El Gusano
Excerpts from Diary Entries:
May 17th:
Yesterday afternoon we played a huge soccer game with all the teenagers in El Gusano against El Capulin. It was really fun, despite the red dust that flies into your eyes every time you kick the ball. It was difficult playing on the field because I felt as if I were going to slip every time I ran, but I think everyone had an awesome time. That night we watched Lorena's 15th Birthday on VHS (her Quincinera). Her birthday was a huge celebration full of dancing and partying into the night, so that was a cool to watch. After we were finished watching the VHS, I went outside to look at the stars. There is obviously no light pollution in El Gusano and that makes the night skies spectacular. Chito (my six year-old host brother) and I sat there looking at stars. He told me that he wants to be a cop to take care of all the scary dogs in El Gusano. After my deeply intellectual conversation with Chito, I talked with Lorena (my host sister who is seventeen years old). Lorena told me that she wishes to go to college in Dolores but that she does not know if it will be a possibility. She wants to run in college because she is a phenomenal runner, but she also wants to go to the US. We discussed the differences between colleges in Mexico and the US. Despite all our talks of college and her opportunities, she told me she will probably go “walking” in August, which entails roughly an 8 day walk to the border. When she arrives in the US, she will only have the clothes she is wearing and possibly a small backpack. She wants to reunite with all 3 of her sisters that work in Texas as housekeepers. I did not know what to tell her, I tried telling her that she has similar opportunities here, comparing and contrasting both countries—but Lauren wants to see her sisters because she misses them and that is totally understandable. I think that it is sad she will be leaving behind Chito. He will be alone with his grandmother Lupe, who he calls Mom. He calls his mother by her first name, and sometimes struggles to identify her. Lauren and I finished up our conversation about travels and how she has never been farther than Dolores, but how she wants to see the world.
This morning I woke up at 6:30 am and went to go see the Molino. This was quite a feat in Erin’s wake up history, because I am certainly not a morning person. Lauren and I went over to see how they grind up the corn to make the Tortillas. They have a pretty good program working for them; three women are designated to work one week out of a rotating cycle. Three women man the machine and churn out the buckets of corn dough each week. The other women wait until they have finished using the machine. They drop the corn and some water into the machine (so it runs smoother), and it makes a corn dough-like substance. The Molino (machine) sounds like a massive generator. As a side note, I’m very interested to see the nutritional value in Cactus. It is a staple in our diet here. I asked Lupe that morning if I could help make Tortillas, which was so much fun and very difficult. She would grind the tortilla dough out on a rock platform and then place it between a wooden lever to flatten to it into a small circle. Then she carefully peels the dough from the lever onto the oven which is powered by wood sticks. Then the tortilla is flipped several times as not to burn either side and to cook them fully—they are finally done when you flip them to one side and the tortilla pocket fills with hot air. Then you know to grab the tortilla from the oven and throw it as quickly as possible in a basket and then flip it a final time, so it settles right. This description makes it sound easy, and Lupe and the other senoras make this seem extremely easy. Yet Lupe was doubled over in laughter at my first feeble attempts of making the Tortillas, which turned out crinkled and not edible. Between the smoke that filled room and caused me to tear up and my fingers burning as I tried grabbing edges of the Tortillas to flip—my first time can only be described as a failure. Yet I will conquer this at another time.
The other day, we taught one of my favorite lesson plans that Dustin designed. We taught the 1st and 2nd graders which happen to be the most difficult classroom because they are the youngest and largest in number. Lauren and I made the food pyramid on a large poster, while Dustin explained all the levels of the pyramid, healthy versus unhealthy and the varying parts. He asked them to draw what they eat on an average day in el Gusano. What turned out funny here is that no one wrote down Tortillas, which I find hard to believe because I eat about 15 tortillas per day. Dustin then called up each kid, one-by-one and asked them where each item went on the food pyramid, whether it was bread or a vegetable. This was an awesome experience watching the children realize that snacking on all the cookies, chips, soda that were available in the stores, was not a good idea. I’m pretty sure nothing stuck as regards to health concerns, but the kids were able to identify that Doritos had salts and fats which the human body does not need much of.
June 1
The group has watched entirely too much of the Matrix. I will probably never see this movie again, because I believe we’ve seen it 7 times all the way through. It happens to be one of the best VHS movies that Lupe owns. Our other options consist of movies with the Rock and Winnie the Pooh, so you take your pick. Tati and I went horse back riding the other day. At first we were concerned that we were going to break the Delgado’s horse, but everything went smoothly. His horse has little muscle and is not the healthiest of all horses. With the combined weight of Tati and I, we were sure that crushing the horse was a true possibility. Each of us took turns riding bare-back behind the saddle, but we walked into the fields behind the school, which were beautiful and had little green oasis’s. We were able walk in the riverbed and find some grass for the horse. This has probably been one of my favorite side activities, other than teaching.
Teaching in the middle school the first time was very intimidating. We all went into different groups and taught English. These kids hardly new anything and it was difficult to get them to participate. Each of us tried different methods, Sandra’s was my favorite. She made them sing “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” song, while threatening the boys that they had to come to the front to sing if did not participate. We talked in groups about differences between the US and Mexico which I found to be the most interesting cultural exchange yet. Almost every student raised their hand to the question if they had family in the US. We compared and contrasted the differences between the US and Mexico and the students were very engaged and interested in asking questions. One of the more difficult questions was, which place to you like better, the US or El Gusano?
June 2nd
Our trip has almost over. It seems crazy to think that our team left North Carolina only a month ago. This group definitely feels like a family. Working 12 hour days together forces group bonding, haha, but I will miss each and every one of them when I return to the US. I was recapping the trip to myself the other day and feeling very successful. We set up and cleaned the extra classroom, which created the community center. We have selected community members to run the center (and they are all amazing volunteers). We have brought in three computers, and 5 more are still on the way! The computers have an English teaching program on it and also have the Encarta (Encyclopedia) program which has captured all the children’s attention. We taught in Spanish in the mornings to the elementary and middle schools, while teaching English in the afternoons at the center. We established a soccer league, El Gusano Vs El Capulin (hopefully two games a week). And the center alone fosters creativity with our art center and critical thinking with our board games and puzzles i.e chess. Physical education is not a prominent activity in their school systems, so we hope that the balls and athletic equipment we brought will act as a release for the elementary school kids. The kids and community were very accepting of all of us gringos. They treated us like kings which certainly was not necessary. The kids behaved very well for their respective ages and I absolutely loved teaching, working and playing with all of them. They acted up here and there, but truthfully were very manageable and endearing.
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