happy holiday season!

I haven't written in forever, and my apologies for that. I figured before heading off for awhile for the holidays I would just give a brief update (mostly just in pictures) of what I've been up to the last month ...

We did a campaign for healthy eating ... each class was to present a food group and why it was important. i was put in charge of making the sign of chatarra (junk food) that we put OUTSIDE the school because "we don't want that stuff in here!" i picked up a bunch of trash off the streets to make this sign, and bummer, i just HAD to go eat a big mac so i could put up trash from mcdonalds :-) so here is the final result that i was kind of proud of:



just your average day at school: playing with shaving cream

every monday one class is in charge of honores a la bandera (honors to the flag) and they put on a mini show, some classes dance, some recite historical information, etc. "my" class (the one i spend most time with, kinder II) chose to sing a song they had learned from the "maestra de ingles" (that's me!) so in front of the whole school and their mothers, we sang their favorite song "look at my eyes, eyes, eyes!" (and other body parts)...here they are singing:

just playing with the little tikes (i love legos):

this past month i was in charge of the rincon of doctors...some kids were doctors and others were parents of sick baby dolls so they had to take their kids to the doctors and figure out what was wrong and fix them! oh good times:


in november we had a fundraising fair with all kinds of your typical fair things: food, fishing plastic fish for prizes, marbles, bingo, face painting, etc. etc....
except for something i had never seen before at a fair: fake weddings!:

seriously one of the cutest pictures ever:

I spent the last week in novemeber-beginning of december at an MCC Mexico Reunion in Mexico City. It was actually quite a delight. I was very grateful to be with people to celebrate Thanksgiving. And i whipped up some famous schmucker's pumpkin pie for the occasion of course:

salad, mashed potatoes, veggies, stuffing, turkey...the usual! (except i was missing mom's homemade rolls and grandma's fluff!)nonetheless, i stuffed myself silly as you may note, and it was worth it!:
the last few months i was blessed with the friendship of some delightful estadounidenses that were studying at Universal where I studied spanish at the beginning of my time here. we spent hours at our favorite spot the italian coffe company overlooking the zocalo, and lots of hours "people watching" (which we decided was more of people watching US) in the zocalo. needless to say, all good things must come to an end and as of this past saturday they have all now returned to their homes in the states. it is sad to see them go, and i feel somewhat friendless now...but it was a delight while it lasted :) here we are at our spot:


Anyways, that's a brief glimpse into the past month. Nothing too exciting or out of the ordinary. i am VERY MUCH looking forward to the next couple of weeks...i have tons going on! my last day of school is thursday (the next two days are basically just party hardy), then we have our teachers' party thingy friday. saturday i am heading into mexico city and will be out of cuernavaca from then until the new year! plans for those few weeks include the following: seeing the nutcracker (yay!), trying to make it feel like christmas amidst serious heat and general lack of being at home (to do: ice skating, baking cookies, decorating the office, watching christmas movies, etc...all with the accompaniment of mcc friends), christmas eve dinner with other mccers at the rep's house, going to playa del carmen (south of cancun) for 4 days to see jes (YAYAYAYAYAY), then back to d.f. for new years. i am really seriously looking forward to all this fun, although it is definitely very strange to be away from home during this time. luckily i have a lot to look forward to that will hopefully help me get through my first christmas away from home (i don't like being grown up...)

I hope this blog finds you all happy and well and full of the joy of the christmas season! for those of you lucky enough to experience the joy of grandma alice throwing a snowball at you inside, or get to taste the delight of my mother's cinnamon rolls with christmas colored frosting, or get to experience the genuine joy of hanging out at 504 short buehrer rd. with the fam, don't take that for granted! i am seriously going to miss so much and you all know i am a SERIOUS sucker for tradition...so extra enjoy those things for me this year! take care, and seriously, embrace the beauty of christmas!

