Hey guys. I have an official blog for journalism @ http://rachelmetea.wordpress.com/

check it out.

This weekend of the students went to stay at a beach house a couple hours away while I stayed behind and explored the city. I had such an amazing weekend. I am officially on a no-need-to-pay basis at the Museum of Anthropology, which is always a good status to hold. I found a great coffee shop that despite being on Meridas main road, is very secret garden-esque and absolutely beautiful and peaceful.

I wrote an article on Carnaval that was published in DePaul's newspaper. It was supposed to simply be on DePaul's reaction to Carnaval, but the only thing most of them talked about how was how commercialized it was. To be honest, I'm not sure if I necessarily agree. Yes, it was, but it wasn't surprising. I didn't see many people drunk at the parades, but here is the article:
http://media.www.depauliaonline.com/media/storage/paper1414/news/2010/02/22/News/Students.Rock.Carnaval-3876226.shtml

In other news, DePaul's newspaper is yet again an award-winning newspaper! I don't know if anyone remembers, but back in November the Chief Editor, Charlotte Erikson emailed me telling me DePaul had submitted my Disney Princess article in the contest for best feature story. Here's the article:

The DePaulia takes home ICPA awards

Cheryl Waity

The 2009-2010 DePaulia staff received several awards from the Illinois Collegiate Press Association (ICPA) on Feb 20 . These awards included a third place in the category of General Excellence for the work on the 2009 issues of The DePaulia.

Other top honors included a first place in in-depth reporting and news reporting for the collective coverage of Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid and a third place ranking in news reporting for the work of Charlotte Eriksen and Jason Shough on "DePaul mourns." 

The DePaulia received a total of 10 awards from the ICPA competition including several in photography and column writing.

But yeah. I think I may pull an Elaine Benes and do something about these dogs. I can't take it anymore. And this is coming from a girl that has a cat who never stops meowing. This is like nothing I have experienced before. They don't stop howling right outside of my bedroom window at all hours. The family got rid of one of them, he was the one loudly barking, but the howling chiwawas are still here. I have never experienced a dog to howl so frequently and so loudly before. To put this in perspective of how bad their howling is... I also step in their pee on a day to day basis which is absolutely no big deal in relation to their barking. Ay dios mio.

My computer class is going really well. I can't remember if I wrote earlier about how we took the kids soccer team and a couple of my computer students to Carnaval last week. It was an absolute blast. While it was raining the whole time, and in order to get seats we had to sit in the pouring, freezing rain for nearly 3 hours before the parade started, it was nonetheless worth it. I bought a trash bag and used it to form a tent for my camera and tripod and took a bunch of pictures. I'm starting to get really close with my students. They always formerly address me as Maestra (teacher), ask to use the bathroom, and raise their hands in class. Yep, its the real deal. Their computer skills have improved exponentially since the class began. In the beginning they could not double click for the life of them and it took them about 10 minutes to type a five letter word. But now their computer skills are much less n00b and far more 1337. Last week they made the most beautiful power points!

In two days we are leaving for Chiapas and will be gone for 5 days. I'm very excited!

Today my Spanish teacher asked me if I could go to a class tomorrow and teach the Mexican students about English prepositions. Apparantly English prepositions are extremely weird and complicated and even teachers here have difficulty understanding them. Class starts at 7:15 AM. I'm pretty nervous and have no idea why my teacher asked me of all people to do this. Just because I speak English doesn't mean I can understand it! And not only that, my Spanish is NOT GREAT. I'm really not sure why I was selected to do this, but yeah. Wish me luck!

I found the dog's pee corner tonight. In Mexico they don't train their dogs to go outside. Princess! You would love this place! Cat's don't use litter boxes either! But I am constantly stepping in dog urine. They just go wherever. But tonight I saw in the kitchen there is a a spot up against the wall that is completely saturated with urine. I am assuming this is where they are supposed to go. Their pee corner.

I'm taking this anthropology/community service class at Emiliana Zapata, where we do our service work. The class definitely has the potential to be great. We discuss poverty, racism, and how to effectively help a community. The class is strictly discussion based, and the professor continuously encourages heated debates.  The first day these debates were completely reasonable, after an economics major from our group argued FOR sweat shops. But even when we all agree the professor still tries to get us to argue... and then everyone ends up repeating things over and over just so they can get their participation points (this is assuming we get participation points... I have no idea where I stand or how I am graded). Last week when we discussed where racism emerges I shared my viewpoint. All I said was that humans are biologically wired to protect their own kind in order to procreate. This is why we are biologically prove to be attracted towards our own race. I didn't add that last part to my argument, but its true. I did say this however- the biological reason I would jump in front of a bus to save my brother over a random stranger isn't because I love him or know him more (love you Zack!), it's because I would want his genes to be carried down over someone who does not possess my genes. Then I explained that although race is a social construct, and technically we are all the same race, the truth of the matter is that most people don't look at homo sapiens from an evolutionary standpoint and simply see someone of a different race as the other.  While it is not correct, its the reality of the situation. And this is a possibly theory as to why people will protect or prefer someone of their own race over  another.

