Final Post in Mexico

Hello to all,

This will be my last entry from Mexico, I have only a few days left and I will be arriving back to the states on Tuesday the 30th of June. Just to give you a short update...I had a great birthday here in Mexico, it was nice to be able to get lots of my friends together to celebrate my birthday which also served as a going away party. We had a potluck style dinner complete with piñatas. I made pizzas and everyone brought something to share. It was great to get most of my good friends together in the same place, as I have met people through school, soccer, weaving workshop, friends of friends, etc. We had a really good time together, for me it was a really special time to realize how many great people I have met here who have offered me and taught me so much.

In thinking about leaving, it`s been difficult to see everything that I have done here in the last 6 months come to an end little by little. I am now done with my classes and have said goodbye to my professors and many of my fellow students. But in the midst of saying goodbye which is difficult, I am really grateful to have had this experience and to have spent the last 6 months of my life here, I wouldnt trade the difficulty of leaving for the satisfaction that I have gained and the amount that I have learned here.

I am however, looking forward to seeing people that I havent seen for a good while back home. It will be great to see family and friends back in the states and be able to catch up after 6 months apart. Well, I will make this entry short and leave it at that. I hope everyone is well back home, see you in a few short days!

Time winding down, but in the meantime...

Hello everyone!

Well, its starting to become more of a reality for me that in about 2 weeks I will be back in the US, making a big shift from what I have lived the last 6 months. Becoming the majority after getting used to being the minority, speaking english, etc. It´s difficult to invision all the changes that will take place, and its probably best that I just let myself experience them, although I have been thinking some recently about what it will feel like to go back to harrisonburg, a city so familiar to me, yet so different than xalapa that it might feel foreign for a while. Anyhow, returning is definitely on my mind, but not so much so that I´ve forgotten to enjoy my last 2 weeks here to the fullest.

First and foremost, I forgot that I havent written on this blog since the most recent big change in my life and in our family...the birth of my new niece Lydia who was born a week ago! Ive very excited to be an uncle and was lucky enough to have the opportunity to get to meet her over skype last monday. She didnt have too much to say but by the look on her face, she is overjoyed to have joined the family and I think we are just as happy to have welcomed her as the newest member of the clan. Of course I´m looking forward to getting to meet her in real life here in a few weeks to test out my uncle skills.

Life here in Xalapa has continued to cruise along, this past weekend has been especially full of activities. Yesterday, Saturday, I got to experience a graduation banquet here with a bunch of friends, which was a formal night full of food and dancing. We got done with the celebration at around 4:30 in the morning and I caught a few hours of sleep before getting up this morning to head to a city in Puebla to celebrate another friends birthday. We arrived there this afternoon and hung out and enjoyed pozole, a traditional mexican soup, and birthday cake. We also stopped off at a natural swimming hole to take a dip in the crystal clear water. This evening, we headed back to Xalapa and I actually just got in a few minutes ago. I´m pretty exhausted from the weekend so I´ll probably be heading to bed before too long.

School continues to go well, the main thing I´m working on at the moment is a final project in my chicana literature class. I read a book by a chicana author and I´m now in the process of writing a research paper about several themes in the book. I spent most of last friday working on the paper and its getting close to being finished. My classes will be wrapping up here soon, I was expecting to have more work at the end of the semester, so it really shouldnt be too stressful.

I´ve continued to play and watch soccer here, more now than I had in the last few months which has been really fun. Mexico has had several national team games, which are always fun to watch as well as the final in the mexican national league. I also found some guys who play every saturday in the afternoon, so I´ve played with them the last 2 weekends. I also semi joined a team who plays a few times a week at night on a cool artificial turf field. They invited to play with them because they are coworkers of alejandro and found out that I enjoy playing.

