Recently the multimedia project was put on hold. Several factors, including Giovanni's accident and the closing of the Guatemalan academic calendar, have recently made us leave our beloved Dell 1998's. More news to come about the multimedia project soon!
Now, we've picked up cameras starting another great project. In early December, one of the monks from Resurrection Priory is going to visit Saint Patrick's Parish of Edina, MN. St. Patrick's Parish is a primary donator to Resurrection Priory's support of their 85 aldeas. They've not only helped with the donations of the water filters distributed in August, but also have stood sponsor to several young, poor Coban students. Justin and I have been put in charge of making a documentary about Resurrection Priory. The documentary is intended to detail the monks' interactions with the surrounding community, especially highlighting instances in which St. Patrick's Parish donation dollars are at work.
This documentary will be helpful in two reasons. Not only does it signify a "thank you" to donors, but it also is intended to gain more financial support for future projects (wink wink). The movie should last between 10-20 minutes. We plan on utilizing 10 minute video interviews from around 8 monks and several Coban community members to best represent the goings on of Resurrection Priory. Thus, we've spent the last week or so catching some great footage, some of which included "Day of the Dead" celebrations, Confirmation (last blog post), and the healing of the sick. The following week will be full of interviews. Our deadline is to have the video completed by December.. we've got work to do! We are thankful for this project as it has provided to be a topic of critical thinking as well as a chance to get to know the monastic community.
Monday 10/24 - Sunday 10/30
Aside from working on the documentary and a few computer repair sessions, Justin and I have been trying to meet up with a basketball league that allegedly meets on Wednesday and Fridays. We've gone to meet them twice, and the gym was closed both times. Our contact, "Emerson," another friend of one of Bernie's friends, has informed us that the owner of the gym has been sick recently, so the gym has remained closed. while we have yet to meet up with this mysterious basketball league, they are supposed to be having a game this Monday (11/7). Hopefully we'll meet up!
Last week passed by fast. Our evening events included a visit to Raul's house for a wonderful fettuccine dish, as well as a few other slightly awkward graduation parties. On Friday, we attended a graduation party via invite from one of Bernie's friends. The party was very nice, but awkward as we didn't know anyone there. The three of us posted up with Raul at a table in the courtyard and slowly sipped on Scotch. While it was awkward that we were wearing jeans and the average male guest was wearing a suit jacket, it didn't turn out to be that bad of an event.
On Saturday, there was a farmer's market in Parque de San Marcos, a plaza-like place next to the monastery. Our friends Carlos and Eric, were in charge of a stand at the market, so we visited them. We ended up posting up outside a nearby tienda and having a few Gallo beers. Both Carlos and Eric are from Zacapa, and they've invited us to visit whenever we can.
On Saturday night, we attended the graduation party of one of Oscar's nieces. Oscar's family is Qui'Chi, so we knew that the experience would be a bit different than that of other other graduation parties we had visited. We weren't disappointed.
Alberto picked us up from the monastery and brought us right to the party. The party was held in a public park, amongst old cement and stucco buildings adorning entrances without doors. There were several tables lined up in a long line across the middle of the room. Atop the tables was a white linen tablecloth and plastic utensils wrapped with pink curled ribbon. As we entered this long, cold cement room with his abnormally shy wife and two young timid boys, no one said a word to us. 20 sets of eyes stared on blankly as we quietly sat down and twiddled our thumbs until Oscar arrived. Except for the occasional whisper to another Qui'Chi relative or friend, the general population of the party was silent.
When Oscar finally got there, we went to a different table and sipped on our party emergency kit (tasty Scotch).
We hung around for a couple hours or so, mostly keeping to ourselves. When dinner was served, the young graduate (dressed in a beautiful light blue Prom-like dress) served all the attendees their dishes first. After serving all the guests, she was then required to dance with any men at the party that would oblige. Justin and I were, of course, pressured into dancing with her. As I awkwardly spun around with this young girl, I told her that the worst part was almost over, and asked if she received gifts from the guests. She blushed and nodded, saying that there were lots. As I bid her adieu for her next dance with a portly middle-aged man, and wished her best of luck with everything (especially writing thank you cards).
Before leaving, Justin and I were ushered into the long cement room with the tables again. This time, several young girls were sitting around the table. They all giggled and timidly looked at us. The other adults beckoned us toward the table, and while the awkwardness of the situation was unbearable, I tried my best to make conversation to the girls.
