How I know I've been here for a while...

W.I.L.T.

I was in a Cranberries mood today. Do I have to justify it?

Sometimes when I'm listening to my ipod I like to pretend I'm watching a real life movie, and the soundtrack is whatever is playing. Go ahead and laugh. So the bus ride home tonight was entertaining, like a cool montage panning past Mexicans going about their daily post-work tasks (women getting their hair did, 4 men in sombreros talking about who-knows-what, families sitting on their stoops, dogs wandering in and out of internet cafes, individuals closing up their hamburgesa or torta stands, parents arriving home from work to kids etc.) with the Cranberries playing in the background. Awesome.

T.I.H.

No, not a typo. In this blogpost, the H stands for home. That's right, I am beginning to feel home here. Here are supporting ideas/moments:

1. getting into a heated argument with a cabbie over the cost of a ride

2. on the flip side, being able to wager easily for a favorable taxi price

3. having a heart to heart with the woman who works as caretaker of the property where I rent. We are past the awkward "hola"s and "hasta luego"s. I finally worked up the courage to break the ice and ask her where she lives and if she has a family. We ended talking for about 30 minutes about her son who is struggling with alcoholism and drug addiction and giving her so much grief.

4. recognizing neighbors, especially the ones across the street. They are a family and live on top of the corner store they own. They all take turns working shifts during the day, and I make purchases there frequently. We have entered the friendly-neighbor-phase. I chat with them, have learned most of their names, and always acknowledge them with a "bueno(a)s dias/tardes/noches" when I walk past them sitting on the stoop. They even helped me open a bottle of wine once.

5. feeling inclined to turn down invites. Since I am in a new place/home, I found myself accepting each invitation that came my way in the beginning, whether to make friends or to elude loneliness. I now feel perfectly comfortable saying "no" to some people.

6. having to jump through hoops to buy a plane ticket to Campeche (on the Gulf Coast of Mexico next to the Yucatan Peninsula) and finally succeeding. Everything in Mexico takes multiple attempts, so I successfully made a big Mexican purchase and feel more Mexican because of it. (Grammar aficionados, I know I repeated "Mexico" now 5 times in this paragraph, but T.I.M.!) One of the attempts even involved a trip to Mexico City. Ah well. (6 times)

7. Basketball! I've played twice, with one of my students. Anyone who knows my family knows that basketball is a custom of sorts, a christening for new places.

8. coincidences: I've been told they mean I'm on the right path in life.

a.) Today my "personal trainer" (I just joined a gym and I go after the morning rush when it's empty, so the owner has been taking me through personal workouts) and I had a conversation about how history is a story written by the victors, the vencedores. I told him about my Christopher Columbus beef, and he even used the word mentira (lie) when talking about the history curriculums used in schools. Sounds like a certain lesson plan from last week, no? My trainer must have read Zinn in Spanish.

b.) I ran into Laura, my gringa friend, and Jorge, a good Mexican friend, by accident at a cafe last week. In a new city, it's a great feeling to run into someone you know without planning it.

(shoutout to Mrs. Hughes, 7th grade, for teaching me how to outline)

9. being told that I am "different, or something" by a fellow UTEZ English teacher, upon long-windedly and excitedly telling him all about my Columbus lesson plan when I walked into the office to get a whiteboard marker in the middle of class.

10. (and I'll stop here) knowing where the best tortillas in the neighborhood can be bought, and which ones (the ones I had been buying) are "feas" (not good).

W.I.A.

I haven't posted a picture yet, so I'll leave you with this. Ceviche.


And this, just because the puppy is adorable. (Disclaimer, not my picture, belongs to a friend named Jaime, was taken in Coyoacan, the charming part of Mexico City where Frida and Diego lived)


p.s. I went to a lucha libre last weekend. If you don't know what it is, I highly suggest a google image or even youtube search.

This thing called teaching

After a brief intermission, I am back on the blog and underway with my regular teaching schedule. Although many wonderful things have happened since I last updated (before my computer broke), I want to forego all the travel-y, touristy stuff for now and write specifically about how my classes have gone this week.

