Klose's first journals

23 de junio
Tears at SFO. Janelle almost got arrested. Met Jerome Bettis eating McDonald’s in the Houston airport. Saw beautiful clouds like icebergs and two rainbows as we descended into the brown and green valley of Morelia. Met the Mexican students and took bus to Hacienda Tzintimeo. Guys rode in the back of the pickup. Ate pozole y tamales. Played soccer in the rain at midnight on the basketball court. Tried to sleep, but was too hot, too many mosquitoes. Learned new word: raidolitos – coils of poisonous incense. These did not help. Nobu left the bed to sleep on the tiles of the bathroom floor. Deandre and I couldn’t sleep, went outside for a walk, entered another cabaña and saw a small black and red scorpion (alacrán) on the wall. Girls had a bat in their bedroom. Nobody slept well except for Galnadgee.

24 de junio – por la mañana
Ate chilaquiles for breakfast. World’s best lemonade – agua con sabor. Began community building games - !Que viva, que viva, que viva los libélulas!. Played soccer in pairs. Deandre was raw. So was Marshall. Swam in pool. Watched World Cup with a big family who had arrived to celebrate the grandmother’s 94th birthday. Celebrated when they scored, sang songs at halftime, but in the end…jugaron como nunca, pero perdieron como siempre. Ate a big lunch. Students began to integrate more. Ours are less timid and starting to open up, to use more Spanish. Built crepe-paper balloon in teams in the big boys’ room while the intermittent rain made music on the corrugated metal roof.

24 de junio – por la tarde
Played paintball and soccer amid sporadic thunderstorms, and were accosted by a half drunk Mexican man who was enraged because our students were playing paintball, because he was sure they would soon be going to war as soldiers, because that’s what Americans do. He then proceeded to yell that he hated America, our government, and our people, and that’s when I had to step up and defend our crew. So we exchanged some rather heated words, but after he left, Alfredo found him and explained how rude he had been, and he apologized to me. But this was in fact an excellent lesson for our students in how we are perceived in the rest of the world. This also provided a perfect segue into our lluvia de ideas, or brainstorming session with the Mexican students about the themes and purpose of our videos. We sat in a circle in the alberca by the pool in the late twilight, illuminated only by dim lights, and had a meaningful discussion about why we want to make the videos we want to make. Janelle and I translated alternately to our students and the Mexicans, facilitating the understanding between the two groups. What followed was an agreement that we are no longer “Berkeley,” not “Morelia,” but MEXEX – a unique group of passionate, socially, culturally, politically conscious young people committed to working for positive change and justicia para todos!!!
Then, we played two fun games – walking and clapping and suddenly having to get in groups, then singing numbers and beating rhythms on out knees. Finally, we went outside and magnificently sent our crepe-paper balloons into the night sky. Two crashed and burned, but one went off into the stratosphere. Deandre, Galnadgee and I stayed up until 4am talking with Maurizio and Juan - one of those all-night, life-changing conversations.
25 de junio
Woke up late at 10am hella cracked out. Took a quick swim to stretch out and feel better. Some people rode horses and motor bikes while we packed up. The bus came an hour late, but we arrived at the planetario in Morelia safely, which is all that counts. All of the sudden, the students were gone! As each one got off the bus, I called out their name and the name of their host families, who greeted them and took them away! We teachers were driven to our house (which Janelle’s uncle found for us just two weeks ago) by Alejandro Cerna, CCL director, and his family, and are now very happily ensconced in our luxurious, clean quarters. The biggest surprise is that we have free wireless, which means great things for our blog and video projects!

26 de junio
Teachers enjoyed their first night of freedom last night by going out to dinner at Sanborn’s and haciendo sobremesa. This morning we met our excited students at CCL, where they took the placement test, and are now off on a walking tour of the city. All seemed very happy with their families. We’re very proud that they survived their first 18 hours alone as mexicanos without calling us for help! The first video meeting takes place this afternoon. We’re still focusing themes and figuring out groups, and will use most of this week to storyboard, with most of the shooting to begin next week. Hopefully the blog will be up tonight with some pictures. Hasta pronto…