Crazzzzyyy Latin Culture Fun!!

         Today as soon as I got to the school my group was setting up room 300 for the traditional Mexican dance Laura was going to teach us. She got there a few minutes late because her mother was so excited that she was going to be teaching us these dances that she wanted to get all the costumes for her, that just so happened to be at Laura's aunt's home. When Laura finally got to the school we were all anxious to learn how to dance. Since the room is pretty small we separated into two groups and took turns learning. While the first group went some of us took videos and pictures as well. I was really impressed at Laura's patience with us and she really knew how to break down all the steps for us when we didn't quite understand how to do it. Once the first group finished Girelle told me to go up, so I did, I was a bit embarrassed but I got over it quickly and got into the music that was playing in the background. The dancing with Laura was a lot of fun, I wish we learned more, but because of the time we weren't able to. After we finished dancing we made a circle for a guest speaker that was coming to teach us about the Aztec calendar and Nahuatl Language. She told us how for her its very important to keep the Native American culture alive. She showed us many different artifacts and explained to us what each one meant. She also showed us five books, three that she felt misrepresented the Aztecs, and two that were good. She passed all these items around and we all got to see them and read a few lines of the book. We learned that the Aztecs never actually sacrificed like we see in the movies, they actually don't roll sacrificed heads down the pyramids/temples Nor do they sacrifice hearts. These are all just myths that aren't true, they do however do small sacrifices, but nothing like this that is to the extreme. We even learned a song in Nahuatl, and our group is going to sing it on Friday during presentations (Fernanda's idea) Someone also asked a  question about 2012 and if it was true, she said that the calendar did end, but this didn't mean the world was going to end. Instead she explained to us how it meant that we wee somehow going to be closer to the earth and learn to appreciate everything we have. After we finished learning all about the Aztecs we prepared to head out to Girelle's house. Once we got there we had to try and be quiet because Girelle's voice was gone and she wasn't feeling that great. We began to cook immediately and separated into groups to make our jobs easier. I made Cheese Ceviche (an alternative to Ceviche de Camarones) with Brianna and Erica. The food was very tasty and we all worked as a team to get everything done and we worked well considering how much little space we had. When we finished cooking everything we all sat down and were able to eat in peace. Carol took some really great shots today and some good videos, so we were looking at them while we made some humus with Girelle. Today was overall a really fantastic day and I can't wait for tomorrow!! 

                                                                                                                            -Marcela Rodriguez :)