Just to remind everyone, I am working at Universidad Tecnologica Emiliano Zapata. My students range in age from 17-26, plus an outlier in his 30s. I teach English to two advanced groups, on Monday and Tuesday respectively, and two intermediate groups, on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.

Here are some views of the campus (the UTEZ buildings are the close-by red ones):





I love all my classes. Each day has a totally different feel to it, but I leave the Univ. every day feeling revitalized and assured that both I and my students are learning. Yesterday and today I went to class a little irked, for no reason other than hormones or something, and experienced a complete 180 during class time, so that by the time I was leaving campus I felt on top of the world, albeit exhausted (teaching is EXHAUSTING! I appreciate that so much more now!). I guess it’s definitely better to be entering my work day bothered and leaving happy than reverse, right? That says to me that I am on the right path in life!

As part of the Fulbright program, we are supposed to teach culture of the United States in addition to the English language. So how we decided my schedule will work is that each month will have a different theme. Last month (although we only had one week of classes) was geography. This month is politics and history.

Last week I stumbled across a website while lesson planning: historyisaweapon.com. Here I discovered the full text (!) of Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States. I decided to use chapter one, “Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress,” for this week’s lesson (I have been using the same material for each class during the week, and deviating slightly based on interest and skill level).

Sample lesson plan from yesterday

My Monday and Tuesday classes (advanced) were assigned to read chapter one for homework and this week we discussed the chapter in class. I hadn’t assigned my Wednesday class (yesterday) to read it for homework because they are intermediate and I knew it would be too challenging on their own. SO.

For homework everyone in class had written one page on any Mexican historical or political topic. I split them into pairs, had them exchange papers, read their partner’s, and then I had each pair come to the front of the classroom and explain what his or her partner wrote about. When they had done that, I drew attention to the topics they had written about: Mexican Independence, Mexican Revolution, various presidents, revolts and protests, etc. I asked them what the earliest topic was that we had covered, and when we concluded that Independence from Spain was the earliest, I pointed out that we had collectively ignored a whole epoch of history (before the European conquerors arrived). I then told them that the U.S. tends to do the same.

I proceeded to split them into new pairs and each pair was given a page that I had extracted from chapter one of Zinn (there were seven pages total that I printed). Each page was a compilation of blurbs and paragraphs on one specific topic covered in the chapter. I gave the class about 10 minutes to read their respective page, taking notes on the topic; there were many individual words that they didn’t understand, but I told them to read for the main ideas.

Each group then explained to the rest of the class what their page was about. These are what we concluded the seven topics were: Columbus and Spanish Kings/first sighting of American land; movement of Indians to North America over the Bering Strait; Iroquois society and lifestyle; Puritan/Indian warfare and disease; Columbus’ 2nd expedition to Haiti; Spaniards and Christianity in Hispaniola; and Pilgrims/Puritans’ murder of Indians and taking of land in New England.

As a class, our task was then to put the pages in chronological order, like a jigsaw puzzle, which required incorporation of speaking, debating, and discussion skills. It was a great exercise. They were each able to practice their reading and speaking. They also had practiced their writing for the homework assignment (though I rejected about 5 of them which were clearly taken from a website-written vocab and grammar better than even I could pull off). AND we were able to confront a complicated historical topic: treatment of indigenous peoples. I congratulated them at the end, writing the Zinn citation on the board, and explaining that it is a pretty radical book, and that many Americans don’t even read it because of the advanced writing and complicated topics. And they had just held a full-fledged discussion/lesson on it!

I felt great about the class! Next week I’ll be showing a movie in class. I would like to ask my blog readers for ideas for an American movie that depicts either a U.S. political or historical event. I want a good movie! One that represents/portrays a significant moment in American history or politics. I was initially thinking Forrest Gump because it shows many historical and cultural epochs, but I am open to suggestions. Suggest away!

Good Stuff

I feel like I owe you all a follow-up blog post. I don’t want you to think I am leading an oppressed, miserable existence here. It was just a mounting frustration that I decided to let loose on blogger.com. A moment of culture shock. Hopefully that is the worst of it.

In fact, the truth is that for every moment of machista-driven frustration, I have double the moments of inspiration and hope in our generation and our world.

