A Very Important Uber

I love that every day we can wake up not feeling any different, and then proceed to have a day that changes our hearts so dramatically. We were running late so we casually called an Uber, unusually cheap in mexico,  that showed up quickly and had a nicely air conditioned back seat. We sometimes talk to Uber drivers, but not always. We are usually pretty busy with lesson planing, and of course enjoying the cool air. We casually asked if he was born here and sure enough he was born up north in the state of Mexico. He mentioned he had spent some time in California and he said he had enjoyed it. We asked about his family and he told us of his love for his two kids, one son and one daughter. He then turned around and with a change in stature told us how his family was in California, but he had been deported back to Mexico and can no longer see his kids.  MY HEART! All of a sudden the stories of people being separated from their families became real and my eyes were stinging and my thoughts buzzing like bees stuck inside the car. He continued to tell us his story and how after he and his wife got divorced he was forced to leave the country and he's been waiting 7 years to be able to live with his kids again. I was now on the other side, seeing this father struggling to work and build a life for himself in Mexico as an Uber driver just waiting to be reunited with his family. Still trying to  understand how we resolve these hard economic problems and find more beneficial solutions to the problems we face every day. Not sure how that can be done yet, so I'm just trying to be empathetic and listen with an open heart, I've learned so much from it. Maybe one of these times I'll know more and be able to help on a different level. Hoping. 

A Day In The Life Of a Global Health Intern - MEXICO

What does being a global health intern entail here in Mexico? For this project you need a whole lot of creativity, heat tolerance, and a generous amount of patience. For me, being a global health intern here in Merida Mexico has been a different experience than I had imagined. To be perfectly honestly, I’m not sure what I exactly had pictured, and still I feel perplexed by the diversity of the challenges and opportunities that I have faced thus far. I had always pictured an internship to have a decent amount of structure, maybe a list of responsibilities that need to be accomplished, or possibly a great and obvious need for some sort of individual help. Working here every day has had quite the opposite impression on me, these people are amazing, and I find myself asking myself what it is I’m supposed to do on a day to day basis to effectively help them. A day in the life of a global health intern here has involved a lot of searching for how I can implement my skills and how I can assist these people in a sustainable manner. I often feel these people are smarter and more capable than I am, but from their humility have made me feel so loved and needed.

I’ve never been a huge fan of Taylor Smith’s new album, but she accompanies me in waking up every morning around 6:40am from a roommate’s cell exclaiming that she would never trust a narcissist, but they love her. What a way to start every morning right? A different mood than I’m used to but nonetheless a medium of waking up. We quickly get ready and head to breakfast which usually consists of eggs, pancakes, or my personal favorite, arepas.  Julieta or Guadalupe cooks our meals and always welcomes the hot morning with an effortless “Buenos dias!”. By 7:15 we are stepping out on the busy 62^nd street being welcomed by the smell of humidity and dense city air. Not my favorite smell, but accompanied by good memories of Uruguay and Brazil, so I quietly enjoy.

From pure good fortune we make it to our bus stop by 7:45 before the sun peaks over the building, but don’t be fooled, the heat is still prevalent. The kids start arriving around 8am with their smiley faces and poorly spoken “Good Mornings!”. Enough to melt my heart nonetheless. We teach five, forty-five-minute classes a day from kids ranging from 6-13 years old. The classes we teach consist of a solid English topic accompanied by at least one public health issue with an activity to finish. I work with Nathaly Vasquez and It brings so much joy knowing we share all our Miraflores adventure together.

The project site we work at is very small. It consists of a small kitchen, a back-patio area for the dance classes, a small library the size of my living room, and one small side room the size of my kitchen. We teach in the small side room without any chairs, desks, or paper and pencils. It is so hard to keep the kids focused with no air conditioning and the noise from all the other classes around us. It is so temping for them to just lay down and stop paying attention, and to be quite honest, it is even a temptation for me.

