Navidad en Queretaro, México

In Peace Corps, we are to celebrate holidays with our communities\host countries and share a bit of our culture and traditions as well. For my first Christmas or Navidad in Mexico (2014) I traveled to Queretaro, Mexico where I visited my original host family.

To honor my host family and my jolly experience I made a video! It is in Spanish and was also made for World Wise Schools Program (where I work with my sister Caitlin´s 350+ students in 5-6th grade Spanish classes).  At the end of this post I have the transcript translated in English. Its original format is in Spanish. If you would like to read along and practice some Spanish listening skills, I recommend opening the first video below (more details later)! If not, scroll to the second video and enjoy. Keep in mind it´s written so a grade-schooler can understand. If you're a teacher and want to use it for your class, let me know-I have other materials to teach your class for this specific topic.

If you´re worried about not understanding it, don´t worry---the visuals in the movie are worth it... :D My sister's class really enjoyed the film and laughed at silly things like my host family being "cookie ninjas."

Happy Holidays a weeeee bit late!

Transcript

For my sister´s students who are learning Spanish, we made them a video with the transcript to help them practice their listening skills in Spanish before they watch the official video. They have a worksheet (see below)  that they follow along while listening. Practice this exercise before you watch the official video it if you want to practice your Spanish before the final artsy-fartsy video.  If you don´t really care about practicing Spanish, jump the video at the bottom of this blog page. 

 This worksheet was elaborated by my sister, Caitlin Smith, BS in Education with a double major in English and Spanish and a National Board Certified Teacher in Spanish

Official video: Celebrando navidad con mi familia anfitriona en Querétaro, México

Translated Transcript

Introduction: Peace Corps and World Wise Schools presents: Celebrating Christmas in Querétaro, Mexico with my host family. 

Who am I?: My name is Jessica and I am from Green Bay, Wisconsin. I am a Peace Corps Volunteer. I work in Puebla, México. I help the government with proper use of natural resources, for example, teaching how to make maps. Additionally, I am the leader of a group of girls and women in a community called San Jose Xacxamayo. I inspire the girls to be strong and actively participate in their community. 

The three Peace Corps goals are: 

To help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women
To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples serve
To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans

Christmas in México:  When volunteers travel to a new country, they spend time with families. It is important to try to relax when you´re not home living in the USA. For my first Christmas in México, I went to the city of Querétaro to celebrate with one of my Mexican host families.

We celebrated with mass and some Christmas traditions (Posada). We had sparklers, a piñata, a Christmas poem, and a toast. My family liked gifting fun presents-not serious ones-to the guests. We also ate a dinner.

Part 1: the Mass ( in the house or in a church): The Catholic religion is the most popular in México. For Christmas people generally attend mass in the churches as well as practice prayer in their homes.

Part 2:  Main Christmas Ritual: For the main Christmas ritual (Posada) they celebrate the pilgrimage of María and José in Bethlehem. This religious journey lasted 9 days: the 16 of December, to Christmas Eve the 24 of December. The 25th of December baby Jesus is born. Christmas celebrates his birthday.

For the Christmas ritual, one group stands in front of the house. They represent María y José. They have lit candles and they sing for Christmas ritual. The other group is inside the house. They represent the innkeepers. They sing that it is not possible for Maria and José to enter. Finally, the innkeepers says that they can. They invite everyone inside the house have a party.

This Christmas ritual is celebrated two ways: 1) large groups visit 9 homes in the community to represent the adventure from the 16 to 24 of December, or 2) families celebrate at home, the way my Mexican family celebrated.

Parte 3: Kissing baby Jesus: One custom is to kiss baby Jesus on his head.  

Parte 4: The Sparklers:  The locals like to celebrate with sparklers, especially the kids.

Parte 5: The piñata: Usually the piñatas have seven points to represent the seven Catholic sins. A sin is when someone has bad behavior.

Parte 6: The Christmas Poem:  My Mexican family likes to read/share Christmas poems.

Parte 7: The Toast: We made a toast to the family for Christmas. We clanked glasses and cheered in honor of the birth of baby Jesus.

