Time Warp

I do not know about everyone else, but as I type this blog entry, I am trying to understand how it is already May. I can still vividly remember where I was and what I was doing for new years eve 5 months ago. I was downtown St. Louis at the first night celebration with my mom in the freezing cold watching awesome drummers and the freezing Javier Mendodza sing and finally singing and dancing to fireworks. How did 5 months fly by so quickly? How is it that there is only 2 weeks left in my study abroad program? If I had not been lucky enough to be able to extend my time here in Mexico by a month, I would be leaving in what in the short amount of time of 16 days.How is that possible? This has been a challenging semester, but at the same time of the most amazing semsters yet and one that I will remember and be able to tell everyone about for many years.

I have always said that when in Mexico time is going at a speed that is much faster then in the United States. Don’t get me wrong, time flies when I am at home or at Drake, but I just think time just feels like it goes faster here in Mexico. I am told almost on a weekly basics that time is different here in Mexico then in the United States, and well my professors are correct. Even though they are not referring to how in my opinion time goes much faster, but are saying that time is valued differently here in Mexico, I like to use that quote to help my way of thinking about time here in Mexico.

I have always thought that my month in Mexico during the summer was a short amount of time and went by very quickly, but I didn’t think 4 months would feel the same way. Looking back at before I came I thought that this semester would be long, and I didn’t know how I was going to get through 4 months in Mexico, but here I am 3 and a half months later and I feel like I have only been here a month. How does that happen? The next 2 months are going to fly by, but I am ready to take them on head on. I am armed and ready for battle with my sunscreen, camera, and Spanish dictionary. I am ready to cram as much as possible into the next two months so that not one rock isn’t turned over, and I have experienced and seen everything that I wanted to within a 2 hour radius of Cuernavaca. Buckle up this is going to be a bumpy ride with many stops along the way.

Feeling privledged

As I was writing my post for today I came across a blog post I wrote before spring break that I never actually uploaded to my blog . It apparently was hiding in the folder of blogs I have written this semester. So I am posting it now along with the next post that I actually wrote for today. I think it is very important to document how I was feeling in the moment. So enjoy a double post day!

Written: March 26, 2010

I want everyone to take a moment and consider my next sentences. What does privilege mean to you? What is privilege? I might not be able to answer either of these questions with the right answers, but I do know that I do not like the feel at all. I cant be too judgmental because I am sitting in the airport typing this out on my laptop computer, but non the less I am still having a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach, and am still feeling majorly out of place. Consider that I was in Cuernavaca getting ready to go to see my family in Puerto Vallarta at 1pm. Then I got on a bus at 2pm and traveled to Mexico City, which is huge and in my mind is what I think of when I say the word Mexico. I am use to seeing the scenes that I saw on my way into the city and then as we proceeded to the airport. I have lived in Mexico for almost 3 months now. The landscape of Mexico City and Cuernavaca are both beautiful. It make me love living here in Mexico because it is colorful and is just Mexico.

Now, I have been preparing myself to go into shock when I go to the resort later today, but I did not think that I would go into a weird state of shock at the airport. I have been in an airport more times then I can count, and I thought I would be fine. Think again. I walked into the airport, it is clean, and very American looking. Normally I would think it was very pretty and one of my favorite airports/terminals at first look, bit this time it made me feel very uncomfortable. But I went forward, and I spoke Spanish to the people outside and at check in . Then I went through security and got to the other side, and I just stood in one place for a good 5 minutes because I felt like I was in JFK, Dallas, Houston, Newark or any other large airport. I did not feel like I was in Mexico. There is more English around me then I have heard in 3 months. I got my Starbucks coffee then sat down with this weird feeling in my stomach. The only think I could think about was being in Cuernavaca and how amazing it is and how much I miss it .Yes, I am glad to be going someplace on spring break, and yes I needed a break. And most of all I need to clear my head of some things that have been bothering me. But most of all I did not feel like I belonged in the airport. I felt like an outsider. I could not place the feeling I was having. Then it dawn on me like I was hit with a ton of bricks that I felt privileged because here I am in the airport , flying on a plane , and going to a resort to visit my family. Most Mexicans can not afford to get on an airplane and travel someplace for Spring break. The ones that can are the higher class and the privileged. I never have felt this type of privilege before. Sure I travel to see my grandma twice a year, and I am lucky enough to be able to have been to some amazing places. Thanks Mom and Dad. But sitting on the carpet (which I have not seen in 3 months) and watching people go by, I feel completely out of place. I have not seen so many Americans, or English speakers in a long long time. There are so many people switching planes here to go on their High school or College spring break at one of the resorts on the beach in Mexico. To tell everyone the truth, I hate it and that might be a part of my uncomfortableness . All these people going on their spring breaks are just rubbing me the wrong way. I am proud to say I am an American/ United Statesian, but the American culture as a whole is pushy and just plain annoying when they are in large groups. For someone who is not use to Americans all around them (besides the people in my program), I can truly say I partly understand why other countries hate us. We are loud, obnoxious, and pushy. But here I am in the airport, trying to wrap my head around the fact that I am in the middle of being in a state of large shock all because of an airport, and am trying to deal with the feelings of major privilege that are making me feel so uncomfortable. I did not picture that a simple thing as the airport would make me feel so uncomfortable or like I didn’t belong.

