Well, when Linda titled my blog ¿Que? i´m not sure if she know how often i would be using that word! ¿Que? ¿Como se dice? Lo siento and No comprendo are all a few of my favorite sayings over the past few days! I arrived safe and sound in Puebla on Saturday night and immediately had to attempt to use my Spanish. Very few people speak English here, which is nice. It´s also frustrating when I can´t communicate what I´m trying to say or can´t understand others.
So far I´ve been able to visit two of the sights that are part of Juconi. Yesterday I visited Casa Juconi which is residential and serves about 24 kids. I was amazed to learn that only 3 out of the 24 kids are on psychoactive medications. Very different from the states. Most of the kids have been abandoned and about half have a history of abuse or neglect. I spend time reading to some kids (even though i have no idea what i was reading), helped a fourteen year old write a love letter in English to his pen pal in Texas, and ate lunch with them (cold spaghetti with ham, pineapple, and parmesean cheese - i think)! It´s really interesting to see how Juconi incorporates Sanctuary and to see the methods they use. I´ll catch you SARCC people up on that later!
Today I visited a site that serves children whose parents work in this huge mercado. One of the therapists at the site took me on a tour of the market which was great. She speaks no English and with my poor Spanish we were quite a pair. It was fun to see all of the different foods and goods that people sell. Lots of pig, pig parts, pig fat, pig butter, fried pig, you get the point. At one point we were walking and I wasn´t paying great attention because I was looking around. Suddenly the woman I was with was telling me to try something and before I knew it I was crunching on a few crispy chili-fied grasshoppers....mmmmmm!
Well, for my first blog from mexico i´d say right now the overwhelming feeling is of an outsider. i feel different wherever i go and it doesn´t seem to matter what i wear or how i wear my hair, it´s clear i´m not from around here! i´m glad i´m experiencing that feeling although i can´t say if it´s good or bad. people overall are really kind and really patient, but as i said before i´m really excited to spend some time at languge school!
I´m feeling really good about my decision to come to Mexico and to work with Juconi - I think it´s going to be great!
