27, 29 de junio y 3 de julio

27 de junio de 2006
Wow it is so weird to see that date. My sabbatical to Mexico is almost over. But not yet! J We had an awesome vacation in Huatulco where we found this amazing beach called Conejos. I defintely took 40 pictures of just beach there. I don’t know what they’re all of but each one is absolutly breathtaking. The only bad news of the vacation was that we had to come back afterwards. Haha, just kidding. Actually, there’s more. There’s this really famous place in Huatulco called La Crema where they are really well known for their pizzas. The group of people that I hang out with most and I went on Saturday to eat there and it was delicious. Well, we told everyone how good it was and they bragged to us about the great seafood they had on the beach so we decided Sunday night to go out and get seafood. I accidently ate something we were told not to since it is only cooked very quickly and sometimes is not safe. Monday morning we wake up to one of the girls in our room moaning in pain. She was one who went to la Crema. She called her dad and he told her to drink water and try and pass whatever was causing problems but when she tried, nothing would stay down. Well, a few minutes later we find out that about nine of the twelve people who went to la Crema were either up all night or couldn’t leave the bathroom at all that morning. It was terrible, but one of the girl’s father is a doctor and he recommended an over the counter drug that is a blanket anti-biotic that supposed to be really good. So all of us that were feeling fine raced to the drugstore and consolidated everyone sick into one room so we could check out of the others. The people at the hotel we were staying at were relaly not very sympathetic at all but it was okay because we only had to pay $20 to keep the room for an extra five hours. It was crazy and we were all being extremely careful of what we ate and where afterwards because all of our poor people that got sick looked so miserable. Hopefully, they’re all feeling better today.

29 de junio de 2006
Yesterday and today may offically go down as the least fun days of my trip. Yesterday, I woke up knowing it wasn’t going to be a great day because we had 15 minute presentations due in 311. Everyone was scrambling to get them done since it was right after vacations so I knew no one’s was going to be magnificant but mine wasn’t bad considering that I did it all in two and a half days. I even made a PowerPoint presentation (if you’re reading this, you probably already know me and know that I can do anything as long as I have a PowerPoint presentation backing me up!). So I in total had about 8 minutes of presentation, without using my PowerPoint and I knew it wouldn’t be a problem. Everything was going fine until during my presentation the guy I’ve had classes with before started giggling. At the end of the presentation, he straight up laughed and during questions asked if I really believed that the Guelaguetza (an indigienous celebration) has been celebrated for 3,000 years. Even my teacher backed me up but that wasn’t good enough for him, he wanted to read my research which I had right there with me. Then, he contested the phrasing of the research. At this point, I was ready to kill him. I was throughly embarrased. It really didn’t help at all that my teacher was attempting to reassure me that she believed my research. Anyway, we get to his presentation, which was a presentation of one of the preseidental candidates right now and he was totally unprepared. He just kept repeating “The most important thing is that, we’re going to win.” He didn’t even know the candidate’s stance on corruption in the Mexican government which is definitely one of the biggest issues in this election. Anyway, ces’t la vie.
Today, I’m not feeling well and I’m wondering if what everyone had in Huatulco wasn’t actually a bug or a virus or something rather than food poisoning. But it’s funny because I was stressed out last night about my bad day and because I keep missing my mom when she tries to call me and since I’m sick today Paula and Ricardo are sure that’s why. They want me to confront my friend, email my mom, and go out dancing and relax tonight. They might be right and they might be crazy and I might just take their advice. Love to all.

3 de julio de 2006
A ton of things have happened in the bit of time that I haven’t written. I got better thanks to a new antibiotic that was recommended to the people in Huatulco. I wasn’t going to use anthing but at the point where I couldn’t leave my house for two days, yes it was time. So I feel much better. We found out that we all have to redo a presentation in one class or effectively fail the presentation because we all read off the paper. Sad. I got to meet Paula and Ricardo’s son who is going to be going to Europe for a month on vacation (I’m jealous!). We got another student in our house (Erin, the girl from Temple left). The new girl’s name is Dana and she’s really pretty and she just finished a month trip around the world which she’s concluding here in Mexico for five weeks. And then of course, yesterday Mexico had their presidental elections. I stayed up until 11 waiting for them to anounce preliminary winner and the IFE came on and said that with the margin of error, it was too close to announce. So this morning of course, all of the presidental candidates were on TV claiming that they were ahead in the polls. This is hilarious. The new president MUST be announced on Wednesday though so I will be very excited to know who has won. I think it could (depending on who wins) have large implications for the US. We’ll see.

