statistics

So, I guess since I haven’t written in a month, I’m going to write two blogs two days straight… (aaaand, I might be sort of, kind of, maaaybe procrastinating with finishing a paper!) But I thought, although I’m more than two months into the semester, that I’d talk a little bit more about Oaxaca so that you guys can have a better picture of where I’m at. So, first of all, the city of Oaxaca is a little bigger than Spokane with the population of about 258,000 people. It has been a perfect size for me because there are still many parts of Oaxaca that I don’t know about, but then I feel really comfortable with the whole downtown area and there are a bunch of different places to hang out, go dancing, there are parks, loooove the food here, and there are a few libraries and cafes that I’ve gotten to know in order to study and use the internet. As far as the state of Oaxaca, it’s one of the poorest states in all of México but ironically the richest states in terms of the culture, history, and nature. There are 16 different indigenous races just within the state of Oaxaca in which all have the own specific language if not more than one dialect within each language. Also, one of the things that Oaxaca is known for is an event called the Guelaguetza which is a huge celebration where many groups of people all come together to sell, or more importantly exchange their products, and there’s also a really cool traditional dance (look it up on youtube!). Unfortunately it’s in July, so I’ve already missed it, but hopefully can see it sometime. Also, more than half of Mexico's native plants, flowers, reptiles, and amphibians is from the state of Oaxaca. I heard someone once say that if you're on one side of the street out in the country, the soil could be completely different than the soil on the other side. Also, it has tons of mountain sides but than also a beautiful coast. The poverty I've learned about here in the state is another topic I'll have to write about later ... sad, tragic, and absolutely horrible.... you don't really see it that much in the city, but it's also here.

On another note, here are some quick fun, random facts about Mexico in general that’s normal here but kind of odd for me. ;) First of all… something I’ve probably already mentioned are the dogs on roofs. Something that still just seems so weird! Second… ok, if you ever want to drive in Mexico, you have to realize that a stop light more or less means to slow down, not necessarily to stop. One of the first things I noticed here were the cross-walk lights. You know, in the US (or at least in WA) our cross-walk lights are just a little green guy in the position of “walking”… well, here, the little green guy is actually moving and so (to me) it appears like it’s running. This is totally true… you don’t really walk across busy roads because even though you might have the green light, a car still might be coming at you! So, I don’t really call them walking signs but rather “running” signs. (Luckily Paty, my intercambio, thinks I’m funny!) Oh! And then the other day, I was walking to school and saw the mailman… which was a man on a motorcycle swerving down the sidewalk! Yeah, it’s actually not uncommon to look up and see a motorcycle coming at you. :) But luckily, I’d like to say that I became pretty accustomed to crossing the streets here, although Daniel still thinks that us Americans are crazy when we’re running like maniacs across the road. Hmm, what else … oh hot chocolate here??? AMAZING … soo much better than hot cocoa in the US. One night, when I was in Puebla, we were eating at this taco place and I asked for hot chocolate. When I got it, it was just like the hot cocoa packets we have in the US and I was soo disappointed. (Haha… you know me and food!) Speaking of food.... have I told you about chapulinas? Since I'm too lazy to reread what I've already written (and you all know I'm known to repeat my stories anyway hehe!), I tell you anyway.... Well, it is said that if you eat chapulinas here, that means you're going to return to Oaxaca. Finally, I took the oportunity to try them. I ate some plain and then I had some in a quesadilla... can you guess what they are??? GRASSHOPPERS! Mmm... actually not too bad. :) It's said that at one point in history there was a bad season of grasshoppers that were eating all of the crops... so the people here just decided to eat the grasshoppers to keep from going hungry. Since then, they've continued to hunt them as a traditional dish!

Well, that’s all I can pull off at the top of my head and I should probably go back to writing (sigh)… one more day until Day of the Dead! Excited!!!

Hasta luego!!!
Love you all!

I'm back!

