Reorientation is Better with Karaoke and Donkeys

All of my fellow Fulbrighters and I gathered this week for a re-orientation. The English Teaching Assistants (ETAs) met in Mexico City Tuesday morning before heading over to San Miguel de Allende in the state of Guanaguato in the afternoon. We took part in round table discussions and listened to presentations about English teaching resources provided by the United States and Mexican governments. There was also a great presentation on translanguaging (using a student’s native language to support the development of a second language). The presenter was preaching bilingual education and I was loving it. We had the fanciest comida corrida I have eaten in Mexico thus fart. It included soup with anise, chicken with a corn sauce and pureed sweet potatoes. Delicious. Then we hopped on the bus to meet the research Fulbrighters in San Miguel. It only took 5 hours and one police stop. The program fed us very well the whole week. There was a plated dinner waiting for us when we arrived at the hotel. We didn’t arrive until about 10PM so we just relaxed after dinner.

Wednesday was filled with lots of learning! All of the ETAs and researchers prepared a 7-minute presentation on the work they’ve done in the past 4.5 months. We were divided into groups to hear the presentations. What the researchers are doing is especially interesting to me because of the variety of topics from fishing laws to cultural inclusion to custody of people with special needs. After lunch, a group of us went to a mask museum. It was a personal collection of a man from the United States who had an interest in masks and the rituals associated with them so he made a museum behind the bed and breakfast he owns. There were hundreds of masks. Before that, I hadn’t realized how prominent they are in the Mexican culture. When we returned to the hotel, everyone took part in another round table discussion about culture shock and life after the grant. I like the round table discussion. Then the ETAs had their own special session about English grammar. Many people think that we are English experts but a lot of us have never studied English. Granted, it’s our native language but it’s nice to have a refresher course on it even though it was a little dry. At night, we got dinner on our own so Jordan, Meg, Britney, Charllotte, Preston and I went to a little restaurant on the way downtown. It was filled with elderly English-speaking white people. They make up the majority of the population in San Miguel.

On Thursday morning we heard more grantee presentations and had a classroom management workshop with little to do with classroom management. It was more like a vent session. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it. After lunch we had a goal setting session and Q&A. At night, the Binational Business (BBs) grantees arrived to do the cultural activities with us. We went on a walking tour of San Miguel to learn about legends and historical buildings and facts. The weather is beautiful in San Miguel so it was a nice walk. After the tour some of us found a bar with a 2 for 1 margarita special so we obviously took part in that “cultural event”. However, the waitress saw a bunch of Americans and tried to charge us for 13 more drinks than we actually had. When we finished explaining that we aren’t tourists, we went to a karaoke bar across the street. It was the highlight of orientation. All the Fulbrighters took command of the microphone. We were singing in English, Spanish and Spanglish until the bar closed at 4. Successful night of bonding.

Friday was the last day. After checking out of our rooms and having some breakfast we went to a ranch for some good ‘ol Mexican fun. What does that include? Chicken chasing, tug-of-war, potato sack races, and bare-back donkey riding/racing. We divided up into teams of 4 and each sent teach members for each task. My team was beast at tug of war. Thanks to my mad strength. Totally kidding. After the games, the people on the ranch made us a typical Mexican meal. This included tacos of various kinds of meat, beans, rice, salsas, chips, fresh fruit and naturally flavored water. It was a great way to end orientation. From there we took buses to our various destinations. It was sad leaving everyone because that’s the last time we will all be together. Guess that means I will just have to plan more trips to visit everyone!

Hightlights: Hamburgers, Break Up Letters, and Pyramids

Another weekend, another trip! I spent this weekend in Mexico City. It was a long weekend for me because I didn’t have to teach Monday due to orientation being this week. I got to Mexico City Saturday night just in time to go out for burgers: real, delicious hamburgers. It was at a place called Butchers & Sons. I also indulged in a spiked mint chocolate milkshake, which was a first for me. Heaven on earth. Paulina was a doll and let Britney, Preston, Jemina, and I crash at her place. Some of us ran a 12K in the morning. I was sleeping. When Jemina and I woke up we attempted to find a Catholic church for mass. We walked around for an hour but didn’t find one with a mass starting when we arrived. We decided to eat instead. We went to brunch with everyone and went to mass after brunch.