19 - 22 June

19 de junio de 2006
This weekend was so awesome! There’s nothing to describe, no words to say, how much I needed the change from noisy, polluted Oaxaca to the beautiful Mexican countryside. Don’t get me wrong, I love Oaxaca and my routine through it but when you’re a small town girl like myself it’s difficult to swing into a city that’s twice the size you’re used to and live there for four weeks. Luckily, Benito Juárez came to my rescue.
I was expecting something beautiful since it’s hard to go wrong in the Mexican countryside, especially around here with all the mountains but nothing could have prepared me for Benito. It was so beautiful it seemed like everywhere I looked was just another photograph that I HAD to take. I ended up with 144 pictures, all from about 24 hours. Some are simply amazing and none are bad. We had a huge cabin, all to ourselves, and we all slept together in one room with ten bunk beds and a glass ceiling. The reason we only needed ten bunk beds is because this wasn’t an offical excursion, only those who wanted to go on it went and we had to plan it ourselves. That also made it better since we didn’t have any clue about what we were doing, we just went to the place our director said “You can get taxis to Benito Juarez from here”, said we needed to go, went on an hour and a half taxi ride over dirt roads, and made our cabin reservations when we got there. Anyway, like I said, the group number was perfect and we all got to sleep together in the same room which I felt like went a long way towards building group unity. I feel like I came out of that weekend really close with those nine other people. The locals and the food of Benito Juarez were awesome too. We have pictures of us all playing basketball and jumping rope with some of them and for breakfast Sunday morning I had the best trucha (trout) I think I’ve ever had in my life. It was a bit expensive but not terribly so and I needed it so badly that I feel like I would have paid double to go. I would really like to go back but there are tons of other places I’d like to go too and I would like to spend a weekend just checking out Oaxaca too so that probably won’t work. We’ll see.
We bought our tickets to Huatulco today. It’s a very nice, fairly touristy beach, another excursion we’re planning ourselves. They were a bit expensive but we’re getting a really good deal on the rooms (three nights, in a touristy area, for 550 pesos total per person) so I guess it’s okay. I’m not going to lie, I was bummed out but I’m doing okay on money so sometimes you just have to suck it up and spend it! Can’t wait for Huatulco!

el 20 de junio de 2006
I had the COOLEST day today. I didn’t get to go to the internet café because of it, but it’s totally okay because my day was so cool! They finally gave up on finding Allison and I a different service job and just put us in the orphanage. Luckily, Katie was right there and she drew us an exact map to how to get there (we’ve tried to get there before but just got terribly, terribly lost). We got there about 10:45 and played with the kids until about 12:10 since it’s an hour walk from the orphanage to my house. They’re all really nice with strong individual personalities and a great group ethic. I only had to ask one kid (my favorite, Freddy) once today to let someone else have a turn at something. This might not sound that amazing but what you don’t realize is that these kids don’t have much at all. Between about 16 kids they have five or six working computers from about 1991, one busted skateboard, about five tops, six balls all of which are in random states of worness and most of which are unable to hold air, a piece of string (for the hand/string games) and two busted up basketball hoops. This may amaze you, but I had more fun playing with these kids and their limited toys than normal. It’s because they’re so inventive and once they get playing, they really hate to stop. We had to leave and it was so cool because they were all asking “¿Nos vemos manaña? ¿Jueves?” ( We’ll see each other tomorrow? Thursday?) I really like this trabajo servicio and I hope this optimism stays with me. I’d really like to be able to buy something for these kids since I’ve been so good about sticking to my budget that I actually have some extra money and I think it would be a good place to spend it. We’ll see. I can’t really think of cool toys for so many boys of different ages (ranging from 6 or 7 to 16). I don’t know what boys enjoy either which is a problem. I’ll just have to keep my eyes open!

el 22 de junio de 2006
Well, today I was back at the orphanage but I was one of two volunteers that went today. Normally we have about 8 or 9 so I couldn’t figure out why until I tried to walk back. The teachers are still in the Zocalo which doesn’t bother me since they’re been there for so long, I expect them now. But they were armed today which was suprising and I couldn’t figure out why they were decked out. They were all carrying large sticks, boards, and bits of pipe or thick wire.Yikes did I scoot out of there quickly! Anyway, I’m walking my one hour walk home and found that there was a non-violent, non-supportive of either side march going on. That made a bit more sense but still wasn’t totally clear. Then I finally got home (it took me a while to get across the non –supportive march that just wants the teachers back at their jobs so that their children will get educated) and my host mother told me that there was a third demonstration of people who support the government’s stance. I know this is terrible but I’m just so sick of all these people, I wish they’d just go home. I mean, think about how ridiculous this is- I have my orphans who are playing with deflated balls in relative poverty that the only real way to escape from is education. Meanwhile, the teachers sit in the Zocalo, pulling in salaries and demonstrating for more money. We shall see.

