Quince - Independence Day

So if I haven't mentioned it before, September 15th ("Quince") is the biggest non-religious holiday of the year in Guatemala because it is their Independence Day. The schools have weeks of activities preparing for it, which means I haven't worked since August. I have gone to events at the schools, but haven't done anything that relates to my program at all. It all culminated on Wednesday, and I thought I would be going back to work today, but as it turns out, there is no school today so that the teachers can rest after the parties. This gives me an opportunity to write about all the stuff that happened this week.

On Monday I went to a school, and they did what I now consider to be "normal" Quince activities. Some kids bring in the flag, the national anthem (which is incredibly long) is sung, and then the flag is taken away. Then there are a bunch of performances by groups of kids, including dances, poems, songs, etc. A bunch of diplomas are given out to the participants. Then it ends with some words of thanks. So after that explanation I can say that I also went to a school on Tuesday, and it was pretty much the same, except there was a parrot in the audience, which I thought was really weird, so I took pictures of it.

So then for the actual Quince... In the morning I walked in a parade of all the urban schools, which means every public and private elementary, middle, and high school with all their students. That added up to probably around 2000 people, maybe more, and I walked with a middle school that I sometime visit in the afternoons. It was a good opportunity for the community to see that I am a part of the education system, because there were thousands of people lining the streets to watch the parade, and I kind of stand out in groups in Guatemala... The parade ended in the park and then there was the series of activities that I described in the previous paragraph, but with many more speeches mixed in. The event ended with some dances, and most people went home for lunch. Then in the evening there were more speeches, and then a live band came out and started playing the 7 popular songs that play here, over and over, starting with, "En Cambio Tu."

Now I need to describe a phenomenon that I find very bizarre. For some reason, despite their Latino nature, when listening to music, Guatemalans either are dancing in a pair, or are standing completely still. We're talking: no head bobbing, no foot tapping, no body swaying, nothing. It's like movement is banned unless it's being done in a pair. So when the band started playing, no one in the crowd moved at all, they all just stood in a group and stared up at the band. In the meantime, we crazy Gringos were standing in the back nodding our heads, occasionally doing a random dance move, and generally letting the rhythm get us... We proceeded to have a really fun night that included dancing all around the main park with plenty of people staring at us. It was one of the most fun times I've had in Guatemala so far.

A month of happenings

Hello everyone. I know it's been over a month, sorry. I had a few troubles in August, and I didn't want to write blog entries when I was in a bad mood because I didn't feel like I would accurately portray my life here. Now those times seem to be behind me, and I'm back. So some of the weird things that I have seen in the last month.

I went to a queen of the school competition at an elementary school (they asked me to be a judge, but I declined on the basis of cultural and language confusion) that was actually pretty normal for Guatemala. One student from each grade gets all dressed up and parades around. There are several stages including dance, walking around, and more walking around. If it had been up to me the kindergartener would have won for being the cutest little girl in the history of those competitions, all shy and dressed in traditional Guatemalan "traje." That's why I wasn't a judge...

The next day a different school was doing a dance competition, which was much more, um, different, than the previous day's competition. Each grade had choreographed a dance for a few of their students that they performed in front of the rest of the school. I would have expected to once again vote for the kindergarteners, but they did something strange. I'm sure it wasn't their idea, but they danced to the Shakira song that she wrote for the World Cup. Apparently their teacher thought they would best represent this song if the dancers all had their faces painted black to represent the Africans... There was one girl who didn't have black face makeup, but she was representing Shakira (long, curly, blonde hair, possibly a wig, but there are a few blonde children around here...). They sort of danced, as much as you can expect 6-year-olds to dance in front of a crowd of people, but I was too distracted by their makeup to think they were particularly cute. I figured the 1st graders would then take my vote by being the next-smallest group, but they too had been given a strange dance. They were mostly girls, all dressed in really short skirts, shirts that showed their bellies, and lots of makeup. They danced to a Spanish R&B song, and they gyrated and moved in pretty sexually provocative ways, which considering that they were mostly 7 & 8-years-old, made me feel uncomfortable for them. Not that this is abnormal in America, but I still don't like it... Then the 2nd graders... Another R&B song. This time, mostly girls, but two boys dressed as thugs and danced like thugs for the whole song. Backwards hats, baggy pants, all they needed were big, gold chains and they would have been the complete picture. The girls were dancing separately from the boys, first in a wide line facing the audience, but then they formed a single line front to back. Unfortunately there wasn't enough space for them where they were dancing, so the girl in the back kept getting smashed into the wall. I was basically just sitting with my jaw dropped for each performance, and then scribbling notes in my notebook for this blog entry. The older kids didn't do things that were strange, at least not for Guatemala. Dancing to "ranchero" music in cowboy hats and boots. That's pretty much it. The 6th graders won for including choreographed removal of their hats in their dances...

That's all for now. I'll write more about August soon. I'm going to be bored this week I think...