Conversation with these girls was a little better than trying to spark up a conversation with a brick wall. Granted, my spanish is still quite rusty, but they gave answers to conversational questions in as little words as possible. Responses were mumbled and jumbled. They said they were all in their twenties (but were most likely younger) and were in a university I had never heard of. A few were pretty enough, but uninteresting to say the least. Justin, who was engaged in conversation with only one of the girls, was a bit more successful than me. As we were leaving, suave Justin pulled a number from Mary, one of the cuter girls from the group. He has since been bombarded with text messages, and even a call at 6:30am the next day to see "what's up." Ahh... young Guatemalan love. As for now, better him than me I say.
Sunday 10/30 was fairly typical. We were invited to our friend Angel's house for lunch, which is right next door to the monastery. During the afternoon as I was playing a few folk songs on the deck, a few young teen Guatemalans asked if I might be able to play some songs for the kids in their faith formation class. I told them that I had not yet learned any Spanish songs, but they were welcome to use my guitar. I ended up shooting some nice footage of the group performing a few Church songs, along with a prayer session. Here are a few products of that Sunday afternoon...
Monday 10/31 - Sunday 11/6
The past week was riddled with several opportunities to shoot some great footage. On Monday, we followed Padre Carlos to a local food shelter, where Padre goes every Monday to help distribute a lunch to poor, mostly orphaned children. On Wednesday, we followed several monks to the Cemetery to celebrate Mass for Day of the Dead. On Thursday, we visited several very poor houses to witness Padre Carlos administer Communion and Anointing of the Sick to old or disabled community members.
Because all these instances will be well detailed in our documentary, I'm being rather brief in my description. I assure you, however, these were incredible experiences, as you will soon see in our finished product.
Aside from brainstorming interview questions and meticulously editing footage, we did have a few parts of our schedule for free time. Tuesday (All Saints Day) is a holiday here, and we took it as one. On Saturday we were completely open, so we decided to take a trek out to the Caves of Rey Marcos. After turning down a few rickety roads (more like a constant stream of potholes and washed-out gutters), we finally arrived at Rey Marcos. The area not only included caves, but also a few waterfalls and hiking trails. Justin and I were happy to escape the structured monastic life by exploring this terrain..
Later on that evening, after visiting Carlos Estrada's house for a few whiskey drinks, we made our way out to our friend Chato's house for a birthday party. In the Guatemalan Constitution, it is illegal to consume or sell liquor 36 hours prior to a presidential election. Our good Guate buddies had forgotten this. We arrived to find our friend Eric, Chato, and Carlos as sober as can be, chain smoking cigarettes and hanging out. We gave Eric a crappy cigar as a birthday gift (recall, no liquor stores were open), and chatted for a bit before returning to the monastery. It was good to catch up with our friends again.
We wrapped up our weekend with a Sunday lunch at Carlos Estrada. I got the great pleasure of meeting Carlos' friends, siblings, and sons. The food was phenomenal, and the company cheerful. In the next week, we've got quite the work cut out for us in regards to the documentary. More great footage and pictures to come!
Monday 10/24 - Sunday 10/30
Aside from working on the documentary and a few computer repair sessions, Justin and I have been trying to meet up with a basketball league that allegedly meets on Wednesday and Fridays. We've gone to meet them twice, and the gym was closed both times. Our contact, "Emerson," another friend of one of Bernie's friends, has informed us that the owner of the gym has been sick recently, so the gym has remained closed. while we have yet to meet up with this mysterious basketball league, they are supposed to be having a game this Monday (11/7). Hopefully we'll meet up!
Last week passed by fast. Our evening events included a visit to Raul's house for a wonderful fettuccine dish, as well as a few other slightly awkward graduation parties. On Friday, we attended a graduation party via invite from one of Bernie's friends. The party was very nice, but awkward as we didn't know anyone there. The three of us posted up with Raul at a table in the courtyard and slowly sipped on Scotch. While it was awkward that we were wearing jeans and the average male guest was wearing a suit jacket, it didn't turn out to be that bad of an event.
 |
| Carlos and Eric |
On Saturday night, we attended the graduation party of one of Oscar's nieces. Oscar's family is Qui'Chi, so we knew that the experience would be a bit different than that of other other graduation parties we had visited. We weren't disappointed.
