Pepsi on Strike

First, I heard someone chanting over a loudspeaker. I was organizing my room and doing some grading, and thought, "okay that's kind of odd, but not too out of the ordinary." At least once a day, I'll hear someone yelling through a megaphone about shoes or fish or whatever they're selling from their pick-up truck. I continued to grade, unphased, when I heard a group cheer and what I thought was a round of gun shots going off. I ran to my window and leaned out to see what was going on in the street below.

Across the street from the entrance of the school, there was a large gathering of Pepsi factory workers protesting for higher wages. They carried a banner and angrily pumped the air with their fists to punctuate their echoed chants. Each person held a piece of paper, maybe of what chants they were saying next, and wore a red shirt. It was definitely a sight to behold.

I quickly learned that the "gunshot" noises, were, in fact, large firecrackers they were setting off after giving really powerful statements. The firecrackers left smoke in the air and seemed to rock the school building like a mini-earthquake. I watched them for awhile from our balcony alongside some other teachers, then, finding I couldn't concentrate anymore in my classroom, went over and joined in a teachers' volleyball game going on in the high school poli.

What an afternoon!