last art session

Pictures explained: the front and back of Cornejo's T-shirt and the rest of the boys pose in front of the day of the deal ofrenda. Leo later put his T-shirt on the ofrenda as an offering to the dead. I think this is a good thing!

Today was my last art session at the casa. All the boys got their T-shirts, and were really pleased. We finsihed off the picasso-style portraits, more or less, we were racing to finish so we could eat cake and take photos. It all fizzled out a bit, but Gelos called us all together to say thank you and ask the boys to say something nice. Miguel E seemed to speak from the heart – his eyes changed, he looked older somehow. Quite moving. I gave each of them a ‘certificate’ on which I wrote a little personal note to each of them. Quite glad it fizzled a bit, it made it less of a big deal. Feel a bit sad, and know that when I come back it won’t quite be the same – especially because neither Emily or Eva will be here and also… I will have had to have improved my Spanish!

Though work is over it’s still a week before I get back to Blighty. I have a meeting on Tuesday as a kind of summing up, and fly late on Wednesday to return Thursday evening. It’ll go quicker than it now feels it will. Tomorrow I go to the house to finish off the mural, but thereafter I have nothing I have to do. I walked into town along Heroes de cinco de mayo, bought a few postcards, had something to eat and some hot chocolate and walked slowly back again. I’m not bored but will have to find things to do. I’ve got perfect internet connection tonight but can’t watch on-line telly outside of the UK, so I’m now listening to radio 5.Which feels a bit weird.

more again

Everyting was busy today. Including me. The roads were gridlocked – some demonstration, I think by General Motors workers, messed up the traffic, and the Hidalgo market was full of dia del meurte stuff, and music and incense. The first session with the little kids at the centro went really well. They all said gracias and how much they’d enjoyed the project and that I was very nice. Bless. They are extremely cute.

The second, less cute, group were a bit of a pain in the jacksy. Their maestra, Vanessa, was elsewhere at a meeting and the lady in charge gave us no back up whatsoever. Eva, who was with me all day, and I were absolutely knackered by the time we had to lug 6 bags full of apint and other srty stuff home. Don’t know why everything has to be taken to and from the centres. OK for Gelos in her car, but merely annoying lugging it all on a bus and on the walk home.

Have just spent time sorting everything out, buying cakes for my goodbye thing tomorrow and ironing on transfers onto the casa kids shirts. The T-shirts look really good. Dinner tonight is beer and fags. 3 people – Laura, Martin and Pedro have just turned up to stay here, but have gone out for food, thankfully as, despite their being lovely, I’m not in the mood.

Emily’s departure was announced at the casa today and she’s emotionally drained – she’s worked there for well over a year and will be missed. With dia del muerte coming up a lot of the boys, whose parents have died, are emotional.

I'm going to retire early with Jane Austen. or is it Emily Bronte? One or the other.

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Yesterday evening I went into town to meet Lucia and Ramón and eat Chinese food. Got a colectivo (cross between a taxi and a mini-bus) into town, They’re 50 centivos cheaper than a bus, though saving the equivalent of 1/2p was not my motivation. Got rear-ended by a car, so will likely stick to the buses in future.

We went into the Palacio Municipal where there is a big day of the dead alter set up and happened across some kind of civic opening. The alter (large table) is covered in papier mache skeleton figures, all beautifully finished and painted – some of them dressed, one of them a dog, others painted red as diablos, in different poses (carrying day of the dead bread, relaxing, juggling skulls). Incense was burning and there were food offerings on the table to. It’s all a bit camp somehow (a bit like the Tim Burton film “Nightmare before Christmas”). Mexico has a sense of humour, however macabre.

Then La Catrina walked in followed by Palafox (who was a priest or arch bishop or something) of Puebla centuries ago – a Spaniard who provided the original Mexicans with religious texts in their own languages and set up a library. After they had spoken (Palafox putting on a Spanish lisp!) a lady dignatory said something and then a band (guitars and little guitars) struck up and food was handed out. I have been really lucky happening across these “Mexican culture to go” events.

I told Ramón I was a bit miffed that Catrina was synonymous with death – he pointed out that actually Catarina would be the Spanish equivalent of my name (phew!) and that Catrina is used as an adjective to describe someone who thinks themselves a bit superior, or is a snob (as well as the embodiment of death bit). So, back to me again!

Nice chat (ion both languages) with a taxi driver on the way home.

Met with Alison today who is happy for me to think about some projects for kids at home linking in with Juconi. Spent a lot of the day writing out the lesson plans and designing a certificate which I’ll give to the boys at the casa during my ‘bye bye party’ (it’s meant to be a surprise). I’m going to take in the remainder of the sweets I bought in Britain (still cola cubes, lemon sherberts and army and navy left) and some cakes or crisps or something. I feel a bit sad about leaving now.

Eva popped round, still fed up that she’s being given crappy jobs to do at the main office. She gave up her job to come and volunteer, because she want to work in the field later and is determined to get the right kind of experience.

New Monday. New Project.

The clocks went back this weekend and even though I had an extra hour I feel pretty tired. One of the Ángels was zonked out today with some kind of lurgy which I hope I haven’t picked up. All of a sudden, last night, I felt as if I could speak Spanish, so I put it to the test this morning. Whether I made much sense or not I don’t know, but I was certainly talking more and, I guess, just felt a bit more confident about it in general. I think it part talking to Eva in English all weekend made me realise that it doesn’t matter if I get it all wrong – Eva speaks English really confidently, but makes lots of mistakes which don’t matter as I know what she’s trying to say. So, it matters not if I say “Me is lady of England small” they’ll know what I mean! Mexicans in general are pretty understanding/tolerant of the hash foreigners make of their language – not like being in France!

