A few more things

So, I was kinda distracted last time and talked mostly about all the good things that went on in the indigenous community. But they are doing all of these things because they are living in very hard conditions. The government has totally skrewed them over. Also, in the past 8 years or so, their population has gone from 1200 people to 300 people now, because of migration to Mexico city, and the US. Isn't that crazy? Also, there has been a lot of deforestation, and erosion, which is why they are making things to catch water, and also reforesting a lot of things. This is helping to bring the water table back up. But of course, it's taking a long time. So yeah, anyway, just some more interesting info. See you later!

San ¨Pedro de los Cantarros (indigenous community)

Wow, so many days have passed since I last posted. But the majority of those days have been filled with a weekend visit to an Mixteco Indigenous community. This was really cool because we got to participate in Tequio, a community work expectation, building a greenhouse! Also, we got to see a lot of the ways that they live, and do agriculture. Seriously, they live at one with nature. They are surrounded by the food that they eat. They grow corn, squash, beans, and a few other things, in the form called milpa, where they are grown in alternate rows. I think it's better for the ground, and they complement each other. (Dad, you might know more how that works?). Also, they have done a lot of reforestation, have made trenches to catch water and irrigate, make cement things to catch rain water so that they have enough water for the dry season (7 months), and of course green houses. Everthing is organic, or with homemade pesticides so it's healthy, and totally sustainable. Everything we ate there was homemade, and the food homegrown, and from right there by the house. Handmade corn tortillas with FRESHLY picked corn. Seriously, I swear it tasted better.
So we were there from Friday, till Sunday. Then I was mostly dead. The next day we had only Spanish. The grammar part of it is kinda killing me. I haven't learned much of all this subjunctive stuff, so it's really good to over it, and my professor is a great teacher, but it just kinda fries my mind. But that afternoon, we didn't have our thematic seminar class, so I got a bit of a break, and that evening, a group of us went to see a movie at the movie theater. Called Arráncame La Vida. A Mexican movie, originally in Spanish. I actually understood a lot of it. That was kinda exciting. And a very good movie. I'd suggest everyone to see it. But then I left my water bottle there. :(
And then today after Spanish class, a few of us went to get some icecream. Well it was actually this flavored icee stuff. And I tried Rose icecream. I thought it would be like heaven. In reality, it tasted like pink. That's the best way I can explain it. They had a lot of interesting, different flavors, including like Mescal (Oaxacan alcoholic drink made from cactus), and Tequila, etc.
Speaking of food, I've also gotten more used to eating tortillas and picante with nearly everything I eat. Ok, so I think that's about what I've done over the past few days. Oh yeah, and last week I also saw this really weird, kinda freaky free international movie (i think made in Denmark, but in English), called The Element of Crime. Any of you film majors, I'd suggest you'd check it out. I think you'd enjoy it.

Pictures from around Oaxaca

Feliz Día de Independencía!!!

Yes, September 16 is the actual independence day of Mexico! Way awesome! I will go into detail momentarily. But to do the days in between...
Saturday was pretty chill, just hanging out with friends. Then Sunday, me and a few other girls went to this place called Monte Albán. It was Zapotec ruins. The Zapotecs had a great empire here a long time ago. Nothing to do with the Aztecs, who were more in Mexico City. But it still had some very cool structures and buildings. There was this one that was just a whole lot of stairs that were rather steep. At the top, some Mexicans (who get in free on Sundays), were cheering on anybody who tried run up the stairs. Shouting "yes you can, yes you can" or, "go him of the yellow" or "go little boy." It was hilarious! We got lots of pictures, of which I'll try to get up soon. We got back around 3ish, then I had lunch, then it began to pour, then sprinkle for the rest of the night. Needless to say, i just stayed home all that evening.
Monday, we had more classes, one of which was at a radio station that had been an important part of the teacher protests that took place a couple years ago. Some of the stuff the guy said about ways of communication, and how the government used the media basically just for their use of propaganda, etc, was really interesting.
Then Monday evening was probably one of the best times I've had for a long time! A group of us from the program all met up near my house, which is right near the center, then we walked down to the Zocalo to see the sights and hear "El Grito." (The Shout). We didn't really know what to expect. When we got there, there were a whole ton of people all crowded together. And they were spraying eachother with FOAM! It was this foam stuff from a spray can. It was hilarious! So pretty much all of us bought a foam can, and sprayed eachother... and everyone else. At times many of us were totally covered with it. We even got into wars with random people! Oh my goodness, it was soo much fun!
Then we were standing in front of what was the Municipal Palace (now it's a museum), and waited for the governor to come out and shout Viva México! Then some military people, and government people marched by... these were all the people that supported the governor (not many... he has caused so much pain and death in Oaxaca that most people hate him in one form or another). It was kind of strange to see this man. But it was still kinda cool to see the march, I'd never seen that type of thing before. Then, all of a sudden, the whole crowd started moving! We were just kinda freaking out, we had no idea what was going on! Then we stopped, listened and did the Grito, then watched the huge fireworks further away, and the less huge fireworks that was right next to us! They were on these moving structures. The one near us wasn't working real well, so a guy kept climbing up and lighting them with his cigarette! That's soo dangerous! But it was also really cool!
After this we went out to a disco (here they're called Antros) till 2ish, then went home. What a fantastic day!

