Some vignettes and report on trip to CDMX..ciudad de Mexico

 Our cohort recently completed three days ( actually one day there and two days traveling) but they called it three days of a counterpart workshop in Mexico City  I traveled with two of my colleagues from UTEQ who I like very much so I enjoyed the whole time.  I'll include some photos of Chelo and Mayela and some of me in various places in CDMX  Ciudad de Mexico)

This is an apartment complex we could see from the sidewalk near our hotel.  Its very charming but that doesn't show up in this photo.  The buildings are very old....colonial times.

In back is Arturo, Asst. Program Manager and a really bright charismatic fellow,,  In white is Melissa, asst. Country Director. In blue is Chelo and with me is Mayela from UTEQ

Chelo and Mayela on a cool bench in downtown Mexico City.

A view of a main avenue in CDMX called La Reforma...its wide and beautiful with a green space between the lanes.

One night before the dinner at the hotel we indulged in some street food...Chilangas...yummmmm

,

Our team won Trivia game.  The guy with the beard is Seth , a volunteer, who turned out to be a huge Star Trek fan.  The Green jacket and red jacket women are with me....in green is a volunteer , Rachel, and Chelo. from UTEQ,   The other two are Mexican English teachers at Rachel's school.

 

One of the really great teachers at UTEQ retired last week.  She and her husband threw a party for her and some pictures follow.

Carrie, Bere, Esthela and Eduardo ( nickname Lalo) at one of the tables for guests.

Juan Luis, the retiree's husband is also an English teacher who plans to retire in 2 years.  But meanwhile he plays in a rock band in his free time and they played for the party.

Esthela and Deyanira who is the retiring teacher.  They have been long time friends and are both great teachers.

This is my table starting with Ricardo, Julio, me Fernanda and Chelo.

They provided some delicious food....tacos with some amazing fillings.  The location is a party place that is available for rental for this type of event.  The chef is standing to the side.  She appeared to do it all by herself as I watched her closing down and carrying the containers to the car.
 

The group photo...Deya in front in the white blouse and other teachers and related staff.  I am the glowing white one....I had not realized how very WHITE I am. 

We also had a training on "inclusion."  This was an activity we did to demonstrate the feeling of being blind.   With me is Veronica and above us are Sergio and Ricardo.  They are just now introducing the concept of inclusion and have several trainings planned for the entire campus.  I am not sure whether the lower schools have been more aware of inclusion or not.  

 I also want to record the conversation I had with a bank customer service person today..   It was sort of amazing.  She and her boyfriend moved  fairly recently to Queretaro from Vera Cruz because it is safer here.  Their parents and siblings are still in Vera Cruz even tho they don't feel safe but their businesses are there and they don't feel they can leave.  She and her family all lived in North Carolina for 10 years but were not documented so came back to Mexico a few years ago and have been living in Vera Cruz where they don't feel safe but also feel unable to leave.  She said they visit back and forth about twice a year.  They also came back to Mexico because the grandparents in Vera Cruz were aging and wanted to be closer to them.  Travel back and forth from the US  was not possible since they were not documented in the US.  She said all this so easily, just takes it for granted and did not show any remorse or fear over the safety differences between Vera Cruz and Querataro.  Also, she speaks English very very well so I contacted the PC office and encouraged them to try to recruit her to work for PC...she is a very bright young lady....also speaks French, btw.  

I am currently in the last few days of the current break between quatrimestres ( they have three terms of 4 months each) in an academic year.  During the last 4 weeks of each term they administer a lot of tests so I am told that I don't need to be there as students don't come to campus unless they need to do make up tests so there is nothing for me to do....so I stay home with Gringo and find little projects to keep me busy. I hated it at first but now  I kinda like it and I've actually gotten a lot done. 

Today was Labor Day here so no school for anyone and many small shops were closed.  The shopping malls were packed.  I thought it would be a great day to go to the center and look for a wedding gift for Katy and Spence.  The one Jardin where I was told the artesanal things were featured is Jardin Guerreo.  When I got there....it was empty...all the artesans were celebrating Labor day....as well they should.  Anyhow I got some other things done and saw a lot of new places in the historical center.  I'll go back on a Saturday when they'll all be there.  

