Operation Integration

So I have been feeling very discouraged as far as our progress in integration. Since we don’t have a host family in my village and my counterpart does not live here we have been kind of left on our own to integrate. Our landlords are great and that has been wonderful but we need to venture out. Thus, my new year’s resolution:

Operation Integration

The operation began with deciding to go to church after we got back. Greg and I had a lovely walk from the junction to our house after a 6 hour bus ride. We greeted several people along the way and I was feeling quite good about life. This continued when Sofia and her little sister Sharon came over with cake and gave me a hug wishing me happy new years. I invited her in and we chatted for a while. Sofia is really nice and is in 3rd form at the high school in town (like a junior). I found out her mom had a baby a month ago and I said how I’ve never seen her. I mustered up my nerve and asked if it would be okay if we came by to meet with the rest of her family. She said that would be fine and that her mom would like that. Excellent.

The following day we woke early and dressed for church. We found out that there would not be a prayer service but mass at 11:00 so I cleaned and organized the house. At around 10:45 all the kids with their green ketchi songbooks in hand came to our door eagerly telling us it was time for mass to start and that the priest would soon reach. We walked over to the church. It was very muddy (some dry season) and I immediately stepped in a huge mud puddle. Sheldon ran and got me a bowl of water from their rain barrel and we were off again, slipping and sliding in my wet flip flops. We are almost to the church and my foot slips right off my flip flop and it breaks! It is too far and muddy to go back so I decide to just go barefoot (half the people don’t have shoes so I won’t be weird). As I get to the church 3 boys from school are sitting on a bench outside. They look at my flip flops in hand and say, “your slippers burst miss?” I nod and put them down by the bench and head inside. There are not too many people in there and we go to the small benches in the back and have a seat. I must admit it was a free feeling going to church without shoes…I do love being barefoot. Everyone was singing and people started to come in until the church was packed, standing room only. We could then see the obvious divide in the church. Women and children were on one side, our side, and men on the other. Oops, well next time Greg will sit with the men but I think people will forgive us for our mistake.

We are surrounded by kids, one is playing with Greg’s arm hair, others are just staring at us or smiling. Every time we stood to sing this little baby would hold my thumb and when I smiled at him a huge one toothed smile would spread across his face. He also like my new watch. Once, after he played with it his sister taped his mom and pointed to my watch. She then wiped it off…I guess there was baby drool. I smiled at the mom and said it was fine; he was a cute little boy. Us nene’ (good baby). Mass was fine, I did not feel awkward…perhaps because my feet were free of modern man’s prison of shoes. All the important people of the village were there except the chairman (I think he is Baptist) and they all seemed pleased that we came. Afterward Sofia ran up to walk beside me as we went out and she was excited that I came. I went outside and a boy ran off to find the other ‘slipper’ and then we started to walk home. There was a group of women looking at me with smiles on their faces. I held up my slippers and explained, ‘my slippers burst right before I reach the church.’ “ooooh” they all giggled and we walked home surrounded by a gaggle of kids waving to people we knew. A great feeling.

Later that day we walked over to the PTA chairman’s house, he wasn’t home and so we decided to go to Sofia’s house. The whole family was there except the dad (who camps in Placencia for his job all week). We chatted with the older brother and then Sofia ran inside and much to my delight reappeared with the little baby which she thrust into my arms! She was so tiny and cute! I held her for a while and then she started to cry and was clearly hungry so I reluctantly gave her back to her mom. It started to rain so we excused ourselves and went home so I could bake my tortillas. First house visit…check!

The following day the integration did not stop! I saw the bucket with clothes and soap by the cocine and I quick asked Saturnina if they were going to the river today. She said yes and I then asked if I could come with to try washing clothes in the river. She said that would be fine and a half an hour later I was walking with a bucket behind a very pregnant Saturnina caring her bucket on her head. I could not stop singing the song from Jungle Book when the girl is getting water, “I will go and fetch the water, till the day that I am grown….till I’m grown, till I’m grown.” We walked in-between houses on a muddy path and I began to hear the river. We had to climb down about 15 feet of slippery muddy rock (with Spotty, the dog, jumping around in-between us). Cecila (the mom) was already washing. There were about 8 nice washing stones at a bend in the river and we left our bags with our towels and change of clothes on the banks and wadded in. It was about thigh deep and we began by scrubbing all the stones (ducks like to use them too). You need three rocks, one to wash, one to put soapy clothes to soak, and one to put the clean clothes. This was much easier work than washing by hand in the buckets, you could just lay the garment out on the rock and use the brush then use the whole rock as a washboard. The whole while little fish are nibbling my ankles and Margarita and Sheldon and splashing around and calling my name every minute and saying in ketchi that I am big, or my ears are big or my feet are big, etc.

Saturnina asked if we had rivers and creeks back where I’m from, which I explained yes we do. Then she asked, “and do many people bathe in the river?” I told her I don’t think anyone did, that mainly we take rafts down, swim, or fish in the rivers. She looked a little shocked and went back to washing for a while. Then she asked if lots of people had washers. I said yes that everyone I knew had a washer AND dryer and that people thought we were crazy for not having a dryer. She seemed a little puzzled by this and then said, ‘I’ve seen those big washers, the ones the size of a stove.’ I told her yes that is what everyone has and that I had never seen the spinner type they have here before. By this time we were nearly done with our clothes, Sheldon had caught a little fish and had his whole head and shoulders in the 5 gallon bucket to stare at it, and it was time to bathe. The mom was already naked except some shorts and continued to chat as she floated around and soaped up. I took off my shirt (I had a bathing suit on) and then began to bathe. You had to swim to a little deeper part to go under and everyone laughed because I thought it was freezing. It was very fun bathing in the middle of a jungle gazing at the satisfying stack of wet folded clothes on my rock. We then dressed and walked back with our loads on our heads…it is a good life.