The Sounds of Matachi

This blog is dedicated to the number of distinct sounds that we have grown to enjoy, ignore, or tolerate.

The following videos are only sound (no pictures) allowing you to use your imagination at times when listening to the sounds.  So turn up the volume or plug in some headphones and enjoy these sounds.

The first sound that you will here is a very funny conversation that we had at the dinner table.  These types of conversations are typical and frequent.  Context: Maykon has a pair of pajama pants that features the Grinch. He wears them quite often.  We had an American visiting that said to him "feliz cumpleaños" (happy birthday) whenever he saw him wearing the pants. Maykon had no idea why he was saying this until he realized, much later, that the greeting was supposed to be, "feliz navidad" (Merry Christmas). Also, for a few days the students had been ministering to a group of men from Guatemala who had been waiting for an opportunity to enter the US.  They had a rough time prior to getting to this point and their travels into the US were not going to be any easier (DISCLAIMER: We have no knowledge of these men having actually entered the US or the means by which they entered).  Our students began to talk about Gustavo's decision to sing a "happy" song with the men which is translated "weary of the way." This "happy" song succeeded in bringing all of the men to tears.

The next two videos are of the sounds of our typical devotion time.  We typically sing one song in English (to help them learn English) and one song in Spanish.  It is not a studio quality recording, but it is enjoyable enough to listen to more than once.  The second recording is of Maykon reading a Scripture passage, Gustavo reading Oswald Chamber's "My Utmost for His Highest" devotion for the day, and Heber praying. Can anyone tell what passage Maykon is reading?

There are a number of sounds within the school that have become very familiar to us.  There are essential sounds such as the sound heard when replacing the jug for drinking water and the sound of the coffee pot. There is also the sound of someone walking up and down the metal stairs and the sounds from the courtyard while the laundry is being taken down. The squeaking sound is the clothesline.  Can you hear the clothespins being thrown into the basket? Finally, there are the sounds of the various doors here at the school.  Let's just say that no one can go anywhere without everyone else knowing.

The last group of sounds are sounds that are heard on a weekly, and sometimes daily basis.  The first is Victor who rings a bell to alert people that he is coming down the street.  He is important to us because he is the person who delivers gas for hot water and cooking.  Victor's route brings him to Matachi twice a week on Mondays and Fridays.  The second is the sound of the bell at the Catholic church.  It is rung several times a day on Sunday and is sometimes rung during the week when there are funerals or some kind of special event.  It always rings several time in a row numbering up to 60 times.  How many times do you count in this recording?  The last sound is a sound that we are trying to learn to tolerate.  Our neighbors own a hardware store.  One of their special items in the store are cement bricks.  They have a machine on the other side of our wall that makes these bricks.  They like to get started early in the morning around 7:30am and usually continue to until late in the afternoon.  Rarely do we get a break from this sound.

We hoped you have enjoyed this sampling of the sounds that we experience here in Matachi.  There are several others that are not included because of the difficulty of trying to record them.  They include roosters at all times of the day, cows mooing in the middle of night, the sound of horses' hooves outside our window, and the strange sound of various birds giving mating calls.