So life in Mexico is going pretty well. I have really enjoyed myself this past week. I am finding a lot of really great things to do- for my project and also just for fun. So I started “working” in the schools this past week. Or maybe I started last week. Either way, its going well. For the first class I wasn’t really sure what I would be doing. When I approached the Maestro about working in the schools I just offered to help him inwhatever way he needed and suggested to teach English or some sort of health related class. He said okay- thatI could do whatever I want whenever I want and for however long I want. While this is generous, it is also vague. So I went to class, not really knowing what I would be doing. The teacher asked me if I was ready and I said yes and so he left. So... luckily I used to have to teach kids on the spur of the moment when I taught karate so I just played a game where I got to know their names and then they got pretty bored with that and wanted to play a game. So we talked about different games and sports that they like to play. We played a game called “encantado” which I feel like is a mix between freeze tag and capture the flag. It was fun, but it was sooooostinkin hot that I really didn’t want to play. But I did anyway. Then class was over and they had an hour lunch break. I went back to my room to do some homework and after about an hour Natalie, the other girl that is with me knocked on my door and said there was half a school waiting at the gate for me to come and play with them. I looked outside and there were about 20 or so Mexican kids waving at me so that I would come and play some more with them. So Natalie and I played soccer with them. That was more fun for me because I could stand in the shade more whereas in the other game I had to run around in the sun a lot.
So the next week I was more prepared for what I would teach the kids. It’s a bit difficult though because my study deals with their normal activities and how that affects their body composition and strength. So I don’t want to teach them a lot of exercises that they don’t usually do and all of a sudden they have way better core stability than they did before. Honestly, I don’t imagine it would make much of a difference but I still don’t want to take the chance. So on Wednesday I taught them the food guide pyramid. They were disappointed to see that they should be eating more vegetables than meat. Honestly, I don’t think they have a lot of control over what they eat. The diet here is pretty much limited to beans, rice, tortillas and tomatoes. IT actually kind of is hard for me- themeals are just one color- brown. What I wouldn’t do for a salad or something green. They do have a green vegetable, the nopale, it’s a cactus. It’s actually pretty good but it sometimes has a slimy texture and I’m not so into that, but its green so I eat it. Anyway, after I explained the food pyramid I had them prepare a menu with an appropriate balance of all the foods. It was actually a really hard concept for them to understandbut I think they figured out at least that they should be eating more veggies. After a while they were getting kind of rowdy and so we played a game called “fruit basket.” I used to playit in my French class in high schools. It related to food so that’s why I picked it. They enjoyed it.
Also, on Thursday we went to the Jr. high. I thought that I might need to work there too to find some 12 year olds for the study, but actually most of the 12 year olds are in the elementary schools still. But we went to the Jr. high anyway during their PE class to observe. The idea was that I could just observe and then the teachers would talk to me and we would figure out a way for me to help them out if I wanted. What I mostly observed was that there were tons of students and very few teachers. Each teacher would have a group of 20 to30 students and run them through some different drills. After about 20minutes the groups would rotate. So a lot of the time the students were just standing around waiting for their turn to do the drills. So afterward I offered to some up with some sort of routine that I could run a group of kids through. The teachers were very glad to accept my help. I’m excited. The kids are really easy to talk to and also I think that it’ll be a really neat experience. Later on we helped out in an English class. The tools they have to teach English are pathetic. The books have tons of errors in them and as well, the teachers usually don’t speak English very well. So they are also glad to have our help with that.
I am also going to start helping at another elementary school. This is to help me find more students to recruit for my project. These teachers have actually given us more specific directions on how to help. They want us to teach the kids a song in English that they can sing at their end of year graduation celebration. We still don’t know what song we are going to teach them, but when did teach them the alphabet and what all of their names are in English- except all of the Fatimas. We couldn’t figure out the equivalent for Fatima or Pilar in English. Anyway, I was excited about this school because the teachers asked a lot of questions about my projectand what my goals are and I can tell that they will be willing to help me out once I’m ready to start, which hopefully will be at the end of next week. I’m pretty excited about it but also nervous. School gets out in the beginning of July and I anticipate that there will be a few things that set me back a little bit, so I don’t want to waste too much more time.
As far as the rest of the day, we try to go to different Ranchos and meet people. It’s been interesting. I’ll be honest, I am not good at small talk, especially in Spanish. But it’s been a good experience.
Also, every night we have been working out with my host mom Silvia. I think I may have mentioned this in my last email. She made up a dance routine to some Latin music. It consists of a few kicks and punches and mostly just jumping around, also there are a few songs where we just move our hips like crazy. (So hopefully by the time I come home I’ll be able to shake it like a Mexicana.) It’s actually not too bad. And so we’ve been doing that the past couple of nights. Two nights ago a bunch of boys came over to mock us. There were probably about 6 of them all under the age of 12. I thought it was funny as I was thinking about myself in the middle of nowhere in Mexico dancing some absurd routine with little Mexican kids climbing over the fence to come and laugh at us. It’s just something I never thought would ever experience. It’s also something that makes me really enjoy being here in Mexico. I like all of the new bizarre experiences that I didn’t even know I was missing out on in the United States. It also provides some good insight on the attitude about exercise and physical health here in Mexico. It’s actually the opposite than what I thought. I figured that since the people farm their own land and work in more rugged environments etc that they would be stronger and healthier. But honestly, it just seems like everyone is super fat and lazy. A lot of it has to do with the heat. When it’s this hot- no one wants to move. Also, they just don’t have the nutritional resources available to them. I also think that there is a correlation between education and the amount of importance physical fitness has in people’s lives. Of course these are just observations that I am making and it’s not really the question that I’m trying to answer in my project. I think it will be interesting to see what the results turn out to be. The kids aren’t necessarily obese like I’m observing with the adults but I also am sure they engage in a ton of physical activity because it’s not really encouraged here.
Anyway, that’s all I have for this week. Hope everything is going well back home. Let me know if there is anything you do or don’t want to hear about in regard to my adventures in Mexico.
Avec amour pour toujours,
Barb