lots of love and hugs i send your way

quince anos

Saturday November 17 I attended another extremely cultural event...I went to a Quince Anos. (Yes, I too thought they were called Quinceaneras...but no, the Quinceanera is the PERSON celebrating her Quince Anos). It was an extremely interesting experience that frankly blew my mind. In classic us form (us = the family i live with) we left the house at 7:30 when misa (church service) was supposed to start at 7. So sadly, I did not get to experience the misa part...we just went straight to the fiesta. It was in a huge banquet hall, like, imagine the most extravagant wedding you've ever been to in the states and it was AT LEAST that out of control fancy. It was much more than anything i personally had ever experienced, and i was kind of appalled by it all in some respects (mostly the money respect). Every time I would mention something about how "wow" it was, their response was "but you guys have sweet 16 parties like this don't you???" i think they've all just seen the tv show My Sweet 16 and assume we all do that! I was like um....no. the most ridiculous part(s) was when the girl made her grand entrance she like came down this lighted stairway doing this interpretive dance type thing all the way down to the dance floor where she then danced several dances by herself and with a partner. Then later on she and two guys came out all in black and danced to a compilation of Michael Jackson songs (sort of cool being MJ but still way over the top). After her big entrance her parents made this big speech about how she is now a woman and they are presenting her to society and all that jazz. It was just frankly all way too much for me. Tons of LOUD music, live band, lots of dancing, yeah all you would imagine and more. Ridiculous. But interesting. Let's just say we left at 1 am and they still had not cut the cake ... now obviously this family (Itzi's cousin) has money, but I'm told even families don't do money they still make a big hooplah out of it all. anyways, it was interesting, very interesting. not so much my scene, but great to experience yet another very cultural event.

here are some pics of the family at the big event:






in other news, life at school is about the same. i spent the majority of my day teaching english in one way or another, which i am still not totally happy about, but it's life. with the little kids i am in charge and we basically just sing songs all the time, which is a delight i suppose, although the little ones still really just don't learn anything ... in second grade i help itzi out and basically just have conversation with the kids and help those who are struggling. in first grade it was SO overwhelming (really tough class) we decided to split up the class so itzi teaches half the kids and i teach the other half ... not a huge fan of this (especially since we're outside where distractions run rampant) and the kids are really quite a handful but i'll work on it! monday evenings i have regularizacion where i help 3 kids who are around ages 13-15 (FINALLY! an age i know how to deal with!) with english. it's actually a lot of fun. tuesday mornings two kids from the community come and i spent 2 hours with them working on spanish and math. other than that, my days are filled with helping with breakfast, brushing teeth, and not tons else at the moment! pretty much all english ... eh. :-)

regularizacion on tuesdays with brenda and oscar

giving the kids ketchup on their eggs

the whole crew at the kinder

english 101 with maestra natalia: these are your EYES!

i hope everyone is well and truly enjoying FALL! take care.

Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)

Just a warning... I am probably going to write a lot more in this space than most of you want to read, but I want a place to keep all my learnings/meanderings about Dia de los Muertos together, and I figured this was the best way to do that. So feel free to just browse and look at the pictures if that's all you want :) I won't be mad ...

So I'll be honest, leading up to this weekend I was pretty freaked out about the whole concept of Dia de los Muertos, but now that it's over I'm just totally intrigued by it, although I still find the basic premise to be quite "out there," if you will. I got to travel a little bit and see what it was like in a couple other towns besides Cuernavaca so that was sweet too.

BASICALLY, the idea behind Dia de los Muertos is that the dead have permission to return to earth to visit friends and relatives on Earth once every year ... Dia de los Muertos (Nov. 2). It is thought that those who died as children come one day and adults another day. Throughout the days of the dead, which is actually celebrated like all weekend long, the living welcome the departed souls with "ofrendas" of flowers, incense, candles, and food. This tradition has been around since forever and was started by the indigenous of Mexico.

