Daisie's Peace Corps Blog

Starting with Thanksgiving the holidays were crazy busy for me, I was teaching and traveling a lot.  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  Its my favorite because it isn´t over commercialized, the only expectation people have is to eat too much and its a time for appreciating what you have.  I have a huge, crazy family and I have always enjoyed getting together for Thanksgiving.  When I was younger and living in Missouri or Kansas we would get together with my uncle´s family and have a HUGE dinner.  It was always fun because there were so many kids to play with.  We would play all day, eat then play all night.  As adults the families are a little more scattered but we still manage to have a full house and its just as fun.  More catching up, arguing, watching TV and goofying off tho…  In general good times…

This year, I couldn´t afford to go home for Thanksgiving so I brought Thanksgiving to Mexico.  We don´t get US holidays so I didn´t have time off but we had Thanksgiving dinner here at the office and the days before I taught all my students (adults and children) about the history of Thanksgiving, my families traditions, and why its important to me and Americans.  They were really interested in the food, what we did all day and of course Black Friday.  Mexicans knew about Black Friday but of course most don´t get to partake it in, I say most because many do especially those in border states.  Apparently Mexico was concerned about the money it was losing to American on Black Friday that they started a new tradition here.  The weekend before Thanksgiving is now called the Grand Fin, all the stores in Mexico had huge sales and tax incentives.  For example at Suburbia (my favorite clothing store) most of the clothes were on sale and they were giving you back the tax in cash. (In Mexico the price of something includes the tax, it isn´t added later).  I got some good stuff…

Thanksgiving day the other volunteer here hosted a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.  I brought my famous cucumber and tomato salad of course and it was a hit!  I spoke about the importance of Thanksgiving, about being greatful for the things you have and then I thanked them for welcoming us into their family.  It was awesome!  They really have been extremely welcoming.  A good time was had by all!!

That weekend I had visitors!!  Tiara and her then fiance flew into Mexico for the holiday weekend.  That Saturday, they took the bus from Mexico City to Queretaro and we spent the day exploring Queretaro.  I really wanted them to see “real” Mexico, not the resorts and touristy stuff.  We visited our pyramid, el centro and my apartment.  There were so many other things I wanted to show them but unfortunately there just wasn´t much time.  We had to head back to Mexico City for the night.  The next day we went to Teotihuacan  to see the magnificant Aztec Pyramids and learn more about the famous agave cactus.  Who knew it was used for more than making tequila?  Apparently the Aztecs used it for paper, thread, soap, sugar, and medicine.  Amazing!!

The pryamids were amazing!  The two main ones are called the Sun and the Moon but the site is called “City of the Gods”.  The pictures above are only a taste of thier magnificance…  What´s nice about this site is you actually get to climb the pyramids, Pete and I were able to climb the Moon but Pete climbed the Sun solo…

After the pyramids we headed to the La Villa de Guadalupe where the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe is kept.  The Basilica is also amazing, especially for me because I am Catholic have always been fasinated with the story of St. Juan Diego and Our Lady.  Juan Diego was even canionized during my lifetime (2002).  Thousands of Catholics make the pilgramage to this Basilica every year and the church itself can hold up to 40,000 people.  Seeing the shrine was breathtaking and emotional, I really felt the presence of God.

After the Basilica though it was time to head back.   We had dinner at their hotel and then literally ran to the bus since I lost track of time.  I went home to Queretaro because Tiara and Pete were leaving early the next morning.  It was great to share Mexico with them.  This was Pete´s first international trip and Tiara´s first trip to Mexico.  Tiara got to practice her Spanish and Pete handled Mexico like a pro!   Their presence helped me celebrate Thanksgiving in Mexico!!  Gracias amigos

I was lucky enough to attend my counterpart´s wedding in September.  This was my first wedding here in Mexico but not my first “Mexcian” wedding if that makes sense.  I have attended Mexican weddings in the US but I was interested in seeing if there were a lot of differences.

