Homemade Music

It would really be something if I could keep these Jimmy Buffet references up for the rest of the trip.  I'm really just waiting for things to happen that I can relate to a song before I update this thing.
Life in the Big G is cruising along.  Its crazy how similar life is here given everything is different.  There were a few weddings (the week before I came, just missed them), a young girl in the village recently died of AIDS, weekend soccer games, friends laughing in the street, kids walking to school, and pretty much just people who keep on keeping on.  I don't mean to start philosophizing (which my spell check says is a word, maybe thats part of the reason I can't spell), but as I begin to settle down here, I'm surprised and confronted by how similar life seems to be.  No one has houses or cars like in the states.  All the homes in the village are more or less 2 rooms with concrete walls and a tin roof if you're lucky.  There are just a hand full of cars.  I think we had 17 people in our pick-up truck the other day.  But people just seem to do what they have to do, and at its core life ticks a long just fine.
I was reminded of all of this, by a music festival in Raxurah (a nearby town).  The festival was hosted by some nuns there.  For the most part the songs were ok.  I mean I think if I here another song with the accordion on the off-beats or some hip-hop with the classic latin beat I'll have to smash a radio, but it was fun to see the community come together and hang out, and nothing beats homemade music.  Let me tell you the costumes rocked my world.  I think one of the judges had the best one, and he wasn't even trying.  We're talking boots, brown jeans, a striped collar-shirt, a white cowboy hat, and mustache that oozed sheriff.  Pin a star on his chest and give him a six shooter and Guatemala would instantly become one of the safest countries in the world.  We had 3 people enter from our village.  They all won their divisions.  The most notable was a six year old girl, Brandy, who wore all black, with a black hat, and a red bow tie.  She belted it, as only six year olds can.
In other news my class is finally learning that "How are you?" and "What is your name?" are questions that need to be answered, and not just vocab words that I want repeated back to me in spanish.  Its a big step, especially when half of them have lost there name tags.   The name Islida (I still don't know how to say it) just doesn't stick as well as Will or Jennifer.  
Life in the Big G continues to be like homemade music - "Funky and fresh."