I'm posting my latest update here- I dunno when I'll next have internet (maybe not for 2 weeks!)
----------------------------
Hola Companeros!
This update is long, so take a deep breath.
Day 6 in Chiapas! Tuesday was our first day of classes. I have Spanish
class from 9-11:30 and academic class from 12-2:30 while here at
Universidad de la Tierra. Spanish class is AWESOME. My teacher is a man
from Guatemala City, Guatemala named Estuardo. He's a poet and uses the
most beautiful language and metaphors when talking to us. He's very
funny and makes Spanish class incredibly interesting and fun. Our
academic class was super radical debate and conversation over the
definition of "community" and the concept of leadership and grassroots
struggles. Our academic class was lead by the main teacher of the
program, a guy named Tom (who has a history with work in Nicaragua during
the Contra years).
After class we hung out and played guitar and sung at the dorms then went
on a tour of Universidad de la Tierra with a man named Rafael (who's been
working at the University for about 18 years!) He told us how the
university is open to everyone, young or old, indigenous or not and that
they don't discriminate based on religion or anything else. The
University teaches everything from shoe making and sewing to architecture
and agriculture. They have a farm on their campus where they raise bees,
rabbits, goats, ducks and chickens and grow lots of crops including
lettuce, corn, alfalfa and tomatoes. After the tour we hung out a little
more and went to dinner- At dinner I got the guts up to talk to some of
the indigenous women. One of them had a little girl named Marie. She's
only 3 and a half and is ADORABLE. When I said goodbye to the group she
replied "hasta luego!" in the cutest little three year old voice EVER. A
little later I wandered around the campus with some of my classmates and
struck up conversation with two male students named Freddie and Juan.
Wednesday was our Spanish "field trip." We came into San Cristobal at
9:30 this morning and were given a brief history lesson by another of our
Spanish teachers, Efrain, about the history of San Cristobal. Our
assignment was to go into town and observe the dynamics of the city,
especially in relation to race. San Cristobal is the oldest colonial
city in Mexico that wasn't originally an indigenous city. My group
wandered around the streets in the center of the city and talked to a
bunch of people including two indigenous people- One old woman named
Maria who was selling her weavings and one man who was selling gum and
candy. They both spoke very little Spanish but told us they were from
Chamula, an indigenous puebla near San Cristobal. We also talked to some
mestizo vendors, some rich old guys who owned a chain in San Cristobal
and some crazy drunk dudes in one of the smaller squares who started out
telling us how they were Zapatistas while offering us weed (Zapatista law
forbids the consumption of alcohol or drugs) and when we didn't fall head
over heals they started telling us we were "informants" for the Mexican
government. Hah! We're not supposed to tell people in San Cristobal why
we're here because our program is so closely associated with the
Zapatistas and San Cristobal actually does have a lot of spies working
for the government, so we can only say we're here to "study the
language."
Thursday was another class day. Halfway through Spanish class Tom walked
in to tell us that 17 of the comandantes from La Otra Campaa (a campaign
of the Zapatista movement) were going to be staying at the University for
the night. He told us we could watch them arrive, but that we probably
wouldn't get to have any contact with them. Around 5:15 that night the
students from my program and the students from UniTierra gathered at the
front gate to watch three cars emblazoned with "EZLN" (the acronym for
the military branch of the movement) drive up. There were two vans filled
with comandantes in their trademark black ski masks called
"pasamontaas." As they drove by us they waved! I felt like I was
watching celebrities arrive (although I felt guilty because the movement
is supposed to be very anti-celebrity). Every Thursday at the University
they have "noticias" where people from the community and students come
together to discuss recent news. We were super surprised when four of
the comandantes arrived to talk for a while! It was amazing to be in the
same room as four masked Zapatistas, two women and two men. The women
were in their indigenous dress- it was SO COOL! One of the Comandantes,
Comandante Techo, said my favorite quote of the night: "La arma mas
grande es razn" (The strongest weapon is reason).
All of our meals at UniTierra consist of a base of tortillas, beans and
either rice or pasta. Lunch is the biggest meal and usually we get some
other sort of food added. Afternoons and evenings there's freshly baked
pan dulce (sweet bread) available, too. Yum! I'm getting used to the
outhouses (you have to flush the toilets by filling up a bucket with
water and dumping it in the bowl so the pressure flushes the water down).
A few of the people in our group have come down with "turista" or
traveler's diarrhea. Luckily they're all being really positive and funny
about it so it's not awkward. I haven't gotten it yet and hopefully I
won't!
Sunday afternoon we leave for Oventic, the autonomous Zapatista community.
I won't have reliable internet access for two weeks because we're staying
in Oventic this weekend to help make boots! Hopefully I'll have some
internet access, though.
I'll be updating this album
(http://berkeley.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2177801&l=e9617&id=1226304)
with photos so you can check on them with every new update I send.
----------------------------
Hola Companeros!
