update on community meeting

Last night, we had another community meeting to officially form the committee for the recycling project and it went really well. The committee signed up and we're now advanzando. I'll let you know how the project turns out.

Meetings, Meetings & Rock Climbing

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

I guess I’m just in the mood to write tonight. I’m definitely not writing for any of your reading pleasure, since I’m pretty sure no one is reading this silly blog because no one sent me any brown sugar. But whatever

Anyway, it’s 7:40pm and I am pooped. I only wish it was later so I wouldn’t seem like a total Grandma going to bed so early, but it’s not later, and I am tired, so here I am settling in for the evening. Did my daily yoga routine, got my movie picked out (Office Space), and did some reading (Little Women), brushed my teeth and put my pjs on, and I am sitting in my bed, typing this and soon to be falling asleep to the movie of the night.

But let me tell you, why on this lovely Wednesday evening I am so tired. Where should I begin? I guess let’s begin on last Friday, when Lindsay, Mindy and I traveled to Tlaxcala for a regional meeting of Peace Corps Volunteers. We spent the weekend there discussing Peace Corpsy things and on Sunday we got to go shopping for blankets and rugs – beautiful!! Got back late Sunday night, and to the office Monday morning. (We usually just go to the office on Mondays and maybe one other time during the week, since our work is mostly focused in our communities). After that, we went to Pachuca to fit in some internet time, and I had an impromptu Spanish tutoring hour. Peace Corps is giving us a little money to take more Spanish lessons, so I figured it couldn’t hurt. I’m starting to think it is for sure going to hurt. I love this country and I love Spanish but after like 10 years of classes and study abroad and more classes, I am sick of learning it. Tuesday, I woke up early and went back to Pachuca to meet the local YWAM staff (if you don’t know what YWAM is, look it up.) which was great, and I don’t know how much I’ll be able to help there with PC faith sharing regulations and such, but I am beyond excited that there is a base here! Yay! People that believe what I believe! Sweet Jesus! And then I rushed back to Carboneras to teach English, and then rushed home to prepare for a community meeting that I led about our recycling center project. Yeah… I thought it would be a nice cute meeting about how we were going to clean up the community and have some kids collect bottles and paint a nice little building to collect the recyclable trash… I was wrong. Only about 12 people showed up, and even among those 12, there was unbelievable division. They want to make this a business. As a PC Small Business Volunteer, believe me – I understand this completely. But are you serious?! You want to make a business from something that will pay like 1 peso (like 8 US cents) for a whole kilo of plastic bottles?? Unfortunately I couldn’t defend myself or the project well with my limited Spanish and apparently I even told a guy that I agree with him, when I definitely do not. It seemed to end okay though. We agreed to let everyone think about it for a few days and to have another meeting on Friday, where we hopefully will get people committed enough to take responsibility of the project and not just voice their opinions. I like this recycling project idea and I am excited about it, but the Park gave us this project; it wasn’t our original plan. During the meeting I felt like the guy from “Clerks” – “I’m not even supposed to be here today.” So that was Tuesday. Today, I was able to blow off some steam rock climbing. It was awesome. There are moments when I’m hugging the rock 100 feet in the air wondering why the hell I put myself through this, and then I climb up, repel down, and I want to do it all over again. I’m obsessed. And now, I’m tired.

I don’t think I’ve really filled you in on my work projects. So here’s a quick update:

1. I am teaching English to 12-15 year olds on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the Secondary school in Carboneras (like middle school). It’s wonderfully challenging and keeps me thinking and planning all the time. And I was asked yesterday to teach in another nearby town as well, so might do that too.

2. Recycling center: The goal of this is to gather enough interested people in the community to raise support from the park office to build and manage a small recycling center. I’ll be contacting different companies to come and collect all the trash, and some companies do pay for the recycled goods so the community will have a tiny financial benefit as well as a clean community.

3. Guide book: this is still in the brainstorming phase, but Lindsay and I plan on putting together a comprehensive guide book of the entire municipality and the park including campgrounds, hotels, restaurants, and tourist activities.

4. Susana’s restaurant: Susana is my host mom and I really want to help her build and run her own little restaurant. It’s always been her dream and right up my alley so I really hope I can figure this one out.

If you are reading this and you have any advise about any of my projects, please email me. I’ll take all the wisdom I can get.

That’s all for now. Life is good in Mexico and getting busier everyday, which is great. Come visit and see this beautiful country. And let’s go climbing!!

