The Pyramid in Cholula

It is about a 20 minute drive from our house in Puebla to the pyramid in Cholula.  The area that we live in is San Andreas Cholula, so I think we are technically in the district of Cholula, but we're not in the actual city.  This pyramid is the largest pyramid ever constructed anywhere in the world (by volume -- the Great Pyramid in Giza is taller).  It has at least three layers of different pyramids from different time periods.  Each time the area was conquered, a new pyramid was built on top of the existing one.  The last group to conquer the area before the Spaniards, let the pyramid fall to ruin, although it was still the town center, so when the Spaniards conquered the area, it looked like just a natural hill.  They built a catholic church on top of the hill and it is now a major pilgrimage destination.  The pyramid has only been partially excavated partly because the church is also an important relic from the colonial era.

We started our tour by entering a tunnel that goes beneath the pyramid.  There are tunnels off to the sides of this tunnel.  Some just seem to be dead ends. Somewhere in the middle is a spiral opening where one of our ward friends repelled accompanied by an archaeologist.

This picture shows the main path.  Only within the last century did they add the lights :).

Some paths lead to stairs going down.

Others lead to stairs going up.  (This is Stephen sitting on the stairs, which were quite steep).

After leaving the tunnel, we walked around one side of the hill.  This was our first glimpse of the outside of the pyramid.

It got more spectacular as we walked on.

In this picture you can see the Catholic Church at the top of the pyramid.

A very realistic image of the king. Life size at 3 feet tall.

This was one of three different alters from different time periods.

Here is the second.  If you stood back about fifty feet from here and clapped your hands, you would here a unique sound which they say is the sound of the nearly extinct quetzal bird.  National Geographic is supposedly investigating to see whether this was intended in the construction or not. We had fun testing this out!

Here is the third alter.

The kids were really excited to discover that there were lots of caterpillars at this site.

Chiara watches Daniel play with a caterpillar.

This alter is in front of the pyramid and you go down to it.  I think it is newer construction than the pyramid.

Here you can see the alter of the previous picture in relation to the rest of the pyramid.

Here on the side of the pyramid you can see what the one of the older layers of the pyramid looked like with steps going up the middle.  The outer layer had steps going all the way around the pyramid.

Here we are on the steps.

The church on top of the pyramid is called Nuestra Señora de los Remedios.

This is a view of Cholula from on top of the pyramid.

Downtown Puebla

We often like to get out of the house and explore downtown Puebla.  There are fun markets to walk through and museums to visit and churches to see.  We love it!

On one of our visits downtown, we stopped in this cute restaurant for dinner.

I had chiles en nogada.  Doesn't it look beautiful?  It's a poblano chile stuffed with meat and fruit and covered with a creamy walnut sauce, pomegranite seeds, and cilantro.  Notice that it is the colors of the Mexican flag.  This is the seasonal dish and they even have a Chiles en Nogada festival at the end of August.

Here you can see some of the other food that we tried.  Karl tried green mole, while Stephen and Elena had the traditional mole which contains chocolate.  Joseph and Daniel have chicken, french fries, and salad.

We pulled up alongside this bug on the way home from town, and just had to get a picture.  Even the trunk in front has corn stuffed in it!

This carousal ride was an attempt to make our trips downtown more appealling to the younger boys.  Stephen and Elena like going downtown, but the younger ones aren't always as excited.  Stephen is wearing his soccer shirt of the Mexican national team.

Joseph and Chiara and Daniel (behind Chiara).  If you look at the left edge of the picture, you can see some of the tents that are set up in the market.  There are several areas downtown where merchants can set up booths.  They bring tents similar to what we would take to the beach and set out their wares.  One guy was there selling just key chains for 10 pesos each, which is about 75 cents.  We wondered how it could be worth his time to spend the day selling key chains.  It's a different economy here.  When you come to a stop at major intersections there are always people selling things -- pastries, gum, fly swatters, toys, flowers, etc.  When the light turns red they walk from car to car offering you their products.  There are sometimes entertainers at the traffic lights.  They juggle or blow fire or something and then walk among the cars collecting tips.  Another common sight at the stoplights are windshield washers who will wash your car windows for a small tip.

