Right now it is 7:30 AM and I cannot sleep in. This is one thing that I have figured out about myself here, when there is sun early in the morning shining into my room, I cannot keep sleeping. I am also sick for the first time since being here. I had some stomach issues and I also have a sore throat and stuffy nose. So I am going to take this time to sit down and write about what has happened since I last blogged because it has been so much! But I even can't just write, I am also watching season 5 of Dexter hahahah.
Puebla
So let's see, I took a weekend trip to Puebla, the 4th largest city in Mexico. It is a city that was not built on top of an indigenous city like many of the cities in Mexico. It was built by the Spanish at the request of Hernan Cortes, who I love so much (wink wink), and he wanted 365 churches built, one for each day. So there are a lot of churches! Puebla is a culinary destination where the specialty is mole. We went to a restaurant in Puebla where we had red mole chicken enchiladas and another specialty, chiles en nogada which is a poblano pepper stuffed with ground meat, nuts, and dried fruit covered in a white almond sauce with pomegranate seeds sprinkled on top. The colors of the dish: red, white, and green are representative of the Mexican flag. I didn't realize how big Puebla was going to be and I felt that I did not have enough time to really explore it in a single day trip so I will have to go back.
I am trying to remember what else went on in this time. Oh yeah!
My best day in Cuernavaca! So this was a week from yesterday, so last Friday. The day before we had finished our Spanish classes and the Spanish school was going to have a barbecue on Friday to celebrate the end. So that day I woke up and went on a run which, if you know me, is quite an accomplishment since I am not a morning runner. But I am trying to turn myself into one here because it is so much cooler in the mornings. Then I had a good breakfast and we had a speaker at 9 AM. The speaker is a history professor who spoke to us about U.S. invasions in Latin America. I want to let you all know reading this that we do not learn the extent of U.S. invasions and their negative effects on other countries in public school. We learn about the positive aspects of the big stick policy, manifest destiny, and the monroe doctrine but not that these policies created dire problems in foreign countries. So I was pretty blown away by this talk and angry at the education system and those in power (as usual). Then we had lab group which is a period of two hours from 11:30 to 1:30 that we have every Friday and one of us leads the group on a topic of our choice. Jordan, a guy in my class led this lab group in which we discussed identity and migration. It was a great discussion. Then it was the barbecue at Universal. I wasn't really sure what to expect from a Mexican barbecue, what food were we going to eat? I arrived and they started passing out margaritas to all of us. We waited at the tables above the pool until the food was ready, chatting and drinking our margaritas. Then we got in line for the food which was incredible! There was fruit salad, grilled pearl onions, cactus and onions, salad, guacamole, tortillas, and grilled meat. I had grilled chicken which was so so so good! I was practically drooling. Then while we were eating, a mariachi band came and played for us. They were pretty amazing too. Then came dessert! Cake! After all of this I went back to my room and got on the internet. I saw that Karl Poetzl had posted a link to watch the MWC track championships at Grinnell so I thought I would try and see if I could watch it from a foreign country and it worked!!!!! So I watched Beloit run, it was awesome but it made me actually really miss Beloit and everyone. So I really enjoyed myself. I can't remember what I did the rest of the day but it was great!
The next morning Sarah and I went running with Antonio, one of our professors. We ran about a mile to get to his house and then we took a taxi to some place called the ciclopista. It is a stretch of about 1000 meters overlooking Cuernavaca, lined with palm trees and flowers. Although the distance was short, I ran it 4 or 5 times and then we took a taxi back to Antonio's house and then ran back to CEMAL to eat breakfast.
Rural Homestay: Amatlan
So Sunday was the day we were embarking upon our rural homestays in a town called Amatlan, about an hour away. I think I have mentioned it in previous blog posts because we went there another time for a day trip. Amatlan is a small town of about 4000 people who claim indigenous roots. It is quite isolated from other places although it is about 20 minutes from Tepotztlan, a larger town.
In Amatlan I stayed with a pretty big family; a mother, her husband and their four sons who are all older than me. THere was also another student from the program with me in the house. They lived on the same plot of land as the husband's sister which is a very common occurrence here. They had chickens, dogs and three puppies!, and horses. They have their own plot of land where they grown their corn that Sarah, my host mom, takes to the molino to grind it and then make into tortillas. We had a lot of stuff going on during the day on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (we left wednesday night) but when I came back to the house I would sort of help her with the tortillas, but mostly just sit with her and talk or just "be" which is hard for me because I am so anxious that I have to be doing something all the time to feel productive.
