Cena de Navidad

Feliz Navidad a todos!

We Wish You A Merry Christmas

‘Tis the season- I love Christmas time, not just Christmas day, but the preparations before as well. It is always hard to be away from home this time of year… be forewarned, next year I will probably be extra-Christmassy to make up for it! But of course Christmas is here too. (Although in the middle of a bright sunny afternoon, it doesn’t seem especially Christmassy.)

For the last few weeks we have been getting ready for Christmas. This Friday we will have a Christmas dinner with patronato and the students’ parents. In preparation for this we are rehearsing some Christmas songs! This has been a lot of fun. One of the students brought in a keyboard for us to borrow. Just being able to play and sing is such a blessing for me! We are singing two songs in Spanish and one in English. It’s been interesting working with everyone as most of them are not really used to singing… or they’re more used to the make-a-joyful-noise kind of singing that tends to have an extremely limited vocal range. So, let’s just say that rehearsal is needed. :) And one song we are even singing with parts. If you’re thinking that that sounds overly ambitious for a group of students who don’t read music, I would agree. It was Agustin’s idea- haha. But actually the boys who are singing tenor and the girls who are singing alto are able to sing those parts better than they can the melody. Either way we are making a joyful noise, and hopefully working its way towards being musical.

I was surprised by how excited the students were to sing something in English. The song we chose is We Wish You a Merry Christmas, which as you know, is quite catchy and I love hearing people singing it throughout the day! Also, having the keyboard attracts plenty of curiosity and there are now a few girls who can play part of Jingle Bells and one who plays We Wish You a Merry Christmas. No wonder it’s stuck in everyone’s heads! Have I mentioned how much I love having music in the house?!

Besides singing, the house is decorated, complete with a Christmas tree. In the hills of Oaxaca, there are trees, it’s not just cactus! The most common is ocote, which looks like a pine to me. But there is also a type of cedar, and that is what we went in search of. I went with one of students in search of a perfect Christmas tree armed with… a machete. This brought me no end of joy, knowing that we would be chopping down a tree with a machete. However, I didn’t say anything, knowing that no one else here would think that it was funny. What else would they use? Anyways, we went up the hill hoping to find more cedar trees, and found one just as the sun was beginning to set. Actually it was a pretty tall tree, so Isai scurried up the tree and hacked off the top.

We returned triumphantly and gathered everyone to decorate. I was hoping for a festive atmosphere and I brought my laptop down to play some Christmas music. Unfortunately, I keep forgetting to add Christmas music, and my list ended fairly quickly. I played some English music which to me felt both homey and somehow Christmassy. Eventually, I changed it to Spanish music- and one girl promptly exclaimed, “Ah, I’m back in my own world!” A big thanks to my students who allowed me to be in “my world” for a little while.

Making decorations

All decorated

There's some lichen on our Christmas tree...

Note to self: Don't forget to unplug the Christmas lights before taking a shower.

Caravan to Tatoxcac

About a week ago I went along on a caravan to a clinic in Tatoxcac. The clinic is owned by the Methodist church and 3 or 4 times a year they set up these caravans. Medical teams from the US come with doctors, nurses and medicine. Mexican doctors, dentists and many other volunteers all help to put together 3-4 days of free medical care and medicine. It’s pretty cool. (You can read more about it here.)
I was invited along to help with translating. Unfortunately, the American doctors who had planned to go ended up cancelling. Since there wasn’t as big a need for translating, I spent most of the time in the “pharmacy” filling orders for American medicine and counting out vitamins. I guess it was probably good to have someone in there who spoke Spanish though. In general, it felt good to be a part of something that was such a direct help to people. And it was clear that these were people who were definitely in need.

Tatoxcac is in the mountains as well, but on the opposite side of Puebla. Driving up the winding road, the hillsides became greener and greener and soon we were in the clouds. Although Tlaxiaco does have trees, it is a lot drier than Tatoxcac. In fact, the first morning we woke up to rain and it kept raining until the last morning we were there. One afternoon a few of us went to the nearby town of Zacapoaxtla to get supplies and see the town. Except it was so foggy, we could only see what was directly in front of us! Hence no pictures of Zacapoaxtla. It was pretty much quintessential western Washington weather, not something I would complain about! However, considering that none of the buildings had heat, it wasn’t as comfortable as being at home. (Most buildings in Mexico do not have heat, they are designed to stay cool in the summer, not to stay warm in the winter. In the places where it does get cold, people just stick it out for a couple cold months.)

