Routines

Well, it seems that things are finally seeming to settle down into a routine these days... We got our internet working in the whole house (hopefully even in the mornings), re-arranged the furniture as desired, know where to go to get groceries and drinking water, and when I went shopping this morning I knew just what I wanted and where to get it. Change is fun, but I have to admit -- I'm a man of routines.

Speaking of routines, I should probably record what a typical day goes like! When there isn't anything going (which is so rare that it's hardly worth mentioning), you might find me doing the following:

7:00-10:00 - Wake up, exercise if desired (hopefully I will be feeling better now that I'm used to the food), eat breakfast, read scriptures, and prep for the day.
10:00-2:00 - Usually some kind of meeting at the Employment Center or homework.
2:00-4:00 - Get bored of being in the house, go out to get the biggest meal of the day (the "comida") if I haven't already eaten too much, explore.
4:00-11:00 - More homework, followed by occasional sidetracking onto blogs, email, facebook, and usually a visit to my adopted street vendor family down the street.

HOWEVER, this is almost always broken by one of the following:

- Career Workshop (either here in the city or a couple hours away -- about 10 or 11 hours of work spread over 2 days)
- Touristing (usually 2 or 3 times weekly, though getting to be less as we settle in -- I don't mind that)
- Visits to the nearby university (I have several books that I need to read at the university, and also just enjoy the environment)
- Institute, dinner with friends, or other church activities

So goes "a day in the life", here in Puebla... and I'm beginning to love it already.


Picture:
1. Lounging at my typical homework spot, which doubles as a table for eating when we get around to it.

Tehuacán

During the last two days Taylor and I traveled to Tehuacán, a city about 2 hours away from Puebla, for our first out-of-town Career Workshop. It is a bit smaller than Puebla, which I loved, and the people are extraordinarily nice! We had a huge group for the workshop, over 30 both days, which can get a little unwieldy but it's nice to be able to serve that many people. However, I have to give a plug for teaching right now, and what I love and don't love about it.

Teaching a big group is tough. Sometimes just getting up in front of everyone is intimidating, and then it's on to asking questions and trying to get someone to respond. When we're talking about the Gospel, usually discussion stays pretty lively. But when we get to more secular subjects like self-presentation or how to reference a phone book, too often we get blank stares. Finally, it's so hard to tell who is on track, who is falling behind, and what we need to focus on, particularly when the group gets that big!

However, that brings me right to the best part of teaching. When we're able to find someone who needs that help and sit down with them one-on-one, or someone comes to us with a specific question, or you find someone struggling and walk them through a difficult problem and see them understand it, it is one of the most wonderful feelings on earth. I love people. I love helping them and connecting with them. I am so grateful to be in Puebla right now, with an opportunity to do that very thing.

I love Mexico. Not because of the sights, though they are beautiful, but because of what I'm learning from the people.


PICTURES:
1. Me outside the hotel where we stayed, with my new sandals. Yes, I am definitely still a tourist. But the hotel was very nice!
2. One of the awesome (and well-kept) examples of colonial architecture in Tehuacán. You can see the dome of the church up through the patio openin.
3. The inside of Tehuacán's beautiful Catholic church.
4. The outside of Tehuacán's beautiful Catholic church. And me.
5. Taylor in our sumptuous hotel room..
6. Hotel room shower -- probably the nicest one I will use here in Mexico! :)
7. The workshop group. I really liked this one.
8. So this hotel had parking underneath. Only thing is, you practically have to drive through their nice restaurant (see background) to get there!
9. Graduating class of the Tehuacán Career Workshop!

University Life Again

Today I had the awesome opportunity to make my way over to Puebla's largest university for some research. Its name is BUAP, or Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, and I liked the campus quite a bit. Most of all, it was just weird to be back on a college campus thousands of miles from the one I'm used to! Once again, the odd use of space was so apparent -- it seems that Mexicans almost like their buildings to be crowded, because there will be acres of undeveloped land followed by little clusters of buildings. But part of it is just growing pains, not knowing what to do with all the space. Still, the brand new central library I visited (see below) is a good ten-minute walk from everything except the stadium!

I had the chance to talk to a librarian whose friend currently lives in Provo (he took the picture in front of the small library), as if the studying and libraries weren't reminding me enough of home. :) The university was almost empty of students, because they're in between terms, but I'll be back there next week and it should be fairly full (according to my librarian friend).