Plans change

So followers you are one of the first few to know that I have officially extended my time here in Mexico. I will be staying in Mexico through June 27!!!!! I am super excited , but at the same time sad because I miss my family and my friends and wont see them until at least June. It just isnt going to work out to have Mom, Dad or Noah come down anytime in June. Oh well.

But on the bright side I get to continue with my monster angels at Don Bosco, and then I get to continue with Spanish. I will get to take Spanish for 3 hours a day 5 days a week from 8am-11am. Normally that time would be great for someone who is a morning person but it stinks not being able to sleep in past 7. I will also hopefully in the next 6 weeks conquer my fear of calling a taxi. I still have not accomplished that task.
I also will hopefully get to attend a gay pride march in Mexico the last week I will be here. That is still up in the air because it is not fully planned yet and I dont know if I want to be leaving Cuerna 4 days earlier and dragging my suitcases around DF. And truthfully I do not know how excited I would be to be lugging those large suitcases around Mexico city , especially if we are going to more then one hotel without an elevator.

Anyhow that is all the news that is fit to print in this post. Since I have already posted twice today I am cutting this short.

Guide to Meira Lingo:
When I said the March is in Mexico it is in Mexico City. DF is Mexico City too. It means district Federal. And here in Mexico natives call Mexico City Mexico , like New Yorkers call NYC, New York. Got it? Great.

Verb: Crazy- loco

Don Bosco: a private catholic school that has elementary to high school students and has no obvious structure and where the students are more in charge then the teachers .

Don Bosco is where I work . It is where I get stress headaches but also laugh the most and have a lot of fun. Don Bosco is loud, the students are everywhere , and students believe it is acceptable to do the most crazy things ever. One example is throwing carrots at the teacher . Never in my life have I had food thrown at me , but 2 weeks ago my students thought it would be funny to throw carrots at Miss. My students either call me Meira , Miss , profe(like professor , but a short version) or teacher. This particular class calls me Miss , and is a little hyper. They even told me my boyfriend should throw carrots at me.
The students believe I have a boyfriend named TJ. Well actually that is his name this week. Each week it changes because they always forget. I have learned it is easier to lie to them about having a boyfriend then being asked out fifteen thousand times. So anyhow TJ and I are lovely. TJ for anyone that does not need to hear me carry on about random things and people is one of my favorite hockey players on the blues.

The carrot story was 2 weeks ago , now yesterday the students decided that they wanted to hear me speak in Spanish, and then proceeded to inform me that I sound very funny and have a bad accent. Thank kids , like I didnt already know that.  The crazy part about this interaction is that I was the teacher of the 30 students yesterday because their teacher had to go to the dentist because he broke his tooth. There is always a reason why I end up standing infront of 30-40 students for one block and then end up in another classroom doing the same thing over again ....Yesterday it was the tooth and tomorrow it can be something else. I am positive that none of my education friends or teachers I know have ever gotten carrots thrown at them or had students come up and start dance around you singing their lungs out wanting you to sing along with them. Its just the life of the crazy education student intern at Don Bosco. The more crazy the day, the more I have to write in my Don Bosco journal and the more funny it is to read over weeks later.