On Friday, October 2nd Karl got the day off because they were having union meetings.  We headed downtown and arrived to see this parade of workers carrying signs.  They were remembering the Masacre of Tlatelolco where federal forces violently squealched a student protest prior to the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.  There were a lot of people in the march, and we couldn't really read the signs, but some of them seemed to be protesting current issues.

Here's the cathedral by day.

We watched as school girls pushed each other into this fountain and boyfriends carried their girlfriends in.  It seemed to be a popular activity for the day.

The boys in our family just couldn't resist joining in the fun.  Joseph was the first one wet, of course, and Stephen was close behind him, and then they went after Karl!

Stephen and Joseph

Karl ran into some of his students at the fountain.  The three sitting next to him are his students and the others are their friends.

The government buildings still have their Independence Day decorations up on Oct. 2nd.

Priceless

Karl writes:
$13 pesos = $1
$30,000 pesos 1995 Ford Windstar minivan in questionable condition
$800 parts for initial maintenance: oil, air filter, break pads, etc.
$1,000 - labor, rear tire
$1,000 rear shoks
$500 motor mount
$800 labor
$2000 front shocks, transmission gasket and fluid
$1200 labor
$1100 rear brakes, tire
$6,000 engine overhaul. . .
Total investment so far: $44,400
In dollars: $3,415

Retail value in the United States: $250.
Priceless.

Krista writes:
Our junker van that we hoped would get us through the year is in the repair shop, so we have been using taxis and buses for the past few days.  Tonight I rode the bus with Elena to seminary.  When it was time to go home, a brother in our ward asked us if we would like a ride home.  We said yes, and went to his small compact car, which barely seats five, and piled in along with his two daughters, son, wife, and mother.  We had eight people in the car, and the youngest was a twelve year old.
This is not that out of the ordinary in Mexico.  Many of the taxis don't even have back seat belts, and they've never blinked an eye about piling our whole family of seven into one taxi.  A couple of weeks ago we piled twelve people into our van to go to church, but some were kids.  The boys like to jump in the trunk, and Chiara doesn't take up much space if we throw her carseat in the back.  We brought the car seat with us from the states, and it is the only one that I've seen here, although I think I've seen the infant ones (under 20 lbs).

The Weather

The elevation here is Puebla is over 7000 ft, so it is not as hot as you might expect.  The daytime temperatures are usually in the 70's, and it cools down at night.  According to the internet, it gets down to about 45 degrees Farenheit.  The internet says the temperatures are pretty constant here, but it feels like they vary quite a bit.  On warm days, it gets up to 80 degrees and feels quite hot, especially with the humidity.  It's not unbearably hot, but warm enough to wear shorts and feel sweaty.  Then on cool days we need jackets and long pants.  We're told that the winter here is pretty cold.  There are no heaters or air conditioners here because the climate is mild enough not to warrant them.

School Uniforms

Here is a picture of the kids in their school uniforms.  It's usually pretty cold in the morning, but then they can take off their sweaters and wear just the polo shirt as the day gets warmer.  Our kids only go to public school on Modays.  The rest of the week they are doing an online school -- Nevada Virtual Academy.  The uniform that we got for them is an everyday uniform.  The full-time students here also have a fancy uniform for ceremonies and a PE uniform that is kind of like a sweat suit for their PE days (which are twice a week).  All the schools in Mexico have uniforms, public and private.

Escuela

Well, here is my beautiful school! Secundaria Constitucion de 1917. The tiled walls were washed for the first day of school, then recovered with fresh grafiti, I think within 24 hours. Not wanting to further engage in the exercise of futility, the walls remain as you see them here, even though soap and water could remove the decoration. What would be your first impression to fill a role in a school like this?

One thing you might notice within Mexico, as an American, is a certain amount of order within disorder, whereas American society has a heavier amount of disorder within order. In fact my heart sank a little, not that I expected more, but that seeing the school in real life caused me to wonder how I was going to survive the year! If this were inner city L.A. or Oakland, I feel, one would have real reason for concern. The grafiti there suggests anger, disaffection, rebellion. Here, though, it suggests boredom, subversion, mischief. It is gentler grafiti than what you would find in the states.