Pictures:
1. The huge new library. It is fully equipped, with big iMacs for public use and quite a few books (nothing like BYU of course) and generally a great facility.
2. Inside the new library. Note the Mexican penchant for simple exterior design (not a rule, but quite common) but brightly-decorated interiors.
3. In front of the little library where I spent four or five hours researching today.
4. Construction on campus at BUAP SO different from BYU! No cranes, no heavy machinery, no steel superstructures -- just bricks, concrete, and manual labor.
5. The foreign language building. The whole "university city" (as they call a campus) is one of the best-kept areas in Puebla that I have visited. I'm excited to visit when there are more students!

Exploring Puebla

It has been an adventurous week, filled with everything except homework. Ay, such is the study abroad...

First of all, church was wonderful on Sunday, but the ward building surprised me a bit. It had every amenity that could be required for worship, but any gringo like myself that has never been to church outside of the States will be rather taken aback at the simplicity of the facility. The chapel floors are tile, the windows uninsulated, the pews hard-backed and plain (or nonexistent in same chapels, where they use more comfortable soft-backed chairs), and the building materials are simple in general. But the people quite similar to the ones I knew in Washington on my Spanish-speaking mission, and that alone makes it quite an enjoyable experience. We were able to get to know a good percentage of the relatively small ward, including some outstanding young adults and recent converts. It's that kind of flux and heterogeneity that make these wards so vibrant, fun, and just slightly unorganized. Always an adventure.

The rest of the week has been devoted (primarily) to settling into our home and sightseeing/socializing. Settling into our home requires about two words to describe it: Wal-mart and minimization. The other half, however, has been a BLAST. I have gotten to know some incredible people and a beautiful area. First of all, our guides for the majority of the time have been Jonathan Hernandez and Lalo Leal, two excellent Poblanos who knew Taylor well on his mission. Jonathan is a friendly, loving, quiet fellow. He seems to get the greatest satisfaction from being with people and just hearing them talk or talking to them. Lalo is a dynamic fellow, the only member in his family (for the time being), and a real leader. Both can be found in one of the attached pictures. One of the first days we were with them, Taylor mentioned the possibility of Lalo's going to the US to study English, and since then he's taken the idea and run with it, so I may get to see him up there as well -- which would be a real treat. He is an outstanding person.

One of our best trips was to the old Cathedral of Puebla, a sixteenth century building that is enormous and drab on the outside and beautifully colored on the interior. Gold, brightly-painted statues, tile, and stained glass decorate the walls, and as we went through I was also touched by the pious visitors that surrounded us. They were sitting and kneeling reverently all around, and I felt a nice sense of peace come over me. They are worshipping the best they know how, and I am quite sure the Lord blessses them for it. Later that night we traveled with Lalo to his ward building, where he is the president of the Young Men's organization. We got to teach them how to set up tents for their upcoming campout, play basketball and soccer in the rain, and talk with a really great group of boys. I cannot stress how much I admire these Mexican saints. It is a different culture, and there are some things that I like about US church units and organization, but I love the basic faith and passion of the Saints here.

Speaking of the people down here, I have had four conversations in the past four days that have begun to open my mind to the Mexican culture and way of life. The first was with an educated church member who drove the taxi on the way to our Career Workshop across the city. We had the singular opportunity to discuss, among other things, politics and dating customs. He is a lifetime member, as were his father and grandfather, and the biggest thing that surprised me is how similar it sounded to things I heard from members back home. Truly, the Gospel unites us in a unparalleled way! The second was a convert, also a taxi driver, and we discussed some legends of Puebla as well as employment situations and bearing trials. His perspectives were more simple, but he was so loving and respectful. Family and a non-stressful life seemed to be the most important things to him, and he made great sacrifices for the first. The second... well, I'll have to leave that for another day, but between my mission and Puebla, I think it is an enormous theme. The third conversation happened last night with Lalo's mother. Her life experiences were enormously different from the first two men I've mentioned, yet her perspectives surprisingly similar to the latter. She is not yet a member, so we spent some time talking about her son's mission and membership in the church and the pros and cons thereof. She actually seems to be fairly open to it... :) And we also talked about relationships, and houses, and most especially Mexico and what made it different. Speaking of which, the last conversation was strangely familiar -- today, on my way home from institute (awesome) I took a detour to see a Catholic church near our home. On my way in, I found myself in conversation with the security guard at the park next door. He's lived in the United States for over a decade, and we had the most curious conversation about how much he loves the system in the US, particularly the government. Scholarships, emergency healthcare aid, free public school systems, pretty much everything except the immigration laws he loves! But that same welfare policy has proved so troublesome on budget matters... well, only time will tell how this mess all works out. And the church was marvelous, particularly perched at the top of a hill as it was.


