June 27, 21014

This is my last blog for this trip!

Wednesday night at midnight, I heard something strange.  Somebody was weed eating in the neighbor's yard!!  Then this morning we woke up to fireworks!  I do not understand people and their lack of concern for quiet during the time people are trying to sleep!

Today we gave our final presentation.  It went extremely well.  The professors were very impressed with our powerpoint, the information that we gave, and our professionalism.  We celebrated with lunch at a very nice restaurant with a 4 course meal.  :-)  It was a nice ending to our classes.

A taxi will pick us up 4:30 am tomorrow and our plane leaves at 7am.  This has been a wonderful experience and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in education.  However, I am ready to see my husband and have a week of relaxation.  I have missed my family so much but I know that this was an important time for me.  I'm not sure how I will use the information that I have obtained, but at some point I will.  The presentation that Brandi and I did was designed to be used for us to bring back to the US to help others understand where many of the immigrant children in our classrooms have come from.  This experience has given me a whole new perspective on this area of education as well as the culture.

Thank you to all that have followed my blog.  Thank you for your support!  Now it's time to get ready to leave.  Buenos dias!!

June 24, 2014

Last night we had a huge thunderstorm.  I think some of the lighting strikes must have hit the backyard because of how loud they were.  We even lost power for a little bit.  It rained all night but stopped in time for us to get to class.  :-)

In class today we discussed immigration from a different viewpoint.  We looked at the immigrant children who spend many years in the US and then, for whatever reason, come back to Mexico.  These children tend to be Jr. High-High School age.  They can speak Spanish but do not know how to read or write in Spanish.  In addition, they don't know the culture here.  The teachers are unsure of how to work with these students so many times they are ignored.  Because of the teacher's attitude and the fact that the kids don't fit in, they tend to become bullied.  It is a very rough road for these children--they struggle in America and then they struggle in Mexico.

Many of the activities that we do in class have to do with articles that we read (in Spanish).  Brandi and I take turns reading out loud and then what we don't understand, the professor explains.  We also create dialogs regarding the issue we are studying for the day.  For example, today we were given a case study of an American father who speaks no Spanish and is married to a Peruvian woman.  They both have sons.  The son whose native language is Spanish is struggling in school.  We wrote a dialog, in Spanish, between the father and the son.  We had to include:  how the father could help; what the son struggled with; and how the father could help the son learn English.

My conversations with our host mom really help me to work on my Spanish.  Today I tried explaining what we learned.  It is SO frustrating having all these thoughts but not be able to voice them because of the language.  Maria (host mom) is very patient and tries her best to slow down or help me figure out what I am trying to say.  She and I spoke for 1 1/2 hours today over "cafe y posteles" or coffee and pastries.  My tenses may not be correct, or if I'm really stuck I pull out my translator on my phone, but we still manage to have lengthy conversations!  :-)

Lunch was at Subway, across the street.  We left just in time to avoid the next rain shower!

June 23, 2014

We didn't do much yesterday.  We spent most of the day working on our final presentation.  We got it all put together, in English, and now have to translate it into Spanish.  :-)  We worked at a coffee shop, Gloria Jean, so I had a GOOD latte.  I have pretty much given up on coffee here.  At the house we only have instant coffee.  The restaurants have ok coffee but it is weak--one place brought me coffee that looked like tea and then gave me a side of instant coffee!

Today, we had class and then went to find a new place for lunch.  It was like a Mexican Denny's.  They brought lots of food out.  It was pretty good but I felt rushed.  For the last month, eating has been a very leisurely time.   I absolutely love it.   :-)

We only have 4 more days until we are done here.  I am ready to be back home but before I go home, Mike and I are meeting in Dallas and then heading back to Mexico for a week.  We are going to Akumal, which is south of Cancun.  It's time for relaxation on the beach!  :-)

June 20, 2014

The homework for today's class was to go through 75 competencies (in Spanish) and determine if we do them in our class or schools.  If not, we had to explain (in Spanish) why we didn't and how we could make changes.  Brandi and I were excited to be able to mark "yes" on all of them.  :-)

In class we were given a project to work on.  We had to choose a problem that the Mexican school system has that affects the US.  Then we have to come up with a plan to "fix" the problem.  Brandi and I chose literacy as the problem.  It affects the US because if the immigrant children coming into the country can't read and write in their native language, it will be much more difficult for them to learn to do that in English.  We thought it would be a simple problem with an easy fix.  We just needed to figure out how to get books into the classroom.  Well we were in for a shocker!  This is what we learned:

1. Most people in Mexico do not like to read.
2. Libraries do not have books for children.
3. Public schools do not have books for children, either in the classroom or the school library.
4. There are very few (maybe once a month or every other month) story times for children.  These are at a bookstore.  The local library does not offer story times.
5. Teachers do not read out loud to their students.
6. When the public school students begin high school, they can read but their comprehension is limited.