First person to send me brown sugar wins!!!

So we FINALLY got a P.O. box. Mail doesn't exactly come very easily to Carboneras, because you might have to write on the package "her host mother is Susana, it's the blue house behind the mercado" or something like that. So instead, Lindsay and I are sharing a box in Pachuca and you can send us mail until your heart's content. Yay mail!

Here's the address:

Rebecca Borough
Admon Num. 1 - PJ #144
Av Juarez Num. 401
Col. Centro, Pachuca, Hidalgo 42000
Mexico

So yes, the first person to send me a bag of BROWN SUGAR will win a Mexican prize of my choosing.

Mailing rules are the same. Posted on the left hand side of this blog.

LOVE YOU!

December. In. Mexico.

Horse back riding with the Presidente, Zack Visiting, fireworks for Guadalupe, fireworks for Jesus, fireworks just because and fireworks to bring in the New Year, tamales and ponche, piñatas, posadas, birthday parties, other volunteers visiting (Jill and Arpan, and Wanda), going to visit other volunteers and friends (Paola in Mexico City and Andrew and Brittney in Tlaxcala), homesickness and complete happiness, hiking, rock climbing, and kayaking, a new haircut, food, family, and friends. To sum up December.

 December was a crazy month to start out our Peace Corps experience, and I mean crazy in a good way. Although most of the parties have come to an end, we still have 3 Kings day later this week and the Calendaria in February to go. So today I’ll be shopping for little gifts for the kids (since in Mexico, kids get gifts from the 3 kings AND from Santa) and hoping that I don’t pull the little Jesus doll out of the cake on Thursday, because if I do I have to make tamales for the event in Feb.

New Year’s was low-key but one of the best New Years I’ve had. Lindsay and I went to a party thrown by my host dad’s family in our local mercado. It was about 6 or 7 long tables set up to make 1 really big long table, and the food never stopped coming. In fact we went back yesterday to eat some more! There was music, piñatas, and a gift exchange. And what impressed me the most was my grandma (Mami Luz, mother of 12) was up and about the whole night, warming tortillas, serving ponche, and all with a smile. That lady has still got it. It really was the perfect way to bring in 2011 and I was so glad to have the people I love with me, Lindsay and my Mexican family.

    

So it’s now 2011, and I have never been more excited to start working. Not that it’s been a total breeze since August, but if I can be honest I can’t exactly call it “work” either. I’ve learned a ton, met a lot of amazing people, and now I’m ready to start serving them. I know as I’ve heard from many volunteers and staff members to be prepared that it will be a slow start. But it’s a start. And we have so many potential projects from helping fund greenhouses, to teaching English, to helping support local tiendas and restaurants, to ecotourism, and any other small business or tourism venture.

I guess what I’m saying is BRING IT ON!!!

It's Christmas in Mexico....

Friday, December 3, 2010

Just got back from the lighting of the lights in my town and it was really cute. They had a little concert and then the junior high did a play of the nativity and then opened up the school for the community to walk through and see all the lights and a miniature very cute nativity scene. The play was really funny, from what I could understand. I learned a lot more about the birth of Christ tonight. Apparently there were about 20 shepherds wandering around, including 2 drunk dudes, and they weren’t just guided by an angel, they were actually enticed by a devil as well, but because good has to defeat evil they chose to follow the angel to attend the birth of Jesus at the Inn and they brought gifts like caged birds. Who knew?

Recapcito...

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

I am sitting in my freezing cold room beneath 4 thick Mexican blankets at 8:45pm and everyone in the house is in bed. This is a typical night although I have to admit I am a little bit disappointed that because of the work my host father has had this past week, the cable has been turned back on. I wondered why there were so many tvs in the house when no body really watched them, but I was glad because since I’ve arrived I’ve had so many opportunities for great conversation sitting at the dinner table well past everyone’s last bite just talking. Tonight, the night ended with some woman killing some other woman on a telenovela. I guess there goes my happy campo image.

