Tio, porque hablas asi?

Finally, after a week of teacher strikes, I was finally able to work in the Group Tutoring Sessions at my two schools in Lampa: Polonia Gutierrez and Lucero. On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to attend my first TG (Tutoria Grupal) at Polonia, and on Thursday I helped my other TG group get ready for their Initiation Ceremony.

So on Wedensday I went to Polonia Gutierrez, it was my first time working in a TG and it was surpsisingly harder than I thought because, to begn with, only 4 kids showed up and one of them (the only boy) was being extremely troublesome. We were supposed to be practicing for the Ceremony of Initiation and the girls wanted to do a dance. However, the mere presence of the boy caused chaos because he would disobey our orders, laugh when the girls started dancing, and would not take part in any of the activities. Of course, the girls did not want to dance if he wasnt taking any part in the activities, so, in our 90 minutes of the TG we accomplished nothing.

On Thursday I went to Lucero, another school in Lampa. They were having their Ceremony of Initiation in which I had the opportunity to meet all of the kids. What was surprising is that they were mostly 12-14 years of age, but most had repeated a year or two of school. I came to the Ceremony bracing myself for problems because I had been told that this group of kids was famous for their legendary fights. The reality was entirely different. That's not to say that the kids werent loud and obnoxious, but they were certainly not problematic on that day (I did see the potential for fights though). In fact, they pulled off the most exciting and humorous Ceremony I have seen to date. The girls danced to reggaeton, in an extrememly provocative way, and the guys did a humorous skit which left everybody in stitches.

For fun, here are a sample of the conversations Ive had in the last few days at work with the kids:
At Polonia

John: Tio, porque hablas asi?
Yo: Como?
John: Pos asi tio!
Yo: Es que soy de Mexico, y asi hablamos alla.
John: Ahhh! (piensa por un rato) y donde queda Mexico tio?
Yo: Muy al norte, casi al otro lado del mundo...
John: Sabes que tio? Yo tengo un primo en Brazil, estais cerca de Brazil?
Yo: Bueno, Brazil esta mas cerca a Mexico que Chile, pero comoquiera esta lejillos...

As the girls were practicing their dance for the Ceremony, they did a really cool step, so I said

Yo: Orale! Me gusto esa..
Chiquillas: Orale tio! Orale! Orale! (se rien)
Yo: Que paso? Se burlan de mi?
Chiquillas: Si po
Yo: OK

Then on Thursday, at Lucero, a group of the kids surrounded me and began asking me questions. The first question they asked was this...

Chiquillo: Tio, de donde es Ud?
Yo: De Mexico
Chiquillo: (voltea a los otros chiquillos) Les dije! El tio habla como el Chavo!
Yo: El Chavo del Ocho!?! Vamos, no es para tanto...
Chiquillos: Oye tio, y huevon como se dice en mexicano?
Yo: Huevon? Pos guey
Chiquillos: Jajajaja (se dicen entre ellos) Orale guey! Que paso guey! Mi guey, vamos a tomar una chela!
Yo: JAJAJJAJA, Calmense chiquillos...
Chiquillos: Oye tio, y primo como se dice?
Yo: Primo? Primo como un amigo?
Chiquillos: Si po
Yo: Pos...primo tambien, o cuate (si estas en el sur)
Chiquillos: JAJAJJAJAA...CUATE!!! JAJAJAJ....(se dicen entre ellos) Oye cuate!! Que paso guey!? Pos nada cuate!!
Tio, tio, y "huerita bonita" que es?
Yo: JAJAJAJA...pos una mina rubia que esta bonita po
Chiquillos: Y usted, cuando ve a una huerita bonita, que le dice pos para que...pos ya sabe pa que...eh tio? ehhh? jajajjaa
Yo: JAJAJJA...a ver, que edad tienen?
Uno de ellos: Yo tengo 17 tio!
Yo: Si como no, de veras...
Chiquillos: Pos entre 12 y 14...
Yo: A bueno, pos no los puedo decir ese tipo de cosas, no tienen la edad suficiente...
Chiquillos: Vamos tio! (el que "tenia" 17 me dice:) Tio, hasta tengo un condon aqui conmigo (saca un globo desinflado)
Yo: JAJAJAJAJAJAJA

(All of a sudden, one of the kids comes running through the hallway, yelling...)

Tengo un gato en mis pantalones!!!
Yo: Y eso que onda?
Ellos: Po es mexicano tio! Tengo un gato en los pantalonessss!! Que significa tio?
Yo: No creo que sea mexicano...
Ellos: Dale tio! Que es?
Yo: Pos, que creen que sea?
Ellos: Pene....JAJJAJAJAJA...Pero el mio es gato silvestre!! Y tu gato se lo comio el perro!! JAJAJAJAJA

For the rest of the day, all they said was: "Tengo un gato en los pantalones guey!"