Well, I´ll leave it at that for now, I´ve left out a ridiculous amount of my daily life and rountine here, but as I´ll be coming back so soon, I will hopefully have a chance to share way more details with you soon. I hope everyone is doing super well back in the states. This may be my last blog entry, we´ll see how things go. If I do something super exciting and I have time to write about it, I´ll put it up. If not, I´ll see everyone in about 2 weeks or soon after! Take care,

Tio David

Enjoyment with Tlen Huicani and Temascal

The last week or so has continued to go super well here in Xalapa, with lots of fun with friends and my host family, as well as new and really unique experiences. The 2 highlights of the new experiences being a Temascal and a private concert with Tlen Huicani. Bueno, a temascal is basically a prehispanic sauna, although the experience is much different than a sauna. I wasnt sure if I would like it because I´m not too fond of saunas, but I loved the Temascal. There is picture below of what it looks like, but it´s basically a cave constructed out of sticks, clay and concrete. The temascal that we went to was homemade by two really interesting brothers. They are about my age and live in a tree house that they built as well (picture below). Their family owns a plant business and their father, although he cant read or write, knows an incredible amount about plants.

Anyway to do the temascal, you make a bonfire to heat up volcanic rocks and boil water to make an herbal tea. Then you climb into the temascal and pour the boiling tea over the hot rocks to make a vapor. Its a really intense experience because the waves of vapor give you the impression that you cant breath, but you have to relax and breath calmy the steamy hot vapor. The idea is that the experience cleans your body of impurities. The whole experiences lasts about 30 minutes inside the temascal and when you get out, you pour cold water over yourself to close the pores in your skin. We did the temascal at night and whole experience was incredible, you leave feeling really relaxed by at the same time energized.

The other really neat experience that I had this last week was the opportunity to listen in on a group called Tlen Huicani while they practiced. Tlen Huicani is a world renowed group from Xalapa that plays Son Jarocho (the traditional music of Veracruz) and other styles of music from Mexico. If you search on youtube there are lots of videos of the group playing in various different countries and wikipedia also has a page about them. They have earned numerous awards and were/are considered the best folkoric band in all of Mexico. The director of the group is the uncle of Alejandro, my good friend from Xalapa, who has traveled to 70 different countries during his tours with group! So his uncle invited us to their practice in his house so we got to listen to them play for about 3 hours. At the end of the session, Alejandros uncle gave me two autographed discs of the group which I wasnt expecting at all, it was enough just to get to hear them play in a free concert in their living room.

Other fun things that have happened recently: I got to go see my mexican nephew play in an american football game. He plays for a local team here in Xalapa, and they are actually playing in the semifinal of a regional tournament today in the capital. Last night, I went to really cool reggae concert of another local band called the Aguas Aguas. The concert took place outside in the patio of a really old community in the city in which they have a communal patio and the apartments of families surrounding the patio. I also had the opportunity to go to a really interesting conference about Political Torture here in Mexico. Two fairly young ladies shared their experiences about being abused and raped by police for having participated in a protest. They were really powerful testimonies of sometimes the level of corruption and abuse of power that happens here in Mexico (and in many other parts of the world). I´ve also celebrated various birthdays of friends I have made here in Xalapa, in which we have sang Karaoke or danced salsa. We also had a farewell dinner for the people in my group who are now back in the States. The majority left, there are now just 5 of us still here in Mexico.

My classes continue to go well, its nice to just have 3 classes, I´ve found lots of other things to do to fill up my time. I´m also really enjoying my new host family, I really enjoy our conversations and joking around with them. My host dad is quite a character, he is a really humorous person, so there is never lack of conversation or fun. They have a tradition of getting all the family together (aunts, uncles, grandsons, etc) every saturday which I really like. We spend the day eating and talking. Anyway, Ill leave it there for now. See everyone in a month! (as I looked at the date, I realize I will be back in the states a month from today)

Pictures:

1-Game of Futbol Americano

2-Me with some friends, celebrating a birthday

3-concert with Tlen Huicani

4-concert with Tlen Huicani

5-companeros from my anthropology class, with my professor in the front

6-the temascal

7-the tree house where the brothers who built the temascal live

End of Classes at EEE, new host family

Hola a todos y todas,
The last few weeks have been great, but very busy here in Xalapa. My classes at the school for foreign students ended today as I took my last final exam. Ive had more homework these days because of the crunch from days lost due to the influenza and the fact that we had such little time left at the school for foreign students. So from here until the end of June, Ill only have 3 classes which will be nice, but I should be stay pretty busy with final projects in those 3 classes.