Who knows when I’ll be able to put this post on the world wide web, but I figured I’d write anyway, seeing as though I have plenty of time on my hands. My feet are finally starting to warm up as they are wrapped in 2 pairs of socks and beneath previously mentioned blankets. Today, I woke up and had egg, ham, and cheese tacos with a cup of green tea. Then I decided almost 3 weeks later, that I should officially unpack my bags (because we are technically allowed to leave and find our own homes by next week, but I’ve decided to stay with my host family) so I made myself feel at home and lot more organized. 1 ½ year old Dilan, one of my nephews (I’ve been adopted into the family so I now have 3 nephews and 1 niece) played in my room while I put away my things so when I was all done we went outside to play. So I chased Dilan and Gisel (3 years old, another family member) around in the grass for a while and then we made mole azul out of dirt. It was quite a busy afternoon. When Alondra came home from school I played cards with her and Mari (Itzel’s sister) until comida at around 3pm.

For comida we had fresh tortillas from my Aunt Juanita’s tortilla store (which we have with every meal), noodle soup, string beans and eggs, & black beans. It was all delicious of course. Then we all went outside to play jump rope and then volley ball. Hung out for a while and at around 7:30ish we sat down to a light dinner of bread and hot chocolate. I have become accustomed to hot milk most nights so when we run out of milk I turn into a spoiled child and can think of only one option – I will buy more milk. Tonight it was to my benefit that my host father also wanted bolillos, these delicious rolls from the panaderia, so I hopped in the car with my host brother, his wife, and his sister and took advantage of the ride to the tienda. Oh yes, I would have my hot chocolate.

Which brings me to where I am right now, in my office – well okay, really my bed. Eventually I plan on getting a little desk, but for now this will have to do.

And here’s a little recap on what I’ve been doing the past 3 weeks:

Lindsay and I have had the opportunity to get to know the municipal president, who is kind of like the mayor and we’ve gone on little outings with him and his colleagues to deliver efficient wood burning stoves and to meet people in the communities that would be given bathrooms and cement floors (of which they do not at this moment have). He seems to be a very good man and the people seemed touched that he actually follows through with what he promises.

Our compañeros at the park have taken us on little hikes and acquainted us with the various programs the park has in place to support the local communities and where we will fit in. The only sticky point really is that because it’s the end of the year, all the money has been spent, so it’s our job living in the communities to meet and listen to the people to understand what projects will be the most beneficial next year. (This might sound a little complicated, but for example the support this year was spent on green houses, and wood burning stoves).

We both have really hit it off with our families and to show our gratitude (and perhaps longing for some good old-fashioned American comfort foods), Lindsay and I cooked Thanksgiving dinner for about 30 Mexicans. We made absolutely every Thanksgiving dish you could name and then some. It was a total success, and in my host mom’s words has earned me my own estufa in my room.

From Left to Right: Alvaro, my mom Susana, aunt Juana, Luz Clara, Pati and Said, & Sheli

Lindsay's Fam

I know you, mysterious non-existent reader, will get confused reading my blog with the many different names I will mention, so I will try to break it down as best as possible:

Angel (dad) & Susana (mom)

5 kids:

Sylvia, Alvaro, Analleli, Pati, & Alondra

Sylvia I have not met yet, but she lives in Pachuca with her husband and son

Alvaro lives in this house with Ana Itzel (his wife) and his baby, Said (Syeed)

Analleli lives in La Estanzuela (the community where Lindsay lives) with her husband and daughter Irlanda

Pati lives in Carboneras up the road with her husband Luis, and son Dilan

Alondra is 10 years old and lives in this house

You will also read about the following family members:

Mari – Ana Itzel’s sister. Has 2 daughters, Gisel 3 years old, and Alison 5 months. Her husband’s name is Juan.

Tio Capi is Angel’s brother and Tia Juanita is Susana’s sister. They are married and their daughter is Luz Clara, and she is over at the house all the time.

Pati’s in-laws are also regular visitors: Her sister-in law Lucero and her mother–in law Doña Carolina

That should be it for now, but just know that this is just a small percentage of the people and family I have met over the past few weeks. Imagine the next 2 years…

Eat, drink, and find satisfaction in your work...

...has never meant so much to me as it did these past few days as I woke up to the roosters and the sunshine and watched my host dad, Angel begin to wheel barrow cement into the kitchen and my host mom, Susana washing the dishes in the sink outside preparing for breakfast. The whole day revolves around the 3 solid meals that Susana prepares and Angel stops his house work to join the family for food. The household consists of Angel and Susana, Alvaro (their 24 year old son), his wife Sheli, their baby, Said, and Alondra (10 year old daughter). Angel and Susana also have 3 other daughters that live in the area with their husbands and babies. The whole town seems to be related since everytime I'm introduced to someone, they are a primo or tio. Angel is one of 12 children, and I got to meet his mother who is now a proud great grandmother of who knows how many kids.


