KARLOZ VALENCIA

Hola que tal, pues mi experiencia en MEX-EX a sido muy padre, aunque con muchos de los chavos no tengo mucha comunicacion, con otros me llevo muy bien, creo ue he aprendido muchisimas cosas, a veces creo que mas de lo que los chavos de estados unidos han aprendidio de nuestra Cultura, a veces es lo que me desanima un poco de ellos creo que no venian con toda la disponibilidad de aprender de nosotros, algo tambien muy padre ha sido trabajar en mi video ya que he hecho mucho trabajo de investigacion , como ir al H Ayuntamiento a conseguir casos de inmigracion e ir a visitar personas con esos casos, gracias a eso he convivido muy bien con mi equipo: Assata, Delphin y Nora, las tres son muy divertidas, ahora solo espero que nuestro video sea muy bueno ya que le hemos puesto muchisimas ganas los cuatro, y espero que al final se lleven un buen aprendizaje de nosotros.

The Real Whirled Cup: MexEx Team likely Winners!

Morelia, Michoacan
July 10, 2006
Sr. Nobu Sakamoto

Despite some of the top players on the MexEx team having been issued yellow cards in previous matches, wages have been placed on this outstanding lineup to triumph and rise as winners of the international Whirled Cup.

The US team arrived safely at the hacienda retreat to relax and meet with their Mexican counter parts. Team leader, Señor Klose, whose name closely resembles Germany’s star Futbol striker, in the past would have been mistaken for DaVinci’s rendition of Christ, his current reincarnation reposes that of a modern day conquistador flanked not with sword but with flamenco guitar, has chosen an extraordinary cast of players to go for the gold.

MexExers had to contend with penalties and injuries that jeaporadized their whole team from advancing to the finals. Late tardies to practice, bad attitudes towards teammates, and general malaise threatened to pull the team apart. After a few of the top MexEx players were issued yellow cards, it seemed there was no hope for them to move forward.

After much official deliberations, the final word came down from the top presidente of the federation, Don Ayers, that the team would go on.

In the first few rounds, it seemed the team had failed to step up and play better than average ball. However, as the days progressed, it became clear even to estranged onlookers of this somewhat ostentatious team, they may still have what it takes to win the cup.

The final match of the international Whirled Cup will not be televised nor will the revolution in Mexico, but stay tuned for the rebroadcast that will certainly be hotly contested and may even entertain a few headbutts.

Galnadgee

Hey wassup, The trip has been going fine for me. My family here is hell of dope, the house is pretty big, I have my own bathroom and I am learning a few Spanish words everyday. Every morning I wake up at about eight, make my bed, clean my room a lil and head out to school. The CCL school is pretty dope. The two teachers are ill and we are learning A LOT everyday. Everything about the school is tight, the teachers, the people, the girls, the classrooms, the girls….. yeeeeeaaah basically I fell in love with this trip. I wasn’t really feeling it at first, but now I seriously don’t wanna go back, haha… the videos that we are making are looking good. I cant wait to finally finish it, it is a lot of work, and sooo hard to do, but hopefully it all comes out good. The Mexican students that we are working with are hell of cool. They teach me how to say certain things in Spanish, and I teach them some English, and the people that I am working with are hell of cool. We have like one more week down here which is whack because I have a feeling I will miss the Mexican students hella much. I try my hardest to speak to them, sometimes successful, sometimes not, but this trip is deffinately tha illest thing I did all year and I would totally be down to do something like this again. Word up, on that note, peaceit….

