Friday, November 28, 2008

We got a few new pictures up! Here is just a taste. This is the most beautiful view of the mountains from Ayutla Mixes.
The girls at the junior high boarding school making refried beans.
Check out the Mexico photo Alblum for more pictures. Take care everyone! Love, Janelle and Matt

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! We were thinking of breaking with tradition here, down in Mexico... and going out for Chinese for Thanksgiving. So, please, have a bite of Turkey and stuffing for us, and we´ll say a big prayer of thanks for all our blessings.
This last weekend, we started with the Teatro Macedonio Alcalá. We were walking down to the Zócolo one afternoon and happened into the most beautiful building, with green domed roofs and all. We found out it was the old theater, and that there was a musical festival going on the coming week. We finally made it down to a concert on Friday. The theater is absolutely beutiful from inside to out. The performance was a Marimba performance. Not the traditional symphony performance we were expecting, but very wonderful.
This Saturday the Salesian Sisters were on their way back from a Conference in Chiapas and so we decided to journey up into the hills with them. Well... we missed our connection but were savy enough to figure out the buses... with a lot of help from a Taxi driver. Our first stop was Ayutla de Mixes. It is, as far as we can tell, a main city about 2 1/2 hours into the mountains from Oaxaca, Oaxaca. From what we gathered though, the town is only has about 5-6,000 inhabitants. It is here that they have the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, the bishop, a few volunteers and Sisters Conchita and Isabel.
One of our goals for our trip was to see the kind of work that the different sisters are doing here in Oaxaca, so our plan was to go to a catechism class in a small town close by, and then return to Ayutla for a Youth group. It just so happened though, that it was the feast day for St. Cecilia, who is the saint of music. So you can imagine the Fiestas they were having in the towns. Needless to say, there was no Chatechism that day, or youth group... just fiesta. Which is nothing to snub your nose at. The towns all had their municipal bands which was compromised of young 4th-5th graders, all the way to accomplished older gentleman.
In the evening as well as the next day, we were able to spend time with the sisters, to relax with them, to go to mass with them, and to talk to them about their prayer life. It helps bring a sense of peace to this journey we are on. We still are not sure where we will be going for our year in service, but now we have had the chance to meet and spent time with the Salesian Sisters, and get a better feel for the routines of what it will be like to live in community.
The Sister´s hospitality was joyful and endless. We spent the night in Ayutla, and traveled the next morning to a very small town about a half an hour away called Matagallinas. There the Sisters have a Boarding School for junior high aged children. There are about 135 students from the surrounding areas who come to study. The setting is beautiful, tucked into a mountain valley, with trees and mountains for as far as the eye can see. Sister Amelia is the cook there and she gave us the whole tour, and we helped her practice her English. It turns out that she has seen more of the United States than I have. After about 25 years in the US she returned to Mexico where here alergies do not bother her so much. We met Father Ignacio who works with the Boys at the school, and also keeps them supplied with 400 lbs of Tortillas 2x a week. The kids were mostly shy, and laughing among themselves, and I think very surprised to see us visitors. It was a wonderful experience all in all.
Well, our trip is more than half way over now. We will be returning to the states in 16 short days. We´re working on making the most of them. Sending all our love to EVERYONE! Hugs and Kisses, Matt and Janelle

Friday, November 21, 2008

Rugs in Teotitlan

Wow! I figured out how to get some pictures up! I just put a few on the blog, and there are more at the link on the Left Hand Side of the Blog; ´Photo Alblums.´ So if you like the teasers... check out the rest of the pics.

This week has been busy for both Matt and myself. We have gotten to know a group that is just in the beginning stages of forming a non-profit organization, and providing microfinancing for small businesses in rural Oaxaca. It has been a lot of fun to talk with them, and Matt has had a lot to share with them about business etc. On Tuesday evening we went with them to visit a small town of about 5,000 that is about half an hour from Oaxaca, called Teotitlan Del Valle. It is very interesting, and here I am going to have to regress a bit to explain, but in the small towns around Oaxaca, many of the towns focus on some kind of production. There is a town close by that almost exclusively makes black pottery. If you live in this town... most likely you do... or will... be involved with this pottery. There is another town that carves wooden animals and paints them in dots with bright colors. The town of Teotitlan makes rugs, or Tapetes. The majority of their income comes from tourist groups coming in on buses to the town specifically to buy rugs. They are really quite beautiful, and are all made on hand looms.
On our trip we got to meet with about 5-8 women who are interested in starting their own businesses making rugs. It sounded like most of them already know how to make the rugs, and often work for someone else who buys the materials and then takes part of the profit. The micro-loans for many of these women would be to enable them to have access to enough capital to buy their own materials and not have to work for someone else. It was a very interesting experience, and also exciting to see the excitement and hope in the women´s eyes, at the possibility of a step forward.

This week we also got ahold of the Salesian Sisters, and are hoping to go and see them on Saturday. It should be a good opportunity to really get to know someone from the order face to face, as all of our other interactions have been over email and the phone to Texas. Wish us well!
That is all I have time to write right now... but will write more soon. Hope all is well for all of you and Que Dios les Bendiga. Matt and Janelle.