After mass, we met up with Preston, Britney and her roommate in Bosque de Chapultepec. They went to the castle while Jemina and I munched on some fresh fruit with granola and icing and went to Tamayo. It’s a modern art museum. It was one of the coolest museums I had ever been to. My favorite exhibit was about a break up letter. The artist received an email from her lover saying that they couldn’t see each other anymore. She translated the letter and gave it to more than 100 women to read from different professions and cultures to interpret. Some wrote songs, others danced and acted, while others wrote a written response. It was so interesting to see how these women described the man who wrote the letter. Most were negative comments but interesting, none the less. We met up with Preston and Britney after to get some food. Then we collected our things and headed to the next apartment. We played musical apartments for sleeping arrangements. Somehow, we were hungry again so we went out for tacos across the street. When we got to Juan’s place, we started to watch The Great Gatsby but we fell asleep.

Monday was Teotihuacan day! Round 2 to Teotihuacan for me. We got up bright and early and found a deliciously affordable breakfast spot a few blocks from the apartment, bought some snacks and were on our way to the pyramids. We took the metro and a bus to get there. It was a perfect day to be outside but I underestimated the sun. So did Jordan, poor thing. I had been to the pyramids before but this time we made friends with the vendors. I asked how much a necklace was and the man told me $700 pesos. I politely declined and he lowered the price to $100 pesos. What is that?! Another man taught us how to use the whistles that sound like animal calls. When we finally got to the top of the pyramid of the sun, we wanted to touch the center part to get some energy from the universe but there were people meditating around it. We patiently waited our turn.

Once we hiked all the important pyramids, we got back on the bus to head back to the city. Lots of traffic. I separated from the group to go to a game night so that Mexico City residents can practice their English. It was a lot of fun! We played Apples to Apples for a couple hours. They all spoke really well! It was enjoyable teaching them phrases and events. There were about 18 adults in my group. After game night I met up with everyone in the hotel that we were staying at for orientation. Some of us for P.F. Changs for dinner. It’s so good no matter what country you’re in. Catie, Jordan, Preston and I watched some Arrested Development then hit the hay to rest up for orientation that started on Tuesday.

Volcanoes and Butterflies

Another adventure-filled weekend! Jemina, Bruno and I woke up bright and early on Saturday to go to Nevado de Toluca. It’s a dormant volcano about an hour away from Toluca and the area is considered a national park. The last time it erupted the lava formed a “bellybutton” over the opening so it looks like a mountain with a lagoon on each side all inside of a giant crater. It’s SUPER busy on the weekends and even more so in the winter when it’s covered in snow. The wait to get to the entrance by car was more than an hour. We drove up as far as we could then started our 5-hour walking journey. It took about an hour to get from the car to the edge of the crater. It’s especially difficult to breathe because the altitude is so high that there’s a lack of oxygen. It’s 4,300 meters above sea level. And cold. I wore two long sleeve shirts, a jacket, two pairs of pants, two pairs of socks, a hat and gloves. And that’s when the sun is out.

Once we got to the edge, we decided that we were going to descend to check out the lagoons. The trek down the edge of the crater was so steep. Definitely not handicapped friendly. We took some pictures at the Moon Lagoon (it’s the smaller one of the two), ate lunch and hiked through the snow around the bellybutton to the other one. There was only snow on one side of the inside of the crater because the sun had melted it on the other side. The Sun Lagoon is bigger but simpler. We decided to climb up another way that is easier and next to the Sun Lagoon. I was relieved when we got back up to the edge of the crater because that meant no more uphill climbing! We made the hour-long descend to the car, taking bets on how long it would take. Jemina won. We drove half way down and stopped for food since we were craving elote (corn on the cob with mayo, cheese and chili powder). We also had soup and tacos. Then we drove back to Toluca.

On Sunday Bruno and I went to a butterfly reserve to see monarch butterflies about an hour and a half away from Toluca on the way to Valle de Bravo. More climbing up mountains. Yay. It was a walk in the park compared to Saturday though. The reserve was cool. There were vendors, restaurants, a zip line, and the option of riding horses up the mountain. We opted to walk because we hadn’t walked all weekend. When we got up as far as we could we were able to see millions of butterflies all huddled together on tree branches. They were in the shape of beehives. It was relatively cold so they were trying to stay warm, huddles together. When the sun was out, they would fly. You can only see this in certain places at certain times of the year and pictures don’t do it justice. There were a lot of dead butterflies on the ground that people would pick up to take pictures with. But no one was allowed to take them with because every year the monarchs come back to look for them. We learned how to identify male and female butterflies. The black veins on a male butter are thinner and there are two dark circles, one on each wing. The females have thicker veins and no circles. We took lots of pictures then headed back down the mountain to good ‘ol Toluca.