New Blog Title

I think I should be changing my blog title to something that reflects me a little more. Today that would be Meira la exploradora y su llaves. This translates to Meira the explorer and her keys. I have always been terrible with keys and unlocking and locking buildings and doors. My family can attest to this , since I am never allowed to try to unlock or lock a door. Well today , I went home after a quick run to school and I couldn't get into the house. Now this door does get stuck a lot and I have trouble with it all the time but today I decided to try to use my key and that was the wrong choice. I do not know what I did but I either locked the door and kept unlocking it without knowing it or I just plain out locked it . The conclusion to the story is that I locked myself out of my house and I hope my mama or Sol can figure out how to get the door open to the house or else it will be all my fault that I broke the door. The moral to my story is to never give me a set a keys and assume that I will know how to open and properly lock a door. There was a reason my parents got me a car that I just press a button and the doors unlock and lock because that is as far as I can normally do when it comes to keys and the process of locking and unlocking a door.

Immigration Issues and Bills

So today Arizona in my opinion did something that was completely stupid and downright unbelievable . I have attached the article from CNN.com , but basically Arizona signed into law a bill that  requires immigrants to carry papers at all times. It also allows police to determine if a person is in the United States legally or if they are illegal. I know this is a sticky subject , but I wanted to post this link to the article in my blog so that when I look back at my blog from the semester I will know that this  stupid bill was signed by a totally backwards Arizona.

Arizona governor signs immigration bill

Just another Sunday....

Today was just another Sunday in Mexico. Woke up, hung around the house , ate breakfast with my mama, watched TV with my sister Sol, got dressed, went to church,  got dropped off with my mama at the mall , went shopping for fabric, saw a movie, cried, took a joy ride in a taxi, came home, met Diego(Sol's boyfriend) , did homework, and then took a shower. Yup that was my day in as little words as I could possibly make it . I think I am liking this schedule... Maybe I should start doing this every Sunday even when I return to the States. Going to church is pretty awesome . I even got to sit in on a catholic mass today. Dan, you are taking me to more of these masses in Des Moines. A friend also told me recently that all catholic preist dudes sound the same when they speak , and this priest at this specific church I went to did not help my cause in proving my friend wrong. I think I am turning into a catholic jew... Actually maybe those are called Jews for Jesus. Ah well,  I will call my new religion , Jew for Judah macabi and the culturalness of cathlicness. If anyone wants to join me , we meet on Wednesdays at 2am Mountain Standard time in our dreams.

Anyhow , so today was pretty awesome . I love hanging out with both Sol and my mama. I found out today that we are praying for Sol to get a job and also for the violence to stop in Cuernavaca and for everyone to be safe. Hey , even before I knew that I was telling God those prayers. I am going to sound totally religios for a moment , but hey , a girl who goes to church everyday is allowed to be a little religios ok. So anyhow , I think it was meant to be that I got taken out of Ofelia's house and placed with my mama and Sol. The almighty person/golden retriever up their in the sky , just had different plans for me then where I was a week ago. And I personally like this new road that the almightly person/ goldren retreiver has me following. I also apparently have my own personal taxi driver , AKA my sister. Mama told me that if I pay Sol just like I do to any taxi driver then she will take me places I need to go because she does not have a job and needs to get out of the house more.Eh Momma Wendy , can Noah hire me to drive him places?  I personally think it is pretty sweet deal I have going with Sol. Cemal doesnt want me walking , or waiting for a taxi so I found myself a good conpromise. The only rule is I have to make sure Sol gets time with Diego on the weekends, which I can totally accomodate.

Ok, so back to the reason I even was posting this post again. I saw a movie that everyone should see. If you are on an emotional movie kick or just want to see a great movie or love Richard Gere or love dogs then this movie is for you. It just came out here in Mexico but I looked it up and it is available at your local netflicks , blockbuster, or anyplace where you can rent or buy videos. The title is Hachiko: A Dog's Story . It is a true story about a guy, who finds a dog at the train station and then their story together. The stroryfollows how the man dies and how the dog copes.
I did not cry as much or as hard as I did with the movie Marley and Me, but I did cry. This movie made me miss Roger more then I have at any point in this semester. Anyhow here is a photo of the movie poster. I give it 4 stars out of 4 stars.

