Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Saying “Sí” to Things You Just Didn’t Quite Catch the Whole Meaning of in Spanish


            So in the past few weeks I have been working at integrating myself into the community, which means I’ve been trying to get involved in a lot of community events. December was cholk-full of various events and holidays. December 8 was Mother’s Day. December 14 was the sixth grade graduation, what they call their “despedida”, in Valle Escondido. December 15, I was invited to a despedida for a community member’s first grader in Bocas, the tourist town. December 17 was the high school graduation in San Cristobal, the community that is a 45-min to hour hike (depending upon the amount of rain that has fallen recently, which corresponds to how deep your boots sink into the mud along the path). December 21 was the Kindergarten graduation in San Cristobal, which my community attended because Valle Escondido children danced in their polleras and guayaveras as part of the celebration. December 23, I was invited to “pasear,” or take a trip to visit another community called Aguacate. Finally, December 24 and 25 brought the Christmas celebrations. Now that you know what my schedule was in December, such that it looks like I was fairly busy, I can say that I said “yes” to a lot of things this month, whether I understood the situation entirely or not. Sometimes this tendency put me in an embarrassing position and other times I truly lucked out with a great experience.
            Exhibit A: High School Graduation
            From Valle Escondido, two men were graduating from the Panamanian equivalent of 9th grade (or what they call 3rd year) and another was graduating from 12th grade (or what they call 6th year). For the past few years these men have been attending night school in San Cristobal to work towards a high school degree. In other words, this day is a big moment for them, thus I am, of course, invited to take pictures of the entire event. I gladly accept well in advance.
Confusion comes about only a bit when I don’t know how I’m going to get to San Cristobal. On foot involves a muddy hike, but boat involves, well, someone else’s boat. Luckily, I hitch a ride with one of the men graduating from 3rd year. I show up and am very excited to see my neighbor PCV, Kim. We make our way to the school for the graduation, and I am eagerly greeted by the mother of the man graduating from 6th year. She had been worried that I wouldn’t be coming, because earlier that morning her son had come by my host family’s house to pick me up on his way to San Cristobal. My host family said I was still asleep, but really I was just getting ready in my room. Anyway, the graduate’s mom eventually asks me about being “madrina,” or godmother, as if I should be prepared with something. Godmother for a graduate involves getting a gift…I did not have a gift. I showed up empty handed. I wracked my brain searching for the moment that I said yes to being a madrina for this graduate. I’m still searching for it, because I think I misinterpreted a conversation involving “madrina” and a small child that was present. Thinking he was talking about this child’s madrina, I had noooo clue that I was saying yes to being a madrina for him at his high school graduation.
Embarrassed and feeling horrible, I took as many pictures as I could and apologized profusely. They reassured me that it was ok. I told him that I owed him. So, on my next trip to Bocas, I came back with a very nice shirt for him, which my host family told me was a great gift. You’d think that I would have learned my lesson about saying yes to something that I don’t understand 100%, but I didn’t…
            Exhibit B: Kindergarten Graduation
            Leaving Bocas one night to return to my community, our boat is stopped by another boat near the dock. The other boat pulls up along side of the Valle Escondido boat. The other boat happens to be a San Cristobal boat, and the driver leans over to me and asks me to be the madrina of his child for the Kindergarten graduation, on December 21. I had met this man once before when I was visiting Kim in San Cristobal. Kim said he was a good man, and it’s good to note that it’s always useful to have a boat driver’s phone number in your cell phone. Sitting in the boat, I was a bit confused, but I agreed, knowing that I was planning to attend regardless to take pictures. I enjoyed the drive by request for a madrina.