Los pirámides de Malinalco

I’m back on my weekend trip grind! This past weekend Bruno and I went to the “pueblo mágico” of Malinalco. It’s in the state of Mexico about an hour from Toluca. We arrived early Saturday afternoon and headed straight for the pyramids….after stopping for beer and ice cream to enjoy on the climb up. It was about 400 stairs to get to the pyramids. In the 1470s, the Aztecs conquered the area and established a sanctuary for their military called House of Eagles. It was built on the side of the mountain next to the pyramids. It’s a semi-circular room that was used to see if warriors-in-training were worthy enough to become the real deal. I’m amazed by the quantity of the pyramids in Mexico.

After we made the climb down (which was much easier than the climb up) we went to a university-sponsored museum about the Malinalco and its beginnings. What I loved most about it is that in every room there was a person to explain the highlights of the exhibit. One of the exhibits was under the glass floor. It was an exhibit of some of the minerals and rocks of the area. It was very cleverly done. The semi-circular room on the mountain is no longer open to the public to walk through it so the museum had a replica that could be entered. It’s shaped as a snake and you walk in through its mouth.

We were starving after all the climbing and looking so we went to a well-known trout restaurant. I’m not big on fish but I thought it was necessary so I womaned-up and ordered a Hawaiian style trout. I at least thought they would take off the head, tail, and skin! It was like they plucked the poor thing right out of the water and gave it to me wrapped in foil. It was difficult to look at it and to avoid all of the tiny ribs but I did it! Not sure if I would voluntarily do it again but it was a good one-time experience. For dessert we went to an ice cream shop because Malinalco is known for their ice cream. Yes, we had ice cream twice in one day.

On Sunday we went out to breakfast at a cute little outdoor cafe then we headed to mass in a church attached to a convent with Franciscan monks still living there. The Divino Salvador Convent had beautifully painted walls with all sorts of embedded meaning. We took a tour to understand all of the black-and-white paintings. When we left, we headed to the market for a snack. We had a huge helping of fresh fruit with granola and icing. We were going to get ice cream …again but decided fruit might be a better choice. They sold everything in the market from traditional clothes and hand-made jewelry to fresh sweet bread and native fruits.  After exploring the market we packed up and headed back.

We stopped in Metepec on the way back to Toluca. It’s another pueblo mágico right outside of Toluca. We walked around and looked at the shops. They have many art shops and traditional clothing from other parts of Mexico. Then we climbed up el Calvario to see the church. It’s a massive hill with a church on top. The view was great and the church was adorned in gold accents over white paint. For Christmas, the steps leading up to the church had a life-size nativity scene complete with wise men and animals. Then we went to a clay museum. The best exhibit was of the trees of life. They even had miniature ones! “Arboles de la vida” are typical of Mexico and very expensive because they are so detailed. We ended the adventure with pizza at an Italian restaurant which was pretty tasty for being located in Mexico!

La Vida en la Playa

Just got back from Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco! Well technically we stayed in Nuevo Vallarta, Nayarit which is next door. Bruno and I made the 10-hour drive on Tuesday. We arrived around 11PM. In total there were 11 of us who rented a house near the beach. We had a last-minute house switch and the one we stayed in was in a gated condominium community. It had 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, fully furnished with pots and pans and all!

I was really good about exercising on the trip and ran about 5K every day but one. After my run on Wednesday morning, we all hit the beach! It was only a 15-minute walk from the house. We stayed there most of the day. It’s was in the 80s and sunny the whole week. The beach was pretty crowded. We got hungry so we all went out for comida. When we left, we headed to Walmart to do some grocery shopping for the week then went back to the house to get ready for NYE dinner in downtown Puerto Vallarta! We were all pretty full from comida so we had appetizers and drinks at the restaurant. Then we walked down the boardwalk. We made it back to the house just in time for midnight! We all ate 12 grapes (one for each month of the upcoming year) and chilled at the house for the night because it would have cost an arm and a leg to go out in Vallarta NYE.

On Thursday we hit up the pool in the complex. Unfortunately, it was the only place with wifi. The water was unbelievably cold but it was totally worth it to cool off. We headed to the beach to watch the sunset. So beautiful. At night, some of us went to Puerto Vallarta to watch the Ohio vs. Alabama football game. Ohio won and I can’t forget the OH-IO chant even if I wanted to. We walked on the boardwalk to a bar for a little bit then headed back to the house.