Assata

Hello … this is Assata again …ummm I don’t really know what to say but I wore my hair in and afro and it was amazingly beautiful and all the Mexicans stared …what a wonderful day … I basically did that because I did watch Malcolm x the night before that’s hella crazy they show Malcolm x more in Mexico than they do in America …. Well yes Mexico is pretty fun except for my host mom she lightweight scares me … I guess the Spanish is going pretty well I could be learning a lot more than I am and I should make more of an effort but im not but I will …. One insight that I had about life is that you can truly do what u want but u have to make the descion that you are going to achieve what you want to do but you will never truly accomplish anything by simply trying and this probli sounds hella random but it does relate to Mexico ….in the sense of not trying my hardest to become better at Spanish but making the decision that im going 2 become a lot better at Spanish…and now I just have to start takin my own advice… but anyways…..i want 2 tell everyone about that sexy Chicago Mexican guy that I will marry but I didn’t find out his name but that’s ok …. So I guess im lightweight looking forward to going home and jus having down time wit friends and playing some volleyball …(getting in shape)
Earlier this week I was having a conversation with one of my fellow CASmates who is in the beginners level Spanish with me and all of us are of African American descent and I was talking about how I think that its a lot harder for black ppl 2 learn Spanish or anyone who is not white because of the fact that we speak a different type of English and not necessarily that the English is ebonics but in some way of another most black people don’t speak perfect English . And he really disagreed with me on that he said its because maybe we don’t work as hard as them but I really don’t think that’s it. Back in my Spanish class the majority of the ppl that were decent /really good were white and I think its because they already speak English well and in school they teach the proper Spanish which I think nobody uses but that’s not the point . I don’t think that it wasn’t that I didn’t work as hard as the other student who have taken the same amount of Spanish of me but its because you cant relate 2 that Spanish and you cant translate your own vernacular into that “proper Spanish” . I was kinda thinking about the future of CAS and how they are trying to combine all levels of Spanish together but Im kinda started to believe in segregations and the fact that if you are on the same level of someone and you speak the same vernacular you should learn with these types of students because you cant learn in a place where you feel inferior you learn with people that are like you and speak your language and understand what you go through on a daily basis … and Im not so sure that its good that we even integrate the students at a Spanish level maybe we shouldn’t have integration within education at all but now im just getting ahead of myself and maybe this could be an amazing thing we are really putting are heads together and trying something to make this work and get rid of the racism within Berkeley high school and we will never know if we don’t try!

How Sopa Tarasca, Pudin De Mango, and Agua De Jamaica Made My Day

Property of HORTENSIA MARGARITA ESPERANZA SULEEMAN

Today, in cooking class, we made Sopa Tarasca (The red bean broth soup that I was talking about before that I love so much that I have been craving). IT IS THE BEST. I have to make it when I come back to Berkeley. The cheese is Oaxaca cheese… It was just the best thing I have ever eaten in Mexico (well aside from CEVICHE, of course). Then the Pudin de Mango, it was so good. It was so good that Ms. B was savoring it and Ben almost licked the bowl (just kidding, but I know that he wanted to). I just want some more Sopa Tarasca. Oh yeah, the Agua De Jamaica was so good. I have to make that too when I come back home.

Last night, I came home at 8 because the Combi was sooo slow. I didn’t know that the movie (The Break-Up) was supposed to start at 8:15, and I thought that we were going to the Cinepolis that I went to last week. When we got to Plaza Morelia, the place was so crowded. It was huge, and there were long lines everywhere. It turns out that the tickets were all sold out, and that there are no other movies except for The RV (Robin Williams), Just My Luck (Lindsay Lohan and Chris Pine, Dubbed in Spanish), The Omen 666 (I didn’t want to see that one), Cars (Dubbed), and a lot more that I didn’t want to see. I wanted to see Just My Luck, but it is dubbed in Spanish. What a disappointment. So all we did was walk around the mall, and it was pretty boring because there aren’t a lot of stores that I know in that mall. Then we went back home. But on the way home, we stopped at this little restaurant, and bought “Taco Al Pastor”, and it was fun watching the guy cut the meat from the spinning thingy with pineapples. We went home, and there was a spider in the car. Ew. Then we ate, and then my host dad brought his Berkeley shirt and his book about Berkeley that a student from Berkeley gave to him last year. I felt so happy seeing pictures of Berkeley in the book, and BHS was in there. The community theater, and the H Building. I explained to my host parents the pictures, and events in Berkeley that are shown in the book. I was so happy to see that book because I was reminded of how Berkeley is such a beautiful place and how I miss it so much. I have learned to respect Berkeley more and to have more love for it. It’s weird, I know.

