Quick Reflection

Since I’m back at school, I have a lot to do, but I just wanted to do a quick reflection post as a sort of closer for the Mexico trip. It was an amazing way to bond with people that I pass everyday at school but never really saw or interacted with until now. I was worried that it might be a little weird to see people in the campus context, but so far not at all. I’ve had a lot of fun seeing people in their natural habitat, as I guess you could call it 🙂 I am definitely missing a lot of the older people from our trip, especially the one thirty-something we all called the “hot freshman” because she looked so young we thought that she was from the College until she told us otherwise. While I miss the sunshine, bonding, and fountain, I am happily looking forward to my next adventure, the Big Apple. Though not abroad, it could be a whole other world! On that note, gotta get back to work as we are leaving Saturday night!

A repost from the trip blog…..

Something I co-wrote with a friend, wanted to repost it here since this blog will probably be how I remember things too.

 

Hello, our names are Julie and Beth, and we have decided to co-write our entry about the last few days of the trip. Wednesday was a hard day at the work site, where we continued to dig 7+ feet deep trenches over a foot and a half wide. This job, although seemingly impossible, was important because the house would need a steady foundation to resist erosion, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. The site in which we were working was a former family garbage dump, and as such we later found a satellite dish 2 feet in diameter, part of a couch, a vintage typewriter, and other miscellaneous objects such as used baby diapers. Even 7 feet down, we were still encountering more trash. But with the impending torrential rain, we had to set the foundation quickly, so that all of our hard work would not be erased.

The work was followed by a heated soccer match between the Esperanza employees and the College of Wooster/Providence College students on Wednesday night. The Trinity volunteers were the cheerleaders, encouraging our magnificent sportsmanship. It was also our friend Katie’s 22nd birthday, which we celebrated with a win, tacos, and mandatory group showers.

Thursday was an equally difficult day continuing with trench digging, and sand-moving (again so it didn’t all wash down the steep hill with the rain). All of this work had to be done only with buckets, picks, shovels, and our own hands. At the end of this workday, we had the privilege of going to Casa Migrante and sharing a meal with men who had been deported from the U.S. One man, Juan, after 15 years of paying American taxes and never receiving any of the benefits, ran one red light, and was ripped away from his 3 children and wife while going to work one day. It will cost him at least $5,000 and much hardship to be reunited with his family. Juan was only one of many who fell victim to a seemingly unjust immigration system.

Friday, our promised half day, was just as busy, as the looming clouds reminding us of the approaching rains. Fortunately, there were extra hands present in the form of students from elite Mexican schools. It was informative to talk with a different with Mexicans from a different socioeconomic class than those we usually work with. They offered a bourgeois view of life in Tijuana. After finishing our necessary work, we concluded our week with a fiesta including:a piñata, tres leches cake, music, and the Mexican sun blistering Beth’s back (delish).

One final story to share was the extra luggage that jumped out of Julie’s half-packed bag in at her face. Earlier in the morning, Ann had claimed that she had felt something rather large and creepy-crawly scurry across her foot. Everyone laughed it off and pegged her as overly-paranoid. Much to our dismay, there was validity to her foot feelings, and the mouse had made a new home for himself in Julie’s bag. The situation was resolved after much screaming and panic, with Beth’s calm and collected demeanor leading everyone through the fiasco without any biting, clawing, or killing.

As we write this post, it’s only a couple of hours before we head north and a possible 5 hour wait at the border, we are snacking on the remnants of our freezer and enjoying the camraderie.

We are being called away for pictures, but we can’t wait to see everyone back home!

Graffiti Fest

Today and yesterday have been absolutely amazing, even with the 11 hours of travel. Even though I didn’t get to sleep for over 24 hours because when we arrived at the beautiful Posada(“inn”) it was barely noon. I ended up getting sun burnt the first day (Let it be known that I was out on the Patio for less than an hour). We then went to Puerto Nuevo, a resort area on the coastline. Puerto Nuevo  was somewhat surreal, with most of the hotels empty or even incomplete construction, and it gave the whole place a kind of abandoned feel. There were also outdoor street vendors, and it is always cool to see what they are selling. However,  I am super uncomfortable with the idea of bartering, since I am able to pay the full price and bartering makes me feel cheap, but I was able to get two blankets, some shoes, and helped one of my friends get a backpack. We ended up going to this super dark and mysterious restaurant called el  that was kind of like a Rainforest Café type thing (or so they tell me, since I’ve never been), except that it had authentic Mexican instead of chicken fingers and pizza. I ordered a Margarita, which I am both proud and slightly embarrassed to admit was the first time I have ordered a drink in a restaurant. It was strong, and I think we were all feeling a little giddy with the sleep deprivation. We then through a police checkpoint, which is always a little scary, but everything was fine. We went to a small local grocery store and I was able to get all the soap and shampoo I forgot, and it was fun to be able to be helpful by reading and speaking the language. We were all pretty much dead to the world after that, and that concluded day one.