Friday night we had a good ‘ol American cookout with burgers and dogs on the grill! Burgers and dogs on the grill isn’t a thing in Mexico like it is in the US. Mexicans grill but it’s usually a slab of meat. The irony was that the only two Mexicans in the house did the grilling. And they did a great job at that! After dinner we played some games and went to a club in Puerto Vallarta. I was passed out by the time we got home. I slept on Jordan’s back in the car. So I took a little nap in the car while everyone continued the party.

Saturday we explored a new beach in the afternoon after going to the pool in the morning. It was Punta de Mita. It was a cute, smaller beach town. The beach was pretty but the rocks were so painful for my feet! It was crazy how far out you could walk and still have your head above water. I paddle boarded for the first time! I knew you had to have good balance but you also have to pay attention at all times! I fell off twice. The second time I walked right off the back of the board as I was trying to tell Bruno how to paddle. I guess that’s what I get for telling him how to paddle board because he didn’t fall at all! We stayed until the sun set. We made a delicious spaghetti dinner with garlic bread and my bean dip as we watched Frozen to end the trip. We packed up camp Sunday morning and headed back to Toluca. I already miss the warm weather!

Navidad en México

Christmas is celebrated a little differently here in Mexico. People start 9 days before Christmas with posadas, which literally means hotel or inn in Spanish. They happen every night for 9 nights leading up to Christmas. Christmas Eve is the last night of the posadas. Posadas are a ritual re-enactment of Mary and Joseph’s search for lodging in Bethlehem. People host them in there houses and neighborhoods also host them. It involves singing, similar to caroling. There’s a certain song that is sung back-and-forth between the people inside the house and outside the house. At the end, the people inside open the door and invite the people outside into the house. There is usually food and drink such as ponche (hot fruit punch) and aguinaldos (goody-bags filled with fruit or candy). To celebrate the arrival of the pilgrims, everyone hits a piñata or two. The typical shape is a circle with 7 points, signifying the 7 deadly sins. It’s broken to show overcoming evil and the candy or fruit inside are the prize for keeping faith. There’s also a song that’s sung while each person takes a turn hitting the piñata:

“Dale, dale, dale, no perdas el tino, 
porque si lo perdes, pierdes el camino. 
Esta piñata es de muchas mañas, sólo contiene naranjas y cañas.”

Hit, hit, hit. 
Don’t lose your aim, 
Because if you lose, you lose the road. 
This piñata is much manna, only contains oranges and sugar cane.”

When I went to the neighborhood posada, there were hundreds of people waiting outside a home. Then a procession carrying statues of Mary and Joseph covered in garlands and lights arrived from around the corner and stopped outside the home. Each night they went to a different street and celebrated with the neighbors from that street. The procession of people sang to the people inside the house and they rested the statues outside the home for people to honor. Then we all formed lines to receive the aguinaldos. Earlier in the week, people from the neighborhood donated fruit for the aguinaldos. Inside was a variety of fruit such as oranges, sugar cane, peanuts, and mandarins. Then we waited for ponche. There was a band setting up at the end of the street, getting ready to perform and have people dance. While the band set up, people hung a piñata above the street and children took turns hitting it.

This is my first year being away from my family for Christmas. My mentor was generous enough to take me in for the holidays. We went to her hometown of Atlacomulco on Christmas Eve. We ate lunch at 3 when we arrived and continued to cook for the big Christmas Eve dinner. At 7:30, we went to her grandmother’s house. We being me, Gabby, her parents, her younger sister, her older sister and the husband and three daughters of her older sister. There was already other family members that had arrived before us. There were 16 of us in total. Before dinner we opened presents. One person opened a present at a time. After each gift was opened, we applauded and said “Bravo!”. In my family, we all open all of ours at the same time so it usually goes pretty quickly. Gabby’s family bought me a Frida Kahlo frame. It has glitter. It’s awesome. Everyone chatted for a couple hours then ate around 11:15PM. We had turkey stuffed with a meat concoction, bread, a chilled veggie salad, and a couple of fruit salads which are known as “ensaladas de Nochebuena” (Christmas Eve salads). One was like a Hawaiian salad with fruit and cream. The other was colored by beet juice. I made my favorite holiday dish: candied yams. There was none left so I think it’s safe to say that people enjoyed it. Everything was delicious. For dessert we had a wreath-shaped jello. Jello is really popular here in Mexico. The flavor of the one we had on Christmas Eve was cappuccino and marshmallow. We left around 1:30AM and went to another family member’s house to greet them. We “greeted” them until 3:30AM. But we also ate more dessert and sang karaoke. I sang a song I had never heard of about finding love in a bazaar. It was from the 80s. I killed it. No big deal.