PS A note on pictures -- I'm sadly lacking in pictures for many of the things and most of the people I mention in here. I really want to be better at taking pictures with people when I meet them.

1. The church where I met that fun security guard.
2. Cathedral of Puebla - Myself, Lalo, Jonathan, and Taylor in front
3. Lalo, Jonathan, me, and Taylor on our field day together
4. Our ward building!
5. Our smoking volcano neighbor -- Popocatepétl (say that 5 times fast)
6. The inside of the church mentioned in #1. I can never get these to go in the order I want... ;)

Our First Career Workshop

On Wednesday and Thursday we taught our first Career Workshop ("Taller de autosuficiencia laboral"), the main reason for our presence in Mexico these next three months. Thus, the first half of the week was dominated by preparations for that event. We reviewed materials and tactics with the employment center, got to know our wonderful full-time sisters on staff, and coordinated our thoughts on the best way to present the material in the time we had (normally 10-12 hours long, we had only 8). It was strangely similar to working with a companion again, compromising on different ideas and finding solutions to anticipated problems. Our own knowledge of the Workshop is by no means seasoned, so getting ourselves up to speed on the material was essential as well. But it went through, and I felt it was both a successful and an excellent learning experience.

The success I allude to is primarily due to a great group. We had more than 25 participants at any given time, as they slipped in and out for various commitments, and a wonderful coordinating stake employment specialist to make sure that the facilities were well-managed. The group itself had several participants whose passion, humor, or good-naturedness contributed to an overall relaxed feeling throughout the presentation. Taylor and I, both fairly experienced teachers from the mission and other experiences, transition and adjust fairly naturally to most situations, though with unfamiliar material it is a bit more difficult. And we found that almost everyone we had there was quite willing to do the apparently simple activities that the Workshop includes.

On the other hand, we did learn a great deal. First and foremost, we need to learn the material back and front so that it becomes second nature to teach any section. Secondly, we need to take pictures -- we haven't a single picture from that group due to our oversight on that count! Finally (and Taylor might add some others), we need to learn how to best present the material in the culture so that participation and enjoyment are at their maximum. Only then will the students really remember, feel comfortable with, and want to apply what we teach!

The Arrival

I wrote this post on Saturday night, but later deleted it on accident... I decided to re-post it for my own records. :)

...
There are a few times in life when I've had to pinch myself to really believe that I'm alive. The last 24 hours have been one of them. Boarding the plane in Vegas, I thought things were feeling a bit Mexican, what with a few Latino flight attendants, pilots who spoke better Spanish than English, and magazines in Spanish. Flying into Mexico City, however, I began to get a taste of the land I would be trying to understand and learning to love in the next three months. Multi-colored, half-finished apartment complexes, concrete and rebar houses creeping up the slopes of the surrounding hills, new skyscrapers planted next to empty shells of abandoned concrete buildings, it was all a bit surreal. The airport was fairly manageable, with some odd twists on arrivals and terminal set-up, but the most consistent thing was the strange juxtaposition of modern machinery/buildings with traditional clothing and poorly maintained buildings. And the city was FULL of the same thing! BMWs drove down the road next to slugbug taxis ("bochos") from the 60s, brand-new windows were stuck into old concrete walls, new signs covered the sides of run-down buildings, and traditional street vendors sat talking on cell phones as we drove by. The traffic was unbelievable -- motorcyclists darting in between lanes, buses and cars running red lights and sticking their noses into the middle of moving traffic until someone let them in, young window washers rushing to stopped cars and trying to wash their windows if anyone had to stop driving for more than 5 seconds. Then (coming into the poorer outlying areas) we dodged around stray dogs at every turn, through the narrowest of gaps in between parked cars, under eves of houses with roofs full of plants, clothes, pets, and cheap tin siding stuck into stucco and brick, and finally up a huge hill to the home of our dear hosts.

