As usual, I had good intentions to write much sooner, but it just didn’t happen! There has been a lot happening on both sides of the border, here in Mexico and at home in Pennsylvania. As far as excitement from north of the border, the birth of my niece tops the cake. Athena Kate arrived on January 20th (Inauguration Day) after 20 hours of labor. After a bit of a rough entry, she has been doing really well. I even got to “visit” with her, Jane, and Scott with the help of our handy new webcams and Skype. I won’t be able to see her in person for about 5 or 6 more months, but for now I’m happy to get to visit her through our webcams. In other happenings, my Non had knee replacement surgery on January 15th (the day Jane was due). Before the surgery, she kept joking that they were going to bring her Jane’s baby and operate on Jane’s knee since there would be two Mrs. Haranin’s in the hospital at the same time. Non has been recovering at home since the surgery and is doing very well with lots of help from my Aunt Connie. Also, right before my Non’s surgery, my dad hurt his back. They found that he had two pinched nerves and did surgery last week. And…from what I can tell, he also is recovering well and is in much better spirits. It’s hard to tell with him because he likes to play the opposites game. When he’s in pain he doesn’t say much, but now that he’s recovering he tells me he is in awful pain and that my mom keeps making him lift heavy things. Yep, he’s definitely feeling better.
Now, for news south of the border… When I was home, and when I talk to my family, they often tell me about hearing about violence in Mexico on the news. I’ve been trying to pay more attention to U.S. headlines about Mexico. I’ve been really shocked at how negative the press is about Mexico. There is no question that the amount of violence along the border is at extremely high levels, but there are also reports about drug trafficking related violence spreading to other parts of Mexico and reports about instability in the Mexican government. I can only speak from my experiences in and around Puebla and in and around Mexico City, but central Mexico does not feel like a country that is about to fall apart! For some reason, Puebla, and other similar cities in central Mexico, have been pretty successful (or pretty lucky) in avoiding the type of violence that is related to drug trafficking. I live in a very safe neighborhood in Puebla and am always cautious when I go out at night or when I travel.
Mexico is considered a developing country, and it is true that many of systems within Mexico are a little crooked. Two weekends ago I spent a whole day helping a friend pawn his stuff. This friend is in medical school and was supposed to be starting his internship this month in Guadalajara. He found out that a class that he took was missing from his transcript. When he returned to his school in Puebla to fix the situation, he was sent to the professor who now teaches the class (who is different from the professor he had). Anyway, basically the teacher told my friend that he would give him a grade for the class if my friend paid him 3000 pesos. So…like I said my friend was desperately selling his camera, his phone, and anything else he could get his hands on. In the end, his younger brother told his parents what was going on, and they insisted that my friend just stay here and take the class again instead of paying this crooked professor.
On some more upbeat news I started salsa lessons last week! Two British girls recently arrived here to do an 8 week art project. They are working with a branch of the organization in Ecuador, and have just come here for a short time, and then will be returning to Ecuador. The weekend they arrived we took another trip to the Salsa club in nearby Cholula and our desire to learn to Salsa dance was renewed! In all, there are four of us foreigners who have taken over this dance class at a local studio.
Also, I’ve now completed three full weeks of groups with the boys at Casa. All I can say about that is some days are better than others! It is no easy task to lead groups of adolescents in a second language and I’ve already had lots of fun experiences. Some groups, I leave feeling overwhelmed, or exhausted, and others go really well. Even my two groups of younger boys give me a run for my money. Some days they decide to beat the crap out of each other, run from me, or just straight up refuse to talk or participate. I can't even count how many times a day I say "Ya!" Which is basically like saying "Enough!"The older ones prefer more adolescent means of adult abuse, such as glares, inappropriate sexual comments, and the ever popular adolescent brand of sarcasm! With all that being said, there are other days when their creativity, their helpfulness, and their willingness to participate are overwhelming. Just like with anything in mental health, I try to look for the little improvements or small successes (a group being less violent than the week before, a kid actually saying that he is sad or angry, everyone in a group wanting to participate on the same day). It’s definitely an exercise in patience and growth for me!
On Friday, we celebrated a special graduation at the house. A boy who has been living in the house for almost five years is moving to the Casa de Jovenes, which is a transition house for older boys. The boys go there, have more freedom, and learn more living skills to prepare for eventually living on their own. This boy came to Casa when both of his parents were put into jail. First, his dad was put into jail for selling drugs, then his mom was caught smuggling drugs into the jail for the dad, and she too was put in jail. At that time, the boy began living on the street until he came to Casa. Since that time, there was a point when the mother got out of prison and the boy tried to move back with her and his siblings. The mother had taken up with another man while the father was still in prison, and the family was basically living in hiding in a cardboard home in a colonia south of the city. They were living in hiding out of fear that the father would return after learning of the mother’s new relationship, and do something violent to the family. At this point, it became clear to the boy that an opportunity to live in a safe home and go to school was a better option for him, and he returned to Casa. Now, he is 16, is in secondary school (similar to middle school), and works some days at a bakery owned by the organization.
I got to watch the Super Bowl last night, which was really fun! My friend, Joyce, from Brazil had never watched American football and was full of questions. I think after our lesson last night, she has a pretty good grasp of it! Most people don’t watch football here, so it was kind of fun to know all the answers when people were confused about how the game works and about what was happening.
As always, hope everyone is well!
