The Best Month Ever

It's good to be Catholic in May, especially when you're working with Salesians. This whole month has been a big party. Which means it was also a ton of work. I am completely worn out, but luckily I have a couple of days to rest up before I head off to Honduras (Wednesday, June 4 is the big day).

First of all, the biggest change was that there are now 6 Canadian volunteers here. I had to move out of my room into the "convent" area, but I have hot water now, so I didn't mind too much. They're super fun, and their only job is to teach English, so I've been moved around and spent a lot of the day helping the sisters prepare for the big days, mostly by putting candy from giant bags into smaller bags.

The first big day was the feast of St Maria Domenica Mazzarello. She was the founder of the Sisters' order, so we had a free day in the preschool. It was all decorated with balloons and streamers and all the kids got to have balloons to cheer for the oldest class of 6 year olds in a field day. They played all kinds of games, got a special snack and lunch, and we had a dance afterward. It was really fun and the kids had a great time! The internas got a special chicken dinner that night too, so it was very special for them too. The sisters and I went to a dinner in Santa Ana at Sydney's high school and all the Salesians in the area were invited, even the Salesian priests that run internados, basically the same thing for boys. We had a fancy fried chicken dinner and drank lots of wine. It's good to be Catholic, let me tell ya.

Just a few days ago was the feast of Mary, Help of Christians, the patroness of the Salesians. For nine days before, we held a novena. So every morning, kids from different schools each day would come and pray the rosary in the chapel here. My job was to give out candy afterward, so they all liked me a lot. In the evenings, different members of the community were invited to Mass. For example, one night would be all the taxi drivers, another all the teachers. On Friday, the 23rd, there was another party in the preschool, except instead of playing games first, the kids had a mini-procession. Each kid placed a flower in front of the statue of Mary and sang a song and recited poems. Then, the kids took turns carrying the statue around the school, stopping every time to say a Hail Mary. It was very cute, and very official. I didn't get to see much of it though, because I was in the kitchen cooking! I can't believe they actually let me in, but since they don't know that most of my experience in cooking is in a microwave, I just cut vegetables and grated cheese.

The 24th is the actually feast day, so we got up at 4 to put the finishing touches on everything. There were paper stars hanging from the ceilings all over the school and banners across the hallways. At 5:30, we had a morning prayer with a band that reminded me a lot of ranchera singers. The lead singer had an awesome mustache, but I couldn't get a picture. Just imagine handlebars with a twist at the ends. Classic.

After that, we served breakfast to all the people that came to that, and a lunch to more people later. Then, at 3, was the big procession. Only we had to wait to start because we didn't really get an police help, and there was a random cycling race going on. So we cheered them on before we headed off. First, was an altar boy carrying a cross, and two altar boys carrying candles on really long sticks on either side of the cross. Then, a marching band followed them, and more altar boys carrying incense, and two priests from the two churches in town. Then came tractor pulling the statue of Mary, followed by all the sisters, the internas, and me. Then, all the rest of the town joined in. It was like a parade in reverse, because everybody was walking and there wasn't really anyone standing on the side and watching. We said the rosary all around the town and finished up back at the chapel for Mass. After Mass, we had supper and a dance. It was a lot of fun, but I was dead tired after that.

The next day (Sunday) was the feast of Corpus Christi, so there was another procession around town, only with the Host, so there weren't so many official people involved. There were actually more people for that one though, so it turned out to be a lot longer.

Yes, definitely a good month to be Catholic, because I don't think there's going to be another big celebration until Christmas, at least that I know of.

I also got the opportunity to go see all the Romero sites in San Salvador. If you don't know what I'm talking about, Wikipedia him. He's the most famous Salvadoran of our times and he was revolutionary in the history of El Salvador. He was shot during Mass, and the following war was partly a result of his preaching.

I also got to go to another soccer game in Santa Ana, and we played the same team from San Salvador. This time, FAS won by a long shot, and there was even a downpour during halftime. Everyone got even crazier than they were before, and rushed the field. I was up under the "umbrellas" (giant plastic tarps that they unrolled from the wall -- the people closest to the end have to hold up the edge). Super fun yet again.

Sorry for being MIA this month, but obviously, I've been super busy. I'll be better in the future though.

Here are more pictures to look at when you're supposed to be doing work, hehe:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2445167&l=c6c04&id=7911406
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2458686&l=a44ef&id=7911406

My camera is back!

My camera is back, and in perfect working order! So, here are two albums of pictures. The first is the same album as before, but I added more photos. The second is a new album.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2437374&l=1ac18&id=7911406

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2445167&l=c6c04&id=7911406

Enjoy!