Ballet Folklorico at Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos...

The highlight for me last week was going to visit Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (translation: Our Little Brothers and Sisters) (http://www.nph.org/). It is an organization that started in 1954 nearby in Mexico by a priest that took in a child that had been stealing from the poor box. NPH is now in many countries in Latin America. They take in children that are orphaned invite them to be in their family. All children stay there, and are taken care of as a family. When they are old enough, if they choose, they are guarenteed financial support for college. We are involved with them because we take some of groups to go visit this unique orphanage. Our staff went to visit a local site where they were holding a fundraiser. Part of the event involved kids playing mariachi, and the beautiful folk dancing (Ballet folklorico). I was so impressed with these young men and women as they performed for us. The dancing was amazing. So far I have been to three Ballet folklrico shows, and this one was by far the best. I couldn't help but love the kids we saw that night. My friends and I were so energized by the event; we kept singing some of the songs they played all through out our ride back home...(The photos above are not from the actual event, but are exactly what the young women and men wore in their dancing...)

Addiction to music.... On the weekends I have found myself drawn to the guitar we have here. I am adding to the songs I know...lately my favorites have been several Cat Stevens songs like Wild World, and some more recent songs like Goodbye to You, and Leave the Pieces. The internet is such a great resource to learn new songs, and this is the first time I've had access to it in my free time (besides at the library). Last Saturday night a group of friends and I went to watch an accoustic guitar player at a cosy, casual bar. I loved it; the guitarist had this beautiful voice that was entirely captivating....maybe because he sang in Spanish it added all the more romance to it.

Taxco! & Bonus article: Some new pets!

My friend Casey and I jumped on bus again this past Saturday and traveled off to the nearby city of Taxco. Taxco is a city known for its silver mines and shops, and also for its beauty. The city was founded in 1528 and is built into the mountains, and most all homes and buildings are painted white or a similiar shade... The streets are so narrow that cars seem to be less than a foot away we walked along. Luckily, there was a lot of traffic, so cars were slow moving.

Once we arrived, we realized neither of us had planned ahead in bringing a map, so we had to go with the time old strategy of asking strangers for directions. We looked around the parking lot for someone who looked knowlegeable when Casey declared,

" Hey, let's go ask that guy with the big gun where the church is!"

Yes...security officers for the bus line sometimes carry huge rifles. Fortunately, seeing that this man is probably over the age of 68, even with the rifle he doesn't look too intimidating to ask directions from. Soon we were on our way to the Cathedral. Climbing up the narrow streets was no easy feat, we both wondered how anyone that is not in physical shape could handle these steep angles.

Seeing the Cathedral from the outside is impressive, but inside the gold covered walls, and beautiful murals are stunning. Somehow, we got lucky and had our own personal tour in Spanish and English. The man who built this church paid for it all and it was completed in 1758. He was a Frenchman that owned mines in the area.

After the tour, we traveled to the top of the mountain to see the view, and get up close to a huge statue of Jesus. I was surprised to find that when we got to the top, we were surrounded by pine trees, and quiet beauty. From my new life of living on a noisy city street, I was very appreciative of the calm and quiet of being up in the mountains. The trip was fun and well worth it. I hope to make it back to Taxco soon!

Some friendly new friends!

One night, I opened my bedroom door to the hallway when I saw a huge dark creature flying around our hallway. I screamed and slammed my door shut in fear that it was a bat. Luckily, no, it was a moth. But this is no USA moth, this is a Central American moth...Huge, with a wing span of about 8 inches or more. Both Casey and I would rather let it free than kill something that has the body size of a small bird. After a couple days of ducking around the bathroom and hallway as it excitedly flies all around, I decided I had enough. Casey's boyfriend captured it, and set it free. Whew! The next night, I came home to find 2 equally HUGE moths in our bathroom. "What do I do now?" I thought....when I spoke with Casey about it, she suggested we could be living in a zoo because she had found a small lizard in her towel earliar that day. Yikes! The lizards aren't so bad because they eat mosquitos and pretty much leave us alone. The moths flying in my face is a bit aggravating. I am happy to say that a coworker has now let one of the them go, and the other hasn't been heard from since Saturday morning... For now, I think I'd rather not have any new pets, thank you very much.

Learning about pesticides in the global market...

"Why do we keep allowing companies and governments to continue to do this?" says Constanza, a grandmother of a 6 year old Chilean boy who suffers from birth defects linked to pesticides. "What's missing is the fundamental respect for all life."