June 8 and June 14

8 de junio de 2006
Well, I’m feeling better about my time here. An intercambio is a person who is learning to speak Spanish and we meet with them one hour, every day to speak for 30 minutes in Spanish and 30 minutes in English so that the native Spanish speaker will help the person learning Spanish and visa versa. My intercambio’s name is Ita and she is the nicest, cutest person ever. She’s 23 and has a long-term boyfriend and she LOVES to talk (this is definitely a good thing when you’re talking to someone for 5 hours a week- I don’t think I talk this much with my own mother!). Anyway, she told me today that her English teacher told her that he can tell an improvement in her English and then she looked at me and said “And your Spanish is every day better.” It was a sad time to correct her but we do what we must. She’s very helpful and that little compliment made me feel so much better.
Wednesday night the whole group from Madison had plans to go out together. I, on my way home, saw my friend Miguel that I met in Azukar (a salsa dancing club). He told me that Kim and Alison were going to watch his soccer game and invited me to come along. I waiting up for Kim and Alison and they too said they’d be really happy if I came along so off we went. But the teachers here have been sleeping in the streets for the past two weeks to get more money and were marching yesterday, blocking all the routes to Miguel’s soccer game that he knows well so we ended up basically in the foothills of the mountains that surround Oaxaca. If I have been surprised that Mexico is nicer than I would have expected, that changed my perception. Parts of Mexico are still in dire need of help. There were houses back in those foothills that Americans wouldn’t let their animals live in. Doesn’t seem fair sometimes. Anyway, long story short, after we asked about a million people directions, we all made it to his game (on time!) and had a grrrreat time watching some amazing soccer! These people really know how to play! This was just a local community team, nothing special really, but man are they good! So that was interesting and afterwards we met up with our Madison group and had a blast. The bad thing, however, was that I didn’t get to bed until 3:30 this morning and Rubin wanted Allison and I to go to the orphanage for our service job while he figures out something permanent for us to do. So I definitely was attempting to function on 5 hours of sleep- and I more or less did it!
Allison and I never did make it to the orphanage though. No one really knows where it is and there are four orphanages in Oaxaca all with the same (more or less) name. The guy who works at our Institute accidentally gave us the information for the wrong orphanage. When we showed up there, they almost wouldn’t even let us ask directions to the other one. Then, they gave us “directions” to the other orphanage and Allison and I walked around for 45 minutes until we decided we were 30 minutes from the Institute (which is another 20 minutes from the house) and it was time to return. So hopefully, this service thing will get straightened out. But until then, no more walking in random parts of Oaxaca. Oaxaca is generally a nice city but as with all cities it’s not entirely safe to be wandering about in parts that you don’t know well. That’s all for today. ¡Buenas noches!

14 de junio de 2006
It has been so long since I’ve written! So many things have happened! We had some trouble with our visas, which was resolved without too much difficulty (except that now I’m a bit angry with University of Wisconsin Madison for reasons that I’m not allowed to share here) and los maestros, whom I’ve never really written about because they don’t impact my life really, were attacked! Los maestros are the teachers from the state of Oaxaca, that have all gathered here in Oaxaca city in order to protest for higher salaries, better benefits for the students, and better retirement packages. Well, because this is an election year, they have stayed longer than is the “norm” of two weeks. My intercambio, Ita, also told me that they have stayed because they are receiving salary whether they are there, in the Zocalo, or teaching so they don’t really care. But last night, the governement decided that they had enough of looking powerless and attacked the teachers with tear gas. Never really seems like the best option to me, although it does clear out Madison streets quickly. However, it must have worked too well, because two or three people were killed in the mele. Now, everyone’s pissy!
Anyway, on a more personal note, there’s a very special someone that I have no other way to say Happy Birthday to but I wish I did! :) Hope it’s a good one!

Journal from 1 June to 6 June

Primero de junio de 2006
Well, we fought the week out at the volunteer job. It wasn’t pretty but it’s done now and so now we can request a change. Yay! My stomach is a bit off but not to bad. I had Ramen tonight for dinner because I didn’t feel like going out so I don’t know if that will hurt or help.Maybe tonight on my way out, I’ll stop for a bottle of Sprite.
Last night we went wild! There was hip hop at a bar called La Tentacion, so of course I had to go check that out. Man was it awesome!

4 de junio de 2006
It is so weird to think that it is already the 4th day of June. I don’t know where the time has gone! (Obviously, since I haven’t been journaling everyday). We’ve been going out dancing almost every night. Tuesday night was hanging out, Wednesday night was hiphop, Thursday night we went and tried a tequila derivative that originated in Oaxaca called Mezcal at it’s place of origen, and then Friday night we went out to an awesome salsa/ reggeton place. I definitely want to go back to the places we went on Wednesday and Friday nights. Since Tuesday and Thursday nights were more chill and less dancing they weren’t as fun for me but still awesome.
Today, for our excursion we went to the house of this artist that used to be a fabric factory. They make paper around there now, because the artist’s house has been converted into an art school and gallery so of course there’s a great market for the paper right there. It seemed really nice, lots of water all around, but we didn’t get to go into any buildings. Then, since it was only 11 and our rule of thumb is that we don’t get back from excursions until about 3 or 4, we went to a pool for a while. It was kind of chilly and cloudy so a lot of people didn’t swim and they just sat around drinking beer but I and about seven other people jumped in and had a blast.Now it’s back home to actually get some homework done hopefully. I need to read, write journals, and think of a theme for a three page paper due in 11 days. Or maybe I’ll take a nap. J