Some of the boys worked too fast, but I think all quite enjoyed it. Nice atmosphere. It’s the ‘cultural norm’ to be more tactile here, so when you put your arm round one of the kids no-one is going to cry “child abuse” which, quite frankly, is nice and how life should be. I’m at that point with the group now, we’re all quite relaxed with each other and there’s micky taking on both sides (basically I just pull faces, and mimic their voices – and they do pretty much the same!)

Gelos left me with Olivia the petrified-or-bored-looking German girl, who looked petrified and/or bored all session. Early days for her. She’s staying with a family in Cholula, but it’s a pretty brave thing to do, to come to a foreign country for a year aged 17.

I’m now, once again at the Italian Coffee Company drinking very nice hot chocolate, which has done me the world of good, and utilising the free internet.

Sunday

My finished 'Picasso-esque' portrait, and the paper cut-out design it's painted from... This will be what the boys will do tomorrow.

Eva and I have bonded through the internationally understood language of women – shoe shopping! I have a lovely pair of boots (disappointingly, I just realised made in Malaysia, and I think they are plastic! Doh!).

This morning I spoke to Bob, went to the supermarket (it’s a home from home), and finished painting my example Picasso-esque portrait. Ate Campell’s Chile Poblama soup, then went with Eva to the nearby Italian Coffee Company for free wi-fi. Shame on all of you who might read this for not sending me emails. I am on my tod, you know!

Then we walked to Plaza Dorada, a 70s shopping mall, very suburban with lots of shoe shops full of unstylish shoes for old ladies and slutty platforms (except my Malaysian boots of course), and there’s a cinema. Walked back through a park full of BMXers, and a massive Stalin-esque statue of someone (very unlikely to be Stalin). Not much to report.

Watched The Devil Wears Prada in Spanish and didn't understand much of it, and La Academia which is kind of like The X Factor, except 2 contestants battle/sing it out head to head and the hosts nearly always make one of them cry, by showing them video of thier folks or surprising them with their girlfriend, just seconds before they have to perform. All the backing dancers are as scantily clad and about as graceful as Pans People.

Saturday

Saturday. Slept in till 8.30. I am a different person here! Ponced around not really knowing what I wanted to do (having spent many an hour occupying myself like an Jane Eyre last night). After washing my smalls and going to the super market, I came back and started painting a portrait a la Picasso. Around 1 ish I got the bus into town – a man hopped on the bus with a guitar and sang (I gave him a peso) and hopped off again – with an urge to buy a pair of boots. I saw a nice, cheap pair while wandering one time before, but of course couldn’t find them today. Instead a found a prezzy for mum and some paint (to help complete the mural) which was surprisingly expensive I spent about £15 on 4 small pots of acrylic in a Papeleria (stationers). That seems like a lot of money when you consider how cheap things like food and bus fares and rent are. Stuff like mobile phones and computers are on a par with American prices, so it’s surprising anyone can afford them at all. Bumped into Ramon (Lucia’s fella). As previously only know about 0.00001% of the population in Peubla (or Mexico for that matter) but have bumped into someone each Saturday), had the briefest of chats and he mentioned possibly meeting up later, but I haven’t heard from them and am not that bothered, having spent all afternoon in company.

Met up with Eva around 3 o’clock and we went on search of typical Pueblan food. Got directed to El fonda de santa Clara where we ate chicken with mole poblana – the famous sauce made with chocolate (and originally from Puebla – hence the poblana bit). Very, very delicious, and very rich (a bit like hoisin sauce, but not really), served with rice and a kind of weak sangria. Walked it off looking at everything and nothing and putting the world to rights (mostly in English – I think I’ve given up!). People selling puppies on the streets. With dia de la muerte coming up there are loads of skulls and things in all the shops. In El Parian (the slightly tacky art market) I saw a black hanging cloth with a female skeleton and La Caterina spelled out in cross-bones. Caterina is the embodiment of female death for dia del muerte, and just a bit too close to my name for my comfort. Just got back around 7pm. No internet today, again. I do have beer though, so no matter!

Friday – dia del mural

Mural design

Friday. Went to the casa to paint the mural. First of all Emily and I went to a hardware store and bought a litre of white paint (economico) for about £1.50. It turned out to be practically transparent and useless so I walked to the nearby supermarket with the 2 Miguels and bought another litre for about £1.90 – this worked much better. The Miguels helped me paint the wall white. Miguel S helped me all day (Emily commented on how keen he had been to paint) apart from around midday when he had a kip. It was very boring watching paint dry! Miguel E went to school in the afternoon – kids either go in the morning or the afternoon, but not both. Lupita and Bibiana (2 of the women who work at the casa) came and helped me paint around lunchtime, then Miguel and Cristian (who isn’t in my art group) painted with me til 4. I think we’ll finish no problem next Friday, as it’s quite a simple design.

There's a German girl who's just started at the casa. She's about 17 and seems to have only 2 facial expressions – bored or scared witless. She's only about a year older than the eldest of the boys so I imagine they'd be a bit scary. Having spent the first 2 weeks accidentally speaking German everytime I tried to say something in Spanish, I kept on interjecting Spanish words when I spoke to her in German. Flippn' brain can't get it right.

I don’t seem to be going out much, though that’s not really bothering me at all. I spent the evening half watching telly and writing up lesson plans. I feel a bit like a character in a Jane Austen novel, spending my time (quite happily) on ‘diversions’, keeping myself busy with activities other than watching the telly: reading and writing and going to bed at a reasonable time (apart from having the telly on in the background, but I’m not really watching it as I don’t understand what they’re saying!). Having said that I have picked up a few words. Mexican soap operas are numerous and rubbish, really hammy. They make Curly Watts look like Laurence Olivier. A news programme told me the clocks go back on Sunday, which is just as well as no-one else has.

