Library Showcase Story Hour – We started the day by planning and preparing for the two story hours, one at 10:30 and the other at 3:00. We ended up with 32 kids in the morning session and 54 in the afternoon! There were also many interesting peekers standing in the doorway, most of whom were too shy to enter, but a few mothers did stop in and inquire about it, and two of the kids peeking in did come in and stay once invited. Frank and Susanna read two books aloud, with Aracely translating and explaining each page in Ixil. For one book, Esta bien ser diferente, they had each of us do different little actions to go along with it: Carol Ann danced and talked gibberish, Kim petted a little pet caterpillar, I juggled… The kids loved it all! After the books, we did a craft activity. The morning group decorated foam butterfly cutouts that Kim and Lindsey brought. The afternoon group did two activities; the little kids made “very hungry caterpillars” from patterns that Carol Ann brought. They colored segments, cut them out, and glued them together in a train. We used my idea with the older kids: they made little booklets that mimicked actual books that they liked and were in the library. We taped the butterflies and caterpillars up on the walls, and hung the little books from the big tree painted on the wall and ceiling, like fruit coming off of it. It brightened up the whole library and made it so inviting! We were all really happy with the turnout and how it all went. The new space handled the number of kids really well! Also, we think that the word will spread and more and more kids and adults will start joining the library. I figured, that if families get 150 quetzales a month for sending their kid to school, they could justify spending 7Q a year on a library membership for them.
Boxbol – Between story hour sessions, we split into three groups and went to scholarship students’ houses for a lunch of boxbol, a traditional staple food specific to Chajul. It is made by smearing tortilla paste along the length of your palm and fingers in one hand, then placing a huisquil leaf on top, flipping it over, placing a stick the length of it down the middle, folding it in half around the stick, and then boiling it. It was served with a sauce made from pumpkin seeds (mesillas) and salsa with a slight picante to it. We also were served “leche de oats” with it. I didn’t think I’d like the boxbol because of the maize base, but I actually did like it a lot! I loved the Mesilla paste and salsa picante on it! The oat milk was good to and a little sugar, which gave it a nice sweetness.
Evening movie – We were going to watch a documentary about the war, but Jake accidentally gave his only copy to Melissa before she left today. So we played a fun game called “Parlor Game” I hope I can remember what to do because it would be fun replacement for “Celebrity” at Christmas time.
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