Love from the Food Trucks

Apologies for my absence -- I caught blogger's flu -- but now am back on my feet, sort of. So what's been new?!?

I took on a new job that takes me way out into the woods of Mexico City. In doing so, I stepped into the world of the uber-rich, where families not only have their own maids but their own cooks, au pairs, drivers, and teachers (me). The taxi rides there and back have been good for Spanish fluency, learning random factoids about Mexico City, discovering obscure routes that only taxi drivers know about, and encountering death on nearly every occasion.

We've also been kickin' it in Texas. Went to Austin to catch some of our favorite bands at Austin City Limits Festival. They pushed back the festival a few weeks, and instead of steamy-hot September weather, we got cooler temperatures and rain. ACL paid for new grass to be put down in Zilker Park before the festival, but you wouldn't know it since there's no grass left, just mud. For optimal musical enjoyment, we decided that hot -- even if it's over 100F -- is actually more pleasurable than rain.

RAIN + 10,000 PEOPLE = MUD

From Flickr ChrisGoldNY

Another wonderful discovery is that Austin, like many other urban cities in the United States, is embracing the roving food truck idea (I believe we have our Mexican counterparts to thank for this). If you follow food trends, you probably heard about the Kogi BBQ food truck in Los Angeles that only discloses their location by Twitter, thus fueling a mob and obsessive-like behavior to find out where they'll be next. Fortunately, Austin is not as big as LA, and food trucks are easily found, i.e. right across the street from where we were staying. Me So Hungry is a mother-daughter collaboration of Asian fare, and seriously, it was THE best vietnamese sandwich I've ever had. Something about the mayo and the sweet marinade of the pork. Oh my, I may never have another one so good, but I shall keep looking. Cupcake trucks were everywhere, but I think I'm over the cupcake movement. They're good, but I'd rather have something like a kimchi-laced bulgogi taco.

Once I got over this annoying depiction of a demure, overly sexualized Asian, I was able to enjoy the delicious fare.

From Flickr Ydnar

And, on a more somber note, we are experiencing swine flu season. We have friends all over Texas catching the swine flu. Most cases have been mild, and my friend keeps telling me to catch it now rather than later. So maybe that's what I'll be doing for the rest of the week -- trying to catch swine flu so I can get it out of the way. It's funny the conversations we've been having with family about this -- whether to get the vaccine or just get the flu.

Before I leave, allow me to amuse you with the new location of "God's room" at Nick's house**. Hindus usually set up a home temple in their houses, and the temple can go anywhere. God's room used to be an entire bedroom set-up, but my in-laws decided to convert God's room to a baby nursery for the expanding clan, and God's room was moved. To where??

Now to be referred to as "God's saloon"

Behind the swinging doors, you can find the temple atop the wet bar!

**Explainer: Referred to this way by Nick's mom, and used in the following manner: "Grandma's sleeping in God's room" or "You can put your stuff in God's room"

Sir, why can't you find something else to read besides El Grafico?

I read an interesting article this morning in the New York Times about how New York City subway commuters like to read during their commutes. People are reading all kinds of things -- magazines, books, newspapers, scripts, the Talmud, and shopping catalogs -- and this made my teacher-self all warm and fuzzy inside. Nick said that when he lived in New York, he enjoyed the commute because he could read the paper or do crossword puzzles. It was a calming, zen-like experience for him.

Well, I don't know what it is, but I find very few people reading anything on the trains and buses here. People sit. Some talk if they're with family or friends, but most people just sit. Or stand. A few are reading the tabloid-style, nasty, bloody El Grafico. I did notice one guy this week reading a book, and I remembered and noticed because I thought that was unusual behavior. And it's even more unusual to me after reading the article. Why aren't more people reading? Commutes are LONG, and one could really get a lot of reading in. This intrigues me as a teacher who sings the praises of reading everyday in the classroom.

In the US, I expected my students to read every night, to always have reading material with them at their desk, and to read whenever they're done with their work. We encourage parents to read to their children at night, to have lots of books at home, and to use the library. We value a literate culture. However, from my experience here in schools, I don't see teachers praising literacy like we do in the US. Kids aren't engaging in self-selected reading during the school day, teachers aren't spending time reading books aloud, and I don't know anyone who uses the public libraries (in Mexico City, many parks have library branches).

Even I don't read on the train or the bus -- I download NPR podcasts to my iPod. For one, the subway and buses would give me vertigo if I looked down. There is a lot of sudden braking and screeching halts, and you have to be a "defensive passenger", constantly adjusting how tightly you squeeze the railings. And secondly, there's a lot to see out the windows. The people watching is world-class, and the food...oh, the food!

