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.

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!!

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!

Independence Day, Méxican Style!

I just got back from 10 days of vacation in the state of Oaxaca, alternating between Oaxaca City and the coastline. It was my first ¨real¨ vacation so far, and it was great! I could probably fill several weeks worth of blogs, but I'm going to focus on the major holiday last week and see how much other stuff I can post later this week...



The big event during my vacation was El Grito, or The Shout. This happens in every city in México on the evening of September 15th, Méxican Independence Day (although the official holiday is Sept 16). Each city celebrates it a little bit differently, but in Oaxaca, the town center, or zocalo, had several stages set up for the festivities. Live bands were playing on all of them, starting around 8 PM. Around 10 PM the zocalo started becoming packed with people. People were wearing giant sombreros and fake mustaches (some sort of tradition, couldn´t quite figure out if it was anything other than a touristy gimmick). Around 11 PM, the governor appeared and started giving his speech, celebrating the heroes of Méxican history and the Independence. Supposedly the ¨official¨ Grito occurs in México City at midnight, so all other cities in México have to do theirs before midnight. Everyone in the crowd shouted along with ¡Viva Domingez! ¡Viva México! ¡Viva Oaxaca! The fun part began when everyone pulled out the spray-cans of foam and threw around hollowed-out egg shells filled with confetti. Some guys directly behind me had a couple cans of foam, so I got hit pretty good.



There were also castillos, tall structures with fireworks strung on them. They go off in several stages, with different parts lighting up at different times. Here is a video of one of the stages. You could get pretty close, which is amazingly unsafe, since the sparks and even some fireworks were flying everywhere!



This was then followed by fireworks in the sky over the basilica. All in all, we were out til 1:30 AM, and we didn't even go back to the zocalo for more live music!!

We don't quite do anything like this in the states for Independence Day. The closest equivalent we have is probably New Year's, and I think that is centered on the big cities. Even the tiny beach town in Oaxaca that we went to later in the week had an Independence Day celebration with a grito and castillo's!

Thoughts of America

This is a very sad weekend for me. Yesterday (Thursday) I had to say goodbye to the second person to leave my site. Out of the 3 volunteers that started in my office, I am the only survivor 3.5 months after swearing in. We had all been through a lot together, and both the others left to take care of personal business back home (good and bad). If I were in their shoes, I would also be heading back home in a split second, so I understand where they are coming from. Still, it hurts to think about because we had all gotten along pretty well both at work and outside of work, and I still get emotional thinking about this last goodbye. All I can hope for is that the friendships continue beyond Peace Corps. Peace Corps, like any other association, is just a medium to bring people together, and it is not the end-all-and-be-all of anything.

Today continues my sad note. I am actually on vacation in Oaxaca, but a volunteer couple from my group that I am meeting up with are also going back to the states in a week and a half. At least 4 out of our original 16 will have left before Reconnect...all are good people, and the couple is also going back to the states for very good reasons. I hate saying goodbyes, but I am glad that I have been able to say goodbye in person to all those in my group who have left so far. Maybe that´s a sign of bad luck on my part...

All of the ETs make me wonder what I am accomplishing here in Mexico. On some level, I feel like I could ¨accomplish¨ more in a job back in the states. On the other hand, I know that I will never get this kind of opportunity again, because all 4 people who have left basically left because life back in the states caught up with them. Kids, grand-kids, family illnesses, etc., are pretty strong factors that make Peace Corps look darn unimportant. I am ¨lucky¨ that I do not have any of those factors in my life right now, so I can afford to focus on Peace Corps. Is there a standard ¨profile¨ of volunteers that finish their 2 years of service? What is 2 years of my life worth to me?

On a pseudo-related note (thinking about the states), I read this article earlier this week, and I really relate to the story now:

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/09/07/atlanta.ludacris.cars/index.html?iref=newssearch

The lack of a personal vehicle in Peace Corps makes transportation a very frustrating experience for me. The added time to do even the simplest things is a huge factor in lifestyle, and owning a car is a convenience that I never fully appreciated in the states.

Saltillo and Independence

Next week rings in Independence Day in México. Sept 16th (really the evening of the 15th) marks the start of the Méxican revolution against Spain in 1810. Lots of street vendors are selling green / white / red gear, and even the local mall is getting into the act.



On Friday this week, we were invited to the US Consulate in Monterrey for a town hall meeting. The new Ambassador to México, Carlos Pascual, was in town for a conference, and he wanted to meet us. When we showed up to the Consulate, everyone wanted to know about PC México--they didn´t even know we had a program in México! All of the consular people that I met were really nice, and we even went to a reception at the consular general´s house (the head of the consulate) afterwards.

In a couple of weeks a fellow volunteer is getting married to his Méxican novia, and so we had a pretty cool (but tame) cookout / despedida for him. A fellow volunteer and I traveled from Monterrey to Saltillo for the event, and I had time to visit the Museo de las Aves and Centro Cultural Vito Alessio Robles. This eagle / snake model at the Museo mirrors the image on the Méxican flag.



The Centro Cultural has the largest mural in all of México! It chronicles the history of Saltillo, and here is just a small taste.

Guadalupe, carne asada, and horses

So last Sunday (23rd of August) was the last day in a local event called Oaxaca in Guadalupe. Guadalupe is a suburb of Monterrey, so we joined up with the other Volunteer nearby to see what the event was like. It was being held in the central plaza of Guadalupe (every town in México has one). The main church (also standard in all towns) is pictured here. The event itself hadn´t picked up yet as of noon, so we just browsed the stalls for a bit then took off.



Last night I went to my first carne asada in México, which is equivalent to a barbeque in the US. It was hosted by work to welcome all of the new people that we have been hiring. I think since I started 3 months ago, we´ve gone from 27 employees to...35, plus 5 interns? Food on the grill!



Today, a couple of us went to Cola de Caballo, a waterfall south of Monterrey. It hasn't rained much here, so the water level was probably down, but it was still a fun trip. Up in the mountains it was noticeably cooler than in the city, which was great!