Ok, so it's only been a few days and already it seems like soo many things have happened here in Chiapas. So my family is quite wonderful. The host dad is one of the first saints that is around this place. He goes to mass every night, is friends with priests, works as a doctor with traditional herbal medicines, and is just an absolutely lovely, gentle man. He's a little bit older, and I think he's kinda sick, but I'm not exactly sure with what. It seems like the kids (there are 8 of them), take turns coming over to say hi every evening. They're all grown up, and married with children, but most of them live near. I've met 3 of them so far, in the 3 days I was there. The mom is also very sweet, and I've had some lovely chats with her. There is also a maid, who's only 14 and lives with them. Her story is her story, so I don't feel allowed to tell it, but it sounds very hard and difficult, especially since her family lives 5 hours away. But she's very sweet, and me and the other girl staying with me in this house, Megan, have spent the last couple of nights chatting with her and watching soap operas.
The first night we ate dinner with a catholic priest! Wow, that was amazing, I was kinda in awe at simply the idea. He was from france, had been in an indigenous community for around 30 years, and recently moved to San Cristobal de las Casa a few years ago. The life of a priest sounds very difficult, because they don't have any real family, except those that invite them in. And they only live off the money they get from offerings. This priest eats with my family every monday, friday, and i think sunday. Very lovely, and really interesting. He was also quite amusing, and really friendly. It was cool to actually get to know him.
On the third full day in Chiapas, we went to another alternative university, called Universidad de la Tierra, Chiapas. However, we had to get there ourselves. So, me and Megan took a taxi, told the guy what it was called, showed him the map, and then had a lovely talk with our taxi driver while he took us there. When we arrived, we were kinda confused because we didn't recognize anything. (We had gone to Unitierra the day before for a brief orientation about Chiapas). We asked the guy if this was really the place, and he assured us that is was. So we got out, and he left. We then asked some students if this was the university. They said yes, but kinda laughed at us. Then we asked some other people and they said that it was the Universidad Multicultural de Chiapas. Shortened to Unich. I guess it sounds kinda the same? Anyway, it did sound like a really cool place where both indigenous and mestizo people attend school, and they learn indigenous languages, and about other cultures. Pretty sweet. However, it was NOT the place we were supposed to be. So we had to wait for a good 30 mins till another taxi came (that we called especially), and got to Unitierra a good hour late. Also, for breakfast that morning, we'd gotten chincharron (pig skin deeply deeply fried), which I hadn't eaten a whole lot of, because I just couldn't stomach it, but I still did not feel great for a little bit of the time. It was kinda a fun adventure tho!
Once we made it to Unitierra, we heard the last bit of talk, then went on a walk around the place. At this university, people, mostly indigenous people, can come and choose what they want to learn, then take an on hands class where they learn about it. Also, they make all their own food by having a garden/miniature farm, and by having various animals. It's right in the forest and absolutely beautiful. It kinda reminded me of home. It was about a 2 hr walk or so, and is where I got to know Julio, the other saint that is in Chiapas. He's also very gentle, very easy going, gets along with and accepts everybody, quite funny, knows how to speak very well and sincerely (which I found out in later visits to Las Abejas and Los Zapatistas), knows a lot about life and everything, has seen a lot of life, including things that are very difficult, and would be a very good director of this program because he's very aware of what's going on in the group, and knows a lot. For example, at every new location he points out where the bathroom is. Ok, so that's rather funny, but hey, it makes sense. He's one of our drivers, but is basically our guide around Chiapas. He's an absolutely great man.
Afterward the whole group went and heard a speaker about capitalism, neo-liberalism, and all the crap that has happened because of this system. It was actually fascinating, and the guy was a really good speaker and teacher for economics. I think that I understand (kinda) economics, because he explained it so well. He described capitalism as a train that is heading for a crash into a ditch. The closer we are to it, the more worried people get and try to make a change (or at least talk about it). but if they find out that we're actually farther than somebody had said, then they just decide to forget about it. Hence, this is why the crashes, and more recent crash, has happened. Wow! I liked it. It also gave us a bit of an orientation to the Zapatistas, who are working totally outside of the system.
