Momentitos en México

saying goodbye

2008-07-20T05:25:00.000-07:00

I`ll be stateside in a few more hours. And another update will follow soon! Here`s a few of the people I will miss dearly.....

Above: Vero, my best friend and fellow teacher from La Buena Tierra preschool. This photo was from when we went to Taxco together during Semana Santa, Holy Week.

Below: Members of my household on an outing in el centro: Luis, Blanca and baby Azul, their mother Gaby, me, and another granddaughter of my Mamá Juana, Maritza.

Above: Mi mamá Juana, on our last outing to Xochicalco, ancient pyramids in our state of Morelos.

February....huh?!

2008-02-24T15:24:00.000-08:00

If the title of this blog entry isn´t a big enough clue, I shall put it more clearly: How is it already the end of February??! I am completely baffled and hereby post a large, LO SIENTO (that is, ¨I´m sorry!¨) and shall do a quick 2-month sum-up for you, my friends and family. :)

The month of January was very busy for me. I spent most of it translating Christmas cards that the kids at school received from their sponsors in the States, taking photos of all 120+ kids we have in our pre-school and after-school programs, taking the bus back and forth across the city to print said photos, helping the kids write letters back to their sponsors, and then translating all those letters into English. All this work was part of the annual reports we completed for a US-based-foundation that (along with MCC) contributes money to the school.

Also in January I had the pleasure of bumping into (thanks to random internet greetings) a group of Bethel College (Kansas) kids who had come to Mexico for their January-term. As the small Mennonite world would have it, they were actually in Cuernavaca and we met up several times for coffee, bailes, and general chit-chat (in English?!....thankfully I still remember how).

If I could tell you what happened to all of February I promise I would. We were all busy running around trying to finish off January´s overload. Finishing this project was indeed a moment of rejoicing and the director of the school, Lizy, our secretary, Adela, and I celebrated with a little seafood in a nearby restaurant. On Monday afternoons with our after-school group I have been teaching the youngest kids (1st grade age) Spanish and Math. It´s been fun preparing for them and also a challenge to use the resources we have creatively and keep everyone engaged and on-track.

Here February 14 is celebrated as ¨Día de Amor y Amistad¨ -- or, Day of Love and Friendship. It was meaningful to me to have such an all-inclusive name for the holiday. As if I needed reminding, this year has solidified the fact that ones friendships are indeed invaluable and that it is undeniably important to recognize and name the significance others have made in your life. I spent the evening in the company of my best-Mexican-friends (my co-workers) in the presence of live-music and coffee.

As February races to its end, I have found myself stressed to find time to relax (yeah, chew on that inconsistency) and have started a New Years Resolution a month late: I have started walking and doing yoga in a nearby park every morning before classes. Though it means getting up at 6:30 (yikes!) I have found I need this time to adequately reflect on the previous day and to open myself to the new events the current day will hold.

I hope this finds you all doing well -- enjoying the work you are doing and the company you are with! At best I´ll get a few pictures uploaded before too long.

Love and peace,
Hannah

glimpses of christmas....

2007-12-25T19:32:00.000-08:00

Well friends and family, here´s hoping you all had a wonderful Navidad! Just thought I´d quick post a peek of my Christmas here in Mexico.....

This first picture is the outside of my house....if you look closely you can see our little Christmas tree -- quite beautifully decorated I might add:

We had quite the turn-out for our Christmas performance....a gathering in the street, complete with singing, skit, candle-lighting, and punch!

This is what they came out to see -- the Nativity skit put on by my dear kids!

Maritza, Blanca and I enjoyed the chaos of the market....;)

I´m taking a bus to Aguas Calientes for a few days with part of my ¨family¨. Hoping the New Year comes well for all!

Peace and love,
Hannah

Ha se caido la Navidad!

2007-12-10T13:54:00.000-08:00

....that is, ¨Christmas has fallen!¨

As fate would have it, the first time Hannah has tried to update her blog (many appolgies for the time laps, by the by!) her pictures would not upload. But here it is, a photo-less update, but update nonetheless.

As some may have guessed, I have found myself rather busy these past few weeks. We had another all-MCC-Mexcio meeting at the end of November here in Cuernavaca. It was fun to see fellow SALTers and others; to talk really fast, use words and expressions that don´t really make sense and still have people understand you, and to laugh, usually at things that really weren´t that funny. I´ve found I have a new appreciation for the complexity of languages and communication....