Sheesh! Sorry I haven’t been talking for so long. The last couple of weeks have absolutely flown by. Well, where should I begin…. Ok, so first of all, a little more than two weeks ago, I went to Puebla and Mexico City (2 days in Puebla and 4 in Mexico) with an organization called Witness for Peace. It’s been such a great opportunity to work with them. It’s been a chance to see different areas of Mexico (first Mixteca, then this past trip to Puebla and Mexico, and then we’re going to Chiapas in about 2 weeks), but it’s also been a way to learn about the economy, human rights issues, the Mexican government, labor unions, and more. We also had the opportunity to take what we learned and then go to the US Embassy in Mexico City where we got to ask questions to different US representatives. I really enjoyed this part of the trip although it was so weird speaking in English! How we learned about the parts about economy, human rights issues, etc. was by going to different meetings with different organizations in Puebla and Mexico…. They were all interesting but sooooo long! At one meeting (we had been on the go all day and I was completely exhausted), I could barely keep my eyes open. Seriously, I was using every muscle and the very last of my strength just to hold up my eyelids. Sounds funny? It’s torture! Everything was shutting down and going into sleep-mode, and I had to fight against it. So, some of the meetings didn’t go very well, but somehow I was still able to get a lot out of the trip as a whole.

Also, during this trip, I suddenly became very homesick for Oaxaca, believe it or not. The first thing that made me miss Oaxaca was the change in the attention from guys. At first it wasn’t too bad but just a little annoying. For example, during the one and only night that we had free in Puebla, two girlfriends and I decided to try and find a place to have some drinks and just try and see more of the city before we left the next day. We found a street which was apparently the happening place. All of a sudden, it was as if we were boy-magnets. Every bar or club has someone working out in the street for them, and their job is to advertise the place and convince people to go to their bar/club. So before we knew it, there was this circle of guys around us, each of them telling us over and over why we should go to their place and not the others. I was so overwhelmed and so annoyed, and finally my friend Liz said, “Is there a place where people won’t come and bother us?” All the guys went completely silent. Haha! Then, the very first night in Mexico City, we took the metro and went to the “Zócalo” which is the downtown area. There were so many more yells of “güera!” and guys whistling at us that I felt, once again, really overwhelmed and annoyed. My favorite line from this trip was when Clare and I were walking behind the rest of the group and this really old, hippy-looking man walked past and suddenly yelled in our faces in English, “OH MY GOD!” Startled, Clare and I stopped and looked at him. “WOOOOOOW!!!!” he yelled in is raspy voice, as he then continued to just stare at us. Yeah, just a little bit creepy in the moment, but soon we were laughing about it. Sooo random!

The second part that was just a little bit weird about Mexico City is that we didn’t stay in a hotel but rather in a house of Quakers. Yes, you heard me right. :) Usually I’m really open to all different ideas and religions but for some reason, this house was so quiet and I felt really uncomfortable the first two days there. Plus, we were all staying in one giant room together with bunk beds and I had this feeling of claustrophobia and kept thinking, “Oh my gosh, I just want my own bed and my own space!” Our trip to Chiapas will be interesting because it’s going to be over a week together within a really poor community; completely different than Mexico City. And although Mexico City was seriously giant with SOO many people (especially in the metro), there were parts that I actually really enjoyed: a beautiful neighborhood called Coyohacan, various parks, this one area that I forget the name but it had a giant wooded area … and I loved how easy it was to take the metro. One try and I had it. So overall, the experience was a good one, although at times a rollercoaster of emotions.

Then, this past weekend was the weekend I had been planning on traveling to Guadalajara to visit my friends. I had been planning from the very beginning but it turned out that the flight there was just way too expensive for just a weekend and the bus ride there would be too long and not worth it. I was really depressed about this, but instead, Daniel and I decided to go to the beach as well as 4 other students. It was only $13 to get there by van (about a 6 hour ride) and we found a Bungalow that was $10 per night. And the beach was absolutely AMAZING! Exactly what I needed … a sort of remedy from the busyness of the city. And hey, I actually got a tan! I wish I could still be there right now; I absolutely loved it. I want to describe it more, but I should really get back to reading a writing. I have an essay due Friday that I still have to start and a whole novel to read…. Sheesh! Oh but another thing is that this weekend it Day of the Dead! So I’m really excited to see what it’s all about.

More later, and sorry I’ve been really bad at keeping in contact recently!!! Hope all is well!!!!

Oh, by the way… finally got skype now that the semester is half-way over. So those of you who want to find me, my username is michele.hegg … original, I know. ;)