First week of Student Teaching...check!

This week has been so fun and so, so crazy! On Monday I began my final semester of college. I'm student teaching at Walton Rural Life Center in the 2nd grade classroom. I love it so much!!! Walton is unique in the sense that it is an agricultural charter school. At the school is a greenhouse, a barn, and animals- calves, chickens, a donkey, sheep, and pigs. This week happened to be my class' week to do chores, so every morning we bundled up and went outside to make sure the animals got fed. This morning, the wind chill was 1 degree fahrenheit. Brrrrrrr.

This week my jobs have included: morning lunch count and planners, being in charge of a group of kids who feed the donkey, grading papers, escorting the students to and from various specials, supervising chicken egg processing (2nd grade's project), crowd control, decorating the door, daily read aloud, helping the teacher make decisions, and much more. My cooperating teacher is FABULOUS and I am so blessed to be able to work alongside and have her as my mentor. I'm so excited to see what the next 5 weeks have in store.

One special moment for me today was when I could tell that what I've been teaching the kids is sticking. The past three days during read aloud, we've been focusing on folktales and fables. I read the books "Why Mosquitoes Buzz in Peoples' Ears" (folktale) and "Tops and Bottoms" (fable) to the class. We talked about what folktales and fables are and how fables have a moral to their story. Today I read them the book, "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters." Once we were done, I asked them to think in their heads and determine if it was a folktale or a fable. When I asked the class for a group answer, they all shouted "FABLE!!" Aaaaaaaaaah, I was so so so proud of them and so so so excited! YES!

Here are some pictures from student teaching:

The door decoration that I created...the bow is 3-D!

Eeyore the Donkey - He was my animal to chore for the week.

The 2nd grade classroom - Where all the learning happens!

My desk!

HOME SWEET HOME

On Tuesday night, my trip to Mexico came to a close and I arrived back at home. Throughout this past week and on the plane ride home, I did a lot of reflecting and thinking about what I would and would not miss about Mexico, and what really irritated me in Mexico.

Things that I miss about Mexico:
-The beautiful flowers everywhere
-Seeing very colorful houses where ever I look...greens, yellows, purples, oranges- you name it!
-The hospitality- everyone was super friendly! Many people in the U.S. just aren't that way.
-The food- delicious!
-The warmth! Nothing like wearing sandals, swimming, tanning, and getting a sunburn in January!
-Being able to practice my Spanish all day, everyday.
-The delicious bakery that was right around the corner in Mexico City- we went there every morning for breakfast!
-Seeing how genuine everyone really was. These people know what really matters in life. They have so little, but are always smiling and work really hard to earn what they have. They are so thankful for what they have.They are simply determined people who are caught in a bad situation.

Things that I don't miss about Mexico:
-Not being able to drive my car- when you're used to driving everywhere, not being able to drive for 3 weeks sucks. Then again, the drivers there are crazy and there are so many people that I wouldn't have wanted to risk driving there anyway.
-Putting ALL toilet paper in the trash can. You can't flush toilet paper there!
-Being stared at 24/7 because of my blonde, curly hair- I got many kisses blown at me and a marriage proposal from men in their 40's or 50's, because of it.
-Not being able to drink water straight from the tap
-The food- I definitely had a couple too many tortillas, tortas, and the like. I'm ready for a break from Mexican food!
-Having to brush my teeth with my water bottle. That was kind of inconvenient...
-Having people talk really quickly to me in Spanish, giving them a blank look, and then apologizing to them, because they talked so fast that I couldn't understand anything.