Monday, November 17, 2008

First week in Oaxaca

We got in to Oaxaca a little over a week ago. I haven´t had the opportunity to write much as we have been working on settling in to the new digs. It´s been an adventure in itself figuring out where to buy groceries, where the banks are, which buses to take, how much is too much for a taxi, even the different way to wash clothes.
We´ve found out the best places to buy fresh chicken, or beef, who has the freshest vegetables, and where to buy in bulk. There are supermarkets, but the open air markets are much more fun. You go from stall to stall and buy a little here, a little there. This last Saturday we spent the whole afternoon getting to know the downtown market. The only drawback, is it is a lot more time consuming.
Matt has completed his first week of language school. It is very intensive, at 7 hrs a day. He has a good teacher, Flor, and is enjoying his cooking class. He comes home and our young neighbors, Gabi, 9, and Abram, 7, have taken on the formidable task of his little `maestros´ and talk his ear off in Spanish. The landlords at our little apartment, Zoila and Gonzalo, say that Matt´s Spanish has improved so much in just one week, and I can really see it too.
I have been so lucky as to find a wonderful Yoga studio not far from Matt´s school, and we also heard that the Selesians have a `casa´or home-convent here in Oaxaca. I am hoping to get to know more about the order here in Mexico and Latin America, and maybe even do some volunteering.

At our little apartment `complex´ there are 5 apartments. Zoila and Gonzalo live on the first floor. On the second floor lives Gonzalo´s father on one side, and their daughter Sandra and her family on the other side. On the Third floor lives Zoila and Gonzala´s son Eric with his family, and then there´s Matt and me. So it is really one big extended family. The apartments are closed off from the street and Zoila and Gonzalo help look after the children, and everyone shares the open space for fiestas, or to just relax together. They have been so sweet and welcomed us with open arms. Matt and Zoila have already started swaping recipes!

Robert and Glenda´s good friends Conchis and Miguel have also opened up their home and welcomed us to Oaxaca as well. We shared pan de los muertos (bread of the dead) with them the first of November, gone to church with them at the little chapel, and went to a pre-marital talk that they do. It has been wonderful discussing faith with them, and to learn about the Catholic Movement that they are involved in that promotes strong and healthy families, and talks about the change from the Machismo Male head of the family, to the importance of communication and compromise.
So that is our life right now here in Oaxaca in a BIG nut shell :). We will write more soon. We hope all is well and that God is blessing you all. Know that you all are in our thoughts and prayers. Keep in touch! Much love, Janelle and Matt

Day 3 in Mexico City

I am still trying to figure out how to get pictures up to the blog. But don´t worry, they will be coming soon. We had a wonderful last day in Mexico City. Sandra and Arturo took us to the Cathedral of the Virgin of Guadalupe. The first church here was built on the hill where Juan saw the vision of the Virgin. Since then there have been about 4 more churches built, the most recent is a more modern looking church. We were there on a Wednesday and they were saying mass and the church was full. Matt´s estimate is that there was upwards of 1,000 people there. There are many more that come to pray, ask for help, and light a candle on the 12th of December in honor of the Virgin. It was really a wonderful experience.

We had dinner with all of Sandra and Heriberto´s family... they really treated us and we all went to an Italian Restraunt! Don´t worry Barb, Matt still thinks your Chicken picatta is the best.

Later that evening Matt and I went up to the top of the World Trade Center of Mexico City where they have a rotating restruant, not unlike the space needle in Seattle. The vastness of the city was even more impressive from here as it was night and you could see all the lights.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Day 2 in Mexico City

Everything went smoothly on our plane trip to Mexico City. We even got smart at the airport and walked to the other side of the airport to get a good deal on our taxi cab. The taxi cab ride was a ride of it's own. Vince, you may be right, it'll take a bit to get used to trafic in Mexico. Good thing we won't be driving here. We got a fine welcome that first night. Heriberto, a friend of Matt's family who was an exchange student in Tacoma 22 years ago, took us out for Mariachi, Tequila and Tacos. The music was great, the Tequila was fine, and the Tacos were amazing. We got an evening tour of the city which was great with no trafic in a city of 25 million.

We went out to Tulancingo yesterday in the state of Hidalgo, and met up with Sandy, Heriberto's sister who was also an exchange student. We got to see their home, walk along the town square, which they call the floresta in this part of the country, and met their friends who have an ice cream shop there. We even got a chance to talk about the presidential race with Dr. Alejandro who owned the shop. We then went to the pyramids at Teotiuacan. The scale of these ruins are amazing, and the city was abandoned long before the Aztecs even arrived in the area. Matt and I made it up to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun... although I have to tell you, it was much easier to do when I was 17 :).

We hear in the news that there was a plane crash in Mexico City last night. We just wanted to let you all know that we are safe, and weren't close to it.

We were watching the election results last night from the Hostal with people from Mexico, Canada, Ireland and Holland. It made for an even more memorable election night.

Sending all our love,
Matt and Janelle

Saturday, November 1, 2008

The Almost-beginning

Well, it hasn't really sunk in yet, with being so busy with packing. We're really going. Plane flies out on Monday to Mexico City. We'll see the sights in Mexico City for 3 days, and then take the bus down to Oaxaca to settle in to the apartment.
We moved the last three truck loads out of the house on Halloween, and handed over the keys. Good-bye Quincy... we will miss you! We want to send out a big THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH, to everyone that helped us with our move, and opened their homes to us these last 2 weeks. Mike, Teresa & Zene, Ryan & James, and Linda & John. Thank you to EVERYONE for all your help, kind words and prayers. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Wanted to let all of you know that we found a home for our dog Tipper. Ron & Robin agreed to take her in, so she'll stay a Quincy-ite. We'll miss her, but know she's got a good new home. It's kind of like a dog's paradise actually, with a dozen or so feral cats to romp around with.