I thought today I would give you an idea of the cost of living (for a gringa rubia) in Mexico - for a visitor, essentially. A few examples of current costs in Mérida:
Money is certainly something to get used to. No one it seems (except Walmart) accepts credit cards. Everything needs to be purchased in paper money. In many cases, the largest bill (that I have seen), 500 Peso ($27.45 USD) is too large to break for the service I want to pay for. One day my ATM locked me out. It's been a tough week as I normally rely heavily on utilizing my debit and credit cards (and less math, Sorry Graham!) I also have to carry around a hefty handful of 1 Peso coins in my bag to ensure that I can catch a wild bus or collectivo. Here are pictures of my apartment. As you can see, it is actually quite large. I won’t show you pictures of Melanie and Justin’s house theirs is MAS GRANDE con las piscina – puts mine to shame (but I can always visit them!). Also I don't have any dressers or a place for hangers so the couches serve as both for now. My deck is quite nice and gets a lot of sun. The bathroom is spacious. Within 4 blocks (cuadras) I can purchase fresh fruit, juice, eggs, tortillas, and vegetables. The lavandaria is about 1.5 blocks away. The WalMart is about 1.2 miles away (Yes, I know Walmart….but cleaning supplies are muy importante!). There is a bus #82 that occasionally comes by that will take me to the center of town. All in all, a perfect place for three months. I can't wait to explore more! |
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Hola todos! Este es un resumen de mi semana primera (parte uno). Part 1 :Summary of my first week Research Assignment As you know, I am here to conduct research – primarily at the high school level. I am specifically looking at facilitators for students to continue high school to graduation. As in the U.S, it is not uncommon for students of poverty (indigenous specifically) to not complete high school (and continue to university). While in the Yucatan, I hope to identify programs and success strategies that can be replicated and recommended at the local level in Princeton for our own immigrant students. In December I learned that I would be working out of the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán. UADY pronounced “wa-dee”(http://www.uady.mx/). For now, I have been placed with the Coordinación General de Cooperación e Internacionalización (Global Cooperation and Internationalization offices http://www.uadyglobal.uady.mx/). Basically, the office that deals with all incoming and outgoing projects (from students to programs) The offices are in the UADY school of social sciences on the outskirts of Merida. More on transportation and my inability to conquer it next post. On Thursday I was able to meet with Elsa María Mues Ayub (Coordinator) and Dr. Andrés Aluja Schunemann (Director). My contacts had a lot of ideas for me, the first was to visit the three schools that UADY oversee/sponsor: UADY sponsors 3 high schools (Preparatorias). 1. Preparatoria 1.- Calle 41 S/N Ex Terrenos de El Fénix 2. Preparatoria 2.- Calle 116 S/N Col Bojórquez 3. UABI Calle 185 S/N por 90 B y 92, San Luis Sur y AV. 86 *UABIC ((http://www.unidadacademica.uady.mx/)) may be the most exciting lead. If I understand correctly, UADY founded a school in Mérida (2008) that specifically assists the impoverished and indigenous students. These students could be indigenous, impoverished, suffered issues at another school or all three. The idea is that this school enables them to continue to study and to prepare for university. My contacts also suggested that I check in with two different community based projects – one through the UADY School of Nursing which seems to have a service-learning based class and another program that started with UADY but has grown to become a sponsored NGO called “Project Yucatan.” The NGO is a school that chooses a number of students of promise (indigenous) via applications and offers year round classes to prepare them for the examinations for university. Finally, there will be some meetings in DF (Distrito Federal – Mexico City) with government representatives to better understand the entire education system. There is sure to be some discussion on how the 2008 federally adopted changes to education legislation have impacted high school level education (the adoption of large scale standardized testing, compulsory high school for all…all unfunded of course). Very exciting! Can’t wait to start.
I leave for Mexico in 3 weeks! Drop in all of the common phrases here: (What a long journey since the application a year ago, Can't wait to get out of this bitter cold, Hard to believe that I will be living somewhere else for three months). Actually the last one is true. I have lived in no less than 22 different homes since age 18 and three different states....visited many, many countries for 1-3 weeks.... but never LIVED outside the country. Much less a city of a million people! Where I grew up there was one stop light about six miles from my house. The nearest movie theater was a 45 minute drive to the next state. I spent many a summer working on a farm and relaxing on (top of) our road in front of our house (couldn't be seen from the windows of the house), it was so rare for a car to drive by.
Now I am going to a large place site unseen. I can't help but remember the time my good friend Candace and I spent a long weekend in NY. I had been accepted into graduate school with a fantastic scholarship. Unfortunately New York City was downright scary compared to the little hamlet of Holland Township. No matter, I went on to Lehigh University instead and had the fortune of taking a class with Hannah Stewart-Gambino before she went on leave. There are many others to thank in this blog, but it is thanks to her "Politics of Latin America" class that I first read Paulo Freire and studied liberation theology. It is that work that has informed my professional work as an educator. Everyone, in my humble opinion, should read Pedagogy of the Oppressed (http://tinyurl.com/nswfw6t). Back to the matter at hand, my upcoming trip. I was awarded a Fulbright Award for Distinguished Teaching and will be traveling to Mérida, Mexico for three months. While in Mérida, I will study at the state university, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (Uady), specifically at the Ciencias Antropológicas Campus. While taking classes and studying Spanish I will be working with professors from UADY global and visiting high schools and learning more about the Mexican education system. This information is particularly valuable as it is not well documented and easily determined (in English). It is my hope that by visiting the escuelas secundarias first hand and meeting administrators, teachers, community members and of course speaking directly with students that I will be able to paint a more complete picture of public high school in Mexico. Essentially, secundaria is not compulsory after age 15 and I want to understand this part of the system better and perhaps uncover the reasons why some students continue and others do not. There are a couple of other interesting facts to explore while I am there such as the very large indigenous Mayan population in Yucatan and how they have been successfully (or unsuccessfully ) integrated in education. And how the NCLB style legislation has fared in Mexico after the US has just passed the ECAA act in place of it. So many thoughts about race, class, and teaching in general to explore! In closing, I plan to take this valuable knowledge back to my own district and use it to inform practices and programs to retain students that are new to our district. This information will also assist with our current goal to address the achievement gap...a gap that is wider than ever and impacts new immigrants, second generation immigrants and African American who have lived in the district for decades. I will introduce you to my district another day, but one mantra that I have is "if it can be done anywhere, it can be done here" as PPS is a wealthy community filled with endless possibilities. ¡Nos vemos más tarde! La próxima sesión: Fiesta de Andrea |
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