After this, our amazing chofer, Julio, took us to this great artisan chocolate shop. This is where I ate what I think is the absolute BEST pure dark chocolate I've ever had. We didn't do too much that evening, (altho I do have a great story which I will add later), and the next day we left for Las Abejas community, and then to the Zapatista government place. But now I have to leave. To be continued...
Friday, October 24, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Chiapas!
Hi! So I haven't posted for awhile because not much has really been going on for the past week or so. Just chillin out in Oaxaca, doing various stuff. Last night we left our host families in Oaxaca, and aren't going back to them, and made our way down to San Cristobal de las Casa, Chiapas (a state further south east of Oaxaca.) A really pretty mountain town. But we had to get here by a 12 hour, really windy bus ride. ( by windy I mean like very sinuous, through mountains, etc. I'm not sure that's the right spelling). That was the first time I ever took dramamine, something to keep you from getting motion sick. That helped me, and put me to sleep, but the first hour or so was terrible. So yeah, we'll be here for 8 or so days, visiting different NGOs, and the Zapatistas! then we're heading over to the coast for a week or so (at the isthmus). It's a bit colder here as well. And that's about all.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
A bit of Oaxaca, and México City!
A cathedral in the zocalo in Mexico City. It took 300 years to make. And part of it is sinking because it was built on what was a lake.
"Never forget October 2nd." The day when 100s, maybe 1000s of students were massacred in protest against having the 1968 olympics. This was the 40th year anniversary.
Heh, globalization at it's best. There was also a Starbucks, as well as many other multinational chains.
The Zocalo in Mexico City. The evening of Oct. 2, there were around 30,000 people here.
El Templo Mayor. The major Aztec Temple, also in the Zocalo 
The church is called Santo Domingo. It's about 1 block from my house in Oaxaca. It's absolutely gorgeous. 
El Tule. One of the biggest and oldest trees in the world. Over 2,000 years old!
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM). National Autonomous University of Mexico. 3,000 people attend there. It's humongous.
Frida Kahlo Musem in Mexico City. Wow!
The Zocalo in Mexico City. The evening of Oct. 2, there were around 30,000 people here.
El Templo Mayor. The major Aztec Temple, also in the Zocalo The church is called Santo Domingo. It's about 1 block from my house in Oaxaca. It's absolutely gorgeous. 
El Tule. One of the biggest and oldest trees in the world. Over 2,000 years old!
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM). National Autonomous University of Mexico. 3,000 people attend there. It's humongous.
Frida Kahlo Musem in Mexico City. Wow!Indigenous community and protests
Some new graffiti that got put up two weeks ago. A lot of the graffiti has a lot of social commentary.
Teacher's march. This is part of the zocalo, where they were camping out. 7,000 showed up.
Part of the teacher's march. They were going to vote for their new section union leader.
Protestation in process. This is against the modified corn that comes into México. "Wtihout Corn, there's no country."
Out in the campo (country), in a Mixteco community. It was so lush. This is part of the milpa (squash, corn, and beans), with a path going right through it.
This is the room that we fit 8 people into. 3 on the bed, and 5 on the floor. It was cozy. : )Monday, October 13, 2008
Crazy Week
So basically, all last week was insane with a bunch of work for SIT. Pretty much all of the work for the whole semester is due this week and last week. I was up till 2:30ish both wednesday and thursday working on homework. Also we had sooo much class. I was just calculating the class hours, and normally it's 30 hours a week! Isn't that crazy! and friday was insane. NINE hours in one day. I wanted to die.
