For the third time in the past four years, Stephanie and I (this time without Vincent, who's only gone once) attended the first communion worship services at the roman Catholic church in New Albany that has Spanish-language services, St. Mary's. For the third time, we also went to a party with the family of a student of Stephanie's afterwards. This time (on Derby weekend and the day after our Ohio River Grand Excursion) Stephanie also got a written invitation beforehand, from the family of her longtime student Saul (who we saw at another student's birthday party we also went to a couple of years ago). St. Mary's is a beautiful old Catholic church near downtown New Albany. A couple of her Anglo colleagues attend English-language services there. You might recall that Father Tom (pictured below) is the disabled Anglo priest who went to Mexico to learn Spanish for the Spanish-language services at St. Mary's and at St. Rita's in Okolona in Louisville. You might recall that we - only half joking - say that Father Tom was responsible for Stephanie getting her job - because priests still can influence the mainly Catholic politicians in Southern IN river towns. Below Father Tom is beckoning the 3rd and 4th graders about to participate in their first communion (after some religious training - the closest thing to this among Protestants is confirmation as members in 7th or 8th grade) to go to the back of the church and then process in. The kids sat with their families near the center aisle in the rows towards the front.
Below is Saul, on his way back.
Father Tom leads the procession. All of the grils were in fancy white dresses. Saul was in a white suit, but some other boys were in black suits.
Below is the front of the church after the procession.
Below is one of Stephanie's former students, Thalia, (now in middle school) helping read the scripture for the service.
As always, Father Tom preached for about 15 minutes in Spanish. Having been in a blingual Sunday school class and having just been to Guatemala, I was able to understand a little more of it.
Some of the kids and their families looked on below.
Most of the kids sitting near us were girls, and below they start to go up to participate in communion.
And communion continued . . .
We had taken communion earlier in the day at our own church and not being Catholic we did not participate.
And the kids returned to their seats. The teenager in the simpler white dress was preparing for her quinceanera celebration - religious and secular - a celebration of 15th birthdays for girls only.
The boy pictured below - returning to his seat - on the right - in front of Father Tom - is Oscar (formerly aka Butterball) who Stephanie saw a lot her first year - at Mt. tabor - when he was in kindergarten. He shifted with her to Fairmont, where last year he "graduated" from the English as a new language program. Stephanie still keeps track of how her former students still at Fairmont are doing in school and they take standardized tests with her and her current students.
And communion continued . . .
We had taken communion earlier in the day at our own church and not being Catholic we did not participate.
Each kid also had a candle, which - if I remember right - Father Tom lit.
And the kids returned to their seats. The teenager in the simpler white dress was preparing for her quinceanera celebration - religious and secular - a celebration of 15th birthdays for girls only.
The boy pictured below - returning to his seat - on the right - in front of Father Tom - is Oscar (formerly aka Butterball) who Stephanie saw a lot her first year - at Mt. tabor - when he was in kindergarten. He shifted with her to Fairmont, where last year he "graduated" from the English as a new language program. Stephanie still keeps track of how her former students still at Fairmont are doing in school and they take standardized tests with her and her current students.
Below Father Tom started to wrap up the service (which included many adults and older kids there participating in communion by "intinction").
Father Tom smiled at us as he headed to the back of the church, walking in front of the 15-year-old.
And others headed back.
We'd lost track of the written invitation to the party, and so we got the directions from Saul's aunt, Susanna. Last year I didn't to go Perla's party, because I couldn't find it up in Floyds Knobs, and so the directions issue was not-trivial. Susanna and her family live closer in, near Mt. Tabor school.
After the service (and after getting the directions) all of the first communion kids gathered at the front of the church and posed for pictures.
And Father Tom sprinkled water on them.
And then families separated for pictures.
Saul posed with his brother and parents (now separated).
And with other kids, Cecilia (Stephanie's now student) and Edson (who she will have next year), both cousins to Saul and Daniel.
Stephanie and I shifted over to the side of the church, where Stephanie posed with Saul (below).