In large part, Mexicans aren't reading is because it's expensive. One of the things that astounded me when we moved here was how expensive it was to buy books. If you're making less than $10 per day, why would you spend your entire day's salary buying a book? Actually, a non-pirated book will set you back more than $10. A hardback copy of a quality children's book is usually over $30. Why is that??

If books were cheaper, if student's read more in school, if parents read to their kids at home, imagine how different things might be...

My Life Project

Since the end of the school year's almost here, I am trying out a new project with some of my students. I know it should be the time to wind down, but for me, I like to use the last few weeks for a cool project. This year, I'm calling it the "My Life Project". It's sort of a selfish endeavor for me because I am interested in life amongst Mexico City's poorest, but I'm hoping it'll be a good eye-opening opportunity for the kids to take a critical look at their surroundings.

So what I'm going is this: I'm giving 32 kids a disposable camera to document a day in their life. Then, with the photos they take, they are going to compile a book with English captions (had to sneak in the English somewhere). I've mostly confined the project to out-of-school hours since I don't want a whole lot of pictures of kids sitting in desks. The cameras were a donation years ago from a lady I knew who worked at Fuji in Dallas, and for some reason, it's taken me this long to pull them out. I hope the roll of film isn't warped; and I hope I can still find someone to develop the film. 

We've just started our project, so we have been talking about life with your family, life in a community, the people who make up a community, etc. Then I gave them a crash course in taking interesting pictures. I explained that the "normal" pictures with loved ones standing side-by-side smiling big is not really an interesting photo. Interesting photos capture emotions, the scenery, and often, the way the two are put together make a photo interesting. All this in Spanish, by the way. And all of this with 9-year-olds!

Since the school is a technological dinosaur, I couldn't just pull up photos of other kids who had done similar projects. Instead, I passed out a few National Geographic magazines, and we searched for and discussed what makes certain photographs interesting. Ideally, this part of the project would take months, and the kids would have time to practice taking pictures. But, alas, the resources are scarce, and we have just three weeks and one chance to get it done. Even if the students can take away one really good photo from the project, I'll be happy. The kids are super excited, and I find it a waaayyy more interesting way to conduct English class. :) 

Christel House Mexico

Here are some videos I found on YouTube about my school. The first is in Spanish, and the second is in English. For friends and family back home who have asked, you can find pictures of the kids and facilities in these videos.

If you're interested in donating time or money, you can visit the Christel House website for more information. In the short time I've been there, I have been amazed by all the random affiliations with this school. Case 1 of random affiliation: while standing in a Turibus line, there were two ladies from Indianapolis in front of me with plans to visit my school the next day, and Case 2: met a friend of a friend who attended our 10 year anniversary last year on behalf of ING. It took the commitment of one person, Christel de Haan, to bring this international community together--cool!

Unbeknownst to be me, two relatives of Christel House students died during the influenza. Here's the 411 on that:

One of 'dem Days

My mood today's been a little off...a little more nostalgic than other days. Why, you ask? Because today's the last day of school. But not here. In Austin, where I used to teach. 

The last day of school is a mix of emotions--from JOY that I made it to the end of the year to BITTERSWEET because I have to see off another group of kids who I invested so much in and may never see again. At the end of that last day, after I've dismissed my students for the last time, I sit down at my desk, stare into the empty classroom and am amazed by all that transpired. Some kids read a book without pictures for the first time, some kids discovered double-digit subtraction, and some found that esoteric, big kid word "multiplication" to be as simple as repeated addition. It's a beautiful thing to be able to, finally, after a year of chicken-with-your-head-cut-off behavior, sit back, take a deep breath, and realize you helped make that happen. A natural high like no other satisfaction you can have in life. 

So, as I sit here in Mexico, not able to partake in the last day of school, I'm feeling a little nostalgic and sad (although, not so much once I remember the slave-like ins and outs of the job). I'm remembering all the last days of schools, from that first one where I vowed never to teach again, to the most recent, when I was the one saying goodbye to my students and my school. And at the end of each year, I grow more mature and more humbled because I'm just so amazed at the resiliency of children who rise up in the midst of anger, sadness, poverty, and abuse. With that thought, I almost immediately want to be back for another year despite all yearnings all year for the opposite. It's odd how it works that way. You go the entire year wishing it were over, and by the following week, you are looking forward to the next year. 

Who knows if teaching in the American classroom will ever come to pass again, but I'm thankful for the unusual course of emotion today. It made for a quasi-last day of school experience, and it's making me curious about how I'll feel on my last day of school here in Mexico. One thing's the same: I'll be happy when it's here. Too bad it doesn't come until July! 

My beloved classroom where many a good book was read aloud

3rd Grade Hooligans at Allan Elementary. They all look so sweet and kind here...don't be fooled :)