Christmas Guatemala-Style

Well, I don’t have any exciting pics from my family’s Christmas because it more or less didn’t exist. I say this out of honesty, not bitterness. I am at least happy that my family, unlike some of the other volunteers’ families, had a Christmas tree and decorated the house. But when it came time to actually celebrate, I waited and waited and nothing happened.

We did have a church service of sorts on the 23rd. It started normally with a few hyms, after which Dina gave a speech about the importance of not spending your money on fireworks or shooting your eyes out with them (or worse). I have to say, it was a very awkward oration during a church service, especially since it flowed right into the acting out of the Christmas story. I got to organize the sheep and shepherds for our impromptu drama and there was a lady there who had NEVER HEARD THE STORY OF JESUS’ BIRTH!!!! I couldn’t believe it!! Especially in this country where religion plays such a huge part in life! Anyway, the service ended with a snack of chicken salad sandwiches (it sounds good but it’s like a dirty trick here because a) they sometimes leave the chicken skin in the salad too, and b) it has a mixture of mayo and catsup for the sauce, which is their typical dressing, and I find it nauseating!)… Oh, and they did sing a rendition of “Silent Night” in Spanish, but it’s funny the way people sing here- it’s very rare for anyone to be on the same key as their neighbor (or anyone else in the room for that matter), so if I hadn’t been reading the words, I might have missed the fact that it was actually Silent Night.

….Did I mention I ate a whole box of Macaroni and Cheese today by myself??

I had a funny mix-up between the words for ¨corn¨ and ¨a lot¨(like a piece of land for a house) at dinner. I thought my family was saying they wanted to buy 9 meters of corn and I was wondering what they could possibly want that much corn for. Turns out I was 2 letters off and what they really want is to buy some land as an investment since property values here are on the rise…. It was great….

So on Christmas Eve, we ate tamales (the typical holiday food here), which I thought were really good. My family, however, did not agree, and went and bought new ones in the morning. This is typical of our differing opinions on food here. Then they went to bed, but I stayed up to see the fireworks which I´d been hearing about for over a month. I must say, I´ve never seen so many fireworks in my life- especially at midnight. I´d be surprised if no one died because I have seen many news stories since then about people lighting cigarettes and accidentally lighting up whole blocks of fireworks-stores. It was fun to watch from our little porch though, where I was protected from all the craziness (but also alone!).

Christmas came and I basically laid in bed and watched movies on my laptop all day. No one even said ¨Merry Christmas,¨which I found very strange. Luckily, I got to talk to lots of friends and family, which made the day GREAT (even though not very Christmas-y). Overall, I guess I am happy to have experienced Christmas here, although I just assume spend it at home for the rest of my life, thanks! Oh, but I did get to visit Celia, my favorite old lady, and she as usual made me laugh by talking about chickens biting her and saying, ¨In God´s name, open it!” when we offered her some jello! She had her usual mumu and pigtail braids and I just wanted to eat her up!!

Well, I hope everyone had a great Christmas and enjoys the last week of the year!

2 funny things I saw today:
1. a t-shirt that said in English, ¨Blue Skies, Hot Guys¨
2. a brand of whiskey called, ¨Old Friend¨