¡Viva la Revolución!

The Uprising - Diego Rivera

Today is Revolution Day in Mexico so I have the day off. It is also the week of Thanksgiving which, of course, they don't celebrate in Mexico. They have a name for it, though, which is Día de Acción de Gracias, which means, "day of the action of giving thanks." I love that. 

I will be doing a Thanksgiving presentation for the school on Tuesday, in which I will talk about the reality of the impact the colonizers had on the Native People as well as how we observe the day in my family. Then, on Sunday, Jon and I will host an open house for the friends we've made here, which feel very much like family, serving whatever versions of the traditional foods we can cobble together. There won't be turkey, though the bird comes from this area of the world originally, because we can't find one here. Instead, we'll serve spicy rotisserie chicken from a local joint with our Thanksgiving sides. 

So far in this blog, I've talked a lot about what Jon and I do and have done here, about the people, and the mishaps, and the adventures, but I haven't talked a lot about my purpose in being here, which, is, of course, my grant. One of the principal directives of the grant is to serve as assistant to the English teachers at the Universidad Politécnica Francisco I Madero (UPFIM) with the idea of making their classes more effective. I do this by bringing entertaining and useful activities to supplement their lessons, and to serve as the model of American speech and pronunciation. Besides the classes, I give a weekly English language workshop for the students in a fun and relaxed atmosphere, and I also provide a couple of hours a week of English conversation for the teachers and administrators. 

Workers are valued here

This all sounds very official, but here's the reality:

During the first quarter of this year, while I was kind of getting my footing at the university, the teachers I was working with would sometimes, essentially, ditch me, leaving me to conduct the class in their absence. There was no malice in it; they just seemed to have better things to do. However, conducting a class on my own, unless it's a workshop, is strictly against the terms of my contract. Not wanting to appear bitchy, I didn't say anything until it happened so many times that, without naming any names, I mentioned it to my coordinator. He assured me it would not happen again, and it has not. Other than that, the teachers are sweet as can be. They run the gamut from wanna-be rappers to former Fulbrighters. Most are very dedicated; others just phone it in. My job is to never phone it in. My role is to be enthusiastic and energetic, which the students really respond to. Old as I am, I've even detected some crushes among them. Occasionally someone will shout out from the back of the classroom "I love you!" There have also been treats left on my desk by anonymous admirers. In general, the students are fun and funny, while also quite respectful, and I love working with them. 

Teacher/rapper, "Moonly Rap."

The university itself is kind of a pretty campus surrounded by cornfields and sunflowers. Some buildings are very old, some brand new. When I first started there, teachers would give me their room number, and I'd find myself wandering endlessly trying to find it. One teacher was like: it's in building D. I could only find buildings L-Q. I sent her a text message: "I can't find it." She sent me a picture of the D on the building. I was like, oh, that's helpful, and not one person that I asked seemed to know where it was. I don't remember how, but I eventually found it, on the other side of an irrigation canal and through a small forest. 

The "Mexe" Building where they're
always protesting.
Mexe is the native word for Spider

There are also buildings mixed in with UPFIM that are actually totally different universities. One is in a constant state of protest - about what, I'm not sure. The other is a series of fenced-off buildings with communist murals on the walls - I'm talkin' Marx, Lenin, Stalin, and maybe Tolstoy? It's pretty intense, but they don't mix with UPFIM, which is highly patriotic practically to the point of nationalistic. 

One thing that is very baffling to me is the bathrooms. Only one bathroom is equipped with toilet seats, and that's the one in the area across the canal and through the forest. The rest have none. You gotta perch, baby, perch. Also, there is no toilet paper in the stalls. You have to grab it from the dispenser as you come in the door and it often runs out so you better come equipped with your own tissues. Some have mirrors, some don't. Only one has hooks for your purse on the stall doors. The one in the library is the nicest and most modern, but there are still no toilet seats. 

This mural is on one of the walls of UpFim.
The message is, essentially, "hands off our bodies." 

All in all, though I enjoy the teaching aspect of this experience, it's not really the thing that makes me most excited about being here, and I never thought it would be. Teaching English as a Foreign Language is something I did for many years and I don't want to continue to make it my career. Doing so here in Mexico, though, gives me the opportunity to fulfill the other aspects of my grant, those that are, honestly, more important to me. One of those is my literature project which I'll talk more about later. The other is simply interacting with this community: giving them all I can of myself through friendship and laughter, listening and learning. This is my own personal revolution - the thing that is transforming me. ¡Que Viva!