Cultural differences Part two

Friends and family,

I learned more interesting cultural differences in my situational Spanish class today. We were talking about the drinking habits of Americans and Mexicans, collage age people in particular. I learned that Mexicans think it unusual to hear of college students dying of alcohol poising. My teacher thins the reasoning for this is that Americans slam shots, really fast, and the blood alcohol level rises too quickly. But Mexicans, whom he thinks drink just as much, tend to savor a really good tequila, drinking slowly. He also said that—and by the way, all of this is speaking in general terms—he said that usage of other illegal drugs in Mexico is not as great as in the states because in Mexico it is considered very shameful, and probably a weakness.

In other news…well, I had other news on the bus this morning. But, I did not write it down and I do not remember what it was. Tomorrow I will right down my ideas as they come to me.

Faith, Hope, and Love

Jon

It is DEFINITELY the rainy season!

Cuernavaca, Mexico...

Rainy and really super foggy here-a good start to the rainy season. I had a first today struck up a conversation with a man on the ruta (bus). It was a first because I generally do not start conversations in noisy areas such as buses as this adds to the difficulty of understanding. However, today I understood about ninety percent of what he was saying and spoke fairly well myself. I credit this to my learning lots of Spanish in the last two weeks and his using small words! HAHA
I learned many interesting things about Mexican culture today in one of my classes. Mexico has different social racism and social class problems than America. In Mexico, racism is not the larger problem, largely people are discriminated by class not race. The largest population is in poverty with a smaller percentage of middle class and an even smaller percentage of upper class. However, everyone is trying to look like they are in at least middle class or even upper class. One difference my professor pointed out between Americans and Mexicans which applies to the above is that Americans carry their cells in their pockets and Mexicans carry them on clips on their pants (outside, where they can easily be seen). The latest cell phones, shoes, fine clothes, fancy cars, etc. are status symbols which separate people and thus provide the division for classes. As with racism, opportunity for jobs and services depend on what class you are in. And even though the color of the skin is not largely involved...moving from one class to another is very difficult.
It's still raining...
PRAISE GOD, he has provided us with a car that is not dying, to drive when we return to the U.S. certainly an answer to prayer! Also, God has provided us with furniture for our apartment, which is good because previously all we had was a love seat... which can get kind of cramped for two. :) Thank you for your prayers please continue to pray...
We would learn lots of Spanish
We would be prepared to go back to the city
That we would stay safe here and there
That we would be used mightily for Christ and Kingdom
That our financial needs would continue to be met
That Nicolle can get her semester abroad worked out

FAITH HOPE LOVE
Jon

I was reading the other day and this passage in Isaiah really blew my mind!...
Isaiah 40

June 9th newsletter

Hola!

Dear friends and family,

This weekend Nicolle and I went on another adventure to Xochicalco! Personally, I think the mountain ranges of the last ruins were a little more interesting (because we were in them!), but the hike was far easier than last week and the pyramids were much bigger, much more intricate. The difference between the two cultures and the uses of the summits was strikingly obvious. The first site we visited last week was for monks to offer little sacrifices and live in seclusion. However, here at Xochicalco, the priests not only controlled the calendar and the water, but made sacrifices for the people and spoke with the dead. This I found most interesting. The way they did it was to burn pieces of paper soaked in human blood (some kind of sacrifice) in ornately decorated clay pots and look for faces of deceased relatives in the smoke. If someone they recognized poked their head in, they would ask about the future. Now why hadn’t I thought of that?!?!

In other news, I played soccer with some friends on Saturday. Mexicans are really serious about soccer, and everyone knows how to play. I played with seven other guys, ranging in age from eight to thirty something. It was quite fun and I look forward to playing with them again.

Here’s a funny story for you. The day before yesterday it was about 80 degrees raining like crazy! Now I needed to go outside to the garage to get some ingredients for making cookies from the fridge. Not having an umbrella I just put on my flip flops and ran out and back as fast as I could! I still managed to get considerably wet because of the torrential down pore and when I came back to the steps Nicolle stopped me and said “you are giving our host mother kittens! She thinks you are going to catch pneumonia or something!” She kept asking me if I was cold and if I felt alright. She was wearing jeans and a sweat shirt, I was bear foot and in shorts. HA! Where I come from this is considered warm, but for them it was quite cold and called for hot cocoa and a blanket. Hehehehe!

School is progressing slowly but surely. This next week I am starting past tense verb usage. This has really been a crash course in Spanish! I wish I had more time to study more thoroughly but the requirements of my internship require me to get back to Mexico City and begin working with the kids. I can hardly wait!

exciding events

Today was exciting for the activities that Nicolle and I got to participate in. On Tuesdays and Thursdays there are optional classes in the afternoon that you can sign up for. Some of them cost extra, but others are free, such as today’s dancing lessons! Nicolle and I learned a little bit of meringue, and salsa! It was really fun! Next week may be more dancing, a trip, or art.