So somehow I always end up making my posts long . I type how I talk, fast and alot at one time.

This week should be pretty chill. I work tomorrow and Wednesday with my monsters at school, and then have Spanish Classes on Monday and Wednesday. My students are teaching me soccer and how to pierce parts of your body by yourself. I will let you know how my lesson turns out. You learn the best things by teaching middle school monsters. They are monsters because they scare me and are taller then me . Otherwise they are like little angels.
Other then my spanish lessons and going to see my precious angel monsters, I have very little CEMAL classes this week. I might hang out with my mama and Sol or I will go with Rubi my ex- supervisor to her other school to teach and where ever else she wants to take me . I like living the life of the free spirited  and spontaneous and make decisions as you go. It fits the Mexican Meira. Who knows I might decide to pierce my nose or something or get a tattoo or take a joy ride to the beach. Watch out world the newly religious and spontanious Meira has just been unleased.

Peace , love , and tamales followers.

Mama and me

I thought I would just post a fun entry after the one I wrote yesterday regarding the drug violence. There really are no new updates on that . I am still safe , and as far as I know I am not being booked on a plane anytime soon.

I like to think of myself as easy to get along with and very adaptable. When I moved in with my new host family on Thursday they told me just that . They said that I seem like a ton of fun and that I am easy to get along with. Score one for team Meira knows herself. I truely couldnt be happier at my new homstay. I loved Ofelia , but I absolutly adore Cecelia and Sol. They live right down the street from CEMAL, and are as nice as can be . Sol is Cecelia's daughter , and she lives with us. Sol is studying in the university. I really like them both.  We get to cook together, knit together , and we watch TV as one big happy family. Tonight I am even going to get to meet Sol's boyfriend! I kind of have it made.  Yesterday I was having a hard day ( I have been having alot of them lately) and really wanted to see a movie , but by the time we looked at the times it was too late to go see one . I was promised a Mama and Meira day today , and boy did I get one . We woke up this morning , called around to the Cines ,and then Sol drove us to church where were we prayed for 20 minutes and then went to the movies. Sol dropped us off because she had something else to do. My mama and I had a fantastic time , and we both loved the movie . We went to see The Last Song , with Miley Cyrus. Yes I know , Miley Cyrus , but we both felt that it was a great movie.

After the movie , my mama and I walked around for awhile and bought some poles to use to hang up curtains someplace in the house. We then walked back home , and had a nice relaxing afternoon of watching TV and eating a yummy lunch that we prepared together. It was one great Mama and Meira day. I plan on having many more of these before I leave Mexico.

When it rains, it pours

This week if I had to put it into one word would be crazy. Everything in my life decided to come to a head in the past 5 days. The saying " when it rains, it pours" is exactly my life in the last week. Before I start typing , this will be a long post. I feel that I need to just say it all, but at the same time inform everyone of what I have been doing the past week. So because of that let the long post begin. Expect a good 10 minutes of reading starting here....

Lets go back in time and review the past weeks events. Lets start last Thursday . Last Thursday , I left Cuernavaca for a short travel seminar to Mexico City and then to Atenco. I was to be gone from Thursday until Saturday night . In Mexico City , we had a talk from a journalist who has worked in Mexico for over 20 years and is an expert on Mexican politics , history , drug cartels , and violence . That was very interesting . We got to ask her alot of questions regarding the drug cartels in Mexico and also in Cuernavaca.( More on that later) On Friday we drove to the Boing! plant . Boing makes juice and we got to hear about how they make their products and then get a talk about their history and how they run their company.

This is a picture of the awesome 6 MG students and Judy our professor , in front of the Boing! plant.

