Pomp and Circumstance

We wrote about our last days as teachers in this post and that means that promotions and parties were the next order of business!  Promotion is what we'd call graduation back in the states.  And there are some very neat traditions around the ceremonies.

First up was the promotion celebration for Mérida's primary school - the kindergarten and 6th graders.  Next year the 6th graders will start in on the first of five levels that make up high school.  We had the pleasure of teaching several of these students, all young women - Adele, Leonela, Priscila, Mayerli.  We also knew a few of the future first graders, so between graduates and their families we knew many of the people at the ceremony.  

One of the traditions here is that the students walk through town in a procession, escorted by a parent or other family member.  This is a way to show off to the community that the child is advancing and to notify everyone that, hey, there's gonna be a party tonight!


Wearing pants for the first time in I don't know how long, we joined the community on the road to watch the procession to the primary school.  Oh, and don't worry - I was also wearing a shirt and sandals, looking pretty scruffy - or as I like to say 'professorial'.

Como se dice pantalones?

Leonela with her father, Isidro - both were students of ours!

The procession making the turn into the primary school for the ceremony.

We got some pictures of the students as their names were called.  They walked through arches made of palm fronds.  It was very special and you could see students and parents smiling with pride!

Angel (balancing his 'way too big' mortarboard) with mom, Nely.

Priscila, with dad (Raul)

Adele, with dad

Leonela, with dad (Isidro)

Mayerli, with dad

Enough pomp, on with the circumstance.

Along with the precession through town, another cool tradition is the flag handoff, where the outgoing class hands over a Nicaraguan bandera (flag) to the incoming top dogs.  Each side makes a little speech about the importance of education and respecting the rights of students.  Awesome, all the way around.  One of our youth students received the flag, as the chosen representative for the incoming 6th graders.  Edwin was a superb student of ours and excels in all of his studies.  Because he attended our youth class regularly all year, he has a huge jump on learning English.  Plus he looked damn nice for the ceremony.

A fine example of the future for his country.

There were speeches by adults and graduating students.  Several of the school administrators spoke about the importance of education, highlighting how it is something that once obtained cannot be taken away, how important it is for prosperity, and charging students and parents with the responsibility for completing their educations and graduating from secondary school.  There were 27 students graduating 6th grade.  We hope there will be 27 students getting their final quinto año diplomas in 5 years.  (And we hope to be there to see it!)

The kindergarten speech wins the cuteness award.

The tradition of highlighting the culture of Nicaragua was upheld in the form of a dance. Very colorful and full of energy!

Escarlet, in green, was another of our students.

It was finally time for the handing out of diplomas!!  It was an exciting moment for each of the students, especially, and family all crowded the front to get pictures.  And because we're considered 'family' by many people here, Bex! got up front to snap some photos!

Priscila

Adela

Mayerli

Leonela

A graduation ring is a traditional gift for the girls; here is Mayerli receiving hers.

Prescholar

Sexto grado (almost all 27 of them)

This picture (below) sums up the bright future of Nicaragua.  The country is slowly changing and women are becoming more empowered.  They couldn't have a better role model than my wife.  We had the privilege of teaching many gifted young ladies this year.  As these women are educated, things will continue to change for them and their country.

Priscila, Marili, Bex!, Mayerli 

Proud teacher!

After the ceremony we walked down to Doña Clara's and Don Jehu's for a party being thrown for her grandson, Taco (real name: Brandon)  There was, of course, a piñata - this one in the form of Wine Pooh.  We had soda and cake, and enjoyed the whacking of the piñata!

Oh, bother!

Nope, no diploma for you!

Cake and Taco

Full of candy, Wine Pooh easily outweighed his assailant, who could barely pick up her weapon of choice.  Cute as heck, right?!

This little guy got in a few (soft) whacks but got very frustrated and upset when he couldn't knock the candy loose!  And the bear smirks...

After this party, we said our farewells and walked into town to attend a dinner for Adele, one of our students and a graduating 6th grader.  Neat story about Adele:  When we started offering our morning class at casa de profesores (our house) back in April, her older brother Eugenio brought her over to introduce us.  From then on, she attended regularly and was a pleasure to have in our class.  Smart, clever and a little sassy makes for a bright future!  Looking back, we realized that her brother was looking out for his baby sister, making sure she took full advantage of an opportunity he never had.  [More on Eugenio later.]