6 de junio de 2006
Well, as I suspected I would, I’ve gotten less and less good about writing a journal. See, once I get into a rythym, it’s very hard for me to find anything interesting to write about. That’s about the only excuse that I have. Well, that and the fact that the classes here are really getting under way so that I don’t have much time left for anything else. I want to find an internet café where I can plug my computer in so that I don’t have to keep using my digital camera as a memory storage device but I guess this system is working out okay. I’m feeling really homesick this week, I’m not really sure why, but the really little things are getting me down. I miss having a computer that corrects my spelling (if you’ve noticed errors in my blog it’s because I prewrite it on the laptop that I bought and then transfer and the laptop doesn’t have spellcheck). I miss Internet being available all over the place. I miss being able to go running randomly down the street. I miss having candy in my room and having a room free of ants (I’m going to be so sick of ants when I get back). I’m still loving Mexico but I just miss my things, my way, with my people. I think I’m just feeling frustrated that my Spanish hasn’t immediatly become perfect (or even good)! We’ll see. ¡Nos vemos!

Journal from May 24 to May 30

24 de mayo de 2006
I didn’t write yesterday because I was so tired after everything that we did! Yesterday we were supposed to get our volunteer jobs but the director of “La casa de las mujeres” where another girl from Madison, Al, and I are supposed to work wasn’t there. So we walked around with everyone else and saw where they’re all working. Some are working in a hospital in town and others are working in an orphanage called “Los niños de las calles” (Children of the Streets, literally). It’s a house for boys only but we all got to go in when those that are working there did and the boy are very nice. I talked with one, Fredy, who’s about six for a little while. His favorite subject is natural sciences and he wants out of the orphanage but he knows it’s a better life than begging. He was very clear minded about the future and he asked me three times if I would work there. I really want to now that I’ve met him but I feel like I don’t want to short change “La casa de las mujueres” if they’re expecting two volunteers. We’ll see. But all in all Al and I probably walked for a full hour and a half yesterday from about 10:30 to 12. It was so hot! I walked back to the house as soon as the lady in charge of the volunteer jobs was like “You guys can go if you want, I’ll talk to the director again tonight.” I felt disgusting by the time I got back home (which was about twice the distance to el Instituto). So I had comida, got 150 pesos to buy my book for 311, and went back to el Instituto, with computer in hand, intending to try to connect to the Internet.
This is where my day started going south. The book turned out to be 165 pesos (luckily, I had an extra 20 peso note in my pocket). The wireless internet that they said might be available at el Instituto was so weak my card couldn’t access it (or my card isn’t installed properly, I’m not sure which). My classes were fine but after class, I went to an Internet café to download the beginning of my journal and then realized I had forty minutes to get to the house and back if I wanted to go with the other students to a baseball game. This wouldn’t be bad but we’re uphill from el Instituto and I was carrying my laptop.
I ran home, dropped off my laptop, grabbed more money, and raced back to el Instituto (just in time!). Okay, if you’re sick of me complaining, that’s good because I’m done. The baseball game was soooo awesome!
The local team here is los Guerreros (the Warriors). You get a general ticket for 40 pesos ($4 USD) and can sit anywhere. We sat behind home plate, right near all the loudest fans. The guys all got a bit tipsy (the drinking age here is 18) and the girls all had a beer. Women drinking in public is looked down upon here so we were very careful to make the beer last. We had spicy peanuts that were delicious but definitely gave me my first ever case of heartburn. Next time I’ll take something beforehand. Los Guerreros lost but it was so much fun to be really ridiculously loud and learn (as best we could the cheers). The best one goes something like: A lo vio, a lo va, a lo bim, bom, ba, Guerreros, Guerreros, RA, RA, RA! At least, that’s what it sounds like.
Today I feel like I have kind of experienced a setback in my Spanish. I don’t know why, if I’m just tired from the game or what (we left at the bottom of the 8th inning because it was 11:30) but I feel like I cannot speak/ understand any Spanish today. My host mom lost patience with me this morning which is really bad because always before we’ve had really friendly exchanges and I think of them as my “dipstick” of how I’m doing in this new culture. I don’t know if that metaphor makes sense or not but work with me here. Hopefully, I’m just having an off day. Nos vemos manaña. (See you tomorrow).

