Sunday, October 25, 2009

Reconnect and All-Vol

I just got back in town from a series of meetings and a ton of travel...taking the day to recuperate! One thing that I do not miss is the mosquitoes. I am the proud owner of at least 5 new mosquito bites that I can add to my collection.

So it has been a couple of weeks since posts. I actually flew back to the states for a couple of meetings, and then swung by to see my family. The trip was really good, and I am hopeful that the partnership we pitched for my work site will prove fruitful. I also loved seeing my family, even though it was only for a couple of days.

My Peace Corps group then had our Reconnect meeting back in Querétaro! About 3-4 months after swearing in, we all get together and reflect on our progress so far, talk about strategies for the rest of service, and get a brush up on our Spanish. The Spanish was great--now I just need more practice! It was also very interesting seeing what the other volunteers are doing. We all seem to be in similar boats, trying to figure out how to make an impact at our centers and what roles we should be playing, so it is good to know that I am not alone.

And then on Friday and Saturday we had an All-Volunteer conference, where we actually got to meet all of the current 13 trainees plus the other 30-40 current volunteers from previous groups. It was really interesting, since I got to put names to faces and really see what volunteers nearing the 2-year mark had done during their service.

Last note, and I'm sorry I couldn't get any good pictures of this, but the butterfly migration from the US to México has started! When I got back to my site, as I was walking around, I saw butterflies of all different colors making their way down South. November - February is roughly the time when the butterflies arrive and mate in central / southern México, and they happen to fly through Monterrey. It was amazing to watch! I must have seen thousands of them in the air, with at least a dozen passing closely by me every couple of seconds. I hope to make it down south early next year, when you can see thousands of these butterflies all in one location.

Friday, October 9, 2009

New Trainees!

This week I had the chance to host two trainees in the current group of PCTs, PCM-08. The group arrived at the beginning of September, so they have about two more months of training left. In México, trainees get to visit a current PCV to see what their work is like and how they live. I had gone to Saltillo for my PCV visit, right smack-dab in the middle of the first swine-flu scare, so I really didn´t get to see much. Luckily no big swine-flu news this time around. The couple seem to have pretty strong backgrounds that match their future jobs, so I think they will make a good contribution to the program.

Probably the best find of the trip was the Cervecería Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma, recommended by the other PCV in town. Unfortunately we couldn´t go on the free plant tour (closed-toed shoes only), but they did have a beer garden with free beer! This brewery is the oldest in México and makes 6 million bottles of beer every day.



Also, unknown to us, the National Baseball Hall of Fame is located at the brewery! They had the standard history of baseball in the country, famous players, plus an interactive area where you could practice batting or pitching.



The best part was finding an old jersey for a team called the Ingenieros!!

Friday, October 2, 2009

Influenza and Cirque de Soleil

In case anyone is wondering about the resurgence of swine flu, or now called A/H1N1, don't worry! Our office (like many around México) has provided us with a stash of hand gel near every door. Except in our case, the brand is actually called Influnza. Influnza to combat the spread of influenza!!



One of the advantages to being in a large site is that I get all the conveniences and activities of any large city around the world. Last Sunday a couple of friends from Saltillo came over to Monterrey to watch Cirque de Soleil. Cirque was putting on a production of Dralion, its Asian-fusion style traveling show. Prices were very reasonable (590 pesos, or about $45, compared to over $100 in Las Vegas for comparable seats). The show was very acrobatic, and I loved two of the acts a LOT! For the first one, they had two giant trampolines set up right next to a vertical metal structure. People were jumping off of the structure from different heights onto the trampolines, then ¨walking¨ up the wall and doing stunts!! It was very, very mind-blowing to watch. Also, the acrobats had the standard diving-through-the-rings tricks, but they added a second set of rings. So, there were two sets of vertical rings set about 3-4 feet apart, and each set had rings at different heights. Guys were actually jumping through one ring on the closer set, then without landing (or barely touching the ground), going through a second ring at a different height on the far set! It looked very gravity defying!

Time in México City, México: