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On Thursday we celebrated Thanksgiving at school. I had to organise food and games for my class Thanksgiving party. Rather than everyone bring in money and one of the parents buys pizza and ice cream like last time, I thought we'd do something different. All the kids brought in something different. We had baleadas, pastelitos, tacos, enchiladas, crisps, chocolate, gallons of soda, a fruit bowl, sweets and cheesecake! It was a feast! The kids loved sharing and trading their foods and it was lovely to watch. They were really eager for me to try all their food, so I got some of everything, and it was all delicious! The cheesecake was about a foot long and still warm from the oven! YUM! All the kids ate until they were about to explode and then the party got under way. Some of them had brought games - someone brought Spanish monopoly, but others just wanted to dance to the music I'd set up. Thankfully, I had received a USB in the post from Dad the week before containing the song "Gangnam Style" which made the grade 4 Thanksgiving party THE coolest party to attend. Obviously it was exclusive to grade 4's however, so the other children that came to watch were not allowed in. I had to clear a dance floor in the classroom to accommodate all my enthusiastic nine year old dancers. It was actually pretty fun! There's nothing like dancing to "Gangnam Style" on Thanksgiving with a whole load of nine year old Latin American children. I've promised them LMFAO's Party Rock Anthem next time and I can't wait!
We also recently visited the Garifuna village of Tornabe. It's a dusty little place with a beautiful beach and beautiful people. We met a guy on the bus there that offered to bring us along to a community celebration. It was a year since a family member had died. We accepted and were led to a backstreet. We could hear the party before we saw it. There were these loud drums and dozens of women singing in a language I didn't recognise as either English or Spanish. The singing reminded me of African singing from TV programmes I'd seen about rural villages in Africa. Carlos, our new friend explained to us that the Garifuna's have their own language. They have a completely different culture as well. It was like stepping out of Central America into a pocket of Africa for a day. The the whole atmosphere had me grinning the intire time. It was just so special.
We stayed to watch the music and dancing. There were three guys on drums and a man playing the conch shell which made an eerie kind of woodwind sound. The singing women formed a circle around them and each one took it in turns to step into the circle with the drums and dance. It was a funny foot-shuffling dance, with loads of shaking of hips and clapping.
Were asked to stay for food, but we were dying to try the seafood that is renounded to be the best on the beach at Tornabe, so we left the party and headed out to find some food. The food was great, and the view stunning (as usual) but it was the drumming, singing and dancing that I think I'll remember for longest.
- comments
Charli Sounds Amazing :) :) :) Lucky to see so many different cultures in just one place :) :) Hope you're still enjoying the sunshine and your class sound like they love you just as much as we do :) Missing You :) :) :) xx
mark Jenkins Great blog. Lucky you!
El Love the image of you and your class dancing to Gangnam Style on Thanksgiving! :P Sounds like your having a great time, miss you xxx