OK., so now I have figured out how to post a video.  The last one I posted was one of those Independence from Spain celebrations that lasted a whole week.  And no more sideways ones.   Sorry.

 

After week three in Pre-Service Training

To begin with, that video that was attached to my last post was a mistake. There is a much better one but I am still struggling with how to get them from the Cloud to this blog. Hopefull, I'll learn soon. 

 There was a week 0 in which we gathered in DC, got a acquainted a bit then traveled to Queretaro where we began training with some general sessions. Then Week 1 began with us moving into our host homes for the next 10 weeks and the real serious training sessions began. We've had sessions on Safety and Security, Medical Issues, lots of language and culture sessions and briefings on Peace Corps policies, mission, values and expectations. We've had several sessions on diversity and Mexican History which have all been useful despite my long history with Peace Corps. There is always something new and of course, this is my first time in Mexico with the opportunity to learn all about what it has to offer and how I will be useful. We have received our assignments and following Week 4, we will be going to our assigned schools for three days to meet our counter parts and get started with integrating into the various communities so we can get started once training is finally over in early November. This past week has been interesting, as all are. Sept 15 was the day of celebration of Mexico's independence from Spain in 1810. We have learned that their actual independence did not come until a few years later when they wrote their constitution but they celebrate 1810 as there was a huge battle that day and independence was declared. But, what is interesting now is that they celebrate for an entire week prior to the 15th....parades almost nightly, dancing by indigenous groups in parks all over Queretaro, fireworks, family gatherings and much more. I did not do much personally as we have class all day and I don't like walking on the very uneven sidewalks and streets at night. But, I'll catch it in the future, for sure. We had a little celebrationish at the school and I'll try to attach some photos. It ended with a street food, Esquitos, which is basically sweet corn cut from the cob, seasoned deliciously and served in a dixie cup with a variety of toppings. It was so delicious and the party was fun too.

 The photo above was shown during a presentation on Mexico's history.  The green section shows how much of the current US was originally held by Mexico prior to the Monroe Doctrine.

 

This photo shows the parts of Mexico in red to which we are not permitted to go.  Our area is the green area in the center and of course the Yucatan Peninsula is green and Baja is yellow, which means we can go there with permission.

This is the corn dish, Esquitos, that I mentioned above.  Yum

Our group in D.C. just after we picked up our Visas at the Mexican Consulate.

This is a mural on the wall in a restaurant we visited.  Murals are very big here and there are many beautiful examples in government buildings and other places.

Yes, its me.  This was taken in the Casa de la Marqueza which is currently a very fancy hotel in the Historical Center of Queretaro.  

And, yes, thanks to Google search engine, I know how to download my photos from the Icloud to my laptop.  Yep.  Still working on the video portion.

 Yesterday, Saturday, I took a walk around some parts of the city I had not seen and ended up at a huge shopping center which included a Costco which was packed and a lot of other stores, most seemingly local or at least Mexican. I got there about lunch time so I found a food court and a chinese place that looked popular. I got my food and was sitting there trying not to slurp the noodles too vigorsly, when a total stranger walked by my table on his way up to order and said, "buen provecho." I had heard this many times but for some reason it struck me as super funny that he, a total stranger, would say to me, " enjoy your lunch." They also say good morning and good afternoon to almost everyone they come into eye contact with. It's nice. I took a local ride share company, DiDi,home with the things I had purchased. The driver asked me where I was from so I have learned that they assume its the US, so now I say, Colorado. Well, this time he didn't assume the US so he asked me if that is in the US....duh... Anyhow, as we talked, I learned that his favorite song is Sacrifice by Elton John. And, he was very excited to hear the correct pronunciation of the word "mutual" as in mutual misunderstanding and the word "lyrics." We spent the rest of the ride listening to Elton ( I learned later that Sinead Oconnor actually wrote the lyrics and music,) and saying the words mutual and lyrics a million times.Seems I always have a good time with the taxi drivers.....non threatening, I guess. 

THat's it for now...the Beastie continues to pass by and blow its sad whistle, the Morrocans and Libyans struggle....what next ?

 

 

Update on Mexico

 Well, to begin with...its really beautiful here and of course, the people are the highlight.  I am not permitted by Peace Corps to give any specific information about where I am living or working but I've already said it is in Queretaro and apparently that is sufficiently vague.