I have so much fun teaching them and getting to know them every day. These Mexican children have so much personality, spunk, and drive for life. At home, my mother is a kindergarten teach and I often stopped in throughout the year to volunteer in her class. I got to know the kids personally and loved them more than I thought I would! Surprisingly enough, far away from a classroom in Centerville Utah, I experience some of the same exact problems, successes, and feeling as I did in that classroom. We dance to the same music, they laugh at my same jokes, and respond to the same attention getters. Kids are kids anywhere in the world. My heart aches for the prejudices of the world and the problems seen in the news every day. The people here are different than us in appearance but the same in heart. They have the same humanistic worries, desires, and strive to do the best they can every day. I often wonder why that is not unifying enough.  After we finish our last class we start our journey home to eat lunch with all the other volunteers and plan as to how we will survive the upcoming heatwave of the afternoon. Happy days here in Merida indeed.

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Caribbean Love

As I have reflected upon the events of this internship, and even on the experiences from this summer, I have realized a lot about myself. I expected to be a little homesick and maybe even a little tired from all the work we do, yet I have found myself with a different set of difficulties I had not anticipated. I’ve learned so much and seen so much of the diverse culture that I have felt something change within me. It’s not the kind of change I can merely write about in a few paragraphs but rather something that would take more than one night struggling into the early hours to reiterate feelings onto a bright screen in a dark hostel room. I’ve learned to type quietly as to not wake my bunk bed partners. There is something awfully peculiar about loving a litter deeper, and with a little more sincerity. It is almost as if as I continue to love more, there is more of myself to love. No one is here telling me I’m worth more, in fact my worth hasn’t changed any, yet it feels easier to know it. Who would have thought this would be a problem?  I guess in a lot of aspects it’s not, but the more I feel it the more I want to help, the more I feel I can make a difference. I's a feeling of deeper responsibility, more responsible I feel for what I don’t do, when I know I can.

This weekend we were able to take a trip to the Caribbean. Perks of living in Mexico! Much needed vacation from our busy work schedules here, even though every day feels a little like a trip. Saturday morning, we swam out to the brightest blue we could find in the Caribbean. The water was so buoyant and warm that swimming felt like moving through air.  looking around I was wearing one of those big teethy smiles that only a moment as such could produce. Grateful for those celestial moments that give you a little glimpse of heaven to keep you going forward.

How Invincible Are We?

We have had the opportunity to visit many Mayan ruin sites that have taught me a lot about the ancient culture of the Mayans. I've never been so excited to learn about history! Their stories are rich and full of symbolic religion. It confuses me to ponder how they knew so much so many years ago. Their structures line up perfectly to track the dates, important events, religion, and tradition. They build things in a way that transforms loud noises into sounds of birds and perfect echos. The Mayan civilization thrived for many years is an amazingly intricate and knowledgeable empire, yet we only see traces of them and their marvels today. I sometimes have to wonder, are we as invincible as we think we are?

The gospel helps us have the faith necessary to one day achieve eternal life. We are sometimes asked to do difficult things and to continue not knowing all the details, which can often be difficult, but the only way to develop in the way our Heavenly Father needs us to.  The Book of Mormon (which I love with my whole heart) has no officially declared location as to where it took place. I will not say I believe that it took place here or even anywhere in Central America, but I will add my testimony that God speaks to all his children wherever they are in the World.  For just one quick example, yesterday we visited the ruins of Tulum, a miraculous set of Mayan temples tucked up along the Caribbean seaside. Although the view was quite impressive, it was not the only thing that took my breath away. As I've spent my late nights in bed with my reading light studying of the old Mayan history and how it may have related to the gospel, I was delighted to find so many similarities. on one occasion, I found similarities with how Joseph Smith translated certain documents relating to the birth of Christ and the translation of old Mayan cities that had not be excavated. He found in 1830 that the birth of Christ was actually on April 6. In the city of Tulum, that wasn't excavated until 1837. They worshiped a white, male figure with a Hebrew face who's birthday was on that same day. On April 6th of every year, the sun perfectly rises between two pillars in their temple showing the significance of the date.  Later into the evening, the star Venus arises into position to show through a point in the temple that amplifies it as a really bright star in the night sky, showing the new star that had appeared at the birth of the God . The figure is put on all the temples has him in an upside down position, showing he descended from the heavens (possibly at the time he visited the laminites after his resurrection). The murals mark that this figure as the "living water, the light of the sun" and "life and light of the world".  I am not assuming that Christ came down to the people of Tulum, yet we know it must have impacted them enough to have such a universal symbol of the white God coming from the heavens in so many locations throughout the area.

