A Happy Goodbye

The last day of pre-service training in the Peace Corps Mexico office was one of the best days ever. I can’t remember a time when I was so happy and felt so loved. Not that my family and friends at home don’t love me, but here in Mexico, I have felt incredibly loved in a way that was not expected and occurs in person, on a daily basis.  So what made this such a great day? 

First – we did this exercise where everyone sat in a circle and 4 people at a time went to the middle and received instructions to tap the shoulder of someone “who is a role model" or “who has made an impact on your life” or “you’d like to be stuck on a desert island with” or other such gems.  This was an incredibly powerful and emotional exercise both because you could feel the love when your shoulder was tapped and because you wanted to tap so many shoulders when it was your turn.

 Everyone is happy when a pinata is involved.

 Cookies also are a source of great joy.

 

Second – we had a talent show that was awesome and hilarious!  My Natural Resources Management group did a 3-part dance show that started with “Party in the USA” and ended with a fun salsa.   Alana and Mickey did a powerpoint slide with a picture of each person and kind words about everyone in our group and that was another love fest.  Timoteo played guitar, Kyle and Emily did a dramatic reading of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” and our Language & Culture teachers did a series of amazing dances. Oh, and Enrique did a great karaoke rock song which was awesomely bizarre.

 NRM'ers doin our thang.

  Timoteo on the guitar.

  Dancers galore.

  Three of my favorite teachers.

 So much dancing and talent.

Third – we had pizza from Costco.  Don’t think that’s part of a love fest? Well, trust me, it was.

Our swearing-in ceremony on Friday was also a grand affair with lots and lots of speeches, and we were reminded again how fortunate we are to be here and have this opportunity that so few people get to experience. My host mom Lilia gave a speech on behalf of all the host families and shared that time I said I was just a little bit of a man, instead of just a little bit hungry, and said thank you to me at the very end.  Needless to say, the tears were flowing for both me and the other criers in my group. My family in Querétaro was something special to say the least.

  PCM group 18.

 With my host mom and neighbor.

 Ceremony selfie!

I headed out immediately after the ceremony with my counterpart and made it to Guadalajara (after navigating the scene of a giant lettuce accident) for a night of rest before my final 5-hour bus ride to my future home.  Although the bus did not have air conditioning, it did have windows that opened and it wasn’t jam packed full of people, so all in all, it was a successful journey.  Now I’m here, trying to find my new fit and make a new home, and figure out simple things like what should I buy to eat for lunch this week that I’ll be preparing in someone else’s kitchen…. I did get my laundry done today and my plant purchased a long time ago now has a permanent home so I think that counts as a good start.  

 My plant in it's new digs.

  Welcome to Jalisco

  My new landscape

I'm hot. How are you?

It is officially hot. I thought it was hot before, but I was wrong.  My body is starting to rebel and I’ve fallen in love with a small desk fan.  My host mom said there’s only 6 months of hot weather, and hey, at least it’s a lot less humid here in Querétaro than where I’ll be moving in exactly one week.  Speaking of which, this is my last weekend in Querétaro before I make my permanent move next week.  I wish I could say I did more to celebrate this milestone, but it was just….so……hot. 

I did go out with a group of amigos for some fun that started at 9 PM, which is a testament to how much I like these people since I’m usually in bed by 10 PM and it was still blazing hot.  I came home to my own personal night club thanks to a raging party next door.  They were pro with a microphone and a boss sound system.  Even though the club was still bumpin at 3:30 AM, I did appreciate that they played some Ximena Sariñana songs which I know and love.

  With my first Peace Corps friend - my DC roommate, Megan!

 Trainees in my neighborhood - and frequent walking home buddies - Brennan, Tess and Hannah. 

The loveliest of trainees - Narcissa and Megan. 

Querétaro is an amazing city and I recommend a visit to anyone thinking about a trip to Mexico if you want to see something other than the normal tourist resorts and beaches.  I’m excited to get to my permanent site but I am going to miss Querétaro, including:  

• The options for food on just about every corner – pizza, Indian food, gorditas, ice cream, soft serve ice cream, sorbet, gelato, pastries, hamburgers, crepes, popcorn – it’s all here.

   One of these days I am gonna waffle in here to eat.

However, this past week, I had pancakes for lunch, cooked fresh at the office by fellow trainee Pedro!

• The gardens and squares – they are beautiful and a community hub as there's almost always a band, dance troupe, outdoor church or other entertaining event available for your viewing pleasure.  Case in point: today there was a celebration for the international day against lesbo/homo/bi/trans-phobia – with some wicked dancing performances.