25 de mayo 2006
I got my internet card properly installed tonight! Now, if I could just find somewhere were I could use free internet, I’d be all set to go. I have important things to do!J
Yesterday, we had our first salsa taller (workshop). It was so much fun and oh so funny! We only have four guys in our group, as compared to 17 girls! The guys pretty much had to work the whole time, except Juan (I think) let them sit for 20 minutes at the end of class while he worked with just the girls on transitions. Plus, us ladies are all super nice to the guys, clapping and cheering them on and commending them for their hard work. (Hey, for four guys whose definition of coordinated is being able to smoke before anyone sees you or staying on your feet no matter how many drinks you’ve had, they’re pretty good. And to be fair, one is on Edgewood’s baseball team.)
After taller from 10-12, I went back to the house for la comida. Can’t complain of the food here, as always. I seriously hope that the strength of my stomach is not just a nod to how well American antibiotics work. I’m going off of them tomorrow and I still would like to be able to pass a bathroom. Word is out around el Instituto that several of the kids from one group had to go to the ER because they went out to eat together and it was a bad restaurant. I’ll have to find out where they went.
It’s funny to me that in the United States, we buy bottled water at all. Being here has really made me appreciate being able to drink water from the tap. There are no drinking fountains here because if you drank the city water I think you’d die. Bottled water here is not a luxury- it’s a necessity! And carrying a water bottle (which I always thought was weird in the U.S., since there are water fountains) is the norm. Bottled water, although it’s fairly cheap, gets expensive if you buy it everyday. I could easily spend about 5 dollars here, daily. I know why Mexican workers say that it is better in the U.S. You don’t have to buy water, which is already a huge load off of your budget.

27 de mayo 2006
Thursday night we went out dancing to la Candela where the men really know their salsa! It was so much fun and although us girls were really inexperienced, we all danced like pros thanks to these guys. The guys in our group (minus one) went along but pretty much just sat there and got drunk the whole time. They were intimidated by how good the other guys were (so they claim). One of the guys got pretty drunk and one of the girls (who’s a Mexico-phile) totally chewed him out for it. He got mad and apparently they’re not friends anymore.
Then, Friday I didn’t have a workshop or volunteer job in the morning, so I got to sleep in. Actually, I got up at 8 and showered and had breakfast but I sat down to do some reading for class and passed out from 9:30- 12. I woke up feeling really good and got up and got some sugar at the local tienda. My host parents thought it was hilarious but I haven’t been sleeping too well at night (Oaxaca is very noisy) so I think it was just a long-time lack of sleep built up. Classes were normal and then we went to dinner at this place that two of the girls, Vanessa and someone else, had been to and were really building up. I don’t know what it was about the place but I totally was not taken with it.
When we first walked in, the long, fire-hose type of hose that they use here to dispense water for human use to restaurants was lying, deserted in the entry way. The food was rather expensive, there wasn’t much for choice, and on top of everything else, the kids that walk around with very expensive candy and flowers were allowed into the restaurant to ask the patrons if they would buy. Once you’ve been here for a while, you want shelter from these people and a restaurant that lets them in and charges me $10 for food all at once is never going to be my favorite. Compare that to the Taqueria from the other night and of course the fancier place is going to loose. The Taqueria was cheaper, on my way to the house from the Institiute, family-run, and out of the way of the people that sell the candy and flowers.
Anyway, this morning a small group and I went to try to find the Zócalo markets. There is a teacher’s strike going on here right now that happens every year for twenty days. The teachers camp out in the streets around the Zócalo, in general tying traffic up and making things messy and smelly. Despite walked through tent cities for about two and a half hours this morning and afternoon, we didn’t see anything that was convincingly a market. I bought a random shirt on the street corner that has Quetzalcotzl (I know I butchered that spelling), the Aztec god, and Oaxaca, Oax. on it. It was only 40 pesos ($4 USD) which was awesome. I started teasing the people in my group that I’m going to become a real gringa and wear Oaxaca shirts every day we’re here. They threatened to leave me on the street corner with the teachers. Ah, life is good.
Tomorrow we go to el Tule (a huge tree…).