But luckily, this weekend was a lot of fun. Me and some friends went salsa dancing! Both friday and saturday! The guys really know their stuff. I felt pretty clumsy, but it was a lot of fun, and I kind of learned a decent amount. And Saturday was a friend's birthday, Sarah, and some other friends made her apple pies. It was very cute. And now it's pretty much more work. Tomorrow we have Spanish exams, so after that, less class. Although I will miss our teachers. They are totally awesome. Also, we are figuring out our independent projects. I'm going to Mexico City, to work with a transportation union! Woo-00! Lots of things going on. And now, time to study for the Spanish exam. Yay grammar! Subjunctive. I think my mind is gonna be shot. Love you all. Have a good day!
But luckily, this weekend was a lot of fun. Me and some friends went salsa dancing! Both friday and saturday! The guys really know their stuff. I felt pretty clumsy, but it was a lot of fun, and I kind of learned a decent amount. And Saturday was a friend's birthday, Sarah, and some other friends made her apple pies. It was very cute. And now it's pretty much more work. Tomorrow we have Spanish exams, so after that, less class. Although I will miss our teachers. They are totally awesome. Also, we are figuring out our independent projects. I'm going to Mexico City, to work with a transportation union! Woo-00! Lots of things going on. And now, time to study for the Spanish exam. Yay grammar! Subjunctive. I think my mind is gonna be shot. Love you all. Have a good day!
Monday, October 6, 2008
ahhh, so much!
Ooooh my goodness it's been ages. This might be long, might be short, depending on how much I shorten it/ remember. Ok, so i have to go over the last two weeks which will be hard. But some highlights from two weeks ago.
On thursday and friday, Sept. 25 and 26 or something like that, around 7,000 teachers from all around Oaxaca came to the capital to march, and vote for the new leader of their section. It was awesome! We got to see them marching, and then some of us also went down to the zócalo (central plaza) to see what exactly was going on. When we got their, it seriously appeared like a fair. A lot of stores took advantage of many people being there, and so set up all of their booths. There must have been a least a hundred of them, if not more. It was a lot of fun to walk around buy things. Including a shirt that supported la APPO, a big movement composed of 300 non-governmental organizations at least, and is what was brutally repressed a few years ago. And also a really cool head scarf. That was the start of my obsession with headscarves, and I now have 4 different ones, blue/purple, green, brown, and white. They are fantastic. It was so fascinating to be in a place where they have marches and gatherings like this.
On Friday, since it was the first US Presidential debates, nearly the whole group of around 20 people in the program met up in our little school room, and watched them on one of our computer's. Or well, tried to watch them. It was rather hard since the computer was only so big, and only so loud. So I probably actually heard about half of it, at most. But I remember some quotes. "We are winning in Iraq" (McCain). "Economy," "Iraq," and "experience, or lack there of." Even though we couldn't hear very well, it was a lot of fun.
That saturday, me, Megan, Kristin, and Emily went to a place called El Tule, where they have this HUGE tree, that's 2000 years old, at least. So that means it was around when Jesus walked the earth. Isn't that crazy!? And it's bigger than any redwoods or sequioas I've ever seen. It was gigantic!
Ok, and a cool anecdote. A few minutes after I walked in the gate and was starting to take pictures, I heard somebody say "Annie, Annie." I turned around and saw my advisor from Gettysburg, Alicia Rolón! She was there traveling around with a different group for intermediate Spanish in Mexico. Now that totally blew my mind! What a coincidence! After recovering from this excitement, we went around taking more pictures, and then went to a restaurant to eat empanadas, which are supposedly famous there. They were actually tortillas with chicken and mole and inside. That's what empanadas are here. Cultural experience!
The next day me, Katie, Rebecca and I think a few others. walked around town. That night I went to a beautiful church called Santo Domingo with my host mom to mass. Have the time i was just staring at the beautiful ceiling. It was amazing!