Dancing against discrimination in the plaza. 

 Three beautiful squares I pass on my daily walk. 

 

• Having a 30-minute walk to the office.  During pre-service training you don’t have a lot of time alone, so the walk was a precious thing. And when other trainees joined the walk, it was a great way to download and find important soft serve ice cream stands.  

Sunrise on the walk in this week. 

• Art - it's always there to inspire and provide enjoyment. I've seen so many amazing displays of art in public spaces in Mexico and Querétaro is a definite hub. And the churches here are their own special brand of art, both day and night. 

 Santa Rosa Church at night. 

 

   Art, art, everywhere there's art. 

   Beloved jacaranda trees and the aqueduct.

• And last but not least, my host family – they are really wonderful people and have been so important in helping me with the language, talking about cultural norms and, most importantly, lifting me up when needed and providing me with LOTS of laughter at the kitchen table!  As a parting gift, they gave me the best thing possible: an extra piece of luggage to carry the many language books and training documents I’ve inherited in the last 10 weeks, along with my big medical kit, mosquito net, and all that other stuff I somehow acquired already.  

Speaking of gifts, I got a great one this week from my friend Mickey – a super cool cloth bag that I already have plans for while traveling next week!  Mickey and I have been language class partners since week one – along with my beloved Kyle who is a knitting savant – and I’m proud to say that after our language proficiency interviews this week, we all improved significantly!  

My super awesome new bag from Mickey! 

I advanced from a Beginner-Medium level to Intermediate-Medium level, and was so relieved to see some kind of proof that yes, I am slowly getting better at Spanish!  I wasn’t nervous about the interview but I have been spending most of my free hours in Mexico studying Spanish, and I guess that explains why I busted out crying when I got my results.  Slightly embarrassing but Lulu, our lead language and culture instructor, simply hugged me and said it was because I had worked so hard and that she was proud of me.  Learning a new language is hard. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done and it’s been incredibly frustrating at times, which is why that 30-minute walk home in silence was really helpful at times.  My future site is not that big but I really hope I can find a good Spanish teacher to help me keep advancing because I need it!

Tomorrow we have an early get-together with Peace Corps trainees and staff and then I have my last weekend comida with Lilia and Jose Antonia, and then my last week with my fellow future volunteers in Querétaro. Ten weeks in and I've learned that I'm going to have connections with these people for the rest of my life.  Oh, and I've learned are that I need sunblock – ALL THE TIME – along with hats, long sleeve shirts, lots of water, and fans.  I need lots and lots of fans.

Whirlwind Week

This was another jam-packed week in Mexico filled with lots of laughter, adventure and work.  On Monday I gave my “Readiness to Serve” presentation which essentially outlined my early work plan for my future site with an analysis of all that important Peace Corps stuff I’ve been learning over the past 2 months.  That’s it for formal presentations during training, although I do have more conversations and tests to finish before our swearing in ceremony on May 27th (i.e. when we become official volunteers).  

 View from my training site for the past 9 weeks. 

 A few of mis amigos. 

Tuesday was the Día de los Madres, which meant I got to take the day off and celebrate with my host mom, Lilia, and her daughter and family.  Two teenage grandsons dressed to the nines picked us up and serenaded us to songs like “Buried in Detroit” and “Downtown” which was just awesome.  We spent the full day at their house and Lilia’s daughter served an elegant meal with delicious paella, cheesecake, jello cake, wine, teenage grandsons dancing with their grandma, and lots of laughter.  It was so nice to get to be a part of their celebration as my host mom told me “in this house, you’re a daughter, and I’m a mother, so you’re coming with us.” In the evening her son and his family also came over with another jello fruit cake and visited for quite a while.  This family is so nice and talented – in fact, their granddaughter’s squad just won a national dance/cheer competition this week!

  Happy Mother's Day! With my host mom and her daughter.  

 My host mom's prized bougainvillea. 

The rest of the week was spent studying Spanish and prepping for Friday’s “Readiness to Serve Café” which was essentially four hours of interactive work to demonstrate understanding and knowledge related to various Peace Corps concepts and approaches to development. I’ve got a lot of language and culture classes in the next 12 days, and the homework assignments are getting creative.  This week I had to go to the local mercado and ask for the price per kilo for frijoles and platanos and I had to write a short dramatic story about a student in outer space.  I’ll save you the suspense – it involves a student studying soil who is abducted by a giant space cat who forces him to eat tuna and listen to Beyonce for 5 years, and he escapes by promising a cat bride for his captor back on earth.  It’s golden.