Stephanie also posed with Luis (in the black suit, below). Following students' progress for several years at a time isn't something Stephanie has been able to do until she started teaching in Southern IN (although she did teach in FL for two years - plus she's Facebook friends with just two of her former FL students - they're graduating from HS now!).
Oscar's mother - who I remember from a Mt. Tabor PTA event - invited us to his after-first communion party. And we took down the directions (in case we tried to get there later). Stephanie explained that she had received the invitation from Saul's party a couple of weeks earlier and she and her colleague Stephanie had a de facto division of labor, as the other Stephanie was planning to go to Oscar's party. Stephanie (a rare non-Catholic among her colleagues), however, did not go to mass, and ended up not going to the other party. (The other Stephanie teaches kindergarten and first grade, and so Oscar had her before graduating from ENL.) However, Stephanie taught younger kids for that one year at Mt. Tabor and has had younger kids in summar school, which the other Stephanie has not taught at. Stephanie also knows lots of the kids in ENL and not at Fairmont - because of tutoring, Culture Club, pulling in to other classes, bus duty, etc.
Stephanie posed again - I think with Oscar and his sister.
And others headed back.
We'd lost track of the written invitation to the party, and so we got the directions from Saul's aunt, Susanna. Last year I didn't to go Perla's party, because I couldn't find it up in Floyds Knobs, and so the directions issue was not-trivial. Susanna and her family live closer in, near Mt. Tabor school.
After the service (and after getting the directions) all of the first communion kids gathered at the front of the church and posed for pictures.
And Father Tom sprinkled water on them.
And then families separated for pictures.
Saul posed with his brother and parents (now separated).
And with other kids, Cecilia (Stephanie's now student) and Edson (who she will have next year), both cousins to Saul and Daniel.
Stephanie and I shifted over to the side of the church, where Stephanie posed with Saul (below).
Stephanie also posed with Luis (in the black suit, below). Following students' progress for several years at a time isn't something Stephanie has been able to do until she started teaching in Southern IN (although she did teach in FL for two years - plus she's Facebook friends with just two of her former FL students - they're graduating from HS now!).
Oscar's mother - who I remember from a Mt. Tabor PTA event - invited us to his after-first communion party. And we took down the directions (in case we tried to get there later). Stephanie explained that she had received the invitation from Saul's party a couple of weeks earlier and she and her colleague Stephanie had a de facto division of labor, as the other Stephanie was planning to go to Oscar's party. Stephanie (a rare non-Catholic among her colleagues), however, did not go to mass, and ended up not going to the other party. (The other Stephanie teaches kindergarten and first grade, and so Oscar had her before graduating from ENL.) However, Stephanie taught younger kids for that one year at Mt. Tabor and has had younger kids in summar school, which the other Stephanie has not taught at. Stephanie also knows lots of the kids in ENL and not at Fairmont - because of tutoring, Culture Club, pulling in to other classes, bus duty, etc.
Stephanie posed again - I think with Oscar and his sister.
Luis and Oscar posed with Stephanie since they both had Stephanie in second grade.
We left the church and drove past Stephanie's school the 2-3 miles to the house of Saul's aunt, Susanna, in a suburban neighobhood close to the Southern IN perimeter highway. Below - sitting at the kitchen table - is Saul's cousin, Edson, who has battled (and apparently is currently beating) childhood leukemia.
After talking with some family members in the living room, we settled down for some great food (no chance to lose the 5 pounds I gained in Guatemala on this weekend). We ate with a visting group of Saul's relatives and some friends and neighbors.
We left the church and drove past Stephanie's school the 2-3 miles to the house of Saul's aunt, Susanna, in a suburban neighobhood close to the Southern IN perimeter highway. Below - sitting at the kitchen table - is Saul's cousin, Edson, who has battled (and apparently is currently beating) childhood leukemia.
After talking with some family members in the living room, we settled down for some great food (no chance to lose the 5 pounds I gained in Guatemala on this weekend). We ate with a visting group of Saul's relatives and some friends and neighbors.
