Each day I have been walking from shop to shop around our house and in the zocolo (town center), and as a result I have begun to build some friendships with native Tlapans (I have no idea if that is a word). Remember Shelly from the lavanderia (laundry mat)? Well I have gone back each day as promised so that we could practice each other’s languages. When I returned on Tuesday, she told me that her nephew, Abdiel, wanted to meet me and talk with me. He is about to be a junior in high school, and he is at the top of his English class. After talking for a while, we decided that I would return at 5 PM to chat with her sobrino. When I got there, I met her two daughters, Dulce and Dey, and her nephew. We talked, mostly in Spanish, though Abdiel would practice saying some things in English, for over an hour. It was educational and fun, plus they invited me to hang out with them the next day.
Abdiel works to put up the volleyball net while Dulce stands by smiling. It turned out that Abdiel was attending the short course at the Me'phaa mission which we attended the following day. Small world.
While we were talking, I asked Abdiel if he played any sports. I used the word “tocar” for “to play,” which, it turns out, is only used with musical instruments. They proceeded to teach me “jugar,” used as a general term for playing (like “They played in the street.”), and the word for playing organized sports, which I can’t remember right now. Anyways, Abdiel started listing off every sport know to man as the ones he plays (jugar). His cousins started teasing him for thinking too much of himself, and I followed suit. When he asked me which sports I play, I told him that I play (for fun) basketball, baseball, soccer, and tennis. I also told him that I like to play volleyball but that I don’t get to do so very often. He jokingly inferred that this meant I lost a lot, an inference that I quickly refuted.
Dey.
After the playful trash talk from the day before, on Wednesday, instead of walking around the zocolo, they took me to their church to play a two-on-two game of volleyball. Well, near the end of the first game (which my team was winning as predicted), I jumped for a slam and landed in a pothole, spraining my ankle. Luckily the worst effects of that incident have been having to cut the hangout time short and having to nurse a limp for a couple of days.
Two of the youth from Mexico City teaching us all "Cristo me ama" (Jesus loves me).
The sprained ankle didn’t stop me from going to a big party at the Me’phaa mission center on Friday night. I even played volleyball! That might not have been the smartest idea, but I’m only slightly worse for the wear. The party was a blast. A group from Mexico City came in on Wednesday to teach a 4 day short course about putting on an effective VBS type activity for kids. This party was held in celebration of two birthdays and as a general party for the guests. Any reason is a good reason to have a fiesta.
Volleyball at the Me'phaa mission.
Two of the kids silently arguing over who got to ride in the car. Mark pushed them around for a long time, but they never tired of it.
Nana Esther with a really cute baby. FYI, Nana is her title in Me'phaa. Guys are Tata and ladies are Nana.
After the volleyball tournament, which we graciously allowed another team to win, we gathered around tables for eggs and hotdogs, beans, fried cheese, and, of course, fresh tortillas. Afterwards there was cake and music! In Mexico there isn’t just one birthday song. There is still a song that is sung to the person whose birthday it is, but, in addition to this song, there is a whole collection of birthday music. My friend Plácido, one of the translators, played the guitar, and everyone sang in another year of health and happiness for the celebrated two.
Dinner!
After cleaning up from dinner, we moved under the pavilion for some more singing and a game. Our team had been asked to provide some entertainment for the evening that related to the Me’phaa language. The day before I had written down the sheet music for one of the few original Me’phaa scripture songs, so we thought it would be fun to teach it to everyone. Almost all praise music in Me’phaa churches is in Spanish, so it was a lot of fun to teach everyone a song in their heart language.
I play the guitar as everyone learns a worship song in their heart language.
After we had gone over the song a few times, Benito and Emy took over with a game of Me’phaa vocabulary bingo. Since the Me’phaa alphabet didn’t exist until thirty years ago when Mark and Esther made it up, most Me’phaa speakers do not read or write in their own language. It was so much fun to participate as we all learned how to read Me’phaa together.
After that game the called me Master of Me'phaa....not really. Actually Mark helped me a bit, but I did catch on well.
I wonder how you say bingo in Me'phaa...
Me’phaa is a tonal language, and the challenge comes in distinguishing the tones and finding the words with markings that match the tones. Also, a glottal stop is a written character in Me’phaa, so a word without a glottal at the end could mean something completely different than the exact same word with a glottal at the end. Trust me, it isn’t always easy to tell the difference, at least not for this gringo.
The bingo chart. That is what written Me'phaa looks like.
As far as language learning goes, some things are really starting to click for me. I’m becoming more and more comfortable with the imperfect, preterite, and future tenses, and my vocabulary is growing everyday. The guys on the translation team and I are always exchanging vocabulary; they are having fun learning a little bit of English while I’m here. It’s nice because it is game rather than a bunch of one-way annoying questions.
Today we went to a small village about two hours away that is famous worldwide for its intricately painted wood boxes, clocks, bowls, masks, animal statues, and anything else that can be made out of wood. They make their crafts out of a type of wood that only grows in this region, and the detail of the designs is truly remarkable.
Plácido and Mark in a local shop. According to all the locals, the artisan who owned this shop was the best in the whole city.
Lions and tiger and demonic boar-like things, oh my!
Left to right: Benito, Emilia, Me, Plácido.
Well, that’s all for now. We’ll go to church tomorrow, and there is a possibility that I’ll go with Benito and Emy back to Zocitlan on Tuesday. We haven’t decided for sure yet. Have a blessed day.
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