That was all a sidenote, really, as today we shall explore the beauty of celebrating holidays (specifically, la Navidad -- Christmas) in Mexico. Here´s just a baby example of how things are done when it comes time to celebrate holidays: we trick-or-treated for three nights at the end of October.

Needless to say, I´m looking foward to the beauty that is Christmas much more that I appreciated the extended Holloween celebrations. We have been hard at work at school preparing gifts for our families, learning several Christmas songs, and memorizing lines for the Nativity skit which will be performed next Tuesday in our street (for any of you who´d like to attend, admission is free, but seats will go fast).

Saturday I was accompanied to the market by my two little sisters, Maritza (11) and Blanca (8). We had a grand time wandering amoung the tinsel and flashing lights and searching for Doña Juana´s missing 3rd wiseman figurine. All of Sunday afternoon and evening was spent adorning our arbolito (little tree) and teaching me Spanish Christmas carols. We celebrated the completion of our newly-decorated home with a few sparklers that evening, drawing the attention and ¨help¨ of our closest neighbor kids.

Christmas is here -- y por eso, celebramos! :)
Love and Peace,
Hannah

a few more pics.....

2007-10-25T15:35:00.000-07:00

Don´t have time to say too much but I think the pictures speak for themselves. These are all kids at the community center where I work in each morning! The first two were taken during ¨recreo¨ (recess/free-time), and the last was a group I did an art project with; finger painting is indeed a universal language!

In Peace,

Hannah

A day in the life.....

2007-10-16T14:51:00.000-07:00

Aaaha! While I sit and sweat and wait for pictures to upload, I shall type briefly about my new life as ¨Maestra Hanna¨ (which, obviously, must be said in a charming spanish accent). To the left you see myself and my newest amigos -- three other maestras (teachers) and the director, Lizzy (to my right), and thirty-some niños. YES, I know everyone´s names already (!!) and am rapidly learning songs, games, and the necesarry vocabulary one needs to work with three- to five-year-olds. Each day is a little different but the gist of it is generally the same. Each morning begins with a prayer, song, and breakfast (a meal children in this neighborhood otherwise do without). After breakfast I help brush gads of teeth, then help whichever maestra grabs me first until freetime. Then I´m not only an extra pair of eyes (or ears for the tattle-tales!) but a hungry customer, big sister to our dollies, a member of the family, or a famous actris (depending on the day)! Afternoon activites vary daily. We have singing classes on Tuesdays, time for arts and crafts, an hour of ¨reading¨ (or rather, mere exposure to books.....a rare treat despite the fact that we are yet too young to read!) or various other group activites. We end each day at 1:00 with a sending song: ¨Danos esparanza y paz. Danos ese tú bendición. Danos la luz de tú mirada. Danos tú amor.¨ Translation? ¨Give us your hope and peace. Give us your blessing. Give us light like yours. Give us your love.¨

For some unkown reason technology is not acting in my favor and I´m unable to upload more pictures. I´ll try again in the next few days, as I´ve pleanty more pictures of ¨mis niños¨ (my kids!) at La Buena Tierra.

In Peace,
Hannah :)

¡Bienvenida Hanna!

2007-09-28T15:46:00.000-07:00

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....

2007-09-22T16:51:00.000-07:00

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....

2007-09-12T08:23:00.000-07:00

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...

2007-09-11T11:18:00.000-07:00

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

a few pics from the week.....

2007-08-25T17:58:00.000-07:00

So this was our first week of language study here in Cuernavaca. We have class from 8 - 1:30. The four of us are all staying with various host families for these four weeks of classes; my family´s really nice and about a 20 minute walk from the school. This first picture if our view out the back of the school -- simply beautiful!

This first weekend we decided to go back to Mexico City to visit Derek & Ana. Saturday (today!) Ana took us to the pyramids at Teotihuacan -- about 2ish hours (via metro and bus) northeast of the City. We had a great time! The tall pyramid in the first picture is the Pyramid of the Sun; the pyramid in the background of the bottom picture is the Pyramid of the Moon.

