Today at the orphanage was pretty uneventful with only 7 babies to take care of today versus the usual 11 or 12. I think we made it a WHOLE HOUR without wailing. Success! Another development of the day was that the girls/mamas there are getting more comfortable around me now that they realize I'm here for a while. Today was filled with questions like "What color are your eyes?" "Where are you from?" "What size are your feet?" and anything alse that popped into their heads. For 12-17 year old mothers, they are very inquisitive. I came home to yet another birthday preparation in full swing. The aunt and church friend were over to help cook and get Mama stocked up on more tamales and with all the extra hands I got an afternoon of playing cards with the youngest once again. (I'm getting really good at "your turn" and "what do you want to play?" at this point.) I won't complain because the card games usually help get homework done as a little incentive and today that was much needed. Helping with any kind of homework is what I've come to look forward to. Yes. I know. I finally get away from school and I'm still teaching/learning. Yet another reason I am so excited to start teaching in a little over a year! When we needed a card break (OK, when *I* needed a card break...) I went on a little adventure with the middle sister on their scooter. Considering she is only 12 and I had never ridden one, my heart got its workout for today, but we made it to the bakery XelaPan to buy the birthday cake and back without incident. On this little adventure, I got to see another part of Xela and some spectacular views of the valley we're in! I don't know how I'm going to like the Plains when I get back. Came back to a busy kitchen, more cards, and more homework. Cake was delicious. I'm learning more everyday and couldn't ask for more!
0 Comments
It's been a while since I last wrote, but it's been a lot of routine lately. Yesterday had a bit of excitement though! We had a birthday party for Papa to celebrate his big 4-0 at their church service where he is the pastor. Yesterday afternoon, I came home from church to a bunch of curling irons, straighteners, and hairspray. It was quite the event with 6 girls in the house getting ready for the big event. Mama, the kids, and I arrived at the church early to put up flowers, get the cake out, etc. or the surprise celebration. (This time, I made sure to take pictures so check them out below!) Papa came into the church to a round of applause and his whole congregation greeting him. The Evangelical service was conducted with lots of worship music and readings then the birthday portion of the celebration was kicked off with what else but a Mariachi! The entire congregation lined up to take their turn wishing Papa a happy birthday and present their various gifts. A meal followed where friends and family just enjoyed the passing of another milestone in a community member's life. It's not everyday that someone turns 40 after all. Everyone helped clean up afterwards and enjoy watching Papa open the many gifts that were presented earlier in the evening. I was honored to share in the celebration and everyone made me feel welcome, especially a little girl around 6 years old named Madeline that would not leave my side. I don't know why she found me so exciting because I could not understand half of what she said due to the slight lisp and speed, but she was eager to introduce me to everyone there it felt like. Man! For a college student that's been banished to a college campus for the past two and a half years, all the kids and babies here make the days exciting! This week we are also celebrating another birthday in the house and I cannot wait for the lasagna that Mama is making for that one. Yum! I do like rice, beans, veggies, and eggs, but sometimes I miss the saucy, cheesy goodness from home. So we were sitting down for lunch today and Papa brings a pot in the door telling Mama that the meat is ready and just needs to be heated up. I thought this was weird since we already had served lunch and it was a well-rounded meal, but I just let it be. If Papa wants his pot of meat, he can have it. I was drinking my coffee after finishing my lunch since the house gets pretty cold without any climate control and Papa kept asking me if I wanted any of his "special meat". "It tastes just like chicken!" he would say. I kept responding "no thank you" but he was very persistent. After the fourth or fifth time Papa asked me, Mama clued me in as to why he was being so persistent.
Remember the opossum from a couple days ago? Yup! Mr. Opossum was sitting on the stove covered in peppers, tomatoes, and other goodness. But don't worrying! Papa made sure to reassure me he kept the tail! Sadly, I could not make myself try the critter, but this was just another demonstration of how nothing goes to waste here. Piranha and opossum in one week? Who would have though! New Experience for the Day: Piranha
Today I came home from volunteering to a busy kitchen. Mama's friend from tamale day was back and this time it was tortillas on the menu! Unfortunately I did not press tortillas for today's lunch but I can shred a mean salad. Today's menu was salad, pasta, tortillas, and PIRANHA. Head and all! When all was said and done, I couldn't tell the difference between piranha and the good ol' sunnies fro home, but I can now say that I have eaten a fish not found in the US! Today was a day of sharing. And I shared the wonderful recipe of monkey bread with my family here. The cinnamon, caramel pull-apart sugary goodness. If you have never experienced monkey bread do yourself a favor and take a few seconds to do a google search!! One difference here is that they don't have biscuit dough in the store so we had to go back to basics and make our own from scratch and I am never going back. The two sisters had a blast helping out even if there was a bit of excess cleaning to be done afterwards, but they thought it was the best thing ever. It was a little iffy there since I have never made a biscuit in my life but we made it to the oven and it turned out heavenly! El Pan de Mono is definitely making another appearance in Guatemala before I leave. For those of you in the Midwest, I thought of you today walking home in 70° weather here. I may have had class today, but the sun makes it worth it! XD This weekend Mama said we had a church event on Sunday that they wanted me to join in on. At breakfast the only information I got was that I needed to wear a skirt, so at 10am I sat in the car waiting to get to our destination. Turns out today I would get to experience a Guatemalan Quinceñera or Fiesta de Quince Años! A Quinceñera is a celebration of a girl's 15th birthday. It includes a church service, followed by a meal and party that goes into the night.
