Orfanato

Tuesday I went to the orphanage to volunteer for the first time. I went in a group of about 7 of us. We had to take a bus for over 30 minutes to get there, but since we had seats it wasn’t so bad. And actually, I think that’s the generally rule for the buses. If you’re able to get a seat, you’ll be fine. If not, get ready to get whipped about in every which way and shoved up against someone who you doubt has bathed recently. But I had a seat so no worries.

The orphanage is only for boys, 80 of them to be exact, all ages 5-11. Each one was completely precious. As volunteers for the day we were just there to play with them. So we spent most the time giving piggy back rides. The kids were especially enamored with my friend Joshua, who has lots of tattoos, brought his fancy sunglasses, and a camera. They kept running away with his sunglasses, just for fun. He let them use his camera and got some really cool pictures out of it. And they all kept fingering his tattoos and asking if they would come off if he washed them.

We spent the evening on their playground. There was an area with a playset, a small/dusty field type area, and some blacktop between two walls that they’d made into their fútbol field. Really it was a pretty good set up. The only thing I didn’t really like was if that is how it is every night, if the kids just run around together for hours. In every after school program that I was ever blessed to be able to have, we always had some organized games. They would organize freeze tag and we always had the huge colored parachute that we would grab onto and play with. There didn’t seem to be anything like this there. So…it could be a great opportunity for me to come up with something.

Before coming I had thought I might like to do an English club for the kids, similar to the Spanish club I did in Muncie. After visiting I think this could be a really good opportunity. We were warned that the kids only know bad words in English from the movies. I tried to ask them if they knew any colors or numbers though, and they were super excited to yell them in my ear and put them out all around us. It could be a really good opportunity for all of them and for myself as well. Hopefully I’ll meet with Rotary this Monday and see what they had in mind for me and know if this is something I should start pursuing. If so, I’ll start working on a matching grant to raise money for supplies, something you can ALL BE A PART OF! So watch for news about that.

I finally had dance class today. Having had two whole extra days to build expectations, it sort of let me down a little. There are six of us all learning salsa, four girls and two guys. To start I was playing the role of the guy for Kathrin. We actually did a pretty good job. Then we switched partners and I was with Joshua. We did alright but really didn’t have enough time to get things right. And the teacher, well he sort of just kept saying “everyone needs to take smaller steps” and “no no no it’s not like that at all”. Since that was the majority of the directions, I think next week I’ll be that really annoying student asking super specific questions every five minutes.

El finde

So much to report on, I’ll jump right in…(The pictures are from Sunday and having nothing to do with the text next to them.)

Friday I met with my “amiga”. She’s an English teacher, which is absolutely perfect. We met at the mall, picked up her boyfriend after his class, invited a couple other English teachers she works with, went to Wing’s Army (very similar to Bdubs) to watch Mexico play Educador (I think it was Ecuador, but can’t remember for sure. It was a 0 v 0 tie, so nothing too exciting.), went and hung out at her apartment, told travel stories, attempted to dance, went to hear a dj at a bar. I really enjoyed the evening. I got to meet a lot of Mexicans and practice lots of Spanish. The most surprising thing is almost all of the English teachers had near perfect English, so they didn’t even really care to practice. Every now and then they asked a question, but for the most part they totally kept to Spanish for my sake. Best of all, since they are teachers, they were really aware of the words that would trip me up in stories and could catch them and explain them right away for me. Por ejemplo: I’ve always learned swimming pool as piscina, here they use alberca though. So there was no way I would’ve figured that one out on my own. I’ve heard it at least five times since!

Saturday I went with one of the English teachers I met on Friday to two birthday parties. It was a really gracious invitation considering we’d just met. The first was in las bougainvilleas district of the city. It’s closer to the mountains and completely reminded me of LA. It’s also where the SUPER rich of Guadalajara live. It was a fun drive there just seeing the houses, gardens and mountains. We arrived at a sort of sports complex, which really confused me because I thought we were going to a bday party. The party was there, under a HUGE tiki style hut. The family had rented it out for their fiesta. We hung out with a lot of the people from Friday night again and some new people as well. The party guests had already eaten, but after a little money changed hands with a waiter (which it turned out wasn’t actually needed because they actually knew the chef), we were able to get a couple plates of food. They ended up giving us so much that we hardly made a dent. Once satisfied there, we headed for the next party.