I am tired even typing all of this , since we did so much today. I woke up relatively late, at 9:30 TJ time, so you can figure out what time that is on the east coast….oops. We had a delicious breakfast  of pancakes, bacon, and coffee cake (seriously, what did they put in there?  Ann and I ate like half of it ourselves). We had a low key morning, just hanging out and circling up, and then we got moving to Playas de Tijuana and the border. I was at the border last year so it definitely affected me differently than the year before. Last year I was really shocked at the size, but this year I was able to contemplate a little more the Mexican perspective. Here we are trying to do some sort of good, and while we are willing to travel there to help them, there seems to be this clear message that we don’t want them to come to us. It kinda  felt hypocritical and while I am happy to be here, I wonder how happy they are to have me.

We strolled around the beach for awhile and just enjoyed the sunshine, weather, and breeze, and I of course got even more sunburned (it’s inevitable), and then went downtown to Avenida Revolución, which is the main touristy part of town. I didn’t shop much, mainly because I had spent most of my money the day before on blankets, and also because I didn’t really feel the need. Instead we meandered around and stumbled across this festival called Graffiti Fest. At first, I wasn’t sure what we had gotten ourselves into, because there were a lot of tattooed and pierced teenagers walking around looking alternatives and congregating in a large group around this one stage. I joked that this was the type of thing they tell you to avoid when you are abroad, but it was such an interesting escape from the tourist traps. The event turned out to be about art and respect, and was co-sponsored by the police and some businesses in the area. Rather than crumbling facades, there was a movement to use graffiti as a tool to beautify the buildings and as an agent for change. The festival was attempting to engage Tijuana teenagers and as such brought in young local groups.  Some were mediocre, but some, especially the second group of about ten  17- year old rappers we heard were absolutely amazing and as good as anything you could find on the radio. Unfortunately, we had to leave before finding out there name, but I am a girl on a mission and will put my best internet stalking skills to the test.  It was absolutely amazing and inspiring to see this concert that was about respect and pride for their city. I have no doubt that the next generations of Tijuaneses will take ownership and improve their city as they see fit.

We ate at a nice restaurant (the same place  as last year) and had TWO mariachi bands play, which was more than enough for me (it felt too touristy-mariachi is from the south-central part of Mexico, which as I described to someone who asked me is probably like listening to country music in NYC), and went to visit some relatives of one of the volunteers from our group, which is discussed more in the official blog. I put the link in the last post which I would definitely check out as there will be a bunch more perspectives . We ate French bread pizza at the Posada, just chilled out and talked.  The group of people this year is absolutely amazing and there is such good group chemistry. I hope that the friends I make on this trip are ones that I can remain friends with once we transition back to daily life at Wooster. We are already bonding, dancing, and laughing like crazy, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Angie and Scott, two adult members of our group had to leave because of the death of his grandmother, which makes me worry and hope that my own grandmother is okay as she hasn’t been doing too well recently. With the busyness back at Wooster and everything that had been on my plate, I wasn’t really looking forward to coming, and kinda just wanted to go home, but now I am so happy to be here. It is refreshing to travel and get away, and regardless of people’s opinions of mission trips in general, I hope to be able to make a difference in people’s lives just as big as those they make in mine.   With this all being said, I am going to sign off, as I will be going to the open air market tomorrow morning before the worksite, which means that I’m getting up at 6:45 to get ready and go. When was the last time that happened?

Group Picture taken at the Border/Beach Park

Oh hey, sunshine!

A blog may seem absurd for a one week trip to a place  from where I can see San Diego (kidding…kind of), but blogging is something I have wanted to try. The next year is going to be pretty amazing for me so I figured I’d just start now and track my put my various trips as a part of a bigger blog. I am lucky enough to be going to Mexico (again), India, Uruguay (again!), and Argentina all within the next twelve months, and I want to be able to share my experiences, musings, photos and whatever else with friends and family, wherever they may be. I make no promises about the quality/coherence of my writing, the frequency at which I update, and possible cheesiness of posts. With that being said, I shall sign off for now, as this has been one heck of a day and I still have to pack (oops). I leave you with this picture  that I took last year. I hope it is just as warm and sunny!

Sunny, sunny Tijuana, Mexico.

P.S.  Here is the link to the official trip blog, as well as the one from last year in case you want a sneak peek of what we might be doing.

http://woosterintijuana2012.blogspot.com/

http://woosterintijuana2011.blogspot.com/