 Beans at the market. 

  Pinatas and fruit. 

 And then there's the meat...

Saturday was a pure vacation day, although technically I did practice Spanish buying my bus tickets, asking for directions and talking to people on the trail.  My friends Kati, Becky and I headed out to Peña de Bernal to hike one of the world’s largest monoliths and it did not disappoint! We left bright and early to beat the heat and the crowds and spent a full 6 plus hours there on the mountain, eating gorditas and ice cream, walking through town and shopping. On the trail we met a guy wearing a shirt from Chicago (Becky’s hometown) and on the bus back I met three students on an exchange program from Seattle U, which just proves how small the universe is.

  View from the centro. 

  Me and Kati on the trail. 

 Mis amigas - Kati and Becky. 

 View from the top. 

  Local art. 

 View of the pueblo. 

I put sun block on every hour and ended up with only one small strip of burn which I consider a great success. I also bought the cutest head band that expands to cover the top of my delicate head for additional sun protection, along with sweets to take home to my family.  When we arrived back at the terminal in Querétaro we heard that a group was meeting up for a drink, so we hopped another bus to meet them before returning home for highly anticipated showers.  It was the best of days here in Mexico.

Today I’m going to the mall for a very US-centric activity: I need to buy a few more clothes before I head out to my new site in less than 2 weeks.  I talked some other folks from my group into joining me so after the hot cakes my host mom promised me this morning, the weekend adventure continues.

In the land of apples and fog

This past week was super fun, cold and foggy as I shadowed a Peace Corps volunteer, Deby, in Zacatlán for a full week.  Deby is here teaching sustainable agriculture at the local university and taught me all kinds of interesting things about agriculture, local plants, how things work in the “real” world here, and how to say some fun new words.  Plus, I got to ride in the local colectivos (i.e. small vans that function like buses) several times and the locals on board were really interested in who we were, where we were from and why we were in their town. And on two different days, very nice women in the street helped me make sure I was waiting at the right spot to flag down my bus to get to the university.

  Apple art.

The big clock in the central square. 

  

Zacatlán is another Pueblo Mágico known for its apples and some beautiful art. Along the walkway by the Barranca, there’s a huge mural that local artists are still adding to.  I love that all the public art, beautiful churches, and grand squares in Mexico.  My camera also really loved Zacatlán and took off on its own adventure somewhere in town. I’m hoping that some kind soul will find it, see the pictures of the gringos and maybe return it to the blonde woman from the US in town before she ends her service.

                                         Images from the mural along the Barranca. 

I was in the state of Puebla for Cinco de Mayo which meant that I got to see the community parade and learn why the students were shouting both “Viva Mexico!” and “Viva France!”.  Since the University was closed for the holiday, I went hiking in the local mountains with Deby, Ta - an English teacher there as part of an Embassy program, and a local agro-tourism guide.  It was wet and chilly but we were rewarded with “los baños” fed by natural hot springs and fresh trout for lunch.  The water in the pools wasn’t hot so much as it was warm, but we still jumped at the chance to be immersed in water and partake in a new experience. 

  Cinco de Mayo parade. 

  Cinco de Mayo hike in the fog.

  Los baños. 

  Source of water for los baños. 

  A local pig.

Debbie and our guide talking apple trees.

I also gave my first presentation in Spanish and although there were a lot of last minute changes (i.e. classes were cancelled and I had to find a new group to present to the day before), it was actually not nerve-wrecking and I learned that if I practice what I want to say in Spanish ahead of time, people think I know a lot more Spanish than is true.   On the way home – a mere 8-hour drive – we stopped to buy plants and pottery and picked up my fellow Natural Resource Management volunteers who were shadowing other volunteers.  We also started brainstorming very important ideas for our end of training talent show with Jaime and 4 ladies.  My Spanish teacher Rocio and I share a love of Chayanne so it feels right to find a way to include him in this event.

After a week of full fog, I awoke Friday to clear skies and sun! As soon as my presentation was done, we all ran to see the Barranca and were ecstatic to finally see the mountains.  I returned to a very warm Querétaro and to my host family who had this vase of flowers waiting for me in my room :) 

  This was the view Monday - Thursday. 

  And finally a clear view on Friday!

  Local flowers. 

                                                       Flowers from my family :)