The order within was manifest the first day as the school congregated for "ceremonia," the Monday morning ritual with a formal flag ceremony and instructions from the vice principal. The principal was no where to be found! Most everyone had their "gala" uniforms even though technically they had a month still to acquire them. It was an impressive sight! The proceedings were convened with militant precision. I was amazed to see how, being the first day of class, the color guards (always female) were in perfect step. I guess with a shorter summer, they don't forget things as gravid as the flag ceremony. The vice principal spoke of rules such as no make up for girls, no gel for boys, and shoes are to be shined regularly. I found it amazing that a school with the exterior you see would be concerned with the quantity of dust on shoes. Could you imagine such a demand in an American school?

But, make no mistake, there is disorder in the school. As with the grafiti, however, it is gentler disorder. There are plenty of paper airplanes, noisemakers, notes, gags, even, gasp, occasional smudges of gel in boy's hair. It comes as a wave of adolescent anticipation and the energy can be difficult to channel. I have seen many Mexican teachers orchestrate the scene gracefully. As a first year teacher, I am learning, little by litte. Communication is challenging. While I know enough Spanish to direct the class, it is very difficult to hear what the students are saying. They are noisy all the time except during ceremony or when they are talking to me in class. And they assume I can adjust to the rythm and flow of cotidian communication they are accustomed to. One humorous example came as I learned the word "simulacro." The prefecta (dean of discipline) came to class and told me there was a simulacro in 15 minutes. I said What? and she explained that in 15 minutes, I can leave and the students leave. Since it was towards the end of the day on September 15, Mexico's independence day, I thought they were letting everyone go home early and they had a word for it: simulacro. The kids were working on a task so, to motivate them, I said that no one could go to the simulacro unless they finished their assignment. Imagine the firemen's displeasure of finding that a teacher was retaining students to finish assignments during a fire drill! !

I have never seen such "cuteness" in students before. Outside of class, they are so interested in talking with you, swarming you, asking a million questions, offering to take your materials to class for you, etc. They are so much fun to be with! Inside class, for the necessities of the tasks at hand, they are not always easily persuaded to put their cutenss on pause. Some days I feel I am "reganando" (scolding) 80% of the time and teaching 20%. They love chorus responses and chant like songs, which I confiscated from Daniel's school materials from Nevada virtual academy. They do not like assignments where they have to produce the product as opposed to copy or decorate something.

When I arrived, the Fulbright arrangement which the school administrators approved included 25 classroom hours per week. Esteban had 34 hours on his load. To the administrator's credit, they honored the agreement which they had signed, and I was told they would work on getting another teacher to cover the 9 additional hours. The first week of classes, however, there was no other teacher. I asked around and found out that sometimes that happens, that the school is short teachers for certain hours and the kids simply sit there "echando relajo" the entire time unsupervised. As much as I would love to have had a 25 hour teaching week, I realized it was not right to leave those kids unattended, so I offered to take the classes. They said it would be until the new teacher came, but I knew well that meant until the cows come home. They are still grazing. It is a very demanding schedule! Imagine absorbing the energy of 45 7th and 8th graders seven times a day in whatever nation! I come home barely able to function:)

I love how when you do have to reganar students, they don't hold it against you the way my American students often do. In the states you have to worry about ticking off certain students because you have to live with them the 180 days of the school year, and once you start down the path of disaffection, it is very difficult to reclaim a positive relationship. Here, it is another story. The students quickly admit their fault and quickly say something like "Si, maestro" or at least nod approvingly. One time the computer teacher sent someone to find out who participates in "grafiti" art, even within their notebooks. Knowing that whoever volunteered would have to face the consequences of having grafitied the computer lab, it was startling to see some 10 or 15 kids admit to the pastime. The consequence was to paint the benches that were damaged with their own paint. This kind of honesty doesn't mean that the students change their behavior, usually, but there is not the vindictive, untouchable attitude that sometimes plagues our students to the north.