Parte 8: USA tradition: Christmas cookies: Since I am a volunteer with the United States, I explained my Christmas traditions as well. I taught my Mexican family how to cook and decorate sugar cookies. This is not typical of México, so it was a interesting experience for my host sisters. They were so fast at making the cookies, we said we were "cookie ninjas!"  

Campamento Mariposa, a Women Empowerment Camp

Design by Ica Friedly

Photo: Kyle Fredrickson

Campamento Mariposa, Camp Butterfly, a week-long women empowerment camp for young ladies in rural, marginalized communities in the states of Puebla and Tlaxcala in México, has been one of the most rewarding experience in my Peace Corps service. 

With the slogan, Mujeres Cambiando el Mundo, Women Changing the World, you can´t avoid the flutter of inspiration beat in your heart. This camp sponsored by Peace Corps, INAOE and donations through PCPP allows participants to attend the inspiring, week-long camp for free. Check the Mariposa website and see how you can involve yourself in the project from afar!!

Negative message box, photo: me

Positive message bulletin board, photo: me

Participants laying out for relaxation time, photo: Karen Magrid

I taught sessions on positive and negative messages, which included a box for negative thoughts and observations and a positive bulletin board focused on positive thoughts and random acts of kindness. At the end of the camp we reflected on what was drawn and written, and did a personal activity writing negative things we think or others think of us. I led a relaxation session, where we let go of all the negative thoughts, letting them trickle to the floor. Afterwards as a group we took our negative papers and burned them together, letting only positive thoughts to reside. 

Burning the negative thoughts, photo: unknown

I also co-lead a goal session with my counterpart Gisela, helping the girls identify dreams and then create the steps to achieve their goals. We focused on personal goals and club goals, for each community that participates must establish a club or if one already exists, strengthen it. This session seemed challenging, but extremely inspiring for the girls. 

The goal session is very important, because when we are no longer in the communities the ladies need the knowledge and tools to create and achieve their goals for the club and their personal dreams without us. Thus, this session provides a tool to help the Mariposa girls establish a sustainable framework for their clubs.

Writing kind words to our new friends, photo: me

Helping out a session for Reusing Trash for Art, photo: Kyle Fredrickson

Showing the girls how to do Improv, photo: Shayna Sellars

One of the most fun sessions for me involved teaching the girls improv games! In high school I was part of an Improv group, where we provided free shows to the community every Saturday. So, I´ve had about 4 or so years of weekly training.  Thus, I was really excited to play some improv ´starter´games with the girls. 

Playing thumbs, photo: Shayna Sellars

The group rockin´Thumbs´, photo: Kyle Fredrickson

We played thumbs, 5 second environment and 1,2, 3,4. These games are great for beginners and it really broke down boundaries. Just remember if you want to teach an improv game, some games are REALLY hard and require bundles of training. Here is one website that has some great ideas for improv games.

Peace Corps Volunteers plus Ale (INAOE) and Tessa (founder of the camp), attempting a scene game, Replay (really advanced & challenging!) during the Talent Show: photo, Karen Magrid

Frozen is HUGE in México. Many of you probably remember my awesome dance moves with my Host Family back in Querétaro.  Thus, I helped with a commentary on Frozen, specifically focused on themes of bullying, strong women, health, leadership, etc. 

Rockin´our Bollywood moves at the talent show, photo: unknown

I remembered to rock my dance moves during Zumba and the Bollywood performances. I learned just dancing with all my heart and making crazy big exaggerated moves and laughing at my mistakes, broke the girls dance shells. Dance like you´re a bunny on 70 bags of sugar, but still managing to have a wee bit a rhythm is EXHAUSTING. haha Do watcha got to do to inspire ;)

Other notable adventures during the week

INAOE shared their telescopes for stargazing, photo: me

Learning about edible plants at the Jardin Etnobotánico, photo Priyanka Jagtap

Making planters at the Jardin, photo: me

The girls enjoying the puppets from the play, photo: me

Team activity, photo: me

Reflection

When going through inspirational, challenging projects or day-to-day life I always remember: We are the product of everything we have ever done and the people we met along the way, be it negative or positive (although, I find I learn far more from challenging experiences). Thus, we are changing constantly, becoming more of who we are meant to be, who we decide to be. We can say many things, but our actions speak louder than words and your habits control you unless you decide to liberate yourself. I feel like and hope that in this camp we taught these girls to empower, liberate themselves. 