Adverts on telly don’t seem to have snappy straplines, instead what look like government approved statements appear at the bottom of the screen (always in the same typeface and in capitals). For example: shampoo commercials tell you salud es belleza (health is beauty); food commercials (even for Coffee-mate) tell you to come bien (eat well), an advert for tinned tuna says ‘eat tuna, live well’ – if only life were that simple. Axe (Lynx in Britian) assures you that ‘cleanliness is healthy’ (limpieza es salud). Caring for yourself is enjoyable I’m told by an advert for powdered chicken stock – good to know. Burger King's ad instructs you to "do sport" – sweet irony!

Judging by the adverts (and what’s on sale in the supermarkets) Mexicans suffer badly with dandruff. And while I’m at it… they must be crap at parking as even in the biggest car parks have people tooting whistles to guide them into spaces (that even I could get into) and then get a tip for doing so. You’re not meant to take shopping bags (purchases from other shops) into supermarkets, so they provide lockers for you to stash your stuff. I haven’t seen a single pram or pushchair or buggy – all mums carry their babies in their arms, wrapped in a blanket (or sometimes tied to them) – this is all mums, not rustic, poor or indigenous women in particular. I think this very considerate, as nothing makes me curse more than dodging myriad buggies down the central aisle of Woolies (it still exsists in Mexico…as does C&A).

midweek

It’s Thursday night and no one is home (apart from me). The art session at casa Juconi went well this morning, the boys were relaxed and happy to do the work. Gelos and I had printed out the 4 finished portraits onto transfer paper and we ironed them onto T-shirts – the boys were really, really chuffed and then did a half portrait of themselves in paper which will be ‘printed’ on the back of the T-shirts. And I was really, really chuffed as I half expected the iron-on transfer stuff not to work brilliantly. They take the mickey out of me a bit for not understanding much Spanish (in a good way!) and I taught one of them the English for ‘mono’ so he could go and tease his mate by calling him ‘monkey’! I think we all quite like each other and they were keen to help me clear up, especially the ‘leader of the pack’. Alison (director) was busy when I got back so I haven’t got to talk to her yet about project ideas – no great hurry. I walked over to ‘Volcanes’ (HQ) as arranged to help Alfredo with any design needed, but none was. He hasn’t seemed so friendly since last week – perhaps the email I sent him with the email inviation was poorly worded or something (!?). Bloody hot again. I came back and prepared the photos I took of the boys work this morning ready for Gelos to print out tomorrow.

I’ve got to prepare another project for the boys at the casa – I’m going to do a Picasso-style portrait thing. Tomorrow I’m going to the casa again to start painting a mural on the wall. I did a few different designs last week and they’ve chosen one with figures similar to those in the Juconi logo. Wish I’d brought some painting clothes (and sadly my oldest top was lost by the landerette).

Yesterday Eva (my assistant for the day) and I made it to centro Juconi on the bus. Both sessions went really well. The younger kids understood all my instrctions, whereas the older ones in the afternoon (typically, when Gelos was there!) did not and she had to re-iterate what I said. The 2 groups worked differently – the younger ones racing ahead, the older ones working slower and with much more care. The session with the younger ones went so well that we didn’t stop for a game of pato-ganso and over-ran by half an hour. The younger ones aren’t put off atall by how often I misunderstand, the older ones are just as enthusiastic. It was very enjoyable, but very tiring. We didn’t make it to the cinema last night as planned (Emily wasn’t feeling too good), so we sat and chatted about all sorts for quite a while over tea. Really like Emily, and get on much better with her than I first thought we would. She is/has been incredibly helpful. She’s away this weekend playing in an ‘ultimate frisbee’ tournament (whatever that is!).

I only have 4 more art sessions left (finishing a week today) as the following Monday is dia del muerte as nobody's working, and I fly back on Wednesday.

the start of week 2

It’s Tuesday and I’ve just come back home after a beer in town with Lucia. I’d been in all day and needed to get out. Eva has moved into her new flat (she had come here as a volunteer for 6 months expecting to be able to stay in this house, but it wasn’t the case). The rent on the flat is £70 pm, but that’s a fair amount if you’re volunteering for nada. I went to see it with her over the weekend and it’s nice, as was the landlady – old with bright red lips –probably a bit of a stunner in her day.

My Lloyds bank card won’t give me any money and there’s not much I can do about it unless I want to ring the call centre in India. I have a second bank card but am none too chuffed.

Emily was my second in the art class at casa Juconi yesterday. The boys worked really well most of the time and are patient with my Spanish. One was a bit iffy and stubborn early on, refusing to do the work, but then, all of a sudden decided he would, and did it well. There were a couple of minor spats, one of which I completely missed as I don’t know Spanish swear words – this is why I need someone in with me overseeing the class. The boys work with care and have produced some nice work.

I got back about 1pm and went to the launderette to pick up my laundry: not sure if she told me off for not coming in the morning (as I said I would, but they weren’t open at 9am) or was apologising, anyway suddenly she showed me the book she was reading (the biography of Howard Hughes), told me she loves biographies, then told me (again) that her son was painting a mural in Mexico City and had been too talented for the priests at the school he’d gone to. I came back and started writing out lesson plans. In Spanish. Takes a while.

