June=Soccer and Feria

It’s World Cup time! So for the past week, Guatemalans everywhere have been glued to their tv sets or their radios to follow the World Cup games. Guatemala is not in the World Cup so many people here support other Latin American teams (especially Argentina), and Spain. Despite being the team of the former colonizer, many Guatemalans really want Spain to win the World Cup (they were pretty upset when Switzerland beat Spain a few days ago). My host dad brought the tv into the shop downstairs so that he can watch while he works, while we dropped by one school to talk to the director and found him listening to the Spain-Switzerland game on his radio. I’ve gotten into it too and have been watching as many games as I can on tv. They’re all shown live followed by hour-long breakdowns of the game, so I’m getting my share of it. Right now U.S. is taking on Slovenia and they aren’t doing very well (down 2-0).

Feria is also approaching. There was a velada last night for Reina de Deportes (Queen of Sports) in which my host brother participated. It was World Cup theme (of course) and had the boys carrying flags of most of the countries playing for the World Cup. It was cute, for the most part. There were some random “famous” singers, this couple, who sang about four times and it wasn’t really that good. And it dragged on and on (which I have found to be typical), with lots of reconocimientos, giving plates or trophies to people who helped support the activity with long speeches by all parties. The queen’s dress was pretty interesting-it was bright pink with a very sequiny, form-fitting top and a puffy bottom with feathers sticking out. It costs quite a lot of money to be queen, or even to be involved in the activities. My host mom had to buy a new suit jacket and pants, new shoes, and materials to make Holland’s flag in order for him to participate. The queen has to buy her dress, shoes, and food for people who are involved in her activities. Only people with some disposable income can participate, which isn’t the majority of the population here, so it doesn’t really seem that fair. Anyway, there’s another velada tonight which is the cross-dressing one, where men dress as women in dresses, bathing suits, etc. and sing in a Mayan language (which I’m guessing most of them aren’t fluent int). It should be interesting, but I’ve been warned that it can last up to four or more hours. Looks like it’ll be another late night (though any night spent out later than 9:30 is a late night for me).

To get ready for the feria, they’ve also set up ferris wheels and other fair rides in the town square and there are lots of video games and other games that the jóvenes really like. There are also lots of street food stands going up, getting ready for all the people who are expected to come in. There are parades which start on Monday and our supervisor wants us to march, in women’s typical traje, in the first parade. Not sure what that entails other than a lot of walking.

Work has been busy. We started doing a survey of all the schools to see where they are with the program, such as what infrastructure they already have, whether or not they teach health lessons, etc. The second school we visited have already implemented what they learned during the training session we had and most of the classrooms already have their “Healthy Corners” and hygiene revision tools (wheel, dice, box). We also visited a school that is close to being certified, the first in this area, and they put up nylon sheets to protect the kids toothbrushes from the flies and dust. It’s great to see that people are taking us and the program seriously. We have the next week or so off due to the town’s feria which will be nice, though I’m sure I’ll get bored. I will have time, however, to move into my new house, which I plan on doing next week. It needs a lot of cleaning and organization, but it will be nice to have my own space and to cook for myself (and eat at normal times again).