Through this entire process, planning, and executing of the camp the same goes for me. I can say things, but if my actions show something else, how can I lead anything? Our actions prove our worth: although, keeping in mind that, yes, people tumble, and fall off the path for nobody is perfect. But we can try with all our might. What we do everyday becomes who we are, thus we can be who want by simply changes our actions and behavior. Therefore, we need to make an action towards that and habitually practice that action otherwise it´s all talk. We also must forgive when we or others make mistakes: forgiving others, but most importantly learning how to forgive ourselves. Because of these reasons, in the camp I tried to be hyper-aware of my actions and behavior, and attempted to set myself up as an example. 

Ferris wheel in Puebla, Puebla

We were all scared of the Ferris Wheel, due to fear of heights.. but we went together. The ride was actually, calm moving granny-paced... it even had a TV in it. ha, we survived ;). Conquering fears, one day at a time :), photo: random stranger

Mariposa girl presenting to the group, photo: me

Lastly, below is a poem I wrote from my experience from the camp. Please note that the Spanish words are in italics and are explained above the poem. Enjoy :)

Teaching the girls Ultimate Frisbee, photo: Alex Gareis

Vocab:

Amiga: friend

Amistad: friendship

Aquí somos: We are here

Casa: home

Con esperanza: with hope

Desconocida: Stranger, unfamiliar person

Estrellas: stars

Frontera: political border

Jovencita: young girl

Mexicanos: Mexican

Mujeres: Women

No estarémos: We will not be there

Paz: peace

Pueblos: small rural communities in México

Terremoto: earthquake

Sin Límites: without boundaries

Su: Your

Mujeres Sin Límites (Women Without Boundaries)

La frontera, slices opportunities, yet we see nothing but air.

These boundaries   c

u

r

         v

     e,

j

u

t

&        sli

ce

our territories--- defining our opportunities.

For today, we  e r a s e  them: we are e q u a l s.

 Human boundary: Earth.

Young, brave, strong women from pueblos mexicanos,

We are equals, family, sisters, friends.

We can choose to rise together,

Believing in Equality and Paz.

You want change,

First you must change y o u r s e l f,

Your own personal malleable boundaries,

Vía goals made, goals applied.

You fall, stand up.

Break a boundary?

Mend it, extend it.

I see you,

Obstacles higher than my roof, poking your ribs till you weep.

Yet, I see a light, 

L u m i n o u s  hope in your eyes,

Brighter than I ever saw in mine,

Shining its light into me,

Forever inspired.

Your bravery and strength in your voice shakes the ground, terremoto.

You’re ready to bre

       ak gender boundaries,

Exceeding the expectations of your society,

                yourself,

              me.

Footsteps of those you empowered,

.::echo::.

 on the dirt road, 

Stemming from light shared by you,

shattering your own boundaries.

Perhaps our boundaries define us, our culture, our being.

But what happens when we dissolve some?

Not cultural annexation, nor blindness of being,

Rather listening, learning

Open heartedness, mindfulness, and seeing...

At the women empowerment camp,

I see her shy, sad, scared and alone.

F r i e n d l e s s,  she says

--Jovencita, have you looked b e y o n d the boundaries of su casa, your pueblo?

Look. Around.

You see her?--desconocida

            Every stranger is a potential Amiga

You see me?-- Amiga

--When you return home, No Estarémos

But look at the stars

B e y o n d the boundaries of our lands,---we share this sky, sin límites.

We, your friends, look with you.

Shining estrellas,

Aquí somos.

You're never alone,

Amistad, demands fluid boundaries.

My new friend con esperanza hugs me,

sin limites.

Learning to laugh and swim, photo: unknown

Peace Corps Volunteers: Me, Ica, and Pri, missing our homies Shay, Kyle and Alex, photo: unknown

Reflection: Almost a Year Later, Swearing in as Peace Corps Volunteers in México

"I slept and dreamnt life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy." 