Yesterday was also pretty fun because there was a celebration and welcoming party in Cuernavaca for all of the students attending the language schools. There was food and drinks, and a live band playing Mexican style music and some covers of American oldies. Most exciding off all were the dancers! There were a couple of groups dancing with bright colored dresses, and large hats. It was great!

Keep your eye on the photo bucket sight. Nicolle and I are planning on going to another Ruin called Xochecalco. It is supposed to be REALLY cool and I will probably go nuts with the camera. That is all

Jon

P.S. I am dreaming in Spanish. Well…ok, so maybe it is closer to spanglish, but that’s a start, right?Save Now

Interesting conversations on the homefront (Nicolle)

I was able to have some very deep conversation with my host mom and oldest daughter. It started out with her asking about my mom and how she was doing with me being so far away. I was trying to get the point across that it is hard, but she's not miserable like people seem to expect and ended up getting it across that I live 3 hours from my parents and we live 2 1/2 from Jon's. It is definitely different from the culture down here.
Anyway, we ended up talking about how she lives in a different state from her family and how she was married at 17 pregnant at 18. We talked about the culture here and how it is common to have a lot of kids and I asked why have so many kids if you don't have a lot of money and she told me it is kind of a machismo thing. The more kids you have as a man, the more manly you are. I said that was funny because they don't do all the work, they thought that was funny.
We also talked about how young children are having babies and shoe sizes and just the difficulty of living in Mexico. It was very enlightening conversation. That is all on the homefront...it is long and repetitious days for me :)

Vicious dogs and Pavlov’s turkey

This Monday of the new week brought me three new surprises. When I arrived at school today I found out that I can sleep an extra hour because I have been placed in one on one classes. These don’t start until 9:00am but I can still accomplish much because I am the only one in the class!

Secondly, I have all new teachers this week! I kind of miss my old teachers, but it is nice to have some new faces and meet new people. The purpose behind this is to force students to learn different voices, which, as you may or may not know, voice quality has a large impact on the level of understanding. For example (por ejemplo in Spanish), I can understand one of our teachers very, very well. I think it has to do with how clearly he speaks, the speed, and how he uses his body language. However, when I get into a store, or try to talk with a bus driver it is sooooo much more difficult than someone I am used to speaking with every day.

The third surprise wasn’t really one of great magnitude for today, because it happened yesterday. The dog, who’s name is Terrible, TRIED TO EAT MY SPANISH/ENGLISH DICTIONARY! Yes, that’s right. Next to my Bible, my most prized book, the same book I use like five billion times a day! Yah, a corner of it is pretty mangled…but life goes on, I can still read it.

Bye for now

Jon

Oh, I almost forgot, your probably wondering what the Pavlov's turkey is all about. Well, if you remember from your psychology classes in College (or for some, maybe that was a purple haze...) Pavlov was that guy that got a dog to drool by wringing a bell. Well, there is a turkey here at our host family’s house who will gobble every time your wistle at it in a certain way. It is really funny! If I can figure out how to load videos I will put in on this blog. Until then, use your imagination!

June 1st newsletter

Hola!

Dear friends and family,

As you can see from the above pictures Nicolle and I have gone on our first excursion of ancient ruins. The school offers such trips but they were quite expensive so we opted to go by ourselves which worked out really well…until we had to try and find the bus to go home! (Using public transportation is always an adventure; more to come on that note in the future!) Climbing to the ruin was VERY difficult. The altitude in Mexico City is some 8,000 feet, and though Cuernavaca is not quite as high, it is right up there. The altitude makes any kind of labor difficult (and cooking, as our cookie adventure taught us!) because of the lesser amount of oxygen. Another reason it was difficult was because we climbed a mountain to get there…really! Some spots were so rugged that I thought we should have ropes and harnesses. Difficult as it was, our two hour assent was rewarded by a breath taking view of the land below, and the opportunity to climb all over a shrine that dates from 1200 AD.

In other news, language school is going well. Slow, but steady. I have made the biggest gains in understanding. It is super cool to be able to listen to a conversation and understand what is going on. It is sometimes frustrating though because I have an idea what is going on, but do not know enough words to participate very well. But the more I practice, the better I get!

Speaking of practicing Spanish, I had an interesting conversation with a beggar in a wheel chair in town. I was on my way to the post office to male some things and I ran across this gentlemen which struck me as interesting because I have seen him twice before begging at the Cathedral. I stopped to ask him why he wasn’t at the Church and ended up talking to him for 10 minutes! Turns out he is pretty educated and knew some English. I found out that he studied electronics some time ago but there is no work for him, so he begs.

So far, one of my favorite activities is hanging out with the Jr. high aged kids down the street and at church. There is a very talented group of jr. high and high school kids at church that play in the band and I enjoy playing music with them.

That is all for now. Much love from us to you,

Jon and Nicolle.