Week 6- Celebrating Birthdays, the last week of school, and up and coming adventures!

Week 6- Celebrating Birthdays, the last week of school, and up and coming adventures!

    The week was off to a bit of a stressful start, but was jam-packed with fun an excitement. With our literature reviews over and beach week on the rise, the group was in high spirits this week. We’ve found ourselves feeling more at home than ever, making friends with locals and establishing our favorite food vendors. The students are definitely partial to where the best tortas and hamburguesas are.

We had a surprise birthday for Bianca, who turned 21 last Thursday!  Everyone did their part to decorate and glitz up the room we rented at Comala, a restaurant and bar. Lauren and Katie bought a killer mango cream cake and Analiz and Janice bought the decorations. During the party, we ate, danced, and blew confetti everywhere- definitely a night to remember! We all felt very thankful to share such a great night and experience with one another.

Donna and Bianca celebrate while wrapped in a train of balloons constructed by the party planning crew! Photo taken by Lauren

The last week of Spanish and SURCO classes had finally approached. It's crazy that the past six weeks have just flown by and that we're almost halfway through our time in Oaxaca! As usual, we had Spanish class from 9-1 on Monday and then that afternoon headed over to SURCO for a presentation about mining by our very own Jonathon Treat. Jonathon's presentation showed us a more personal side of the current mining issue. He spoke to us about communities in Guatemala and Mexico that have been completely torn apart by the intrusion of mining companies. Many of these communities had very few options but to let the companies take over and sadly the economic benefits did not outweigh their personal losses or the loss of unity within the community. His presentation ended on a positive note as he talked about a few communities in Mexico, such as in Capulapam, that have organized together to stop mining in their communities! The next day we reviewed for our upcoming Spanish final in class and then met with Jonathon to wrap up his class about our ISPs. Wednesday was our Spanish final and was promptly followed by a trip to get popsicles and churros! That afternoon was our final class with Oliver and we learned all about his cynical theories of how we can better the world.

The group on our last day of Spanish classes at Solexico, a bittersweet finale, but everyone is excited to move into their tracks!

Thursday morning we all headed to Arrozola to learn about a community of families that specializes in alebrijes! The families pass down the craft to younger generations, and children begin to learn how to paint alebrijes at an incredibly young age. An adorable little boy, around three, showed us his interest in the craft by using a plastic hammer to hit the stump that his grandfather had been carving on, the whole time beaming up at us. At an older age, the young boy will move on from a plastic hammer to learning about how to paint and carve the alebrijes. Like this boy, each member of the community has their own role in the process of crafting an alebrije and each family uses their own style to distinguish their products. It was really amazing to see the passion that the community members have for their craft and the incredible pieces of art that each family had created!

A woman working on painting an alebrije in Arrozola. Photo taken by Janice

The rest of the week flew by as we all counted down the days till beach week! On Friday we finished off our classes at Solexico, and spent the morning at the market with our Spanish professors.

As for us- we shared our very first Elote the other day, which is a classic Oaxaca favorite. It’s corn on the cob with cheese, lime, mayo, and Chile for only 10 pesos! We ate it as we walked home from SURCO through the Zocalo as we listened to salsa music and watched people pass by. Maggie thought it was a little too spicy for her taste, but I expect to eat many more during my time here!

Hasta Luego- Julia & Maggie