Yucatan Love

My whole life I have appreciated many different types of culture and have learned to admire the differences in every place I visit. I have straight up been nerding out here about the Mayan culture and how it relates to Mexican history. Something I love about working in the community centers is that we get to be working shoulder to shoulder with the people who live there. I have learned so much about their rich history, traditions, and daily way of living. We laugh with them, stress with them, learn with them and learn from them. They joke about daily occurrences and I laugh until tears nearly run down my cheeks. They call me white girl and make fun of how I don't have a boyfriend. Just like my real friends right? They make my soul feel happy and alive with learning and progressing in my own life.

Yucatan culture includes an assortment of food, dance, traditions, and clothing. Did you know that almost everyone in Merida, Mexico sleeps in a hammock? Beds are sometimes no where near to be found within a home. A few small hand-woven hammocks hang from the ceiling in their place. The natives admit it may not be comfier than a bed, but still wouldn't change their traditions. It keeps them cool from the heat and gets their feet off the ground after a long day. Their typical dances involve a white shirt and pants for the boys or an elaborately embroidered white dress for the women with flowers in their hair and special makeup. We eat lots of Mayan dishes such as salbutes, poc-chuc, and panuchos. They are similar to tacos but with fried tortillas and special ingredients within. They love their colorful ornate houses and enjoy live music in every restaurant around the center. Their live music could make even the coldest person yearn for some good salsa.

Grateful God Organized So Many Souls

What is the difference between having a trial and learning by experience? Is there a difference between living with differences and learning from others? What is the difference between eating the bread and water and partaking of the sacrament? The difference is all in how we feel about it, the value we place upon the result. I have felt that lately with everything I do it is easy to get discouraged. Being far away from home is difficult, and the pressure of working in another country with humidity and heat is never an easy feat. I live with 9 other girls and one bathroom. Pair that with one air-condition that only gets turned on at night. Yikes. Let me tell you something REAL. It is very VERY hot. I have found that overcoming these trials has to do with a similar mindset that helps us get the very most out of the gospel. The same attitude that helps us get over certain trials is the very same one that brings the gospel to life, gives it meaning, shape, and makes it into a way of happy living rather than just a set of rules. We can see it as too hard, too hot, too much work. We can see the gospel as too restricting, too limiting, too rigid, or we can see it as guiding, freeing, and enlightening. I like to take this perspective when meeting people as well. I have been extremely grateful for the girls (and guy) I work alongside here. They are all so kind, so accommodating, and have a spirit of adventure that keeps me roaring with laughter as I never have before.  Throughout my traveling these last couple months I have been constantly living within a tight schedule, going from one place to another when the schedule says so and when the plan indicates. I’ve been with people 24/7, making decisions together, planning together, paying together. I have learned a lot about myself during this time of having to work with so many different personality types. I’ve learned what I really love to do and what is worth of my time. I’ve learned I’m not always right, even when I’m sure I am (shocking I know). My reality isn’t always “reality”. I see things different than other people, which often helps me, but sometimes hurts me. I’ve learned what upsets me and what excites me, what pushes me to my limits and what pushes me over. I’ve always seen myself as more as an introvert because of my love for books and learning, but I’ve discovered the best kind of exploration and innovation is with others. I have a long way to go still, understanding that I will have the blessing to always share life’s experiences with others, and that that is what truly gives us the joy and happiness we desire most in this life. People are amazing, and I am grateful I can learn from so many intelligent people here.

