El Día De Los Muertos y una visita con un doctor

Wow! So much has happened since I last wrote that I don´t even know where to begin. Halloween came and went with me barely noticing since hardly anyone here celebrates it (and none of the cristianos do). To make up for my lack of celebration, I´m going to write this blog in naranja. Some kids here get dressed up and go from door to door, but instead of saying ¨Trick or Treat¨they sing a whole song. And it lasts for a whole week, not just una noche. But in that week, I only heard tres or cuatro kids singing for (1.) dulces. Most mexicanos focus more on El Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) because it is more of a Catholic celebration. One of my students invited me to her school that day, because each year the classes have a competition to see who can create the best altar. They may choose any dead person that they want, and the winning classes receive dinero to buy supplies. Then on Nov. 1 and 2, students are out of school and familias go to the cemetery to put flowers and food on the graves of their loved ones. These (2.) fotos are from some of the classrooms at the middle school I visited and should give you a better idea of how they decorate the graves/altars:

Jose Luis and I took advantage of the holiday to visit the Saturday school in Cacahoatan (about 8 hours from here). We even got to see (3.) el Oceano Pacífico for a few horas on Friday. The school in Cacahoatan could possibly be more successful than any of them. For one reason, church members there have been more active in preparing (4.) comida for the students and teaching the classes. Right now they have four classes each Saturday for two hours each, intro to the (5.) Antiguo Testamento, intro to the (6.) Nuevo Testamento, Acts, and Theory of (7.) La Musica. A different man teaches each class. They have been averaging 15 to 20 students, and they have even drawn some kids from la comunidad for a separate children´s class each week. Francisco, the director, told us that originally about 20 niños were coming, but since then the number has slacked off a lot because the Baptists started offering free whole chickens to any kids that went to their (8.) programa. The only drawback for the school there near Guatemala is that the majority of students are jovenes (some are still in middle school). But, maybe that´s actually a good thing. Here are algunos de los niños who came for la clase that day eating lunch outside the church building:

In addition to visiting the middle school on Día de los Muertos, I also got to visit the elementary school where José Luis teaches. All the kids were coming up to me asking, ¨How do you say Daniel in English? How do you say Floriberto?¨ (And by the way, anytime (9.) alguien here hears my apellido, they instantly bust out laughing. I guess ¨Pelfrey¨is just funny in any (10.) idioma : )! Escuelas here are definitely not the strict, rule-bearing institutions that we are used to. In una hora while I was at the elementary school, I watched kids jump on desks, scream nonstop, start fights, run to the bathroom, throw paper wads at the walls...all without any teacher supervision. No wonder Chantel and I have such a hard time getting the kids from church to sit in their seats long enough to listen to one Bible story! And when I went to the middle school, (11.) la situación was really not much different despite the difference in maturity. Los estudiantes were free to leave the classroom whenever they wanted and socialize with amigos in the hallways or in other classrooms, and many times the teachers did not even know it. The girl who invited me even left to go to her casa for a few minutes. One of the church girls told me when I asked that normally they can´t just leave whenever they want like that, but it was just because it was (12.) un día especial...but I don´t really believe her. The school is right across the street from our house, and I frequently hear the students yelling and giggling and watch them loitering on the railings at all hours of the day. Once when I was talking to my dad on the roof, he could even hear the students through (13.) el teléfono! Students here frequently complain about all the (14.) tarea they have (it´s certainly more homework than I ever had when I was their (15.) edad), so I wonder if they get so much because they never do anything in class?? (16.) Quien sabe. (And that homework sometimes keeps them from coming to my clase de inglés or to our reuniones de jovenes--urrr!!) Now I´m not necessarily saying it´s bad to give the students such freedoms...I´m just saying it´s different. But don´t worry... José Luis is definitely not one of those maestros who lets the students get away with (17.) cualquiera cosa.

I can now say from (18.) experiencia that doctors´ visits in Mexico are mucho diferente, as well. You do not have to have (19.) una cita; you basically just show up and wait your turn. And most doctores aquí run their own practice, rather than working for un grupo de doctores. So the doctor I saw had just one room that doubled as his (20.) oficina and as his (21.) clinico, and I was able to tell him what I needed and leave within about 15 minutos--no waiting and waiting for him to visit with other patients in the meantime and wondering when, if ever, he was going to come back! No one asked if I had insurance, and the entire appointment cost only 150 pesos (that´s about 15 dollars!)

One of the main (22.) metas of Global Missions is for the preaching students to establish a new (23.) congregación upon graduation. This foto shows Cesar, a former student, who is now preaching for la congregación in Cintalapa (un pueblo about tres horas from here). Originally la iglesia there had about 20 members, but since Cesar took over preaching about a year ago, the number has grown to about 35.

Sometimes I feel spoiled living in this big casa without any hombres. A few days ago I had to take a freezing cold shower (the water felt like ice!) just becuase I didn´t know how to adjust the gas properly. Plus, we have a major problema of water spewing onto the floor downstairs that I know absolutely nothing about, a light bulb that needs to be changed that I will probably have to climb on a ladder for, doors that creak and scare me half to death in the middle of la noche...and just so many (24.) cosas that, though I know (25.) más o menos how to fix them and feel perfectly capable of doing those things, I just haven´t had much (26.) practica doing those things because my (27.) padre y (28.) hermano have always been around to take care of them for me. It´s small experiencias like those that cause me to miss home the most. But I am coming home in three weeks, and I must say that, while I am enjoying mi tiempo aquí, I will be grateful for the reprieve.

The next time I will tell how weddings and funerals are here, so stay tuned...and don´t be afraid to leave me a comment : )

Elizabeth

P.S. I think the rainy season may finally be ending, but some of the people of Tabasco (the next state over) lost everything in recent storms. The churches here have been taking up special contributions to help them, but they are also in need of our prayers.

1. candy

2. photos

3. The Pacific Ocean

4. food

5. Old Testament

6. New Testament

7. music

8. program

9. someone

10. language

11. the situation

12. a special day

13. the telephone

14. homework

15. age

16. Who knows

17. anything

18. experience

19. an appointment

20. office

21. clinic

22. goals

23. congregation

24. things

25. more or less

26. practice

27. father/dad

28. brother

Los Meses Del Año (months of the year):

enero

febrero

marzo

abril

mayo

junio

julio

agosto

septiembre

octubre

noviembre

diciembre