  We all gathered in DC for "staging" and then flew here to spend a few more days together for preliminary training and briefing.  They kept stating that if anything they said made us unsure of our commitment to stay the full two years, we should let them know at that point.  I don't recall that being emphasized in any of the other pc introductions I have heard.  Once we arrived in Mexico, we stayed a couple nights in a very charming old Hacienda that has been converted into a hotel, that was really lovely.  I think I have a few photos to add from there.  The days were filled with trainings and briefings and there were a couple team building activities.  We are two groups:  c. 20 to do Climate Change Environment work in rural settings and 20 in my group, TEFL, i.e. Teaching English as a Foreign Language.  No one really likes that acronym so it might change soon. 

 But, I can post some photos and tell some stories.  I am living with a lovely lady about my age who is retired and has grown children who are all out on their own but still in the area.  I haven't met any of them yet but I've seen photos and heard some stories.  She is very patient with my Spanish and allows me to paraphrase back to her what I think she has just said to me corrects me or affirms me.  At least, I think that is what we are doing but I'm never sure.  For instance, yesterday evening, Saturday evening, I told her not to do anything about breakfast until right before we have to leave to Mass ( about 10:30)  but this morning when I went downstairs to make coffee, there was my plate of papaya and I could smell the stove getting ready for her to make my scrambled egg, frijoles and tortilla.  I did get there in time to restate my preference to wait until 10:30 and  she seemed to understand.  She has been great about making that breakfast for me on school days and I guess just either forgot or we didn't communicate about my wanting to wait to eat later on weekends.  We'll see what happens next weekend but I do appreciate her making my breakfast and the fruit is really great.

I'll be here with her until early November at which time we each go to our assigned schools.   I'll be staying nearby so I am pleased with my assignment and I'll get a new host home at least for a short time. I can't post here exactly where I'll be but if anyone is interested, send me an email and I'll fill you in.  But, it will be a University where I'll be working with students and teachers and also can do something in the community if there's time.  I'm still thinking about pickleball and several of my companeros have played and want to find places to play.  I've looked at my future school's website and based on the photos there 

 are lots of open spaces where we could easily step off a pb court and go to it.  We'll see.  I hope to coordinate with their athletic dept. if they have one..not sure of that.  Another idea I have at this point is to try to copy what Intercambio, an organization I volunteer with out of Longmont, CO, has done.  That is to match an english language learner with a  native english speaker volunteer to do nothing more than give the learners a place to practice their english.  Apparently, that is a huge need and my program manager at Peace Corps seemed very interested in the possibility when I raised it with him.   We'll see.  I'll need to find the native speakers in the community so that will be one of the first things I'll do when I get started on the project.  We could do it with zoom but I think it would be better to do it face to face, like in the old days, if that is possible and if there is somewhere to meet.  I'm thinking at the school but I'll let the locals decide that.  Apparently, it is the teachers who will be most interested in doing this and maybe an occasional highly motivated student but, we'll see.

Last night I met some of the other older volunteers in El Centro in the Plaza de Armas for dinner in a nice restaurant.  The restaurant was very nice but the food was pretty inusual...which is a good Spanish word for "nothing special."  Today I went to Mass with my host and now I'm doing laundry.  She has a washer and dryer and clotheslines.  This is what they call Posh Corps.....no bucket baths or scrounging in the mercado for food.  

 PC is in only 5 states in Mexico and I'll try to attach a photo of the areas that are totally off limits to us.  There are others we can go to with special permission but the areas are pretty limited.

I walked 16,896 steps yesterday.  Yes, I was exhausted but I got to use a lot of Spanish, met a lot of super nice people and enjoyed several children playing on some playground apparatus in a shopping center play area.  Enjoyed that A LOT.  Only bad thing I have to report is that the train, AKA La Bestia, that thousands of immigrants ride on from the south toward the border with the US, passes nearby the Peace Corps office and my host home.  We can all hear the whistle when is passes....a reminder that all is not well.  And today we're all crying for the Moroccans.....so much.  

A lot of the staff at the PC office are animal lovers so I feel sure I'll be able to bring my sweet cat down 

to live with me without too much trouble.  One staff member suggested that if I say I need him as a "coping mechanism" that should make it even easier.  I haven't seen any stray looking animals which was one of my main worries so that is good.  In other places I have been, its been pretty bad and hard to handle.  I'm in a city so it might be different in the more rural areas.  

So far, I don't have much to report.....but its early.

 Thank you for paying your taxes,

Love,

Pat 

 

PS.  My attempts at t photos has failed.  I'll post this and try to figure out the photos tomorrow.