So the issue of literacy is a cultural issue.  The professor did tell us that some of the radio stations are beginning to give books out as prizes.  The understanding is that if you receive a book, you are to read it and then pass it on to someone else.

Brandi and I were completely overwhelmed by the problem!  We take so many things for granted.  We decided to focus on one small piece instead of being overwhelmed by the big problem.  Several ideas we came up with included:  

1. Focusing on just one school and raising the desire to read and obtaining books for the classrooms.
2. The other idea was to take a day in the Zocolo (park area) and have several people doing story time.  Each child would receive a booklet.  When they went and heard the reading, they would get a stamp or sticker.  When they received all the stamps/stickers, they could turn in their booklet for a free book of their choosing (one of the ones from the readings).

We have to come up with a plan, which includes resources, people that will be involved, etc. as well as how we would implement it.  That is on the agenda for this weekend.

After class we headed to our favorite restaurant and then went in search for some spicy peanuts.  I wanted the specific ones that the restaurant had.  We found the shop and finally figured out which kind of nuts were the ones I wanted.  I had to show a picture of them to the store clerk.  :-)  Then he told me the price per gram.  So I had to ask him how much a gram is?  How many are in a pound?  He smiled and put some in a bag--that was a gram.   It's not just the language we have to adjust to but also sizes, measurements, etc.  It's always a learning experience.  :-)

We then headed off to find sombreros.  I needed 3 for my grandchildren and Brandi needed 2 for her children.  We found the shop we had seen some in and went in.  I tried explaining that I had 3 grandchildren, ages 3 years, 18 months, and 4 months, that I needed sombreros for.  She had a hard time understanding that I had 3 grandchildren.  Then when Brandi told the ages she needed sombreros for, the lady was more confused.  It was kind of funny but finally a lady who spoke some English stepped in and explained.  :-)  We bought our sombreros, caught a cab, and headed home.  

After dinner, we decided to head to Chili's to work.  Their wifi was awful so we didn't get much done.  Back home and off to bed.  Hasta mañana!

June 19, 2014

Today in class we discussed our trip to La Preciocita.  I forgot to add this picture yesterday.  It is the dining room of the house where we had lunch.

 I don't have much to add today.  It was a typical day--class, lunch, homework.  We had lunch at Chili's.  Brandi and I were ready for some American food.  :-)  We then went shopping at the mall nearby.  It is interesting to try and figure out what the sizes are.  Some of the clothes have letters that are for S, M, L (in Spanish of course) and then others have numbers.  The selection was nice and the prices were good.  :-)

We walked home and crashed.  It began raining and cooled things off a little.  It is very hot in the house--no air.  I did find a fan in my closet.  I asked if it worked and if I could use it (it's ancient).  I love it.  It's been very hard to sleep without a fan.  :-)

I stayed up late and worked on my paper for my class back in the states.  It has not been a great experience.  I am not a fan of working off of electronic documents.  I like to have hard copies.  It has been especially difficult with the slow and sporadic internet.  Another thing I am grateful for at home--fast and stable internet.  :-)

June 18, 2014

We were off on adventure today.  We headed to the country to see a rural school.  The town is called La Preciocita.  It is a very interesting town.  It is considered an immigrant town.  At one time 85% of the men had left to go to America to find work.  The women were left to run things.  In a society were machismo (similar to male chauvinist) was very rampant, it was unusual to find women in charge of anything.  30 years ago, a lady named Benita started taking classes at the university to better herself.  She discovered ways that she make money to add to the household finances.  She began to recruit other women and then UPAEP (the university) reached out to partner with them.  The women at that time were very shy.  Over time though, they have become very self-assured and have been able to financially help their families.

