Haiku Death Battle

Why is traveling so interesting? Other than the change of scenery, exposure to other cultures, new food, and challenges in life, I can't think of anything interesting about it. Oh, except the really interesting, creative people you meet.  It has become abundantly clear that the group of people we associate with are multitalented; athletes, musicians, artists, professional hula hooper. But the talent has been showcased mainly at a monthly poetry night which several of the teachers organized.  It turns out that our family has some talent too.  Lizzie inspired an event ultimately entitled "The Haiku Death Battle".  During a previous poetry night she was reading original haikus she had written in between the other teachers readings and performances.  

The high poetry council then decided to create a Haiku competition.  This was a well defined event with strict rules that some of the creative participants had difficulty adhering to.  In additions to the strict meter of this form of poetry (5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables) there was also competitor denomination through colors; red competitor and non-red competitor (in this case blue), no audible clapping or laughing so as not to influence the judges (clapping was a one handed pushing of air and laughing was a jiggling of the hand back and forth.), and red and blue sticks used by the judges to indicate poem winners.  Each round was followed by a brief normal clapping which had a length strictly orchestrated by our event conductor.  I had a hard time stopping my clapping in time and was remonstrated by our M.C. 

Bridget and Lizzie both participated in the event and Julian had his own age appropriate event to attend, a quinceanera, which is almost like a sweet 16 but happens when girls turn 15 and are almost like proms in their formality, grandiosity and size.  There was some discussion about whether Lizzie should be able to participate, because there was fear that she would win on cuteness instead of the quality of her poems.  But I imposed on the high poetry council's kindness to allow her to participate because she did inspire the event and she worked hard on her creations.  Both Bridget and Lizzie made it to the semi-final round and there were some who would have liked to see a final round between us, but I was not looking forward to that type of mother/daughter competition.  Fortunately we both lost in that round and did not have to face each other.  Norm contributed to the evening by video taping much of the event and reciting some excellent Bertolt Brecht poetry, not of the Haiku variety.

Below you can see our creations for the evening.  There were so many great poems.  We hope to be getting copies of them all to add here.

Eliza's

1. A proud white harp seal, 11. Girls want to have fun,

Gets chased by a white shark as, We laugh and play all day long,

A whale saves the day. Our fun never ends.

2.A flaming candle, 12. Glassy and clear cup,

Glows in the night while we sleep, Sparkles with water in it,

The soothing crackle. As I drink it all.

3. Pencils on my desk, 13. EXIT

Many pencils on my desk, Four lit green letters,

Clatter on the floor. Awaiting our departure,

4. The flowing rivers, Proud of their success.

Run rapidly to the sea, 14. Screaming eyes of light,

Where the sharks are born. On stone hearts and souls reflect,

5. Lonely pebbles form, Peacock feathered bright.

Massive piles of grey matter, 15. Piano

In streets of Cuenca.  Carved wood painted black,

6. Merry Santa Claus, Openly awaiting touch,

Bring presents to kids at night, To steal the silence.

Watch out he might not. 16. A tiny spider,

7. Pretty butterflies, Crawls up the bedroom wall,

Fly by my window at night, As I am sleeping.

Fly into the dark. 17. Green guacamole,

8. Poor old cute Jasmine, Made out of avocados,

died getting hit by a car, Chips are good with it.

Oh we loved her so. 18. I have a rainbow,

9. Pretty flowers wait, Glowing in my beating my heart,

To bloom on the start of Spring, Where Jasmine is still.

Growing each Spring Day. 19. I feel a cold chill,

10. School School so boring, And I know winter is here,

I go there every five days, So I call my friends.

I learn math and art. 20. I look out my window,

And see something wonderful,

A horse white as snow.

Bridget's

1. White Stripes 8. Rejuvenation

Chosen from the herd Blood slips through my veins

For her sexy hind quarters, My body an hourglass.

Loved for her thick stripes. Time to turn over.

2. Possessive Adjectives 9. Perverse Technology

My spouse, my child, mine! ipod, itouch, wii.

Can I really be loving, These predators devices,

Without owning you? preying on children.

3. Roseanne Barr 10. Exercourse

Little facial lines 1, 2, 3, push, aahhhh!

Make sane women consider  Why isn't getting you out,

cutting their faces. Fun'az getting you in?

4. Face Dander 11. Parenting

Mucous tinged mustache, To this helpless babe,

Man allergic to own beard. We just became the utmost

Choo, he blows it off. important people.

5. Ode to the Queen of Haiku 12. Falling Down

Animal lover, Scrape off a layer.

Gorgeous adaptable girl, What lies underneath the skin?

We think we love her. Another layer.

