This post contains two stories in one. Though they happened on the same day, they are very different. I have separated them by many spaces.
Friday, when I arrived at school, the kids in my 7th grade class told me that a student's grandfather had died. The student did not seem particularly upset. It was sort of strange, so I said that it was terrible and went on into teaching class.
A couple class periods later, Marco asks me if I have class at 11:20am, to which I reply no, and then asks me if I would like to go with him, Ms. Lorena, and the seventh grade class to pay respects to the family. I say yes, of course.
The group of us walk to the student's house. There is a large Tecate tent outside, taking up the entire street, and chairs under it, with a mountain of pine needles spread out under them.
The door is open, and there are many people inside the first room as we enter, which I assume is the living room area, along with the casket, candles, a crucifix, and pine needles all over the floor.
Most people were sitting there quietly, just looking at the casket or the floor. Some were talking to each other. Nearly no one was crying. We spoke with the student's family, expressed condolences, and then sat and followed the cues of the others in the room.
After about 15 minutes, we got up and left, finding the students outside under the tent. Later, I was told, there would be a precession to the cemetery. We would go, I told them.
We met Marco and Ms. Lorena at her store and started walking toward the precession that had already begun. There was a truck with a clear casket display in the bed. There were many people (definitely over 50) and they were all in the street, taking up the entire way so not even a little red taxi could pass.
Though the it wasn't far away, it took about 20 minutes to get to our destination. When we got there, we saw a cemetery like none we'd seen before. Nearly all the deceased were in cement tombs, some stacked three high, and painted various colors. It was definitely more neat than creepy.
*Note: We don't have pictures because we thought it was kind of inappropriate to take our camera in this circumstance. Though, we have decided that we need to go on another, not so sad, occasion to take pictures.
We tried to see what was going on, but there were too many people. So, we walked over to Ms. Lorena's family's tomb and she told us a little about each one. Afterward, since we couldn't see anything, we walked back to the park, where we went our separate ways.
Later, we met at Doña Olga's house for a dinner she was hosting for the Literature Society.
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| The wall of antiques in the dining room. Outside is the porch. |
We were served chicken tamales, rice, chicken, refried beans, and salad.
The chicken tamales were different than what we were used to. They had many things in them, like olives, corn, meat, etc., and were cooked in green banana leaves instead of the corn husks we're used to. This made them very mushy, though it wasn't unpleasant.
After we ate, the people started arriving in groups. We helped greet and seat them, and then served them their food and drinks.
When they were done eating, these writers presented our Olgita with a certificate. I'm not sure what it was exactly, maybe an appreciation, but it seemed to be an honor for her.
All of this is for the 21st annual Juegos Florales. I'm not really sure what it's all about, but there was a sort of talent-type show that night, which followed our dinner.
The girls in the middle, wearing white shirts, are students that wrote very good poems. They were being recognized for their work, and the one on the right was given a flower, which I think means she won.
One of the main acts was a group of teachers from a public school. They danced and sang. Though they weren't very good, they were entertaining.
Then we saw an internationally renowned choir. They have traveled all over the world and won awards.
There were two soloist in this song, one of which was this guy. I do not know what he was saying, but his facials were enough for me to be entertained.
Then on Saturday, there was some other festivities that occurred near the park, including a parade and an appearance by guest of honor, José Francisco Saybe. We were invited, and almost went, but we missed the opportunity to take a shower when we got locked out of our apartment. Thus, we opted to keep our stink to ourselves and have a relaxing day at home.
The end.