This update is long, so take a deep breath.
Day 6 in Chiapas! Tuesday was our first day of classes. I have Spanish
class from 9-11:30 and academic class from 12-2:30 while here at
Universidad de la Tierra. Spanish class is AWESOME. My teacher is a man
from Guatemala City, Guatemala named Estuardo. He's a poet and uses the
most beautiful language and metaphors when talking to us. He's very
funny and makes Spanish class incredibly interesting and fun. Our
academic class was super radical debate and conversation over the
definition of "community" and the concept of leadership and grassroots
struggles. Our academic class was lead by the main teacher of the
program, a guy named Tom (who has a history with work in Nicaragua during
the Contra years).
After class we hung out and played guitar and sung at the dorms then went
on a tour of Universidad de la Tierra with a man named Rafael (who's been
working at the University for about 18 years!) He told us how the
university is open to everyone, young or old, indigenous or not and that
they don't discriminate based on religion or anything else. The
University teaches everything from shoe making and sewing to architecture
and agriculture. They have a farm on their campus where they raise bees,
rabbits, goats, ducks and chickens and grow lots of crops including
lettuce, corn, alfalfa and tomatoes. After the tour we hung out a little
more and went to dinner- At dinner I got the guts up to talk to some of
the indigenous women. One of them had a little girl named Marie. She's
only 3 and a half and is ADORABLE. When I said goodbye to the group she
replied "hasta luego!" in the cutest little three year old voice EVER. A
little later I wandered around the campus with some of my classmates and
struck up conversation with two male students named Freddie and Juan.
Wednesday was our Spanish "field trip." We came into San Cristobal at
9:30 this morning and were given a brief history lesson by another of our
Spanish teachers, Efrain, about the history of San Cristobal. Our
assignment was to go into town and observe the dynamics of the city,
especially in relation to race. San Cristobal is the oldest colonial
city in Mexico that wasn't originally an indigenous city. My group
wandered around the streets in the center of the city and talked to a
bunch of people including two indigenous people- One old woman named
Maria who was selling her weavings and one man who was selling gum and
candy. They both spoke very little Spanish but told us they were from
Chamula, an indigenous puebla near San Cristobal. We also talked to some
mestizo vendors, some rich old guys who owned a chain in San Cristobal
and some crazy drunk dudes in one of the smaller squares who started out
telling us how they were Zapatistas while offering us weed (Zapatista law
forbids the consumption of alcohol or drugs) and when we didn't fall head
over heals they started telling us we were "informants" for the Mexican
government. Hah! We're not supposed to tell people in San Cristobal why
we're here because our program is so closely associated with the
Zapatistas and San Cristobal actually does have a lot of spies working
for the government, so we can only say we're here to "study the
language."
Thursday was another class day. Halfway through Spanish class Tom walked
in to tell us that 17 of the comandantes from La Otra Campaa (a campaign
of the Zapatista movement) were going to be staying at the University for
the night. He told us we could watch them arrive, but that we probably
wouldn't get to have any contact with them. Around 5:15 that night the
students from my program and the students from UniTierra gathered at the
front gate to watch three cars emblazoned with "EZLN" (the acronym for
the military branch of the movement) drive up. There were two vans filled
with comandantes in their trademark black ski masks called
"pasamontaas." As they drove by us they waved! I felt like I was
watching celebrities arrive (although I felt guilty because the movement
is supposed to be very anti-celebrity). Every Thursday at the University
they have "noticias" where people from the community and students come
together to discuss recent news. We were super surprised when four of
the comandantes arrived to talk for a while! It was amazing to be in the
same room as four masked Zapatistas, two women and two men. The women
were in their indigenous dress- it was SO COOL! One of the Comandantes,
Comandante Techo, said my favorite quote of the night: "La arma mas
grande es razn" (The strongest weapon is reason).
All of our meals at UniTierra consist of a base of tortillas, beans and
either rice or pasta. Lunch is the biggest meal and usually we get some
other sort of food added. Afternoons and evenings there's freshly baked
pan dulce (sweet bread) available, too. Yum! I'm getting used to the
outhouses (you have to flush the toilets by filling up a bucket with
water and dumping it in the bowl so the pressure flushes the water down).
A few of the people in our group have come down with "turista" or
traveler's diarrhea. Luckily they're all being really positive and funny
about it so it's not awkward. I haven't gotten it yet and hopefully I
won't!
Sunday afternoon we leave for Oventic, the autonomous Zapatista community.
I won't have reliable internet access for two weeks because we're staying
in Oventic this weekend to help make boots! Hopefully I'll have some
internet access, though.
I'll be updating this album
(http://berkeley.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2177801&l=e9617&id=1226304)
with photos so you can check on them with every new update I send.
You know, I honestly thought you were going to Mexico to do volunteer work. I had no idea you were getting an education too! Man, I just didn't realize, but now that I do it's grand...and I'm jealous!!! hehe