On Christmas Day, we went back to Toluca to celebrate with Mariano’s family (Gabby’s boyfriend and my Mexican father-figure). We went to his aunt’s house and I swear every person that walked in was his aunt or uncle. There were 18 of us and the majority were aunts or uncles. We spanned across the whole living room and dining room. Two of his aunts lived in the house and served us a course at a time. First was Mexican rice. Chris would have been in heaven. Then we had bacalao, which is cod. It was served shredded with potatoes and vegetables. The final course was a cactus dish. Cactus is common here in Mexico and actually quite tasty. This dish had a little kick to it but I was able to eat it. My stomach can’t handle foods that are too spicy. For dessert we had strawberry cake and chocolate cake filled with the best chocolate crème I’ve ever tasted in my life.

When we drove back to Gabby’s house in Atlacomulco when we finished eating to celebrate with her immediate family. We played a grab-bag game where you had to guess who bought you a gift. Each person in the family only bought one gift for another person. If you guessed your gift-giver correctly, you could open your gift. If not, you had to take a shot of vodka. I’m sorry to say that I guessed wrong multiple times. Thankfully, the limit was two shots. And they were baby shots. Gabby gave me a beautiful blue scarf. Another family tradition of there is to take a picture with the person who gave you the gift before you open it. I also saw this picture-taking tradition when I went to another Christmas party earlier in December. For dinner, we feasted on leftovers from Christmas Eve. We had fruit salads and turkey sandwiches. I love leftovers.

I’m so thankful that Gabby invited me to celebrate Christmas with her family. They were all so welcoming, just as they were on Mexican Independence Day in September. They said that their home is my home and I can come whenever I want. Mexican hospitality is unbelievably wonderful.

10-Hour Mexican Weddings

I got to go to my first Mexican wedding on Saturday! It was Bruno’s best friend who got married. The wedding was gorgeous. It was at a functioning ranch near Toluca called “Rancho el Mesón”. The ceremony was in a church two blocks away. People threw rice as they walked out of the church doors. Everyone drove over to the ranch and was escorted to the yard in back where the reception was held. They had couches set up and servers walking around with drinks and appetizers while the wedding party took pictures. There is no such thing as groomsmen in Mexico, but there are bridesmaids. They had a picture of the couple set up and everyone left a message and signed the mat around it. There was also a bird cage with mix CDs of love music inside, which guests were invited to take. Closer to the reception tent there were dressers with candy, snacks, slippers, and shawls for later in the night. It was something right off of Pinterest!

After pictures, there was a civil ceremony. Sometimes couples do the civil ceremony the same day as the wedding and sometimes a different day with another reception. This couple chose to do it in one day. The civil ceremony is where the bride, groom, parents of both, and four other witnesses sign the document that says the couple is married in the eyes of the government. The ceremony was on an island-like thing in the yard where you had to cross a wooden bridge to get to it. Adorable.

Then the reception started! When the sun was out, it was in the 60s but it got cold at night so the sides of the tent rolled down. We were served dinner and while we ate there was a saxophonist. The tradition of the first dance is the same in Mexico. The bride and groom danced to All of Me by John Legend. The bride threw her bouquet and the groom, the garter. Then they did they thing where the bride and groom each stood on their own chairs and the single women formed a large circle around them and tried to knock them off the chairs. There were about 4 men protecting the bride and 4 protecting the groom. Then the single men did the same thing. Thankfully, no one was actually knocked down.

When the DJ was playing music when we were entering the yard, it was mostly electronic music in English which, obviously, I loved. It was surprising because I think I was the only person who knew the songs. After dinner there was more music and … DANCING! But it’s good dancing: like salsa and cumbia. I don’t know how I’m going to survive without that kind of dancing in the U.S. when I get back. I think I’ll have to open a salsa club or something. The dance floor was something out of a Michael Jackson video. It was squares that lit up all different colors. I don’t know how so many women survived the whole in heels. And I mean stilettos. I brought my flats to change into. There were all kinds of dresses: short, tight, long, everything. Around 10PM we were asked to step outside the tent because there were FIREWORKS. What?! I’ve never been to a wedding with fireworks. When we went back inside, our post-dinner meal was waiting for us. Shredded chicken on baguettes with a red salsa on top. I love Mexico. When we were eating, the banda group arrived and played for about an hour. The whole event was about 10 hours long. And it kept going after we left. What a wonderful day!