Last night, I dreamed that my grandma, who had just celebrated her 80th birthday this year, was going to have her 85th birthday party. But the weird thing is that, I dreamed that I somehow had the ability to be present in Berkeley, talking to my parents and sister and aunt and uncle and cousin and grandma. It was so weird, because I knew that I couldn’t come, because I’m in Mexico. I realized that I’m still in Mexico when I woke up, but I was still half sleeping and dreaming. But my dream continued, and it was weird because I dreamed that I explained to my aunt that I am not able to go because I’m in Mexico. But she said that I am able to go. Then I dreamed that I was getting ready to go, but suddenly I couldn’t because when I was in the taxi by myself on my way to the party, I was in Mexico again, eating Nieve in the taxi. It was the strangest dream ever, and I can’t explain or describe it because it is a dream and I can’t remember the whole thing. I’m sorry if no one understands it because it’s so hard to explain it. SO WEIRD. Anyways oh yeah I dreamed that the iPod that I got was purple, and it was in the shape of an iPod mini, but the size of an iPod nano. It was weird, because it seemed that in my dream that I already knew that my iPod was like that. That happens to me a lot, when I dream of something strange, and I seem to know in my mind that it is true, like that time when I dreamed that I was in a store, and I saw my friend who is 15 in reality, but in my dream she was 18 and I knew that it was true. It was so weird how I didn’t have any doubt about how real the facts are in my dream, and that I didn’t have the ability to have connections between reality and my dreams. DREAMS ARE SO WEIRD.

Okay I’m going to stop now. Assata keeps on asking me how many words I have in my blog entry for today, and I keep telling her that it doesn’t matter, just write about anything. But Assata, I have 878 words in today’s blog entry.

Ben posts

It´s 8:39 am on Thursday morning. I thought I was going to be the first one up, since I was the first one to bed last night. Think again, I just found a note from Nobu written at 8:00 am saying that he went for a walk around town. He probably went to this local bakery that we recently discovered. It is a couple blocks away, and they make incredible breads, croissants, and pastries. Two days ago, we went there for lunch AND dinner.

We are on the doorstep of `final week craziness.´ In many ways this second week has gone slow. We seemed to have a lot of time to do different things, but it is an allusion. Highlighted by the video production schedule, we realize that in reality our time is short. Many of the students have started post-production and will soon be pouring many hours into their pieces over the last week. Our home, where all the computer and camera equipment are housed, will be crawling with caffeine-fueled teenagers. For those of us without much video editing experience, myself included, we will support Nobu and the students in anyway we can. That video process in particular has been a great learning experience.

Yesterday was a full day. Janelle and I escorted the intermediate Spanish class to the market to buy ingredients for guacamole. When we returned to CCL, we got down to business—mashing avocadoes, dicing onions and tomatoes, and debating how much chile peppers to put in the mix. When the preparation ended, we threw down. The students did a great job making, and the teachers did a good job eating it. The other notable event of yesterday was watching the France / Portugal World Cup match. Once France scored on the Zidane penalty kick, they hunkered down and thwarted any offensive effort Portugal could muster. Some of us were disappointed with the outcome; some of us were elated. An Italy and France contest in the World Cup Finals has the potential for an incredible 90 minutes of soccer. We will see.

The church bells down the street are striking 9:00, so I should get on with my morning ritual, which today includes washing dirty dishes I left in the sink last night, oops.

See you very soon.