Now its May 12 and I go back to school tomorrow.  I am not sure what my schedule will be but I'll know more tomorrow.  Earlier last week, I tripped over an uneven part of a sidewalk and ended up with a small scratch but a HUGE black eye and bruised side of my face.  Looks awful..but three very lovely ladies helped me to my feet.  I called PEace Corps and went there in a DiDi.  The doc on duty took me to a very fancy hospital where they did an MRI of my head and an xray of my knee and both passed....no real injuries.  When I go back to school, I'm sure the students will notice and hopefully question.

Photo from Ukraine

 

This is Katy.  Her mother is my on line English student from Ukraine.  They fled to Poland a few months ago but kept their flat in Ukraine.  She and Katy went back there early last week to visit family and pick up a few things.  On Sunday when we had our class she was so happy to be back in her country even tho they have to run to the underground parking garage when they hear alarms.  Her husband has kept his job and works remotely from Poland.  My client did have a job on line but was let go and she is still looking for another.   If you're interested is chatting with a person from Ukraine go to ENGin. com and sign up.

Pickleball and English classes

I want to post an update on my activities here in Ole Mexico....or to use a term I just learned,..... Flexico.  

 As I mentioned in an earlier post, we have gotten Pickleball started and last Friday was our 4th gathering and it was a big success.  I had bought a whole net set up, not just the net, thru Amazon and it made a big difference.  We also lined off a regulation sized court ( mas o menus....we used some basketball lines so our "kitchen" and service boxes are not quite exact but its a lot better than before.  I also got 4 better paddles thru Amazon....such a love hate relationship I have with Amazon....and they have made a difference too. Anyhow, last week a young man, who I have described as looking like a Ralph Lauren model ( my son asked me to describe what that meant to me and I responded....tall, painfully thin and awful posture) came to stand next to me as I watched and shouted coaching tips from time to time.  After a few minutes, I asked him if he wanted to play.  He said, No, I just came to practice my English with you.  Now that made my day because I got this whole pickleball venture approved by my program manager at Peace Corps by claiming that it is a vehicle to teach English and US culture.So anyhow, Andre asked for a couple flyers to put up in his building ( his major is Nanotechnology) which I gave him.   So, earlier this week, I was in that building for a class and noticed one of our pickleball posters posted with something written on it.  It is hard to see but in the bottom right corner, he has written," You now know friend, so come and improve your English.

 

 

This next picture is a couple helping assemble the real net we now have and based on last Friday's showing, I have ordered yet another and a couple more better paddles.

 

 As to other efforts, we are working with a virtual English teacher, sort of a pilot project.   Its been interesting, to say the least.  My role, as I currently believe it to be , is to observe and make recommendations in the hopes of improving the process for  similar situations in the future.  He is an older ( 80) guy in Kansas with a lot of education and experience and his expectations of what he can do with our students is a bit unrealistic.   Distance learning is hard in the best of situations and he is trying to teach them the finer points of phonics so they can be better teachers when they get into the classroom themselves. His efforts and goals are high...the students are not showing the level of interest he was hoping for.

As to what  else I'm doing in the English classes.  UTEQ is organized by quatrimestres....something we've not heard of.   They are 4 month terms and they run continuously.  There is no summer break, just a break of a week or so each term.  I am definitely going to have a more settled schedule for the rest of my time here.  I want to pull small groups out of a few classes and work with them on their oral communication.  Many of them know a lot of words but there is no time to practice within their classes.  So, I see this as something that could make a difference.

A class that I am coteaching  with Deyanira is a beginner class for UTEQ employees.  Its great fun.  We've started with pronuncing the alphabet in English and short vowels and on and on.  The other thing we are doing is Readers Theater.  Its a very low difficulty play for young native English speakers but it is challenging for  beginner English learners and we 've had a lot of fun with it.  I am serving as director and I had never realized how physically exhausting that role could be...but, its great fun.