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this entire trip. I had a wonderful time but it left me a little sad and heavy hearted. I believe that my western feminist ideals have made me feel this way to some extent and I am imposing my views on these people's lives. But Sarah's life made me sad. I am not sure if I would have felt this way if she would not have said some of the things she did. Every morning I would ask her at breakfast (after she had prepared it for me and waited on me) what she was going to do today. She would always answer with, "the same thing I did yesterday," with a shrug of her shoulders. This meant cooking and cleaning and not much else. Then another time she asked me if I was going to come back and visit her in the future and I said yes. She told me, and once again, this was only one of multiple times that she said this, that we, as in all the students who stay with her, say this and none of them ever come back. She seemed very saddened by this and that made me feel really bad and guilty. A lot of time she would talk about the United States and how she would like to visit but she knew it was really expensive not to mention frickin difficult to get there. I just felt so frustrated by my breadth of opportunity when this woman had to cook and clean everyday. But that is not to say that she wasn't happy and conte with life which I guess is all that really matters but it seemed like she wished she would have had some of these opportunities but knew she never would.
The most rattling part of the whole trip was the immigration testimony panel that we attended. Two men from the village spoke to us, a group of 22 women and 3 men, plus the professors, about their experiences migrating multiple times to the United States. It is one thing to hear statistics about people immigrating to the US without documents, but it is an entirely different thing to hear their stories first hand and to hear the atrocities. THe process of migrating from Mexico to the United States and trying to find a job is a process of dehumanization but they had to migrate or else they were going to starve. THere are literally no jobs in Amatlan or other rural cities and all the jobs in the cities are saturated. I actually cried during this whole experience as did a lot of other people. It was really emotional but completely important to hear.
Then when we left on Wednesday we had to say goodbye to our host families. I knit Sarah a bag that I gave her. Then, something I completely wans't expecting and don't know how to express my gratitude enough -- she gave Lisa and I gifts. One of her sons had bought us necklaces and she had bought each of us a teacup with a flower on it. I just did not know how to react. They had already opened up their home to us and fed us and done everything for us and they were giving us gifts?!!!!!!!!! I just said thank you a million times and hugged them all, I just wanted them to know so badly how thankful I was but I knew I couldn't express it in words. And I seriously do want to go back and visit :)
Now I am going to discuss the food which was so f-ing awesome - excuse my language.
So on Sunday, when we got there it was time for comida. Sarah served us fideo - skinny angel hair like pasta in a tomato broth soup. Then we had black beans and quesadillas with fresh cow's milk cheese. They also gave us little bananas, fresh cucumbers and homemade chili paste to go on the cucumbers.
Then for cena that night we had a cup of milk with instant coffee and blue corn tortillas with crema - sort of like a mix of sour cream and heavy cream - so really good!
The next morning for breakfast we had these fried potato and egg pancakes bathed in a red salsa with fresh blue corn tortillas as well as a cup of fresh cow's milk with instant coffee.
When I came home for lunch on Monday we had my favorite soup I have ever had, it was zuchini or calabasa and nopal or cactus in a cuminy tomatoy broth with beans and corn tortillas.
For cena we had a lime based soup with a chicken leg in it with tortillas.
Tuesday morning we had a light breakfast of freshly squeezed orange juice and a mango because we were going to do something called a Temezcal, or a steam room kind of thing. We ate an almuerzo at 11:30 of something similar to what we had for breakfast on monday but it had green beans cooked in with the potatoes. This was served with beans and tortillas of course.
Lunch/dinner took place pretty late around 5:30 and we had a dinner of a vegetable stew with chicken served with beans and tortillas. That night we attended a religious ceremony held every first of the month and at the end we were served arroz con leche and pan dulce.
Wednesday morning Sarah made an atole of avena con leche or a warm drink of oatmeal, sugar, milk, and cinnamon. I also had a fried egg, black beans, and tortillas. This was such a great breakfast! Then for comida we had a pasta dish with crema and salsa and an ensalada of cauliflower, carrot and nopal. It was so so good!!!!!! Also we had agua de jamaica, or hibiscus water.