Celebrating Juntos

Kids need encouragement, they need to be loved. Today a little 13 boy named Eduardo taught me that a little too well all over again. I have spent my fair share of time being “teacher Jenny” between living with Argentines, Uruguayos, and Brasilians. Even though the accent is different here in Mexico, the “th” sounds is still such a difficult sound for Spanish speakers. Eduardo was having an exceptionally difficult time saying the number 13 and I could tell he was beginning to get frustrated. He was already a quiet kid, so trying to get him to practice out loud was like trying to get my dad to go vegetarian… not a pleasant persuasion. After explaining to him that your tongue must be pressed against your front teeth to get the accurate sound, he made a perfect “th” sound to accompany his age. A perfect thhhhirteen he was! Now as insignificant this may sound, and in retrospect, how insignificant it really was, it felt worth a celebration. After my exaggerated excitement, that could simply not be contained, he showed joyous smile, the one that can only be caused by a real excitement.  His eyes lit up, and his teeth exposed to show an accomplished grin. These moments are the ones I live for. Those are the important moments. The ones that export you from where you are to feeling something that teaches your soul before your mind can understand.  I don’t know what his home life is like, but with the neighborhood where we teach, I cannot imagine there is too much opportunity. THAT is a special moment, where for at least a small moment he felt accomplished, he felt important, that someone loved him, WHICH IS VERY TRUE. I love Eduardo, I love Miraflores, I love that fact that I can point at any given 6-year-old and say, “what is your name?” and I get the most adorable “anna poula” in response. I love Mexico, I love the blessed feelings of love that the lord gives me for his children.

Service makes my heart go all fuzzy mmmmm never want to leave. 

We had our cultural celebration to  show off everything they community center had learned in the past 6 months. What a celebration indeed! 

No Manches

No manches por favor! What I love about life? That it is allowed to get hard sometimes, and that is more than okay. Life throws curve balls at you, but how to we respond? Do we catch them? Dodge them? Run away from them? Or let the hit us in the face? I'd say we've probably all experienced an instant of all of these. This week I feel that the curve balls may have just hit us in the face... but no worries, they broke no bones! It is extremely hot and I have felt that the site of our internship has been a little different than I would have imagined. Expectations have been a little off from what our group had imagined  but I am realizing how perfect the plan of our heavenly father truly is for each one of us. I would have imagined more of a structured internship with exact teaching times and scheduling, yet I have leaned so much from just being able to go with the flow, get to know those around me, and make decisions based on what they need in the moment! 46% of the population here in mexico is in poverty, meaning that the income is less than 2$ a day per person in the household. I felt like coming here I could have a lot to teach the about public health, nutrition, hygiene, and other things I have studied, yet I have come to realize they are such an intelligent and cultured people. I must say this week had me feeling quite inadequate to say the least! I've been feeling unqualified to be called a "teacher" here in a place that has so much more knowledge than I do as a young 22 year old girl. I've realized that teaching is more of an exhibition of love more than knowledge We don't have to know everything, but we have to open our hearts to give love and selfless service to be able to make a difference in the lives of others.

My Favorite Song Is Spanish

Are you familiar with the feeling of listening to your favorite song and getting those warm fuzzy feelings? The type that makes your whole body warm up and force a smile onto your face? That is Spanish for me. More times than ever this week, hearing the Mexican people talk about their families, their careers, their joys or worries, I have felt that. The realization of "wow I can perfectly understand them!" I love their accents, I love their expressions, and heir emotions simply radiate from their bodies. My favorite song has turned into Spanish. Here in Merida, one thing that has really struck me is how culturally aware they are. I love how they respect their Mayan ancestors by carrying on their culture with their food, jewelry, tradition, and music.
The Mayan language is not spoken by a lot of people here in Merida , but is taught in some of the out skirting villages. There are still some individuals that only speak Mayan and not Spanish , yet it is quite rare. Because Spanish was brought over by the Spaniards hundreds of years ago, it is quite different from the Mayan language. As we go on different tours and learn from the natives, we have been taught a few Mayan words that really don't resemble Spanish at all. I'd say they resemble some foreign African language before Spanish!

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