I don’t see any kids on Tuesday – it is the designated day for lesson plan writing (I am ahead of myself). I photographed the boys’ portraits and cleaned them up in Photoshop for Gelos to print out and us to iron on to T-shirts on Thursday. Four boys have finished. One wasn’t there this week as he has run away, not for the first time. His parents died in a car crash quite a few years ago, and he’d been cared for my sisters until they couldn’t afford to any longer and he came to Juconi. With day of the dead (dia del muerte) coming up it’s a difficult time for him. Very bright lad who doesn’t want to be at the house. I like him. In fact, I like all of them. Another one of the boys is there as his mother couldn’t care for him – she has been described by one of the workers as a bitch, so I expect it was worse than her not being able to cope. His father ( a drunk) was found dead on the streets and when the mum heard news of it, sent her kids out to get the body. Another boy was disowned by his family as they considered his skin too white (probably papa thought he wasn’t his). He is one fo the few who don’t have any contact with their families – Juconi is very strong on keeping families involved with the children, and if possible, reintegrating one with the other.

Saw 2 clowns get off a bus.

I’ve had a really nice day including chats with Bob and Mum (happy birthday for tomorrow!), and feel happy. Everybody thinks it's cold (have to say it was the night before last) – the temperature has dropped, but it's hotter than your average UK summer's day.

Cholula

The photos explained: View from church over Cholula to the mountains; mis compañeras Eva y Emily; the Cholola Zocalo with church in the background and video of drummers (the filing is rubbish, the sound is what's important!)

Now, I’ve been to Cholula! Cholula is a small town just outside of Puebla. It was recommended to me before I came to Mexico. It’s full of artsy-craftsy shops and locals selling their wares on the street (including fried or dried and chilli-fied grasshoppers. The high point (literally) is a big church built on top of an ancient pyramid (not sure whether Mayan, or some other ancient people). They’ve re-built some of the base of the pyramid. There was a ceremony going on in the church, though you could still peek in, great views of all around (including the mountains) and a dachshund that made me laugh trying to eat out of a cup. Bizarrely, the catholic church was blasting out Simon and Garfunkel.

Nice place to be, but really a smaller version of Puebla which also has loads of artsy-craftsy market stalls. Quite cold today – like August Bank Holiday Monday without the rain, but I think that’s about to come. We’re way above sea-level here (well over a mile apparently), which I suppose should make it generally cooler, but it has been uncharacteristically hot for October (so Gelos and the nice lady in the launderette tell me).

After more craft stalls we ended up in the Zocalo (main square) where there was a presentation of cultural groups, organised by the local council, including: chubby child ballerinas; traditional Mexican dancing (long frocks being swirled about); traditional Mexican dancing with blokes (definitely the inspiration for the jive); indigenous dancing (teenagers – male and female – jumping about in Aztec type gear wearing feathered head-dresses), and a kids drumming band. I am trying to upload the video as inspiration for the Swindon Samba Band! Also heard a brass band play ‘Land of Hope and Glory’!

it's the weekend!

It’s Saturday afternoon and I have just come back from a trip to el centro historico with Eva, who is lovely and really easy company. Puebla really is great – there are loads of markets selling craft stuff and food, and there’s a nice ‘vibe’. I now have lots of credit on my Mexican SIM card (as I realised yesterday that I’ve been paying a scandalous amount on my UK phone – £2 a minute and 40p per text – I must have clocked up at least £60!

Though Eva thought she’d be able to live here for free for the duration of her stay she’s been told she has to find somewhere else to live which seems a bit unfair as she’s an unpaid volunteer. She tells me she’ll have to find a job of some sort and work less for Juconi. In a year’s time she’s going to Germany to do a master’s degree in international development management and knows she’ll end up in mucho debt. She’s pretty focussed as her decision to come here was to get experience of working for an NGO. Proud to say we spoke in Spanish most of the time – she’s lived in Canada and speaks good English. I’ve given her permission to correct my Spanish, which she has – quite a lot, but it’s a good way to learn.

While we sat at a café. A man came round playing that tune they always played in Speedy Gonzales cartoons, badly on a violin. There are lots of little Mexicanas – I feel quite tall sometimes. Eva tells me there are lots of tourists in Puebla, but because most of them are Mexican, I can’t tell. The double-decker tourist buses are certainly full.

Yesterday I went to the casa juconi with Emily and have been charged with painting a mural over the next two Fridays. I came back here and designed a couple of ideas, and will do another in a bit, so they have something to choose from – there are lots of murals in the case already (see above, mine won’t be half as detailled, given the time I have). Became really tired yesterday afternoon and had a long, deep kip, and slept loner this morning (til half eight!). Tonight we’re going out. I was meant to meet Lucia last night to go to some free concert but she cancelled in favour of a talk on racism in education – I did not wish to go to that (in Spanish or otherwise!).

Anyway, not much new to report (though everything is new to me). I think I may have another kip!

a much better day – un dia mejor

Got up feeling crap and rang my mummy! I think Gelos had thought about things over night as she was quite receptive. I told her I was going to talk to Travis, not as a complaint, but because we both understand about 80% of what each other say, and that 20% is the important stuff. Introduced the first portrait project to the boys, who were really good, both at the work (much quicker than English kids I’ve done the same project with) and how they act with me. Let them try some army and navy sweets this time. I explained everything and Gelos reiterated and expanded. This is what I need. I was their focus and she assisted me. This is what I want, and have had, but what I need to continue in the future.

The chat with Travis went really well, and with his acting as our interpreter, all of the 20% has been explained. Gelos apologised (and Travis said quietly she can be a bit tough). Gelos had thought that I had been briefed about the games and discipline; had thought I’d be able to jump in like the previous 2 volunteers who came here as a team after working in Equador for months; and that she’d be able to trawl the depths of my knowledge for a new art programme she’s putting together. It’s worked out well: Travis was glad I brought things up so early on, Gelos and I still like each other (and I do, she can be a bit grumpy in the mornings but who am I to complain about that?!); and we agreed that today’s session went really well. Hurrah. We’ve agreed I’ll spend Tuesdays writing up lesson plans for Gelos, Thurday afternoons I’ll design stuff and Fridays I’ll help re-paint mural at the casa. Bit regimented, but happy to be busy.