ORENDAS (which are usually set up in the person's home) include the following:
- marigolds (flower of the dead)
- pan de muerto (no idea whats so special about this stuff, i mean its good, but yeah. the stores have been FILLED with them. the other day i went to a panaderia to get some bread and where i would normally find like 50 different kinds, ALL they had was pan de muerto)
- food (they prepare and set out the favorite foods of the dead from when they were alive)
- candles and incense
- sugar skulls (crazy decorated)
- photos of the deceased
- paper cutout thingies
- a trail of marigolds leading from the street to the ofrenda itself so that the departed can easily find their way home




Also, a big place to see the happenings is in the panteon (cemetery). I went to the cemetery in Ocotepec which is a town nearby Cuernavaca. The gravesites were crazily adorned with flowers, streamers, ofrendas, etc. We went on the day when the kids come back, which was quite interesting. One grave was surrounded by family and they were singing with guitar and other instruments to the departed child. Another grave was adorned in pink and white streamers with a HUGE sign that said "Bienvenida Princesa" (Welcome Princess). Family members usually spend time cleaning and decorating graves. I haven't quite figured out if they REALLY think the people come back or what, but the Welcome Princess sign sure suggests it does. I didn't go to any of the graves of my family's family members so I didn't have that personal of an experience to know. Itzi did go twice to Jojutla where her mother and grandparents are buried but I do not know what they did there.

Jardin Borda (a big garden place) in Cuernavaca had a huge festival all weekend long including a competition of Catrinas. Catrina (i'm still a little confused about her) is kind of like a symbol for Dia de los Muertos. My family told me she represents the dead wealthy high class women. She's basically a skeleton all dolled up. a lot of kids were her for halloween. Anyways, there was a competition so there were like 40+ bigger-than-life-size Catrinas varying from ones made of mcdonald's cartons, to chiles, to popcorn, etc. etc. Check out my facebook pics to see more of her. It was really a sweet display. Also throughout the weeke.nd and in various cities/towns there were real-life Catrinas that you could take your picture with.


In Cuernavaca's zocalo (main square) on Saturday there were tons of huge ofrendas, and I had intentions of taking pictures on my return through but it was gone! So I have no pics of there which I am bummed about. On Sunday we went to Mexico City to check out what is normally a HUGE competition of ofrendas in the giant zocalo there...to find nothing. It was quite disappointing, we drove over an hour just to see these and there was NOTHING. My family figures it's because of a lack of money, but who knows. I was quite bummed...


It was an interesting combination between Dia de los Muertos and Halloween here this past weekend. Kids were trick-or-treating every day (Friday-Monday) which was interesting. People give out candy but more often MONEY to kids who go to "pedir Halloween." (ask for halloween) In all the costumes I saw I would say about 95% of them were the more morbid type: witches, vampires, draculas, etc. (all the things my parents would never let me be when i was a kid). I think my family's kids were the exception to this (Tigger and a jar of Winnie the Pooh's honey). I asked my family if it was a coincidence that Dia de los Muertos and Halloween fell on the same weekend or if it had some purpose to it and they said yes it was purposeful but didn't explain any more...who knows.

check out the wikipedia page on Dia de los Muertos for a decent description of it all (notice the last pic is in Ocotepec where i went)


Here is the ofrenda that we set up in our house for Itzi's mother and grandparents. Just a smaller simpler version of all the grandotes that were out there that I saw.

Anyways it was a very interesting, educational, and rather entertaining weekend.

just an update and some meanderings

Well it's been awhile since I last posted, and although I don't feel like I have anything marvelous to share, I suppose I will at least just write something...I apologize for the lack of cohesion I anticipate this post to have...

The week of October 4-9 was kind of hectic as we were preparing for a big celebration on the 9th for the inauguration of the Primary School and celebration of 10 years of the Kindergarten. That week Sara and Marlin Yoder of Ohio and their neighbor LaHoma were here (Sara and Marlin were MCC Reps here in Cuernavaca and are good friends of Lizy's) and it was a really great experience to be able to spend time with them and network and all that jazz. The Inauguration itself was quite the success and I must say the best part was a song that the students, mothers, and teachers sang, each group with a verse about what they want to see in the world and more specifically with the students that attend La Buena Tierra.

my view from the front of the inauguration festivities

all of us who work at the kinder chowing down on some yummies

singing at the inauguration

I went into Mexico City that weekend then to spend a last hoorah with Kiara before she left to go back to the U.S. for good. It was a phenomenal weekend filled with lots of movie watching and movie buying, and most of all going to see the musical Mamma Mia! on a whim. I am forever obsessed with musicals, and it was awesome to get to see this great one here, and it was in Spanish which, in my opinion, made it even awesomer. All in all it was a really great weekend although it culminated with saying goodbye to Kiara and I am reminded once again that lots of MCCers are leaving Mexico and this is a bit of a challenge for me to come to terms with.