And Monday, we left for Mexico City!!! For the first three or so days, we stayed in a lovely neighborhood called Santo Domingo. And I stayed with the best host family ever! Flavio and María Luísa were my parents, and I had one sister, Tanya, of 14 years. The 2 older boys were either married, or living far away. I don't know, there was just something so warm and welcoming about them. We lived in a little apartment in a big building that were composed of the 8 brothers and sisters and their families of my host mom. And the community in general... I don't think I've ever been in such a place where I've felt such a sense of community. It was absolutely lovely! : ) Partially because of this, I am now thinking very hard of doing my independent project there.
Since Santo Domingo is right next to the big university of around 300,000 students, I also took the opportunity to go over there a couple times. It's a gorgeous campus, and absolutely humongous. Also, a lot of the buildings had murals on them. Soo cool! The second time I went there was especially cool, because I actually got to meet some students. Me, Sarah Farr, and Jennie went over there for an observation and interview project for one of our seminars. It was an adventure going on the little bus over there, and then we got off at a random spot, which happened to be by the othodontic department. We watched for awhile, then went and talked with a group of students. They were really nice, and I admit that is was refreshing to be in a college environment again, with more people our age. Kind of another reason why I want to do my project in Mexico City.
Another day, we went to Coyoacan. We went to the house of Frida Kaolo (and Diego Rivera), and then a museum about October 2nd. There was also the Trotsky house museum, but I didn't have time to get there. It was a really cute town, and a lot of fun to walk around. After that we went to this ecological park full of volcanic rock and plants. (Hannah, I thought of you when I heard about the volcanic rock : ) ). We saw this partially to understand more about Santo Domingo, which was actually built out of volcanic rock. Very impressive.
On Thursday, October 2nd, we left the lovely neighborhood, and headed to the center of Mexico city. This was just in time for the march of October 2nd, which was in remembrance of 1968 massacre of students in Tlateloco. This was when students were protesting the Olympics in Mexico that year, and the federal police totally surrounded them, and massacred nearly all of them, then towed the bodies away to make it look pretty for the olympics. If you ever want to see a really good movie about it, but really sad, watch Rojo Amanecer. For the actual march, around 30,000 people showed up. Me and some of my friends in the program watched the proceedings from a restaurant high above the Zocalo, but with a very good view. (We couldn't participate by law since we were foreigners. If we had, we would get deported.) It only got kinda violent at the end, but I don't think anything terribly bad happened. It was just amazing to actually see a march that huge. I often got shivers up and down my space it was so intense.
The days sort of ran together now, in trying to remember them. But a few other things we did. We went to the Temple Mayor, Aztec ruins right next to the Zocalo. And an absolutely HUGE cathedral, also in the center, that took 300 years to build. And to Tlateloco and La Plaza de las Tres Culturas, where the massacre happened. This was also where there were some other ruins of I think a different tribe other than the Aztecs. There were so many of them that I had no idea about, that I get kinda confused and can't remember all of them. Speaking of ruins, we then went to Tehuantepec, which was there before the Aztecs, but was actually very commercial and made of communities of many different indigenous people. It was kinda like any big city nowadays. I walked up to the top of the Temple to the Sun, and the Temple of the Moon. Very cool. And I got a cool whistle that sounds like an eagle when you blow it.
On the way to Tehauntepec, we stopped at the Basilica of the Virgen de Guadelupe. It was impressive. There were probably 10-15 churches/cathedrals, and then lots of other buildings, statues, fountains, and things that were all catholic related. Oh wow, and in one church, they had the original picture of La Virgen de Guadelupe, which is printed (?) on a poncho that Juan Diego owned. It's considered to be a miracle, because nobody knows how it got onto the poncho, and what type of material it's printed with. Wow!
Three nights in row, me and a various friends, went to an all mariachi square. We went into a restaurant, and paid for one of at least 3 bands to play songs for us. Also, two of my friends, Christian and Jennie, play in a mariachi band at their college, so they actually got to play their instruments with the band that we always asked to play for us. It was soo awesome. I even picked up the violin, and kinda followed people to play in a few songs. I miss music soo much. It was so good to play anything!
