Mexico - April 2008by Hannah Friday April 25, 2008This is really exciting because my classmates and I are taking an eighth grade service trip to Colima, Mexico. We will be there for a week and will stay at a hacienda. Our hosts will be Project Amigo, which is a organization that helps poor children or scholars around Mexico by providing dental care, housing, clothing and more. We will be flying from Arcata to Los Angeles and then to Guadalajara, Mexico. Then we will get on the Project Amigo bus, which will take us to our town in the State of Colima. While in Mexico we will be doing different things to help improve the children’s lives. For example when we planned this trip, each and everyone of my classmates and I had to raise about 1140 dollars, which will help 12 students to go to school for a year. Some of us got more than 12 sponsorships and we also did other things such as selling necklaces, which helped us with some of our airfare. Before leaving we had to practice tooth brushing and we also had two orientations with one of the Project Amigo workers Kathleen who will be with us all through this amazing trip! Saturday April 26, 2008The plane ride from Arcata to LA was a little more than an hour and it was super bumpy and noisy. Then we had to wait at the huge airport in LA for about 5 hours for the next plane to Guadalajara, Mexico. During that time we played games such as cards and discussed different things; we were all excited to finally come to Mexico due to all the preparations we did beforehand such as getting 12 sponsorships (each about 95 dollars) for the poor children of Mexico to go to school for a year and getting together some clothes and gifts for the children that we will be passing out later during the week. So when we finally boarded the plane to Guadalajara, we were all excited, but tired at the same time because it was almost 1-30 AM in the morning and we hadn't had any sleep. The ride was about three hours long and the plane smelled horrible and it didn't even have a radio on it, which made the ride pretty boring. When we finally got off the plane and entered Mexico, it was about 6 in the morning; we are about 2 hours ahead of California. The air smelled of hot weather around 80 degrees and we were all sweating pretty badly and smelled like sweat as well. Then we had a bus ride to Colima, which took about three hours; I slept most of the way, but it was hard to sleep in hot weather and the high way was sometimes bumpy. It was such a relief when we finally reached our destination, but we couldn't take any breaks because we had plans for the day and we were a bit late. We had a long tour inside and outside of the hacienda, which is where we are staying; it's like a hotel. We got to see a lot of buildings (mostly made of bricks of mud) and a church. Unlike Bahrain, almost everyone speaks Spanish here, but like Bahrain everyone's really nice and considerate. All the little streets and sidewalks are really uneven because they are made of pebbles and the sidewalks are really narrow as well. Also the sidewalks are really high from the street and sometimes there are unexpected steps that do not need to be there. Everything seems to be really dusty because most of the people living here aren't as well off as some of us in the United States. The air smells pretty clean, but some places that we passed smelled like unclean bathrooms. During our tour we also saw how coffee is created from picking it and peeling the shells off and then drying it and roasting it and finally sorting them out into different bags depending on the size of the coffee beans. There are a lot of different kinds of fruit trees such as mango, banana, papaya and more. We also saw a huge sugar cane field. Our hacienda is very nice with lots of various plants as decorations, but one problem is that it's pretty crowded with chairs, tables, people and plants around that I sometimes have a hard time getting around. After the tour we had lunch and I got to taste their yummy freshly made tortillas with pork and vegetables and salad that had cucumbers in it and I got to drink some fruit juice. After lunch some of the students that we sponsored came and we played getting to know each other games and sorted out the clothes and gifts that (we brought) out into different piles for the children to choose from when we pass them out. Then we took another walk that was supposed to be ten blocks long, but it turned out to be more like twenty to a park where some of us played volleyball and some of us sat around and rested. A bunch of people in my group got headaches, stomach aches and some aren't getting adjusted to the dusty heat well; but I'm pretty fine except for the fact that I'm really tired. After that we had an orientation about Project Amigo in which I fell asleep and so did some of my classmates; it lasted for about half an hour and then we had dinner. After dinner we were allowed to go to bed, but first I had to take a shower to get all the sweat and dust off of me, but one thing that really made me mad was when I was looking for my clothe to wear after the shower, I found out that I forgot my toiletry bag with everything in it, so then I had to borrow other people's stuff. After my shower I checked my emails and started my journal. It's about 9-10 PM right now and I didn't sleep well last night on the plane or the bus ride here, so I think I'll get some sleep, so I'll have some energy for tomorrow when we go to the tortogario with some of the students that we sponsored. Sunday April 27, 2008Today we had a long ride to the Tortogario, which was a place with a swimming pool and sea turtles. The ride was really bumpy especially when we were getting on to the highway and I thought my insides would fall out. On our way we picked up the students that we met yesterday and we spent most of the day at the tortogario. We looked at various sized turtles in different little circular pools that are about five six feet high. I even got to pet and hold a turtle; they aren't violent. The turtle's shell was very hard and smooth and its neck felt a bit like rubber and its legs kicked like it was swimming even