God did not come in peace

The Cortés Palace rises above the Cuernavaca streets with the solid walls of a building that means to stay for awhile.  Its varied history goes back to the earliest settlers of the area, the Tlahuicas, whose pyramid was razed by Cortes in 1522 to make room (and provide some building blocks) for his palace.  During its lifetime, the building has been a textile factory, a jail, and government offices.  It now houses a museum showing the history of Morelos and its people.       

 The museum does not mince words on the impact the Spaniards had on the locals.  Branding irons are displayed right next to North America's first modern public clock, which was imported from Europe and installed in a Cuernavaca church.  The concept of time was not the only divide between the Spanish and the local cultures; religion, and the Spanish determination to make the "New World" one for God and the Queen, led to to the destruction of local religious buildings and forced traditional beliefs to go underground, leading to an effect called sincretismo, which is why sheaves of wheat are carved in churches in Guatemala and the sun in Ecuador. 

        A Tlahuica poet in the 1500's wrote this poem:

                        

You say 

         that we do not know 

         the God of near and close

to whom belongs the sky and earth. 

       You say

  that 

  our gods are not the true gods.

         These are new words,

         those that you speak,

   and they disturb us, 

         they dismay us, 

         because our forefathers, 

         those who were, those who have lived here before, 

         did not speak to us like this. 

         They told us 

         that the rules of life, 

                         those that they held as true, 

    respected, 

   and honored the gods.

       (my trans. from Spanish) 

  

    Diego Rivera, the great Mexican muralist who also happened to be the husband of Frida Kahlo, channeled the angst of the 

Mexican indigenous people in his mural, which adorns an outer balcony area of the palace.  

    (See my photos with descriptions for more Palace coverage)

Morelos teachers on strike! (but not my school)

First of all, the linguist in me wants to know if this is a paro, or a huelga?  I've been told by locals that both terms apply to the current situation, and I've been (with equal sincerity) told that this is only a paro, and that it will become a strike if it goes on for much longer.  Here in Mexico a paro usually refers to a work stoppage regardless of whether or not the work was paid, while a    huelga refers to a work stoppage of paid work.  

    Regardless, the K-9 teachers of Morelos (and some other states,

but we're the big one) are not at work, and haven't been since the start of school.  If it goes on much longer, the prepa level (where I work) may end up going out on strike in support.  

   And why?  It has nothing to do with salary, and everything to do with a document called the "Alianza por la calidad de educación."  It's kind of like the Bush/Spellings NCLB rigamorole we've had to put up with in the States, except imagine if 60% of the schools in Oregon went out on strike to protest the law.  Yeah, pretty 

impressive, don't you think? 

    Regina and I happened to walk right into the activity on Friday - the downtown of Cuernavaca is the main gathering place, 

and by now, all the downtown routes are blocked off by the strike action, and drivers have to take the long way around the city to get anywhere.   (Interesting note: there doesn't seem to be any attempt to move strikers out of the main square - the police have set up wooden barriers, and everyone except cars has access to the downtown area).

       On Friday we again (without meaning to) ended up right in the middle of the action, this time overlooking the march of about 20,000 teachers, students, and parents who had gathered to protest the law, which they say is a move to privatize public education and reduce the rights of workers (sound familiar?)  Most people wore red and black, which are the traditional colors of any worker on strike here in Mexico (yep, striking is so common there is even a strike dress code!)

  "¡El pueblo, unido, nunca será vencido!"  (The people, united, will never be divided.)  Now ain't that the truth.  

Favorite line from a telenovela

Mother (to teen-age son): From now on, you're going to have to take care of your own clothes, your own room, and there will be no more money from us!

Son (with face of shocked anguish): No, no, you can't do that to me! 

What does the boob tube tell us about who we are?

In 13 minutes of TV commercials during the soap opera (telenovela) hour, the commercial breakdown was: 

Cat food: 1

Razors: 1

Life insurance: 1

Visa card: 2

Medicine: 2

Feminine products: 3

Commercial chains: 2 (Avon, Pizza Hut)

Cell phones: 2

House cleaning products: 2

Mouth care: 3

Hair: 4

Public service announcements: 6

TV shows: 8

And finally..... 

Food (with a noted focus on fiber to cure constipation):9

In summary: The national ad corps believe that hair, bowel movements, community events and what's next on TV are important to the women in this country

Missing from the usual US line-up:car commercials and pharmaceuticals

What does food cost?

Yes, it's cheaper to live in Mexico - but it's all relative.  The average teacher in 2005 only made about 8,150 pesos a month.  At today's exchange rate that's about $800 USD.  I've also heard of a lot of teachers who worked for free in order to "prove" themselves as they try to placed in schools.  

  Some other facts: the gross domestic product per capita in Mexico is $10,751 USD (Source: United Nations).   