I then waited for ages for Alfredo. We’re designing an email inviation for Juconi’s 20th anniversary, using some on-line email generator thingy that neither of us got to grips with. He’s really nice, and flips back and forth from English to Spanish (as did the email generator site) and has a good sense of humour.

I left there about 6, bought tomatoes and coriander to make salsa (Eva was impressed) and have spent most of the night grappling with Dreamweaver to produce a fancy email invitation.

I am, once again, much happier and thus eating more and smoking less.

aaaaargh!

Today was rubbish (with a few nice bits). Went over to centro Junconi in the car with Gelos – we left too late to go by bus, which was the plan so that I could see where to get (and get off) the bus. The first group of kids were little loves, around 6 or 7 years old – really nice but kind of hard to understand (you might be detecting a common theme in what I’m writing). Half way through we stopped to play a game of pato ganso (ducky goosey). And then a crap game I’d only just remembered as I’d been told to find games for these kids. For the uninitiated pato ganso invoved one person patting everyone on the head saying pato, when they pat someone on the head and say ganso they both run like mad around the circle to beat the other back to the same spot. When I was patted on the head with a ganso I did an exaggerated “oh” of surprise, which I think was interpretted by the staff as pain, and the little boy who’d ganso-d me was told off. Oops!

There’s 3 hours between my 2 sessions at centro Juconi, which is on the north side of town by an enormous, functional rather than aesthetically pleasing, market, so Gelos brought me back here to the house. On our return to the centro the conversation started: Gelos kept telling me I am the maestra (teacher-cum-leader) and I should be teaching the group, disciplining them, being the authority figure, organising games at break time and talking to them more. I told her I can’t – not because I don’t want to but because I am bloody incapable of any of the above in reasonable Spanish and controlling a group of 6 years olds aint as simple as it should be at the best of times.

In addition she told me that the projects I’d planned wouldn’t be enough to fill the time at the casa (the older kids) and anyway she didn’t know why I was going to get the kids to trace stuff because they were able to draw. I politely pointed out that I had sent her a choice of projects a couple of months ago, and had prepared the one that had been chosen, and no problems were pointed out then and I’d asked her, when I’d written out the timetable, how fast she thought the kids would work. And another thing! Why was I offering my time to Travis as a designer and offering to help Emily at the case when I ought, if I had the time, be giving her the benefit of my vast portfolio of art projects (which I don’t have)?

You can imagine that my confidence going in to the second session wasn’t high. These kids were a bit older – up to 12 – and seem to like wrestling! Three of them were going to be wrestlers when they grow up (it’s big here), one was going to be a singer as well – there was also a fireman and a policeman and a mother. Some of the girls copied ‘my boyfriend’ which was commented on even though he was made blond (still had the big nose though)!

Two of the staff led me to the bus stop through the market (a man snipping the toes off chicken’s feet). Hope I’ll be able to find the bus stop again. Welled up on the bus and on the way home, so rang Travis to ask to speak with him tomorrow. Gelos can carrying on saying “talk to the kids more” as much as she likes but saying it ain’t gonna change my ability over night. Her expectations were obviously higher than I can deliver. Not my fault, not hers, but we need to find a plan B (so I practised how to say this in Spanish!). I’m going to speak to her tomorrow morning

Walked into town with Eva and Emily, both of whom were sympathetic, and had a wander around town – nowhere in particular and didn’t stop anywhere.

now with pictures!!

I bought a card-reader yesterday so can now upload photos which will make my ramblings a bit more interesting. See previous postings! I've signed a paper to say that I won't take photos of the kids, I'll re-read it to see where that begins and ends as It would be nice to have some photos of them doing arts work, but obviously I can't publish any pictures that) in this day and age) might be deemed exploititive.

I'vee written less today , probably because I've had more to do (and because my time's better spent learning flippin' Spanish verbs!)

I have new job! As part-time designer for Juconi. I met Travis today (Director) and had a long chat about many things, including taking some projects to the UK to raise awareness and funds – Alison (who greeted me at the house on my first day) is the person to talk to as she's working on UK fund-raising right now. Travis is really nice and easy to talk to, and made me feel better about my Spanish saying that I wasn’t the first to arrive with less-than-workable Spanish. Phew! I told him that I was happy to do other stuff and felt I would have to much time on my hands and he immediately introduced me to Alfredo who is their communications man, and on Thursday at 2 o’clock I’m going to go back to the office to design stuff for him! Alfredo taught me that esta padre means cool – a good phrase to know when you’re working with kids!

First day at work

12th Monday
My first day at work did not start well. Gelos seemed a bit pissed off because I hadn’t got ready the materials she had told me to. I hadn’t understood that she told me to. She told me I should have told her if I hadn’t understood. I told her that I thought I had understood. We now both understand my limitations.

Not sure right now if the plan (that I come over to Puebla annually to do arts projects with the kids) is going to be a go-er. Emily told me that she had a month here taking it all in before she started work, and that her ear adjusted in Spanish a lot during that time: of course, I’m only here for a month. I can see that in this respect the artist-jets-in approach has disadvantages over the artist-volunteers-for-6-months approach.

I’m a bit down on myself today – I hope they’re not too disappointed in me. Gelos said that she though my Spanish was pretty good because of the emails I sent her before I came – I can read and write Spanish OK, but I’m finding listening to and speaking it bloody difficult. Emily has counselled me and told me not to be too hard on myself / that I’m out of my comfort zone (she’s right there!). It is early days, but there again I’m only here for another 23!