After we went to the Boing! plant, we then traveled to Atenco. Atenco has gone through many struggles in the past , and they are now trying to fight the government again to build an airport on their land. In 2001, the government tryied to buy their land and then build another airport for Mexico City , but the residents of Atenco fought back with machetes, and saved their land. Some of the people from Atenco kidnapped other residents , and there was alot of violence. In the end ,  32 people got sent to jail. Now there are only 9 left in prison. 6 in the minimum security prison , and then 3 in the maximum segurity prison . The residents of Atenco are trying to fight the government and get the people out of jail , but that is a very long and hard struggle and will take a long time .  In addition to our time learning about the struggles in ATenco , we also got to enjoy a one night homestay with a family . Chelsie and I got placed with this really nice older adult , and boy was she feisty.She woke us up at 7 in the morning on Saturday and took us out to her fields where she told us about her vegtables and then we were told she was having someone come and film her in her fields so we were going to have to help her. Chelsie and I were put to work pulling weeds out of her fields. It was alot of work, but now I can say I am an experienced weed puller outer. I already have my first job picking weeds out of a garden. I was hired by my mom to pick weeds out of her gardens when I return in June. In return of me picking weeds I get a bed and food. I should just stop telling my mom things I am doing here in Mexico because it just gives me more to do when I return home. 

After we spent our time in Atenco, we came back to Cuernavaca , and then the fun started... I spent the night at Katy's house , and we played Mario and then relaxed after a very long 2 days. On Sunday I went to the Jardin Borda with some friends and then relaxed for a full day. The Jardin Borda is the local botanical garden in Cuernavaca. It is very pretty.

Before I knew it, I was waking up on Monday morning ,unaware of the upcoming events of the week. I spent the day in Spanish classes , then at my internship at Don Bosco, and then finally at CEMAL working on homework and then I had my weekly dance class. The dance class was awsome , but I knew something was wrong when I was asked to come up to the office after I finished dance. I was informed that there was a shooting near my homestay during the Afternoon on Monday. They called Ofelia and made sure that it was safe for me to return home , and since it was I went home . Now yes it scared me , but I live in a large city and just like shootings happen in Chicago, LA, New York City ,shootings happen in Cuernavaca. Now the backstory to the shooting is that it all has to do with drug cartels. Since 2006, the president of Mexico has been trying to rid Mexico of drug cartels and instead of making it safer , the violence rate has excalated. I am sure everyone knows about the violence in Mexico especially at the border, but now the violence has moved further south to the central of Mexico. I am going to keep saying this because I want everyone to understand , that I am not in any danger . Cuernavaca has always been known for the drug cartels , and drug trafficing, and well now it is becoming more known about the events that are happening in Cuerna. Starting back in December when the police killed the top Drug Lord in Cuernavaca , it sparked some violence. The second in command to Arturo Beltrán Leyva ,who died in the shootout ,  is known as Barbie. Barbie started his own drug cartel, and now Barbie's cartel and The South Pacific Cartel are fighting it out for control of the Cuernavaca territory. I am not going to be naive and say that there isnt shootings and people arent dieing , because there is both of those , but they are not targeting American, Mexican civilans , or people not having anything to do with either cartel. So now that you have the backstory , why does this all matter and what is my school here in Cuerna doing about it?

First , yes the fighting has escalated and they are now killing people in broad daylight , but again they know who they want and they know where to find these people normally. They are not going to shoot a random curly haired American girl , because really they do not want the US government more involved then they already are. So going along with the shooting near my homestay on Monday , I was removed from my homestay on Tuesday afternoon and CEMAL decided they wanted me back in the house and were going to place me with a new family. They have removed in total 7 people from their homstays at this point because of either bodies being dumped near people's houses, a taxi can not take the student right up to their door or in my case and another girl's case there was violence in our neighborhoods. Now even though we got removed I still feel awful because it is a total case of white privileged because we as Americans can move out and live where ever we want, but our families that we lived with can not move. It is a total sticky situation.  As of last night ( Thursday) I was placed into a new homestay where I now live on this street. I really like my new homestay and the people are really nice .

