cornbread)?’’   I hadn’t been in their house since Semana Santa (Holy Week) when I ‘’helped’’ (I’ll use the term loosely) make the special bread for Semana Santa.  I came in and chatted for a while and Marcelino, Rosa’s brother and the baker, invited me to go into the kitchen to watch his daughters make Fiambre, the typical dish for Día de los Santos.  Fiambre is literally composed of everything in the fridge—beats, carrots, green beans, hot dogs, beef, chicken, peas, sausage, cold cuts, dried cheese, picaya, lettuce, hard boiled eggs, etc.  While I thought I was about to leave, Doña Norberta offered me a seat to chat awhile.  As we discussed cultural differences between Dia de los Santos and Halloween, a bunch of people came into the house to buy bread.  One of their ten daughters (who I always confuse with her sisters—they honestly look soo much alike!) invited me back into the kitchen to help with the fiambre.  As I was about to help her peel and cut the beets, she asked me,  ‘’Are you sure you don’t have something else to do?’’   My internal monologue went something like this, ‘’Yes, very sure.  Dying of boredom in my house since Friday morning actually.  This has by far been the highlight of my day.’’   Then I laughed out loud and explained how living alone can be pretty boring, something that she has never had the misfortune/opportunity to experience due to her brother and 9 other sisters. 

The next day, I returned to that family’s house to buy some more pan de elote.  The daughter who I had spent the evening before with was delighted and brought forth a huge dish of fiambre for me to take home.  ‘’Don’t worry, Meri.  It’s not that much meat—mostly vegetables.  You can just eat what you want.’’ 

I have never seen so much meat in my life.  I ate all the vegetables and tried but failed to eat the meat.  I just couldn’t do it.  I ended up sharing my feast with the dogs, but not before allowing the cold-cut/hotdog odor to invade my house.  Happy holidays.