The dinner was amazing!  When we arrived, we got big hugs from Adele and she brought us into her home and seated us.  There were many others there, too.  In fact, we soon recognized many of the other guests as the teachers and administrators from the school!  We were in honored company, indeed!  We were immediately served soda and a big plate of vigaron.  Eugenio brought us a big bottle of Toña and a couple of glasses.  After the appetizer, we were served dinner - BBQ'd pork, rice, plantains = delicious!  And more cake for dessert!

One of our adult students, Ayser, showed up and let's just say he made sure we did not run out of beer!  We noticed, too, that a couple of the teachers left for a short time, then returned with Flor de Caña - so now the party was in full gear.  Adele and Mayerli pulled us outside to dance!  We switched off, sharing dance moves.  Gringos got nothing on Latina women!  We went back inside and the girls goaded us into dancing with their teachers.  The Nica teachers knew Bex! and I were together but we are pretty sure they didn't know we were together together.  Bex! used her Latin dance 'hands up' position to keep Luis in check and I am pretty sure I got engaged to a teacher named Nely.

After getting warmed up at the house party, we walked into town back to the primary school for the big dance.  See, the kindergarteners and 6th graders graduate, and the whole town parties!  A huge bank of speakers thumped the dance tunes and we joined in on the dance floor for a while.  It was a blast!  Our friend, Maykel, hooked us up with a couple of beers and we danced the night away.

If you're keeping score, everything thus far was all in one day!  Ah, sweet sweet sleep…

La puesta del sol - Day 1

The next morning we enjoyed breakfast and our respective morning drinks on the porch.  Normal routine.  But today… today was extra special!  Today was the promotion ceremony for our OBS kindergarteners!!  First order of business… I was looking a little scraggly so I went to see Abraham, the local barber.  He has an open air shop right outside his home.  During my cut, his family came out to visit.  It was a lot of fun!  He fixed me right up, although he just had to comment on how little hair I had.  Sigh.  Our friend and adult student, Juriel, stopped by to have some copies made - the family also has a small, basic print shop (the only printer in town besides ours).  Juriel joked that when Abraham was cutting my hair it looked like snow as it fell to the ground.  "Nieve, nieve!"  Hardy-har-har.  Everyone got a laugh when I jumped off the barber stool and chased him out of the shop.

Can you make me look like Sendhil Ramamurthy?

Why I oughta….

Today was also the day for the high school graduation ceremony.  Adele's brother, Eugenio, was graduating today and had invited us to his functions.  In high demand, us English teachers had another full day ahead of us!  We got all fancied up and it was go time!

Stunning!  And Bex! looks pretty good, as well.

If the people in Mérida were surprised to see me in pants yesterday, they were gonna be blown away today!  SHOES, SOCKS, a TIE, more PANTS.  Wow!  I've lost so much weight here that my clothes kinda drape on me but it was still a good look.  My wife looked absolutely beautiful!  My my my.

Proud graduates on their way to the Catholic church for the benediction ceremony.

Eugenio!  (Adele's brother)

We followed the procession into the church and caught the first part of the graduation mass.  We had to leave early because our OBS kids were staging at the same time for their procession through town!  

We met up with the children and their loved ones near the village primary school.  This would be the starting point for the walk through town to the bilingual school.  The girls looked oh so beautiful, with their hair in various styles of amazing.  And the boys looked muy guapo in their slacks, dress shirts and ties.  

Soon-to-be-first grader Moises had the quote of the day, when he saw me:  "Mira!  Profesor David… en pantalones!"  "Look!  Teacher David.. in pants!" 

Franklin and his mom, our good friend Nora.

Franklin with Profesor David.
The boys all thought it was cool that they were wearing black ties just like me!

Herding cats.

Once the kids had all arrived, they lined up with their escorts - dad's with the girls; mom's with the boys.  There was a 4 piece band that walked alongside, providing a festive atmosphere to our parade!  Yep, all the kids marched… wait, who is that hustling this way? Ah, almost all the kids had made it on time cuz here came Esneider and his mom!  Nora expertly directed them into their spot in line without missing a step.  Okay, now we had everyone!

Esneider, wondering if he's in trouble for being late...

Ladies first

Boys and their mamas

We arrived at the Ometepe Bilingual School grounds and the kids marched in under the palm frond arches, through their old classroom and into the hotel grounds where the party was all set.

