¡Día de los Niños! (Children's Day)

Today was wonderful day of celebration for the children in the area, nothing like what we have in the U.S. I'm excited to tell you all about it, but first I have some sad news. The rooster pictured roosted in the branches in the first photograph of my last blog was not hanging out below the roosting area at his normal time. He normally waits until all the others are roosted until he heads up. He would also lead the hens to food and then not eat it, but let them. Anyways, I thought it was odd and I looked around, but did not see him. Then, I saw a woman take a rooster from the "kill pen" - it's where they keep the chickens before they kill them. He was in there. So tragic. Luckily, she didn't take him (although another beautiful rooster was treated like a chili pepper). I'm going to look into saving him, tomorrow. He is my favorite and sure has a personality that shines - like my dog.

Speaking of my dog, I'd also like to thank my Grandma for e-mailing me photos of my dog (perra, or chucha as she'd be called here). I sure do miss that girl and riding my bike around with her. I'm going to first share a photo my grandma sent, and you'll understand what I mean. She's wonderful (both my grandma and my dog). To the right is the pic of Sydney in her trailer in which I'd pull her around behind my bike. Good dog. She'd stay in there in the middle of traffic and we only wrecked twice. Thanks for the pics Grandma!

Entonces, now to get on to the events of the day. I was told about a week ago that I'd have to buy a gift for the kids today. I could buy a toy, some balls, or just donate $5 or $10 cash. I waited until the last minute, as usual, and so when I showed up to the Alcaldía (City Hall) today and found a huge party out back, I donated $5 at the appropriate time and I later saw this $5 go into a bag full of gifts :) (Good thing because I have like $12 until I get paid).

I could not believe how big of an event they had going on. All of the schools from the entire municipality where there - that's like 43 smaller communities. They had clowns, music, presents, ice cream, and lots of people. When I first arrived a woman I recognized was talking - I'm not really sure what about because I really have to focus to understand Spanish. Suddenly, I hear something about el medio ambiente (the environment) and Jeff. Within a moments notice, all eyes where on me. I wasn't expecting it, but everyone cheered - so that's good. She mentioned how I'm going to work in the schools and such. I'm sort of getting used to that, now. It seems at every large event they point me out and I usually have to give an in-prompt-to speech. Today I lucked out, unlike yesterday when I was at a town meeting and I thought I was just observing. until they called me up in front of everyone to speak. I'm getting pretty good at it by now.

One of my favorite, but kind of uncomfortable for me, parts of the culture is how they like to embarrass people. They like to put people on a sort of stage in front of everyone and make them look like fools. I first experienced this in a training hosted by a consulting group in the Alcaldía. I showed up one day and they were having a workshop on recognizing and solving problems in the work place. So, I joined in. And out of nowhere, during the middle of the lecture, the director of the workshop said, "silla caliente" (hot seat) and everybody popped up quickly out of there chairs. I didn't because I had not idea what was going on. Well, it turns out the last person up has to do something embarrassing in front of the group like model, blow kisses, sing, or kiss other people on the cheek, or line up to have everyone from the opposite sex kiss you on the cheek.

Anyways, today, they would randomly pick students out of the crowd and have them come up in front of everyone and either play a game or do something really stupid and make them feel embarrassed. Below is a video of kids pretending to propose to a girl. It sure did embarrass them; however, I am not sure what I think of kids that young pretending to propose to a girl. Maybe I'm being over-judgmental because of the young age women seem to have babies here and female graduation rates are much lower than the U.S. I don't know. Maybe we'd do the same thing in my culture. I'm not sure, anymore. However, it's funny to watch, even though I was really far back at this point.

They also had other games. Some of them included dancing. Others involved chasing other people around. And one game that took me a little while to understand was one the clown, Chiclin, initiated. There was some kids music going - like the type they sing at Chucky Cheese - and the kids (all girls) spun around like Ring-Around-the-Rosies. Then, when the music stopped, she - the clown - would yell out, "todos", "cinco", "dos", or "tres", depending on how many people they needed to have in a group. Each group was actually a group hug. They limited it down to less and less by saying "dos" or two, when there was 5 girls. This made one girl the odd one out. She then lost. They eventually got down to two when a third (clown-type, but not) young woman (early 20s?) joined with them. When the music stopped they had to chase her and the first to catch her won. How much fun!

While some things, like the games and the idea of a community day for kids, are different than the U.S., there are other aspects of the U.S. that you just can't escape. In my opinion, some of these are the parts of the culture in our wonderful country that I could do without. During the show, we had a surprise, at first a highly inviting visitor. He was a cute chic. You know, like a baby chicken. Except he was big and really just a human with a suit; it turns out, he also became annoying and judging from his behavior I'd say he'd been to jail on more than one occasion. So, cute chicken. That's wonderful. I find nothing wrong with that and it may be a bit endearing. However, the U.S. part comes when I realize that he's from Pollo Campestre (Rustic Chicken), a fast food place down here. They actually have really good carrot/ orange smoothies. But, they sang a song and danced about eating Pollo Campestre.

I disagree with this for two reasons (nothing to do with El Salvador, but this American value that spread here): 1. In my opinion, the kids are being engrained to eat unhealthy fast food without any other thought. This marketing towards kids, I believe, takes part of the responsibility for the health problems in the U.S. and these problems spreading into other parts of the world. It also undermines small community values. 2. the chicken was dancing around and singing like he actually wants to be eaten! Last time I tried to catch a baby chic -two days ago- they run from me like mad, chirping. When I do catch them, depending on the mother, the mother runs after me trying to bite me with her feathers out or she runs away screaming and clucking for her baby. The chic always tries to get away, even thought they're sooo cute and I just want to hold co. I think this is a reaction to predators. In other words, unlike marketing wants you to believe - THEY DON'T WANT TO BE FOOD!

Ok. So, back to the events at hand. One of the final events are took part in today really reveals a lot about their values, here, and priorities. I ran inside the Alcaldía because I had to get away from people, for a little bit. It was getting crazy. I was then asked if I could help put together a basketball hoop - a little small one. I helped put the hoop together and while doing so I noticed the boxes and boxes near the hoop. Were these all basket ball hoops? And, if so, who were they for and why? Turns out that, yes, they were all basket ball hoops (probably about a $7 value) and they were for the kids! How wonderful! Ever kid - nearly - received a basket ball hoop from the Alcaldía. Although, not having the same luxury in the U.S. I thought ($7 x 200 = $1400). So, maybe $1,000 - $2,000 on basketball hoops. Huh? That wouldn't happen in the U.S. Anyways, the kids loved them.

Later, everyone received ice cream and I passed up ice cream for probably the first time in my life. I think I'm done with cows. However, all of the kids and others loved the ice cream (helado) that the kids just eat with their fingers. Less garbage! That's not why they do it, but hey. Continuing along, during the ice cream time, at the end of the festivities, people from the Alcaldía where giving away candy, prizes, and balls. I happened to be at the right place (or maybe it's that I'm so much taller than the kids)at the right time because I caught two separate balls. The first one I gave to the neighbor girl, which means I'll get to play with it. The second I threw up in the air and watched the kids go nuts.

All-in-all, today was a really fun day. I certainly enjoy the sense of community and group oriented society, here. It's probably good for the kids to get out of school for a day - although they go less than the U.S - and have some fun with the community. It helps build trust and brings the community together. I think something like this, in our culture, could help build the school communities and let parents meet one-another and the kids meet the parents and teachers, etc. Things always seem much more serious in the U.S. - like parent/ teacher conferences. Maybe we just need to have a little more fun.