Things that irritate me about Mexico:
-How corrupt their government is- The last election was very, very rigged. The police are corrupt too. It's ridiculous.
-How many children do not get to go to school, because their parents (who didn't go to school either) can't afford it. So these children might end up like their parents, selling products on the streets.
-How the 10% of the population controls EVERYTHING and 70% of people in Mexico are in the "poor" category. These people in the bottom 70% are known as the informal economy. They do not have a steady job and often their daily wages are only 65 pesos. That is equivalent to like $6.00 here. That is for a day, not for an hour.
-How people in indigenous mountain villages are victims of residual poverty. They literally make about $1.00 (U.S.) a day and that is literally only enough for food. 80% of women in Tlamacazapa have never left their village, so they don't know what exists beyond them. They spend their entire day weaving sturdy baskets out of palm leaves, but sell them really cheap to the middle men, who in turn go out and sell them in the big towns. They can't afford to send their children to school, so they have no math/money concepts. The children start making baskets at a very young age and chances are they will never be able to leave the community either.
-1/3 of the population has diabetes, due to all of the sugar they consume and Coca-Cola they drink. However, they do this because their water is not safe to drink. The government won't do anything about it. One of the villages we went to had no running water and had to hike to wells each day to collect water. But it wasn't even good water- arsenic was in the water.

I'm sure there is so much more that I could say and share, but I will stop with this. Overall, the trip was wonderful. It was an incredible learning experience and I have so much that I'm still trying to wrap my head around.

Cuidad de Mexico

On Thursday, we arrived in Mexico City. We spent the afternoon getting oriented with the city, learning about the Mexico MCC (Mennonite Cenral Community) program, and eating tacos. While here in Mexico City, we are being lead by an MCC worker who is actually from France. Her name is Clementine. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing at Casa de Los Amigos, which is the Quaker Guest House where we are staying.

On Friday, we went to a local business that MCC partners with called Center for Ecumenical Studies. They partner with small, indigenous villages and help make sure that their land is not taken up by larger state corporations. In the afternoon, we went to the Zocalo (city square). The group that I was with had lunch on the 5th floor balcony of a buildling and we got to overlook the Zocalo while we ate. The best part is that it was SUPER cheap! SCORE! :) We explored the former National Palace which has many murals by Diego Rivera, went in the big Metropolitian Cathedral, and then just sat and people watched for a long time. Close the ¨Casa¨where we are staying, is the HUGE Revolution Monument. On the plaza next to it are many water fountains in a square shape that shoot out of the ground in different patterns and heights. At night, there are also colored lights that shine on them. 2 of the other girls and I ran through them. In my attempt to stay dry, I got really, really wet. It was fun, but FREEZING! We grabbed tortas for supper at a little corner stand. In the evening, we watched the movie, ¨Frieda,¨ which is about the life of Frieda Kahlo.

Today, we went to ¨Casa Azul,¨ which is the house of Frieda Kahlo. It is now turned into a museum that showcases many of the actual artifacts from her house, in addion to lots of her artwork. We walked to the Zocalo of this little town, called Coyaucan for lunch. We also had a bit of time to swing through their Saturday Artisan`s Market. After that, we headed to Leon Trotsky´s home, which is now also a museum, with many artifacts and photos of him. For supper, we had pizza together. Then some of us went and got ice cream. On our way back to the casa, we came upòn an outdoor concert where a group was playing some amazing Celtic music. They were so sweet and translated everything they said in Spanish into English for us. We ended up staying there watching for over an hour. Afterwords, we talked with them and took a picture with them.

I have came to the conclusion that Mexican here hate me because of my hair color...they glare at me a lot. It is actually becoming a bit uncomfortable.

Finally, I am so irritated by how the Mexican population treats those with physical disabilities. They´re treated horribly and deserve so much more. Outside all of the main public places, cathedrals and what not, there are people with only one leg or who are missing an arm. Many of these people obviously can´t walk and so you can tell that they must have been left there by someone to sit there and beg for money all day long. It´s really sad. The other thing that really irritates me is how blind people are treated. On the subways, a ¨group leader¨ puts one blind person on each subway. They walk around with backpacks that have speakers in them. They play music and ride the subways all day trying to get money and sell CD´s. Yes, I´m glad they have a job, but they don´t deserve to be treated the way that they are. It is so sad. So, so sad. (That was definitely my inner Special Education teacher coming out...)