Things are continuing to go well here at my new house. I cannot say I'm 100% over feeling bad about leaving where I was, but I do realize now that it was definitely for the best of all those involved. I went to visit my old house in La Via yesterday and was frankly shocked at the state of things due to the construction that is now literally IN FRONT of the house. The front walls have been totally cut off, as have part of the ceiling, and essentially two of the four rooms that existed no are not usable. All the furniture is crammed into the living room with people sleeping there and there is hardly any room to even walk. Essentially, it would have been next to impossible for me to stay there, and even more uncomfortable for that family than it is now had I been there as well. I feel content and comfortable in my new home and with my new family, and I definitely feel part of the family, which is awesome. They are all about teaching me stuff about food, history, culture, all that jazz, it's great. Ana (the 18 month old) has taken a liking to me and if my door is shut she shoves little gifts under it and if the door is open she comes in and shuts the door and hangs out with me. They're super cute :)

so she didn't want to smile this time but this is me and ana in my room

What else.... work is going well. I am starting to enjoy it, and am finally feeling a bit of purpose there. I am teaching English two days a week for 20 minutes each to two different classes (one class of three year olds and one class of four year olds). It is quite the challenge at times, but with the use of lots of songs it is going alright. I am really enjoying my time in English class with the other three older classes, where I am not the teacher, just the assistant. I get to go around and spend like five minutes with every student each class and work with them on what they need to work on or have "conversations" with them in English - it's actually a lot of fun. So a lot of my time at school is taken up with English in one way or another. I have still not totally come to terms with the "need" to teach English, but I am working on it.

Something else I have been really struggling with is gender issues, particularly those at La Buena Tierra. I won't go into my whole long schpeel about it, but it's definitely a challenge for me to keep my mouth shut a lot of times...and perhaps keeping my mouth shut isn't what I should be doing, which is also part of the challenge. For one example, to give you a small glimpse into it all, at recess there is a box of "girls toys" and a box of "boys toys." Okay that in and of itself is just wrong to me. Then the other day in front of the entire school the teachers were talking about how one boy plays with the "girls toys" and how they just wish that he would play with boys and with "boys toys." That's just one small example it goes much deeper than that but regardless, it drives me nuts and I am having a really hard time with it and knowing whether or not to do/say something about it and if I choose not to how I deal with the cognitive dissonance inside my own head for the next nine months...

On to happier notes - I have started exercising which is a gift in so many ways. There is a beautiful park like 10 minutes from my house that, although it costs money, provides an escape from "city life" and a quiet haven to run/walk regardless of the weird looks I get. It involves waterfalls, a river next to the entire path, and a lake at the end. It's really pretty and I'm loving it, along with the added physical benefits of exercising and seriously, I forgot about the mental benefits. It's incredible just how much better I feel about life and how much better my attitude is when i spend time exercising and in nature.

I have also really taken up reading again, which is awesome. I will happily take suggestions on books to read. I just finished The Faith Club and a book on Mexican history, and I just started The Secret Life of Bees. I have also become an even bigger history dork and am seriously enthralled with learning Mexican history. I even took a fourth grader's history book from school so that I can read a "simple" (though I'm told not completely accurate) history of Mexico. I have lots of books to read on this topic...

I baked. Monster cookies and Banana bread. It was awesome. I love baking. and I love baked goods.

Okay I'll be done rambling about randomness for now. Just wanted to give an update on how things are going. I'll say I think I am finally enjoying myself here although at times still feel lonely but am truly embracing independence! I hope all is well wherever you may find yourself. If you happen to be in the land of fall, please don't take it for granted. I am really missing fall right now and am waiting for my promised chai tea and pumpkin to make pumpkin pie to arrive so i can at least taste a little bit of fall :) I still sweat all day at school. yay heat.

take care. hasta luego!
(p.s. for more pics of everything check out facebook, i just put a select few up here)

Changes...