For example, being told by a guy-friend that the reason he likes me is because I am intelligent and we have great conversations reminds me that not everyone here is how I described in the previous post.

T.I.M.

Or having a great day at La UTEZ. I started routine classes this week; icebreakers, conversations, attendance-taking. The work has made me feel very positive. One of the students in the advanced section on Monday even gave me a candy after class (Mexican equivalent to USA apple?)!




Or having a fun Mexican celebration. Here are 2 pictures of Laura and me on the night of the Independence day celebrations, in the street and with a goofy Mexican caricature.





Or, having an amazing couchsurfing experience. My gringa friend Laura and I travelled to Puebla, a beautiful city about 3 hours south of Cuernavaca, this past Friday. We went very last minute but were fortunate enough to find someone on the couchsurfing website to host us (non-profit organization to help travelers find hosts in destination cities). We stayed with a Mexican guy named Mario. He was the perfect host. He and his friend Manolo picked us up in the downtown when we arrived, took us to a café, then we went out to dance salsa that night.



Unfortunately my camera battery died after this, so I don’t have pictures of the next day, when he took us to a feria (outdoor artisan fair/bazaar) in Cholula, a town near Puebla, and to some famous churches and pyramids/ruins. Born and raised in Puebla, Mario was the perfect mix of historian, tour guide, friend, and gracious host. Laura and I had a bedroom to ourselves, and he cooked for us in his house. We spent the weekend having very interesting conversations about sociological issues like culture and generational differences, machismo, gender roles in our respective cultures, poverty, and much more. It was enlightening, a refreshing experience, and we now have a friend in Puebla!

WIA

Laura and I have also tried some to-die-for Mexican food, including huitlacoche (black corn fungus—trust me it is DELICIOUS) and a few candidates for best Mexican horchata! Here is a picture of Laura and our friend Jorge the day after Independence Day (back on Sept. 16), and a picture of the previously mentioned meal.





This past weekend, after Puebla for 24 hours, Laura and I bopped up to Mexico City to go to a party with a bunch of Fulbrighters in the city (there is a huge population of former and current Fulbrighters living there). I was pleasantly SHOCKED when I met a Kenyan! We chatted for a while.

The day after the party we spent the day in Coyoacan, neighborhood of Mexico City famous for the house of Frida and Diego. Charming, open-minded, historical and relaxed, it was the perfect setting for a lovely Sunday afternoon. We ate our way around the town (tacos al pastor—the best yet, churros filled with Nutella, the renowned ice cream of Coyoacan, quesadillas, horchata). Yummm.

WILT

I also purchased 3 cds off the street: "Laberinto en la guitarra," Baroque Mexican acoustic guitar music, "Antologia del Son de Mexico," and a compilation of Mercedes Sosa, a beautiful Argentine musician. I leave you with a gorgeous song by Mercedes. Enjoy.

ANTI-MACHISMO FEMINIST RANT

T.I.M.



I am really tired of being called bonita, linda, cute, hermosa, guapa, lo que sea. Whether or not it’s true is irrelevant. I am sick of being recognized for physical characteristics—I don’t care if you think I’m ugly or pretty or weird-looking; I DON’T WANT TO KNOW. I want to be recognized for what’s inside my brain, for my education and oddities and random thoughts and beliefs. The frequency with which I am recognized for my appearance is taking a toll on me. It’s to be expected since I am a novelty: an almost-blonde foreigner, but I’m wishing they’d just keep it to themselves. I wish I could tell these stinkin’ machistas, “blindfold yourself, then have a conversation with me.”

WILT

The bus ride home from school is great because I get to listen to music on my ipod and reflect on the day and my mood (which has a huge say in what music I listen to). This last bus ride home today I was feeling somewhat of a mix between rage and passion and anger because of the machista stuff I mentioned above. I listened to super-feminist Lilly Allen, and felt so satisfied and empowered when I listened to a certain song, that I even laughed out loud, wishing I could sing the chorus to some of the men in this world. (I can't post the link on my blog because it is a little explicit, no, very explicit.)

