Mission: Possible

School Program – by Lindsay

After two days of knocking hornet nests off walls, rolling celeste azul paint over the walls of the small school buildings, we returned to the school for a celebratory party and performance.

A small boy plays the music for the game called "Lemon, Half-Lemon."

Paint-covered and sweating from the heat, we took our seats outside one of the newly painted classrooms and awaited the show. Children gathered tightly around shyly watching us and occasionally breaking into large grins when we smiled at them.

A small boy was repeating the same song on the CD player that assured us of the entertainment to come. Little did we know that the performance would instead start with 15 American law students performing serving as the opening act.

First up: the “Lemon, Half-Lemon” game.

The principal of the school lined us up and commanded us to number off in espanol: uno, dos, tres … until all fifteen of us had a number and were instructed to repeat a Spanish tongue-twister about lemons and half lemons. My nonexistent Spanish skills left me with no idea what was happening and why I would have 11 lemons and a half-a-lemon and someone else would want those lemons and a half-lemon to boot.

Did I mention that it was very hot? The price for failing to accurately repeat the game revealed itself when one member stumbled over the words and was commanded to dance for two or two minutes with one of the teachers.

After the lemon and half-lemon debacle came an even more ridiculous game I’ll call the Gringo Broom Dance.

As music started and we went to take our seats, we were instead instructed to watch a small boy demonstrate a dance with the most unconventional partner: that’s right, a blue plastic broom. He then passed this on a Mission Possible member, who was then instructed to dance with the broom “as he would a woman.” Each of us taking our turn yielded hilarious results (captured on film that will hopefully never be seen by any bar admissions panel).

After we had sufficiently satisfied the crowd with our broom-wooing skills, it was time for the children’s performances. Girls and boys danced together in colorful outfits cheek-to-cheek and girls performed more contemporary dances as well.

Of particular enjoyment was a Mission Possible favorite: La Sucia. The folkloric tale of young boys going to the woods and espying a beautiful woman only to discover that instead appears a busty hag with an important message (that is hard to remember as one is instead bewildered by the specter of a child wearing a skeleton mask and balloon-enhanced chest).

A small boy plays the music for the game called "Lemon, Half-Lemon."

After we were dazzled with a variety of dances and skits, the Mission Possible members were instructed to pick students to dance. The joy on the children’s faces when they were selected to dance put a smile on all of our faces. A small girl of two or three was a favorite partner and quite the little dancer.

It was then time to pass out the new backpacks. We went from classroom to classroom and each student was given a new backpack. The children shook our hands and thanked us in English. Each student seemed proud to be acknowledged individually. As we were graciously served hand-made tamales in the fading afternoon light, we watched the children play in the schoolyard. Our hearts happy and bellies full, we all felt a true sense of joy and accomplishment.

The schoolchildren gather for a group photo.

Soccer

After our adventure at school, we headed back to the host family’s home and got ready for a game of soccer that had been organized by our host dad. After our day of being forced to dance for all of the children, it seemed appropriate to continue with the string of embarrassments and play soccer.

I would say half the town turned out to watch our display of athletic ability. Teams of five went out and tried to play …

They ran circles around us. We gave it a good effort but in the end, we were not very good. A few of our members had more soccer talent than others but it wasn’t enough to make up for the deficit. My personal strategy was to pick the largest, tallest man and try to defend him. This mostly resulted in him being too uncomfortable to do anything and confused as to why I wouldn’t leave him alone. Later, I learned he was the mayor of the town …

The scoring system was quite confusing. It seemed every time we scored a goal, the two current teams would keep playing. Whenever the other side scored a goal, the two teams on the field would get off and two new teams would get on. It was an interesting adventure to say the least …

After returning back to the house, we settled in for a group favorite, the game Celebrity. Celebrity consists of every player writing three names on pieces of paper and throwing them into a hat. The names can be real celebrities, group members or other infamous people. We are split into two teams and each team takes a turn trying to guess. There are three rounds.

The first round, a group member takes one name out at a time and can act or say anything he wants to help his team guess who the celebrity is (except say the name of course). Each person goes for a minute until all of the names have been said. The second round gets a little trickier, with the person only being able to say one word to describe the person. The idea is that you remember who is in the mix from the first round. The third round only allows for acting, no words.

It is always a really good time and makes up some of the best memories from the trip.