Well, a lot has changed in my life since I posted my last blog…

I moved.

About two weeks ago Lizy (the director at Buena Tierra) sat me down and basically said she’d been thinking and thought it was a good idea if I would move out of Doña Juana’s, and that she had an idea of where I could move to…I was quite surprised by this idea, and spent a lot a lot a lot of time thinking about it, creating pros/cons lists, and trying to decide what was for the best. Here’s a small glimpse into the pros/reasons and cons of moving:

MAIN REASONS TO MOVE:

1. the construction in La Via is awful, and only going to get worse (for example, the front wall of Doña Juana’s house is totally going to be ripped off, no water or electricity for who knows how long, etc. etc.)
   
2. I did not feel like I was really part of the family at Doña Juana’s…to me it seemed like the only thing they did was give me food and a bed to sleep on, and I was really hoping for a family to be part of.
3. Doña Juana’s was really packed with people often sleeping on the floor and Doña Juana didn’t even sleep in a bedroom, etc. etc.
4. At Doña Juana’s nobody ever left the house or did anything besides watch TV, and I was feeling rather lonely and cooped up there.
5. There were lots of other little reasons that encouraged my decision like lack of fruits/vegetables, not appreciating a few family members, hoping Doña Juana’s kids would finally help her out financially, the current state of the bathroom there, and just plain being excited about the family I was going to move in with.

MAIN REASONS THAT MADE ME QUESTION MOVING:

1. Doña Juana has been very dependent financially on the money MCC/SALTers have provided her over the past 8 years
2. I felt very settled, my room was all awesome, I was comfortable with routine, and basically was not looking forward to moving into my fourth new living situation in less than 2 months
3. I just felt terrible. What would I say to the family? They would feel so unloved and like they didn’t something terribly wrong.
4. where I would move would be quite a jump in terms of SES and I wasn’t sure that’s what I was looking for this year
   

In the end, Lizy, Marion (MCC Country Rep) and I decided that I should move.

Physically moving itself was quite the spectacle…With all the construction there is just this TINY little pathway to get through, and cars can’t pass, so I had to move everything by hand through this tiny passageway…Now you all know I don’t pack light, but on top of that, I also moved out my bed and big old dresser because they belonged to Lizy and she wanted to give them to a family in La Via. So myself, along with the help of several others in La Via, helped move all the furniture to its new home and all my stuff to my new home. It was quite interesting…

Saying goodbye to Doña Juana and the family was actually a lot harder that I thought it would be. At first she seemed to take it well and understood that due to the construction and such it just made sense, but later I found out that she really didn’t get it and thought I was mad at them or something. I think I cleared things up with them. Although I definitely didn’t appreciate some of the family members there were also a few that I am really going to miss. Hopefully I can be conscious enough to visit them on a regular basis.

ON TO MY NEW LIFE:

I now live about 3 blocks from the school, but in a privada, not in La Via (although its still super super close). I live with Itzi, the English teacher from the school. She is 30, and has a husband and 2 kids (a 1 ½ year old daughter, and a 6 month old son). Also living at the house is the husband’s mother who helps take care of the kids. They are all totally great. Basically, I feel totally relieved, and I think finally excited and happy to be here in Mexico for an entire year. So as not to write a novel, here I list why:

1. my family leaves to do stuff (I will get to know the city better)
2. great neighbors
3. they eat totally healthy (like I actually eat fruits and vegetables and drink milk)
4. they want to teach me how to cook
5. the husband travels a bunch and wants to take me to other pueblos to visit
6. they’re talking about how I’ll experience their kids baptism, a quinceanera, a wedding, etc. (very cultural events)
7. they are super excited for me to learn about life here
8. I feel welcome
9. I feel physical comfortable
10. I do not feel nearly as lonely as I did before
11. luxuries (hot water, double bed, internet, HUGE tv in my room…that part is really annoying)
    

I’ll be honest - i'm feeling a bit guilty about the fact that i'm now in a middle-class house...i am struggling to realize that this year will not be as much about learning about living in poverty as I had expected/hoped it to be… i'm still going to be working in the via so it's not like i'm totally leaving behind that world, because I don’t want to just forget about that part of life either. Hopefully this way I’ll be able to learn about both worlds that I am in contact with now. It’s been interesting going through this change though because I feel like I’ve actually been experiencing culture shock the past week (which was not really expected in this form/time period).