With the men gone, the women stepped into leadership positions and began making decisions.  When the recession hit the US, many of the men came back home.  They couldn't find work in the US.  It was an extremely hard adjustment for both husband and wives.  The husbands weren't sure what to do with this new version of their wives.  Some worked things out, but in other families the women had to quit taking classes.

Today, the community still has about 50% of the men gone.  The new generation of families works very differently.  They work more like partners.  They both do what they can to help the family's finances.

One way that money is brought into the community is through UPAEP.  They bring students out to the community for service learning projects.  The students come out and stay in host homes.  They paint the schools, help in the schools, put on dental clinics, etc.  UPAEP pays the families that host the students.  They also give the community money whenever they bring people out to tour.

Our tour consisted of driving through the town--I use the term driving very loosely, it's more like bouncing.  We observed the Kindergarten, Elementary, and Junior High schools.  They do not have a High School.  It is very hard to get teachers out to the rural schools.  They are paid less than other teachers, the living conditions are not very good, and travel to and from the school takes quite awhile.

The road

Sheep and Goat Herding

Kindergarten

Elementary School

Junior High

After our observations, we ate lunch at one of the homes.  We found out that the bathrooms are outside the home and hot water has to be heated by fire.  Many things that we take for granted, these people live without.

They raise their own food--vegetables, fruit, chickens, pigs, etc.  Driving in town we saw raw chickens hanging up where they had just been butchered and cleaned.  At another house there was a pig hanging up that was being butchered.  When our hostess informed us that the chicken we were eating was fresh, I had to try really hard not to think about the chicken hanging up outside.  Other than that, the food was excellent.  Everything was made from scratch and organic.

We made it back home, took a siesta, ate dinner and then worked on homework for tomorrow's class.  

June 17, 2014

Another day of Spanish/Education class.  We are learning Spanish but we are also learning about education, immigration, and common practices.  What absolutely shocked me was to hear the professor start discussing constructivism and Vygotsky!!!!  She told us that starting in about 2000.  It began in the universities and has slowly made its way into the classrooms.  Many teachers are still fighting it.  Teachers that have been in the classroom for 20-30 years do not have any desire to change.  They still teach in the traditional way--lecturing, teacher is all-knowing and is expected to put knowledge into the students.  

After class we tried a new restaurant.  It was ok--nothing exciting.  I tried fundido con carnitas.  It is thick, hot cheese topped with slices of meat.  You eat it on tortillas.  It was ok.  Kind of bland.  I won't order it again.  :-)

Later that night we walked across the street and ate at Subway.  What an experience ordering my sandwich in Spanish!  It was very good.  

Back at home to work on homework--the house is so hot.  We haven't had rain in a few days so it is very uncomfortable.  I do miss air-conditioning.  :-)

June 16, 2015

Spanish class was on the schedule for today.  For the rest of the time we are here we have Spanish from 9-12.  The teacher is very good.  She lectures for part of the time, but has us do activities the rest of the time.  Since it is just Brandi and I in the class, we can stop and clarify what we don't understand or what is different from what we have learned.  We even did a role play today!  :-)

Afterwards, we went to the Zocalo for lunch.  The Margarita Pizza is amazing at Vittorio's!  Eating is such a relaxing time--we actually have to ask for the check when we are ready.  After lunch we decided to shop in the Parian, which is the area where there are many different shops and street vendors.  We shopped for a vase for my sister.  She wanted a specific pattern of the Talavera pottery.   We went in shop after shop showing the picture I had.  We finally found one that was similar.  I decided that I could decorate my kitchen and guest bathroom with Talavera pottery.  I found a sink that was absolutely gorgeous, but there was no way to get it home.  :-(

While shopping, we heard many giggles behind us.  We knew that high schoolers were giggling about something.  They finally got up their nerve to approach us.  They were supposed to interview someone in English.  We agreed.  We explained that we were teachers and understood the importance of their assignment.  We spent about 15 minutes answering their questions.  They seemed thrilled that we loved their city, their food, and that we were working on learning their language.  It was one more time that I thought, kids are kids regardless of culture or language!  :-)  It was a fun conversation.

