Reasons to celebrate...

Well, apparently all you guys needed was a little threatening and the comments just start rolling in! I love, love, love it. You would think that my main motivation behind writing these would be so I would have a record of what is probably going to be the most exciting, life-changing, whirlwind of a six-months of my life...but nope. I am seriously more motivated by getting fun comments from all of you!

Ok, so today’s blog is actually a little “out-of-date” but there has just been so many things to write about that I haven’t had a chance to write about a few things that have happened over the last two weeks!

So I wanted to tell you about two “celebration days” at the school I teach: April Birthdays and Mother’s Day.

First, April Birthdays. So for all of you out there reading this who have known me longer than 6 months and 16 days, you know that I am completely obsessed with birthdays. Mine. Yours. Pretty much any reason to light candles, put them in a cake and sing gets me pretty excited. (For those of you wondering why 6 months and 16 days, that is how long it has been since my last birthday...which means you have less than 6 months to prepare for my next one)

So given that I am the self-proclaimed birthday queen, I was more than excited when I found out that once a month, we do not have regular classes at Santa Maria but instead, celebrate all the kids’ birthdays who had one in that month.

Don’t get me wrong...at first, I couldn’t believe that we didn’t celebrate each birthday individually. But for these kids, the communal birthday celebrating is most likely the only one they have. In fact, most of them do not even know the date of their birthdays. So needless to day, this is a very special day for those kids.

Like so many things in Santa Maria, things often seem a bit upside down. Stray dogs wandering the classrooms, volunteers teaching kids in neither their, nor the kids first language, the kids actually looking forward to going to school...the list goes on. But also like so many things up here, I’ve realized that as different as things are, they are exactly the same.The birthday celebrating was complete with presents, donuts and florescent yellow punch. There were piñatas and singing. We danced the Macarena (yes...that song actually still exists...) and other ridiculous line dances that go on way too long. The kids even lined up so that all of the birthday kids get a hug from all of the other kids. And of course, when a boy-girl pair turned up, the entire crowd starts chanting, “Beso, beso, beso!” (Kiss him, kiss him!)...here's a video:



Overall, these kids may not have been woken up with breakfast in bed. They may not have had a cake with their names on it. But for the 14 April birthday girls and 5 April birthday boys, it is just another reason why they are so happy to have a place like Santa Maria to go...and why I am so happy to help them celebrate.


Ok...so onto Mother’s Day. As many of you know, after I returned from my first trip to Africa, I was completely inspired by the women in the community. This celebration of the women in Santa Maria only inspired me further. Each woman is so amazing...many with several children and endless work...but always ready with curious eyes and heartfelt hug.

To celebrate Mother’s Day, we dedicated an entire day of school to them where the kids stayed home and we had programming directed solely at the moms. At first, when we started planning this program, I wasn’t so sure. We had all your typical kids games planned and I just wasn’t sure how it would go over with the moms. Somehow I couldn’t imagine the Tanglen Elementary School PTA moms playing “Who can drink a coke the fastest?” Or “who can pop a balloon between their stomachs and a male teacher’s stomach?”

But I’m a pretty long way from Hopkins, Minnesota and here, the moms seemed to love it! We played tons of games...including a mango eating contest, volunteer trivia, a dance off and even the pass the orange between your necks game. Here is a video of the mango eating contest...these women can seriously throw down...it was AMAZING!



While these games at home would usually be rewarded with an iPod Shuffle or a Bed, Bath and Beyond gift card, these moms were given a bag of rice or pasta for their families. It really was incredible.

Even since I arrived at Santa Maria on the first day, I felt an overwhelming sense of being so welcome. And being invited to share in the celebrations of the community has only made me feel more a part of it all.

Even with all the struggles of the area, I have never seen one person look ashamed, refrain from a reason to celebrate or even hold back a broad smile...and the best ones are smiles covered in chocolate donuts.

xoxo,
Debra