Last week I finished my first semester as an English Teaching Assistant at my university in Cuernavaca. Even though I'm only about 2/5 of the way into my Fulbright grant year, it feels like I've made it to Half Time. That is to say, I'm using this Christmas vacation time to stop and reflect on all that I've done in Mexico, appreciate the life I've established here and strategize and get excited for what is to come.
Of most importance, of course, has been my work at the university. I have seen many of the students gain confidence in speaking English with me over the course of the semester, and I have had many meaningful cultural exchanges with them.
This is my Sociolingüistics class, a group I grew to love. From the well-traveled profesor I learned much about cultures around the world. From the students I learned plenty of useful Mexican slang. They alo gave me an inside look into Mexican university student culture (read: where to hang out and drink cheap cerveza after class).
A few weekends ago I traveled with this class to a former mining town, three hours north of Cuernavaca, called Real de Monte. The community was settled by British immigrants in the 1800s who came to work in the mines. In Real de Monte the Brits introduced fútbol (soccer) to Mexico and left behind the tradition of eating pasties (rich, flaky empanada-like pies). In addition to eating hoards of delicious pasties and taking tours and such, we stayed in cabins and had a memorable camp-fire under the stars, complete with s'mores and ghost stories.
In addition to working as an English Teaching Assistant, I volunteered at a Red Cross clinic once a week this past semester. My motive for doing so was to offer a small something to my community and also to learn a bit of medical vocabulary in Spanish, as I hope to be able to communicate fluently someday as a doctor with Latino patients. I don't think I really offered the Red Cross doctors much more than entertainment with my chitchat, but it was a worthwhile experience for me, and it was so fun to wear the white coat!
Something else I did in the First Half of my Fulbright year was a bit more off-the-wall, but it was an interesing cultural experience and a super fun time: I joined a swim club at a pool in downtown Cuernvaca. I enjoyed swimming with the high school students and adults who came to the pool for community and exercise and I loved our coach, whom we only knew as Profe. He is the ultimate coaching type; he always sports wind pants, overblows his whistle, barks orders at us and chomps gum the whole time. Oh yeah, and he's a chain smoker. I was thrilled when he finally learned my name after a month and a half (before he called me güera. Now that we've bonded, I can't wait to get back to club in the Second Half!
There is so much I have come to appreciate about my Mexican life during my first stretch of time here. For one, I have fallen in love with my hometown of Cuernavaca. It's called the City of Eternal Spring, because it is sunny and warm every day. The picture perfect colonial architecture built by Cortés in the 1520s sets the stage for fun shops and food stands and lovely familial ambiance. I travel a lot on the weekends - especially to Mexico City, a short hour bus ride away - but I always love coming back home to beautiful Cuerna.
I'm also extremely thankful for the friends I've made here. In addition to a few excellent Mexican friends, our group of English Teaching Assistants scattered around central Mexico has become tight. Furthermore, I am lucky enough to live in the same town with one of them, the goofy, brainy, marvelous Miss Molly Porth. Molly and I became friends by default; Fulbright randomly placed us at universities in the same town. We remain friends, however, because, as destiny would have it, we happen to be a match made in heaven: we share a love of adventurous eating, food pictures, cafés, low-key traveling and a host of other things.
Speaking of the marvelous Molly, she and I will soon embark on a backpacking adventure through the southern states of Chiapas and Oaxaca where we will spend Christmas and New Years. But first, my parents are coming to visit me on Thursday! They will be here five days, and I plan on taking them to my favorite places and giving them a taste of my Mexican life. Looks like the Second Half of my Fulbright year will be starting off with a bang. I'm so pumped!