The other class/workshop I'm involved with is with the Drama teacher, Rodrigo.  We haven't really done anything much but I hope to be able to contribute as time goes on.  This quarter is almost over so hopefully I'll get involved earlier next quarter and be able to play a bigger role. 

 I've introduced myself to about 25 classes of students and I am sick to death of doing that but I have to continue thru the beginning of April when this term ends.  There will  a new one starting at the beginning of May.  I'm going back to MD for 4 days at the end of March, during Semana Santa here and spring break, and hopefully will get to see John and Hanna ....Sue and I are planning to drive up to Juniata County and as of now, Hanna and John are planning to drive down and visit with us for a day or two.  We are planning to spend the night so we'll have a little time together, for sure.  We're hoping some Peacheys drive over for a  visit and the Gilsons are in Florida still so there won't be many folks to see outside of our immediate family.  We Hertzlers and Beavers have all but disappeared from Juniata County.

I also want to memorialize a comment of one of the students....there are several which are memorable but his was amazing.   When I introduce myself, I often play a little game where a student guesses what my answer will be to a question posed by one of their classmates.    The question was...what do you like most about the Mexican culture ?   This student guessed that I would say,   " that we are so kind to each other:, it shocked me...in other classes a student has said something like, the food, the music, the language, etc.  This student went in such a different direction....I loved it and let him know.  

Now some random photos:

This is a photo from our first pickleball attempt.  We were using soccer nets that they had in the athletic department and lines that were put down for basketball.  Not a good situation but it was a start and we have come a long way.   Its a covered court that is usually used for volleyball and basketball so we have to compete for time and space.

The previous three show how the students rigged up the new regulation  net that I ordered but we still did not have the right posts to hold it up....so they improvised using the posts from the soccer nets we had phased out.  It kept blowing over so they figured that out too.

Birthday, pickleball, local places and street views

 

This is Adelayda Sotello from Malpaisillo and her son Carlos Mario, in Nicaragua.  Very very good people. 

The lighter dog is the guards dog at UREQ and she decided to share her house with this new fellow and now they seem to be inseparable.  I hate that big bowl of food which does not seem to get eaten, probably rancid,  but I don't say anything.  I just found out that the darker dog belongs to one of the teachers and she brings him to hang out on campus while she teaches. 

We got pickleball started at UTEQ and the response has been very very good.  It's hard to take good photos with my old phone but this will give you an idea.  We had two meet ups using a net that  the soccer coach had for soccer drills.  But, then I ordered an official net on Amazon and that is what you see in these photos.  We had to use the posts from the soccer nets and the students made it work and then they took a rest. 

Two other January birthdays in the office.  Esperanza and Bernice with me.

This is a pretty awful shot of our first pickleball effort at UTEQ.  I have an old camera without a wide angle lens so this is the best I cold do. 

Just a couple of charming streets near where I live....actually on the way to the lab where I was going to get my blood checked after having trouble shaking a bad cold.

I live near the bottom this street, 5 de Mayo,.  It shows the mixture of vintage electric wiring and fancy condos just one hill away.

The local post office is in the white building next to the orangeish one.  The first opening is where they park the motorcycles on which they deliver the mail and the second opening is the actual post office where you can mail things.  It works.

A yummy breakfast at Veg Co, a local vegan restaurant owned and run by two sisters.

Some roof art, its steel mostly, which I noticed on my walk one day.  Earlier I posted a painting of an automatic weapon which was on a wall of a house...I noticed recently that it had been painted over so someone objected...other than me.

Mostly about efforts to rescue cats

Steve brought Gringo down to me right before Christmas, 2023.  I was sooo glad to get him and to have the chance to show Steve some of the highlights of Queretaro. 

