4 weeks down and 2 to go. At this point, team morale is very tenuous. Some days are better than others but the pressure of getting this curriculum ready has become tangible. I've finally decided what I want to do and now I just need to actually get it done!
The past week has been quite interesting. Although it continues to rain on a regular basis, I've been able to put together some cool events while simultaneously dodging rain drops and sitting through 3 hour lectures on God knows what.
I went down to Mexico City last Sunday with the director of the program who has actually turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. We walked around the city, checked out the artesanal kiosk, made it to the palace of fine arts, rode the subway, ate some street meat and dodged some more rain drops. For having over 20 million million and a terrible reputation it actually was a cool experience and the people seemed very happy.
Yesterday was probably the high point of the trip thus far. Team morale is volatile but we finally got to spend the day with "real" Mexicans. Cuernavaca is a town with economic extremes and it seems that we spend most of our time with the upper class. Our task was to go to a youth center called "vamos" in the middle of the mountains, paint the exterior of the building, help prepare the 4pm meal and play with the neighborhood kids. It was a well needed break from the classroom and helped us regain a better perspective.
Today we had 3 female Mexican artists come to speak to us about their lives, artwork and societal roles. We had some informative discussion. One of the women was an indigenous Guatemalan that left her country during the the civil war of the 80s. Her family members began to disappear so she picked up and took refugee status in Mexico. One of the others was a gorgeous guitar player from Veracruz. Oddly enough, this is the first attractive Mexican girl I've seen this entire month. Needless to say, team morale is back up.
Taxco: Took a trip to an old silver mining town. Did some shopping, saw another old chuch which happened to be built by a wealthy Spaniard (Borda) who in return was able to name his son and subsequent grandchildren as high priests for all to pay tribute to as a personal liason to God. Oddly enough, this mans wealth came from the sweat of the indigenous workers who were essentially forced to worship in this church but were made to pray in a separate chamber from the Spaniards. That must have been one hell of a sales pitch!
Other major events in the last week: Visit to Cortes palace and the local municipal market with anything and everything you could ever imagine. Quite the rollercoaster ride for ALL of your senses. Saw a huge Diego Rivera mural that reflects a couple thousand years of Mexican history through pictures. You essentially read it like a book. Amazing!
Will write more later but I've got my preliminary curriculum presentation tomorrow to get ready for.
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