Start of the Weekend! and a few other days

Oh man, this week has been so long. I feel like i've been running around all over the place just to get the basics done. We have spanish everyday from 9-1, and then the other class called Thematic Seminar where we listen to lots of lectures, etc. Wednesday was decent, but in the evening I had a sudden lapse of lonliness, cause i missed home, and i missed hanging out with the group here, so I ended up going to the coffee shop next door to read some assignments, and make new friends. I ended up meeting the owner and one of the waiters, and we talked about soccer, politics, etc. It was really interesting hearing his point of view on all the teacher strikes and violence that had happened a few years ago in Oaxaca, which we have been talking a lot about this week. He said that it especially affected the middle class people and small business owners. The poor people who were with APPO (the umbrella organization for about 300 other organizations that were participating in the strike), had very little to lose, and the rich people could just leave. But he said that within one block near the center, around 50 stores closed, and 300 or more all around the zócalo (center). And he said that experts calculated that it would take 7-8 years to recover. He didn't like either the government and governor (Ulises Ruiz), who APPO was demanding to force out of office, or APPO. Oh man, but all the stories are so sad. Of the federal police coming and attacking the people striking in the night. And women coming to meet them with hands painted white, and holding flowers, in an attempt to keep peace. And some people walked all the way to Mexico City and held a hunger strike. And god all the violence, disappearing, and dirty war like issues. It's just so crazy. And that all happened 1.5 to 2 years ago! It's really sad to think that this kind of repression is still going on.
Anyway, next day was much better. In our spanish grammer class (5 people total, and our teacher is Manuel), we got into a conversation about politics! And our professor told us a Bush joke! It was hilarious, and totally awesome! He has a good style of teaching for grammer, and is just plain a lot of fun!
For the conversation part of Spanish, we went to the artesania place where the had original artwork from different indigenous groups in Oaxaca. There were so many beautiful things! I'll really have to go back there and buy things before I go.
Then I went over to a friends house (from the program), and we "worked" on a presentation about Chiles that we done some interviews for on Monday. We ended up talking about it for about 30 minutes total. The rest of the time was filled with talking with her mom, chatting, and listening to some really pretty Shakira songs, and giving eachother massages. Heaven.
Then we went to an NGO. We hoped to hear about what they were doing, but we only ended up listening to more history on Oaxaca, most of which we had already heard. It was really long, and we were all tired. So a group of us went out to coffee, and me and two other people worked on a different presentation on some readings we had done. Me and a friend, Megan, had to take a bus back to the center at around 9ish. I walked for a little way, and when I passed by the coffee shop the waiter, Raúl, was chilling in the doorway. We talked for a bit, then I got a bit of dinner, then tried to go looking for an interent cafe, but it ended up being closed, so I ended up talking with Raúl for like. 30 minutes. It was pretty cool. He had been in the US for 3 years on a work permit, and seriously, had been more places than I've ever been in the US. It was pretty cool.
Friday, we had our presentations and discussions about the readings, etc. It was soo long. Very interesting, but we ended up going 1.5 hours over, and even then, the last few things were rushed. Oh, but we did have a brief interruption. There was a march going on in the street outside our school, so we simply had to go see it. It was a group of students protesting the privatization of schooling. Sweet! We got done around 2:30, we went home for lunch, came back to watch a documentary, then a group of us went out to dinner, then out to a bar where they had acrobats! I'd never seen a live acrobat performance before, so it was quite cool!
The next day, leaving at 9am, a group of us decided to go up some stairs, and ended up hiking a ways for a couple hours. We got a gorgeous view, and it was good to get some excercise. And now, I don't know. I know that the fiestas have already started for the Día de Independencia, which is on Tuesday. I'm sooo excited!

