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lessons w/ the indigenous

there was an indigenous conference at the parish saturday focused on saving water. i thought it sounded very interesting, but considering my lack-of spanish decided to run in the morning instead of attending the presentations and show up for lunch time with caro.

once we got there we started asking around for how we could help and were stationed at the tortilla station. i think i`m still learning what a staple tortillas are in life here and this experience was further proof. apparently they chopped down the corn that they grew in the back of the parish for this occasion and when we got there the dough was ready to go. first i made balls from the dough. it wasn`t too difficult, but i had to pay special attention that they weren`t too big or small.
then one of the ladies working the tortilla press (?) said she was going to teach me. at first i was very excited because i always like to learn something new. but that faded rather quickly to a bit of fear. so there were 3 steps to making the tortillas
-make the balls
-press them flat
-cook them
the two older ladies cooking them obviously had a lot of experience and one had what i would consider very high standards. too big, too small which caro told me was her fault because she was making the balls (i think she was really trying to make me feel better because everytime the woman took a tortilla from me she gave me a very judging look) at one point caro even said "sorry we haven`t had 50 years of experience" then they were too thick, too thin, which caro could no longer take the blame for...that was all me.
whew i was glad when the tortillas were made and judging by how the attendees ate them i would say it was a success.

we were able to enjoy the food too after our work.

then there was a little dancing.

and then time for mass. this was another fun experience because the mass was held at a historic home where one of the founders of santa fe lived and it`s a little bit of a walk...not far, just up and down hills. somehow i was lucky enough to get the job to carry corn...it was heavy. once we arrived i was so excited and wanted to put it down, but had no idea where it went so i stood there holding this heavy corn. caro had some instument for the band so i told her (from my observances...i was desperate to get rid of the corn) where it went and as she walked away said "if you see anyone who looks like they know what`s going on, ask them where the corn goes" =)

the band was amazing! they had all kinds of instruments i had never seen before and i really enjoyed it.

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sunday after mass we were getting ready to have our usual lunch with parishners when father said we should set-up in the big room...jess and caro weren`t around and that`s all i got from what he said (that`s basically my level of spanish right now...understanding the main point, but not all the details). then one family starts bringing in load after load of food, including cake. so the questions started..."who`s birthday is it?" and no one knew. so we were all just going with the flow.
then padre finally asked and they said it was a combination of a few birthdays that past in the past few months...one even before i arrived.
so we decided it was for everyone!
it was wonderful and funny and i really enjoyed it.

and the veggie dish was right infront of caro and i and i`m not sure anyone ate it but us, but we enjoyed it!

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