Sunday Snapshot: Día de Patria

Well, I have to say that choosing photos for this Sunday Snapshot may be one of the most difficult tasks I've faced since arriving here... ;) We have so many photos from the weekends' festivities!

Even though Independence Day is the 15th, the real celebrations began the afternoon of the 14th. We spent Friday afternoon/evening with Central. We spent Saturday morning with Cooperativa, and then returned to Central for lunch and more festivities! I'll do my best to weave together a fairly concise story of Friday & Saturday.

First, the stage we helped decorate at Central Friday afternoon. They actually built the whole thing Thursday. Super impressive!

So. Much. Glue.

 Throughout Friday (and Saturday), there was a steady stream of Marimba:

The Marimba is a typical Mayan instrument

The evening began with the Básico (middle school) students running in with torches. Similar occurrences happened all evening... We never figured out the story behind it, but nonetheless it is an Independence Day tradition.

The school selects a few "niñas" (girl) or "señoritas" to represent them. The classes of the selected candidates put together a dance, usually Mayan-based, to present the niña to the community. Below is an example of such a presentation. The niña was in the middle placing the apples in the shape of a cross.

After the presentation of the niñas, groups of students do additional presentations. These include dances or fake singing/playing instruments. However, one group of the oh-so-cool 8th grade boys actually had their lead man sing for real. I won't forget that moment... and I'll make sure they won't forget it either ;)

Fast forward to Saturday morning. We participated in a parade with Cooperativa, which began up in the mountains.

We paraded to the school, where each class did a short presentation. The ranged from typical Mayan to intense modern choreography:

The 2nd graders each held the Mayan numerals while wearing traje tipico.

Meanwhile, the 9th graders wowed us all with their many stunts!

 After watching the presentations and enjoying a delicious snack, we headed back to Central. Only minutes after arriving, Bayron the PE teacher at both schools put Jess on the spot and asked her to say a few words.

She was a good sport :)

 We arrived in time to see the last two performances from the 7th graders. Fortunately, our básico kids did a few stunts of their own.

We enjoyed a nice lunch with the Padres de Familia (PTA) and spent the rest of the afternoon sweating and watching lots of soccer games. 

All in all, it was an amazing experience! We are thankful to both Central and Cooperativa for being so welcoming and inviting!

Happy Independence Day from the MPI-G team!

Sunday Snapshot: Desfile!

As you read in Ja's previous post, it's the Sololá feria this week. Nicole and Ja already participated in a parade (desfile) on Wednesday, but all of us at MPI-G participated in one with Central Primario today! We had a great time, even if it meant getting up at 6:30 this morning.

One of the cool stunts the kids did.

My favorite: the kids formed bicycles. 

Enjoying time with the teachers after the parade.

The MPI-G team posing with our hand-made (ghetto) hoops... 

Truly, the Principal of the school basically asked us why our aros (hoops) were done the way they were. I'm still not sure if he was just kidding around, or if he was serious... Regardless, they got the job done and we had some fun :)

Básico Parade in Sololá

Hey everyone! My name is Ja Lee and I will be one of the new Guate Program Directors for the 2012-2013 year! Just a brief intro about myself: I recently graduated this May from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill with degrees in Biology and Spanish. Throughout my time in undergrad, I've participated in various trips to Central/South America and fell in love with such experiences because of the insight that I personally gained about the world and myself in the process. Previously, I was a summer intern with MPI at the Ecuador site in 2010 & led an Alternative Spring Break trip down to the Nica site this past March.

It has been whirlwind of adventures ever since we got down here after orientation mid-July!  I personally feel like it has been longer than 3 weeks because of the amount of knowledge we've gained as well as the personal relationships we've fostered with the members of the community we work in. We're slowly but surely settling into our programmatic roles in the community and finding what works and what doesn't, one step at a time. In the process, we've made some great friends in the community, and the exchange of culture and information from both sides has been an amazing learning experience. One big example of this happened just yesterday!

Last Thursday, Nicole and I stayed behind at the school where we teach in Chaquiyá, to observe one of our co-workers, Lydia, teach Social Studies. We thought it'd be a great idea to see what kind of activities motivate these students to learn and do their assignments. Afterwards, all the teachers (including us) were gathered in the principal's office and were just having light conversations. Out of nowhere, one of the teachers, Clara, casually asked if we wanted to be in a parade with them next week. Without hesitation, both of us expressed a very enthusiastic "Sí!" :) She went on to explain that we would be wearing traditional indigenous Mayan clothes ("Trajes típicos") with symbols from the region of Sololá on it. AND that she would lend it to us! True to her word, she brought in trajes for us to try on this Monday. And on Wednesday, we participated in the parade that represented all the Middle/High schools in the surrounding area of Sololá (which was, A LOT more than I'd anticipated!).

Walking in the Parade with the kids from my school!

Although we had a skirt/belt mishap when we tried to put it on ourselves, our students helped us fix it right before the parade! It was an amazing, once in a lifetime experience and I was very honored that they had asked us to participate. Afterwards, we had soda and cookies with the teachers and saw all the other schools with their individual themes. Overall, awesome day!

Nicole & I after the Desfile on our house balcony

Full shot of the traje tipico!

This whole week has been an exciting one in Sololá as it is celebrating its Feria and each day, seems to have new and more interesting events in store. So far, we've seen a concert, various fireworks displays, parades, & carnival rides. Pretty cool.

We have more posts to come regarding our environmental bottle school project, new programs, & new projects in the works! Stay tuned.

Ja