though it was out of the water; it smelled like sea animals. After that we went swimming in a pool of very salty water (like the ocean). It was fun, but my eyes hurt a little from the water; we were in it for about 20 minutes. Then we went for a boat ride in a huge lake that lasted for about an hour. Parts of it were surrounded by trees and bushes and parts of it were open. We sometimes even went under tunnels built of leaves and branches. Parts of the lake smelled like sour, but parts of it smelled like nature. We saw a chinchilla and a sea turtle. Our boat was electric and we sat around and tried to communicate with the Spanish speaking students. They sang songs and we clapped along with them. They were very open and we taught them the 100 Bottles of beer (only we changed it to pop) On The Wall song. They were quick learners and they had really good pronunciation. After the ride we went to a Mexican Restaurant that had a huge swimming pool and it was next to the ocean. We had good food and some of us swam in the ocean; I didn't because when I swam in the ocean in New York, I swallowed too much salt water and threw up. After swimming we went to a community library that was built by Project Amigo. It was small, but everything was nice and neat. It had computers for the children to use and it had printers as well. We looked around and interacted with each other and the Mexican students. We also had a tour around the place and we gave them books for the children to read and use. After that we dropped off the students and came back to the hacienda and rested for about half an hour. Then we had a interact meeting with our hosts and talked about what we were going to do tomorrow and practiced brushing our teeth people we will be teaching them tomorrow. After that we had dinner and then we went to bed. Some of us took showers including me and then I went to bed. Monday April 28, 2008This morning we went to a couple of schools and taught them how to brush their teeth, which was a little hard for me because I sometimes had absolutely no idea what they were doing, but the children were very good especially the very first group. The first school that we went to was very small with one room and one teacher and grades a-from. The children were very open to learning new things and were quick learners. We gave them clothes that we brought with us and played with them. Then we went to another school that was much bigger with more students. We showed them how to brush their teeth as well, but they weren't as good of a listener as our first group. We didn't pass out clothes because there were too many children, but we played with them; they were very noisy and active. Then we came back to the hacienda and rested for an hour or so and ate lunch. In the afternoon we went to visit some students' homes and saw where everyone lived. Most of the homes are made of bricks of mud. Most of the families in Colima have more than 4 children plus the grandparents. Some of the students gave tours of their homes, but the student that my group was with didn't give us a tour. Instead we sat around a small room and talked to each other. They didn't know any English, but we somehow managed. We gave them a little gift that came from our cities, but they didn't open the present because it was said that when a visitor comes with a gift, the gift isn't as important as the visitor. We visited with them for about an hour and went to present some Project Amigo sports t-shirts to a soccer team. Afterward some of us played soccer with them and then came back to the hacienda. Then we had a little rest and I took a shower. After dinner we had a presentation on the Virgin Guadalupe and that she really existed in the early hundreds. A family got dressed up to show how during the celebration Guadalupe people were supposed to dress; it was very colorful. The presentation was very interesting; but I was very tired because it was around 9 and we had a long day. Tuesday April 29, 2008Today we went to three schools and taught children how to brush their teeth; two in the morning and one in the afternoon. The first school that we went to in the morning was great and the kids were well behaved. We passed out clothes that we brought with us and we also passed books out. After the teeth brushing, we had a little time, so we played soccer and read to them. The second school was ok because a lot of the children were a little wild. The children didn't listen well, but they were very young and we were basically strangers to them. We passed out books only and we tried to read to them, but they were pretty independent and read to themselves. The school that we went to this afternoon had a lot of children, so we had two groups. Our first group of kids were very shy and they were very good listeners, but the second group were noisy and they totally didn't listen at all. When we were finished, we told them not to eat, but right after they went and ate various foods. Then we came back to our hacienda and took showers and practiced our parts for the play - A Tale of Two Cities; every class in Costal Grove (my school) does a play every year; last year we did A Midsummer Night's Dream and I was a fairy and this year we are doing A Tale of Two Cities. Then we had another meeting about what we will be doing tomorrow such as home visits and an event at a school where we will be celebrating the day of the child with students and we will be doing different things like dancing and eating. Then we had dinner and had a presentation on volcanoes; our hacienda is right by the volcanoes. It was very interesting, but I was very tired and the presentation was a power point, so it was a little hard for me. During the presentation I heard horse hooves going by our window on a street like alley that was very bumpy because it is all made of cobble stones. We also heard various automobiles going by and it seems to me like people in this part of Mexico like to turn on their music up very loud while in their cars and sometimes it creates vibrations. We learned about different volcano eruptions and how big they are. We saw all the eruptions that happened during the