Of course you will guess that the school runs on limited resources multiplied a thousand times in relation to limited resources in the United States. At times, even the power is cut off. Most of the classrooms have broken windows and noise carries throughout the school. A couple of rooms are equipped with modern computers and built in projectors, but these help little since the kids stay in the classroom and the teachers move from class to class. It would not be efficient to make a nice presentation for the one or two groups who would be able to watch it. My best piece of technology is a CD player left by Esteban for Daniel's chant CD and the books actually came with a CD for each level. I was pleasantly surprised to receive consumable workbooks for the students. . . at least it is something to use as a tool. There is no copy facilities and if I want to give them copies, I am supposed to charge the students first. I haven't done so yet, but I must very soon for the bimestral exams coming up.

I truly enjoy the friendship with all of my colleagues as they accepted me swiftly into Esteban's primary social circle. Each day we walk to a small "kitchen" where the same lady, Araceli, makes "desayuno" for us. We eat very well, very healthy, a nice warm meal for about a dollar a day. Aside from this daily ritual, there is very little time for collaboration. At last we had a staff meeting a couple weeks ago, and a second one today. It wasn't on policies and systems of the school, but on the nuances of competency based instruction. I am desperate for collegial information on how the game is played in the different classrooms. I didn't even get class lists until the second or third week, and that because I went to the secretaries and asked for them. Oh well. Thus far my spirits are easily restored following whatever disappointment because of the joy of the adventure. I feel that every sight, from the ceremony to a typical class, is a rare opportunity for one such as myself to experience, to share, to enjoy, and to learn from. I hope we can have enough energy, or enough ability to recharge our strength the length of the school year.

The Church in Mexico

Anxious to find friends and fellowship in the church, we managed to find a chapel the Sunday after arriving in Mexico, but it took us three tries to find the right ward.  There are twelve stakes in Puebla!  The first ward we attended was pretty far away, and they had an idea of where a building was near us, but they didn't know for sure.  So we tried asking around some more, and the next Sunday we went to a building that was next to the mission home.  The missionaries have maps of the different ward boundries, so they told us where to go for the next week.  Finally, on our third try, we attended the right building, about a 10 min. drive from our house.  Our ward begins at 8:30am.  The members here are soooo great!  They have been so friendly and kind to our family. 

There are two seminary classes for our ward.  One is at 5am every morning and the other is at 7pm Tuesday through Friday.  Elena attends the evening class.  We are impressed that they have two options since there are only 4 or 5 kids in each class and they both serve only our ward.

Tomorrow is the primary program, and in addition to practicing in church each week, the kids have met to practice on Friday evening for the past four weeks.  All the songs are the same as what our kids were learning for their program in the states.

My visiting teachers are both in their twenties and they both speak English.  One is a bilingual education teacher, and the other has visited her aunt in Oregon.  They started and ended with prayer, gave a twenty minute lesson, and bore their testimonies.

This is a picture of the Mexico City Temple.  On September 26th, Karl and I went on the ward temple trip.  We all met at our ward building at 6am.  The ward had rented a charter bus (we each paid about $10), and we got on the road around 6:30am. It took about 3 hours to reach the temple.  Mexico City is only about 75 miles west of Puebla, but there is a lot of traffic.  The entire bus was full -- 45 people!  There were a few people from another ward that travelled with us, but it was mostly people from our ward.  We had a great day doing a session in the temple. I listened in English with headphones and we participated in sealings.  We felt honored that a member of our ward asked us to participate in the sealings of his parents and siblings.  We boarded the bus at 3pm and arrived back in Puebla at 6pm. 

One of the highlights of our trip thus far has been the baptism of Marcela, Brenda, Angie, and Edgar.  Here they are with some of the members of our ward.  The two guys squatting in front are the bishop (red tie) and second counselor.  Next to the bishop is Jessica, Elena's seminary teacher.  She is a returned missionary in her late twenties, and she speaks English pretty well.  She also speaks French.  Next to her is Nuri, who speaks a little English and is one of the young women leaders.  She is very friendly and immediately befriended Marcela.  One of my visiting teachers is standing next to me, and the other (Galia) is on the far end of the picture in the brown skirt.  Galia is Chiara's nursery teacher and her English is quite good.