I learned today that the US and the European Union allow production and exportation of pesticides that are banned in their own countries. Within the years of 2001-2003, the US exported 28 million pounds of pesticides that are banned, severely restricted, or unregistered in the U.S. ( info taken from the Jan/Feb 2008 edition of the NACLA Report on the Americas pg 5-7)

Cuentepec

Today my co-workers visited the small town of Cuentepec. This puebla is a rariety in that most if not all of the residents speak their native tongue of Nahuatl, and Spanish. Many of the women and girls wear the traditional dress which includes an apron and a scarf.

Today is the fiest day of St. Michael, the archangel's feast day and this puebla puts on a big celebration for it. Most every household makes molé for the occasion, and everyone's molé is their own special receipe! Molé is a chocolate sause with many different spices that is put over meat...the taste is usually not sweet, and I would never have guessed chocolate was in the receipe. We visited several different households and we were fed at each. Some of women in the households we visited are in cooperatives that were set up by a social worker in the area. One women is in a sewing cooperative as well as a pottery cooperative. The women are very happy to be part of this new way of making a living...

At the first household, the young mother made us excellent handmade tortillas with rice beans, & chicken covered in molé over a fire, a way of cooking that is far from what I have known.

Some siblings took us for a tour of the area...beautiful with it's green hills and valleys, and river at the bottom...

Sitting in the backyard of these families homes reminded me much of my time in the Dominican Republic. There were cats, dogs, pigs, hens and colorful roosters walking all around... I really enjoyed my time in Cuentepec. It was nice to spend an afternoon learning a bit of the native language, learning about the cooperative, and seeing a glimpse of the people's life here.

Learning a bit about the families also was a reality check. One of the women we visited has been raising her children alone while her husband works in the U.S. The family wants to send their children for higher education, and could see no other way to afford it. I asked the mother how he crossed into the U.S., and she told me that he crossed through the desert. This is a very dangerous way to get into the U.S. and I'm sure I would never survive the brutal heat and distance of the journey. For people that are poor and without connections, there are no legal ways to immigrate into the U.S. This extremely dangerous route is one of the few options to cross into the U.S.

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Subscribe Now! I wanted to point out that I now have the capability for you to be a subscriber to my blog! This way you will be emailed when I add on to it. All you have to do is fill in your email address on the side of this blog, and you'll be a subscriber! And, bonus, you won't get any other spam emails.

On to the update…I'm getting more adjusted to life here in Mexico. I'm loving, absolutely loving the food that we have at the center here. Everyday we have a warm breakfast that can range from spinach omelets, to pancakes, to yummy French toast, and always fresh fruit with yogurt! Lunch is more delicious, in fact I have such a full meal that I hardly get hungry for dinner. Lunch is the main meal here. We always have beans and tortillas (which is also always on the table as part of breakfast too), salad, and then a delicious main course followed by dessert. My favorite dish so far is what we had today...vegetables in a creamy, delicious spicy sauce. Of course I asked what it was called, but like many other Spanish nouns and verbs that I am trying to pick up, I quickly forgot it.

Last week I gained a new co-worker, Isabel! She is from here, and speaks Spanish, English, French, and is learning Italian. She is a wonderful addition to our team. She is always ready to laugh at my stupid jokes, and is very helpful in our work here. The work I am doing is interesting and good so far. We won’t have any real groups come until January, so right now is all the relationship building, prep and organizing work. If you are thinking to visit, it may be the sooner the better! Once groups start coming, I will have a much busier schedule.

I have found some real advantages to my life here in Mexico. I love that I can go out to an outdoor restaurant/bar and enjoy a fruity drink for about $.13, watch live salsa music and dance! Recently I have met Malory, a Lutheran Volunteer that is doing a year of service here. She too loves to go out dancing, and we are both excited to get out experience the dance scene!

This area has some very beautiful spots. I love a nearby city garden that has flowers blooming all year round. Last week I was introduced to the local outdoor market! What an experience that was! It is much more exciting than a trip to the grocery store…fresh fruit, meat, and vegetables all around, friendly venders eagerly awaiting your purchase, and there is some bartering involved if you choose…

I am meeting more people and enjoying getting out. Isabel and one other of my coworkers and I went to a Latin dance class here for the first time last night. We had a great time sweating it up with the other dancers. By the end of class, aguacero! Down pour!! Mother Nature is very serious about her rainy season here. It rains nearly once every day, usually at night or in the early morning. Most of the time it is a down pour, and sometimes lightening and thunder included. Last night was no exception. The small street our dance school is on soon became a road with 2 rivers running down each side. The sewer system isn’t so good here, so water can really pile up fast. We waited outside the school, under the protection of the roof over hang for about 10 minutes waiting for a taxi. When it finally came, my paints were soaked up to my knees, and I dived into the taxi trying to avoid the small river on the roadside. Whew! What a storm!