One of the highlights in Queretaro is this pyramid that had fairly recently been unearthed.   Apparently it had been covered with trees and other greenery over the years and local folks did not realize that there was a pyramid underneath.  It's really quite amazing....two sides have been unearthed and the other two have been left covered with flora. There are guides who describe the astrological basis for the location of the pyramid, etc.         https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=pyramid+in+queretaro+mexico#cobssid=s&fpstate=ive&vld=cid:5ea7f933,vid:5nPoEjHo9Tk,st:0     This link might work...its a you tube video with some interesting commentary.  I apologize for the proselytizing at the end.                                                                                                                    

Another highlight was eating and having an occasional dark beer.  We had a discussion about alcoholic content...Modelo Negra is my favorite. 

This is preparation for a posada.  We did not stick around for it to be performed.  We walked at least 6 miles a day and my back was not happy....so we left.  Posadas are a phenomenon, in my opinion, that occur at Christmas and somehow combine brass bands and dancing with the celebrations of the birth of Jesus.....

This is the inside of a catholic church decorated for Christmas....interesting combination of religious icons and foil streamers.  We sat for a few minutes and then as we were quietly leaving, my shoe string got caught on a nail in the kneeling bench and I tripped, hit the ground and on my way down grabbed the back of the pew in front of us which made a loud sound which reverberated in this huge quiet space.  Embarrassed ?    duh.

A street vendor of Lele dolls and other items.Notice the children that are often brought along with their parents to sell on the streets.

This is so cute.  It's hanging on the door of a little shop indicating that it is ......yep closed.

I couldn't resist these next few photos.....dog walkers rule, apparently.  Note the people who have given up the sidewalk to the dogs.  These photos also give you an idea of the cute streets in the center of Queretaro.

This appears to be a rifle ( not sure of the model but think its one of those automatic military style)  that is painted on the exterior wall of a house near me, actually it's on my walk to the PC office. 

 

This is just an example as there are many similar storefronts showing this type of gown....this is what many girls wear to their quiceneras....celebrations of their 15th birthday.  I met a young female student at UTEQ who told me that her family gave her an option to have a quincenera or take a trip to the US.  She chose the trip for the whole family.  She is a very impressive young lady.

This takes some careful reading, but the word "cajones" caught my eye...it must have several meanings...in this context it means "parking space."
HaHa

 

Now, as to the cats:

 We have had a family of cats living in the Peace Corps patio for several months.  The mom showed up and shortly thereafter she apparently moved her 4 kittens into the patio also.  They began getting comfortable and growing , we were all enjoying watching them grow and thrive.  We even had a naming activity and agreed on names for them. Somehow, mysteriously, someone on the staff of PC decided to take the mother to be sterilized.  Apparently, they did not consider the effect on the kittens because While she was gone, her 4 kittens took off . To be sure, they were eating kitten food and were no longer nursing but .... At least one ended up living next door on the grounds of the Marista Prepatoria.  That is what they call private high schools.....prepas.   The grounds are very nice and many of the staff are also great.  Somehow the nuns are involved but the teachers all looks like civilians so....?  

 So, there are a couple photos below of the mother cat and her 4 kittens.  HOWEVER, there are also photos of the mother cat and 1 kitten.  When they all took off, only one, the orange one, was recovered.  We have no idea what happened to the other three....The mother did get sterilized and has a little notch in her ear and that is wonderful but 3 of the kittens are gone.  When the mother was returned to the patio, after two weeks at the vet ( to recover from the surgery) she began looking for her kittens, meowing and hunting around, and we heard a meow from the other side of the wall.  I went over to the school and they were very cooperative in letting me put little piles of food and water on the wall, near a hole that that went down into the hollow in the wall, and little by little the food disappeared and we occasionally sighted the orange kitten sneaking out to eat but when he became aware of us, he scampered back into the hole.  THis went on for several days until I got a humane trap from Amazon, we caught him and returned him to the patio and his mother.....see the other photos.  It was not handled well.....it is an example of cultural differences between the folks who took the mom leaving the kittens behind and how it would have been handled in my culture.  

 

 

 

 

As I end this post, both cats are still there but every day when I go to feed them or give them water, I expect to see one or both missing.  So far so good.