Laughter is good for the soul.

I spent all weekend laughing. I can't even begin to describe all the random/bizarre/surreal things that happened. I'm laughing now just playing them back in my mind. In some ways it was like I was back in Greensboro hanging out with everyone (because even in Mexico I still somehow manage to be a part of the most awkward situations possible). It felt great :)

Various Impressions

-There are no rules regarding driving. If you are physically capable of doing it, it's allowed.

-"Class starts at 11am." Translation: Class could potentially start anytime between 11 and 12 so you just kind of hang out until the teacher shows up.

-I eat white bread every single day. What I would give for a sandwich made with wheat bread...

-Speaking of sandwiches, they are a breakfast food. No lie; I ate one this morning.

-The lavanderia, where I take my clothes to be washed, pleats every single pair of pants, including my pajama pants. Strange.

-Don't flush toilet paper! That's what trash cans are for.

-In some stores, a Coke is cheaper than a bottle of water.

-If I'm tired, the buses make me motion sick. Ugh.

-Only Americans wear clothing with logos from schools, clubs, camps, etc. posted all over it. Other people just laugh at you.

-EVERYONE here smokes. I'm going to be lucky if I don't die from all the second-hand smoke. NASTY.

That's all for now :)

Sometimes I can be such a teacher...

Today I sat in Historia de Mexico (my least favorite class) and thought the whole time how terrible it was from a teacher's viewpoint.

First, the class is made up of mostly freshman who are all around the age of 18. I know that 3 years is not a huge amount of time, but the difference between an 18 year old and a 21 year old is enormous. Second, it makes me feel really strange to think that back in the United States I could be teaching students this age in my internship. Weird.

Today we started group presentations about the indigenous tribes in the various regions of Mexico (ugh). Today's presentation was about the tribes in the Gulf of Mexico, but I still don't know too much about them because the presentation was less than informative. They didn't go into any detail and couldn't answer intelligently any of the questions they were asked. I felt bad for them because it's embarassing to be put on the spot like that, but I would expect that kind of presentation from a high school freshman, not a university student.

Afterwards we had extra class time (because the presentation was so short) so the professor went to the library to get a movie about the Olmecas (an indigenous group) to show for the rest of class. It was terrible and the first five minutes (no lie) was footage of the moon with tribal music playing in the background.

There are so many things didactically wrong with this that I'm cringing just thinking about it. From a student's perspective there was nothing really wrong with the class because no participation (or thinking) was necessary. The teacher in me, however, shudders to witness such a terrible waste of educational time.

Being Green in Mexico

So if there were any doubts that I'm a nerd, this will put them all to rest (Joey).

Yesterday morning I dragged myself out of bed super early to go on a trip with some other internationals and the university to visit the first mine in Guanjuato. (Guanajuato was built because they found so much silver and other metals in the area.) Before we went there, however, we stopped at a completely organic farm to take a tour.

The tour guide was super nice (and I could understand almost everything he said!) and he took us all around the farm. We saw all these techniques that were used to encourage the growth of native plants and conserve the maximum amount possible of water. Everything was done organically without the help of pesticides and other chemicals. There were several beehives around the area and I got to taste fresh honeycomb! They also had a greenhouse, some solar panels, and a compost pile! The most surprising part was when our guide pulled a rattlesnake out of a barrel and started talking about all the snakes they found (and kept) in the area. I confess that I was a little freaked out by the snake so I wasn't listening all that closely.

At the end of the tour, our guide was talking about how encouraging it was that we (college students) were going to be making the decisions for the world in the next 20 years. He encouraged us to remember this tour and how important it is to make decisions that are sustainable because we need to make sure that there will be water and other resources for our children and grandchildren. He quoted someone who once said, "When we stop destroying the earth it will start healing itself." And then he asked, "When are we going to stop destroying the earth?" Good question...

Now the only thing that will make me even happier is if I can find one place to recycle in this city.

