But so far things have been pretty calm. My roommate and I did venture out to the park earlier this afternoon for some ice cream and reading. There was even the most adorable basset hound puppy walking around. It just seemed to be a normal day. Hoping nothing crazy happens after the polls close this evening. And I don't know much about the 11 candidates, but I hope that the people here select a wise leader. Lord knows this country needs someone strong to bring about some change.
Just to show some of the propaganda, I took a pic today of the large church sign visible from town all through the year. But since elections have been occurring, there is also a very large political sign hanging right behind it. The church sign means Christ comes. And the political sign... with the motto of "mano dura"/a hard hand (I think in reference to cracking down on drug trafficking). Just an interesting combo of messages going on here...
And as a disclaimer... I do not claim to endorse this particular party, or any Guatemalan party for that matter. I just find the political process here interesting.
In other news, I have a story that I've been holding on to for a few days now and need to share.
One of the craziest teaching moments I have had thus far...
Last Thursday, I walked out to pick up my class from recess and saw that a great majority of my students were standing in line crying hysterically. Oh boy, this is going to be interesting. Sure, I've had criers before. But multiple criers, in hysterics all at the same time? That was a new one. In trying to discover what had happened, I realized no one was injured and that it wasn't something that was going to be solved in a quick minute on the playground. So we walked back to class, students still in hysterics. We got a lot of weird looks.
So at this point, my entire class is crying. Minus two students. Even my two tough boys who I never would imagine crying were in tears. I almost made a bolt for the guidance counselor's office, but decided to take a shot at it myself. We got everyone in and seated and I had everyone attempt to take a deep breath...trying to calm everyone down before we could discuss things. Sobbing, sniffles, and tears ensued. Then I proceed to lay down the law for discussing conflicts. Give everyone a chance to speak, speaking calmly, no interrupting others, how to respectfully disagree, etc. This really felt like a therapy session.
After about 10 minutes of debriefing on what happened, here's what I pieced together from very emotional charged, sniffled ESL English...
Apparently there had been a game of '"boys touch girls"...AKA "tag" with the boys against the girls. Yes, I realize boys touch girls is a very sketchy sounding name for tag. Anyway, the girl decided they didn't want to play anymore, and the boys didn't seem to understand that message. And here's where we discussed what it means to have a miscommunication...
So somehow boys continued chasing girls, and the girls wanted to tell one of the boys a message or something. Which resulted in poor boy being pulled apart between the girl side and boy side. Which obviously ended badly. Poor boy was hurt and ran to the bathroom crying and all the boys ran in after him. To which the teacher on duty (who shall remain nameless) decides to finally kick in. Although unnamed teacher thinks the boys are causing trouble in the bathroom and gives them all the punishment of sitting on the fence. (side note- probably not the best way the situation could have been handled...) Misunderstanding #2. So the boys are mad at the girls and the girls feel bad that there friends got in trouble so they go over to console the boys. And the boys scream that it is all the girls' fault and they hate them and blah, blah, blah.
So basically there was just a giant mix of anger and hurt feelings.
So we discussed all this, students are still sobbing. We talk about how we can learn from this so that it won't happen again. We say apologies. We hug. We pray. And we're still crying. And at that point I say that it is in the past and we need to move on. (PS- this is 40 minutes of crying later.) So I know I can't just transition right into math. So I decide to read a funny story and play heads up, seven up. Eh, didn't know what else to do at that point. But finally we got the crying to stop and were in a better mood. But man, it was a stressful afternoon.
Okay, going to go check and see if they have announced if Guatemala has a new president! Staying in the rest of the night! Excited because next week is a short week! Although we didn't get off for Labor Day, September 15th is Guatemalan Independence and is a huge deal. Most schools get the whole week off. We just get Thursday and Friday but it is still a nice treat :)
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