Recently Ive been just enjoying how Ive gotten to know the city and the people here. Its amazing that in a city of almost a million people, I run into people in various parts of the city that I know from school or other places. It makes Xalapa feel more like home and a lot smaller than it actually is. Whereas before it was sometimes intimidating to go to the university for classes because I didnt know many people very well, now I love going to university and just hanging out and talking to different people. I continue to enjoy my classes and I feel like I am learning a lot about the politics, culture and history of Mexico. Its often fun to have discussions with different people about the politics and government, its something that people are more than willing to talk about and its fascinating.

Another big switch in the dynamic of things here is that I decided to switch host families. It was a decision that I came to after talking to my director about the dynamics in the host family that were sometimes uncomfortable and made for a tense and heavy environment. I still pass by my old house to say hi, because we had a fairly good relationship and they are good people, it was just difficult to live with them sometimes for various problems and tensions within the family. So I now live about 2 blocks from the university which is nice and Im enjoying the company of my new family. There is more conversation and its a much lighter and inviting environment. So, for the next month or so until I leave Mexico, Ill be living with them.

I also have been playing soccer with an intramural team. Its a tournament with the entire university and each area of study has its own team. Yesterday we won our first game, which was enough to advance to the next round. Its been great to get out and play more soccer and its a fun way to get to know another group of people, because Im actually playing with the students who study languages, they invited me to play with them.

Well, those are the major things that are happening for me in Xalapa. Im trying to appreciate each day I have here as my time in Mexico is winding down and I know it will be difficult to leave what I have come to love about Xalapa. Sorry for no pictures this time, the computer wasnt wanting to upload them. Maybe Ill add some if it starts working again. Best wishes to all back home,
David

Life after the Influenza

Hey Everyone,

Sorry for the long gap between entries. I had wanted to right a post last week during our "vacation" due to the influenza and ended up filling my days up with other things and never got around to it. The last few weeks have been pretty interesting. Last monday, upon finishing my class here at the school for foreign students, the director of the school announced that classes in the entire country would be cancelled until the 6th of may, meaning another week and a half of vacation, after just having had 2 weeks off of school for Semana Santa. I headed home and was informed of the situation more on the news and from my host parents. Cubrebocas, or the medical facemasks began to appear more and more in the streets as people were advised to either stay in their houses or wear masks. In the matter of about 2 days, masks were no longer available in any part of town, as they had all soldout. Needless to say, that didnt stop my host mom from making about 50 homemade masks out of cloth and string. The schools then announced that classes for the elementary and middle school would be shown over the TV during the break in order to not lose so much classroom time. I spent various morning watching the classes with my host sister, who wanted to do everything but spend her time away from school in front of the TV watching her "class".

Like I mentioned before, I managed to find lots of other things to keep me busy during the break. I learned how to make pozole, a traditional mexican soup, tamales and the black beans that my host mom makes. I also taught Omar and his family how to play poker and we spent one afternoon playing, gambling dried black beans instead of pesos. One day I spent at the house of Alejandro´s aunt just outside of Xalapa swimming and relaxing. I also spend the better part of another day teaching my host mom to make pizza, which we sold for their food business instead of the usual rice, beans and meat.

Getting back to classes has been nice as well. We started back up yesterday, although the elementary and middle schools are still on break until the 11th. I came to class today at the school for foreign students to find that about half of the students had gone back home because of the influenza, so the school is fairly empty. Actually one girl from my group returned home as well.

It´s been really fascinating to see the change in mindset that has occured here in Xalapa over the past week regarding the influenza. At first, like I said before, lots of people wore masks in the streets, but after a few days that faded off drastically and things resumed as normal in Xalapa, although the TV news channels indicated otherwise. The widely taken stance on the influenza now is that its been a government conspiracy more than anything else. Most people that I´ve talked to here believe that the influenza exists, but that it was started by the mexican government as a way to distract the mexican people and cause panic. This stance goes along with many other things I´ve observed about peoples thoughts regarding the government that all culminate in a lack of trust and faith in any kind of politics. This stems from a long history of government corruption and deception that continues today and has a major affect on the mindset and feelings towards politicians, police and other officials.

