Pennies, Dead Crabs, and IHOP

Here is my meager attempt at getting a blog in before the weekend because I'm sure the weekend will also bring many stories to record. I'm going to bullet-point this one because I have a lot to report and wanted to make sure I said it all in a semi-orderly fashion.

We're crazy and you like it, loca, loca, loca!

1. Carnaval and Cascarones: Okay the carnival I told you about happened on Tuesday and though it was definitely one of the most random days of school, it was also one of the funniest. Kids came to school dressed in any costume they wanted, as long as they were nonviolent. I had two Darth Vadars, a Princess Lea, Harry Potter, various fútbol players, a bumble bee, some Disney Channel characters that I didn't recognize, and Aubrey and I came to school as the Cat in the Hat and The Lorax. Well, we didn't really come to school that way, we threw together our costumes with the paper supplies we could find in our classrooms moments before the kids got to school. I think we did a pretty darn good job of it. At recess, the kids ran out to the soccer field with bags of hollowed out eggs filled with confetti and, in all seriousness, smashed them on each others' head. True story, scouts honor. All us new teachers gawked at the scene with our jaws on the ground for a few moments before we joined in on the chaos. I asked around about the significance of the events of the day and absolutely no one could give me an answer. Its just another thing that makes Guatemala... special.
   
   
2. IHOP: Yep, you read that acronym right. The International House of Pancakes has finally reached Central America as a new IHOP opened at the mall in Guate. A group of about 25 teachers all met there on Tuesday night for pancakes and other various breakfast deliciousness. It was a great way to get out of the house and enjoy each others company and contribute to the globalization of Guatemala. With bellies full of pancakes, we headed to our friend Alfredo's soccer game. We had a good time pretend-heckling the goalie but the best part is that we met more Guatemalans. We even met a girl who went to college at... wait for it... Mizzou. I hated her for like two seconds just to appease my Kansas connections, but she was actually a wonderful person that I have every intention of being friends with :)
   
   
3. Pennies: This one is a quick, funny story from class. One of my students read a story called, "How to Make A Trillion" that tried to help students with their number sense starting with a million and then working up to a trillion. One part of the story talked about having a million pennies and how much space it would take up. When I was grading his summary of the book, I about died of laughter at the way this students spelled the word "pennies"... p-e-n-i-s. So he talked about having a million "pennies", a jar of "pennies", etc. Though his phonetics in English clearly need some work, I'm glad he at least tried to sound the word out and gave me a good laugh at the same time.
   
   
4. Dead Crab: A few weeks ago, a student brought in a crab in an empty spice container to show the class. I vaguely remember this even happening and a few days later the crab was forgotten by everyone else as well. So yesterday during lunch, I was organizing the bookshelf and found a container of cinnamon. Curious as to why this spice would turn up next to the historical fiction books, I opened the darn thing. Dead crab that had been living three weeks ago, in a small, enclosed container just so happens to be the most dreadful smell I have ever encountered. Good thing I opened it while my students were all at their desks eating their lunches. The odor seemed to fly across the room and into my poor kiddos noses. Soon the whole class was screaming, gagging, and yelling, "I'm going to bomit!" while I spun around in circles spraying Lysol everywhere. Sometimes, being an elementary school teacher really does feel more like being a character in a cartoon.
   
   
5. Processions: Yesterday after school, Walter took Aubrey, Camille, Camille's friend from Canada, and I to the Easter processions in Zona 1. Guatemala is almost entirely Catholic and people pay hundreds of Quetzales to participate in these processions that carry the stations of the cross and a 60 foot "float" carried by 60 men all around town. They do this for hours. At every street corner when they have to make a turn, the men switch places with others who paid to be part of this ceremony. They had it so well planned (unlike most other things in the city) even to the point where men were assigned the role of lifting up the telephone wires with what looked like extended pitch-forks so the float of Jesus could fit under. Though I was raised in a Catholic church, all this was unfamiliar to me. I had never seen such extravagance, such commitment, such genuine faith from Catholics, or anyone for that matter. I was pretty moved by how much Guatemalan's truly dedicate their lives to what they believe. Not because someone convinced them. Not because they want to get to heaven. Not because they don't know anything different. But because they truly, whole-heartedly BELIEVE it. I don't know many people who really possess that quality, myself included, and it was pretty remarkable to me to see 80-year-old men carrying a float that probably weighed thousands of pounds because it was just that important to them. It was actually quite beautiful. Walter took us to the market after that and we sampled some odd fruits, went to dinner, and called it a night. I'm very thankful for what I saw and learned yesterday, and can't wait for my mom to get here and see the real Easter festivities I have heard so much about.
   
   6. Sports Day: Tomorrow we are coming to school for the 6th day this week for "Sports Day." Apparently it is a lot like Family Day but only sports and games are played rather than crappy food being eaten and intense bounce houses being used. 3A has to come to school wearing red and play soccer and dodgeball against the other third grade classes. Obviously, we plan to dominate. Not sure about the rest of the weekend but there is a possibility that we could be going to harvest fruit at one of our Guatemalan friends' farm. Yes please!

Makenzie getting egged

Dr. Seuss lovers stick together 

Lastly, one of my coworkers told me she googled herself to make sure that if future employers did the same thing, she would not be incriminating herself. Her results included entries from my blog as well as pictures from my blog. Uh oh! I think I changed the settings so this blog could not be found via search engines but if I hear anything else about it being linked to peoples names, I will probably have to make it completely private which means only people I approve to read the blog can. We can cross that bridge when we get to it but I just wanted to give you all a heads up. So, if you frequently google yourself and my blog comes up, please send me a comment or something so I can look into stopping that asap. Gracias!