Since Papa is a pastor, he preached at the service and I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoyed his sermon on the importance of family and hope I can hear him preach more in the coming weeks. At the church, everyone was dressed in the traditional dress consisting of calf-length skirts along with patterned and beaded shirts and possibly a colorful apron. (Sorry I did not get any pictures! I thought we would be going to church, so didn't bring my phone.) After the processions of friends and family, purity vows, and music, everyone drove to what I assume was the girl's house for a meal. The entire family had prepared tamales, fried chicken, rice, and veggie salad. One falls in love with how simple and wholesome the food is here. After the meal, the family and I left, but all the guests are probably still partying and having a good time as the party goes on into the night. Overall, today was a show of how family comes together to support one another and celebrate. Even though I was the only one with light brown hair and a whole head taller than most of the guests today, I felt like a part of the celebration and shared in the joy of someone in the community overcoming a milestone and taking their next step in life. Today was a pretty uneventful day and I was debating whether or not it was "post worthy" until the family was just sitting down for dinner and the neighbor started calling Papa's name through the door. The neighbor had found a HUGE "rat" in his store and didn't know how to get rid of it. Papa came back with a picture of it and it wasn't a rat at all but a small opossum! So of course with this new source of entertainment the whole family went outside after the police had showed up and caught it. Yes, the police. No shotgun rodent control in Xela. I guess for a city a opossum might be more of a big deal, but I couldn't help thinking how small he was in comparison to those in the Midwest. At the end of the night, the police were nice enough to take a few pictures for me (Dad, I know you would want proof. See below) then tied it up nice and neat in a box to release up on the mountain tonight and they were off. Just a little taste of home here in Xela :) Finally feel almost back to normal after being sick since last Saturday. Volunteering made me feel loved. Spanish class made me feel like I can actually tell the story of "La Caperucita Roja" (Little Red Riding Hood) with the correct verb tenses. Oh, and it RAINED today!!
Today I feel like I finally got into a groove at the orphanage. The girls are definitely getting used to me after I've been there for almost 2 weeks. The topping on the cake was when the little boy who ran in the other direction screaming from me on my first day was by my side almost the entire day babbling to me and trying to "help" me with the other kids. :) Spanish class was more of reminding me how much my vocabulary has shrunk since my last Spanish class I took a year ago. Oops! But thankfully my instructor is VERY patient. Exciting event for today: TAMALES!! Mama usually buys tamales because she says they are a lot of work, but today was different. I come home from the orphanage to corn husks and corn meal covering the dining table. I won't say I "made" tamales but we wrapped a big kettle full. So I can do one step on the process. Because of the time-consuming process, Mama had her mother-in-law, a friend from church, and even Papa helped out today with shucking the corn cobs, separating and grinding the kernels, making the paste, soaking the shucks, and finally wrapping and steaming the tamales. It was definitely worth it and now we have a wash basket of tamales just sitting in the kitchen! Yummmmmm! So, today was more of the same. Volunteered for the morning, ate, went to class, came home and here we are. With not a lot to talk about my day just a few thoughts about some differences here.
On my way home from class today I stopped quickly at a shop and as I was paying for my item there was one other person in the shop and she couldn't stop staring at me while I bought laundry detergent. It didn't feel aggressive, but it was definitely a new experience to be the one person who did not fit the mold of "normal" for this area. My hair is not black. My skin doesn't look permanently bronzed. My accent is probably very noticeable. In rural Minnesota, there would probably be 10 other women in Walmart that are taller than 5'7" with light brown hair and non-brown eyes. The difference between Minnesota and Guatemala is that they are much more accepting of "different" as far as I have experienced. I have never felt ostracized because of how I look here. I don't know if this is normal for foreigners here or if I've just been lucky, but so far so good! |
Liesel Theusch
|