Alberto picked us up from the monastery and brought us right to the party. The party was held in a public park, amongst old cement and stucco buildings adorning entrances without doors. There were several tables lined up in a long line across the middle of the room. Atop the tables was a white linen tablecloth and plastic utensils wrapped with pink curled ribbon. As we entered this long, cold cement room with his abnormally shy wife and two young timid boys, no one said a word to us. 20 sets of eyes stared on blankly as we quietly sat down and twiddled our thumbs until Oscar arrived. Except for the occasional whisper to another Qui'Chi relative or friend, the general population of the party was silent.
When Oscar finally got there, we went to a different table and sipped on our party emergency kit (tasty Scotch).
 |
| Alberto Playing with his Son |
Before leaving, Justin and I were ushered into the long cement room with the tables again. This time, several young girls were sitting around the table. They all giggled and timidly looked at us. The other adults beckoned us toward the table, and while the awkwardness of the situation was unbearable, I tried my best to make conversation to the girls.
Conversation with these girls was a little better than trying to spark up a conversation with a brick wall. Granted, my spanish is still quite rusty, but they gave answers to conversational questions in as little words as possible. Responses were mumbled and jumbled. They said they were all in their twenties (but were most likely younger) and were in a university I had never heard of. A few were pretty enough, but uninteresting to say the least. Justin, who was engaged in conversation with only one of the girls, was a bit more successful than me. As we were leaving, suave Justin pulled a number from Mary, one of the cuter girls from the group. He has since been bombarded with text messages, and even a call at 6:30am the next day to see "what's up." Ahh... young Guatemalan love. As for now, better him than me I say.
Sunday 10/30 was fairly typical. We were invited to our friend Angel's house for lunch, which is right next door to the monastery. During the afternoon as I was playing a few folk songs on the deck, a few young teen Guatemalans asked if I might be able to play some songs for the kids in their faith formation class. I told them that I had not yet learned any Spanish songs, but they were welcome to use my guitar. I ended up shooting some nice footage of the group performing a few Church songs, along with a prayer session. Here are a few products of that Sunday afternoon...
 |
| Quite the Audience |
 |
| Jump for Jesus! |
 |
| Deep in Prayer |
The past week was riddled with several opportunities to shoot some great footage. On Monday, we followed Padre Carlos to a local food shelter, where Padre goes every Monday to help distribute a lunch to poor, mostly orphaned children. On Wednesday, we followed several monks to the Cemetery to celebrate Mass for Day of the Dead. On Thursday, we visited several very poor houses to witness Padre Carlos administer Communion and Anointing of the Sick to old or disabled community members.
Because all these instances will be well detailed in our documentary, I'm being rather brief in my description. I assure you, however, these were incredible experiences, as you will soon see in our finished product.
 |
| Day of the Dead Pilgrimage |
 |
| Fulfillment of Will |
Aside from brainstorming interview questions and meticulously editing footage, we did have a few parts of our schedule for free time. Tuesday (All Saints Day) is a holiday here, and we took it as one. On Saturday we were completely open, so we decided to take a trek out to the Caves of Rey Marcos. After turning down a few rickety roads (more like a constant stream of potholes and washed-out gutters), we finally arrived at Rey Marcos. The area not only included caves, but also a few waterfalls and hiking trails. Justin and I were happy to escape the structured monastic life by exploring this terrain..
 |
| Spelunking Rey Marcos |
Later on that evening, after visiting Carlos Estrada's house for a few whiskey drinks, we made our way out to our friend Chato's house for a birthday party. In the Guatemalan Constitution, it is illegal to consume or sell liquor 36 hours prior to a presidential election. Our good Guate buddies had forgotten this. We arrived to find our friend Eric, Chato, and Carlos as sober as can be, chain smoking cigarettes and hanging out. We gave Eric a crappy cigar as a birthday gift (recall, no liquor stores were open), and chatted for a bit before returning to the monastery. It was good to catch up with our friends again.
We wrapped up our weekend with a Sunday lunch at Carlos Estrada. I got the great pleasure of meeting Carlos' friends, siblings, and sons. The food was phenomenal, and the company cheerful. In the next week, we've got quite the work cut out for us in regards to the documentary. More great footage and pictures to come!
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