One of the women who works in the office, L., had a birthday party for her little girl the other night. She is this amazing woman who has been involved with migrant workers rights for, literally, her whole life. And I do mean literally. She went to the US as a very young child with her family and worked in fields in various places around the country. A child, you might ask? But that can't be! We don't have children working in the fields!
Well - surprise, surprise. That tomato you sliced for that lovely salad you made last night could very well have been picked by a very small hand, joined to a very small arm, that is hopefully going to stay joined to a very young body. Of course, if it doesn't, and winds up separated in a terrible accident, good luck to that young person getting any kind of compensation – and enter CDM…But I digress.
L. went on to become an organizer for farm workers, and eventually rose to become a vice-president of one of the large farm workers unions. She moved back to Mexico less than a year ago – a significant move, considering the numbers of Mexican trying to get to the US – and has been a major organizing force for CDM. A true hero to many who volunteer here, and a truly selfless inspiration to me.
The party was at her house in Guadalupe, the next town over from Zacatecas, just out past the Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, Starbucks (not the one here in the Centro), and all the other strip mall joints. Not that I'm complaining…we hit up Sam's Club (my first time ever) on Sunday, and were able to shop for really cheap. It's going to make a big difference for our eating habits to be able to shop for so little. Guess it's like that for most of America. Are we wrong to patronize such a place? I don't know…but I do know that we can afford to shop there, and that helps.
Guadalupe is more of what I was picturing as far as a town here goes: 1-2 story buildings, not such clean streets, and lots of taco joints. I don't mean to be negative, really, just observing. Her street is a dead-end street (no metaphor intended), which allows the kids to play soccer without getting hit by cars. That's a good thing. The party was awesome, as far as I was concerned. The most delicious, yet simple, tostadas I have ever eaten in my life, which I've tried to recreate a few times with no success. A highlight for me, though we didn't get to see it put to use, was the huge piñata. I remember as a kid, my mom would make them once in a while (paper mache over a balloon, pop balloon when dry, fill with candy, smash as soon as possible), but this was (gulp) cooler. It was a horse of a size that a small child could ride on – and they did. Turns out that one of the kids was somewhat traumatized by the idea of smashing it, so the caballo lived to be whacked another day.
Spanish school has been good, and we're definitely learning lots. Of course, learning is one thing, but actually speaking is another. I asked Don Arturo for his help in finding me someone to speak Spanish with on a regular basis. He's also going to help me find some stuff to do with my free time. He suggested some sort of barter so that I can keep coming around there for lessons after my 6 weeks are up. Awesome.
I will admit, however, that I had my first confident conversation in Spanish yesterday. We are looking for an apartment to live in, and I stopped by one of the hotels where you can ask about apartments for rent. He sent me to speak to a woman he knew of, and I was off. She was a very nice lady and I was able to ask all the relevant questions. I even managed to understand some of the answers. The place was up about a million or so steps, which wasn't great. It was also a basement apartment, so I don't think we'll take it. We saw another today, but I'm hoping that over the next couple weeks, we can find something a bit nicer. Rent is pretty cheap here, with a small, furnished place going for under $400 US a month, with $400 being the high-end. By the way, they use the dollar ($) sign here, which can be somewhat confusing.
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