16 de Septiembre

Although Independence day is the 16th of September, all the celebrations take place on the evening of the 15th.  Everyone stays up late, and then they can relax the next day.  We were invited to celebrate with the family of a teacher who works with Karl named Blanca.  She is also LDS.  The party started at her sister's house at about 9pm.  We had a lot of great traditional food: pelonas (shredded beef on a roll) , chalupas (tortillas with shredded beef and onions and red and green salsa), chanclas (kind of like a Mexican style sloppy joe all covered in sauce), and tostadas, and horchata (a sweet rice drink).  Then right before 11pm, we turned on the TV to watch the mayor speak and see some shots fired.  I know there's some significance to it all, but I'm not sure what it is.  And then we all headed outside to watch some fireworks in the distance and make a lot of noise (see picture below).

 Daniel and another little boy at the party show off their ears with Mexican flags on them that light up.

Everyone loved Chiara.

This guy bribed Chiara to sit with him by showing her his iphone.

The party went a little late for Joseph.  He collapsed shortly after the fireworks.

After the fireworks they turned on dancing music and brought out a chocolate fountain.  I learned that frozen cantelope balls taste fabulous when dipped in chocolate.  Stephen was a very reluctant dancer.  Daniel was pretty reluctant, too, when he was with a partner, but then he started dancing solo and imitating a rock star.  He was all over the place and even trying to do the splits.  He's always told us that he wants to be a drummer, and now, after watching him dance song after song, I'm starting to wonder . . . future band member??  We took some video of him dancing, but I guess we didn't get any still shots.

A parting picture.

Can't leave out Joseph!

School Celebration

Our kids are doing online courses at home for their schooling (Nevada Virtual Academy), but they are also visiting a public school once a week so that they can have the Spanish immersion experience and some socialization time.  During September, they attended twice a week, but we had some scheduling conflicts, so now they are only going once a week.  The school that they attend has elementary through high school all at the same location.  There is a group of buildings for the high school in one section, and group for the middle school in another, and a group for elementary in a third section.  The boys are all at the elementary school (1st, 4th, and 6th grade), and Elena (a ninth grader) is part of the middle school which has 7th - 9th grade.
Since there wasn't school on the 16th of September, the students celebrated on the 15th of September.  Elena was invited to the party at the secundaria (middle school).  They didn't have to wear their uniforms (I'll post a picture of our kids in their uniforms soon), and it was suggested that they wear native costumes, but most of the students were just excited to wear regular clothes.  Elena took the following pictures, so I'm going to have her write the commentary for this post.

So, the school celebration was completely awesome.  They did a flag ceremony that was just plain fun to watch, and a couple did a traditional Mexican dance that was very well-performed, and some of the teachers prepared delicious Mexican dishes that we got to eat, like chalupas (a flat tortilla with either red or green sauce; it's a popular dish in Mexico), tostadas, and chanclas (a sort of bread in red sauce.)  Another thing they have here that's popular is corn-on-the-cob that they cover in mayonaise, cheese, and chili powder, and sometimes even lime.  It's surprisingly tasty.  After the lunch, there was a school dance, and it was basically the same thing as school dances at home: loud, nearly unintelligible music playing, kids totally crowded together to dance, etc.  The only differences were that it was outside and during school hours, and it wasn't as decorated as our dances are - just a few ribbons and things.  But it was still fun, and nothing like the so-called school 'parties' we have at home.

Cute costumes -- I think the two girls on the left are sisters.

another cute girl

These are all the elementary school kids lined up for the ceremony with their little Mexican flags.  It was fun to see them all waving them, but the camera was a little slow, so you can't really see the cool effects

some cute girls who wanted their picture taken

friend

(left to right) Fannie, Alondra, and Lorena, friends from my class

Miss Magda, the English teacher

more friends

cutie

fun costume

These boys were dressed up as soldiers for some sort of presentation they did.

These kids are Stephen's age, and they're really fun.  The girls on the right are Lorena and Claudia (left to right) and they sort of hang out with us after school.  They're totally in love with Daniel and ask for kisses and give him treats and whatnot.  It's really cute.