PS. Oh yeah, and for all of you coffee lovers, I have had coffee here at least 10 times since arriving. : )

More stuff

So yesterday we did another drop off, but this time around to market places around Oaxaca city. My friend Rebecca and I had to do stuff on Chiles. We had to take the bus over there, which was a bit of an ordeal. So we asked a lot of people, and a nice guy on the bus helped us get off, amazingly like, 2 blocks away from the market. Then we walked around, did a few interviews, and observed people for awhile. It was basically like being an anthropologist. Kinda cool. Then I went back to my house and got there around 4pm, and had lunch. I hung out at home all that evening, doing my reading/talking with my host mom. We talked for an hour! And she told me that I really should take showers every day because it's good for the health. She felt really strongly about it. Also, (I still kinda naw at my nails), and she told me that I should really stop biting my nails, because then I won't get a job. Anyway then I went to bed at around 11:30pm. Rather early for me, but, in order to get up at 7:30 the next morning for classes.

Today, I had my first day of classes. Somewhat advanced Spanish class for 4 hours. The first 2 hours were of grammar. Bleh. But I realized that I still have quite a lot of mistakes in my speaking. So I guess it'll be good. And then tomorrow one of the 5 people in our class is supposed to write a paper, and do a 30 minute presentation, with questions, etc to last 1 hour. It's supposed to be about our projects. What the heck! He didn't even assign who was going to do it, and didn't tell us how long the paper had to be. But he's pretty cool regardless. It shouldn't be too bad. We'll figure this stuff out as we go along. The next 2 hours were simply conversation, and it was actually pretty fun.
After class, me and a couple friends, Morgann and Megan, went down to the zócalo (center) to read articles for the next class, and chat for a few hours. Then I went home for lunch at 2:30pm. Then we had our Thematic Seminar about social organizations, etc (today was about the mexican economy and history), at 4pm. I think it will become quite busy with readings etc, but there will still be some time for chilling out. Good night!

What a day!

So yesterday was just amazing! First, from the morning till around 5-6pm all of us got paired up and we had to go look for various places around the city, and to some little towns right outside the capital. We had to ask people, and look at maps, and figure out transportation and everything. We had to look for a specific building, and then have some questions to get answers for. Me and the girl I was paired with, Lauren, had to go to a place called Tlachapahuaya. We thought we were looking for a Zapotec temple. However, after we found our way to the colectivo (taxi thing), which took a long time, and got to the city, the driver took us to this catholic church. We were kinda like, is this actually right? Ok, I'm sorry, my computer is about to die and orientation is about to start. To be continued.