We returned on wednesday evening and I was not hungry at all hahaha!
Puebla
So let's see, I took a weekend trip to Puebla, the 4th largest city in Mexico. It is a city that was not built on top of an indigenous city like many of the cities in Mexico. It was built by the Spanish at the request of Hernan Cortes, who I love so much (wink wink), and he wanted 365 churches built, one for each day. So there are a lot of churches! Puebla is a culinary destination where the specialty is mole. We went to a restaurant in Puebla where we had red mole chicken enchiladas and another specialty, chiles en nogada which is a poblano pepper stuffed with ground meat, nuts, and dried fruit covered in a white almond sauce with pomegranate seeds sprinkled on top. The colors of the dish: red, white, and green are representative of the Mexican flag. I didn't realize how big Puebla was going to be and I felt that I did not have enough time to really explore it in a single day trip so I will have to go back.
I am trying to remember what else went on in this time. Oh yeah!
My best day in Cuernavaca! So this was a week from yesterday, so last Friday. The day before we had finished our Spanish classes and the Spanish school was going to have a barbecue on Friday to celebrate the end. So that day I woke up and went on a run which, if you know me, is quite an accomplishment since I am not a morning runner. But I am trying to turn myself into one here because it is so much cooler in the mornings. Then I had a good breakfast and we had a speaker at 9 AM. The speaker is a history professor who spoke to us about U.S. invasions in Latin America. I want to let you all know reading this that we do not learn the extent of U.S. invasions and their negative effects on other countries in public school. We learn about the positive aspects of the big stick policy, manifest destiny, and the monroe doctrine but not that these policies created dire problems in foreign countries. So I was pretty blown away by this talk and angry at the education system and those in power (as usual). Then we had lab group which is a period of two hours from 11:30 to 1:30 that we have every Friday and one of us leads the group on a topic of our choice. Jordan, a guy in my class led this lab group in which we discussed identity and migration. It was a great discussion. Then it was the barbecue at Universal. I wasn't really sure what to expect from a Mexican barbecue, what food were we going to eat? I arrived and they started passing out margaritas to all of us. We waited at the tables above the pool until the food was ready, chatting and drinking our margaritas. Then we got in line for the food which was incredible! There was fruit salad, grilled pearl onions, cactus and onions, salad, guacamole, tortillas, and grilled meat. I had grilled chicken which was so so so good! I was practically drooling. Then while we were eating, a mariachi band came and played for us. They were pretty amazing too. Then came dessert! Cake! After all of this I went back to my room and got on the internet. I saw that Karl Poetzl had posted a link to watch the MWC track championships at Grinnell so I thought I would try and see if I could watch it from a foreign country and it worked!!!!! So I watched Beloit run, it was awesome but it made me actually really miss Beloit and everyone. So I really enjoyed myself. I can't remember what I did the rest of the day but it was great!
The next morning Sarah and I went running with Antonio, one of our professors. We ran about a mile to get to his house and then we took a taxi to some place called the ciclopista. It is a stretch of about 1000 meters overlooking Cuernavaca, lined with palm trees and flowers. Although the distance was short, I ran it 4 or 5 times and then we took a taxi back to Antonio's house and then ran back to CEMAL to eat breakfast.
Rural Homestay: Amatlan
So Sunday was the day we were embarking upon our rural homestays in a town called Amatlan, about an hour away. I think I have mentioned it in previous blog posts because we went there another time for a day trip. Amatlan is a small town of about 4000 people who claim indigenous roots. It is quite isolated from other places although it is about 20 minutes from Tepotztlan, a larger town.
In Amatlan I stayed with a pretty big family; a mother, her husband and their four sons who are all older than me. THere was also another student from the program with me in the house. They lived on the same plot of land as the husband's sister which is a very common occurrence here. They had chickens, dogs and three puppies!, and horses. They have their own plot of land where they grown their corn that Sarah, my host mom, takes to the molino to grind it and then make into tortillas. We had a lot of stuff going on during the day on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (we left wednesday night) but when I came back to the house I would sort of help her with the tortillas, but mostly just sit with her and talk or just "be" which is hard for me because I am so anxious that I have to be doing something all the time to feel productive.
