Convivios

Hello all!
Things here have been wonderfully hectic. We have been going to a lot of convivios, and each one has been really special. The first ones we attended we really didn’t know what to expect. Although you are told what will happen, you are generally told in terms that you have never heard of before, or words just don’t translate. We were told that the first one was a mass and a convivio, so needless to say we weren’t really sure what was going to occur. We showed up to a place we had never been before, and were greeted by faces both familiar and new. The proceedings were a mass, then about an hour or so of eating, visiting, and listening to music. Each night after that proceeded about the same way. Although the routine has gotten a bit monotonous, we have really enjoyed all of them as of yet. They are a great way to meet people, and we have been trying to take advantage of the groups we encounter. They always welcome us into their homes (where the masses are held) and include us in their celebrations. Later they give us food and chat with us. It really feels nice to be so included in their holiday traditions, and it goes to show a lot about the culture. They are just happy to have people to share their time with, and I think this is an important lesson to take away from all of this. More than anything, its important to learn to be happy just enjoying someone’s company. No need for tv, radios, or anything you have to spend money on, just the art of conversation, about something important, or about nothing at all.
Padre Daniel, one of the priests at the church, always does the masses, and I think his presence there makes the people happy as well. He takes about three hours each night to do these masses, and the people absolutely love it. It’s above and beyond, but time very well spent. Although I didn’t like it at first, Padre also mentions us during each of the masses. I think its pretty unnecessary, because people could probably spot the 5 white people in the crowd from a mile away, but its just funny to me that out presence alone is noteworthy, in his and the people of Talanga’s eyes. I don’t think of my time as anything special. I do what I need to do, and hope to help someone somehow in the meantime. At home I could pass a whole winter day curled up in blankets watching movies and vegging out. It really didn’t dawn on me the significance of my time, either to me or to the people we work with here. They are very happy and grateful for us to pass our time with them. They always graciously and genuinely thank us for our time and celebrating with them, and welcome us back whenever we would like. I guess in some ways it’s a bit of an ego boost, but more than that it’s just a lesson about how valuable time is in general.
We also have a scrimmage today for our baseball teams, and Melissa is going to come along to take pics for us. This is the scrimmage I have been talking about for about a month or so now, but we are finally going to have it! I’m really excited, and so are the kiddos. Rare is the chance they get to get out of their aldea and come to town, so I’m just happy to be able to give them that chance, never mind to actually play a baseball game. We are also working on scheduling a tournament in Juticalapa, another town about an hour and a half away for the end of January. Although planning isn’t a strong suit here, we are hoping to make this work!
Other than that we are just prepping for our Christmas celebrations and our post Christmas vacation. We are going to have the internos of the AIDS hospice come over for a meal, we have a drama we are working on with the children of the women in our Domestic Violence group, we have our food drive, and lots of action on Noche Buena, Christmas Eve. I will keep you all posted about how things turn out!
Thanks again to everyone for all the support, and to everyone that has sent packages as well! Hope everyone is doing well and keeping warm this holiday season!