Take care,
Ben

Nora

Basically, I am in love with this trip. Already, my Spanish is much better. My first day, I learned the words for glue, bats, and dragonflies, all words I plan on using on a daily basis. Today, my video group went to a little town called Capula to interview people about immigration. We got some good interviews, and I think our movie is going to be really powerful. Yesterday, we interviewed a woman whose son died trying to cross the border. It was incredibly sad, and I was amazed how kind she was to us, people from the country which created the laws that make immigration so difficult. She has no one to support her now that her son is gone, and her husband is sick. I am learning more every day about the importance of this topic.
I love my family. We watch a lot of soccer, and my sister plays the violin really well. It rains all the time here, and hails which is the most exciting thing in my life, since I´m used to Berkeley weather. Much love to everyone back in Berkeley,

Nora

Matt

Hey, its Matt coming to you from Mexico. It’s my first time out of the US and I´m really glad I decided to go on this trip. Morelia is an interesting city, and I’m learning my way around. I haven’t really learned how to take combis yet, but that’s because I can just walk to school and my teachers house because I live so close. My family is very nice, I’ve got two brothers, ones 18 and the other is 26. The younger one plays guitar and likes a lot of the same music I do, but I still can’t speak Spanish that well so I cant have a lot of conversations. My Spanish has definitely improved since I got here, at first I couldn’t understand very much, and know I still don’t understand a lot but I’ve gotten better. I have to work on my video now, so there will be more to come later.

Hortensia

HORTENSIA SULEEMAN
JULY 4, 2006

This is so random. When I was in the Combi on the way to the teachers’ house today, the word “ETHNOCENTRISM” popped in my head. I bet that if Biko were to read this, he’d be SO happy. AND David just reminded me what it means. It means, when you go to another place, you try to make the people in that place apply the same culture as yours to theirs. AND “ASSIMILATION” just popped in my head JUST now. Which means when you go to another place and you try to be one of them, try to fit in to the culture of that place.
“This is hortensia talking and I just wanted to say that David is the coolest person ever. I wish I was David but im not so oh well. But I want to grow up to be him.” ←DAVID WROTE THAT isn’t he such a funny person? I seriously want to be like him when I grow up.
Also, why would I say that this is Hortensia talking when it is MY blog entry? It’s like I have the thought that people might forget who was writing this blog entry. ☹
ANYWAYS, enough of that. Today I ate so much food… I don’t even remember. What was good was yesterday, the red bean broth soup with fried tortillas. And I had to guess what time it was this morning. GOSH I really need a clock or watch. I am definitely going to the movies tomorrow. YES it is cheap day, 2 for 1 day tomorrow. AND I miss my iPod. 10 days until we finally leave our host families and then we get to stay at the teachers’ house (I think) and then be with our friends.
I am out of ideas, and I really don’t remember what I was going to say. I have waited so long for this Norwegian laptop to come to me so I could continue my blog.
I cannot believe that my host mom didn’t know that there are Mexican restaurants in the US. Also, that there are tortillas in the US.
I think that tomorrow, I’m going to watch The Break-Up or Just My Luck. I don’t know. I really want to watch Click though. Poseidon was pretty good. Except for the ending.
OH! I BOUGHT MY Labello Lip Balm (Rose flavor) that I didn’t know existed here. I got my first one from Holland, from my mother’s friend. (Notice how I wrote “mother”.) AND I’m going to look for a Peach (Durazno) one. I felt stupid because I didn’t remember what Peach is in Spanish, and so I had to ask in English.

Okay I’m going to stop writing now, It’s boring me even though that it gives me something to do, than just sitting around outside.

MUCH LOVE,
Hortensia

Maya

Hola amigos en los Estados Unidos y el resto del mundo…
Soy yo, Maya desde el pais de Mexico,