One part of being here that I am especially grateful for is that I am really enjoying my coworkers. Today, after lunch we were discussing the idea of a quinceañera, which in Latin America is a fifteen year old’s “coming out” party. Almost all of the women on staff never had one; some of them said they didn’t have one due to the incredible expense of this very elaborate celebration. Well, we decided that we should change that, and have a group quinceañera party at our place! We could all go out and buy those fancy hoop skirt dresses to promenade around in and dance! We had great laughs practicing our curtsies and dancing. I will keep you updated if that happens!

Part of what I have been doing in my work is gather quotes. Here is one of my favorites:

"Make me
-wide eyed for beauty,
and for my neighbor's need
and goodness;

-wide-willed for peace-making,
and for the confronting power
with the call to compassion;

-wide-hearted for love
and for the unloved,
who are the hardest to touch
and need it the most."

-taken from Breathe into Me the Courage to Make Something New by Ted Loder

20 questions...

Part of my work here at this time is educating myself on our program and social justice. Please check out the following link with some surprising information!
http://www.truthout.org/article/twenty-questions-social-justice-quiz-2008

The weekend is here!

Saturday I had a pleasant surprise, visitors! James who is traveling Mexico working on organic farms...the last one that he went to was in Tepoztlan, and unfortunately had very poor conditions. James's room was swarming with bees and bats, so he only stayed a small portion of the time he was supposed to at the farm, and then came to our center instead. James and I went out on Saturday night to have some beers and see what we could discover. I say beers because there is no having only one beer here it seems, menus always have a two for one deal. We went to a trendy bar with a live acoustic guitar player.

Sunday brought more visitors! A couple and their two children came to visit us and Kathy, our director. They are a Menonnite family from the U.S. doing work in a small town not far from here. They lived in Chicago for many years but now are enjoying working in a town small enough that it takes a half an hour to walk 2 blocks because you talk to everyone you know as you pass by. They are really enjoying this change of pace. We all enjoyed an Italian meal together in an incredibly good Italian restuarant here. I kept feeling like I was back in the states being at an Italian restaurant!

Afterwards James and I headed out for music. On our way to our destination, we ran into a drum circle! After seeing the movie, The Visitor several times this past spring, I was enthralled to see the drumming and dancing. I held myself back from running into the middle of the circle and trying to do some version of the African dance I had learned a couple years ago. I figure I should try to practice a bit at home first....

James and I made it to the salsa spot later on that night, and watched the live band and some fantastic dancers. I danced one dance, but found that it is difficult to get men to ask you for a dance when it looks like you came as a couple... James loved the music too, but he wasn't ready to try salsa for the first time at this place of incredible dancers.

On Monday, we quickly made our plans for El Grito and Independence Day!! Because of varias other events going on in town, we decided to jump on a bus and visit a the nearby town of Iguala. Casey, (my coworker), her boyfriend Nestor, James and I met up with friends in Iguala. We went to the town square for El Grito. El Grito (literal translation= the cry of pain) is a Mexican Independence Day tradition at 11pm on the eve of independence day when a Government official will yell out varias things about Mexico. It is called "El Grito" because it signifies the cry of pain from the control Spain had over Mexico for over three centuries.

We found our way into the square and listened as the government official yelled and the people responded "Viva Mexico!" (long live Mexico). As soon as he stopped, from everywhere in the crowd white spray went up and filled the air and the spray suds came down on all of us. I asked someone what the spray was, the response was "Independence spray!" Soon the fireworks were going off, and then trailing down towards us. Nearby there was a large contruction that held varias fireworks. The fireworks started at the bottom and worked their way up this construction that had varias symbols and turning wheels. At one point, the fireworks stopped, and 2 men climbed up to get the whole thing going again then quickly climbed back down trying to avoid the sprays of flame; some job that would be!!

Casey and her boyfriend had made some reservations at a well known bar in the area for us to go there later that night. When we arrived, we received our Mexican colored necklaces and red white and green lines were drawn on our faces. The music was loud and a strange kind of party music that had not much more than just a beat. For a moment, I was thinking, I am too old for this kind of place! Thankfully, I was proven wrong...before I knew it disco songs from the US were playing, including YMCA and Disco Infirno! Nestor told me that this is typical; the music will go from US music, to cumbia to merengue to salsa to classic Mexican, and he was right! I had a great time dancing to them all..somehow I managed to keep dancing until 4 in the morning.

My friend James took a bunch of photos and said he would send them to me, so I'm hoping I'll be able to show them soon!

On the actual Independence day, we went to Iguala's proud tourist spot: the site of the Largest Mexican flag in the whole world!! It happens to be the second largest flag in the world, topped only by Israel. Throughout this whole Independence Day festivities, I have learned that Mexicans are very good at enthusiastically showing their pride for their homeland....




















Here is a photo of Iguala from where the flag stands.