     As a comparison, the USA GDP in 2007 was $45,800 (Source: CIA Fact Book).

    Basing a teacher's salary on a 10 month work-year, and assuming there was a slight raise in the average income (let's say 5% since 2005) the $8,400 USD earned would put 

Mexican teachers significantly below the GDP rate. 

    But what can you buy with $800 USD?  The 4 plants and 3 pots I bought last weekend for $4 USD.  The slew of veggies and fruit cost $7.80 USD.  Eating out will run you between $3.50 USD and $8, with a drink included.  Utilities are expensive.  For example, we pay  about 500 ($50 USD) pesos each month for a cable/internet combo, which is not much compared to the US but is 6% of your gross income if you are only making $800 a month.  That's a lot of money!   Compare that to a US individual who pays $100 a month for a cable/modem connection, but makes $3,000 a month: the cost is only 3% of his/her total income.  

Silver mecca: Taxco

Taxco, unlike Cuernavaca, has clung steadfastly to its colonial charm, aided by being labeled as a National Heritage site in 1990 by the Mexican government.  Building codes require old buildings to be restored and new ones, from the Oxxo (a type of 7-11 store) to the 

Pemex gas station, to use a colonial style.Known for its silver, Taxco charms the eyes as well as the pocketbook; we strolled for hours

among the labyrinth of streets, and could easily go back for another day.   Although the silver mines, originally mined by the Spaniards with forced local labor, are almost depleted, you would never know it from the quantity of jewelry, beads, and other silver items available.  

      We visited several churches, and each had its own style.  The Santa Prisca is known 

for its Churrigueresque style, which made me

think of the Spanish plateresco style. Inside, a huge altarpiece made of stolen gold soared over 50 feet up, decorated with cherubs, saints, and other religious motifs. 

    

Regalitos de mis colegas

     I am so grateful for all the support people have been offering- my mentora switched classrooms with me, so I didn't have to change rooms in the middle of my marathon day, and during my one 20 minute break during the 8 am-3 pm day another colleague brought me cheesecake.  Also, the maintenance guys are going to buy and install a new white board in the classroom I share with my mentora this week - a purchase I was able to make happen thanks to Fulbright.  My mentora helped get the ball rolling with the purchase, which I think would have take double the amount of time in the US compared to the time it's taken here.  She and I are also working on creating a professional library with the books I brought, again with thanks to the maintenance team, who are going to make us some bookshelves.   ¡Mil gracias, colegas!

First days of school

Luckily for me, we had electricity when I was in the computer lab on the first day of school; my colleague Delfina was not so lucky on the second day, although we did get power back to the most of the school towards the end of the day.  One of the other teachers on the 5th semester team took her students so they could work on math in his classroom, and letting kids out early and starting later than the schedule says is not really that big of a deal.  The first day I was taken by surprise when one of the administrators stuck his head into my room at about 2:55 and said, "It's 3 o'clock!" (the schedule says we go until 3:10 but like much of time in Latin America, that's a flexible piece of life).  Luckily for me my students have been incredibly attentive, but I have a feeling I've already been noticed for teaching "too long"  - a product of my American culture's attentiveness to time deadlines.  I'll work on letting some of that go.  

   My classes are big, but nothing I haven't seen before - 35 in each of my FIVE lower level sections (the students are the equivalent in age to US sophomores), but only 19 in my upper level class.  I have students with special needs (but no IEP's), a teen mom, and the usual mix of goofy, serious, sweet, and high and low level students in one class.  During the break we have at 9:50-10:10 every day (again, a time with flexibility) one of my students dropped in to ask me if I had toilet paper she could use - none of the bathrooms are equipped with t.p., like much of Latin America.  I'll add that to my list of student supplies to have on hand, and our vocabulary list.  

   My colleagues have been great-  people drop in to check on me, I have been welcomed into the morning coffee group in the academic assistants' office, and a teacher gave me two brand-new dry-erase markers today.  These are prized possessions, since we have to buy all of our own materials.  

      One of the things that I don't know if I'll be quite able to get used to having to spend my own money to get things copied.  Some  teachers ask students to reimburse them, since teachers don't get paid much - between $500- $1000 a month.  Copies cost about .5 each, so I think I'll probably just adjust what I usually do and shell out my own money, since it seems unfair to me to ask my students to pay for an activity I have decided they should do - and a test you have to pay for?  "Here you go guys, this test will cost you 1.00" seems too much like drawing a parallel between financial means and academic success - and don't we have enough of that already?  Free copies now and then might just be part of  what I can offer my students during this unique year.  Although as I look at my class numbers - 180 students in the first year classes alone - I start rethinking how I might give paper tests.  One thing's for sure- there won't be any 6 page semester finals!

      Tomorrow is my long day - I see all six classes, with no breaks, and have to change classrooms!  Luckily for me, I don't have to teach on Thursday - a perk to the college model used at the school.   

