Thursday, January 8, 2015

Seis de Enero

Apparently the 6 of January is a huge holiday in the Catholic community here. From what I understand they celebrate the Three Kings on this day. I had started my English classes the day before, which I´ll be doing while the kids have a break from school until March. But my host sister told me I have to cancel class for the day because we´ll be dancing all day long. So the dance is pretty much the same as the once they do for Christmas. Only this time they somehow convinced me to join in. I tried to get out of it by saying it`s for the kids. But they found a teenager to do it so I wasn´t the only big kid. I was still the tallest (and oldest) by far and it was quite embarrassing. But it made my host family and everyone so happy that it was worth it. So January 6th I put on the hat and skirt that was made for me and headed to church.

We started with a mass at 9am. Then we did some dancing and singing in Church. Afterwards we marched out of the church and up the street to the Health Post, singing the whole time. I embraced the laughs of the people we passed as we marched. After the Health Post we marched in line to the other side of town where someone had prepared a delicious lunch for us.

I was happy to get out of the outfit and even happier that we won´t have to go to church at night anymore to practice. But I´m really happy I did it. My regional coordinator, Miguel Angel came to visit yesterday and told me doing stuff like that is a key part of the Peace Corps Mission of promoting friendship between Peruvians and the United States, because it shows that we, as people from the US, are open and willing to integrate into the culture here. Because I embarrassed myself all over town, the people of Chocta now have the idea that people of the United States are open-minded and willing to try new things!


You´re welcome, Amurica.

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