You didn't get to heaven but you made it close

Carla let me plan our group activity for the teenagers today. In the spirit of cultural relativity, I decided I wanted to teach the kids how to carve jack-o-lanterns (also because I just wanted to do it myself, ha.). I told Carla what materials we would need and she said she'd take care of everything. Today when I got to Volcanes she showed me all the GREEN and WHITE pumpkins she had bought! She told me the orange ones were too expensive to buy for all the kids. I was a little worried because they were incredibly thick and tough and we only had some wimpy kitchen knives to carve them with. It all worked out wonderfully though. The kids were soldiers and didn't seem to mind wrestling against hard pumpkin flesh (probably because they have nothing to compare it to) and they loved taking out the pumpkin guts and getting all sticky. They all kept tasting the raw pumpkin, which I thought was a little weird, but it's all real chill. I did slice half my thumb off carving a "chimuelo" smile for my buddy Luis, but that's real chill too. I heard you get extra blessings for bloodshed.

Two of the older boys were leaving for "work" right afterwards (their work is washing cars in the crucero) and gave me their pumpkins because they didn't want to carry them through the streets. I am happy? because Carla tells me attendance of the older teenage boys has improved substantially since my arrival. (I hope Megan reads this!) Sometimes they even bring their friends, and the friends keep coming! These boys in question have stopped going to school and work all day in the street washing cars. Thursday afternoons they take a little time off to come to the group. I wish their choices were different, but it makes me so glad that they make time to participate...whatever their reasons. They go through so much heavy ugly stuff. Today I asked Miguel how his week was and he said with a smile, "Well, there wasn't much good, maestra, but I don't want you to hear about the bad." Miguel and his younger brother stopped working in the calle during the 3 years JUCONI worked with the family, but now they are back to their old ways. It's a difficult situation and I know I don't know the half of it.

I spent a lot of my time at Casa Juconi this week drawing skeletons for the boys to color. Dia de los muertos is this weekend. The basic tradition as I have learned is to put out the "ofrenda" (the offering) on a table for departed loved ones, to let them know they are still remembered. The ofrenda table is decorated with skulls, incense, pictures of deceased family members/celebrities, and pictures of calaveras (skeletons.) Nayeli at Casi Juconi showed me these pictures online and we traced some of them for the boys:




Creepy, verdad? The one in the middle is the most famous, and is called Katrina for some reason. Nayeli said that the calaveras are portrayed dressed in normal clothes and participating in normal activities in an attempt to normalize death, to insinuate the perpetuation of life and the idea that "the dead are not really that different from us." Ha. I got really into it though! I don't think I have ever drawn a skeleton before in my life, but I got lots of practice because I was supposed to draw one for all the boys to color and Jesus Arthur took about 9 of them because he couldn't decide which one he liked best. (He also did my hair for me this week, which was awesome. He braids like a cholo!) My favorites that I did were of a gang banger skeleton, mariachi band skeletons, and a Shakira skeleton. If you ever need anyone to draw you a skeleton, let me know and I will hook you UP!

In other news: I made it 7 weeks here before getting molested. MEXICO: 1. ROMANIA: 253