Sorry for the delay in writing my blog, Mexico so far has been quite an adventure. My trip started off with quite a bit of turbulence (literally) but seems to be smoothing out now. The first two days were spent on a ranch close to the airport, it was a really good bonding experience for everyone and gave us an opportunity to take a breather before we headed off for Morella and taking on a new way of living. The first day in Morella was awkward for everyone I think, we met our host families and stayed with them the rest of the day. Unfortunately my family members were all tired and fell asleep at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Thankfully I had a huge window in my bedroom, I laid on my bed next to the window and watched Mexico pass by and could feel the anxiety and hope fill
every aspect of my being at that moment. The next couple of days were hard for me because it seemed as though my personality was a bit too grandiose for some of the teachers to handle. Although I am fully aware that I am an outspoken and a goofy character at times I didn’t think that it would get me in trouble down here. (Obviously a lapse of judgment on my part) I felt attacked by everyone and my hope for this trip seemed to be dwindling in the balance. I felt as though the person that I had become for the past seventeen years had been a mistake. I understand that this can sound a bit melodramatic and yet to me, at the time, in a different country and with very few to confide in, it wasn’t the least dramatic but instead very tragic, which in part go hand in hand. My teachers and friends seemed to all be distancing themselves from me and for a long time I did not even care to leave the confines of my host families home. I still feel hurt at times but I realized the only person who can make this trip worth while is myself. I miss you guys but I am certain that this will become one of the most successful and definitely a learning experience for me. The world has too many faults for me to become depressed with the petty drama that my life seems to encounter on a frequent basis. Mexico itself has shown me that there is much to learn and fix and very little time to accomplish it in, so take life in stride and remember that you make your own destiny and no one else has the power to defeat your hope if you don’t let them.
With hope and much love,
Maya Donis-Richman

David y Daniel

Hey parents
This is double D comin at ya (David and Daniel)
So over this weekend we went to Patzcuaro, Santa Clara, and Tzintzuntzan. In santa clara there was lots of copper because it’s a copper town. A lot of people bought their gifts for you guys and for our friends and all. These gifts are off the heezy fo sheezy ma neezy. In Tzintzuntzan there were lots of pyramid ruins which were cool but the coolest thing was the view. We could see like a lake and lots of cities and stuff. It was also very interesting for me, David to walk into the bathroom and see a guy on a toilet staring at me. Kind of a scarring thing. But it showed me the kinds of bathrooms my brother had told me about while traveling in South America. In Patzcuaro Thomas, Marshall, Galnadgee and us all went into a restaurant and watched the world cup game with France and Brazil. Thomas called the score 1-0 and David Marshall and Thomas wanted france to win. Haha Daniel. Thomas Assata Deandre and us all went to the Omen. Assata was hella scared but the movie was kinda bad. Deandre and us are in a video group about the elections and we filmed a lot yesterday because it was election day. So far Obrador is losing and both of us want him to win. Oh well. We also found the BEST coffee shop ever and Daniel got a hella good pina colada and we both got hella good donuts and it was tight.
This trip has been hella fun but there have definitely been hard times. We both are sorta excited to go back to Berkeley but at the same time we want to stay here. So now Daniel is writing. Peace and love from Mexico. See ya. Later. Bye. Adios. Now Im done writing…right now.

Hortensia la escritora

HORTENSIA SULEEMAN
JULY 3, 2006
I just realized this morning, when I was in my host mom’s car, that FUERTE is exactly the same as the musical term/Italian word “FORTE”. I cannot believe that I just realized that. It is because I heard her say something (in Spanish but I don’t remember what it is in Spanish) like “the thunder last night was FUERTISSIMO” I thought, “wow. That word sounds familiar. “OH! IT IS LIKE FORTISSIMO!!!” and that is when I realized it. For a long time I have had a hard time figuring out what the word “LOUD” is in Spanish. Now I don’t even have to think. It’s just like FORTISSIMO. Okay. So……….

Last night, I watched the TV in my room, and the anniversary of the LIVE8 concert on mTV. All through the weekend, I have put the list of channels that have American TV Shows that aren’t dubbed. I have discovered recently that the TV in my room has CABLE. And also a bunch of American shows that are in English with Spanish subtitles. I was so excited then. Here are the shows that I watch on my Mexican TV: LOST, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, to name a few. There is also Laguna Beach, and the OC, and Dawson’s Creek, and also Smallville, but I don’t really like watching those shows. I have also recently discovered that The Bachelorette 2, with Meredith, is going to air. I am happy now that I get to watch American TV shows. Last night, I watched the FRIENDS Marathon on the Warner Channel (WB), the last four episodes of the last season. Then, I watched the 3rd Rerun of According to Jim, the same episode. And also the WILL AND GRACE last episode… twice. I have never watched that one before so I was so happy. Last night, I fell asleep and woke up and the TV was off. Then I started to think if I turned it off or not. I realized that I never did. Then I thought that the house might be haunted… first it was that time when I ate lunch with my host mom and then her older daughter was cooking, and her younger daughter and her boyfriend were washing the dishes. Then, suddenly, knives and forks came flying towards our table. It was scary. KNIVES. No one would admit that they did it. They were like, “No fui… No fui…!” That is why last night I thought that it was pretty scary that the TV got turned off… when I never did turn it off. Then this morning my host mom asked me if I heard the rain and thunder. She said that the power went out. I was like, “THAT’S why…”