Ok, so as a continuation of the post I made yesterday. Me and Lauren went to Tlocachahuaya in search of a Zapotec Temple. When we got there however, the taxi driver dropped us off at a cathedral. We were very confused, and decided to go look for the temple. But then, since we were there anyway, we went inside, kinda looked around, then asked the one and only person there, a man of whose name I forget, if he knew of any Zapotec temple near there. But he didn’t. He told us that the cathedral was supposedly built for the Zapotecs by the Dominicans. (Haha, I’m the Zapotecs were soo appreciative). So, we decided that the cathedral WAS the Zapotec temple we had been looking for. (When we were going over our experiences later that day, our instructor, Jonathon, totally cracked up when he heard about our mistake). So, we asked our man some questions about the place, like when it was constructed, and why it was special. I guess all of the paintings were made out of colors from native plants there. That was kinda cool. Then he said we could go upstairs to where the organ was for 10 pesos ($1), so we did. The stairs were sooo steep and huge. They looked like steps made for a giant. I was basically climbing my way up. We took some pictures, got some more information, then walked around the town, looking for food. The main little market had just closed, so we went down to a little restaurant and got some stuff there. The interesting thing is that when we entered asking for food, the lady was like, I’m sorry, I don’t have any hotdogs or hamburgers for you. I just have eggs, beans, and some meat that you probably won’t like.” Isn’t that sad that she just assumed that we would only like American food? Well, the food was actually delicious. Some eggs and beans, with fresh squeezed orange juice. Yumm.
When we got out of the restaurant, it was perfect timing because right at that point, a man was herding a group of cattle and goats right down the middle of the street. It was so cool! I know that’s their normal way of life, but I couldn’t help but be excited. I had never seen anything like that live before!
So Lauren and I walked and chatted for a bit, then caught a colectivo back to Oaxaca capital. We chilled out a bit at the hostal, then all met up and talked about our experiences. We all have so many good ideas for weekend excursions! Then we went back to the hostal, changed, then went out for the night.
Going out was soo much fun! There were 7 of us girls. We were going to go to one place, but it didn’t open till 11pm. So, we asked some guys if they knew of any other place that was already open, so they took us to this place that was themed as the circus. There were big couches, and lots of mirrors, and it was all in this huge circle. So we chatted, danced, and tried this Mexican beer mix called Michelada (I think?), which had beer, lemon, and chile powder and before we knew it, it was already 1:30am. Since we had to get up relatively early the next day we decided to go home. Oh man, what a good time!
Sunday was the day that we got to meet, and move in with our host families! We had a meeting about it beforehand. We were all really excited, but really nervous as well. We had relatively no idea what to expect. But, at the very least, the welcome they gave when we arrived back at the hostal where they were waiting for us seemed to be a good start. I swear, every one of the host moms had flowers for their student! I just thought that was adorable. And my family seems lovely, although I still only barely know them. There’s my mom and dad, Lourdes and Octavio, and their son and his wife, Jorge Octavio and Leticia. They have a HUGE house, and I’m in a HUGE bedroom with it’s own bathroom, tv, two beds (I only get one, obviously : ) ) and tons of drawers about half of which I can actually fill. In fact, the whole house is just soo big. When I first walked in I was thinking like, this has to be at least two houses, right? But no. I was rather dumb struck. I definitely didn’t think I’d be in a big fancy house down in mexico. And jeez, it seems almost contradictory to what were studying in the program, which is more about indigenous people and social movements, that are being repressed, and therefore are very poor. But then again, the program is responsible for us, so I guess they pretty much had to put us in safe, more well-to-do houses.
So, right when I got there, my host mom and I went over rules, and the basic structure of the day. I have to admit, at least as far as she was telling me ( I have yet to find out), they have a big, healthy breakfast, a pretty big lunch around 3pm, and then a light dinner (merienda), at around 8:30 and 9pm. My host dad has a saying that “we should eat like a queen in the morning, a like princess in the afternoon, and like poor person in the night.” Tonight for example, I had fruit, water, and tea, with the option of a little bit of bread. And seriously, I like that soo much. That’s the way I would like to eat, and according to all the studies, it’s more healthy that way.
So I then took a nap cause I was exhausted, then we had a bit of dinner at around 9ish. Then my host parents went to bed, but I stayed up talking with Jorge and Leticia for another hour or so. And it was hilarious because I tried to use some new slang I had learned. I was explaining about when I discovered that “estar floja” meant lazy. I said that my room at home was a desmadre (disaster) because estaba floja, y no “estaba vaga.” When I said desmadre, they both started laughing and explained that is was more of a slang word used among younger people, but for the older generation, it meant to go out and get drunk or something, and make a mess. Haha, oops. : ) Oh well, we all thought it was hilarious, and I’m glad it happened with them, and not with somebody who might get offended. And now I’m off to bed. Good night all!

Aaaawesome speaker

Ok, yesterday, I don't think a whole lot happened. We had a lot of lectures and more orientation stuff. I was very tired, and no tenía ganas (I didn't feel like) writing in my blog. Well, we did have oral examinations to see what Spanish class we would be placed in. I hope I did well. Other than that, nothing much happened.
Today however, was absolutely awesome. A guy named Gustavo Esteva came and talked with us. He had done various things throughout his life, including almost becoming the minister in Mexico. He also writes lots of articles and books, and is involved in a few different NGOs, and some other organizations. Some of the things he said totally made me think hard, and nearly blew my mind. He talked about autonomy of states throughout the world, and how development is really hurts more than helps countries. In fact, it should not even exist cause it causes a lot of prejudices, and futures. He was for sustainable living, and said that in order for this to happen, cities had to disappear so that we could make food for ourselves, and still have other things for the global market to get us accessories. Autonomy was of the individual, not of the nation, state, etc. Wow! That's crazy radical. How cool!
Also, we asked about peace. He told us that peace came from the latin Pax, which actually was a contract of domination and meant that "I will not destroy you, as long as you do this..." Isn't that crazy?! Also, 1/2 of the world's languages don't even have the word peace. ahhh, that's kinda sad, but makes sense. He said that the only way for there to be peace was to get rid of nations. Wow! But what about keeping everyone autonomous. It seems kinda opposing. I dunno. It's really confusing, but fascinating to think about.

