Job Description

I know most of you haven´t a clue as to what I am doing down here, and for good reason because it wasn´t until my first Monday here that I really learned of my specific responsibilities and 'job description' so to speak. Let me first explain what CCIDD does, and then i´ll go into my
primary assignments for the upcoming year.

CCIDD (Cuernavaca Center for Intercultural Dialgoue on Development) is a retreat center where groups come to do service work and/or learn about the economic, social, and political realities of Mexico and Central American countries as a result of globalization. The groups that come stay for 10 days to 2 weeks. They are mostly from the U.S. and Canada; some are from universities, others from high schools, still others from divinity schools or church groups. The groups that prefer a service-oriented itinerary (about 1/2) work more in the community with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and Salvation Army. These groups still conduct social analyses and learn about current issues facing Mexico and its people; however, they do not delve nearly as deeply into these issues as groups, such as the group from Furman, who come especially to examine the econosociopolitical reality of our neighbors in the south. The retreats can be religious (ecumenical) or secular. If groups request a religious retreat, we lean heavily on liberation theology, and focus on the Christian response to globalization and neoliberalism. All that I´ve relayed in this paragraph can also be read on the CCIDD webpage, which we are currently trying to update. However, if you´re interested go to http://www.ccidd.org/. There you can find pictures and descriptions of my co-workers, pictures of CCIDD, which also happens to be my home since I live at my worksite, and a more thorough explanation of our mission and work here.

Alrighty, where do I fit into this picture? I am part of the 5 person program staff. We are in charge of working with the group leaders to create the itineraries, and then we are the primary leaders of the group activities when the groups come. So I will help transport the groups, translate for them, and help them complete their scheduled projects. I will also be responsible for leading some morning reflections (all groups have a reflection each morning) and for facilitating some of the social analysis activities. Besides these responsibilities, I fill in where I can - writing for our monthly newsletter, organizing the office, making copies, etc. Our first group arrives Dec. 29th, so until then, I am focusing on preparing the schedules for the 5 (yes 5!!) groups that come in February, and I am also getting to know some of the people that CCIDD works very closely with. For example, union leaders and workers; people involved in various social movements - especially within the Zapatista movement; and the youth of El Pregón, a progressive newspaper written mostly by women my age who use the paper to protest against unjust politics and laws and to fight for the rights of the indigenous people. So one of my most important tasks right now, and the one that I most enjoy, is going around the city, locating certain people, and just talking with them about their experiences. I´m sure I´ll be talking more about some of these very inspirational people that I have met or will meet.

So that´s my job in a nutshell. Please do look at CCIDD´s website - http://www.ccidd.org/ - it has many great resources about Mexico and Centrla America, and it gives a better sense of our work and my experiences here.

¡Salsa Dancing!

Tuesday night, I met up with Ashley at Los Arcos - a beautiful outdoor restaurant that has free salsa dancing on Tuesdays. Even professional dancers (mostly my age) come to dance and give free lessons. A TON of Ashley´s friends were there - she practically knew the whole place, so I think Tuesday night alone I met about 25% of Cuernavaca´s population. Ashley introduced me to one of the professionals, who she knew through her university - i can´t remember his name among the millions I learned that night. He started whirling me around, and eventually I got the hang of it. I did pretty darn well for a beginner if I do say so myself! I learned the basic steps and a few turns and fancy shmancy moves. Eventually, we stopped to watch a dance-off between these two guys, who danced with each other, but each also tried to outdo his partner. They were absolutely incredible! They could move their hips even better than Shakira! Eventually, they kissed and made up, each declaring that the other was the better dancer. At that point, the party had died down, and I went back to CCIDD.

First night out on the town!

I got to sleep in Saturday, which was glorious, and then I met Ashley Berkland for lunch. Ashley was on my freshman hall at Furman, and we remained friends throughout our time at FU. She is staying in Cuernavaca for the next year working as an English teacher in a local university. I can´t even begin to explain how grateful I am that she is here with me. I feel so much more at ease knowing that I have someone here with whom I share a history. So naturally I wanted to see her asap when I arrived, and through the magic of gmail chat, we made it happen. We ate molletes for lunch - toasted bread covered with beans, cheese, and salsa - then she gave me a brief tour of the city until she had to go b ack to her señora´s house on the other side of the city.

I took a taxi to Ashley´s house later that night, and from there we went to Bull, a small, but very popular bar with the most amazing live band! The band sings covers in Spanish and in English absolutely perfectly - usually better than the original! It was absolutely packed in the bar, which was all decked out in spider webs and weird lights for the Day of the Dead (I´ll explain in an upcoming blog). There we met some of Ashley´s Mexican students from the university, who have since become some of my good friends here. Her friends ordered a beer for me, and I was surpirsed to discover that in Mexico they serve liter beers (usually the brand Victoria) with salsa around the rim of the cup. So after I had a liter of beer sloshing around in my stomach, mixing with the tangy aftertaste of salty ketchup, I didn´t exactly leap at the suggestion that we move our party to a dance club. But off we went to Therberna, a pretty posh club that plays all sorts of music. Luckily by the time we got there, my stomach had settled. I tried to bust a move with the others, who quickly offered me some dancing lessons. By the end of the night, I didn´t stick out so much as the gringa dancer, and my friends assured me that with practice I might actually be halfway decent. I continue to hold onto that ray of hope.