Hope you all are doing well! Miss you and see you in 3 days!!!

The Most Beautiful Place

Yesterday, we visited a small Indigenous mountain village called Amatlan. We visited there with a spiritual leader named Nacho. After telling us his story, he lead us on a hike. We walked through a portion of the village, then up a fairly steep incline. We ended up in the most beautiful place. It was a large, open area, enclosed with trees with bright green leaves. There were huge boulders and the trees grew around them. Everything was just so green and so quiet. Nacho led us in a ceremony to connect ourselves with the Earth- to the North and South, East and West, and sky and ground. The final place to be connected to is our heart. He talked about how important it is to treat everyone equally, no matter their race, sexual orientation, or whether or not they were wealthy. Everyone is so important and we cannot accomplish anything unless we are all connected. After the ceremony, we did a hug circle. The first person went around the circle and hugged everyone and then the second person followed, so on and so forth. In the end, you gave a hug to each person and received one from each person.
Lately I've been thinking a lot about my life and what I want to do with it. And by that, I mean mostly worrying about whether or not I will get a job that I am happy with next year. I'm not a fan of the unknown. I like to know what is going on and what is happening when. I'm at a place in my life where, for once, I can't plan ahead and that makes me worry. Well, as we were sitting in this area, I felt at peace. So calm, so at peace, and nothing to worry about. Then, there was this white butterfly that flew by in the distance. Then it flew by again. To me, this white butterfly was a sign of hope. A sign that everything will work out in the end and that it is all taken care of, beyond my control. A sign that I don't need to be anxious. Shortly after, a yellow butterfly flew by. This butterfly reminded me that I need to continue to be the light and sunshine for others and bring cheer and happiness to their day.

Everything is going to be okay.

Heart-Warming and Heart-Wrenching Stories

On Wednesday, January 9, we spent our afternoon at Casa Hogar Orphanage. The orphanage currently has 28 kids, ages 3-18. It is impossible for anyone other than Mexicans to adopt Mexican children, and typically Mexicans don't adopt. The following is a passage from my journal entry that day:
"I hate that. I hate that the chances of these children leaving the orphanage before age 18 are very slim. These kids are so sweet and well-behaved, and while the orphanage workers are very kind and doing everything in their power to help, these kids deserve more. They deserve a mommy and a daddy who can love them unconditionally. They deserve their own bedroom, not one shared with five other children. They deserve to be loved unconditionally. I had the time of my life this afternoon playing with the kids. I saw their dogs. I played soccer and volleyball with them. I went down the slide with them. I sang with them. I played hand-clapping games with them. I ticked them. I tried to praise them a lot. I hugged them. I loved them. Why? because they need it and they deserve it. It was so hard to say goodbye and leave."

