first blog from cuernavaca!

this is my first posting from cuernavaca...

i am studying at CETLALIC and have language and conversation for three to five hours a day, with discussions and lectures and visits in the afternoons and evenings. it is overwhelming, but i am learning a lot.

yesterday, we visited barranca altavista, a very poor community in the mountains of cuernavaca, to learn about one family´s experiences and how the ¨gratis¨education system is not really free. families must pay for uniforms, teacher´s salaries, school supplies, etc. and the community is responsible for upkeep and repairs at the school.

today we learned about neoliberalism and globalization and the effects of NAFTA on mexican culture.

tomorrow we will travel to puebla for the afternoon after classes.

the teachers at the school are incredible and have taught me so much. everyone is incredibly progressive and we have local artists visit each day to tell us about the history of their art and sell their work. my family is very nice, although i have been very homesick. i had dinner with a friend from southwestern and being with someone familiar made me feel better--thanks marie!

i hope to be able to post pictures soon!

Off to Cuernavaca!

Thanks to my incredible employer, I'm off to Cuernavaca, Mexico to study Spanish and culture! I will be staying with a family, taking classes and exploring Cuernavaca; here is a preview of what I will be posting about in the next three weeks (June 22-July 12)!

Family: Esther works in the Ministry of Education in Morelos and Humberto is an engineer; their daughter is studying at the preparatoria. The house will be a fifteen minute walk from my school!

Language and Culture for Educator's Program: A 3 week program (i will attend during the second two weeks) that includes intensive Spanish classes and a variety of cultural/educational activities such as weekend excursions, guest speakers, museum visits, roundtable discussions, encounters with local schools k-12+ and community groups, videos, etc.) and a homestay. Here are some topics of discussion that we will focus on and places we will visit:

• Neoliberalismo y Globalizacion


• Visit Tepoztlan


• Historia General de Mexico


• Las Claves de la Masacre


• Visit Museo Cuauhnahuac


• Excursion to Xochicalco y Taxco

I will take private Spanish instruction during my third week, as well as, explore the city of Cuernavaca!

I will be posting about my experiences while I am in Mexico and hope to hear from all of you!

Bonnaroo 2008!

Once again, Justin, Shelby and I travelled to Manchester, Tennessee for another great Bonnaroo! This year, ten other people joined the group!

Day One: MGMT

Day Two: Drive By Truckers, Stephen Marley, The Raconteurs, Willie Nelson, Chris Rock, My Morning Jacket, Super Jam (Les Claypool, Gogol Bordello)

Day Three: Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Mason Jennings, Gogol Bordello, Mastodon, BB King, Levon Helm (with Larry Campbell, Louis Sammie Davis), Jack Johnson (suprise guest Eddie Vedder), Pearl Jam, Sigur Ros.

Day Four: Israel Vibration, Robert Randolph's Revival, Jakob Dylan, Orchestra Baobab, O.A.R., Phil Lesh with Larry Campbell and Jackie Greene, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Death Cab for Cutie.

Visit Monterrey, Mexico!

I spent Memorial Day weekend in Monterrey and it was wonderful!

Justin and I stayed at La Casa del Barrio hostel in Barrio Antiguo and we highly recommend it! We had gorgeous mountain views from our room and we were in the center of a 400 year old Spanish-colonial neighborhood in the center of Monterrey. There were restaurants, cafes, bars, dance clubs, museums, a beautiful cathedral and park all around us. We were able to walk everyone and explore a historic part of Monterrey!

Although we loved our hostel, it did not have air conditioning and we were there during a really hot weekend! We upgraded to a hotel built in 1912, El Gran Ancira, that was near Barrio Antiguo and had a pool we took advantage of during the afternoon heat!

Everyone we met was extremely friends and offered suggestions of places to visit, eat, explore, etc! We saw bands in the park each night, beautiful weddings at the Cathedral, a procession for la Virgen de Guadalupe, a basilica dedicated to la Virgen, visited a huge market where you could buy everything from lunch to cell phone chargers to stuffed animals to haircuts to designer jeans and luchadores masks!

We definitely want to visit Monterrey again!