trabajo nuevo

In December, Marion (MCC Country Rep) came to visit me and La Buena Tierra. After school, we hopped on a ruta and headed to the zocalo. We picked a place right by the bus stop with phenomenal tortillas made with blue rice to eat. As we were enjoying the delicacies of Mexico, Marion asked me the following two questions: 1. Are you bored at La Buena Tierra? (to which i responded with a fuerte YES!) 2. Do you like history? (to which i also responded YES!) She then told me that Lizy had told her in their meeting about her desire to have a written document about the history of La Buena Tierra. Marion had the brilliant idea to have me work on it (considering the boredom/history questions described me to a T), and decided to talk to Lizy about it once January rolled around.

Well, long story short, Lizy was stoked about it, as was I, and was Marion. So...I wrote up a project proposal and off I went! If anyone wants to read the whole proposal, in spanish that is, let me know and I can send it your way. If not, I will try to give a basic rundown here, so you all know when I am spending my time doing these days!

The objectives of the project are to:
1) explain the history/story of La Buena Tierra, how it got started, how it functions, what it offers, etc.
2) note the changes in the community as a result of the school, and what all the school has accomplished in its ten years of existence, and
3) serve as a model for others who have interest in this type of work and who may want to start a similar school/project elsewhere.

Basically, I am going to be spending the rest of my time here interviewing everyone that is or ever was related to or associated with the school, and writing up a final project with all the information I gather.

I am super excited about this new work. To begin with, I was feeling rather unneeded and purposeless here, and this project has given me not only "things" to do during the day, but also a sense of purpose. I am also happy to be sort of working in the world of academia again - researching, organizing, writing, etc. etc. Call me a dork, but i really enjoy it. I am also really looking forward to getting more into the community of La Via, getting to know the people and their stories better, and learning what life is like for them. I'll be honest, I'm a little nervous to go door to door asking all these people if I can interview them, but I think it is going to be an incredibly humbling and learning-filled experience that will help me better understand so much of what I live every day at La Buena Tierra with the children of that community.

Okay, in classic natalie form, i've rambled enough. I just wanted to give a little glimpse into my new work. Monday starts the interviewing....we'll see how it goes!