Changing Teachers

Everyweek, at the school, the students have the option to change teachers. For 4 weeks, I´ve stayed with Fredy for consistancy and because I´ve liked him as a teacher.

This is Fredy. He lives outside Antigua and comes here daily to tutor me and teach me "poco a poco" the intricacies of spanish grammar and vocabulary.

I´ve decided to give someone else a try for the rest of my time in Antigua. Fredy has been a great - and it's no reflection on him, but I think the variety of a different teaching style might help me. Also, I think Fredy and I might have become to casual in our lessons (we've gotten to know each other over the weeks). I think the newness might be good for me.

Alfombra de La Union

Last week, we colored sawdust for the upcoming La Union Alfobmra (alfombra). Thursday afternoon - we made our carpet for one of the processions that passed by the school.

Although I had class in the afternoon while they were starting, I joined later in the day to help finish it up. It rained on and off during the afternoon while we were working on it, and that had people worried, but it all worked out in the end. It was a lot of fun for everyone, but I will say - my back hurts.



Here's how it works... Lay down a base of uncolored sawdust, sprinkle base coats of various colors, fill in molds with various colors to make patters, decorate with flowers or plants, make sure no-one falls on it, or drives over it until a processional arrives. Pretty straight forward...



Our carpet wasn't outstanding, but it was pretty good for a bunch of ameteur alfombra makers from all over the globe! We had a little trouble creating our collage of international flags, but worked out in the end. Though I will say: It's hard to make flags when you run out of white sawdust (Japan, Canada, Korea, Isreal). You need white sawdust to make white flags. And so what if the american flag is Red/White/Green or someone (I) used black (instead of blue) on the Korean flag... Inthe dark, it all works out to be just "dandy."

Overall, we (the school) spent about 6 hours on it. It's very possible that our carpet was the thinkest and deepest carpet of the entire city. We had so much sawdust as a foundation it took (when the cleanup crew came) 3 loads into a backhoe to clear all the debris!

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And here are some photos of other fine carpets around the city...

Coffe

I think I mentioned that I went to a coffee plantation.

Well, here are some photos and vague details.

First, the coffee is picked

Then it´s shelled (or de-shelled depending on your grammar preferences)

Then, the beans are dried in the sun from 8-15 days (depending on humidity and rain)

Then, the beans are shelled again (there are two shells).

The first shells are used as fertilizer and the sencond shells are used to fuel the machinery that processes the beans.

The "best" beans are exported and the rest are used here in Guatemala (how do you like THAT).

Anyhow, it was interesting to see, even though I only understood bits of the information (I haven't learned all those special words used only by coffe farmers - maybe that's next week's lesson).

Roman Soldiers

Yes, these are Guatemalan sized Roman Soldiers. They escort the processionals through the streets. I won't bore you with more and more of the same ol' same ol, but there are 2 processionals today, there were 2 yesterday (one with kids as young as5-sh carrying the float) and there are 4 tomorrow.

But, the cool/interesting/strange part (as if the simple ideal of a 12 hour parade carrying a 2000+ lbs float didn't strike you as "cool" is that tomorrow morning at 3 am, soldiers will be going through the streets announcing the charges against Jesus Christ (I told you that they re-enact all parts of the final days of Christ's life). And yes, they'll be on horseback with trumpets to be sure people know what's happening (I have a feeling there were no trumpets 2000 years ago, and that the whole matter was kept n the down-lo). But still... if it happened back then, they're recreating it this week (including the visit with Pilate, incarceration, a "trial," and yes, crucifiction - a no-one-dies 'representation' thereof - in case you're worried about some devoted Guatemalan Christian volunteering for the "honor").

From an outsider's point of view, it's all a bit morbid. But it's also really neat to be reminded of the dedication of people over the years, as well as the events that changed the world. Easter grass and Pass Color kits just don't do Easter justice. Some might say this whole affair is a bit over-the-top, and I can understand that (especially after seeing crying children relieved from their post as a float carrier), but still - the point is well made that Christ made a major sacrifice for us, and we can (in a variety of ways) sacrifice for him.