For my
international friends, I’ll do crazy and write this blog text in English.[1]
(I’m sorry grandma, next time it will be in Dutch again.)
How hard
everyone tries, how many times you here it on the radio, how many times you see
it on the street … I just don’t get it. Really, my Christmas feeling has never
been as absent as it is now. Maybe it is because the temperature gets up to 20
or more degrees each day or because there is an Atlantic ocean between me and
my beloved family or maybe even possible, is it because I have no TV on which I
can see “The sound of music”. I don’t know. Every time I hear ‘feliz navidad’
on the radio or walk true the park, which is stuffed with Christmas lights
(damned light pollution), I think: “What the fuck are they throwing with all
this Christmas stuff to my head in the middle of the summer, stupids.”. I know,
it’s too bad, because being in Christmas-mode can actually feel really good.
But hey, no
panic! Luckily there’s no lack of partying. We just had a great Christmas party
with OX, with awesome big tomatoes. Last week, in Hawaii, I went to a “Sweet-15
party” (which is celebrated like really big here in Guatemala, incl. the huge
cake). And saturday we went with the family to a wedding of totally unknown
people, but again, the gigantic cake was present (love Guatemala). All parties
were really fun and with a lot of eating and dancing. And it’s so interesting
how easy you get the attention of the Guatemalan boys. Really, how long it’s
been since the last time I shaved my legs or washed my hair, what I wear or how
many times I’m scratching my ass, it all doesn’t matter. They’ll keep asking me
to dance and try to take pictures. Maybe I should try it in Belgium as well,
just the clear-cut ‘what-you-see-is-what-you-get-attitude’. No more make-up, no
more shaving, no more pretty clothes.
For sure it will save me some money, but maybe, it’s just a thought, I'll scare them off …
For sure it will save me some money, but maybe, it’s just a thought, I'll scare them off …
Bon,
Christmas Eve with my Antigua-family was great! I even went to the church to
celebrate the birth of this little strange baby (I still wonder how Maria did
it … In any case, poor Josef). There were firecrackers, a Smurf-piñata (Belgium
is the best) and many presents. I had a good night!
So,
although there is no snow, no family or no ‘Sound of music’, I’m glad to be
here. For the Guatemalans Christmas is like a huge thing. It’s nice to see big
trucks on the street with Santa’s, to have special ‘Oreos para Navidad’ and to
see the thousands of strange processions on the street. Going from ‘the
old-people-dance’ to the dances of the giants or even the dance of the fiery
donkey = a guy dressed as an iron donkey where fireworks are shooting out and
who is running into the crowd, and then, for good luck, you must hit this guy’s
forehead with your forehead. I really wonder how this tradition started: “Hey,
let’s make a firework-donkey, put it over someone, put on the fire and then,
let’s all run to it”. Strange people. But, nice to see.
Greetings
and salutations
Tine
[1] Sorry for my many mistakes,
English-speakers, but hey, this is not my native language! So I’m alowed to make
some.