The next party was for a grandmother, so very family style. First we went to the family’s house near town, I met a few other people. (Really really nice girls. And Iscel has a killer custom designed “AMORE” necklace I’m completely jealous of.) Then we all headed out to Cajititlan Lake to their uncle’s house for the party.

The drive itself was quite surprising. It was my first exposure to “the other side” of Mexico. It was really a humbling experience to see the living conditions outside of the city. It was a really good reminder as to why I’m here and motivator for me to really do some good things. That can be a little hard to see in the affluent city sometimes.

We made it to the uncle’s house. It was a very Florida country club style community. Being around the Mexican family was my favorite part of the weekend. I watched them sing karaoke, run around spraying each other with foam, harassing the grandfather to sing to the grandmother, the dad catching a baby tarantula and showing it off to everyone there, and finally DANCING. 

This I have to say is where we are really lacking in American culture. It seems everywhere else I go, people know how to dance. They dance with their parents, cousins, siblings, anyone! as they grow up and as a result it makes for super fun parties. We, on the other hand hardly even hug or kiss our relations, let alone willingly press ourselves up against them and run around until we’re sweaty. I think it makes for a good representation of the closeness of families. Of course there are exceptions, but I don’t think anyone could argue against the fact that there are far more taboos in the US then in Mexico. Whereas in the US we usually bring friends to help entertain us at parties, Mexicans are content to only celebrate with their families (and an occasional foreigner like me!). I like this.

We drove up to the lake, but it was dark. It was really nice to see the glow of the lights from Guadalajara (known as GDL  from now on) with the sound of the lake lapping against the shore. Que tranquilidad. We drove back, I talked to Yann a bit and then Saturday was over.

Sunday I went on a group tour around GDL. Rather than talk a bunch about it, I’m just going to leave you with these pictures...Let me know what you think or if you have any questions.

Upcoming Events:

Rotary meeting was cancelled today because it’s mother’s day.

Tuesday-maybe dance class, orphanage

Wednesday-main market “Mercado Libertad San Juan de Dios” 

Thursday-orphanage again?

My very Mexican moment of the day: The Monday and Wednesday dance class I signed up for will be starting Tuesday.

Cell Phones and Cinco de Mayo

Believe it or not, my first week is almost over. 

I spent Tuesday walking around the Minerva area in the city with Kristen. She's been here for 3 months and offered to accompany me on my cell phone excursion. Since she's already on her third cell phone (due to one loss and one foam party) she was the perfect person to accompany me. We went to the mall store nearby, but it was oddly closed.  So instead we ended up walking around a lot. She showed me her gym, which is pretty nice, but a little pricey. We walked down Lopez Cotilla which is filled with nice looking restaurants and bars. Then we made it to Chipultapec, which is a really big street with lots of shopping, a nice median with trees and statues in the middle, and home of the main TelCel store. 

I didn't have any problems getting my phone, it just took a bit of patience. We got a slip from the girl at the front, waited in line about 30 minutes, talked to an agent, looked at a couple phones, picked one, waited for them to copy my documents, went to a different line to pay, paid, went back to the agent to get my phone. Not the world's most efficient system, and by the time we left the line was at least an hour long, but not that bad either. The building was air conditioned, and I think that made all the difference.

Once I was set with my cell, we wandered our way back, stopped for a iced coffee, and then it was already time to head home for dinner. It was a very well spent day though. 

Wednesday was Cinco de Mayo, as I think more Americans than Mexicans were aware of. After experiencing the holiday in Mexico for myself, I've decided it is most like Presidents' Day in the US. (It's not Mexico's independence day so please don't even think of the forth of july) Schools and public offices were closed for the day, but that was about the only difference. Everything else was normal. No crazy fiestas. No huge margaritas. No cervezas. The Americans here were all highly disappointed, but I actually had un día fenomenal.