Sunday was our free day, so me, Katie, and Morgann took the subway (exceedingly efficient!), back to Santo Domingo to visit our family and friends there. We had lunch with our family, then some of our friends invited us to go watch them play in a soccer tournament. That was a lot of fun, and they won! Yay. We then went out with them to the mariachi place for the last time. The next day we had to wake up at 5:30ish am to go back to Oaxaca. I didn't really want to leave. But it will be good to rest for a little bit. I felt like I had no real breaks in Mexico City. I'm hoping to sleep for a week! And that concludes my long account. (I think, I hope?). I'm sure I forgot something so we'll see!
On thursday and friday, Sept. 25 and 26 or something like that, around 7,000 teachers from all around Oaxaca came to the capital to march, and vote for the new leader of their section. It was awesome! We got to see them marching, and then some of us also went down to the zócalo (central plaza) to see what exactly was going on. When we got their, it seriously appeared like a fair. A lot of stores took advantage of many people being there, and so set up all of their booths. There must have been a least a hundred of them, if not more. It was a lot of fun to walk around buy things. Including a shirt that supported la APPO, a big movement composed of 300 non-governmental organizations at least, and is what was brutally repressed a few years ago. And also a really cool head scarf. That was the start of my obsession with headscarves, and I now have 4 different ones, blue/purple, green, brown, and white. They are fantastic. It was so fascinating to be in a place where they have marches and gatherings like this.
On Friday, since it was the first US Presidential debates, nearly the whole group of around 20 people in the program met up in our little school room, and watched them on one of our computer's. Or well, tried to watch them. It was rather hard since the computer was only so big, and only so loud. So I probably actually heard about half of it, at most. But I remember some quotes. "We are winning in Iraq" (McCain). "Economy," "Iraq," and "experience, or lack there of." Even though we couldn't hear very well, it was a lot of fun.
That saturday, me, Megan, Kristin, and Emily went to a place called El Tule, where they have this HUGE tree, that's 2000 years old, at least. So that means it was around when Jesus walked the earth. Isn't that crazy!? And it's bigger than any redwoods or sequioas I've ever seen. It was gigantic!
Ok, and a cool anecdote. A few minutes after I walked in the gate and was starting to take pictures, I heard somebody say "Annie, Annie." I turned around and saw my advisor from Gettysburg, Alicia Rolón! She was there traveling around with a different group for intermediate Spanish in Mexico. Now that totally blew my mind! What a coincidence! After recovering from this excitement, we went around taking more pictures, and then went to a restaurant to eat empanadas, which are supposedly famous there. They were actually tortillas with chicken and mole and inside. That's what empanadas are here. Cultural experience!
The next day me, Katie, Rebecca and I think a few others. walked around town. That night I went to a beautiful church called Santo Domingo with my host mom to mass. Have the time i was just staring at the beautiful ceiling. It was amazing!
And Monday, we left for Mexico City!!! For the first three or so days, we stayed in a lovely neighborhood called Santo Domingo. And I stayed with the best host family ever! Flavio and María Luísa were my parents, and I had one sister, Tanya, of 14 years. The 2 older boys were either married, or living far away. I don't know, there was just something so warm and welcoming about them. We lived in a little apartment in a big building that were composed of the 8 brothers and sisters and their families of my host mom. And the community in general... I don't think I've ever been in such a place where I've felt such a sense of community. It was absolutely lovely! : ) Partially because of this, I am now thinking very hard of doing my independent project there.