I'm afraid at this point I can't remember what everything we ate was - a meat dish, tortillas, and some vegetable dishes.
That's Susanna and Saul's mother to her left.
After dinner but before dessert, they got out drinks. They brought three different bottles of tequila - mostly unopened - three different Mexican brands of tequila - all bought, like most of the food, at a nearby (Clarksville) little Mexican store. And then began the campaign to get me to try them - under the guise of which I would like best. "Pero yo soy el esposo de la maestra," I said - but they didn't go for that. I thought of the Tequila bluffs story or the Diana Pearl story - but to no avail. Finally, I relented and tried one shot each of the three different kinds of tequila. A middle-aged woman was pushing most, and I ultimately concurred with her favorite.
That's Susanna and Saul's mother to her left.
After dinner but before dessert, they got out drinks. They brought three different bottles of tequila - mostly unopened - three different Mexican brands of tequila - all bought, like most of the food, at a nearby (Clarksville) little Mexican store. And then began the campaign to get me to try them - under the guise of which I would like best. "Pero yo soy el esposo de la maestra," I said - but they didn't go for that. I thought of the Tequila bluffs story or the Diana Pearl story - but to no avail. Finally, I relented and tried one shot each of the three different kinds of tequila. A middle-aged woman was pushing most, and I ultimately concurred with her favorite.
Thankfully, some other people tried some too. Next came dessert. Saul's family had ordered a huge tres leches (three forms of milk) cake from the same Okolona area bakery that we've ordered tres leches cake from (sometimes for home - usually for Presbyterian Center events). Saul's mother brought it out. (Several men in Saul's family - including Susanna's husband - drive trucks for a Chicago trucking company that has a Southern IN satellite operation. If I remember right, Susanna's husband is in management now. Susanna suggested that - when she first moved to New Albany and her husband was out on the road a lot and there were fewer Spanish-speaking people in the area and she knew no one, she was more lonely - eight years ago. But now some of her family has moved there, there are more Spanish-speaking people, she has taken English classes at the school district's adult education center, she speaks English well, and her husband is gone less. Something we brushed up against a couple of times but of course quickly veered away from was folks' immigration status. One reason why people might not go back to Mexico is if they're here in tenuous legal status.)
Saul's mother eventually got him to go back and put his white shirt back on - apparently for pictures like what we and others were taking.
Below is the woman who ultimately got me to try the tequila. (She looks just a tiny bit like Hulmani, my late paternal grandmother.)
Saul came back in white.
His mother helped too. Maria also showed us pictures of her brand-new grandchild back in Mexico. Her 20 year-old daughter just had a baby this past week. She had been sent pictures via e-mail and printed them out to show everyone. So Saul was also celebrating becoming an uncle.
Saul's mother eventually got him to go back and put his white shirt back on - apparently for pictures like what we and others were taking.
Below is the woman who ultimately got me to try the tequila. (She looks just a tiny bit like Hulmani, my late paternal grandmother.)
Saul came back in white.
And he took the lead in cutting the tres leches cake after explaining what all the symbols on the cake represented (the dove = the holy spirit etc...).
His mother helped too. Maria also showed us pictures of her brand-new grandchild back in Mexico. Her 20 year-old daughter just had a baby this past week. She had been sent pictures via e-mail and printed them out to show everyone. So Saul was also celebrating becoming an uncle.
Great cake (super moist)!
As we went to leave, Saul and other kids in his extended family were playing something like Wii Soccer (or futbol) on their big TV.
As we went to leave, Saul and other kids in his extended family were playing something like Wii Soccer (or futbol) on their big TV.
And - I'm including this for content even though it's a bad picture - some of the adults in the family were talking with extended family members in Mexico via Skype on the computer (this on the same weekend that Stephanie and I saw that riveting "Sin Nombre" and on one of the first "swine flu" virus weekends).
Only in America. Thanks for your hospitality, Susanna and Father Tom! Congratulations, Saul, Oscar, and others (and to Stephanie for your good work with these kids)! To paraphrase Tom Hanks in "Saving Private Ryan": Make it count.
-- Perry
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