Fulfillment

Stairs in Real del Monte

I'm now able to talk about my literary project because it's finally coming to fruition. It's taken just about three months. I don't know what I expected, exactly, because it's kind of a complex project. My idea was to gather a group of women to do a writing workshop for the purposes of self-expression in Spanish. They would be able to write about anything or in any genre: memoir, poetry, stories, essays, novels, recipes, or anything that serves as a means of self-expression for them. I was hoping to attract women who have already delved into some form of writing as well as those who never have. I was willing to work with women remotely, in other parts of Mexico, but mostly I was hoping to work with them in person here in San Agustín. 

The Harvest, Tepatepec

Here are the problems that arose: Fulbright wanted me to do this project specifically here in the community, though they didn't make that clear until I arrived in Mexico. I had already connected with some artists I knew in Mexico, who put me in touch with writers quite distant from San Agustín, and soon after I arrived, we started working together by zoom. There are four of them, and they are all brilliant. So that part was good. But I could not, for the life of me, get women in this area interested. It is, after all. a very rural area, and writing just didn't seem to be a popular pastime for women who are working hard and raising children and more concerned with day-to-day life than with self-expression, and who can blame them? 

I call this the saint of LGTBQ+

And yet, a miracle occurred. After three months of my handing out flyers and sending them by text to local women I know, and talking to people all over town, including the teachers at the school, a small but fierce woman named Cristina made it happen for me. Cristina is a PhD in Chemistry who teaches at my university. I edited a research paper of hers that she'd translated into English, but that had been rejected because of the mistakes. So, I fixed them, and it was accepted. I considered this, at the time, part of my literary project because at least it was working on writing with a person in the community though the paper was extremely technical. Since then, I've edited two more for other professors. Anyway, I told her I was trying to get people interested in my workshop and she said she'd find them. Two months later I'd given up hope and was thinking of pivoting altogether to just doing English conversation groups, which was not really what I wanted, when she texted me that she had nine women ready to join the writing workshop. We met yesterday afternoon for the first time - ELEVEN highly motivated women, plus more who are planning to attend in the future. We had an amazing workshop, will meet one more time before Christmas, and then start again in the new year; and, since this is a university-sponsered workshop now, the participants will receive credit. To give you an idea of some of the projects the women have in mind: Cristina wants to write children's books about science, and the history of the region, in three languages: the indigenous Otomí, Spanish, and English. Another wants to do indigenous and family recipes in the same way, and some just want to spruce up their writing in preparation for their masters' theses. Others are not sure yet but I gave everyone a writing prompt to prepare for our next meeting to get them off and running. I am completely over the moon. This is what I've wanted from this fellowship from the beginning and it's happening! Oh, and get this, they want to call the group: "Precaución, mujeres escribiendo," which means, "Caution, women writing."  I LOVE IT!

17th Century Convent in Actopan

Another reason I'm feeling particularly fulfilled is that our house is finally getting to where we want it to be. We, along with our landlord, have done as many repairs as is reasonable for the time being, we've furnished and decorated it to our satisfaction, and it feels really comfortable and beautiful. Maybe we've spent a little more money on a house that we're only going to live in for nine months than we should have, but we always knew we'd probably have to do that. Finding a furnished place in this area is impossible and we began to see that before we came, though the dining set, sofa, and antique sewing machine were already in the house. It has been a kind of art project for us, especially since we've created actual art to put in it. Many of the things we've used to decorate are everyday objects we've picked up at the marketplace and put on the walls such as palm mats, blankets, ponchos, and dried chiles and herbs. One of my friends here said it looks like a Mexican grandmother's house, which made us laugh. 

Post Thanksgiving Gathering with Friends

I will admit the house is a little chilly because none of the houses here have heat. We have bought two small space heaters but they only go so far. It's also kind of echo-y and still has only one door, on one bathroom. The other bathroom and the bedrooms only have partitions to provide privacy. That said, if you are reading this and you are at all tempted to come and visit us in this magical part of Mexico, please come! We love to have visitors! You will have a comfy, but small, guest room, with some, but not total privacy (enough to get dressed without being observed at least). 

Painting on palm mat entitled: Time Machine

Below, and sprinkled throughout this post, you'll find photos of our house, which we hope will entice you, and also pictures of some cool places we've visited as of late such as the beautiful town of Actopan, the archeological site of Tula, and the actual Magical Town (that's an official designation) of Real del Monte. There's so much to see and do here, and so much to love. I feel very fulfilled in this place. I hope you will be too. 

Our house: 

Street in Real del Monte

Center plaza

18th Century Church

Monument to the miners

Coolest bathroom in the world

These figures represent great warriors

View from a distance - see the people on top for scale

Pyramid of the Sun

The site of many human sacrifices

Wall carvings

A dormant volcano, sacred to the Toltecs

¡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!