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this entire trip. I had a wonderful time but it left me a little sad and heavy hearted. I believe that my western feminist ideals have made me feel this way to some extent and I am imposing my views on these people's lives. But Sarah's life made me sad. I am not sure if I would have felt this way if she would not have said some of the things she did. Every morning I would ask her at breakfast (after she had prepared it for me and waited on me) what she was going to do today. She would always answer with, "the same thing I did yesterday," with a shrug of her shoulders. This meant cooking and cleaning and not much else. Then another time she asked me if I was going to come back and visit her in the future and I said yes. She told me, and once again, this was only one of multiple times that she said this, that we, as in all the students who stay with her, say this and none of them ever come back. She seemed very saddened by this and that made me feel really bad and guilty. A lot of time she would talk about the United States and how she would like to visit but she knew it was really expensive not to mention frickin difficult to get there. I just felt so frustrated by my breadth of opportunity when this woman had to cook and clean everyday. But that is not to say that she wasn't happy and conte with life which I guess is all that really matters but it seemed like she wished she would have had some of these opportunities but knew she never would.
The most rattling part of the whole trip was the immigration testimony panel that we attended. Two men from the village spoke to us, a group of 22 women and 3 men, plus the professors, about their experiences migrating multiple times to the United States. It is one thing to hear statistics about people immigrating to the US without documents, but it is an entirely different thing to hear their stories first hand and to hear the atrocities. THe process of migrating from Mexico to the United States and trying to find a job is a process of dehumanization but they had to migrate or else they were going to starve. THere are literally no jobs in Amatlan or other rural cities and all the jobs in the cities are saturated. I actually cried during this whole experience as did a lot of other people. It was really emotional but completely important to hear.
Then when we left on Wednesday we had to say goodbye to our host families. I knit Sarah a bag that I gave her. Then, something I completely wans't expecting and don't know how to express my gratitude enough -- she gave Lisa and I gifts. One of her sons had bought us necklaces and she had bought each of us a teacup with a flower on it. I just did not know how to react. They had already opened up their home to us and fed us and done everything for us and they were giving us gifts?!!!!!!!!! I just said thank you a million times and hugged them all, I just wanted them to know so badly how thankful I was but I knew I couldn't express it in words. And I seriously do want to go back and visit :)
Now I am going to discuss the food which was so f-ing awesome - excuse my language.
So on Sunday, when we got there it was time for comida. Sarah served us fideo - skinny angel hair like pasta in a tomato broth soup. Then we had black beans and quesadillas with fresh cow's milk cheese. They also gave us little bananas, fresh cucumbers and homemade chili paste to go on the cucumbers.
Then for cena that night we had a cup of milk with instant coffee and blue corn tortillas with crema - sort of like a mix of sour cream and heavy cream - so really good!
The next morning for breakfast we had these fried potato and egg pancakes bathed in a red salsa with fresh blue corn tortillas as well as a cup of fresh cow's milk with instant coffee.
When I came home for lunch on Monday we had my favorite soup I have ever had, it was zuchini or calabasa and nopal or cactus in a cuminy tomatoy broth with beans and corn tortillas.
For cena we had a lime based soup with a chicken leg in it with tortillas.
Tuesday morning we had a light breakfast of freshly squeezed orange juice and a mango because we were going to do something called a Temezcal, or a steam room kind of thing. We ate an almuerzo at 11:30 of something similar to what we had for breakfast on monday but it had green beans cooked in with the potatoes. This was served with beans and tortillas of course.
Lunch/dinner took place pretty late around 5:30 and we had a dinner of a vegetable stew with chicken served with beans and tortillas. That night we attended a religious ceremony held every first of the month and at the end we were served arroz con leche and pan dulce.
Wednesday morning Sarah made an atole of avena con leche or a warm drink of oatmeal, sugar, milk, and cinnamon. I also had a fried egg, black beans, and tortillas. This was such a great breakfast! Then for comida we had a pasta dish with crema and salsa and an ensalada of cauliflower, carrot and nopal. It was so so good!!!!!! Also we had agua de jamaica, or hibiscus water.
We returned on wednesday evening and I was not hungry at all hahaha!