Well, I need to be going now, the school is about to close for lunch. Hope everyone has been well! Until next time!

Trip to Yucatan and Chiapas!

Hello! I´m back in Xalapa now after a week of vacation in the Yucatan Peninsula and Chiapas. The trip was incredible, it was nice to get to see various other parts of México and get away from studies for a week. As a group, we left Xalapa last sunday in two vans to head to Celestún, a city on the west coast of the yucatan peninsula. It was about a 20 hour drive which each of the 2 drivers of our vans did without changing drivers through the night. Both surprizing and a little scary. The drivers were a lot of fun all week, we got to know them well and joked around all the time. We arrived in Celestún the next day and spent the day relaxing on the beach. The next day we took a boat ride into the natural reserve in Celestun and we able to see lots of flamengos along with various other kinds of wildlife. We also stopped in a swampy/jungly area to take a dip in a nice natural pool. That evening, we headed to Merida, the capital of the state of Yucatan. We took a tour of the center of the city which has a really interesting history. Before it was settle by the Spanish, there were 5 pyramids in the city. The Spanish took the stones from the pyramids and used them to build many of the churches and buildings that are seen today. The tour we got of the center was given by two mayan historians who speak both maya and spanish, so their perspective on the history was very fascinating. The mayan culture and language is still very alive in the yucatan, which gives it a much different feel than central Mexico, which was territory of the Aztecs. It´s interesting how the 2 parts of the country have very different backgrounds and histories.

From Merida, we took a trip to Chichén Itzá, which is one of the most impressive archaological site of the mayas. The science, history and mathematics behind the site were the most fascinating for me. There were unbelievable calculations made by the mayans when they built their pyramids and buildings, many based around their calendar and knowledge of the universe. From Chichén Itzá, we made our way to el Cenote Dtiznup, an incredible cave structure filled with crystal clear water that you can swim in (The yucatan is covered in limestone, so rivers dont exist, all flowing water is subterranean which forms the ¨cenotes¨). The formation was impressive and a very fun place to take a swim.

We spent the next day back in Mérida, I spent a good bit of the day visiting Jon Jenners uncle Jerry who lives in Mérida. It was fun to get to meet him after hearing many stories of him. From there, we took an overnight trip to arrive in Palenque, a city in the state of Chiapas in the morning. The entire day was spent at a place called Agua Azul, an extremely beautiful series of waterfalls and pools of water. Also a really fun and natural place to swim as you can make your way down the waterfalls, jumping into the pools below. That night, we spent in some cabins in the middle of the jungle. I had bought a hammock the day before in Merida, so I set that up outside to spend the night in, instead of sleeping in the cabins. When I woke up in the morning, two monkeys were playing in trees not too far off.

After getting our stuff packed up, we headed to the archaeological site in Palenque, another famous site of the mayas. For me, the buildings and surrounding area were more impressive and beautiful than Chichén Itzá. The site was built in the middle of jungle, with mountains and trees surrounding it. We went into the jungle, outside of the main site, and you can still find old buildings and walls which used to be part of the ancient city but now are covered in vines, plants and trees and havent been cleaned up or explored by archaeologists yet. After seeing the site, we climbed back in the vans to make our way back to xalapa. It was about a 12 hour drive and we arrived at about 4 am yesterday morning after being stopped once by a military checkpoint and having a vans searched by dogs and soldiers who are looking for illegal immigrants/drugs, etc..

Anyhow, thats the overview of our trip, hope it gives you a small idea of the incredible things I experienced in the last week. This next week will be much different, I have a lot of school work waiting for me. Hope all is well back in the states and wherever you might be reading this from. Take care!

Photos: they go in reverse order of our trip...

1-me in the palenque archaeological site

2-jumping off a small waterfall in agua azul

3-el cenote dzitnup

4-our group in front of the pyramid in chichén itzá

5-a view of the sunset on the beach in celestún

2 more pictures from parents visit

1-Farewell in the bus station in Xalapa

2-Waterfall in Xico