Anyways, I’ll be done rambling. It’s been quite the change for me, but I still feel like all in all it is for the best for everyone involved, and I am at peace with it. I have been super busy this past week so am still living out of my suitcase and in no way have this room set up like it will be…therefore I have no photos to share, I apologize. They will come soon I promise! Until then, take care, and keep the emails coming!

Big Machines

LA MAQUINA! LA MAQUINA!

So... La Via (the street where I live and work) has been taken over by giant machines (máquinas). It's basically like every little kids fantasy to have these giant bulldozers and cranes and stuff outside their school, and it's basically every teacher's worst nightmare because the kids won't listen to a word you say! (and the sheer noise gives us all major headaches...)

The government has started a project of paving La Via and putting in a water system (I think). Let's just say it's a GIANT project. Currently the land between the two schools (kinder and primaria) is a huge hole with lots of machines working on it...not an ideal school environment. Supposedly by the middle of December this project will be done, but that's about 3 months of disaster zone! Also, a lot of houses (including where I live) are going to have to make their houses stick out less into the street so that the street can be the right width ... which means the front of my house is basically going to be torn off and left totally open, then it's up to us (well, my family) to get it fixed. right. good luck.

right now the Via is just a disaster. you can hardly pass through it. people are trying to make their houses so that they aren't torn into. and yeah, it's just a bit crazy right now! and will stay this way for quite some time...should be interesting ...

Teotihuacan

Last weekend I went into Mexico City … My dear friend Merideth was leaving Tuesday for good for good and I wanted to go see her before she left. Although she wasn’t getting in until Sunday early morning I decided to go in Friday to enjoy a relaxing, comfortable, free weekend by myself. It was a delight.

Friday I actually hung out with Sam, who did was the SALTer in my position last year and is now back in Mexico City for the year – it was quite an interesting experience to talk to her, realizing that although I had just met her, she knew more about my life and understood me better than any one else on this planet right now. It was good to talk to her.

Saturday I spent the day totally alone and it was awesome. I had the opportunity to talk to a lot of family and friends and skype which was awesome. Sometimes I forget how much I miss you all until I talk to you. Alas, it was a great day, I got to cook for myself (yay!) and just do whatever I wanted J

Sunday morning Merideth and I left to go on a little adventure. We went to Teotihuacán, an archaeological zone about forty-five minutes northeast of Mexico City (Aztec ruins). According to Lonely Planet, “Teotihuacán was Mexico’s biggest ancient city and the capital of what was probably Mexico’s largest pre-Hispanic empire.” The majority of the city was developed between AD 250 and 600. We had a great time exploring the ruins and climbing two pyramids – Pirámide del Sol y Pirámide de la Luna. While there I wondered aloud how the pyramids in Egypt compared to these pyramids we were climbing. Later, while reading the Lonely Planet I found that the Pyramid of the Sun is the 3^rd largest pyramid in the world (surpassed by one of Egypt’s pyramids). Crazy, for some reason I had this idea in my head that the pyramids in Egypt were like 500 times bigger than I guess they really are!

I also bought an Aztec Calendar which we decided was made out of puma bones. It is awesome, but first the guy had me go up to the Pyramid of the Moon and ask la luna if I should buy it or not. We decided the moon said yes, I should buy it. So of course I did. Afterwards we walked to this great little restaurant and, with live music, ate some rocking enchiladas and fajitas “with too much onion” (that was the English translation they had in the menu and it cracked us up). It was a great little place.

It was a delightful though slightly exhausting day. That evening Sam and Ana Julia came over and we made chocolate banana muffins to celebrate Ana Julia’s birthday. I got up Monday morning at 5:55 to get the early bus back to Cuernavaca in order to be back to La Buena Tierra by 8:30. A little hectic, but definitely worth it to sleep at the office another night, even if I couldn’t get the water heater to work for the life of me!