past years. I have go to bed because it's a little after ten PM and we have had a super long day. Wednesday April 30, 2008Most of us got up around 6:30 and went on a long walk that took about an hour. We went around the streets and then a huge cow field with rocks and horse surprises all over the places. The walk was very refreshing and some of us saw smoke rising from the volcano. Then we had chips with chicken and cheese and fruit juice to drink and various fruits like bananas, pineapple, watermelon and etc for breakfast. Then we went to a school and celebrated the Day of the Child with the students and teachers. When we got there, we watched them dance to the music that was being played. The dances were a little inappropriate because it had different moves that a ten year old won't usually do in the U.S. but it is one of their traditions for the Day of the Child. Then a student came out who was dressed like a princess and she walked and made speeches. She was the princess of the day for the occasion and we was surrounded by children whereever she went and then she sat on a throne that was a chair with a golden cloth on top; children were all around her at all times. Afterward we all started dancing and they played some Mexican music including pop and some American music mostly pop; some songs had swear words in them. They also had food and drinks, but we ate before we went, so we weren't hungry. Most of us danced a lot with the students. It was very noisy, but fun and the children were very happy to see and dance with us. The school had a lot of steps in unexpected places and all the classrooms had a lot of children. After the dances, we were divided into different groups and passed out toothbrushes to the children; they thanked us a lot and were very polite. Then we came back to the hacienda and we wrote in our journals some and practiced our play. Then we had a little rest and ate lunch at a restaurant. It seems like we have a lot of similar foods in China and in Mexico because this morning when we were walking to the school, we saw people boil pork rinds with other pig parts and people in China do that as well. Also people here eat a lot of pork cooked in various ways and I grew up eating that kind of food, so it's pretty great. In the afternoon we met another group of high school children who came over to the hacienda and we played musical chairs as a way of getting to know one another. Then we taught them how to brush their teeth because we will be going to a school where we will be working together to help the children to brush their teeth. We were divided into groups and the two kids in my group weren't willing to do what we asked them to, but they did it anyways after we explained why people should brush their teeth and how brushing their teeth is good for you. Afterward all the groups made salsa with recipes that these group of children came up with earlier. When it was all finished, we got to go around each group and taste it. Some tasted very spicy and some were milled; it was fun. Then we went to a few of the kids' homes and saw where they lived. The home that I went to was very crowded with stuff, but we didn't go inside because in Mexico it's pretty common for people not to invite guests that are almost strangers inside their homes. While I was there, it felt much like when I lived in China because a lot of things were dusty and they had chickens, dogs, cats and fruit trees around just like when I lived in China four years ago; it will be five years on July the 19th because that was when I was adopted. The home seemed very poor, but the child that we were with was very smart, so hopefully he will make a change when he graduates from college. Most of the homes that we visited seem to have either one or all the people who have lived their all their lives; the home that I visited had an adult who have lived there for 47 years. Most families here in Mexico seems to have more than 4 children, but today I was very surprised when the kid that we visited told us that he was the only child. When we came back rest for a while and practiced our parts of A Tale of Two Cities. Then we ate dinner and went to the Plaza where there were some stores open and we went into one that had Mexican groceries. I didn't buy much because nothing really seemed appealing. Some of us ate candy and ice cream and we all hung out at the gazebo that had around 15-20 steps. It was a circle on top and it has a circular roof over it. Some people danced, but I just stood there and listened to my surroundings. There were cars everywhere and there were a lot of lights up as well. I think I also heard Mexican Pop music, but I can't remember. Then we came back to the hacienda and went to bed. Thursday May 1st, 2008In the morning we went to Colima City with a new group of high school students who were really nice and sort of easy to communicate with. Some of the students have gotten scholarships to go to Utah for 4 weeks to experience what the U.S. is like and also to learn about our culture. They knew a little bit of English and they were really fun to hang around. We played get to know one another games on the bus; it's a Project Amigo that we have been using all week so far and our bus driver is Diego who is really friendly. At Colima City we went to a daily market; it's like a huge open street market. It was very crowded and noisy. Everything and everywhere smelled different and in some ways it reminded me of when I went to markets in China because of the smells, sounds and people. We went in to one store that had really nice small gifts such as jewelry, pens and etc; it was like a souvenir store. We didn't get to spend too much time in there because the students that joined us didn't have much as we did and we didn't want to make them feel bad. We basically walked around the huge crowded market with the smells of, fish, various meats, perfume, plastic, various fresh and dry fruits and so much more. We also went to a church that was really big with lots and lots of pews and kneeling pads in front of each pew. It was very peaceful inside and cool; it was around 90 degrees outside. It seems like