I have also been reflecting a lot on homosexuality while here in Mexico, for many reasons (the don’t ask don’t tell controversy happening in the States, the love of Lady Gaga here in Mexico, and the absence of visible gay couples here, to name a few). The presence of machismo also makes me think about homosexuality. I have come to realize how valuable a gay friend can be to a woman. I guess I should speak on my own experience, though.

So, one of my best friends from SJU is a gay man, and he was only ever my friend. Like, I never consciously thought of him as my “gay friend.” But now that I am living in a more sexist culture (“more sexist,” because let’s be honest the whole darn world is sexist), I am realizing how liberating it is for me as an independent, feminist young woman to have a gay male friend. I grew up with four brothers, so I value very much the companionship of males. But it is hard living in a male-dominated society (USA included), because as a woman, you can never REALLY know when a guy is looking at you as an individual or as a body with certain physical characteristics, whether he is a platonic friend or a stranger. So having a gay friend, I am liberated of that threat of objectification. Here in Mexico that feeling has become SO evident. I long for that kind of relationship, because I am so sick of being identified by my physical characteristics. It is not done in hostility or with bad intentions; it is just a playful way that many men have chosen to (and been taught to) relate with women (walking past a male in the University hallway today and hearing them say “cute teacher” in heavily-accented English, or having a male acquaintance refer to me as the prettiest teacher in the school with a smile and playful wink or gesture). It is not meant to be creepy at all, but I am absolutely sick of it. It is so patronizing and I feel disrespected when it happens.

So, I have never before felt so keen on listening to Lady Gaga, but I can assure you that she is the ultimate female-empowerer. So I leave you with an extremely empowering song by her. And if you are interested, check out the original video, though it is a little graphic.



Viva feminismo. Viva Gaga. :)

A Beautiful Mexican Moment

It’s been quite a while since I last wrote, no? I suppose I shall give you the highlights of the past week.

WIA

The highlights of my food experience over the past week are many. I tried my first tamal (singular of tamales) in Mexico. There is a woman who sells 4 varieties of them every day two blocks from my house. I foresee her reaping lots of business from me. Tamales are easily my favorite Mexican food. Hot sweet corn meal wrapped around spicy, juicy meat. Mmmm.

I also had my first “comida corrida” experience. Comida corrida (literally “running food”) translates to fast food. I had spent my morning at the Comision de Derechos Humanos, at a lecture on Human Rights, which was more or less a 2-hour criticism of the U.S. human rights track record. Yikes. Can you just imagine me sinking lower and lower in my seat as they discussed Regan’s support of terrorist contras in Nicaragua in the 1980s? Yep… that’s my country. Anyway, I was uncomfortable and starving after the lecture ended so I stopped in a little cocina in my neighborhood before going to school. The woman made me egg drop soup, fried breaded chicken breast, and a pasta salad with mayo and ham that is very popular here. Since I didn’t know what I was ordering, I waited until after I had eaten to ask her what everything was called. She answered, simply, “comida corrida.” Fast food.



Speaking of which, one of my students at La UTEZ told me that the McDonald’s employees are paid $1/hour. One dollar. Depending on the strength of the dollar, 12 or 13 pesos. And he said most of the employees have to clean up after closing the store, at such a late hour that they can no longer take the bus, and have to waste a chunk of their daily earnings on cabs home. Another reason to be proud of the U.S., eh?

WILT

In honor of the McDonald’s employees, I listened to this exceptional cover of “Working Class Hero” (originally by John Lennon) by Green Day. Give it a listen. They do a really cool thing in the last 15 seconds of the song, so be sure to listen the whole way through!



T.I.M.

This is Palacio Cortes. Hernan Cortes established a settlement in Cuernavaca and built this Palace for his home in the early 1500s.



Now imagine this building, in the dark, at around 11pm on a Sunday night, lit up in red and green lights (the colors of the Mexican flag). And imagine an 8-piece Mariachi band, violins and guitars, black suits and big black sombreros, practicing in the entranceway under the arches for a while before going out to look for work.

Now picture my Mexican friend Beto and I, the only souls around the Palacio (Palace), except for the Mariachi group, stumbling into their practice by accident and staying to listen for 25 minutes. Then imagine the Mariachi group inviting us to dance to the music while they formed a circle around us.

