Thursday, March 5, 2009

Just The Facts

I have been back in the rhythm of life here in Guadalajara and realized that it might be interesting to post what that means. And so, to follow are a few tidbits about my goings ons in the city this past week.

Back on Monday I rode about 15 blocks over to a huge market to stock up on verduras y frutas (veggies and fruits) and purchased a fresh-squeezed orange juice for the equivalent of 70 cents. We missed the tianguis on Sunday, and this market is a nice second best.

I am back in painting classes on Tuesday and Friday evenings with the same instructor, Nino who announces to visitors "We only speak English in here," and grins at me. His English is spotty, but he gets a kick out of trying. I have nearly completed a second painting and have been testing myself with painting difficult subjects, eagerly anticipating the next class to see what I can accomplish.

We decided to finally try tamales from an older woman with long braids who often comes by selling them (yelling, "Ta-ma-leeeeeessss!"). We ordered chicken and vegetable and mushroom and cheese and they were comparable if not better than those we are used to ordering at the Mezquitan Country stand.

Last night we spent a good while talking with our neighbor Monica across the street. She and her sister Paulina had just gone shoe shopping for fancier shoes for their cousin's wedding. They gave us quite a bit of detail about Monica's husband Jorge who has a kidney stone.

I have nearly completed a few websites:
http://www.codeni.org.mx/
http://www.ahala.org/index.shtml
http://www.mnini.org/
http://www.joshmeltzer.com/ltmp/ltmp.html

It is getting hotter. Highs are generally around 90 right now. The good thing is that it is a dry heat, though this is the deceptive kind of hot. I went running around noon yesterday (I am not really sure why) and came back feeling a bit delirious. I currently have the laundry hanging out to dry and anticipate that it will be ready quickly.

My friend Meghan whose husband works for the consulate has applied for a grant for the MNINI cooperative for sewing machines for the group. I will head up to meet with them tomorrow and meet a woman named Sashi who will potentially be selling their products in her store(s) in Canada.

I have a second brand new wheel on my bike, as the tire mysteriously kept flatting overnight and no one had the right size tire to replace it.

I hope this was at least a little interesting.

1 comment:

Nicole said...

Hi Missy,

I applied for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Mexico for this upcoming year, but unfortunately I am an alternate. However I am still very interested in the lives and culture of the Mexican people, and I was very intrigued by both your and your husband’s Fulbright work. I am particularly interested in CODENI, and I wish I had known about this organization before I applied for the scholarship. The work that they are doing is similar to what I had proposed to do outside of the teaching assistantship, but on a much smaller scale—starting a literacy program for marginalized students. Because I am not headed to Mexico next year, I am trying to secure a job as a Spanish language teacher. I am so happy to have stumbled upon your blog and learned about CODENI. I would love for my future Spanish classes to donate supplies or raise money to help these children of Guadalajara. If there is anything in particular that these children need, please let me know. You and Josh should be very proud of the work you are doing!

Nicole