Since Santo Domingo is right next to the big university of around 300,000 students, I also took the opportunity to go over there a couple times. It's a gorgeous campus, and absolutely humongous. Also, a lot of the buildings had murals on them. Soo cool! The second time I went there was especially cool, because I actually got to meet some students. Me, Sarah Farr, and Jennie went over there for an observation and interview project for one of our seminars. It was an adventure going on the little bus over there, and then we got off at a random spot, which happened to be by the othodontic department. We watched for awhile, then went and talked with a group of students. They were really nice, and I admit that is was refreshing to be in a college environment again, with more people our age. Kind of another reason why I want to do my project in Mexico City.
Another day, we went to Coyoacan. We went to the house of Frida Kaolo (and Diego Rivera), and then a museum about October 2nd. There was also the Trotsky house museum, but I didn't have time to get there. It was a really cute town, and a lot of fun to walk around. After that we went to this ecological park full of volcanic rock and plants. (Hannah, I thought of you when I heard about the volcanic rock : ) ). We saw this partially to understand more about Santo Domingo, which was actually built out of volcanic rock. Very impressive.
On Thursday, October 2nd, we left the lovely neighborhood, and headed to the center of Mexico city. This was just in time for the march of October 2nd, which was in remembrance of 1968 massacre of students in Tlateloco. This was when students were protesting the Olympics in Mexico that year, and the federal police totally surrounded them, and massacred nearly all of them, then towed the bodies away to make it look pretty for the olympics. If you ever want to see a really good movie about it, but really sad, watch Rojo Amanecer. For the actual march, around 30,000 people showed up. Me and some of my friends in the program watched the proceedings from a restaurant high above the Zocalo, but with a very good view. (We couldn't participate by law since we were foreigners. If we had, we would get deported.) It only got kinda violent at the end, but I don't think anything terribly bad happened. It was just amazing to actually see a march that huge. I often got shivers up and down my space it was so intense.
The days sort of ran together now, in trying to remember them. But a few other things we did. We went to the Temple Mayor, Aztec ruins right next to the Zocalo. And an absolutely HUGE cathedral, also in the center, that took 300 years to build. And to Tlateloco and La Plaza de las Tres Culturas, where the massacre happened. This was also where there were some other ruins of I think a different tribe other than the Aztecs. There were so many of them that I had no idea about, that I get kinda confused and can't remember all of them. Speaking of ruins, we then went to Tehuantepec, which was there before the Aztecs, but was actually very commercial and made of communities of many different indigenous people. It was kinda like any big city nowadays. I walked up to the top of the Temple to the Sun, and the Temple of the Moon. Very cool. And I got a cool whistle that sounds like an eagle when you blow it.
On the way to Tehauntepec, we stopped at the Basilica of the Virgen de Guadelupe. It was impressive. There were probably 10-15 churches/cathedrals, and then lots of other buildings, statues, fountains, and things that were all catholic related. Oh wow, and in one church, they had the original picture of La Virgen de Guadelupe, which is printed (?) on a poncho that Juan Diego owned. It's considered to be a miracle, because nobody knows how it got onto the poncho, and what type of material it's printed with. Wow!
Three nights in row, me and a various friends, went to an all mariachi square. We went into a restaurant, and paid for one of at least 3 bands to play songs for us. Also, two of my friends, Christian and Jennie, play in a mariachi band at their college, so they actually got to play their instruments with the band that we always asked to play for us. It was soo awesome. I even picked up the violin, and kinda followed people to play in a few songs. I miss music soo much. It was so good to play anything!
Sunday was our free day, so me, Katie, and Morgann took the subway (exceedingly efficient!), back to Santo Domingo to visit our family and friends there. We had lunch with our family, then some of our friends invited us to go watch them play in a soccer tournament. That was a lot of fun, and they won! Yay. We then went out with them to the mariachi place for the last time. The next day we had to wake up at 5:30ish am to go back to Oaxaca. I didn't really want to leave. But it will be good to rest for a little bit. I felt like I had no real breaks in Mexico City. I'm hoping to sleep for a week! And that concludes my long account. (I think, I hope?). I'm sure I forgot something so we'll see!
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