Swedish Food and Salsa Dancing

What a great weekend :)

On Saturday night two Swedish girls , Therese and Helena, invited a group of exchange students (and some Mexicans) over to their house for a traditional Swedish dinner. They did all the work preparing it and serving it and it was delicious! There were 10 of us all together and we spent hours sitting around the table talking and laughing. (All of the guys there are engineering majors so they were trying to explain to the girls all the jokes they were telling that involved Calculus.) It was so nice to just hang out and spend time with the people I know best in Mexico. The only thing that bothered me was that I still wasn't able to contribute very much to the conversation. People were asking me why I was so quiet and it's because I'm still self-conscious about my Spanish. It's so strange for me to be more reserved because I normally share my opinions and contribute to conversations...oh well, it will be a personal goal for me in the coming months.

Afterwards, we all went salsa dancing! It was so much fun and, of course, I had about 213049835 awkward things happen to me. First, I danced with one of the guys who ate dinner with us. It was really hard to follow him and there were plenty of times that we were not with the music. I'm also somewhat surprised that I still have all my fingers because there were times that I thought he would rip them off while turning me! (I confess that I laughed the whole time but I don't think he knew why.) Then someone else asked me to dance (I didn't know him) but it turns out he was crazy so I made up some excuse to leave after two songs. Finally, I danced with some other guy I didn't know who was actually really good. The only thing that bothered me was that when he found out I was from the United States he started trying to speak to me in English. But, he couldn't really speak English and he kept saying ridiculous things until I told him that I understood Spanish. It kind of bothered me that he would assume that I couldn't understand because, after all, I am in his country. We danced until almost 5am (I was exhausted by the end of it!) but I had such a good time.

Now, however, academics are taking over for the week because I have to give a presentation on Wednesday (not nearly as much fun).

"This Gives Me Jokes"

Disclaimer: This post is about nothing serious but is only for the entertainment of Katie Toms.

I've never considered myself to have a strong accent but, since being in Mexico, I've heard from lots of people that I speak Spanish with a very American accent. My roommate Laura from Argentina finds my accent especially funny and one day she was trying to copy it and she kept lengthening the vowels at the end of the words so they seemed to have more than one syllable. For example, "o-o-o-o" instead of "o." I've also met a couple of exchange students from the United States who are from places like Chicago and Wisconsin. They definitely speak differently than I do and our different accents are evident when speaking Spanish. All this to say, that it appears that I might have more of a Southern accent than I thought :(

In other news, today I went to a class called Cine y literatura and the professor talked about sequencing plot lines and how the way in which the story is told is one of the most important elements of capturing an audience's attention. He then said, "You know those people that have lots of interesting things happen to them but, since they can't tell a story properly, they seem to be the most boring people in the world?" He didn't go on to say how this problem could be fixed, however, so I guess I'm still stuck in that category.

Culture Clash

Because culture is something universal (but very unique at the same time) there are infinite possibilities for culture clash to occur. The obvious example of this is studying abroad in a different country, but I've realized that there are other examples as well.

Yesterday evening Laura, Lisa, and I went downtown to get something to eat. When we were walking back toward the house we passed the Plaza de la Paz which is where the Basilica (the largest Catholic church in the city) is located. In front of the church was a group of people, dressed in indigenous costumes, dancing in the street accompanied by lots of drums. There was a crowd surrounding them and so we stopped and watched for a while. Laura asked someone standing next to us what the occasion was and he told us that it was the day of the Virgin of the Basilica. (Don't ask me what virgin; I still can't keep any of the Catholic saints straight.) We watched for a while and, during a pause in between dances, I heard the Basilica bells ringing and someone singing Catholic liturgy in Latin. Laura, Lisa, and I walked up the steps of the Basilica and slipped in the back of the church. It was packed full of people and they were all focused on an altar with a statue of the Virgin. In the church I could hear the drums from the street in the background.

It was such a weird experience because these two groups were celebrating the same thing but in two completely different ways. And, since you could hear the other group from wherever you were standing, it was hard to get the full effect of either one. To me it seemed like a rivalry between the two traditions and I wonder what it would have been like there had been a combination of the two instead of a competition...