~Rabindranath Tagore~

Swearing in as Peace Corps Volunteers, credit Peace Corps

Just shy of a year ago, May 31st, 2014, I swore in as a Peace Corps Volunteer. The moment finally stood in front of me, no more future tense, it was here and now. Dressed formally my supportive host mom, Guadalupe, and I arrived at the hotel where the volunteers would swear in. I remember nerves shooting through my limbs and my stomach turning with excitement, yet a dab of fear. Doubt at this point no longer lingered, I was ready to serve. Yes, I had imagined this day of swearing in as a Peace Corps volunteer over the past few months, but I don´t remember thinking it would feel like that. Seeing all the jolly, passionate, and hopeful U.S. citizens striving to make a difference in the world siting together ready to take the leap of faith. We all made it here to México and survived training, now came the time where Peace Corps would swear us in and they would let us free, like doves soaring in the sky looking to make Peace and survive, integrate and inspire self empowerment. 

At that moment, I imagined and felt that I understood what it meant to be a Peace Corps Volunteer and how to practice peace through empowerment and sustainable development. Clearly naive, but with good intention I attempted to understand what others did prior to me, the points of failure and success. Understanding that with failures lie opportunities for success, and success unknown until chartered. That pushing through the failures and using creativity to reach in and empower and find the values of the people and culture here in México would ultimately result in a culture exchange and perhaps a successful project (crossing fingers still). At this time, thoughts like these roamed fluidly through my mind, along with inspiration for family, friends and mentors who helped create stepping stones to arrive at this point. 

It was sad to leave all these wonderful volunteers and host family with whom I bonded with  in the past couple of weeks. Jesi ´ICA´ Friedly, now a great friend of mine, shared a heart-warming speech in Spanish about all the special qualities of volunteers. It made our hearts sing and faces smile. A group so giving and passionate, and we all made it to become volunteers.

B.A. GROUP!

Reflection of 1 year of service (más o menos a year):

Even though I ´learned´from many past volunteers, I still stumbled through Mexican culture and understanding my role as a volunteer in an office, a lot. The 9 to 6 office hours in a dense city confused me  as a volunteer who expected a community to be a small city, or town with fluid boundaries. Thus, I was trying to identify my ´community´as an office versus physical community, which often boggled my brain. I asked myself, with this setup how would I make a difference of empowerment? Recently, I finally realized that by seeing my counterparts and others who pass through the office I have 40 hours a week to share my knowledge and also learn from them. These counterparts who frequently enter rural, marginalized communities and share their knowledge.

Thus, a couple key stakeholders to work with in the office can spiral down to hundreds of thousands of people in the state of Puebla. For example, right now I am work on a guidebook for consultants on Ordenamiento Ecologicos (land management plans) with a multi-disciplinary group of students and my co-workers. Communities wanting plans can then ask consultants to help them, or read the guide themselves to implement these plans, hence it eventually reaches the lowest local level. We shall see where the wind takes us on this guidebook journey, who knows plans and focus can change with a snap of a finger here in México...but I am hoping we stay strong :). As an outdoor enthusiast, some days are still challenging to be working in the office instead of outdoors, but tis life! ;)

Having an office community has been something to come to terms with, but I have negotiated time to work out in a community once a month. I work with a group of young women in a women empowerment club focused on environmental themes in a small, rural community outside of Puebla, but really visit once a month or less due to the difficulties of transportation. Nonetheless, I am realizing that it is not necessarily how much time you spend in a community but the quality of your visits. For example, from afar I organized an environmental fair where the club and other organizations collaborated to share their knowledge at a grade school, started a mentor program, and helped plan Campamento Mariposa (women empowerment camp) and had 3 girls attend. Even though I am not living in this community, technology makes this possible: telephones and Facebook. These technologies allow you to easily communicate and organize events, as long as you have the trust and confidence of the community, which in my situation is thanks to a past volunteer who worked weekly in the community, Elena, and also the president and his wife who welcomed me in their home with open arms, along with the girls in the newly founded Club Mariposa. Although, this Peace Corps experience is different than I imagined I do find that if you´re present in the moment while you´re there, one can inspire and be inspired (and share the fact these people inspire you), and give the community the tools to be independent (goal making, project planning, etc) you can make a difference--even if it is only one day a month. 