And finally, picture a large cockroach scuttling past the scene, illuminated by the red and green lights of the Palacio, pausing to listen to “Mexico lindo y querido,” and then scuttling away into the night.



True story.

T.I.M.

Tonight and tomorrow combined is the anniversary of the 200th independence of Mexico from Spain! I walked around downtown Cuernavaca this morning and it felt like Santa's workshop, teeming with people setting up for the Bicentennial celebrations that will start tonight! Venders, artisan crafts, huge stage in front of government building for concert, food carts everywhere, streets closed. Viva Mexico lindo y querido! As I prepare to go out to celebrate this beautiful country, I leave you with an image of the manicure I gave myself today.

Beatles and Stomach Woes

WILT

I awoke today with a strong urge to listen to the Beatles. So I listened to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band on my walk to the Comisión de Derechos Humanos (CDH) and from CDH to el centro, then I listened to Abbey Road on my way home from el centro.

I woke up bright and early, left around 9:45 and walked to the Humans Rights Commission (CDH-Comisión de Derechos Humanos) to look for volunteer activities. It was about a 10-15 minute walk. The morning was beautiful. Last night it thunderstormed at 2am, like rattling, booming thunder. Crazy. Luckily it didn't keep me awake for too long.

But anyway this morning was beautiful- fresh clean air and the sun was out. So it was a nice walk and when I arrived at CDH I was pleasantly surprised to see an extensive property with a couple different house-buildings and a pool in the middle! It is also situated in a very pleasant, quiet residential area. The people in the CDH were bright and friendly, and I told them that I had just graduated, was here teaching English, and was interested in becoming involved in some service opportunities 1-2 times/week. I met with one woman, Rita, in her office we chatted for a while. Everyone was extremely receptive to me, and we decided that tentatively I will come to CDH twice a week. One day I will offer an English workshop to the employees in the Comisión, and the other day I will participate in some sort of community project.

I feel great about this encounter, and am really excited to get to work on it. Fulbright is such a nice program… really, like TOO nice, that I actually began to feel like I was losing touch with reality for a little while here. Reading Tom Power's and Carla DeSisto's blogs about their volunteer years so far made me feel like I was greatly missing that part of my life, so this should be really good. I hope I can find a project that I'm able to do consistently; I would love to work as a mentor to vulnerable youth (ie/ street boys) or something like that. We'll see... This morning was a breath of fresh air and I can't wait to become more involved in CDH.

Anyway, back to what I listened to. The first song that came on my ipod after I left the CDH office was “When I’m 64,” which was ironic because the people at CDH had just invited me to accompany them to an elderly home. The second song was “Lovely Rita.” Quite appropriate, as the woman’s name was Rita who I had spoken with all morning. Cheers to coincidences.



WIA

Unfortunately, my diet today was restricted to water, bananas and plain white bread. You can read more about this unfortunate circumstance in the previous post. The good news is that I went out with my friend Laura (another Fulbright ETA) and Alison and Mike (Alison is a research Fulbright and Mike is her significant other). Alison gave me the phone numbers of two doctors who specialize in treating Montezuma’s pinche revenge. Pharmaceuticals are mad cheap here. Holler.

I would like to share with you something that I cooked yesterday. Nopales are cactus leaves. When cooked (boiled is the preferred method), their taste resembles a sweet pepper, with the consistency of… well, a sweet pepper I suppose. Maybe a little softer. I made them yesterday with eggs for breakfast. Here are the pictures.









Yesterday at work we (English language colleagues at La UTEZ) celebrated all the September birthdays. Everyone brought in something home-cooked. It was deeeelishus. Unfortunately, however, I am suspect to believe that it was this lunch that caused me so much grief in my tummy. But what was a girl to do? There was no way I wasn’t going to try the pork skin dish… Ah, the woes of adventurous eaters.

T.I.M.

While exploring downtown with the other Fulbrights tonight, we happened upon this sign. **A prize will go to the person who can come up with the best caption for this sign. Please post all suggestions in the comments section of this blog post.**

One never knows when Montezuma's Revenge will strike...

...Alas, T.I.M.

:(

(If you are unfamiliar with Montezuma's Revenge, google it and pray that you are never afflicted.)