On Thursday, January 10, we spent our morning volunteering at La Estacion, which as I said in a previous post, is a Squatter's Settlement where people live very poorly. Houses look like shacks and are build out of whatever materials they happen to come upon- scrap wood, tin, cinder blocks, crates, cardboard, you name it... 6,000 people live in La Estacion. Some people from our group did painting or cleaning work, but the rest of us (myself included) spent our morning volunteering and the preschool across the street from the Community Center. I was with Kaitlyn in a classroom full of five year olds. The teacher was an 80 year old nun. About 45 minutes into the class period, she just left without saying anything. All of the sudden, Kaitlyn and I realized that she wasn't coming back. We were correct, because SHE DIDN'T COME BACK FOR 1.5 HOURS! We were stuck with no plans, no clue of what to do, and neither one of us was super good at Spanish. We have a decent vocabulary, but are by no means fluent- Especially when it comes to children talking really fast to you in very high voices. It's nearly impossible to keep up and understand. Basically, we didn't know what to do. We spent the rest of the morning reviewing all of the activities that they had already done that morning, counted to 50 in both English and Spanish, sang the ABC's a couple of times in both languages, and reviewed color names and the names of school supplies in both languages. Then I started reading books to them in Spanish. (FYI- Just because I can read them, doesn't mean that I have any clue what they were about!!) While I was reading, the teacher peaked her head in, gave me a thumbs up, and then left again. LOVELY...not. After that, we just got books out and had free reading time. In addition to all of that, the children were exceptionally crazy! The majority of them did not listen at all, were constantly trying to escape from the classroom, and we were trying to corral them. What a day it was!
In the afternoon, we watched the movie, "Border Towns," which tells about all of the violence that occurs at towns along the border. It was really interesting, but a tough movie to watch, because of the content.
In the evening, we visited with a woman named Maggie who had crossed the border with her mom and sister when she was 12. It took three tries before they safely made it across. In order to do so, they had to hide in a caves, climb the tall fence, run through the desert for over two hours while wearing five layers, and she watched her mom get abused and nearly raped. After living in the US for two years, she has been back living in Mexico since.

Today we went back to La Estacion to volunteer again, so I went back to the preschool. First, I went with my professor Ada to help her teach English to the class that she was placed with. We taught color words, clothing words, and words like tall/short and open/closed. Then I returned back to my class where it was Fun Friday, so we spent the entire day playing outside, doing a pinata, doing puzzles, and having fun! The kids were so sweet and much better behaved than yesterday. Yay!
This evening, we met with a local priest in Cuernavaca and listened as he shared about his church. Then, at about 9:00 PM, Alfonso (the priest) went with us to the local general hospital, where we handed out hot coffee and sandwiches to family members of those staying in the hospital. The hospital system in Mexico is very different than that of the United States. Pretty much, the doctors check you, and then if they need any medical supplies, they send family members to the pharmacy to pick up the supplies and bring them back to the hospital for the doctors to use. Tonight, there were probably 250 people waiting in the waiting room, sleeping outside on pieces of cardboard with blankets, or standing outside, hoping to find out some information about their loved ones. Once we ran out of coffee and sandwiches, we divided into small groups and walked around inside, inviting people to a prayer service with us outside, and writing down their ill loved ones' names for prayer purposes. At 9:30, we began a short mass outside in a little chapel located right next to the hospital. The priest read off all of the names and then one by one had a short conversation with the 10ish family members that chose to join us. They shared about what sickness their loved ones had and then said a prayer aloud for them. It was a very powerful time, full of sadness for these people.

My facebook status tonight sums it all up: "Hold those that you love closely tonight, both literally and in prayer, because there are many that are not as fortunate."

The QUEST, Xochicalo, y Sweat Lodge

On Saturday was the big Cuernavaca QUEST. I was in a group with two other girls. We were given a list of places to go- Wal-Mart, the 3 cathedrals, the Playa de Armas, Zocalo (City Square), Chapel, and the HUGE People's Market. Each group was given 60 pesos. This is how much a person working a minimum wage job makes, plus we got a 20 peso bonus. We had to use it to pay for the bus there (19.50 for the group one way) and back as well as a list of groceries. We were first supposed to price things at Wal-Mart, but wait and acutally purchase them at the People's Market. Overall the simulation showed us that a person working this much does not have enough money to buy food, let alone housing. In the market, we tried bartering to get them to lower the prices, but it was no such luck. They could all tell that we were Americans, especially me (because of my hair color), and they knew we had money, so they weren't willing to barter. I did most of the talking to the vendors in the market, because I was better at speaking. Another girl was better at understanding and listening to what the vendors were saying, so she told me what to say back, since I had a hard time understanding. It all worked out in the end.