We danced at Theberna for about 3 hours, and then Ashley wanted to leave and get some food. So Ashley, her boyfriend Arturo, Arturo´s friend, and I went to a taco called La Gringa. Tacos are open-air restaurants that are only open at night, and they stay open until about 5:30 in the morning. "Gringa" or "gringo" are the terms that Mexicans use to refer to a woman or man from the U.S. It´s not entirely derrogatory, but its not entirely friendly either - it depends on how they use it. Anyways, we all had the famous "gringa" dish, which is essentially incredibly fatty meat (pork or beef), pinaeapple, and salsa on a tortilla. Since it was approahing 4:30, and our stomaches were so full of grease we could hardly move, we decided to call it a night, and Arturo drove all of us back to our houses.

First Day of Work

I started "working" the very first day after I arrived. There was a big celebration in the Cathedral to commemorate the 100th birthday of a beloved local bishop, Sergio Méndez Arceo, who passed away 10 years ago. The Cuernavaca Center for Intercultural Dialogue on Development (CCIDD; the organization that I work for) was responsible for making sandwiches to feed the several hundred people who would come out to the midday ceremony. So my co-workers and I got up bright and early and whipped up a gazillion very delicious sandwiches. It was a great way to get to know everyone because all of my co-workers were involved and we talked casually while we worked. We finished with the sandwiches just in time to bring them to the Cathedral and go to Mass.

The Mass was absolutely beautiful. Bishop Sergio worked very closely with the indigenous population in the area, so the Mass incorporated many indigenous worship practices to honor his memory. For example, native women dressed in their traditional clothing began the Mass by dancing up the isle to the altar carrying urns filled with burning incense. They then danced around the altar to bless it. A huge entourage of priests, seminarians, and altar boys followed these women, and once the women had finished, two of the priest blew the ceremonial conch shells - a native practice that indicates the commencement of the ceremony. The music was performed by a Mariachi band, but the singers were indigenous men. These singers have a very particular sound - they don´t seem to sing in a major or minor key, and their sound is very gutteral, but at the same time nasily. I really enjoyed their music - if I can figure out how to download a link to an indigenous song, I´ll post it because it´s certainly worth listening to.

After the Mass, the several of the indigenous singers gave a concert and we passed out the sandwiches and Boings. Boing rivals Coca-Cola here as the preferred soda. It is natural fruit juices with carbonation. They even have fig and guava flavors! After the concert ended, the ceremony was over. My co-workers and I cleaned up, and then our day was done. It was Friday, so everyone went home. Kathy and I went out to eat, and then I turned in early.

My Arrival

I arrived in the Mexico City airport on Oct. 25th. Mexico City, or the "D.F." as it´s known colloquially in Cuernavaca, is the world´s largest city, and after flying over the city I don´t doubt it. It absolutely extends as far as the eye can see, stretching over mountains and the entire expanse of the vast valley formed by those mountains. Sadly, from the plane I could also see a thick layer of yellow-brown smog that perpertually hangs over the city. I could even smell it as the plane decended through the smog cloud - yea, gross.

My "supervisor", Kathy, came to pick me up at the airport and take me to Cuernavaca - an hour´s bus ride. I put supervisor in quotes because she greeted me with a big hug, and we live in the same complex, so she´s more or less adopted me as family. We arrived in Cuernavaca around 7:30 pm (the time difference is only an hour or so). I got settled in and we ordered pizza for dinner (a very traditional Mexican dish). After eating and talking a bit, we called it a day, and that was Day 1.

For those of you, like me, who are feeling-, rather than fact-oriented people, I´ll recount a bit of how I was feeling during that first day. For starters, I had to say good-bye to my Mom and my youngest sister at the airport and that royally sucked - to put it bluntly. At that point, I was ready to turn around. I had a great summer in my home city, Cincinnati, and in the few weeks before I left, I had realized what I was leaving behind, and I very quickly lost interest in moving for a year to a foreign place with a foreign language and foreign people. Honestly, the morning that I left, and especially during the preceding days, I was not even the slightest bit excited to go. So I was pretty grumpy while on my first plane to Houston. Fortunately, my attitude began to change slightly on the flight from Houston to Cuernavaca. I wouldn´t say I started to look forward to arriving, but at least I didn´t dread the experience. Once the plane hit ground in Mexico, I had fewer and fewer negative thoughts running through my head, and that horrible gut feeling that I had made a big mistake finally started to subside. The hug from Kathy helped a lot, and as the day came to an end, I became increasingly curious, even little excited, to explore my new surroundings.