While this is a whole other discussion on its own, my point is that it is difficult to truthfully express my opinion in this class. Reason being, the following day, while taking a walk with someone in my class (of minority status mind you) suddenly I had the label, "racist" being thrown at me for my views expressed in the class the previous day.
          "So you would save a white person over me?"
          Sigh. "No, because I recognize the fact that we are all equal. All I am saying it is instinctual to protect a person that is viewed as your kind rather than as an outsider. I don't view other skin colors as outsiders."
         "That's still kind of racist."

I guess the whole situation is very interesting because we are all coming from very different backgrounds and have been trained to think very different due to our majors.  This kid is a psychology major, a social science that tends to take a different path than anthropology. Even my anthro classes will criticize the psych field as over generalizing and not looking at human action as a result of a social construct. Its a much deeper discussion, and I by no means am saying that Anthropology pwns (owns) Psychology, but it makes sense that given his academic upbringing, he would automatically diagnose me rather than looking at the situation of racism on a much bigger picture. It is a very interesting mix to have so many different majors in a discussion-based class. Just look at the Econ major who says "Sweat shops give people jobs."

Because we have such different backgrounds and different opinions, they often times indirectly criticize one another. One bi-racial student who is closely tied to her Indian heritage says she finds it sad when people who do not actively practice in the customs of their ancestors and therefore have no sense of identity. "When you can't identify with your background you are invisible. It's very sad." She describes being seen as invisible by society because she has to check "OTHER" when filling out a form that requires her to put her race.

When I brought up that I believe you should identify yourself with the customs of which you partake in people got pretty upset. I have Romanian blood and yes, I think garlic is pretty tasty, but I do not speak the language nor practice the customs. Does this mean I am invisible? Does this mean I do not have an identity? According to some members of the class yes, but when I tried explaining that one, I always check the race box, "prefer not to answer," and that I identify myself as an American, because I speak English, am learning Spanish, go to American schools, and love cheeseburgers, I suddenly had a kid with a white mother who was adopted from El Salvador very offended and asking me what he is.

The first thing I noticed with the class was that if I didn't want to upset the teacher, I would have to suck up to her. Expressing our concerns or obstacles when discussing how our community service is a big no-no. For an hour and a half of the class we can only say, "how good to feels, I just love helping people, I look forward to going." Okay, obviously this is true, but is this at all productive or a valuable use of class time. I also have to write 3 pages a week on "How my community service is going." AKA, not how it is going, but how I am feeling. This week I have to write a reflection on one of the readings she assigned. A reading that talked about how people without money in America are seen as valueless and mindless people. This image, according to the reading is created by the other class of people, the people with money. And then it goes on to blame the media for a couple pages. No real evidence, facts, or deep philosophical reasonings, just "this is what I feel, this is how it is." We have been warned that if we want a good grade we need to suck up to our professor as much as possible.

Anyways, sorry for the rant, I guess I'll get back to my homework, hopefully post some more later!

Mexico has been absolutely hectic over the past couple of weeks. School is in full swing and I just finished one of my Spanish courses. Each Spanish class only goes for 5 weeks but meets more often given me a total of 8 credits for my Spanish classes. This is a great way to get a bunch of credits out of the way... however, it means I have a midterm and final every other week. Awesome.

From Wed to Friday I went to Cozumel to visit with Weston. My friend Bianca accompanied me. It was a little over a 5 hour bus ride to Playa del Carmen and then we took a ferry to Cozumel. What an adventure. After a little bit of searching in Cozumel, we finally found a hostel. Of course there were closed. Who can guess what famous scene this is closely resembles? As soon as we got to the door we saw a man on the other side. We knocked and asked to let us in, but he just shook his head and continued to ignore us. This lady suddenly appeared out of nowhere coming out of a door next to the hostel. I asked her if this were it and she let us in. She was just a visitor but helped us get situated showing us where the keys and bed were. Because the manager wasn't there, we had to sleep on a bare mattress with nothing else, but hey, we had a bed.

That night we went to a bar Weston showed me called, No Name Bar. It is a bar that was made by a couple of cruise members who were sick of going to ports and having nowhere to escape the tourists. The place is strictly for crew members or locals, but hey, we went anyways. We are Mexican locals. The place was absolutely great, fantastic to meet people you can actually have a conversation with and who aren't trying to get shit faced. However, being accustomed to not needing to look at a menu to pay attention to prices (in Merida drinks are rarely over 40 pesos) we ordered one margarita each. THEY WERE 105 PESOS! This was just the begining of our wake up call to how expensive tourist places are. Everything in Cozumel was ALWAYS at least triple the cost then what it would be in Merida.

THE NEXT DAY I SAW WESTON!! MEJOR. DIA. JUNTA.

I arrived back safetly last night. It ended up being just under five hours to get back to Merida but was made up in time with the traffic from Carnaval.