everywhere that we go has a least five or more steps that lead to the top especially like stores and even some sidewalks didn't have curb cuts, but some streets did. The city of Colima is so much different than the little town of Colima. For example the city didn't have cobblestone streets and most of the sidewalks didn't have steps and weren't as narrow. It had more people, sounds and smells. It had more tall buildings and more stores with more variety of merchandize. We also saw a parade with lots of people and loud music because it was a special holiday that I can't remember the name or what it was about. Also the city didn't feel as dusty when walking as the small town did. There were more varied people around the city; the town that we are in has more poor people. Before going to eat lunch, we went to visit a pyramid. It was a huge open place with a really tall pyramid that had a lot of uneven steps. Some of us climbed the pyramid and it was cooler at the top than the bottom. I really liked climbing it because it was a lot of fun. Then we ate lunch at a place, but the food wasn't very good. I sat next to two boys; one knew a little bit of English, the other didn't. The one who knew English tried to talk to me and I learned that he is one of the scholarship students who will be going to Utah this summer in July. We stayed at the restaurant for a little over half an hour and then went to a swimming pool that a couple owned who have lived in the U.S. We were a little early, so we went on a tour of all the different kinds of plants and trees that they have in Mexico. For example a chocolate tree; forgot the real name. I felt a lot of small, big, soft, rough, smooth, bumpy, long and short plants and trees. It was a fun tour and there were even some turtles in ponds. The swimming pool that we went to was pretty small and the water was pretty cold and a bit salty. First we swam around and took pictures with an underwater camera and then some of us played catch/keep away with the students; there are also called homework club students because Project Amigo provide services that help them with their homework because most of their parents never went to school and can't really help them. I swam for about half an hour and then played cards with some of my classmates while the homework club was having fun with catch/keep away. It was really fun and relaxing and afterward we came back to the hacienda and rested for about twenty minutes. Then we had a Project Amigo meeting where we reflected on our day and what we will be doing tomorrow like going to a migrant camp. Then we ate dinner and some of us left to see a circus and some of us went on a glowworm walk/hunt. I went on the glowworm walk/hunt and it was really relaxing and fun. We actually caught one and I got to hold it. It was very small and it wasn't exothermic meaning that it wasn't hot to the touch like light bulbs or fire even though a glowworm lights up like a tiny fire. When we were searching for the glowworm, a man came out of nowhere and started talking in rapid Spanish. He helped us look for glowworms with a huge flashlight. It wasn't very helpful, but it was really nice of him to do so. After a while he went back in to the forest and we didn't see him again. On our way back Ms Jen showed me a huge ball of clay that was very heavy and said the Aztecs used it to play hip ball, which was one of their sports. The balls were really heavy and it felt like dirt and clay like and a little bumpy like a rock. When we came back, we got to eat really fresh and juicy mangos that were really sweet and juicy; it was yummy, but a little too sweet; then we went to bed. Friday May 2, 2008The morning walks are very refreshing and cool. This morning I joined my classmates on the walk; we went walked for more than a mile. All the little streets are made of cobblestones and when I walk on it, I feel like I'm getting a really relaxing foot massage. We went along streets with cars and trucks whizzing by us; it was very fun. Then we had breakfast with the homework club that was with us on Wednesday. Afterward we went to the migrant camp in Colima with them. We were divided into groups; two Mexican students and two U.S. students in a group. We helped and taught the little children how to brush their teeth and played with them. They came from families who worked at the migrant camp. Though they weren't as wealthy as us, they seemed very happy and grateful for every little thing that they received. It reminded me of when I lived in China because everything seemed very dusty and all of the little children seemed happy to see us. It was a little sad to think of what we have in the U.S. that they don't have and that they are going to grow up and may never have the chance to experience the world like I do. We spent about 4 hours with them and fed them cakes, played games and they got to open a piñata. Then we had a closing circle (one of Project Amigo's traditions) where we gave little gifts and said goodbye because it was the end of the day for the children and we had other activities planned. Before we left, we took a tour around the camp and saw where some of the women sewed and learned sewing. We also saw where people could wash their clothes; where they scrub and wash by hand. It also reminded me of when I lived in China because I used to do the same thing. We went into some shack houses that were really dark and the floors were made completely of dirt. They were one-story and they were made for the migrant laborers; today was also Labor Day in Mexico. Then we came back and had a Project Amigo meeting and talked about what we liked today and also did two evaluations (one check boxes and one essay type) that evaluated our amazing week in Colima, Mexico. Then we had dinner and sang a Latin song as a thank you present for the hosts. Afterward we rested and packed and took showers; then we went to bed. Saturday May 3, 2008 Today is our driving and flying day because we have been up since two in the morning. We will be boarding five different airplanes and fly over four different states and travel internationally from Mexico to the United States. |