So that was our awesome morning! Then we had lunch, in which I had my first mole! It was delicious! I tried mole negro (black), and mole roja (red). It's like, sweet and spicy at the same time. YUMMY!
In the afternoon, we went on a tour around Oaxaca city. We saw some places that were important community and NGO meeting places and where a lot of violence had happened. Also, we saw how the poor and rich communities were thouroughly separated. We saw some squaters that had come in 8 days ago. I totally meant to bring my camera, but i forgot. Sorry. Others did, so I might try to get some of theirs from facebook eventually. I was really rather tired then too. I swear, I came down here and immediately got into wanting a siesta after break. So, we got done with that around 6:30ish, then some of us went out to dinner where I had more mole. (pronounced moe-lay) And on the way home, we stopped and got Oaxacan hot chocolate. mmm, cinnamon hot chocolate! Delicious! What a long, but good day!

oops, a few things I forgot.

Oh yeah, so today we went down to the Zócalo (plaza, or main square), and there was this music going, and all these people dancing. I asked some people watching what was the occasion, and they said that the sun was out, so the people were dancing! I just think that was sooo cool, and really cute. We should seriously do that in the US!

Orientation

So, today was sooo absolutely thrilling (haha). We did a lot of orientation stuff, which consisted of sitting in a small room that was quite warm, and I began to get a headache. We started at 9:30am (we were supposed to start at 9:00, yay we're in Mexico!) then listened to a lot of talking by our instructors. Then we had lunch at 1:30pm, then back for more listening stuff at 3:30. But at the end it was really interesting, because we began talking about actual Oaxacan culture, and some of the facts of the country. Such as the fact that there are 16 different indigenous languages, and 14 dialects. Also, 70% of the people live in poverty, and 40% are unemployed or underemployed. Those statistics are staggering! Also, 85% of the land is owned communally, much of which is by indigenous communities, and are run by their own governments. Except, while the federal government respects them on paper, they totally disregard them in person. Really rather lame of them, I think.
Our instructor, Jonathon, is really cool, and the other instructors seem awesome also. I ate cactus tacos, with oaxacan cheese for dinner. The girls in my group are all here now, and a lot of fun! Oh, and there's 17 girls, and 1 guy. Jeez, I feel kinda sorry for him. Well, we all do. Tomorrow we have our evaluation to figure out what spanish level class we'll be in. Whoohoo!

Flying to Oaxaca

Ok, so most of my flight to Oaxaca was fine... except the actual timeline in Mexico City, trying to get to Oaxaca. So I had a total of 2 hours in Mexico city to get off the plane, go through customs, and somehow find my way to the next plane. I waited in line for customs for about 45 minutes, then was getting too nervous with time, so I told a security person that I had to leave on a flight in about 30 minutes, so he let me go in front of the line. Then, I sort of new where I was going, but only kind of, so some security guard person "helped" me, and then I had to give him a tip. It wasn't much help, but it was still good to have I guess. I then tried to go through to the gate, but the people there said I was in the wrong terminal. I was in terminal 2, and I had to be in terminal 1. I took a quick 5 minute train ride over there.
Once I got there I looked for my flight on the screen, and couldn't find it! I asked a guy there if he knew where my flight to Oaxaca was, and he looked at my ticket and said it was in terminal 2. Ahhh, I had like, 15 minutes till my plane began boarding! I then asked some people that I'm pretty positive were pilots, and they totally helped me. They were going back on the train anyway, and made sure I got through the first gate there. Then they somehow got to the other side and pointed me the right way. Thank god for nice people!
I ran over to the gate for my flight, and then there was some trouble with my ticket because they couldn't originally find it electronically. Eventually they did, so I ran down 4 flights of ramp, and made it on to this little bus that took us out to the airplane. I think I was the last person there! But I made it, then met up with a guy who was also in the program. Once we got to Oaxaca, we took a taxi into the center and made it to the hostal. Yay!
There were already around 10 people here. It's pretty cool Today we walked around Oaxaca a little bit, got some pesos, and some coffee (chocolate for me), and then bought fruit, fresh tortillas, and mole from a mercado (market). Oh yeah, and I ate cactus fruit (tuna). Quite tasty. We start orientation tonight!