Halloween at school, the payaso show and a beautiful sunset

Yesterday I got to sleep in a little. I don’t have to work on Fridays. However, even though I don’t have to work on Fridays I went to the school. They were having a Halloween celebration and I told Inés I would go to help take pictures. I got there a little bit before recess and a group of the kids were being gathered in the teachers’ room. The teachers had put dark curtains up over the windows and the kids sat on the floor. Eva played scary music and every so often someone in the hallway would knock loudly or slam the door (causing all of us, even those of us that knew it was going to happen to jump). Towards the end of the scary music 3 of the teachers, who were dressed up as scary creatures, bust through the doors and scared the kids. The kids loved it. I took pictures of it all, although my flash batteries were pretty toast, so the flash only fired every couple shots. After the scary story the kids took the skeleton masks they had made and went out to recess. I took my camera out and the kids LOVED it. They all wanted their picture taken. I took SO many pictures. After recess everyone went back to their class but only for a little while. In addition to the Halloween celebration there was also a field trip. At one point the classes were getting lined up in the hallway, and I don’t know why, or how, but all of a sudden the kids started chanting my name. I was so amazed. Apparently they’ve taken a liking to me! As the kids headed out to the patio it continued. It was so funny. I felt like I needed to go out to the patio for my encore and remembered that I had my other camera with video with me. I pulled it out and got a clip of the tail end of their chanting (although it did start up again later as we were walking). In addition to feeling flattered I was also a little concerned about what the other teachers thought of all this. I’ve only been here a week and have a school full of children chanting my name. I really think that’s why they do these things though…I’m something new and different and I look funny, and that makes me fun in comparison to their normal teachers.


Anyways, big difference for field trips here and in the US…we were walking down to the high school, not taking a bus. All the kids from the infantile (ages 3 and 4) and the elementary school (grades 1-6) lined up and we wound through the streets of town. It was like the Siles version of Serpentine (only my fellow Snohomish folk will know what that is). People in the town came out of their houses to see all the kids go by, and a group of the kids took turns chanting my name and Inés’ name. I was totally dumbfounded that the teachers could keep that many kids organized while walking through town. Seriously, if the kids decided to mutiny and all start walking off there’s nothing we could have done! Anywho, we got down to the high school without any disasters. At the high school we were going to watch a ‘payaso’ show. ‘Payaso’ is ‘clown’ in Spanish. This particular organization puts on these shows to make money so they can go to places around the world and visit sick children in hospitals to cheer them up. Several of the children and one of the teachers got to be involved on stage and it was a big hit with the kids…most of them at least…we had one little boy hiding behind the curtain next to me and Inés because he was afraid of the clowns. By the end of the show he had mostly warmed up to them. The show was about an hour and then the parents were waiting outside to pick their kids up. Yet another thing that would never happen in the U.S. We always have to get back to the normal school to be picked up, not at the field trip location. A couple other teachers and I got a ride from one of the moms (who actually turned out to be one of my neighbors). It’s puente (a long weekend/vacation) and it was sunny so everyone was really happy to be done for the day. I also got to meet Inés’ husband and 1 ½ year old after the show. Inés is pretty petite and her baby seems so big in comparison. Inés said her brother in law is coming in to town but if they decide to do something she will call me so I can join them. I seriously love her. I’ve heard stories about some of the coordinators in other regions who are completely inattentive to the auxiliares. I could not have asked for a better person to help me get adapted to life here. When I got home I started debating with myself…do I go out alone again to the bars? I really didn’t feel like going out and awkwardly hanging out at the bars by myself but it was Friday night. The only nights to go out here are Friday and Saturday and if I started making a habit out of staying in, I would never meet anyone and it would always be awkward. I listened to this song “A Little Bit Stronger” by Sara Evans that was the little extra push I needed to convince me to go out…that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I threw on my little black dress and headed towards Menphys praying that someone I knew would be there. No such luck. I got there and didn’t know anyone. My wonderful, favorite Siles bartender was there and she checked in with me, asking how teaching was, how my week had been, etc. etc. She also pointed out the new bartender to me. It ended up being a very successful night. Initially I had to deal with the extreme discomfort of not knowing anyone and trying to figure out what to say and how to “friend date.” After not *too* long Antonio and his friend from the weekend before showed up. Thank God. Antonio waved me over and introduced me to two girls sitting at the bar…Maribel and Almudena. I chatted them for quite some time and eventually even more of their friends showed up. Almudena even invited me to spend New Years Eve with her and her family. I also got to meet her husband (Rulo). Really, honestly, everyone knows everyone in this town. As people come in, they greet everyone. Eventually Maria (also from last weekend) also showed up as well as a whole bunch more of their friends. I talked for a long time to Gloria. Antonio had told me about Gloria last weekend. She is studying English in Granada. I am really sad that she isn’t in Siles all the time because I think we could be great friends. I talked with her most of the night and she is fantastic. She said if I end up staying here for Christmas she is going to call me all day long to make sure I’m not lonely. I exchanged phone numbers with several people and they said they would call me to go out the next night. There is a big party at the discoteca on Saturday and most everyone is going. Around 2:30 I decided to head out. While grabbing my coat the group of guys near me (that I also met last weekend) started talking to me. Now for whatever reason I cannot seem to understand a darn thing that these guys say. I can carry on complete conversations with people like Gloria, and then not understand a word with other people. I believe they were trying to set me up with their friend (orrrrrrrrr propositioning me for sex…) so I went over to the one girl in the group and asked girl-to-girl what the heck they were talking about but she didn’t know. Ultimately I just got uncomfortable and headed out. On my way out my favorite bartender said she was surprised I was heading out so soon. Haha, yes…heading out at 2:30am is “so soon.” I also ended up chatting with the other bartender briefly. He is actually from La Puerta and knows Ben and Ava (the people I went to Jaén with). He expressed interest in learning English. I told him we could get together for intercambios and speak half Spanish, half English and he seemed excited and grateful. He took my hand, kissed it and I was off. Maribel was quite infatuated with the new bartender all night, so maybe I’ll be able to hook her up. :) It had been raining while I was in at Menphys. That was the first time it had rained since I’ve been here. Winter’s a’comin! Bedtime: 3:30am.
These sunset photos are unedited...straight out of my camera. Pretty cool, huh?