The location was absolutely beautiful!  It is now one of my top two locations (the other being a japanese garden wedding).  It was on a ranch in the hills of Santa Rosa a pueblo close to Queretaro.  Both the wedding ceremony and the reception were held outside but under two different tents.  The bride arrived in a gorgeous classic car and instead of bridemaids and groomsmen she had kids of her friends lead her in.  The wedding was interesting because originally I had thought…oh good a Christian wedding so it will be short…oh hell no!  The pastor preached and preached and preached some more.  Obviously I didn´t understand most of what he said but I do think he mentioned divorce a little too often.  Regardless it was a beautiful ceremony including the lasso!

Prior to the reception was the normal cocktail hour/picture taking event.  Several drinks were served including margaritas, mojitos, cervesa and agua fresca.  Sorry I am sure that doesn´t sound all that different or exciting but for me it was nice to see Mexico represented even in the drinks.  There was also a candy table with all types of Mexican dulces.  Obviously I avoided that table, I prefer to drink  my calories   Dinner was all mexican cuisine including chiles en nogada.  Chiles nogada is similar to chiles rellenos (stuffed chiles) but it has a sweet white sauce and is covered with pomegranate seeds.  This is a very popular dish especially in September because pomegranates are in season and Mexican Independence.  The colors of the dish represent the colors of the Mexican flag so it’s a very popular dish.  I like it but sometimes the sauce is way too sweet.

They had a small mariachi band of course serenade us through dinner and the original party but they were soon replaced by a DJ who played an eclectic mix of music.  What was different was that the DJ would pass out all kinds of props.  At one point we got tiara’s, balloons, lucha libre masks etc…  It was definately different and a lot of fun.  I pretty much danced the whole night which I didn’t think was all that strange until work the next Monday and everyone was saying Baile Baile Baile to me.  Which is Dance, Dance, Dance…I guess everyone got a kick out of watching an american dance and dance by herself most of the time.  I guess its really unusual for people to dance by themselves.  Oh well…I had fun

The wedding started really early 1:30 and was followed almost immediately by the reception so I thought the party would end early…boy was I wrong!  I left early at about 10:00 and headed to an after party!!

In general there weren’t too many differences that I noticed, it turns out the party props and candy table is normal for any party not just a wedding.  What I did find unusual and expensive was the number of party gifts they handed out.  There were chocolates, cookies, candies, alcohol and a ton of other gifts.  From what I understand friends and family donate and make a lot of the gifts (which were all marked A&J) but still…it seemed extreme but when in Rome (or Mexico)…

As usual I celebrated my birthday for a whole month!  I don´t really mean to but it always ends up that way…usually because I go away for my birthday and people want to help me celebrate before and afterwards.  Who am I to complain?

The month started out with fiesta en mi casa for another August birthday, followed by lunch with my Mexican family, happy hours  and a trip to the beach in Ixtapa for my official birthday.  After Ixtapa I had another fiesta en mi casa for the Virgos, lunch with my compañeros (Mariscos) and it ended with a Sushi lunch with Lucy!  My birthday also included packages from home…my cousin Hannah is sending one too and that will “officially” end my birthday month but as far as fiestas I am done. 

The fiestas were a big hit!  One guy said to me that I should have a birthday every month…well I don´t about that but I think I might have a party every month.  This weekend is Mexican Independence day and I think it calls for another fiesta! I don´t know tho…the last couple of weeks have really taken its toll on me so I might just rest and let someone else throw the party. 

Sorry there aren´t more pictures of the fiestas but I get carried away talking, drinking, and dancing that I forget to take pictures.  In general it was a great birthday month.  I am blessed to have such great friends and family.

The last couple of weeks have been hard as far as news from home.  Home being the US in general, not just my family.  My best friend in High School lost her brother, my sister broke her wrist and needed surgery, HP decided to stop producing hardware for the WebOS, hurricanes, earthquakes…you name it!  In some way I want to say at least I know about it…now that I have more stable internet access I have more information.  That said though, what do I do with this information?