I also really enjoyed spending time with the mission group from California. They were all very nice, friendly and when it comes down to it, kindred spirits- fellow Methodists from the west coast, on a mission trip. Plus they speak English. With the exception of my English classes and an occasional phone call from my mom, I am always speaking in Spanish. So, this was nice to be able to talk more freely, and be more of a participant in the conversations. Not only that, but I had the best of both worlds being able to be a part of both Spanish and English conversations. I actually felt like I had an advantage in my language skills instead of always comparing my Spanish to native Spanish-speakers. Definitely a nice change!

The whole team

Patients lined up in the morning waiting for the doors to open.

A full waiting room

Keeping busy during the wait

Sceening in patients

Future volunteer

The dentist, checking over the tools and supplies.

A boy at the clinic receiving a respitory treatment

Our cooks

The Methodist church of Tatoxcac

I am the way, the truth, and the life...

Just when all churches were beginning to look the same to me...

I found this Catholic church.

And a flower picture, just because.

Acá en Mexico, todo es posible

Here in Mexico, everything is possible. This is what Agustin says every time he drives down the wrong side of the road. At first he seemed to be looking for a reaction from me, but having lived in Colombia for almost a year, driving down the wrong side of the road for short periods of time just isn’t that weird to me. Driving in reverse downtown makes me much more nervous! Mexico, like many other countries in the world, simply isn’t as structured as the US. And in a way it does make it so that todo es posible…

About a month or so ago the town had a bunch of festivities including parades, floats and fireworks. We went in to watch the fireworks and it was rather… exciting…. They had built these wooden towers with all kinds of fireworks attached. They were designed so that when they went off you would see different shapes and words attached to wheels that would spin. Mostly it was a chain reaction kind of deal, but there were a few times where (to me anyways!) it looked like a stray firework set off something on a different tower. And to light the top towards the end of the show, a guy climbed all the way up there- while there were still fireworks going off! I know because we were standing VERY close to all of the action. We were standing behind the show, with a good view point of the stands of something Roman-Candle-like that were shot off in a variety of directions. (Did I mention there were trees next to us, too?) By the time it came to the finale, everyone involuntarily backed up because of all the noise, light, as well as the ash and sparks that were landing on everyone. It was crazy! I tried to take a video, but it didn’t really capture the effect.

Before the main firework show, we saw some wooden bulls with fireworks attached sitting next to us. Soon people came over, picked them up and put them on kind of like a giant mask. And then they lit the fireworks and ran around.

Obviously, none of this would have gone down in the US! It’s part of what makes living in another country so interesting. And also gives me a new appreciation for safety regulations.

Only a small part of the whole production.

All ready to go...

The beginning of a parade the next afternoon.

Micheal Jackson?

Just one of the intricate floats

The other half of this float was a crucifixion scene.

What were these festivities about, again?

Some tigers came to visit as well.

This bike was parked in front of the church Sunday morning.

Not quite sure why the shovel was needed, but hey, todo es posible....

A homemade Chia pet.

Work Party

This Saturday we had another work party. This time it was to piscar, or pick, corn and also to start on painting the outside of the house. Family members arrived to help with their own basket and a nail to open up the corn husk. It was amazing to me that a whole crew of over 20 people could disappear in the corn field. Walking along the edge of the field, all you could hear was rustling, which didn’t sound that different than just hearing the wind rustle the dry leaves. It made me think of that one Mel Gibson movie with the aliens in the cornfield. It looks so innocent, right? But what’s really in there….?

Agustin asked me to take pictures, so I got to play photographer again. I also did want to help with the painting, but first I had to wait while someone went on a run to the store to buy some more brushes and rollers, and then people kept taking the one roll of masking tape and asking to borrow the paint brush I was using. So, I can’t say I did very much. But I did take pictures!

Into the cornfield they go...

You can't tell, but at this point there are about 25 people in the cornfield.

The corn will be used for making tortillas.

"This corn is for eating... see?"

Preparing to paint

Father and son bonding time

That's a lot of corn!