December already??

The year is rapidly drawing to a close and I find myself trying desperately to find out where, exactly, the time is going. I have just returned from the week-long team meeting in Olinala, Guerrero, and now have a week and a half of school left before Christmas break. Here are a few more pictures of daily life at the Buena Tierra!















One of my activities is to work with some of the kids in the classrooms. Here I am with Kinder Dos helping Michele and Isaac trace shapes, colour them in, and then cut them out.
















This is La Vía, the street where I live and where the school is located. Kids playing soccer in the street is not an unusual activity.



















Above and Below: Every Monday morning we have a flag ceremony. From a Canadian perspective, the patriotism here is pretty incredible. I can remember singing the national anthem a few times a year in a school assembly and of course at every hockey game, but that's about as far as Canadian patriotism gets. The kids learn three different songs/pledges to the Mexican flag which we sing every Monday.































An every-morning activity: helping with breakfast for Kinder Uno. This particular child is Santi, one of the youngest at only two-years-old. He generally has a hard time concentrating long enough to actually get around to putting the food into his mouth. Making faces into the back of the spoon is much more fun.
















Rec time! Left to right: Abby, Christofer, Monse with Fabian in the background.















And the kids on the bus go up and down, up and down, up and down! ("Arriba bajo, arriba bajo, arriba bajo") The last 15 minutes of every day are spent together in the courtyard with a story and a few songs. The Wheels on the Bus is always a classic...

Christmas is coming soon and the Buena Tierra is busy getting ready for the annual Christmas pageant. The kids are diligently learning the songs and the lines and rehearsals are becoming smoother and smoother. The big night is December 17th, which is also the last day of school before the break. Only a week and a half to go!

Acknowledgements: All photos courtesy of Danielle Litt (Miss you!)

The month of October

There is an ancient Mexican tradition enjoyed by children and adults alike. One takes an egg shell filled with confetti, sneaks up behind some unsuspecting victim, and cracks the egg shell on their head.

Two weekends ago, the Buena Tierra had its annual "Kermes" or fundraiser and these little weapons are always a hit with the kids. If you were wondering what a Mexican fundraiser looks like, let me describe it for you.
There is lots of good food. Lots of it. I had several new Mexican dishes which were still unfamiliar to me and of course, they were all delicious! Besides the numerous tables of food and central eating area, there was the game section with classics such as bingo, face painting, hoop throwing, jenga, among others. With the help of a few local high school students, us teachers supervised the game activity and the dolling out of prizes.















Some of the participants enjoying the tasty food.















Left: Brenda, one of the tutoring students I get to work with on Tuesday mornings
Right: Blanca, my host-sister!















A Mexican version of pogs has become very popular here, the kids play them everywhere! On the right is Fransisco, one of my Wednesday afternoon tutoring students.















Getting those marbles into the right holes can be difficult! Maestra Lizy (left) and Maestra Sabrina (middle) have a competitive game going.

The weekend prior to the Kermes, I went to Xochicalco - a World Heritage Site - with one of the MCC families that happened to be staying in Cuernavaca for a few weeks. It was amazing! I had such a good time. The pyramids and ruins were fascinating, the setting was absolutely stunning, and there was open grassy spaces in which to run around! I had not realized how much I missed grass fields (of which there are none that I have found in Cuernavaca) until we arrived and I realized that all I wanted to do was run around. Fortunately, there were three kids with us which provided a great excuse to do just that!














One of the many spectacular views from on top of one pyramid, looking at another.















The Friesen-Pankratz family enjoying a break from the intense sun and intense playing.















The four 1,000 year old airplanes racing to the ancient ramp!















These were the actual ruins of the Feathered Serpent temple, which was the only temple which had been reconstructed on the whole site.















Beautiful.

Other than those special events, daily life at la Buena Tierra continues as normal. I have missed a few days due to a cold which turned out to be a sinus infection. The good news is that I am almost completely recovered! and anticipate returning to work at full capacity very soon!

I can tell that my Spanish is improving in that I can now understand and even have conversations with random people in the street! When I go to grocery stores or bus stations or other such places, I can sometimes get through the whole experience without sounding too much like a gringa!

Until next time...

Is there anything better than fresh play-dough?

Three phrases I have learned to use quite frequently:
¿Comó?
¿Mande?
¿Otra vez?
All three are different ways of communicating that I have no idea what was just said and would appreciate it if someone could try again slower and with simple vocabulary. I am now in an environment devoid of English, what a learning experience it has been!

Well, my first two weeks at la Buena Tierra are finished. I'm not sure I can even begin to give this experience justice simply in words.

As the education system in Mexico is quite different from that in Canada, I will take a minute to explain what the Buena Tierra is. A kindergarten is a three year school for kids between the ages of about two and five. The first year is called Kinder Uno, the second Kinder Dos, and then Pre-Primaria. I work primarily with the first two, the "chiquitos" or little ones.

The first few days were mainly for the purpose of observing the daily routine at the kindergarten which can be characterized by an incredibly efficient way of managing chaos. La Buena Tierra is comprised of three classrooms, an office, a small supply room, a small kitchen, and a washroom all centred around the courtyard which multitasks as a breakfast dining hall, a gym, a playground, a choir room, and a general all-purpose gathering place.