    

Thunderstorms and Time

This evening we were startled by a massive thunder and lightening storm that lasted for several hours - the first booms were normal by Oregon standards, but then a deafening CRAK! and accompanying flash of lightening sent us scrambling to the window, convinced we would see the neighbor's house in flames.  It was the loudest thunderclap I've ever heard!  The thunder and lightening show went on for several more hours, and although the storm has moved away from the city, we can still hear rolling booms and see occasional flashes.  I'm surprised we haven't lost power- the lights only flickered once.

   Today was the last day of work before the kids come on Monday.  Here is what my schedule looked like: 

       9:15 arrive with my carpool

       9:15-10ish   Chat with the academic office secretaries, get my class schedule, which is not official until it has signatures (but will work for now), and get the evaluation schedule for the first semester. I find out we do not have classes at all in January, which is used for make-up exams for students who fa

iled first semester. I also find out we do not have classes this coming Friday (the first week of school).  

      10:-10:40 Sit in on a session with visiting college students who are here to learn about the school's agricultural and ecological mission; Wal-Mart is critiqued by the teachers for buying local produce cheaply and selling it at a much higher price in its stores.   

      10:40-11  Get into my classroom, clean dirt off walls, move desks and put up wall map - I am warned it will probably be stolen but I decide to take my chances (I have brought extra maps).   

       11 - we are supposed to have a staff meeting, but my mentor asks around and nobody is going to it yet, so we go into the computer lab, which is where I will be teaching first on Monday

      11-11:40 We work on figuring out the computer system, which is new to me and relatively new to her as well.  She knows how to get the 

machines working and monitor the student's computers, and together we figure out where the

instruction manuals are for the language program so we can create lessons and have students do speaking practice with each other.  

    11:45 - We decide to go see if the reunión is happening; it is, and we join our team for team planning 

     12-1:ish We work with our team (teams are by levels and then career focus) on paperwork for the year.  Conversation is lively as teachers discuss concerns about students - Internet plagiarism, students not being able to read at grade level, lack of supplies for teaching subject, lack of security for materials in classrooms, concern about non-ecological use of paper (let's not ask for plastic covers, one teacher requests of group).  Each subject teacher goes around and states how their subject can support the other subjects (ex: in Reading class the teacher will work with students on grammar so that in English class they already know what a noun and verb is).  We don't finish, but next Friday when classes are cancelled we will have time to work.  My mentora and I both also teaching levels attached to other teams; I'm not sure when we'll be working with them on the paperwork we have to fill out.  

     1:00  Return to academic secretary office, eat flan that one of them has brought to sell.  I get information on an American student for whom I will be helping coordinate a community service project for starting next month. 

     1:30  Finally return to my classroom, where I have not yet finished with labeling chairs with colored numbers for grouping on the first day.  

    1:50  My carpool has to leave; I am not yet done, and will come in on Saturday to finish with my classroom.  I am feeling a world away from Harry Wong's "First Days" philosophy.    

Primer día en México

Tomorrow will be my first day at work, so today was the opportunity to buy supplies for the house and my classroom, figure out where things are, buy a cell phone, and learn the bus system.  I am now the proud owner of a little Nokia that ribbits when you call!  I got 50 pesos ($5 USD) worth of time with the phone, which translate into who knows how many phone calls. Monica's mother took Regina and I around the northern part of town; Cuernavaca is long and narrow, and it will have to be another day's adventuring out to get into the downtown (el centro). On our way back to the house, we stopped at the local mercado to have lunch- mine was a big bowl of caldo de pollo (I know, not very adventurous!) that we ate with freshly made tortillas. Being a vegetarian is hard in Latin America - the choices for the plato del día were pork, chicken, or beef.  The market is in the perfect spot, since it's right were I get the bus to Huitzilac.  I'm looking forward to buying hot tortillas from the market every day on my way home from work!  Tomorrow I get a ride with my mentora to work, where I'm told we'll be in meetings (just like the US!) and be working on curriculum together.  

10:38, Alexandria, Virginia.  We arrived last night a bit bleary-eyed after flying across the country.  It felt surreal to have the US State Department fly me to a meeting in DC!  My fellow "Fulbrighters," or "becarios," have impressive credentials: one woman helps run a study-abroad program in Spain each year and another teacher was in charge of an American University Spanish language summer program at the age of 23.  Monica and I met last night for over an hour talking about our schools, the houses we're exchanging, and the tidbits of useful information we think will make each other's lives easier as we transition into a new culture and new school.  The Mexican teachers have been enduring two weeks of prep work already, and tomorrow have a full day of more orientation information - the educational systems are very different, and I am only understanding the first few pages of what I know will be a whole year of learning outside the textbook (and teaching without a textbook!).