Now as for the new rules that CEMAL has put out for us to follow.... We are to only take  radio taxis to anyplace we are going , so that we are not on the street walking . We are not allowed to go out to any bars, dance clubs , or any establishment of that kind. We are allowed to go to the movies and to restaurants.They also do not want us hanging out with people who do drugs or hanging out in any weird places. The only strange request that the drug cartels put out was not to drive in any pickup trucks , or expensive cars, like BMW's , or cars that have tinted windows. Since I do not know anyone with any of those type of cars I am safe, and am not worried. My school is taking this violence very seriously , and are putting many rules in place for our safety.  They are following the events closely and are in constant contact with people from both Minnesota and Augsburg Collage as well as people here in Cuerna. I am not in any danger and I feel safe . I am not being sent home and at this point I am staying until June.  I am still going to go through the daily routine of my life and enjoy my time that I have here in Mexico. The drug Cartels have released a announcement stating that they believe the violence and the fighting will end soon , and they do not plan on hurting any bystanders.

Now my requests who everyone who reads this blog . Please do not freak out and be scared for me  or worried about my safety. I am not scared and am not worried about what is going on here in Cuerna. I am taking all of the percausions necessary to not be in harms way. I welcome any questions you have about this , but again , I am not in any danger and feel very safe and am not worried about the events that are happening here in Cuerna. I am not in a war zone , or nor do I think it will turn into that anytime soon.

I was going to write more about the rest of the week, but I think this post got long enough and I think this is enough to read for the time being. Dont you agree? Majorly sorry for any spelling or grammatical mistakes made .

Busy as a bumblebee

Hola my devoted followers. Today is Wednesday and I seriously have no idea how the week is already almost over. I think about where I was last Wednesday and then think about everything I have gone through in the last week. My last two days of Spring Break were fantasitc . I relaxed, heard stories of everyone's spring breaks in Cancun and Acapulco and then celebrated the birthday of the intern of my program. I also for the first time in my life experienced day light savings time when it actually changes. It was quite weird, because one moment it is 1:59am and the next moment it is 3:00am. For anyone who didnt konw , Mexico does DST 2 weeks after the US. I recommend experiencing DST once in your lifetime. It is kinda cool.  The rest of Sunday , when I was not sleeping involved an Easter lunch of pizza at the local pizza place , tripping on a stair and making my foot all bloody from the blood spewing from my large toe, and packing up my room because I started my homestay on Monday.

My host mama is pretty tight. She is in her 60's and goes to dance classes every Monday , Tuesday , Thursday , Friday and Saturday. I dance a lot with Sandy back at home , but going 5 days a week would make me pretty sore , but one great dancer. She also lives in a house by herself, but has 2 deaf Mexicans living with her that go to the local university. I have not met them yet ,but will meet them on Sunday. My mama does not speak English so I am now speaking Spanish whenever I am at my homestay!!! I get my own room and have an extra bed in my room. So if anyone wants to come visit in the next month let me know , since I have a nice room with an extra bed. Just please give me a days warning. I live about 40 minutes walking from where school is and I learned to take a city bus on Tuesday morning to come to Spanish class. That was very cool and liberating . Now I just have to learn to call the taxi company...
Tomorrow, Thursday , I leave for a 3 day trip to Mexico City and then to Hidalgo to see the Boing factory( the maker of many of the juice products here in MX) We are also going to a community that has been hit hard by alot of their residents being put in jail because they are in support of a party that is not in power. This will be very interesting and educational. I think I am most excited to go to the Boing factory. In order to get into the factory you have to bring 2 empty containers of a Boing product. I took this assignment seriously and got 4 juice boxes of my favorite juice flavors. Yummy Yummy Yummy.

I return to Cuernavaca on Saturday night , and am then having a sleepover at one of the girls houses . Taxis are more expensive at night and then that would mean I would actually have to conquer my fear of calling the taxi company and I am just not ready for that big of a project yet. Maybe next week sometime, when I feel more capable of my speaking skills into a phone.I will keep you updated on the adventures of Meira vs. the phone to call a taxi company.

The Blogs from Japan

I have been asked to post the blogs of my two good friends from Drake that are studying abroad in Japan this semester. I personally believe they are both great writers and are really funny. If you ever wanted to see some cool pictures and read an insiders view(college student standpoint) of Japan, here are two great sources.

 Sam's Blog  (<------Click here Grandma) is not just for her trip to Japan , but she writes about everything that she has done while traveling. At the moment her focus is Japan.

Dan's Blog ( <---------Click on the words Grandma) is just for Japan. His theme of the semester is Parts of Speech. He writes each post with a part of speech in the title. Very cool, and funny too.