Now, throughout the year some volunteers have come and gone for various reasons, but I want them to know that they made an impact being here, even if it wasn´t the full 2 years. I´ve learned a lot from many of the volunteers, many helping me with my struggles and tumbles along the way and making sure I laugh and enjoy where I am and accompanying me on travels throughout México to see and breathe the different cultures. (family and friends from home too, and some new friends here in Mexico:] ).

Still, we are Peace Corps Mexico 16, who are exchanging  peace, culture and skills (environmental and technical) between Mexico and US, in often creative manners due to our strict ties to our offices.

Now, we have another splendid group joining us this June...! Well, as for me and my fellow volunteers, I say onward to following the Peace Corps pathway.   :) 

Natural Resource Management Volunteers, credit Peace Corps

Matt, me and Natti :),  credit Peace Corps

Linda, Benita (NRM Lead), and I, credit Peace Corps

Barbara! 

Murrray! 

Lovely ladies

Some Grand PCVs!

"Que Chita" o "Que Chido"  (how cheeta/how cool). What a splendid group to have in my Spanish class :)

Priyanka (PCV), Adrina (my counterpart) and me after swearing in

Be the Change you wish to see in the world-Gandhi

Day of the Dead Puebla, Mexico 2014

Celebrating those who have passed and those who are living during the Day of the Dead in México is a heart warming experience. Generally, in the state of Puebla, Mexicanos celebrate Day of the Dead or día de muertos in the campo or rural areas, not big cities. Each household prepares ofrendas or offerings for their loved ones in an altar. Altars generally have three levels. The first level has food offerings (the favorite food of those that passed, and pan de muerto or bread of the dead); the second is the space between earth and heaven which has many flowers (marigolds, which are the symbol of death) and crosses; and the last level is the heavens. Papel picado, or traditional paper with stories of the dead line the walls or ceilings. 

This year for día de muertos I traveled to Huaquechula, Puebla to visit some altars at night, which was both beautiful and sad. The families in this community opened their doors to visitors, providing them with food and drink. A small tray sits at the bottom of the altar, indirectly asking visitors to contribute a small donation (the ofrendas are SUPER expensive). Many of the homes offered us a warm beverage, either coffee or hot chocolate, and some pan de muerto. We followed a map to many homes, almost like a scavenger hunt to find the altars. I appreciated its beauty in silence and was struck with gratitude that yes, indeed, we still have some time to live our lives to do such wonderful and meaningful things. Simple things such as, practicing kindness.


"Kindness is one of the most undervalued commodities — which is too bad because it doesn't take much of it to turn the day around. I wonder if we overlook kindness because it's so simple. What's really involved? Someone needs something, we help. Someone feels low, we console. Someone trips, we catch them. There's a need, we respond. Then the other person is grateful and relieved — and we're happy knowing we could help. Kindness is a low-effort, high-return energy." --Joan Duncan Oliver

One of the most memorable ofrendas had this tragic, yet beautiful poem. Below is my attempt of a translation. Read it for it will make your heart sing with gratitude.   

"This is certainly true.
How many flowers arrive at a person's funeral and how many flowers were enjoyed by this dead person when they were alive?

I prefer to have a rose and a word of encouragement of a loved one while I am still here, than a truck full of flowers when I go. 

*The difficulties make you stronger
*The errors make you human
*The failures make you humble 
*The success makes you shine

You that is reading this, if today you encounter somebody your are mad with, I invite you to reflect, to be better than yourself without waiting for anyone to change. Remember that what was given with the heart can never be replaced. Tell all those that you love, that you love and care about them, TODAY. Life, we can not purchase it. 

It is not worth expressing your feelings, without actions that demonstrate your words. Hug the person that you love or care about. Gift them a smile or simply be friendly with her.

But enough!

Many times we prefer to be friendly with people we don't know, instead of the people that are always helping us.

Only because they're always there, but we believe that they will always be here, but it isn't like that and the sad thing is that when they leave forever we never had the opportunity to say to them how important they were in our lives.

Don't wait until the person is gone from your life, tell them how much you care for them, love them, need them, and how important they are to you.

Today you must live!"