In the past I would have jumped on a plane especially to be with my friend and her family.  I was extremely close to my friend and her family, I more or less lived with them for years. My heart broke when I heard that she lost her brother and the circumstances that surrounded the death.  I wanted to be there to support her, to support her mother who became a mother to me over those years, I wanted to cry and to grieve the tragedy of losing someone so young.  Even as I write this I am tearing up…I want to hug them until I stop crying.  Instead, I called my family…of course none of them answered their phones!!  Instead I left FB messages on all of their pages and I prayed for my friend, her brother, her family and my family. 

Death is never easy but a mother shouldn´t lose their kids and an older sister shouldn´t lose her younger brother.  I couldn´t help but think of my family and how much I love them all (even when they make me the craziest).   My birthday was last week (another blog to follow) and my mom sent me a care package including letters from her and two of my brothers.  The letters touched me to my soul…being the oldest I have tons of memories of good times with my little brothers and it was nice to know that they share some of those same memories.  I reflected that night on how much we have grown, how we all escaped and how we survived… (Sorry to be so cryptic but those of you who know me well understand).  We have most certainly been blessed!

I could probably rant forever about the news from HP but instead I will just shake my head (SMH).  HP was successful, HP had money in the bank, why the need for more?  Why the need to put several hundred people on the unemployment line?  Leo do you really need more millions?  Can you possibly spend all that money in one lifetime?  How can rich stockholders and CEOs not think about their employees and the lives of other people? Again, I am saddened by our economy…I wonder if I will even be able to find a job when I get back from the Peace Corps, I wonder if I will even want to go back to the US… I just makes me sad

Ok, so now that I am sad and depressed…let me cheer myself up again by telling you how life is in Mexico.  I am absolutely positively happy!  I have the best life…I have a job that pays little but pays the bills.  A job where they listen to my opinions, put them in action and supports me.  I am working with several people on their English which enables them to accomplish their goals.  I am 8hrs from a beach (bus), I am healthy and surrounded by people who care about me.  What more could you ask for?  Life is good!! 

I have a few things I need to work on though…I need more exercise, I need to work on improving my Spanish and I need to set up more English classes.  As they say here tho… poco y poco (little by little).

I haven´t written in a while because I have been sick (enfermo) so I thought I would write about that experience since it was a little different.  I think I just started out with a cold.  Some of the women I eat lunch with had colds and refused to stay home so I guess I caught it.  I woke up and had a sore throat etc…I made it through most of the day before calling it quits. I stayed home that Friday and slept/relaxed most of the weekend.  Usually in the US that is all I would need, a couple days of rest and I am back on my feet.  Not here!  I woke up Monday feeling slightly better so I went to work, by the time I got there though I was feeling miserable, I was sneezing like crazy and my nose was a waterfall.  One guy at work told me to go home and when I told him I didn´t understand why I was still sick he said bugs in Mexico are different.  I laughed at that…no way!  I am healthy, I can fight it.  I went to the doctor and was given some meds to help with the symptoms but no antibiotics.  The doctor said, its just a cold…but a bad one! He agreed that Mexican bugs are different.  What can you say to that?  So I stayed home for a few more days hoping I would get better.

I returned to work but was still conjested and I had no energy what so ever.  Oh course this is when they actually have work for me to do…so I struggled to edit a paper. I made it to the weekend but I think I blew it by one fiesta too many.  I was still off Sunday and Monday but better.  Tuesday and Wed were good days but I woke up with a very sore throat on Thursday.  Luckily I got in to see the doctor early that day and got more meds, this time antibiotics.  I felt much better two days later but I didn´t try to do too much over the weekend. 

So as you can see I was sick for over 2 weeks which just isn´t normal for me unless its something serious.  This was just a stupid cold that should have just last a couple of days.  Oh well, it tells me to take things more serious here and to try to boost up my immune system.  Other than that there wasn´t much different than being sick in the US except I did find that the doctor did seem to have more time for me.  He listened to my bad Spanish (which is terrible when I am sick and my head hurts) but took the time to actually examine me.  Mind you, I am not in the dessert somewhere, Queretaro is a very big city so it has the latest technology and good doctors. 