28 de mayo de 2006
Today was quite the day and it began with quite a boring night last night. Since we went out Thursday night and Friday night (and Friday night I didn’t get home until ridiculously late), I decided I would have a nice quiet night Saturday night. Susan called me and said that she, Scott, and Kim were all going to a movie and they wanted to know if I wanted to come see Mission Impossible 3. We didn’t really know how to get there and taxis here are really cheap (or maybe in Madison they’re just ridiculously expensive) so we flagged one. Our driver was very polite and only took us for our money a little bit. The movie was good (as an action movie that’s maybe a bit too gory but nice for not thinking I totally recommend MI 3). There were Spanish subtitles which were kind of funny because I kept getting distracted by wanting to read them but the movie was in my first language so I feel like I shouldn’t have even been distracted by them. But then, two and some hours later, we walked back to the main drag to flag down a taxi and guess what- same driver! Oaxaca has a small town feel to it a lot because it seems like you see the same people over and over again but I suppose that’s always how life is. You notice the people that you already know.
This morning we had another excursion (so no church, sorry God!). Today we went to el Tule, which is a humongous tree; Mitla, which is indigenous ruins that were interesting; Tlacolula, which is a market; and Teotitlan del Valle, which is the origin of very beautiful, hand woven, wool tapestries.
El Tule I got several pictures of because it’s interesting but wasn’t very fun because there is simply a very large tree that you get out of the car and exclaim at. The gardens around it were very pretty and I think some of my best pictures today came from them.
Mitla was in a market town were the markets seemed very good but our teacher told us that we should save our money for Tlacolula which would be cheaper since it is larger. Mitla is very pretty but not as cool as Monte Alban because there is not as much to it. There is a building were kings lived most likely that is almost entirely intact. It was fun to actually go inside of something, since at Monte Alban this is not possible.
Tlacolula was cool but I was sick of people by the time we left there. I got a dress that is very cute and perhaps not quite conservative enough to suit my style. It cost 120 pesos down from 150 (I bargained!!). Then, we went to Teotitlan del Valle.
Teotitlan del Valle is a place where beautiful tapestries are made. They begin with raw wool, wash it, card it, spin it, dye it, and then weave it. They had the average geographical patterns (that in these tapestries are anything but ordinary because they are so beautiful). But there were also Riveras and Dalis that they had woven into tapestries. It was amazing! When I get rich and famous, one of the first things I’m going to buy will be a Salivador Dali tapestry. Okay, maybe the second. Have to have a cute little Mexican casa to put it in. J
Well, that’s all for today. I’ve been saying this for forever but hopefully I’ll get the pictures posted this week. I’ve been really good about labeling them as I go along so that’s not a problem but I have so many! Maybe I’ll just pick a few good ones and then post those. I’ll figure something out. ¡Hasta mañana!

29 de mayo de 2006
It seems like school days there is never much to write about. We had salsa class today so I wore my dress. But then it my host mother at la comida said “Do you realize that that dress is see through on the bottom? And there went that dress. So I wore my nice cool linen pants today (mostly because I’m almost out of clothes and although my family has a lavanderia, I feel shy about taking my clothes there. So I’m re-using until I get my nerve up or until I get so dirty that I can’t stand it anymore. I’m figuring I’ll break about Wednesday. Anyway, later tonight we went back to our favorite little taqueria. The guy knows us now and asked how many tables we’d be needing to night since we’ve gone in there twice with groups of twenty. But it was just two other girls, Kim and Al and I so we waved him off. I love that place. That’s about it for today. Friday I have a first draft of a paper on politics due and I’d like it to be a good one so I should get a start on it tonight. I really want to get uploading my photos though too, so we’ll see.

30 de mayo de 2006
It’s la comida time and I’m writing right now because I’m so FRUSTRATED! At the Instituto, we’re required to do a volunteer job (trabajo servicio). Al, the girl I went out to eat with last night and I both work at the same place- and I hate it! She said she literally doesn’t have anything to do except answer phones twice the whole three hours we’re there and I simply translate article titles from Enlish into Spanish. The director asked us today what our interests are in so that she could “work with them”. As they say, talk is cheap, especially when you’re dealing with frustrated people. I want action! While walking back today we saw another girl form Madison and asked her how her service job was and she says “Oh it was great, I’m working with a bunch of pre-kindergarten kids and today we had a birthday party.” I hate hate hate my volunteer job!

My Journal from 19 of May to 22 of May, 2006

19 de mayo de 2006
My journey has officially begun. It was so odd, looking out at my family, looking at me, leaving them behind. It is the oddest feeling, especially for someone so connected to her family such as myself. You may laugh at me for being quite so innocent but the truth is I’ve never traveled without family or friends before. I’ve traveled alone I mean but always with family or friends as the endpoint or, at the most drastic, a short, two-day trips by myself. What I’m really worried about is that I’ll let the fear that I’m feeling hold me back from making new friends but it encourages me that I know that I have to be careful about that. The first step towards fixing a problem is realizing you have one- even before it is actually a problem. Also, I guess I’m being a little overly dramatic. One of the guys who is going to Oaxaca with me has been in one of my Spanish classes before. However, we never really got to know each other very well so it’s only a little solace. However, the bus driver, John, is kind and quite funny. He’s got quite the announcer’s voice and man does he seem to know it! He reminded us that the bathroom door should be locked (do they have many problems with that?) and that he can adjust the temperature. Really, as long as luggage and passenger arrives in one piece (and together!) to O’Hare airport with two hours to go before the flight, I’m quite satisfied. All for now.