We´re looking foward to visiting an anthropological museum tomorrow, and are then facing week two of language study! We continue to adjust and learn each day -- remember us!

Love & Peace,
Hannah

i´m here!

2007-08-19T19:52:00.000-07:00

here´s a quick note to let you know the four of us all arrived safely in Mexico City yesterday. Derek Hostetler met us, him and his wife Ana are the country representatives for MCC here in Mexico, and we´re staying at their house. Their three year old son, Lucas provides plenty of entertainment for us. This morning we were riding a combi (like a VW mini-bus??) back from the Mennonite church we worshiped with, and going extremly fast down a hill when Lucas turns to Ana and asks, ¨Why are we going so fast?¨ she responds, ¨I guess the driver just wants to get there¨and he responds in a very confused manner, ¨But we are not a race car!¨ ...at which we all burst out laughing. :)

Early tomorrow morning we leave for Cuernavaca, the city I´ll be in this year. The four of us will all be in language school for about 4 weeks, living with various host families. I´m really ready to start using more Spanish and can´t wait for classes to begin!

I wanted to post a few pictures but have to appologize because I cannot figure out how to rotate them! Nonetheless, the first is from the rooftop of Derek & Ana´s house, the second of some flowers they have growing outside.

Peace & Love,
Hannah

Lancaster, Pennsylvania: the beginning of this adventure.....

2007-08-15T19:12:00.000-07:00

I arrived on Sunday (accompanied by my family) to a semi-overwhelming, but beautiful, experience: 51 SALTers from across the US and Canada, and 66 IVEPers (MCC's equivalent to the SALT program but the opposite direction -- those from other countries who are coming to live/work in North America for the year). The diversity of the group has been absolutely wonderful and a blessing. I've had a chance to practice quite a bit of Spanish with some new friends, and have begun to glimpse the exciting challenges of communicating in a language I'm not fluent in. The days have been filled with various sessions -- everything from learning the history of MCC, to exploring the importance of living out Jesus' peace teachings in a diverse world, to talking about what to expect and learning some of MCCs current initiatives and challenges -- all within the realm of a healthy cross-cultural environment. Perhaps what I've found most helpful so far this week was being broken down into regional groups (both SALTers and IVEPers) to discuss the differences between our two regions and how to interpret some of what we'll encounter.

Though the week has been informative and a good preparation, I recognize there's only so much one can learn from talking about it all. It's left me feeling quite excited and ready to be fully engaged and begin to acclimate to the Mexican culture....I suppose it's convenient that I only have until Saturday until that will come to be!

Also, for those who wish to write (and I'd love to hear from you, though they ask that large packages not be sent...) I also have a postal address:
MCC
Pedro de Alba #300
Col. Villa de Cortes
Mexico City, D.F. 03530
MEXICO

Peace,
Hannah

some Vonderful news....

2007-08-02T04:50:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much to everyone who contributed financially towards my year in Mexico. I just got word that I reached my goal and just about fell out of my chair -- huzzah!! Your support in this way is quite overwhelming! Again.....

Thank you thank you thank you!!! :)
Peace,
Hannah

I spy.....Hannah's blogpage!

2007-07-24T18:07:00.000-07:00

Hey all!
Just wanted to get this blogpage rolling....seeing as I'll be the one rolling (out!) soon. I have 1.5 weeks in Virginia, one week at the beach, and one week of training in Akron, PA -- the countdown has begun! My idea for the blog was to have an easier way for people to hear and see what I'm doing this upcoming year, instead of mass-emails. Hopefully you'll find it convenient and up-to-date! I must say, now that visas and passports are taken care of the whole thing feels much more real -- I'm super excited for the next 11 months!

Just to recap what I know thus far about the year: I'll be living in Cuernavaca, Mexico -- a city with a population of about a million, located 1.5ish hours south of Mexico City (see map). My assignment is at a community center; I hear I'll be working as a "catch-all," which includes helping/teaching an elementary class that meets at the center in the mornings. I'm living with a rather large, extended family -- I believe 8 in all?

Fundraising has gone well the past few weeks, thank you to everyone who contributed! I really apprecite the support I've felt in preparing for this. The next few weeks will be super busy -- filled with packing and goodbyes. Hope the blogpage worked for you...I'll be doing my best to keep you updated!

Peace,

Hannah :)