Its kind of misleading to call this “Being sick in a foreign country” at times Mexico seems far from a “foreign” country.  I did hate being by myself while being sick though but that´s not much different than living alone in CA, having to make my own soup, take myself to the doctor etc…  I have decided to teach my friend Lucy how to make my soup though so she can make it the next time I am sick!  So I hope that puts an end to everyone´s worries about being sick in a foreign country.  It is different because there are different bugs running around but I am in capable hands.   I am sure its different in more remote places but I am good!

When I first heard that I would be living with a host family for the first three months of the Peace Corps I was really excited.  Its to help with the immersion process, host families are there to help you learn about the culture and the language.  After now living with two host families I have found that they are so much more!

I have been blessed with two great families.  My first host mom as I have mentioned before is widowed and retired.  She has one daughter who has two daughters (total family pic above left) who live on the other side of town but visited often.  She is a great cook and was super patient with my Spanish.  What was so great about her is that we really communicated even when my Spanish was minimal.  Some of my fellow volunteers had issues with their families regarding food, over protectiveness etc… not me!  My mom would ask me what I liked or didn´t like and we would work it out.  This is important because people like different things.  Her last volunteer liked lots of bread and milk for breakfast.  I, on the other hand can´t eat a lot of milk or bread so its a good thing we talked about it.  Also, I love vegetables and even though she doesn´t like them she would cook them for me.  She mentioned once that she was glad that I had gotten her to eat more vegetables!

Obviously I loved her for more than her cooking.  She was a great listener, she gave me space when I needed it, included me as part of the family and in general loved me.  The same for her daughter and grand daughters.  They took me a a Los Tigres concert, Bernal, a winery, sang mananitas to me, bought me presents for Children´s Day, and treated me as part of the family.  It was a great experience and even though I am living with a new family they will always be my family here in Queretaro.

My new family is just as great but totally different. Before I lived with one person, now I live with four!  My new host family consists of my sister, her husband and their two kids.  The first week I was invited to celebrate a friends birthday with them and met more of her family and friends.  We all took an instant liking to each other (because they are just as crazy as I am) and now I consider them all friends and family.  Since then I have hung out with them several times and it ended up working out that I will live in the same complex as her sister (photo on the right).  They had a community work day at the complex and I talked with tons of the neighbors who showed me around and told me that they hoped I would live there.  Who could turn down that welcome?  I will already have friends and family near by when I move in! 

I most definitely feel lucky and blessed to have become apart of two great families.  My real mom in the US said she can´t help but feel a little jealous and wonder where she fits in.  That made me sad but not as sad as I would be if I didn´t have them.  Family is important to me and I miss my family terribly but at least I have people who care for me here to somewhat take their place.  Imagine how lonely and sad I would be without them. 

So what motivates a family to invite strangers in their house?  I was going to say that I can´t speak for the rest of the world but as I reflect on my travels I can generalize a little.  I have found (here especially) that people want to share their lives and culture.  We are proud of who we are and where we come from and we want to show it off!  The first questions I always get are where are you from, how do you like Mexico and what do you think of Queretaro, almost always in that order.  I love that they love to share their culture and lives with me and others.  My host sister´s parents are even opening their home up to a student (she is from Mexico) who is working in Queretaro for the summer.

I also have found that families do it to help with their English.  Here in Mexico, all university students have to take English and have to achieve a certain score on the TOFEL so most professional people have a basic knowledge of English but don´t have the opportunity to practice.  The family I live with now, both the parents speak a little English and their son is taking it now.  Its fun to practice with him

I think another reason they open their homes is because they are grateful.  They are grateful that I am there to work to make Mexico a better place.  My host brother once told me that he understood the sacrifice that I was making being so far away from home, with no friends or family and not knowing the language and they want to help.  He said that when he was younger he would go to the rural parts of Mexico to volunteer but at least he could speak the language and had family only a couple of hours away.  I was really touched by that.

Only two weeks left with my host family… I am excited to be on my own but I will miss having someone to talk to all the time (in English or Spanish).  As I mentioned, I am both blessed and lucky to have had two great families.  Gracias!