Turning Life Gold: December 2009

Oaxaca has been great thus far.... I have hit the ground running since I've arrived and haven't had time to stop. On Saturday, we are going on vacation for 4-5 days. Our destination? The beach, and lots of them. I can't wait.

But to satisfy your hunger of wanting to know about my life here thus far, here is a little of what I have been up to:

We went to a Woman's Weaving Cooperative called "Vida Nueva" which is for woman who have had some difficulties in life and they are able to come together at this weaving cooperative and weave these beautiful rugs and bags.

While we were at Vida Nueva, we went and helped the women plant a bunch of trees, because they are trying to create more green space as a lot of the land that surrounds them has been deforested.

Then we went back to the cooperative and they taught us how to make all of the beautiful rugs that you will see next....

After learning all of the steps that go into creating these beautiful rugs, we ate a delicious lunch that the women made for us.....

Then the next day we went to a Mexican wrestling match.....Nacho Libre anyone?
And in case you were wondering, yes, I did buy that mask, and yes, that will be my costume for Halloween next year, and yes, it will be awesome.

Then we moved into our new apartment.
This is the bathroom - notice how Mexican showers don't have shower curtains. There are no shower curtains in Mexico and all of the water just goes EVERYWHERE when you shower and you have to squeegee it towards the drain when you get out of the shower.

This is our professional kitchen. That is a grill, a griddle and a huge freakin' stove.

Our hallway

And our living room. For entertainment purposes we like to hang out in our masks.

And then these are some random pics:
A picture of one of the fabulous doors here (this one is for you mom)

And a picture displaying my height compared to a Mexican's height. I am a freakin' giant. Seriously, this was a bathroom that I went into and this was where the mirror was hung. Sometimes I feel like I am in an elementary school bathroom again.

That's all! I am off to the beach in a few days and in attempts to not become desperately homesick, I am going to try to not think about how much I will miss not having Christmas at home this year. I hope that you are all having a good time preparing for the Holidays and that you all wake up to a wonderful amount of white, powdery snow. Loves to you all.

….I have dyed my hair brown and have officially moved to Oaxaca. I’m here. And it is wonderful (for the most part). Oaxaca is beautiful and is a delight for the senses - I am surrounded by lush mountains, gorgeous flowers that overhang cobblestone streets, barking dogs, brightly colored houses, fabulous music and delicious food. The food here is so good and healthy - it is by far the healthiest that I have eaten in months – and it’s fabulous!

I arrived to Oaxaca, late Monday night. Leaving on Monday was a big day for me on many levels, as last year on the exact same day I had left Belize and was so sad, because I had left Jonny and he was moving to Peru and I knew I wasn’t going to see him again and knowing that broke my heart. But this year, exactly one year later, I was on a plane again – to another country – but this time I was leaving and was happy and excited and going off to have my own adventure and doing it for myself. Being able to realize how far I had come in exactly one year was so empowering for me, and once again I was realizing how much ones’ life can change in a year.

So like I was saying, I arrived to Oaxaca and it is a beautiful city, and is pretty big with around 200,000 people. I have been exhausted ever since I arrived on Monday night, as my body and mind are still trying to adjust to living in a new country. I find that I am understanding Spanish quite well, however am struggling with forming sentences and trying to speak it consistently. I think that part of the reason that I am so exhausted all of the time is because my mind has to concentrate so hard on what everyone is saying, and it just completely wears me out. However, I am beginning Spanish classes next week and am hopeful that this will help to increase my comprehension.

While I’ve been here, I have found that I am experiencing a little bit of culture shock, especially when it comes to the vast differences between the rich and the poor. This is the first time where I have been to a country where there has been such a huge gap between those who have money and those who do not. Last night my colleagues and I were standing in the center square waiting to go to dinner and I noticed this small girl who could not have been older than two years old sitting alone on the sidewalk. As we walked by her, I couldn’t help but stare and wonder where her mother was. I kept watching her, until her mother finally showed up and I realized that her mom was one of those women who walk around trying to sell goods to people on the street. When she came back to her daughter, she took her by the hand and they started to walk away, and as they were walking away I noticed that this mother also was carrying a very small child on her back and as soon as I saw that tears began to well up in my eyes and I just started to cry. I thought about all of the mothers that I knew in my life and how almost all of them have had every resource available to them while raising their children, and how even with all of those resources, raising a baby (let alone a baby and a toddler) is still an extremely difficult job. And as I looked at that mother, walking through the streets with a baby strapped to her back, a basket of goods in one hand and a toddler in the other, I just thought about how strong of a woman she has to be and how even when I think that my life is hard, it will never be as hard as hers is. Knowing that just made my heart feel completely overwhelmed and I just stood there with tears running down my cheeks. While I was standing there watching her walk away, my co-worker said to me “She may not have a lot, but she does have love…she does this for the love that she has for her children.” And when he said that, I realized how right he was, that even though even she hardly had anything, she had enough love for her children to be walking through the streets at 8:00 pm, trying to make a living to support them in whatever way she could.

I’ve been thinking about this mother and all mothers in general ever since we left the square last night, and I have decided that while I am here in Oaxaca that I am going to do what I can to help support the women and children that are here. Tomorrow we are going to a women’s cooperative called Viva Nueva to help out with their annual community service project. I’ve heard that you can buy good presents there that in return help support the women there, so for those of you who are expecting Christmas presents from me, there is a chance that I will be buying them tomorrow.

I wish that I had a picture of the little girl to post, but I didn’t feel comfortable taking her picture. At some point, when the time is right I will post up some pictures of the poverty that can be so prevalent here at times, but I can’t do that until I can make sure I am able to take them in a respectful manner.

However, here are some other pictures of my time here thus far……I hope that you enjoy.

Buenas Noches.

Me and Benny and my brown hair on the flight to Oaxaca