After the first few days, I began to actively participate in the daily schedule:

School starts at 9 with breakfast for all the kids and teachers. After about half an hour, the oldest kids clean their tables and brush their teeth. After they are finished, it is my turn to supervise Kinder Dos' teeth brushing. Being generally around four, they are considered old enough to do this on their own. After this comes Kinder Uno. They are sent to the washroom two by two. One uses the toilet while I brush the other one's teeth, then they switch and head back to class. Besides this daily activity, I also assist with the various structured recreation times - basically I get to play with bouncy balls, march in lines, and stretch - as well as supervise they're unstructured recreation time - I "eat" a lot of plastic food that the kids "cook" for me, talk to my mom on a "cell phone", and hold "crying babies" until the kids are ready to take them back.

This generally leaves about an hour and a bit of time left in the day. Some days days I get to lead play-dough classes. With about six kids, we make the play-dough soft, then make tortillas, then cut shapes out with cookie cutters. As I alluded to in my title, I have rediscovered a love for play-dough!

The last fifteen minutes of the day are always spent out in the courtyard once again. The kids sit in the middle while Maestra Lizy reads a story after which a few songs are sung and the kids are finally dismissed to their parents at 1:15.

My favourite part of the week so far has been the after-school tutoring. Twice a week older kids come to la Buena Tierra for tutoring. I get to tutor math - something which requires very little vocabulary or verb tenses and is the same no matter what language is being spoken!

I have also begun to get settled into my host family. I live with:
Doña Juana - my host-mom
Carlos - Doña Juana's son who works in another city but comes home to visit once in a while
Gaby - Doña Juana's daughter-in-law
Luis - Gaby's son, age 13
Blanca - Gaby's daughter, age 10
Azul - Gaby's daughter, age 1 and a half
Erica - Doña Juana's daughter
Maritza - Erica's daughter, age 12

This is a very full household. But in typical Mexican fashion, this extended family holds close bonds and there are often other sons/daughters/cousins that visit the house on a regular basis.

My Spanish continues to prove to be lacking, but I am diligently striving to improve my communication skills. In this busy, fast paced, noisy environment, it takes extra energy to focus and to think in Spanish. However, this is how I need to learn Spanish. A classroom setting is definitely not applicable in real, every-day life!

A few sights

Caley has been gracious enough to allow me a few minutes on his computer. For you, this means a chance to catch a glimpse of some of the sights I've been fortunate enough to see.

Above is the view of San Cristóbal de las Casas from one of the churches situated on the top of a hill; there were a lot of stairs getting up there...

















This is the pyramid of Tepoztlán; the climax of an hour long ascent up the side of a mountain. I found it quite exciting to stand and imagine what this particular site looked like a couple hundred years ago.

















This is the view from on top of the pyramid, a beautiful sight of the little town of Tepoztlán, nestled in between green mountains.

















Last Wednesday, we headed to a local fair. Every so often, the churches in Mexico celebrate the day of their particular Saint or Virgin. This is marked by the setting up of endless little stalls selling everything from freshly baked bread to pottery to clothing. It was an incredible experience in Mexican culture. Slowly, slowly I am learning how to work my way through large crowds - a skill that is not exactly necessary back home.

My Spanish skills continue to improve. Yesterday I was asked to explain my life philosophy as well as the history and philosophy of both MCC and Mennonites in general. The fact that I could (almost) do so was both encouraging and exhausting.

A plug: to get more pictures and a more complete desciption of Mexican life, including lots of picutres, I encourage everyone to check out Caley's blog - a great writer with a much greater dedication to blogging than myself - http://blogs.mcc.org/salt/caleort/

María tenía un corderito

A week and a half of language school is now over, and I can tell how much my Spanish has improved; three hours of one-on-one tutoring every day will do that for you, I suppose. Other than classes and studying, I've been on a few fieldtrips and a few adventures that have helped me begin to understand the history and culture of the Mexican people. I am living with Sra. Guadalupe, a wonderfully sweet lady who has made my days in Cuernavaca entirely enjoyable.

A rundown of a typical day at Universal:
Breakfast is at 9:00 am, in my opinion, a great time to begin the day. It is always a large breakfast with some version of eggs, beans, and toast. We watch the daily morning shows on tv during breakfast which includes a brief newscast, telenovela (soap opera) gossip, and a few minutes of yoga demonstration (all in Spanish, of course!).

Eventually, after breakfast and other morning activities, I stroll down the street to the school, about a 10 minute walk from my home-stay, where I spend some time catching up on the news and trying to email a few people before class at 11:20. As I mentioned previously, I have three hours of private classes each day. I absolutely love my teachers. So far I have had two different maestras during classes, and have taken excursions with a few others and have found them all to be enthousiastically helpful and kind. The three hours of intense studying has helped me immensely, however by the end of the last hour, my brain is reeling to find even the simplest words and phrases.