Such was my weekend. It was awesome. But very sad to say goodbye to Merideth. L Hopefully I will get pictures to write tomorrow about the excitement in La Via and at La Buena Tierra this past week. Take Care!

view from atop Piramide de la Luna

atop Piramide del Sol with my Aztec Calendar (or sun dial as merideth liked to call it)

the piramide del sol that we just climbed up, calendar in hand...treacherous i tell you

yay :) delightful day!

My New Life...

The family:

I live with Doña Juana and her family … and I have not quite yet figured out what that means. I still don’t know who belongs to who and who lives where and who is just visiting when and all that jazz…it’s a bit of a headache to try to figure out. But I’m learning bit by bit. Lately there have been about 13 people sleeping here every night. I know Doña Juana has 3 sons, but I don’t think any of them permanently live here. Two of her daughter in-laws do, and their children. Others, including two of her sons, are in and out all of the time. Generally speaking, the people I see on a regular basis are Doña Juana, her daughter-in-law Gaby, and four of her grandchildren ranging in age from (I’m guessing) 2 to 15. But in the evenings tons of people come over and start whipping up a feast about when I’m going to bed.

The House:

Has taken some adjustment to get used to, and I can’t say I’m even close to totally adjusted yet. My ideas of comfort and cleanliness will definitely be stretched this year. Luckily things are already improving … there is now light in the bathroom where there didn’t used to be, and they are “fixing” the bathroom (I’m not quite sure what that will all entail). Ah well. I am definitely struggling with noise levels that seem to take over this house at about 9 pm when I am usually heading towards bed. But my ipod is being good to me and I think I might be able to hack it. Things are a bit cramped here as there are only two bedrooms besides mine and 13 of us sleep here. I know I should be used to it from where I lived this last year, but I am already missing the concept of walking around barefoot in my home. And with the cold water showers that freeze me to death I think I will be training my hair not to be washed every day!

Food:

1. My host family tells me I don’t eat anything.
2. my host family doesn’t eat fruits or vegetables.

2a. I told them those are my favorite foods, and since then I’ve seen a few … we’ll see if that continues…

3. we eat a lot of eggs. and hot dogs. a lot. I might become concerned for my cholesterol. Although I do love eggs.
4. I eat breakfast at the school, which is nice because it usually consists of cereal or oatmeal with banana and milk – which feels like a good balanced meal!
5. I’ve been trying to really not eat dinner. I’m never hungry and they all eat a huge meal at about 10:30 every night. So I usually just have some bread and warm milk with coffee/chocolate in the evening. I am content this way but would prefer some fruit too!
6. Lizy (the director) bought me fruit to keep at the school so I can be sure to at least have some every day there.

My Room:

I do have my own room. I have managed to pretty much make it my own, which of course means putting lots of pictures and quotes on the wall. Cynthia – thanks for the sticky tack – I’ve used it tons - Although I have my own room, that does not mean I have privacy…there is a “window” into the living room that is covered by a white/see through piece of fabric which allows tons of light and tons of sound from the TV that’s right on the other side of it to enter my room. Also, the door doesn’t shut so I have to prop stuff up against it, and there is a large gap next to the door frame through which a small child could fit. I do exaggerate, BUT it’s true that my privacy is being stretched. The first day here I was like there is no way these things can stay this way, but I think I’ve gotten used to them by now….

Here are some pictures of my room:

La Buena Tierra (my school):

1. the kids are adorable.
2. I brush a lot of teeth, wipe a lot of bums, and wash a lot of hands.
3. I am already reminded of why I studied SECONDARY education, but I think I will enjoy this year because the kids are seriously so cute.
4. and they pee their pants a lot. awesome.
5. I don’t really know what I’m going to be doing yet. A lot of just helping out. maybe teaching some English. Lots of translating for the sponsorship program (letters between the kids and their donors). we’ll see what else…

La Temporada de Lluvia:

Right now is the rainy season (through November I think), which has a lot of implications for me:

1. the air is very moist
2. my towels never dry (and are nice and musty smelling)
3. the Via (the “street” I live on) turns into a rushing river fairly often
4. I get a delightful serenade to sleep to due to the tin roof above my head and the rain
5. I feel gross and wet a lot. But have learned the hard way to take my umbrella with me everywhere

The City:

1. I’m starting to enjoy this city.
2. I found “my place” … it’s about a 10 minute walk from my house, it’s a coffee shop, they have great coffee, really nice staff, and wireless internet. I think I will find myself there, a lot. Whether to read, hang out, or use the internet. But I love it.
3. luckily I live on one of the hugest streets in the city which makes use of public transportation much simpler for me.
4. however, I also tend to just walk everywhere, if it’s less than an hour away. And I learned the hard way that tennis shoes are best for such endeavors
5. I have yet to really embrace/explore the zócalo and see what’s up down there.
6. I found a great, huge park. Although walking there involves a near death experience walking on the highway, I’ll probs head there often.
7. after lots and lots of searching and asking, I found a place I can watch football. And a friend to watch it with. I am pumped.

Okay so there’s a random quick (or long, sorries) overview of things right now. I continue to adjust and get used to life here in the Via, learning my way in Cuernavaca, and figuring out what “work” is like at Buena Tierra. I’m learning to like it more and more every day. The tone of my journal entries has gotten progressively more optimistic and happy this past week and a half…and hopefully that will continue! Keep the emails coming…they truly brighten my life. I apologize if I don’t always write back right away, but I will get there eventually I promise! Until next time …

September 16, 2009

after several days of internet complications and my brothers wonderful help, i can finally put this up. i wrote this on the 16th ...

As of yesterday I’ve been living in Mexico for one entire month. CRAZY! One on hand it feels like I’ve been here forever, and on the other hand it feels like I just got here. I’m already 10/11ths of the way done with this adventure…kind of weird, since it’s just getting started! Hopefully in the next few days I’ll put up a blog about my first impressions of life here in the Via and “work” at Buena Tierra. But in the meantime, I write today because today is special here in the great country of Mexico… Today is Mexico’s Independence Day…therefore, no school! Although today is technically the holiday, all the celebrating happens on the 15^th, yesterday. At 11 pm on September 15 is the grand “grito” (yell) – where the president comes out in the National Palace and yells “VIVA ________________ !!! ” (fill in the blank: la revolucion, los heroes, libertad, México, etc...he says about 10 things) and everyone yells back “VIVA!!!” after every thing. check it out here, if you care to:



I had considered going down to the Zócalo here in Cuernavaca for the celebrations of last evening, but due to rain, dislike of huge crowds, and still a bit of fear of public transportation at night, I decided I’d rather just stay and hang out with my family here. (I think it was a good choice.) We just hung out, cooked a bunch, talked, and watch the crazy events in D.F. on TV. I actually stayed up until almost midnight, which is crazy late for me here! Today is then considered a day of rest when a lot of things are closed and people can recuperate from the happenings of last night. It was nice to have the opportunity to sleep in today, although I sadly woke up at the same time I always do … 7:30 … oh well, at least I got to lay in bed then for awhile and didn’t actually have to get up! Anyways, so yesterday at school we had a big fiesta for Independence Day. The kids of the kinder dressed up like the “pueblo” … the townspeople, and the kids of the primaria dressed up like the revolutionaries. They were absolutely adorable. It was awesome. I also have been dubbed official photographer of Buena Tierra, so I took tons of pictures of the event. So we paraded down the Via a bit, then four “famous” people gave speeches (students dressed up as revolutionaries), and the students sang the national anthem. Then they danced for awhile and ate typical Mexican sweets. It was a grand time. After school someone invited all the teachers to eat posole, which is like a classic Mexican soup made with corn and chicken and such. It was super tasty. A couple teachers and I went down to the Zócalo in the afternoon then to check out the scene and it was crazy busy with tons of people and shops and such. It was good to see but I’m glad I didn’t go back at night because it would have been crazy overwhelming…

Here are a few pictures of the days events (I think I’m going to put more up on facebook so you can check those out as well if you’d like):

the littlest ones excited to leave for the fiesta

dancing in the street

singing the national anthem