The session with the kids went OK, but it wasn’t really enough for them. I think I scored Brownie points by telling them I’d watched the Mexico v El Salvador game and naming one for the goal-scorers (the nice looking one I metioned before!). When everything falls a bit flat I just can’t banter to get things going. Today I got the boys to draw information about themselves – I showed them some drawings that I’d done (pictures at a later date once I”ve got hold of a card reader!). Anyway, they all love football. I took in some cola cubes so they could try dulces ingleses. I showed them my photos from England, not much of a response, probably half because my commentary was lacking but also because they are very low-key as a group. One of them – Miguel Angel – gave me a paper flower he’d made (though he should have been drawing!!), it’s quite fab.

Spent the afternoon searching for ‘diversion activities’ to do with the kids to break up the 2 hour sessions, and translating English brain-teasers into Spanish (I’ve sent them to Gelos to correct!).
She’s also asked me to write out lesson plans for her to use after I’ve gone (perhaps she thinks I won’t be coming back!).

Had a nice chat with Bob, who will be acting as my PA tomorrow! He counselled me well about not worring about my Spanish. I keep breaking out into German!

Tonight a girl called Eva arrived to stay in the house. She’s a Mexican student who’s studying international business and will be volunteering here for 6 months. She seems really nice but has gone to bed early after a long journey from Sonora which is much further north. She’s staying in the room adjoining mine which means I have to walk through her room to get to mine.

It’s chucking it down outside and the mosquitos are out in force.

Sunday 11th!

Ended up with a bit of sunburn and lots of mosquito bites this weekend – it’s just like being on holiday! I went to find Agua Azul this morning but only found a huge cemetery! I asked the guard where Agua Azul was, but I couldn’t find it. I later went to the tourist office and explained my failed quest…seems I walked around the wrong corner when the guard told me directions. The cemetery and the mausoleums are huge (about the size of a garage). On dia del muerte people celebrate with their deceased relatives, so it maybe the place to go to try to experience it all. I got a bus into town (my first public transport experience!) and had a wander about in a different area of the city centre, sat in a park and watched a drum band practice, then walked back into town and ate outside a café in the Zocalo. The Zocalo is the central square with a massive cathedral on one side and cafés and shops around the other three. There was some kind of car event going on, which looked like the equivalent of lots of chavvy souped-up Vauxhall Novas with their bonnets and doors open showing off their wonders. There was a nice old 60s VW though. And yesterday, so I saw in the local paper, there was a Harley Davidson rally with Hell’s Angels and everything!! I got chatted up by a smelly old fella, and bought a Mexican SIM card – both encounters have convincd me of how rubbish my Spanish is. I came back and studied! Wandered through the flea market in Plaza John Lennon, and on to an antiques flea market. This is a very vibrant city with loads going on. At one stall in the antiques market they were selling Cornish pasties (pastes ingles!). I texted Bob immediately because he likes nothing better. Apparently sometime in the past a lot of Cornish people came to Puebla to pass on their (tin) mining skills –and the pasties stayed!

I only know a very few people in Puebla, but bumped into 2 of them in the market. Again, another good day. I watched that Lindsay Lohan/Jamie Lee Curtis film where mother and daughter swap places while trying to get the verb “to make” down pat. I think that I understood a fair amount of the film, though obviously the moving pictures help! Today has been my half-birthday – muy importante! I also googled “queen of england own property manhattan” and it seems no-one on the internet has heard about this either!

the weekend

Saturday. Got up to good internet connection so looked up a few things de Puebla and emailed mum then, quite strangely, I went to buy some cleaning cloths as the bathroom sink has been annoying me and cleaned the kitchen while listening to music on my laptop – this laptop is my best friend: it is my stereo, my source of information, my telephone (via Skype) and connection to home via email (and before the connection went down, my BBC radio). Bless it. I went up to the roof to hang out the pantelones interior I'd washed and spotted mountains above the clouds in the distance!

I headed into town which is about 40 minutes walk, arrived sweaty at the tourist information office where José explained the buses to me a bit. It all seems a bit haphazard, there don’t seem to be any bus stops, or at least any signs. They cost 5 pesos, whereas a taxi costs about 30 (£1.50). He told me that Agua Azul (Blue Water) which is near here is more than a place to swim – there are hot springs (if you get there early in the morning, they cool down later in the day). After failing to buy either a SIM card or a card reader for my camera – I would like to upload some photos onto this blog, but can’t because I forgot to bring the cable – I met with Lucia (who Anita put me in touch with) and a friend of hers called Lewis who had spent the night in clink. Both of them are here on a British Council English teaching programme, though Lucia has moved here permanently to be with Ramón who she met in Liverpool.

A couple of weeks ago Lewis was robbed of his passport. On Friday he was travelling on a bus to Mexico City to see the World Cup qualifier between Mexico and El Salvador when there was a stop check somewhere near Puebla. Without his passport (despite having a police report about the robbery) he was taken into custody. Lucia has spent the night/morning getting him out. The British Council had been invaluable, the British Embassy incompetent: the Embassy’s weekend duty officer was, incredibly, unable to speak Spanish and unable to do very much until the office re-opened on Monday (begging the question why have an officer on duty?). The police didn’t allow him water or food for most of the time and kept telling him he could be there for months. Paperwork was faxed to them, but it was never enough, for example when a copy of Lewis’s passport was sent to them showing the Mexican visa stamp, they wanted to see all the blank pages of his passport, and insisted at one point that his visa was out-of-date and had been issued in 2000 – when Lewis had been 11! Eventually the main man was called who took care of Lewis’s release telling Lucia to ignore everything his staff said (who were continuing to bully Lewis – half an hour before his release he was told by an officer that he was looking at 6 months!). I hope Lewis dines out on this for years.