A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. 


This beautiful family is filled with joy. As Angel said, "dondé hay niños, está Dios," - "where there are children, God is there." They are all hard workers, whether they were doing house work (renovating the kitchen) or working on their cars, they were busy at work. Of course they will always take a break to laugh at something funny or to make a joke on someone else's behalf. Living in the moment is an understatement. I began to feel a little useless yesterday when I had no work to do and everyone around me was busy with cooking or baby or building. I realized how much we find value in our work even if it's not the typical job that you and I would imagine.


I have learned so much more in the past few days than I could ever have imagined that I have no idea what the next 2 years will bring. I can only hope to be as kind and hospitable of a community member in Carboneras as this family has been to me.

my room

view from our house.

Dia de los Muertos and such

October 31-November 2nd, Mexico celebrates Halloween, Dia de Los Muertos, and All Saints Day. A lot celebration and a lot of death. It's actually a lot less morbid than it sounds. It's more a remembrance of loved ones lost and the legend is that on these days, the dead come back to hang out with their families. Hence the parties in the cemeteries... Literally no falta of mariachi bands or cerveza.

Querétaro's famous drag queen, Erik De Luna dresses as "La Catrina" each year and puts on a show reciting poetry, dancing and singing. 

Tradition to buy Calaveritas for friends and family

The grave we cared for. 

You are also supposed to leave food for the dead and legend has it, that when the holiday is over, the food has no flavor because the dead obviously partook of his/her favorite food. 

We swear in this Wednesday and leave for our Future Sites on Thursday. So we've been living it up. Hasta pronto!

Tehuacan - Cuicatlan Biosfera Reserva

Just spent 5 days in the Tehuacan - Cuicatlan Reserva with our Sustainable Livelihoods group, meeting various artisan communities and learning about their small businesses and their processes that they've maintained for generations, some date even back to BC (like the pottery people).

We had an absolutely amazing time singing in the van, being treated to pan dulce day and night by the best chef in Mexico Don Antonio, eating the best food we've had yet, shopping til our hearts' content for palm jewelry, and of course the productive part giving a presentation on some general business practices entirely in Spanish.

Here are some fotos:

As time in Querétaro comes to an end...

I just wanted to share with you what I've been up to in the lovely city of Querétaro, Querétaro, México for the past 3 months.

Everyday, I wake up like this:



And I go to school to learn Español for about 5 hours, where we try our best to converse about topics such as comida, cultura, tradiciones, política, la guerra de narcotrafico, imigración, y anecdotas de vida en los Estados Unidos. Yeah, we've been talking about things I rarely discuss in English and probably all sound like 3 year olds voicing their opinions on the next presidential election or the war in Afghanistan.

Then we have comida. Which usually consists of something incredibly deliciously greasy and fattening or what is most commonly referred to as "Vitamin T" : Tacos, Tamales, Tortillas, Tortas, Tequila (not during school of course), and Tostadas.

After comida, we are enlightened in lectures about health, safety, land ownership in Mexico, the history and political situation in Mexico, and environmental awareness. On our sector days (which just means we don't have Spanish class) we have gone to land fills, recycling collection centers, Indigenous communities, and botanical gardens to learn more in depth about environment and small businesses.

Then I go home to my familia to possibly do a little homework / studying, have cena, and watch "Soy Tu Dueña" .

On the weekends, I generally start my day at my favorite little cafe, Sucre Sale where I have my only Mexican friend besides our teachers and PC staff, Alma. We talk about all sorts of things like her favorite movie, Amelie (which she named her daughter after), interracial dating, and how life in the city is so different than in the communities but she believes that God takes care of everyone. If I come at night, she gives me free bread too.

And then most weekends have been filled with day trips to pyramids, hot springs, wineries and mountains or tours around the city of Queretaro. We have a cultural passport that is supposedly meant to transform us into Mexican citizens in which we have to complete at least 17 activities that include going to cultural events, making Mexican food, and basically taking advantage of everything we can while we're here, so that has made us all get out and explore the city and surroundings.

All in all, I know we are all getting antsy and anxious to be done with training and start our official Peace Corps experience in all of our respective sites, but I really can't complain too much about the past few months, because even though I am fatter and super tired at the end of each day, it has so far been a great start to our time in Mexico.