6. Miedo in la Amazonia 13. Traditional Haiku - Cuenca

Twisted trees in muck, Morning, October,

An anaconda lair slog, By noon, it's April,

She dies, heart attack. December doesn't come.

7. Love 14. Avoiding Nasty Movies on Long Bus Rides

Let me slip into  Shove her head in seat, 

Something more comfortable. Stab my fingers in her ears.

How about your skin? Lizzie, stop watching!

15. Julian's Consciousness 16. Rivalry

Life flashed before eyes                                      If I give you both

Stay away from the white lights, The same gift, it doesn't mean

Puberty begins. That you are not special.

 

 

Banos Ambato

This country never ceases to amaze us in terms of the diversity of scenery, resources, fun diversions, and just plain weird stuff.  One of the unique aspects of the culture here is the emphasis on Carneval which comes right before Lent.  As in places like Brazil, Germany and New Orleans there is much celebratory shenanigans as a release before the fasting of Lent.  However, I couldn't find any of my students who knew that that was the reason for it.  In Cuenca the celebrating starts several weeks before the actual days of Carneval.  You can be walking down the street and have a water balloon thrown at you or a pitcher of water dumped on you.  They call this "playing Carneval".  I had near misses but no water actually reached me.  They need to work on their aim, I really don't walk that fast.  

We had several days off from work and school and took the opportunity to go to a place in the north central part of the country called Banos.  It is called that not because it is a toilet, but because there are thermal hot springs there that are generated from the nearby volcano Tungurahua.  This is an active volcano that we saw spewing lots of smoke on our way in, but there was no actual ash falling on the town while we were there.  In 1999 the town of Banos was evacuated for 3 months because some scientific geniuses believed that it was about to erupt.  However, it didn't erupt and the displaced citizens of Banos eventually forced their way back into the town so that they could continue their livelihood as a tourist destination.  

We arrived after a 7 hour journey from Cuenca on buses that showed the worst R17-rated DVD's I have had the displeasure of being exposed to.  On our return trip I asked the conductor not to show such violent and sex filled videos, yet he ignored me and I squelched an urge to fight a one woman mutiny on the bus.  I had a vision of my family standing on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere without our bags but Lizzie's copy of her Beverly Hills Chihuahua DVD in hand.  

     Once we arrived in Banos we stayed in a decent hostel called "Plantas Y Blanco".  The only problem was that our room was located near the staff cleaning area and they too started Carneval a little early and were constantly having water fights.  Water is not really the substance of choice to play carneval with in Banos.  They prefer espuma or colored shaving foam.  We had the audacity to walk down the main street after dinner one night during carneval and almost made it down the street clean before we were attacked with the espuma.  After the initial shock, we all just started laughing and bought our own cans of the stuff.  The revenge was sweet and it was a lot of fun after all.

     The highlight of our trip to Banos was our whitewater rafting trip.  We took a mini bus to a place on the Pastaza river which had excellent class III rapids. On our way the bus stopped at a bridge where operators were chucking people off the bridge harnessed to a rope.  They would then dangle and swing above the river.  It was almost like bungee jumping without the 'boing'.  Lizzie wanted to do it as soon as she saw it. Given my slight fear of heights I had some trepidation, so I sent the older boy first.  I practically wet my pants watching them jump off a bridge.  Fortunately, I had to concentrate on keeping the video camera steady, so I had something to divert my emotion.  The kids had a blast and both said it was one of the most exciting experiences of their lives.  We continued on to the rafting and had a wonderful day on the water.  Lizzie got the thrill of 'Riding the Bull' which was a particular rapid where she was able to sit at the front of the raft with her legs straddled across the point.  She bounced up and down a bit but stayed on.  Julian was the only one to fall out of the boat.  I think he just wanted a swim at that point.

     We were unable to get tickets on the bus from Ambato to Cuenca in the early morning so we had to wait until the next bus a few hours later.  This afforded us the opportunity to look around Ambato. I had met an artist named David Moscoso at a party during my first trip here last year.  He told me he had just finished painting murals at the new cathedral in Ambato. So we took a trip to see his art.  The cathedral was damaged by an earthquake in 1949 and they have been restoring it ever since.  I kind of like a lot of his art, but Norm says it reminds him of 1970's van art.  OK, I might have been a fan of that too.  Remember my blacklight posters? 

     All in all it was a great trip.  Good hikes, good food, carneval excitement, etc.  Then it was back to work to end the cycle.  Norm and I estamos jubilado (we are retired) now.  We will not have formal work until we return to the States.  CEDEI didn't really need us for the upcoming cycle, so we are taking the opportunity to continue to focus on Spanish acquisition and volunteer work while we wind our way back down to our trip home.