¡Bienvenida Hanna!

Yesterday it happened. The four of us SALTers parted our seperate ways. Though it´s almost sad, we shall be seeing each other again soon (at our next MCC meeting at the end of November) and are all looking foward to this next step! Ana came with me to meet my new family -- ¡Qué fantástico! After dropping off my bags and saying brief hello to my new ¨madre¨, Doña Juana, we headed over to my new place of employment -- a ¨kinder¨ (ages 3-5) a few houses up the street from my new home. There I was greeted with a sign that read ¨¡Bienvenida Hanna!¨ (Welcome Hannah!) and a sea of big brown eyes. I am already ¨Maestra Hanna¨ and quite famous along the whole street since I agreed to play ¨Encendidas¨ last night....or as some may know it, ¨Hide-and-go-Seek! ;)

To the left you can see some of my new amigas! Of course, the first night we had to play dress-up with all of Hannah´s clothes, makeup, and shoes....quite the fancy ladies there, no?! The second from the left (in the jean jacket) is Blanca (technically mi prima -- cousin) and farthest to the right is Maritza (technically mi sobrina -- niece) -- though we all live in the same house and they are already mi hermanitas (little sisters!). We had a rousing game of Uno last night with a healthy dash of ¨sibling rivalry¨ as Luís joined his dolled-up sister/cousin and played with us. He is Blanca´s older brother, again, most affectionally mi hermanito (little bro!), and quite the gentleman at age 12! He is featured below right..... :)

Today I was back at school -- learning little by little just what it is my job entails! Best I´ve discovered so far, I´m the ¨catch all¨....I mostly observed today to learn how a ¨normal¨ day at La Buena Tierra works. I helped serve breakfast, brushed the teeth of about 20 adorable niños (children), helped cut and glue and clean and PLAY! Two of the other maestras came with me to my house after classes to see where I live and we made plans for dinner tomorrow. I´m also booked on Sunday, as Lizy -- the directora of La Buena Tierra school -- invited me to go with her to her church in México City! Needless to say, I´m thanful to already have friends, a marvalous family, and pleanty to do! Thanks for remembering me in this transition as well! :)

the giggle of the day....

Much has happened in the beautiful country I find myself in these days. We celebrated El Día de Independencia on September 15 by crowding in amoung thousands of other mexicanos amigos in Cuernavaca´s Zocalo for live music, a speech from the mayor, a few ¨Viva México!¨´s, the celebratory spraying of shaving cream (a rather messy tradition), and festive fireworks. Our last hurrah as a group in Cuernavaca -- we´ve finished language school!

We all traveled down to Olenolá (state of Guerrero) and met Liz and Martin Dyrst and their two boys, Isaiah and Micah (ages 6 and 3 respectively). We got a grand tour of the pueblo in the three days we were there and learned a bit about the past 14 years of MCC´s involvement in that area as well as some of their upcoming initiatives.

Yesterday´s giggle of the day came from Isaiah. For a bit of history you must know that Kiara and I both contracted some sort of death flu on the way back from Olenolá to Mexico City and it wiped us out for about 48 hours (fear not, we are all recuperated and fully functioning again!). I was typing an email when Isaiah came to invite me to go to the market with him. I told him I wasn´t sure I was up for such an adventure yet and he gave me a bit of a pittied look, walked across the room, picked up a Buzz Lightyear action figure, set it on the computer table beside me and said, ¨Well, while we´re gone just remember....He´ll be with you.¨

Oh the wise-ways of six-year-olds.....;)

Cathedrals, markets, museums and fútbol....

Okay, time for a bit more thourough update on my life the past few weeks (and as always, a few pictures!) We´ve all been pretty caught up in our school work -- morning classes, afternoon siestas or fieldtrips or excursions to the market, homework, dinner, and some sort of evening fiesta. Last week, we ventured to the Cathedral downtown. Cuernavaca is literally one-of-a-kind when it comes to their downtown Zocalo (central plaza). While every other Zocalo in Mexico is surrounded by the four buildings needed to construct society -- a legislative building, a social policy/courthouse, the governor´s ¨palace¨, and the church -- Cuernavaca´s church is found a bit farther away. When Cortéz overthrew the natives here, he constructed his palace on top of their religious pyramid, and built the Cathedral away from the Zocalo (though only about four blocks away this was still saying something). We spent the afternoon wandering the beautiful grounds and snapping photos (see left and below).







This past weekend, the four of us traveled back up to Mexico City to visit Derek and Ana (our country representatives). The idea was that we would open our bank accounts, though computer issuses at the bank post-ponded that activity until another weekend. Instead, we ventured out to a fútbol game (soccer) -- a real cultural event! There were many people, all decked out in blue -- the team of choice being, Cruz-Azul (and ¨azul¨ meaning ¨blue¨ in Spanish...). We whallowed in the enthusiasm of the fans, and were quite thankful it didn´t rain until after the game. The half-time show amused us greatly: a ¨game¨ in which people ran through a line-up of vaceros (cowboys....with lassos) and tried not to get lassoed! If they made it through the men trying to lasso them, they attempted to score a goal. Needless to say it was all quite amusing. Below is a picture of us at the game.



















On Sunday we visited the museum of Frieda Kahlo, an artist, very independant-thinker, and wife of Diego Rivera. Both her and Diego are a bit contriversial to some, having sympathised with the Russian communist movement, but nonetheless a very interesting (and a bit eccentric) piece of Mexican history. After the museum we wandered through a large market, ate more food than one would think possible...and then smoothies....and decided to call it a day. A very good day, at that. :)

This is our last week of language study -- a fact that´s surpised us all and made us a bit sad. Next week we´ll be traveling to Olenolá, on the west coast in the state of Guerrero, and then to Chiapas -- the state fartherst south boardering Guatemala. We´ll be traveling with Derek, Ana and thier son Lucas, meeting several other MCC workers here, and seeing a bit more of the country. When we return I´ll begin my placement -- and surely have more to share...!

Love and Peace,
Hannah

our groupy...

So, I just realized that I keep referring to ¨us¨ and ¨our group¨ and never explained who exactly that included. These endering terms are meant to mean the four of us SALTers here in Mexico. In the picture below (left to right) that is: Dan Baker, yours truely, Kiara Yoder and Lisl Hershberger.

I´m late for class but just wanted to clarify these things for my viewing audience. ;)

Love & Peace,
Hannah