After class, I head home for lunch at 2:30. Always amazing, always large, always a great way to relax a bit after class. My host-mom is very patient with my Spanish and during lunch conversation, she listens attentively and helps me out when I'm struggling to be able to tell a story or relate afternoon plans.

Generally, after lunch comes siesta time, apparently a semi-normal activity for people around here. From here on the days tend to vary. Usually, after a short nap and some studying time, Caley (the other Mexico SALTer who is also at language school) and I head to the centro, a place of endless excitement and activity. At the moment, there is a rather large teacher-strike happening, making the roads great for walking and impossible for cars. It is rather exciting.
Dinner is usually around 8:30 or 9:00 and is comprised of a small snack, nothing too heavy, just a little something to tide you over through the night. Sra Guadalupe enjoys the daily telenovelas which we watch pretty much every day during our dinner. It is great Spanish practice for me, although Sra. Guadalupe often has to give me short summaries of what exactly is going on; it is really hard to catch familiar words and phrases when the characters are speaking in excited tones. After dinner, I normally do a bit more studying, and then crash for the night to get a good night sleep before starting fresh again the next day.

A few trips that I've been on so far:
Last Tuesday we had a history lesson at the palace of Cortez, now a museum of the history of Mexico. We went last week during the afternoon with a group from the school and were guided by one of the history professors. There is a large, gorgeous mural painted by Diego Rivera covering one floor's wall. It was a beautiful, tragic depiction of the conquest of the Americas by the Spanish.

Last Saturday was another grand excursion to Tepozlan, a little town about 45 minutes away which has managed to resist much of the commercialization of Cuernavaca and hold true to its indigenous routes. There is a little pyramid on top of one of the mountains of the town, an absolutely fantastic (and highly intense!) hike followed by an equally fantastic view from on top of the pyramid. It took us an hour to ascend and an hour to descend, after which we walked through and admired the old cathedral and convent which are located in the town. It was an incredible experience to walk through genuine buildings which have not been restored or tampered with since they ceased to be used. All together, a beautiful city which holds a few remaining time capsules of a forgotten era.

I had good intentions of posting a few pictures today, however the computer which I am currently using refuses to read my camera, so those will have to wait until another time.

Time for class!

Peace,
Sam

Orientations

Well it has now been two weeks since leaving Richmond. What a whirlwind!

The first week of orientation in Akron was incredible. There were over 100 of us there, people from all around the world gathered to prepare ourselves for the upcoming year. Being able to connect with other people who are in the same boat was an invaluable experience. Our days consisted mainly of various workshops and sessions designed to aid us in our cross cultural living mixed with free time which we used to relax, play games, and connect with other people.

Last Saturday I left for Mexico City, a relatively short flight compared to the rest of the SALTers. Although turbulent weather delayed the planes a bit, I arrived safely on Saturday evening. The next few days were spent at the house of the MCC Country Representatives, Marion, Ricardo and their little daughter Isabel. I got a bit of an introduction to Mexico City, a rather overwhelming place with about 23 million residents. On Tuesday, due to some technical difficulties, I ended up needing to head down to San Cristóbal de las Casas, a beautiful city in the southern province of Chiapas, where I met and stayed with an MCC family doing work at an NGO in that city.

During my time there I was able to spend time wandering the streets of San Cristóbal learning about Mexican culture, food, and history as well as have an introduction to MCC's w0rk in the area. I was a little disappointed to find out that the weather in San Cristóbal was much like Vancouver's; wet and cold. However, despite that, I thoroughly enjoyed my adventures there with Kirstin, Elí, their two little girls, and Meredith, another MCC worker who happened to be in San Cristóbal for language school.

I arrived back in Mexico City this morning; having spent 33 hours of the last four days on a bus. Although this was longer than anyone had expected, I was able to see a lot of Mexico in a short period of time. One thing that has struck me about Mexico is how much it looks exactly like B.C. Most of the time travelling was spent going through beautiful mountains covered with rich green trees. Also, I have discovered that the Mexican time schedule suits me perfectly...nothing is really expected to happen before nine or ten in the morning! A perfect situation for someone with my morning-person skills.

Tomorrow morning we will be heading to Cuernavaca, my home for the next year. We will leave early in the morning in order to arrive in time to start language classes that day. I am very excited to begin to explore the city!

Until next time,
Sam

Hola Mexico!

Hello all!

Welcome to my newly created blog! As you may know, tomorrow I will be departing for a year-long Mexican adventure; living in an unfamiliar country, learning an unfamiliar language, and experiencing an unfamiliar culture. I can't wait to get started!

The first leg of my journey begins tomorrow in Akron, Pennsylvania at MCC HQ where all of us SALTers will remain for a week of orientation, after which we will be departing for our various assignment countries. At this time I will head for Mexico! More specifically, for Cuernavaca, Morelos to Universal Centre for Language and Social Communication where I will be studying Spanish for four weeks before beginning my work at La Buena Tierra.

During my stay in Cuernavaca, I will try my very hardest to keep this page updated with my whereabouts, adventures, work-related activities, and other general information.

I'd like to thank all my friends and family who have been so amazingly supportive of this endeavour, I couldn't do it without all of your encouragement and affirmation!

Peace,
Sam