Jeysi, with dad Pilarte.  Jeysi's mom, Julia, is the 1st grade teacher.

Natalia

Cristel

Yostin & Osman

Jonathan

The students and their escorts were called up and seated one-by-one, with the full names of both student and escort read out (and nearly everyone here has 4 names, just like my wife).

Cristel Azucena Gonzáles Lorios

Moises Gabriel Lorio Corea

Franklin Ernesto Ramos Ruiz

Yostin Edwardo Bosa Ampie

Osman Yassir Mora Corea

Jonathan Ernesto Rivera Martínez

The ceremony was wonderful!  And we felt honored because we were seated up front with the teachers, Julia and Ruth, and OBS founders Alvaro and Esther.  And we even had our names on the banner!  FYI, Bryan Davis is a guy from the US who has provided financial support to the school since its inception (he was not in attendance).  The ceremonies were emceed by our friend and sometimes student Darwin and by our friend and fellow teacher Julia.  Julia was all dolled up and with her lovely long hair down, we barely recognized her.

Darwin and proud 1st grade teacher Julia

Like other ceremonies, there was dancing.  This time, some adults did two different traditional dances and our first graders - Itzel, Daren, Jasmina, Jesner, Josias, Adrian - also did a traditional Nica dance.  It was very fun - and kinda hilarious.  The kids would whisper directions at each other if one of them was out of place or just stop dancing altogether until things were back in order!!

The young adults' modern dance number

No, it's swish-swish-turn-swish-turn-turn

Wait, we have to dance with girls?  Don't they have cooties?

Our OBS kids also participated in the flag handoff ceremony with Jacqueline and Kenneth (two of next years' kindergartners) accepting the flag from now-1st graders Moises and Cristel.  Moises and Jacqueline each made speeches, which were incredibly sweet.  There were awards given, with first graders Dulce, Itzel and Adrian winning piggybanks preloaded with cold hard cash for being top students.  There was also a family visiting from the states who had purchased gifts for all the students - gift bags with school supplies.

Este bandera es un simbol de ...

Then it was diploma time!  Each time a student came up, there was a series of pictures taken by family, with teachers, family members, etc. - basically anyone who came to see the kids' ceremony.  We were deeply touched that the parents wanted us in the photos, too!  Truly, these children are very special to us and we were so happy to get to know them throughout the year!

Ruth, with the new OBS first graders (l-r) Yostin, Jonathan, Osman, Jeysi, Esneider, Natalia, Weslin, Cristel, Saul, Moises, Franklin

Alvaro, Slim, HotStuff, Julia, Ruth, Esther

David and his fan club (first graders Jasmina and Daren)

After the ceremony, families split off to tables for dinner.  A great spread of mashed potatoes, roasted chicken, plantain fries, rice all made for a great meal!  We sat with Julia, Pilarte and their family to help celebrate Jeysi's promotion and had a wonderful visit with them.  After a while, we said our goodbyes and walked back into town for - second dinner.

Yeah, really.  Eugenio had invited us to his home to celebrate his high school graduation with his family and friends.  We knew where to go, since we had been their the night before!  Again, vigaron, super tender pork, rice, plantains and beer.  Having just eaten dinner at the OBS party, we did our best.  Okay, I ate just fine, although I admit I was stuffed.  But Nica food is just so damn good and we're leaving soon and… and… (feel free to insert your own excuses here).  We chatted with Eugenio for a while, specifically to ask him what his plans were, now that he was out of high school.  We were very happy to hear that he is university bound to study English in Managua!!  He attended our classes last fall when we first taught here and we're excited to find out that he was continuing his education.  He is a great example for his sister!

There was another, bigger dance party in town, this one at the secondary school, to celebrate the high school graduation.  But after two nights, four promotion ceremonies this weekend and two dinners today, we were vanquished!  As much as we wanted to go, we went home instead.  Besides, we had such a great time at the dance the previous night, so why mess with that?!

La puesta del sol - Day 2

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Said it before; saying it again.  We are extremely proud of all of our students, especially those that celebrated these oh so important milestones in their educations.  Knowledge will help this country continue to develop and improve the lives of the amazing people here.  We are honored to have played a small part in that.  We know the community appreciated our commitment and sacrifice, and that is really all the thanks that we need.  Mérida will always have a place in our hearts!!  

Best of luck to ALL the graduates!!

David and Bex!