Before the Jungle Trip

November has been a busy month so far. I'm going back to the 6th for this post. That was a Wednesday and the first day in the student council campaigns.

The way they do student council elections here is different than in my high school back home, another example of the whole individualism vs. collectivism thing. Here, instead of running against each other for the specific positions they want, they assemble two complete lists of people. My friend asked me if I would be the treasurer for list A. Am I qualified for this position? Who cares. I have the gringa card, and we played it hard.

Wednesday and Thursday we went to every class in the school and presented our propositions. Both lists had the same propositions. We submitted lists of possible ideas to our principal/priest, and he only accepted the exact same ones. What I really love about this is it really removes most all possibility of voting based on merit. This is a pure, unabashed popularity contest.

Our strategy was called "Grace can speak English." Each class we went to I made a speech in rapid English. The students were absolutely amazed. It was as though English is not a language but rather some rare skill that only I have mastered.

During the elementary school recess we gave out foam smiley faces that we pinned on the kids' sweaters. Again, you would think this wouldn't be that exciting. But everyone REALLY wanted a foam smiley face. I was literally knocked over by them. When they lined up to go back to class there was a deafening chant in favor of "Lista A." We won by a landslide.

My student council armband.

That friday I went with our family friend to a big party that her school hosted. This is notable mainly because it really emphasized that there are dancing genes in Latin blood and I do not have them. I have no idea how the people here do the things that they do with their bodies. I just flail around and get sweaty.

Flailing with a man in a pirate costume.

My friend Pao and me.

Tuesday was the big parade. I got to carry the school sign and wear the extra-special fancy-day uniform. It was pretty cool walking down the street with the crowds and seeing people that I know. To be completely honest, the entire time during the parade I was just wanting to buy cotton candy from the people who were selling it all along the way.

My host mom and me, pre-parade.

After the parade my host family and I went and got some sort of milkshake-like drink made from eggs. The whole town was in a sort of relaxed festival mode. The exception was the Red Cross, who was taking the opportunity to offer free vaccinations. Based on the reactions I was witnessing, they were offering free amputations without anesthesia.

I had a great nap to reward my sign-carrying efforts and then used to afternoon to get things together to travel the following day.