SOOOOOOOO yesterday, on Sunday, I watched movies with my host sister. Scary Movie 4, Dr. Dolittle 3 (I think), and Yours, Mine, and Ours (Tuyos, Mios, y Nuestros, dubbed in Spanish. It wasn’t that great.)

Today, for comida, I ate this red bean soup, I forgot what it’s called, but it was soo good. It was red bean broth soup with strips of fried tortilla and fresh mozzarella cheese (I think). It was soo good…. Especially when I added the hot sauce. I ate while watching “Ghost” in the Kitchen. I can’t believe that show aired on mTV.

Then I left for La Casa, and waited for Thomas on the corner for like 15 minutes. But he never showed up… so I called his host dad. He told me that he left. When I checked the time, it was 4. So my older host sister took me in her white, old version of the VW Bettle. It was my first time ever being in the old version of the VW Beetle. I was pretty happy. Just kidding. Anyways, when I got to the teachers’ apartment, Ms. B told me that I missed Galnadgee’s piñata (shaped like a star) and Galnadgee’s cake.
Then we went out to El Centro to interview people for our documentary. We interviewed 4 people.

OH YEAH. I ran out of my $40 US dollars that I exchanged because I had to buy gifts in Patzcuaro and Santa Clara. We went to Tzintzuntzan, and then Patzcuaro and then Santa Clara. But I exchanged $20 today. So I’m safe, but I’m waiting to exchange my other $20 because my first twenty dollars had a 11.15% thing added.

Anyways, I need to go to the movies on Wednesday. I’m going to watch Click, or Just My Luck, or The Break-Up. I watched Poseidon with Daniel, David, Thomas, Lizbeth, and Manuel last Wednesday, because it was 2 for 1. $22 pesos, which is $2.20 US. SOOO cheap. It was pretty good.

I miss Berkeley, and I WAS SO EXCITED TO GET A COMMENT FROM MR. HALPERN. I MISS MR. HALPERN TOO.

*TO MR. HALPERN: Did you know that today, when we interviewed people, that I saw your handwriting on the sticker on the camcorder battery in purple, for like the battery number? I was so happy to see that.

Anyways, I also miss my iPod. I was writing a bunch of titles of songs that I heard on the Live8 Anniversary that I need to download. It turns out that Daniel does the same thing too. OH and today we went to try samples of Rompope. It was weird. It was like, condensed milk with rum and something else. On Saturday, I bought a $12 Pesos Nieve, the Tequila one. It was just Tequila ice cream, and it wasn’t that good, just rum. I have to go now………..



I’ll write more later.
MUCH LOVE TO EVERYONE,
HORTENSIA.

Hey it's Thomas

So far this trip has been really fun and as a group we`ve learned so much. We have grown closer and gotten to know the Mexican students as well. Our movies are coming along really well and today my group filmed 4 really good interviews in the plaza next to the cathedral. I live on the other side of town so getting to school and to the teachers`s house takes a while. I go back and forth in a combi which is fun to ride, its like a small bus. Last weekend we went on a tour bus around the countryside to several smaller cities and saw ancient pyramid ruins, a copper workshop and much more. On Sunday I went to a market that was very similar to a flea market, and there were hundreds of people. At this point we are half way through the trip and we still have a lot of work to do, a lot of Spanish to learn and a lot of Morelia to discover.