We ate, went to a bar to watch the football and met up with Ramón (who looks like a Mexican John Lennon...keep this in mind for later!), had a take-away, sat on a bench in the street. Sounds like a crap day out but it wasn’t. I really liked their company (and not in a thrown-together-have-to-make-the-most-of-this-because-I’m-alone-abroad way) and will meet up with Lucia again. Lewis lives in Oaxaca.

Mexico beat El Salvador 4:1. The first half was rubbish and was stopped for 10 minutes as a swarm of bees invaded the pitch (no, really), but the second half was good and there was a good-looking goal-scorer called Palencia (I watch football like a girl!). We bought tamales – the sweet ones are vile and the savoury ones not much better, despite what Mr Jamie Oliver says it’s like eating suet pudding – and some other street food, can’t remember the name, but fried tortilla with spices which I’m paying for slightly today! We wandered through the busy streets, looking at crafty stuff – El Parian, the art market, is better than I thought yesterday, but still is a bit mass-produced and there’s an artists’ bit with lots of tiny studios in a kind of mews street.

John Lennon: there’s a Plaza de John Lennon which was brought about by Ramón and fellow students sometime in the eighties. It’s under what were their university classrooms – the students used to meet there and swap records and stuff and because the traffic was noisy enough for them not to be able to hear lectures they ‘reclaimed the street’. Some twenty years later it was officially pedestrianised and named (the then University dean had become the Mayor of Puebla) as the students had named it. I’m going to send one of my John Lennon prints to Ramón as a present. Apparantly, and oddly, John Lennon is much loved in Puebla, so perhaps finally I’ve found a market for my prints!

Lots of people walking around in Puebla at night, live music in bars (and cover charges to drink in them, hence sitting on a park bench!), and a band of clowns performing in the street. All quite fantastic.

Day 2

Woke up around 6, got up around 7, and felt really tired again by about 12.30! It’s going to take me a few days to adjust! I met with Gelos this morning and went through the materials we’ll need for the projects. She thinks that the boys at casa Juconi will need more than just the planned portrait project, based on the style of Julian Opie – I do too. Luckily I’ve got a couple of other things up my sleeve: we’re going to print out their photos in black and white with one half of the paper blank, i.e. only half their face showing, so they have to draw in the missing half. I did this in drawing club last year and it went down OK, and the finished results were pretty good. We can also do portrait proportions and perhaps even some Picasso style portraits too. This could be good: on the wall at Juconi there are ‘emotion thermometer’ posters; and the boys have mini versions on which they have to note down how they are feeling – zero or one means they are feeling calm and is the desired number, 10 means they’re spitting feathers. It’s a way of their keeping their moods and emotions in check and being aware of how they are feeling. We could do some nice angry or calm Picassos. Hopefully calm!

I had a chat with Gelos this morning to tell her that I don’t think I’m going to have enough to do (I’m timetabled only for 8 hours a week); that I’d like to be busy; that I don’t mind helping out even in the kitchens or cleaning; that I could do some design work for them; or even teach the kids a bit of English…anything as if I have too much time on my hands I think I’ll go loco. Gemma and Anna, the girls who were here before me had spent time working in Equador before coming to Puebla and used their non-timetabled hours to prepare projects, whereas mine are all prepared. About an hour later she asked me to design an invitation for an upcoming Juconi event. Good on Gelos! I’ve asked her to write me a ‘brief’ (because I understand written Spanish better than spoken).

Plugged myself in to the internet at the office today and have managed to read emails. The evening before I flew here I agreed a price on a house, and am going to try to get the legal, conveyancing wheels in motion while I’m here. Bob is going to act as my PA! I’ve managed to get online at the house this evening too and had my first ever Skype conversation (it’s free dontcha know!) with Bob – not the clearest of connections, and lots of dropping out, but it’ll do (and once again, it’s free!). Feels a bit odd talking to your computer screen. Thankfully we don’t have a video connection.

I went our for lunch at around 1 ish with Emily and her friend Eric to a place nearby, where the salsa was hotter than hell and my plate of pasta with coriander and cheese (much nicer than it sounds) and drink cost 50 pesos (with tip) – that’s about £2.50. Emily and Eric have gone off somewhere for the weekend so it looks like I’m on my lonesome – not ideal but do-able. Emily has a PhD is psychology and is here getting experience before she has to work for a couple more to get fully qualified; Eric is a firefighter with very white teeth! He tells me the Queen owns half of Manhatten – I’m not so sure.

After that I walked into town. Nice! I don’t like the grid system. Americans seem to have an in-built compass – if you ask an American for directions they’ll tell you to “go north two blocks”. How the hell am I meant to know which way is north?! Or any other direction for that matter. There’s a big square in town called the Zocalo, with trees and people shining shoes and people passing the time of day. I failed to find a tourist office, or to get my bearings, though I did see one of those open top double decker tourist buses, so might go and do that over the weekend. I got wolf-whistled walking back home –it's beena while! I very bravely (I felt) asked at the cinema if their films were in Spanish or in English with subtitles – and it’s the latter. Might go and see Inglorious Basterds. I also asked a shop assistant what my Mexican clothes size was. Quite proud of myself initiating conversations. This is a big step forward for me!

I went into an art gallery, where in a big open space inside an orchestra was rehearsing, the sound was lovely: they played the Star Wars theme. The space they were playing in had a tarpaulin type, white roof (a bit like Swindon’s glorious market) which funnelled down and made it all look quite spectacular. The exhibition was by Octavio Ocampo (never heard of him!) – a Mexican surrealist. Not normally my thing, but very, very good. Lots of faces and people hidden in landscapes and flowers, and landscapes and people hidden in faces – google him!

