Father's day

March 19 and 20 was celebration - Father's day! And "party" is exactly what I needed. The usual schedule is of high value of course but I as a little creative and sometimes spontaneous person longed for something different - and there it was! And it was so beautiful! On Saturday we were supposed to have a show for all fathers and then a football game. It rained a lot the day before and in the evening you could see more dark clouds gathering in the sky which meant it will rain even more. Rain cancels everything here. The kids looked forward to having this celebration so much because they had a chance to see their parents. If it rains, the roads become impossible to drive... so no one could come. Some girls started to cry even before Saturday because they understood what rain would do. Some adults started to complain that the holiday won't be a success. But I had faith that everything should go as planned! And already on Friday I thanked God that there will be no rain on Saturday and all events will will be successful! And God took my little prayer of faith and turned it into a big, great, sunny day when not a single rain drop fell. Neither did it rain that night so parents were able to go home on quite dry roads. Some rode bicycles, come horses, some walked (those who lived closer - in about 15 or 20km (9-12miles) distance).
Saturday started with breakfast as usually when Velta told me I have to try a new dish. OK, immediately started to eat it. Name - Pataska! It's something between a soup and porridge with corn, some type of meat and it all was in mild brown tone. I ate it and declared it to be good. It's good that they told me afterwards what the soup was made of. If I had known it before I might not have eaten it :D So this traditional Bolivian breakfast dish is cooked this way: they take a whole cow's head and put it in a pot. The head just as it is with everything that's inside :) They boil it under the brain and all other goodies separate from the bones... then they add corn, some spice and eat happily. Tough, isn't it? :D Ondina looked for a piece of tongue especially for me :D I didn't ask for extra bowl of soup...
Then there was a beautiful concert where children performed songs, poems, dramas and gave speeches. And if I ever thought that I read poetry quite expressively and beautifully then I have to admit that my skills are pretty dim :D  How these Bolivians read poems! Oh my! They have such mighty voices, pain, expression, posture, confidence and you add motions to all that! They show everything the poems text says also with their hands and bodies. Amazing and very powerful! The concert took an hour and everyone was standing this whole hour  - as they always do in school's big events. Only fathers were able to sit on special festival chairs - blue plastic :) I remember how we couldn't sit still during school's official events. We wanted to shuffle. But these Bolivians stood still this whole hour! What a discipline! Unfortunately some dads couldn't come so come children had some tears in their eyes... but they all stood brave! Then an unusual act of honoring took place - all fathers (present and future) stood in front of us and then ALL students, teachers, parents, guests went and shook hands with them. That's about 200 handshakes per father - great tradition! When fathers and teachers finished eating the huge blue Father's day cake then students put on their uniforms and hurried to the football field where someone had already marked the lines with ashes and boys had removed all the cattle's brown "cakes" :) The long awaited football competition between grades could start. Of course, almost all Rinconians had come to watch the game. And the coolest thing was that teacher Erlin had found big speakers that ran by a big battery so we had music during all games! I'd say it was real club music :D Shakira sang her Waka waka song every 30 minutes. And to my surprise I suddenly heard Russian language. What's that? Tatu girls were included in the soundtrack with their song "Ya soshla s uma"... I didn't know what to do - to laugh or cry :D So I better laughed. It was so good to hear loud music. I know, I know - I should listen to the sounds of nature and listen to silence etc... but sometimes I want something rhythmical and smooth... and loud! OK, but Bolivians really know how to play football! Although my big brother recently wrote me that Latvians beat Bolivians in football recently the youth here play football with unseen passion and energy! In Latvia middle school girls usually only walk on the field :D (I'm speaking based on my middle school experience) But these girls run until they're burnout and they fight till the end! There was also an adult team from neighboring village of Bokaina - wow! They had practiced a lot and made our Rincon men look weak. They made many breathtaking combinations on the field. And I can say that I had never watched a football game with such interest! Beautiful! Besides convincing feet and ball combinations I was enlightened by the things that happened on and around the field during and between games. For example, during one break a HUGE pig momma came to the middle of field with 5 or 6 piglets. suddenly she fell on the field and all the piglets started to "eat" their mommy. What a beautiful and impressive feeding process - everyone was amazed! This show is definitely better than cheerleaders they sometimes let out on the field for the sake of entertainment :)
At the end of the day Ondina and I went to the field again to watch the rise of full moon and it's dialogue with clouds. Big cows had gathered before us who calmly chewed their food, grasshoppers made their sounds and you could also hear a choir of frogs... but the sky... fantastic! Wow, who would have thought that looking to the sky can be so exciting? Ondina has taught me a lot about watching the sky and I think that there is still much to learn. When I was in Riga I rarely looked at the clouds. Now sky is my movie theatre!