20 de mayo de 2006
Well, I had the absolute best intentions of getting back on the computer tomorrow night and telling all about my first night in Oaxaca. However, the plane that we took from Oaxaca was so small that by the time I arrived in Oaxaca, I was so tired from worrying that it was difficult to speak in Spanish. The thought of turning on my laptop to jot down my thoughts tired me out immensely.
My family is so sweet and I’m actually sharing the house with another student from Temple. La madre, Paula, cooks very well and always makes sure that we have plenty to eat. She speaks quickly but I catch enough of what she says to be very proud of myself. La padre, Ricardo, is quiet but speaks a lot in bursts. They’re both very caring and polite.
At el Instituto this morning we, the students of UW- Madison, had our orientation. We were all gathered outside the gates and one of the students walks up holding his head and says, “So is anyone else hung over?” We all exclaimed, “You can’t be serious!” and I for one totally expected him to be joking. But no. Despite arriving at 10:30 last night (and probably not getting to the family’s home until about the same time I did, 11:15 ish) he and the kid from Temple that are sharing his house went out to some hotel bar. They were well provided for by locals that wanted to practice their English, had tons of fun, and made friends with a local doctor. A good idea, but I’m still glad I got sleep last night.
Here, they eat meals very separate. It is 3:00 in the afternoon and I just finished eating “la comida”. As I said, Paula is an excellent cook. Breakfast this morning was mango (oh so good), pan dulce (sweet bread), eggs (what she called la torta), and papaya juice. Lunch was sopa de calabasa (not sure what this means yet, but it was excellent and a little spicy), angel hair pasta in a white sauce, and delicious and spicy spinach with chicken. She showed me how to put it inside the tortilla to make a burrito kind of thing and it was the perfect combination of tasty tortilla and spicy chicken. I could eat my way through this country I think. American “Mexican” restaurants just don’t do justice to real Mexican cuisine.
Some girls from Madison and I are going to go to the Zocalo markets. Earlier we went to the Gigante to get soymilk and full size bottles of shampoo. Things are fairly expensive here and it is all made no easier by the fact that I’m not at all used to converting foreign currency in my head. I walked into the Gigante with 500 pesos and was terrified I hadn’t brought enough… I spent 150 and I got enough stuff to last me well through the two months! However, I couldn’t bring myself to pay $20 for the butt-ugly watches that were available at the Gigante (the lady called them uni-sex). So, my host family gave me directions to a watch shop that is very near to the Zocalo markets since I, being a genius, did not bring anything except my cell phone; which I am only going to turn on in case of emergency. Sigh. So now I’ll be buying a watch, hopefully with alarm or hopefully I can figure out how to make my laptop ring at the proper time since for the cultural workshops we have to be there by 10 and for the volunteer positions we have to be in place by 9.
I’ll definitely be taking my camera along and so hopefully, if I post this to my blog, I’ll also be able to post pictures of the mercado!
The list of things I’m not sure about yet: Missing my mom, my family, and Louis; missing my cell phone; crossing the streets; and putting used TP in the wastebasket. I’m definitely outside of my comfort zone there!
Things I love: the food, seeing the mountains all around, the houses (which all have walls right to the sidewalks so that they’re very private), my bedroom here (coral, light blue, and a yellow green), actually feeling like I’m making some progress every now and then, and that small shops are so pervasive!
¡Viva México!

21 de mayo de 2006
Well, last night we went to Zócalo markets. It was insane, only made better by the fact that there was some sort of festival going on. On the way there we saw the Santo Domingo Cathedral. The inside is decorated with worked gold made into picture frames, the inside of which are painted with scenes from saint’s lives and also from the Stations of the Cross. It was amazing but I was only able to take pictures of the outside. Then, we went to Restaurante de Alex which was good but a bit expensive. We had “comida corrida” which is rice and soup with your choice between entrees. At the end, you also get your choice of postre or café. And, I found a watch with an alarm! It’s not feminine but it’s small and it was somewhat cheap so it’s okay.
Today, all the student from Madison went together to Monte Alaban which is a famous Zapatocen ruin. It was absolutly beautiful and we had a great guide. He told us about how the Zapotecs designed a calender based on how long it takes women to gestate and a caldendar based on the sun. Obviously, the two were very different but every 18,980 days they concide (52 years of our calendar!). Every 104 years a comet (or possibly a star, I wasn’t clear which) passes overhead and this event is used to reset the calendars. The next occurance is in 2012. Hopefully, in six years I’ll remember this! Then, the guide tells us about how several years ago, architects found a tunnel of children’s skulls. They couldn’t figure out what it would be from since the Zapotecas didn’t do sacrifices. Eventually, they realized that a warring tribe killed off a whole generation of children so that they implement their new rules. He showed us a carving of a jaguar, a symbol of famine and disaster. I think he said they made sacrifices to it to keep these away. A bit over, there’s a history stone of a woman who has a jaguar at her feet. It means she had power, possibly a governor, and was good at what she did. Next there was an old basketball court that the Zapotecas used to settle land disputes and who should be sacrificed.
Next, we all went to San Bartolo. Here, they make black pottery which is very beautiful. The man whose mother is responsbile for finding the technique used to glaze it still runs her old shop (she died in 1980) and he did a demonstration for us that was probably about 20 minutes. He was so talented it was amazing. He told us that on average, getting the clay ready to be worked takes two months. Then, to work it, another month. It was all very exciting and by the time we loaded back into the vans with our souveniours everyone was drained.
I’m very proud of myself today because I climbed one of the Monte Alaban ruins and was only a bit winded at the top. Also, although I forgot a bag to carry everything in, I remembered a rainjacket (which I forgot last night and was miserable walking home at 10:30 in the rain) and tons of sunscreen. I don’t think I got burnt hardly at all.
Time to go look at what I ended up with in pictures. I’m realy hoping to get all these on the web soon so that I don’t have to worry about losing them! Best to all.

