Preparing for the Christening

Well as you already know I was lucky enough to be asked to be the Godmother to Gonzalo and Susana's baby girl, Pia, of which I accepted with honour.

We knew the date and finalised the agreement two weeks before the baptism. You may think this is plenty of time to prepare, but I am telling you it is not.  As you can imagine my mind was working over time, many questions accumulated, some more than others, such as ... What will I have to say? Will I have to make a speech? and more importantly What if the priest asks whether I renounce Satan and I say 'Yes I do believe'.  Oh my life, I think I lost hair during these moments out of stress.  I had images of being lynched in the church. 

'Okay' said the teacher 'let’s start with a prayer'. 'Padre nuetros que estas en los cielos..'. Mute, I was mute;

While my thoughts were on this, Felipe's, I believe were on another matter relating to the request, that of the responsibility.  Of course we all know what a great responsibility being a godparent holds, you are second in line to caring for the child.  But I feel here it is even more so.  Although the Catholic faith here is probably more liberal when compared to some of its neighbouring countries such as Peru, but still the faith and its power remains strong.  Therefore it is not just with pride that you accept the offer of being a godparent but with seriousness of the obligation you have just undertaken.  It is this I think Felipe was more preoccupied with and also one of my concerns. But this came to pass as time went on, but my other concerns were not as easy to diminish.

Now I would like you to imagine my thoughts at this moment, my worries and concerns now remember that this will all be in Spanish, obviously. 

My next Spanish lesson as you can imagine was taken up with going through the mass in Spanish.  I searched the internet for a Catholic mass written in Spanish, (I know grabbing at straws, but I thought you could find anything on the internet, apparently not) I finally had to accept that the mass in English was the best I was going to get and translate. The most important thing was what the priest was going to ask me and how I was to respond.  I found the questions which are generally asked during a christening, and it is what you would have thought, do you believe in God, do you renounce Satan.  Well I knew how to say I believe in Spanish 'Si Creo' and how to renounce 'Si renuncio a el'.  Now you can see where I could have got myself in trouble if I said the wrong thing couldn't you.  Forcing Louisa (my Spanish teacher9 to practise with me and mix up the questions so I knew exactly and could hear exactly what was being asked, after which I felt a little bit more at ease.  The next hurdle was the class to teach you about the meaning of the Baptism.  Que! (If you haven't seen Faulty towers 'Que' is what in Spanish, think about Manuel and that is how you pronounce it)

'Yes of course you have to attend a class Sophie' Felipe said.  Okay, I am not as naive to think that being Godmother was as easy as yes, a mass then the party afterwards and of course caring for the child.  But I was wishing, forgive me Lord.

The church where we attended the Baptism classes was near to Susana's house and we arrived with the other Godparents (as their other child, Gonzalo was also getting baptised) and sat in a semi circle facing the altar.  I sat next to the teacher (apologies I can't remember her name thinking of other things I’m afraid), so her eyes were not directly at me, not too painful so far.

'Okay' said the teacher 'let’s start with a prayer'.  'Padre nuetros que estas en los cielos..'.  Mute, I was mute; I merely closed my eyes, clasped my hands together and prayed in English in my head.  After the lesson proceeded with the general questions, 'what is Baptism, what is the meaning?’  I was quite surprised with how much I understood obviously not every word but I could get the general gist.  My worry began once everyone else had at least answered one question; Susana was on a role she had answered four or five. Then the subject of the importance of the godparent was brought up, of course, then she began to emphasise the importance of being close to the baby, I mean literally not emotionally.  'So where do you live Felipe', she asked.  'Oh Santiago' Felipe responded.  Okay that’s not too bad she said, my legs started to shake, it was a little chilly that day so if anyone was to ask I was cold.  I was just waiting for the moment when she asked me where I live, oh England Seniorá, is that close enough.  But it wasn't this moment that my muteness returned it was when the teacher turned to me and said 'No conversa Sophie' (Don't you talk basically).  Breathe Sophie breathe, all I could do was shake my head, I couldn't even say no, the one word that is the same in Spanish as it is in English.  I wasn't quite mortified but I was close.  Felipe answered for me instead and said that I speak a little but that I am shy.  Yes that’s right my friend Sophie is shy here in Chile.  God forgive me but I wasn't concentrating I was concentrating so much on understanding what was being said that there was no way that I could be quick enough or even have the vocabulary to answer questions.  Five minutes later I was able to breathe again.

The week after my first class I spent revising the mass in Spanish, being even more worried about making a mistake.  Then I found out there was to be another class.  On hearing this, I didn't just lose clumps of hair, the hair which remained turned grey.  But surely now the teacher that I spoke only little Spanish she was just going to let me be, nod of the head and pull the face indicating that I am listening intently, that should be sufficient, shouldn't it?

The teacher now has a very good impression of me and my ability of being a godmother, I talk little and I live thousands of miles away, perfect person for the role.  She was a lovely person, of course she doesn't think ill of me, but I swear I detected a look of concern on her face at the beginning of the second lesson, probably just me.  Unfortunately the second and ultimate class did not go as well as I thought that it would.  Not only did I understand less but Felipe stopped in the middle of the conversation to explain something to me.  All eyes were on me and then he said it 'Va a decirnos lo que tenemos que decir'.  Que!  Okay I could understand that in normal circumstances, I am able to write it, although probably with many mistakes but hey not too bad.  I just wasn't prepared for Felipe to talk to me in Spanish, and I couldn't follow the conversation so I had no idea why he stopped to tell me something.  I was under pressure (the song came into my head at this point, classic 80's)  All eyes were on me and by the time Felipe had tried to explain for the fourth time I had to just tell him to tell me in English, what can I say my mind went blank.  The teacher then responded with 'Okay so you're learning', but not so much in the form of a question but in hoping that my answer was going to be yes I am learning.  (Oh and what Felipe was trying to tell me was that the teacher is now going to tell us what we have to say in response to the Priest's questions).  And that is how it proceeded.

By the by this is for Pia, I have to get over my worries and get on with the job.  And that is what I have done we've bought the dress, beautiful, the shoes and socks, I have learnt 'Our Father' and the sign of the cross in Spanish, now the only thing remaining now is the ceremony, and then of course the party.

Fingers crossed for me