A glimpse into the past two weeks

Hard to believe, but I have already been in Mexico for four weeks. Time flies by. Over the past three weeks, I worked from Monday to Friday and had weekends to explore the surroundings of Cholula with my host family or friends. Additionally, for the past two weeks, I have been taking Spanish classes twice a week and then a salsa course, which I enjoy a lot. 

By now, I try to communicate with everyone mostly in Spanish. It works better or worse at times xD. I understand a lot, but of course not everything yet. And I'm still far from speaking fluent Spanish, which sometimes frustrates me at work. But I'm making progress and I trust the process.

Last weekend on September 17th (Saturday), I explored Puebla a bit further with Pepe, a friend I met through work (well, actually we were just in a café and then in a bar and walked around a bit in between). 

The next day (Sunday), I went to the city of Atlixco with Carmen, Fernando, and his girlfriend. Atlixco is also known as 'Atlixco de las Flores' because the city has an abundance of flowers and plants, which are sold in the city center among other places. The city is also known for its warm, subtropical climate, and many people who live in the surrounding area go there on weekends to enjoy the weather, relax, and admire the sea of flowers. Unfortunately, I don't have nice pictures from this day, but I will have more opportunities to go to Atlixco and take photos to show you the city in its full splendor.

This weekend, on Saturday, I attended Carmen's 25th birthday party. It started at 3 p.m. with a meal (catered) and friends and family were invited. A male singer and a female singer were also hired to perform for several hours. After the meal, there was a lot of dancing, even with cowboy hats and small accessories for one or two dances that I got to learn that day. Unfortunately, I don't know if these dances have a name, but apparently they are often performed at Mexican parties. There was also a lot of drinking, and at around 10 p.m., there was a cake and karaoke, where some of the guests sang songs for the birthday girl. In conclusion, I can say that birthdays are celebrated quite extensively and passionately here. The birthday party was definitely a success, and I think all the guests, as well as Carmen, had a great time :)

Yesterday, on Sunday, I finally went to the Pyramid of Cholula with Carmen, my host mother. From a distance, it does not even look like a pyramid. After the Spanish conquered Cholula in colonial times, they built a church on top of the pyramid to demonstrate the superiority of Christianity over the indigenous religion. Today, the church stands out much more than the small remains of the pyramid. Nevertheless, the pyramid is currently considered the largest known pyramid in terms of volume. There is a museum where the remaining parts of the pyramid can still be explored. I definitely want to visit this museum in the near future. But yesterday, we had a nice view of the city from the top of the hill. 

Now, let me briefly tell you about my work in the past two weeks:

In addition to taking care of the beds and planting various vegetables, last week I also helped a little with the bioconstruction. A new toilet house is currently being built on the premises of Casita de Barro using natural and environmentally friendly materials. Straw and a moldable mass made of earth ingredients, like a kind of mud, are used for the construction (a detailed description of the construction method will follow in a later blog post). To provide light in the toilets, cleaned, old glass bottles are incorporated into the walls. Rain gutters will be installed on the toilet house, which will later direct the rainwater into a canister and from the canister into a sink so that the rainwater can be used for handwashing. I will keep you updated on the progress of the construction of the toilet house.

In the past two weeks, I gained insights into two projects of Casita de Barro. Firstly, together with education students from a university in Puebla, Casita is currently implementing an environmental education project for school children. Planning and meetings have already taken place in the past weeks, which I was able to participate in. Starting tomorrow, the students will go to the 5th and 6th grades of the school in the village of Tecuanipan once a week in pairs and work on environmental topics together with the students. The program includes, for example, an examination and exploration of their own roots, culture, and self (talents, abilities, etc.), as well as their own relationship with the environment and the earth. In addition, it aims to strengthen environmental awareness and respect, and to work together on problems, opportunities, and possible solutions. I am looking forward to hearing what the children have learned within this allotted period of four weeks.

My highlight at Casita de Barro in the past three weeks was a meeting for a tourism project together with the residents of Tecuanipan. Manuel and Ina initiated the project, as they consider tourism as a potential opportunity to improve the income and living conditions of the residents in the village. On Wednesday, after an initial meeting at the beginning of the year, a second meeting took place. Over 30 village residents attended the event. After a brief introduction and an introductory presentation by Manuel explaining the topic and the goals of the day, the residents formed three working groups at tables. At the tables, brainstorming was conducted on three different topics: culture, gastronomy, and nature and animals, in order to highlight the potentials of the village as a place for tourists. I found it really nice to see how enthusiastically the residents participated in the idea collection and how open-minded they are towards the project. After collecting all the ideas, concerns, problems, and opportunities, each group presented their results to the other participants. Finally, in a large group, the next steps were defined. The project is still at the beginning, and in the next phases, committees will be formed to take responsibility for various tasks. Due to its location in beautiful nature, its proximity to the large Popocatépetl volcano, as well as its abundance of culture, tradition, and traditional cuisine, the village definitely has the potential for tourism. However, there are also some issues and obstacles, such as the amount of trash in the village, a polluted river that could actually be beautiful, a lot of stray dogs, and many places at street corners that need renovation. The village residents see that there is still a lot to do, but they also see the potentials and show initiative and eagerness to move the project forward.

But that's all the reports for today. Wishing you all a great week!

Sandy :)