Xochicalo are ancient Mayan ruins. We spent Sunday morning there. They are so big. From first glance, it just looked like three large structures or temples. When we kept on walking and climbing up a lot of really steep and tall stairs, we discovered that there were tons and tons of structures that went so high up into the sky. It was so beautiful and the view was AMAZING!
In the evening, we went to a celebration for Dia de Los Reyes (Three Kings Day). It was in a local park and there was lots of food, music, and vendors. Later in the night there were "fireworks," which actually was where some people get locked in a gated park. There was a man that held a bull made out of paper mache that emitted sparks. He ran around to try to get sparks on people and it also shot out flying missles. It was actually pretty scary, just to watch from outside the gates.

Today was pretty relaxing! We had a huge breakfast, then played the "Global Awareness Game," where we learned about which regions have the most money, debt, houses, access to clean water, money for military, and people. It was actually really interesting and I learned a lot. We also watched a not very exciting movie about "Free Trade." We were all pretty glad when it was over.
This afternoon was the Sweat Lodge at our Guest House. I decided that I wanted to try it and forgot to consider my asthma. Pretty much, there's a big ritual ceremony outside, then they put a lot of incense all around your body and a lot in your face. That was problem #1. Incense and Kristin Unruh are NOT friends. Then they put a sheet around you, you strip down, and crawl into this hot little igloo lookin' thing that was about 4 feet tall and 6 feet across. You go in with a couple of other people. They're supposed to have water that you can splash on you when you get too hot, but since I was in the first group, that was not in there yet. After 1 minute, another girl and I were feeling like we couldn't breathe and I began to panic. We asked to get out. I wish I could have stayed in longer, but I just wasn't feeling it. When I breathed in through my nose, it felt like an inferno. Not a good feeling...  Apparently after a little while, a lady comes in and starts singing and playing a drum, but I wasn't in there long enough to experinece it. I'm glad I tried it, but it just wasn't for me.

Bienvenidos a Mexico!

Yesterday I arrived with my Bethel group in Mexico. The moment that the plane landed, I could tell that we were definitely not in America anymore. I have never felt so out of place in my life. Not only do I not speak the language, but I do not look anything like the people here. (I have not seen a single blonde haired person...) We caught a bus and rode to Cuernavaca where we have been ever since (and will be for the next two weeks). Cuernavaca has about 1.2 million people. The QUEST program is up on a hill on the very edge of the city.

The building where we are staying is the guest house of the QUEST- Mexico program. (If you're interested, here is the website of the program- http://www.quest-mexico.org/ ) It was started by a man who travelled to Mexico from Canada almost 30 years ago to participate in a program similar to this. He loved it so much that he came back the next year and has stayed ever since. He founded this program that explores social justice issues, along with much, much more.

At the house we have dorm style rooms, 3 DELICIOUS meals a day, and there is a classroom where we have learning and discussions. The house is painted bright colors like most of the houses in the area. Our house is green and yellow, but others in the distance are orange and purple. We like to go and relax on the roof of the house and there is a pool up there as well, but the water is FREEZING. Everything is just really open, we have doors on our bedrooms, but that is literally the only place where there are doors.

Today we had our first experiential learning experience. We went to what is called La Estacion or The Station. Summed up, it is pretty much a bunch of shacks that were built around an old train station when it closed down. Gerardo (our leader) said that 6,000 people live there. Their houses are built with old train ties, tin, and cement. Many of the houses just have one room and are very small. Often between 6-12 people live in one house. This was really eye opening and powerful for me. These people have so little. They live in poverty; yet they are so happy. Not just fake happy, but they are truly geninuely happy. We arrived there and divided up into two different groups. Each group had a translator and each went into two different houses. We met the women who lived there and just had a conversation with them about their life, families, and cultural observations.

Tonight there will be a speaker coming to the QUEST house who is a domestic worker and she will share her life story with us. Tomorrow we will do a simulation in the city, which I'm really excited for!

Please comment or feel free to send me questions on facebook! I'd love to hear your thoughts or answer your questions!
Miss you ALL! :)