            This time, I knew I was madrina, but for whom? I had never met his children, and a few words were lost among the waves. This was going to make picking out a gift a little more difficult. Boy? Girl? 50/50 chance… It was time for a little investigation, because Kim didn’t know if his Kindergartener was a boy or girl either. First, I tried asking other Kindergarteners. They were no help. They don’t know the name of the parents of their classmates. So, we asked some of the women in the community. They didn’t really know either. Finally, we went to the woman making the cap and gowns that the Kindergarteners wore for graduation. She explained that boys had madrinas and girls had padrinos, or godfathers. Ok, great. It’s a boy! What’s his name? Adrian. Mission accomplished.
            I may not have known all the details initially, but slowly but surely I was able to piece things together. I had a great day as madrina, and this time I was ready with a fun airplane and GI Joe as a gift for my godson. While Adrian was a very quiet boy, the best part was his smile and his thank you at the end of the day for the gift. Plus, just watching a bunch of 5 year olds parade around in cap and gown is worth a bit of initial confusion.
            I should also mention that I was very happy to be taking photos of my community’s dance group. Check the photos out on Facebook. J
            Exhibit C: Visit to Aguacate
            Let’s just say I didn’t know I was going to Aguacate until I was on my way to Aguacate. The day before Christmas Eve, I woke up in the morning and walked into the kitchen, which is a separate structure in my host family’s house, to see if anything was going on. Well, anyone walking by can see into this kitchen, so my neighbor asks me if I want to pasear today. Still kind of asleep and in my pajamas, I am a bit confused. She mentions something about aguacate, which means avocado in English. She asks, “Conoces Aguacate?” “Do you know Aguacate?” or “Are you familiar with Aguacate?” (Or, at least that’s how I translated that in my mind.) I thought, “Yes, I love avocado.” Other bits of the conversation included a request for me to take photos and to come to the dock between noon and 1 pm. I’m thinking, “Great! I’ll take some pictures. Maybe she’s coming back with some awesome avocado that she wants pictures of.” (Wouldn’t put it past them. I’ve taken pictures of pigs, squash, dogs, parrots, and chickens for people.)
            I went on with my plans for the day. I was going to help clean the church with my host mom in preparation for Christmas services. Then, at 1 pm, Edvin comes up to the church and says Angelina, my neighbor, is ready to go. I had forgotten, but I quickly changed because as I walked back Angelina asked me if I was ready to leave. So, I thought, “Ok, I guess we are going to Almirante, one of the bigger cities that people often go to with produce.” I ask Edvin, “When will we be back?” “Late,” he says. Where are we going??? Almirante is relatively close. We are going to Aguacate, a community located on the other side of the Bocas del Toro Archipelago.
            I climbed into a small boat, borrowed from the American that Angelina works for. Camera in my purse, I am ready to take pictures. I’m ready for an adventure. We passed this island and that island. We passed many houses that had their own island. We got drenched from sudden rains. Multiple times. (I had not come prepared with my rain jacket or umbrella, unfortunately.) We passed the major communities along the islands. We passed many men and boys fishing. We even saw a dolphin as we sped across the water.
            The trip was great. It was a wonderful adventure to be seeing Bocas by boat, but why was I on this trip? Who were we seeing? Slowly I got the entire story that my neighbor had a daughter in Aguacate living with her paternal grandmother. This daughter was half black and half Ngabe, and my neighbor hadn’t seen her daughter in a year or two at least. Nicole, the daughter, was now three, going on four, and we were delivering Christmas presents. My role was photographer. Despite having nooo clue what was going on until the last moment, I was extremely happy to be able to take this beautiful boat ride to capture moments that are clearly very important to members of my community. Her daughter has beautiful dark brown eyes with the same smooth straight black hair as any Ngabe. Opening her toys, Nicole was happy to be playing with new dolls, and when asked which she liked more, she responded that she liked all of them. When asked if she loves her mom, she said, “Yes.” When asked if she loves her grandmother, she said, “Yes. Both.” She was adorable, and I’m glad I said yes to the invitation.
            Well, that was a long one, and I’m still hoping to put up a blog about Christmas in site soon. Hope you enjoyed it!