22 de mayo de 2006
Well, today we began classes. They hadn’t figured out the schedules right with the kids from Temple yet though so the Madison kids had the morning off. I forgot to mention I’m living with one of the kids from Temple. Her name is Erin and she’s very nice but doesn’t talk very much. Anyway, I had the morning off so I figured it was the perfect time to figure out what was going on with my computer. Man was I wrong. I had a late breakfast at 9:30 with Paula and then dragged my laptop to the Institute but couldn’t get the wireless card to detect the very weak internet that is there. So, I went to an internet café instead, just so that I could email everyone and let them know I’m safe and I miss them terribly. But the computer in the wireless café didn’t work either! It froze up for twenty of my thirty minutes so I ended up only getting to send really short, quick emails and got charged 50 pesos on top of it. It’s amazing how money runs here, but I keep reminding myself that I really wanted to just do this and not really worry about money. That doesn’t mean I’m being foolish though (well, not too badly). Hopefully, after this week of buying school and health supplies, I won’t have to spend too much more. We’ll see. Anyway, I was totally flustered and had to walk all the way back home at about 12:30 or 1, when it’s the hottest, carrying my laptop that was useless anyway and just getting in a worse and worse mood. It’s funny, I don’t know if when I’m in a bad mood, its so obvious that people don’t whistle or that I just don’t hear it because I’m in a bad mood but it seems like I never get whistles when I’m mad or rushed. There happens to be a correct way to be sexually inappropiate perhaps.
I got back to my house and changed into a cooler shirt and splashed water on my face and then went and had comida with Paula. We talked about how silly computers are and the education system in México vs. the US. They have a very similar system here although highschool is a year shorter and college a year longer. And different names for everything of course, although their names almost make more sense (Primera- first, Secundaria- second, Preparatoria- prep for college, and Universidad- I hope that one’s obvious!J)
By the end of la comida I felt much better and I came upstairs, did a little of of journaling for my independent study, and just laid down. Then, at 3 I had my first classes!
The first day is always boring because they go through the rules and stuff but I loved it because I really am noticing a marked improvidness in my Spanish (although I’m making up English now). My 311 class is going to be hard I think because it’s four essays that count for 30% of the grade. That’s an essay every two weeks, plus my 465 class! Actually though, I think 465 is going to be fun. We have a cool teacher and he prepared half of the class and then sat down and said “What do you think is the biggest social problem in North America?” Then, “What’s the best thing about North America?” Our homework for 465 tonight was to ask those same questions of our host families, but about México instead of North America. Their answers were the corruption in the government *the problem and the traditions and the values *the best thing. I could have guessed the traditions one. Méxicanos are suckers for tradicions and having a stong culture it seems like.
After I finished with classes, a small group of us hung out in the courtyard of el Instituto doing homework (I had homework for 311 too- a short essay about who we’d like to be, from any time. It’s hard- try it!). There are three class times, 3- 4:20, 4:30- 5:50, and 6- 7:20. I have 465 at 3 and 311 at 4:30 so we were doing homework and technically waiting for everyone else to get done. So when those in the last class got out we went and had dinner. We all agreed that we wanted to start trying cheaper places because although we don’t want to get sick we can’t afford to spend 70 pesos every night. ($7 USD) So we walked down one of the main streets and found a little Taqueria (place where tacos are made) that seemed cheap where the owner seemed friendly. WOW! It was excellent food, his wife was a sweet heart, he himself was very friendly to us, and I spent 27 pesos with a drink. ($2.70 USD) I can’t eat like that in the cafeteria in Madison. So now I’m back at the house, having done my homework and ready for bed by 9:30. I feel like I got so much accomplished today.

The Pre-Beginning

Well, I've got the blog set up. I have to figure out how to publish photos though, since I know I won't be really good at journalizing where I go with words. I'm looking at a laptop tonight but I'm not sure I'm really a motivated buyer. We'll see. Just another thing to get done. How can eight days take sooooooooooo long?