CARNIVAL!!!

This past Tuesday was perhaps the most fun workday I’ve had since I chaperoned a group of 25 kids to Six Flags last year. It was Carnival. You know… parades, beaded necklaces, scantily clad Brazilian ladies…well, not quite. Guatemalan Carnival (at least the kiddie version) is more like a mix between Halloween and a countrywide game of tag using confetti filled eggs (cascarones con pica pica).

Rather than my typical button-up shirt and jeans, I chose a slightly more bold ensemble, a rented gorilla suit, which complimented Alyssa’s homemade puppy costume quite well. Unfortunately I didn’t realize quite how hideous I looked with my mask on until I saw pictures of the action afterwards, which explains why so many of our students recoiled in terror and fled upon seeing EL GORILÓN or the “monster gorilla”.

Some of Alyssa and my official duties on this special day were to judge the annual eggshell art contest, announce the winners, dance in full costume in front of a group of approximately 200 kids and 100 parents in order to encourage our students to do the same, and to smash dozens of confetti stuffed eggs on the heads of our students, their parents, teachers, administrators…etc. Quite fun indeed!

Anyway, this was how we celebrated Carnival in the morning, with the preschool-6th graders. The afternoon, which is when our middle and high schoolers are in the building, took on a much more awkward vibe. I was instantly transported to my middle school days at school dances as I watched the students try to bust a groove as inconspicuously as possible, given the fact we had turned the school’s patio into an impromptu dance floor, replete with reggaton blasting at full volume.

Naturally the older students were far too cool to wear costumes to school, which made me feel a bit ridiculous wandering around in full gorilla regalia, so I eventually ditched the garb and went back to my normal, email writing, google document sharing development officer self for the rest of the day. What a pity!