Toni, my great uncle (more specifically my grandfather's cousin), and Maru, my aunt (his daughter), picked me up in the afternoon and we want to Andar es. It is the newest mall here. It was absolutely gorgeous. Lots of nice and designer stores and yummy looking restaurants. We met with all the family and ate at one of the restaurants to celebrate a birthday and my arrival. We spent a long time at the restaurant, and for a moment I forgot I was in Mexico as we ordered an aperitif and french cheese arrived as an appetizer. After the restaurant, we got ice cream and watched my 4 year old cousin run around and play. The day was insanely HOT, but we all survived and were able to start getting to know each other. I'm hoping we'll be able to get together to do something soon.

Thursday was pretty uneventful. I had planned to go to Polyglot, a language conversation  club. One of the other students at school offered to go with me to show me how to use the bus and all. Well he sort of disappeared on me, so I was on my own. I decided I wasn't up to taking the bus alone, because I have no idea where any of the routes go!, so I measured how far it would be to walk to the meeting. 1.25 miles didn't sound too horrible. And it probably wouldn't have been, but it started to get really dark out and I was only halfway, so I decided to head back. It was a pretty big bummer because I'd really been looking forward to going, but not enough to risk anything. The experience has made me really adamant about figuring out how the busses work here. So this afternoon I'm going to the tourist office to ask. I asked almost all the students at school, but none of them have tried the bus yet. They take taxis. I like the idea of knowing I can take a taxi, but I refuse to accept them as my main line of transportation. So wish me luck. My first ride will be Saturday, although I don't know where yet. And I'm going to try and drag Kristen along because she's been here three months and still hasn't taken a bus.

Upcoming events:

First meeting with my Spanish "amiga" tonight (program to encourage language practice).

New students arrive at my house Saturday.

Organized tour of the city Sunday.

First Rotary meeting with Club del Sol Monday.

Volunteering at the orphanage Tuesday.

Mi Casa

Mi calle (street), there's a park just to the left

The dog directly across the street that likes to bark, a lot.

Lots of water, the dispenser is on the other side. Grandpa--notice the security camera tv above. 

Centro Magno. 

I think I end up here almost everyday. It's about a 10 minute walk. In fact, I'm posting this blog from there right now! The internet at my house isn't working anymore. Magno is a great place to meet up with people, but the clothes are not cheap. (In the mall there's an Apple store, chili's, Starbucks, radioshack, Rebok, a bowling alley, a movie theater, and then other little clothing and accessory shops.

Un bicho

I had my first bug in my room. I knew it was only a matter of time. By the time I grabbed a shoe to squish him, he'd scurried away. He was BIG and gross. I spent the next 20 minutes tucking up bedskirts and moving furniture to look for him. There was no way I could go to bed knowing he was scurrying around under me. yuck! When I finally got him, he really squished and then his leg twitched a long time. He's in the garbage now. I can only hope he was solo and doesn't have any friends I'll have to play hide and seek with tomorrow.

"La cucaracha"

Not as much fun as the song.

First Day

Well I did finally make it here last night. I met Antonio and Maru for the first time and they were phenomenal. On the drive to Minerva, we saw one 4 car accident and a huge factory that was on fire. The fire was pretty crazy and people were out all around to watch it. Traffic was hectic, but nothing compared to Italy. Toni did warn me that the cars don't respect pedestrians though so you have to be very careful when crossing. By the time I got to my new home, it was almost 11 so I called home, got situated, and went to bed.

This morning Rosa walked me to school. It's easy enough to get to. We had a little mini-orientation and then took a placement test. There are only 8 students right now, which sucks. More are coming tomorrow though and then a group from Michigan next weekend, so the number should be up to 40 by then.

The city isn't nearly as intimidating as I had expected. The buildings are all relatively short, two or three stories. There is an area nearby with stores, but mostly it's just houses. There are lots of trees and my house is next to a little park. On all the streets there are quite a few people walking. There are tons of street vendors. It's crazy to think about how many people must eat there to support them all, especially when everyone I've talked to has told me not to eat at them.  For now, I'm ready for my first lunch and to get the rest of my stuff unpacked. I think my afternoon adventure will consist of buying shampoo and finding an ATM.