The ‘famous’ art market was a bit tacky, selling lots of mass-produced Mexican crafts. Didn’t find much else (due to the grid system!) but will find a good map and try harder next time. I bought some Mexican Bombay mix type stuff which I’m scoffing now along with a beer (Corona with a bit of lime in it, of course!). A woman called Lucia who is a friend of Anita (one of the ladies who gave me the very British welcome on Wednesday night) has just sent me a text suggesting we meet up tomorrow – hurrah!

primero dia! 8th October

Got here around 5 am (my time) about midnight Mexico time. Everyone here thought I was arriving tomorrow (!) but luckily Alison (Juconi Director) and her friend, Anita, were here to let me in (most importantly!) and give me an unexpected very British welcome including a cup of tea and a month-old copy of the Guardian and a jar of Marmite. Today I met Emily, an American girl who's been working here for about a year and who I hope will be a friend and good source of information, and Gelos who took me to casa Juconi: there I sat in on an art session in which the kids were painting dia del muerto things – skulls and diablos. Dia del muerto is at the beginning of next month, it's a kind of bizarre (by most places' standards) Hallowe'en celebration (or is it? – it takes place a couple of days after Hallowe'en on 02 November) when the dead are remembered and celebrated – I expect I’ll understand more after I've seen it all happen.

There are 7 boys in the group and there were 2 other adults apart from Gelos and myself: I don't remember i.e. didn't catch their names. It was all very low-key, very tranquilo, very calm: none of the cheeky banter I would have expected between them, but they all seemed to be happily, calmly doing the work. One of the boy's work was "less good" than the others, insomuchas his painting was a bit haphazard, but the work was really good. They'd made skulls out of some kind of clay, with some really nice, quirky ideas. I hope the portrait project I'm going to do with them isn't too 'straight', they've obviously got some nice ideas in their heads.

I took photos of each of them, which I'm going to get printed out onto A4 for the project. Realised that possibly the only cable I haven't remembered to bring with me is the cable I need to get photos off my camera. Tipico! Gelos says she's got something that can read the camera's memory stick so my trip has been saved. You always have to forget to pack something. Here's hoping everything is compatible.

Gelos dropped me off at Juconi HQ where Maricarmen showed me an induction video and a little Powerpoint presentation on everything that Juconi does. My Spanish is only good enough for me to get the gist (though the pictures helped, as did Maricarmen with a little bit of English), but I think I know more than I did about Juconi's three programmes and other organisations they work alongside. Maricarmen escorted me back here around 12.30 and the rest of the day has been mine.

I said to Emily this morning that I am both willing and able to help out with more than just the art sessions, obviously it’s only the first day and it’ll come out in the wash but I’m a bit concerned that I’m going to have too much time on my hands and I’d rather get involved and be busy that have plenty of free time to fill. Of course it will depend to some extent on who I get to know, but I am very rubbish at motivating myself to ‘do something’ on my tod once the general sight-seeing is out of the way. I felt a pang of de ja vu earlier of being in Germany and poncing around not really doing anything that I’d said to myself I would.

Emily does therapy work with the niños, I got a brief run-down this morning. She seems really nice and straight-forward. A friend of hers has turned up this evening, she had invited me out with them but I was akip when he arrived (with his big booming voice!) and have only just come back to life after a cup of Nescafé. I’m 6 hours behind UK time, so it’s half eight here and half two in the morning for everyone at home. Bobby will be snoring in bed right now. I spoke to him briefly this morning (expect a large phone bill at the end of the month), partly because I had expected, and not had, a text message from him to wake up to and I wanted a bit of contact. Got a text message from Blinker to say that he and Anna are parents as of half eleven last night – a girl: congratulations.

I’ve been trying to get on the internet all day. I managed 5 bars on the wi-fi connection before I asked Emily if I needed a password (I do), then managed to receive one email (from RiO, an arts organization, asking me if I can work on a design project with some kids over the next couple of weeks – sod’s law), but the connection went down before I could reply. Will have to try to connect again tomorrow. The internet connection here is fleeting. Gone are any thoughts of catching up with British telly or listening to the radio online. I do like a bit of background noise– I’ve got some Mexican soap opera on at the moment; the theory being that I will pick up more Spanish my osmosis, though really it’s just to make me feel that there are people around! Actually you do pick up a few words off the telly – especially when the news has ‘breaking news’ subtitles going across the bottom of the screen. My new words today are lleno (full), vacío (empty), desarrollar (develop) and basura (rubbish). I thank you!

Emily says there’s a café down the road where I can get a decent wi-fi connection, I think I passed it on my failed trip to find a supermarket earlier. Puebla is set out on a grid system like most U.S. cities are. I know this is meant to be easy to navigate but it just confuses me. Puebla is also pretty low level (no church spires appearing above the skyline) so there’s not much to navigate by… so I set out and walked in a few different directions (I think actually I walked straight past the end of this road without realizing it) before, map out, got back to base. Very hot this afternoon, though it’s rained and become cooler since. My second trip to find a supermarket was more successful, there’s a massive Bodega ten minutes down the road, selling food in American-sized packs, I spent 338 pesos which is about 15 quid.

The house I’m staying in is behind one of Juconi’s offices, there’s a courtyard between the front, locked gates and the door. It’s quite modern with 3 bedrooms – you get to mine by walking through another. Everything’s painted in ‘Mexican colours’ – terracotta, yellow and dark green. Quite dark, which didn’t help me wake up this morning, but nice and open. Apparently if we run out of water I have to fiddle with a switch outside, and the water is solar-heated so no hot water if the weather’s bad. I feel a bit ‘locked away’ behind the doors, but am yet to explore and find out about buses (Maricarmen and I got a colectivo back here from the office, but lord knows how I’m going to suss where those go!)

I’m smoking – bad Kate.