But despite the chaos and newness of it all, the people will be the ones that most stay in my memory. Our hosts that night were Hugo Castillo and his wonderful mother Edít. Speaking of "we," I should explain that I spend most of my time with a dear friend named Taylor Fletcher. Taylor is on the internship with me, and we are going to teach the Career Workshop together as well as watch each others' backs for the three months. He is active, kind, incredibly friendly, and deeply caring about others. We've only known each other a few months, and only really spent much time together in the last few days, but I think he's going to be an extraordinary support and guide. Besides all that, he served his mission in Sinaloa, Mexico (a couple hundred miles north), so he really has a great idea of the culture and quirks of the country. Taylor was companions with Hugo (our host) on his mission, so Hugo and his uncle picked us up at the airport and drove us through the streets to their house. The uncle told us about his two rather disparate jobs -- one, killing chickens and selling them to markets, the other as a licensed massage therapist in his home and a nearby arts association. Say what? Then we arrived at Hugo's house, which is made of the same concrete/rebar/brick mix as most of the houses in the city. They were so welcoming and warm, and fed us even though it was midnight by the time we got there! Edít makes a mean Mexican dish, and we were well-fed for the three meals we ate with them. I slept in a mid-size bed with Taylor and dogs barking everywhere, woke up to the sounds of a live rooster, showered using hand-boiled water and a small cup, washed dishes outdoors in a big tub, and before we left climbed on their roof and looked out over the whole city (with chickens being cleaned next door). Most of all, however, the spirit in their home was so simple and pure -- they are converts of three years and are caring people, of the sort that offer food to anyone that happens to come by while they are eating. Edít also loves jokes, though she hardly has an outgoing personality. Her favorite was probably one about the bronze lion statues in downtown Mexico City being made of "little lies" (not bronze) because they are not real. :) Needless to say, we got along very well.

This afternoon we explored downtown Mexico City and Chapultapec park with the two of them. I saw the famous statues on the main boulevard, the huge castle in the middle of the park, several monuments, and more people than I care to describe. We enjoyed our last few hours with Hugo and Edít, then jumped on the bus for Puebla and were picked up by a middle-aged man named Ranulfo Cervantes, our Puebla Employment Center manager. My interaction with him (limited strictly to email until now) had brought me to believe that he was a mild-mannered but genuinely kind and selfless person, and in person he seemed nothing less. Time will tell, I suppose, but I don't think we could have been placed with a better leader.

I miss the United States a bit, truth be told, and the wonderful people there. But after the unforgettable blessings of the last 28 hours, I have a feeling that I will quickly grow to love this place and these people. You are all in my prayers.

Home Sweet Home

Below are some pictures of our home in Puebla. It's apparently quite nice for Mexico! And I am very grateful for the opportunity to learn to live a little more simply -- I think it's something that I've needed to learn for a while. :)

PS I can't figure out why it puts the pictures in the order it does, but I'm just rolling with it...

1. This is a piece of our street, from our second-story balcony. The little girl by the truck was looking at me super-funny, but then again, being white in the middle of Puebla gets us funny looks no matter what. :)

2. Some neighboring rooftops. I don't think I ever thought I'd be living in a neighborhood like this!

3. The entryway to our house. The green garage door leads straight into the house as well, and there's only a thin metal door between the garage and the kitchen. All the doors here are metal, actually, and every house is cinder block.

4. My bedroom! Tile floor, nice bed, actually not lacking much in the way of amenities except that the door is also metal. I don't think there's a scrap of wood in the whole house besides furniture.

5. Our shower. Basically, there's no separation between the sink, the toilet, and the shower. You just have to hope that nothing gets splashed too much when you bathe!

6. The kitchen. Tap water is unsanitary, but we still wash our dishes in it. Yeah, whatevah. Drinking water is sold in 5-gal bottles. Oh, and you light the stove with a match! So cool.

7. Taylor's bedroom, along with Taylor.

8. And this is our dryer. We have a real washing machine, which seems to work fine, but last night I had all my clothes out here on the roof. It takes a long time to hang all those things up, let me tell you!

Mexico City

A series of pictures to describe my short 24 hours in Mexico City... I'm hoping that everything comes out in the order they're in below. :)

1. My best picture to describe the traffic there. This street vendor walked right out in front of us as we were turning left, and all the cars do it as well!

2. This was my shower the first morning. We poured boiling water into the 5-gal bucket on the left, then added cold water from the can on the right until it was comfortably warm, then used a small "sour cream"-like container to pour the warm water over us. Then you just soap in between pourings!

3. This is the best picture of Edít that I have, sadly. She was our wonderful host in Mexico City, along with her son Hugo.

4. We are standing in front of the "angel" statue in central Mexico City here, though you can hardly tell... :)

5. Taylor, Hugo, and myself from left to right.

6. The view of Mexico City from the roof of our abode that first night.

7. Their neighbor was working on the roof that morning, and let me take a picture of him. Super nice guy. If you look behind him, you can see his (comparatively tall) house -- you build straight up if you can, no regulations to stop you!

8. Cool Aztec man that Taylor and I found on our walk down the main boulevard.

9. Some beautiful clouds on our flight into Mexico City.

10. Hugo Castillo himself. He's a convert of just over three years, and is back from his mission in Sinaloa, Mexico, where he served with Taylor. I really liked that family, and hope we get to visit them again.