February

I guess February has been a slow month for me. Ive been busy with work and everything else, but I guess not much out of the ordinary has happened. One event does stick out in my mind...

On Valentine´s Day (dia de San Valentin or Dia de Amor y Amistad) the city hall had an event for 5th and 6th graders in the central park in Corinto. Since I participate in the city wide Commision for Children and Adolescents, I was involved in the event. The event consisted of a drawing competition, poetry competition, and a dance competition. I was chosen to be in charge of the dance competition.

The participation in the poetry and drawing competition was weak. Only three participants in the drawing competition and 2 in the poetry competition. They prepared things before hand on what the Day of Love and Friendship/Valentine´s Day means to them. Although, I was impressed that two 6th grade boys got up in front of a group of 100 6th graders and read a poem they wrote about love and friendship. I guess poetry is a little more respected here among men than in the States because of Nicaragua´s beloved poet Ruben Dario (almost every town has a school named after him and he is the face on the 100 cordoba bill).

But, the headline competition was definitly the dance competition, the one I was ¨in charge¨of. I had never really attended this style of dance competition before but I in charge of organizing and being the MC for it. I´ll be honest, once I realized what was involved, I quickly passed the responsonsibility onto someone more capable.

The dance competition had 26 participants, or about 1/4 of the audience. Both boys and girls participated in the 4 preliminary groups of 6 or 7 and in the final round. It involved blasting Reggaeton music as loud as possible and then everyone watching while the participants grinded on each other for about 4 or 5 songs. Then the audience would vote on who were the top two and they would dance in the final round. The final round included 2 boys and 5 girls. The boys tried to win the crowd over by ripping of their shirts (which I laughed histerically at because remember, these are kids of 10 or 11, are they showing off their muscles?). The girls tried to dance scandalously, which I also laughed at because they were trying so hard to be grown up woman...but they are just tiny little 10 yr olds. On the one hand it was a little disgusting that the town and teachers (and technically myself) were supporting this competition. But most of them just saw it as innocent. They just think that this is how one dances to Reggaeton music, so of course the boys and girls would dance the same way. They really didn´t think there was anything sexual about it. I would have probably been apalled if I hadn´t seen this type of dancing by boys and girls at every single party and event I´ve been to since I´ve been here. But I guess we know why latin men and woman dance so well when they are adults...they´ve been practicing since they were toddlers.

I think Valentine´s Day parties are a little more interesting here than in U.S. schools...