We finally made it home for a siesta.  Our host mom was going out to watch the World Cup.  We finally got up and decided to head out to a restaurant that Brandi has frequented often.  The atmosphere was great.  I found a new favorite wine and the dessert was wonderful.  A very nice place to write this blog.  :-)

I cannot tell you how wonderful this experience has been.  As hard as it has been to be away from my family and to do without the comforts of home, it has been well worth it.  Even with the struggles we have had--bus, taxi, huge bugs in my bedroom, and the language barriers--it has been an unbelievable experience.  We have had people that were so helpful, who were patient with our horrible Spanish, and a wonderful host mom that is willing to help in any way she could.  We have learned so much about the culture, about immigration, and about how others live.  It has been a great opportunity!  The greatest accomplishment for me is that I have broken out of my shell and began speaking Spanish.  I have always understood so much more than I can speak but this trip has forced me to overcome the fear of looking foolish and begin to actually speak.  My accent is still horrible but at least people understand me and if they don't, I just act out what I'm trying to say.  :-)

I have enjoyed this experience so much that I have thought about being the person who brings students down here to learn about Mexico's education system and culture.  They have a wonderful program at UPAEP that I think many students in education would really benefit from.  Until tomorrow!  :-)

June 15, 2014

Today was a relaxing day. We had to write a 1-page paper (in Spanish) about our reactions to the documentary De Nadie. I’m so glad we could work on it together.  It is very frustrating to have such complex thoughts and have to put those into simple sentences that we could translate.  We asked our host mom to review it to make sure our Spanish was correct, and we were happy to get the thumbs up from her!

As a reward for our hard work, we visited the Angelopolis Mall. It was a very high-end mall. It had a Prada, Michael Kors, Coach, and Burberry store, among others. The prices were very high; we went into a Sears thinking that we might find some good deals, but we couldn't find anything cheaper than about $50!

After shopping for a while, went to the Zocalo. It seems to be our standard hang out place.  We tried some of Puebla's world-famous churros. Yum! I'm amazed that they only cost about a quarter apiece. We walked the streets and window-shopped, and went into the Woolworth's (yep, WOOLWORTH'S).  It was a very busy place!  Lots of fun items but no Thank You cards and no power strips (I’m tired of only being able to charge 1 thing at a time). 

June 14, 2014

Today we left for Tepoztlan, a small town in the mountains.  It was about a 2 hour drive from Puebla. We drove through the mountains/hills and were able to see the volcano blowing steam.  It is an active volcano.

When we reached the town it was amazing.  The roads were narrow and made like cobblestone--rocks placed in cement.

Streets

It was hard getting around because on most streets only one car could fit.  So if 2 cars were coming from opposite directions, one had to back up so the other one could pass.

Narrow Streets

There were many small shops that we were able to explore.  The whole town was getting ready for a celebration of some kind so it was a very busy place.

Band

We chose to walk through the town and shop instead of hiking for 45 minutes to see the pyramid.  Even still we walked 4 miles!





The mountains were absolutely gorgeous.  Very different than the ones I've seen before.

Street with Shops

June 13, 2014

Today in Spanish class we explored the topic of migration of Central Americans to the United States. This was a very timely topic given the recent news coverage of Central American immigrant children in the US. We watched a documentary about the journey that Central Americans make through Mexico on their way to the US. The journey is incredibly dangerous, and there is a very high probability that the immigrants will be severely injured, killed, robbed, kidnapped, and/or raped on their journey. Yet despite these dangers, thousands still attempt the journey because their homelands are dangerous and/or lack economic opportunities. We will continue to discuss this topic further over the next two weeks. We were supposed to visit a rural school today, but that trip was postponed because Mexico played in the World Cup today and school was cancelled. (!!!) Mexico ended up winning. It is interesting to be in a town full of soccer fanatics when their team plays in the World Cup.

After class, we stopped off at a supermarket called Chedraui, which is similar to Walmart. We were mildly horrified by how some foods-- such as raw meat-- were not kept in refrigerated sections. This could explain why Brandi keeps getting sick. :\ 

We visited the Biblioteca Palafoxiana . It is the oldest public library in the Americas, and it has an amazing and beautiful collection of books, some dating back to the 1400s. We were disappointed that the library did not have informational placards or a tour guide to help us understand the significance of all of the books. Also, we were forbidden from taking any photographs, but here's a photo of the library taken from the Puebla tourism site:

After visiting the library, we relaxed for a little bit at a little outdoor cafe in the Zocalo. We went to bed early so that we could be ready for Saturday's trip to Tepoztlan.