Tonight Bianca is having a potluck dinner for the study abroad students and me and her's tutors. I'm making Deviled Eggs but with a Mexican twist... jalepenos and cumin and garnished with parsley and chili powder! Hopefully they turn out well. Estoy nervosa!

Afterwards there is a parade. We are all dressing up despite the fact that we are only spectators. I have the best outfit ever. Full body spandex cat suit. Don't worry your pretty little heads off... pictures will definitely be posted.

Afterwards everyone is going to the disco but I think I'm going to wander around with my tripod and snap some photographs. I am writing an article on Carnaval for DePaul's newspaper. However, because its for the schools newspaper I'm going to have to make it, "DePaul Student's Experience Carnaval" and focus it on what we did. Umm.. hopefully I'll be able to find a way to get out of going to the clubs tonight to report. Sigh. But needless to say, I'm pretty excited to run around in my spandex cat costume shoving my voice recorder in people's faces. Meow!

por favor?

I have lots and lots to write about but absolutely no time! Between my community service, homework, school, and excursions to places like UXMAL I haven't had any time to write about my adventures!

But.... before I go back to my what will seem like an allnighter... I would just like to inform you all that I am officially addicted to Coca Cola. I'm trying to get past the denial stage to make the process easier when I am admitted into rehab once I get back to the states. My family drinks Coke for breakfast lunch and dinner. When I came here despite the occasional can I hadn't had coke in years. But thanks to my host grandfather who would continuously pour some in my glass while I attempted to politely decline the drink, I am now addicted. Yumm.

I asked Omar, our Mexican student leader about this and he laughed and said Coke is pretty much the official Mexican drink.

Oh, also... fruit sodas are extremely popular in the Yucatan. Manzanita, apple soda, is really good and very very prevalent. Yesterday I had banana soda. Interesting.

I can get used to the bugs in my food.

I can get used to the bugs in my bed.

I can get used to the bugs in my shower.

But something I cannot get used to is the fact that I am now jaded to scenarios where I pick my face wash off the floor in my shower, squeeze it into my palm, slap it on my face, and realize there were worms in my face wash that are now on my face.

There is a very peaceful and kind relationship between Americans and Mexicans here. After only being used to experiencing relationships between Europeans and Americans, I found this very surprising to me. Something that has stuck out to all of us is how frequently we are approached by strangers on the street simply striking up a conversation, about anything from the weather to how beautiful life is.  With that being said, I constantly feel the need to bow my head in shame whenever American music is played... which is ALL OF THE TIME. There is no escaping it, the buses, the clubs, the very cafe I am currently sitting in. Everywhere, oh dear god its horrible. Although from the Mexicans I have spoken with, they do enjoy it, and it is a lot more popular here than in the US, most ironically enough. I have begun watching some Mexican pop music videos... I like it a lot. There is this one guy called, Calle 13, who is actually from Puerto Rico who has some slightly unique to America, rap music. And I like his videos.

I recently had a conversation with another anthropology major that I met about traditional versus contemporary culture. Would you rather travel to a foreign country and listen to traditional folk music or the current music, fashion, and overall lifestyle that currently engulfs that region's culture?  It would be ignorant to not acknowledge globalization in areas that we, as Americans see as romantically traditional.  Both of us shared similar views on this topic. I believe it depends on the traveler's intentions. Because the United States is pulled from diverse backgrounds, and also only recently, it lacks any traditional culture that can be rooted to a more indigenous, less globalized experience. This is why to the vacationer foreign lands can be so alluring. But if you really wan to grasp your hands on a culture you need to have a firm understanding on both sides of the spectrum. We pulled away from the conversation that if you vacation to somewhere then go ahead, experience the traditional folklore, but to someone studying more long term, you really need to scratch beneath the surface and look at globaliation for what it is.

You can see women wearing traditional fashion on both sides of the traditional and contemporary fashion.  I have seen it in a parade for Meridas anniversery, on women asking for money to cars, and even some of the mothers in our host families. But it is slightly more common to see women wearing it for tourists, in hopes of getting them to go into their restaurant, or whatever commodity they have to sell. Is this exploiting their heritage or is it finding a way to make money in a contemporary world, while still uploading one's traditions? This I have yet to find a standpoint on, but I'm leaning towards the later.

Tomorrow will be my first day teaching the computer class. Yo estoy nervosa! We got together a couple days ago, and I am currently waiting for Jess to arrive here to work on it some more. We prepared a lesson plan, but the problem is that this class will be for people who do not speak a single word of English. So not only will our Spanish have to be proficient enough to effectively teach these people, but good enough to sustain them to come back twice a week.

Why are rappers STILL wearing sunglasses in all of their music videos? You'de think their fashion would evolve at SOME POINT....

Weston and I booked our house in Merida this week! We will be staying here for the week of the 20th, in March! I pulled a couple pictures from the website, although I must say that the house is much more beautiful in person, especially because the pictures don't reveal what the high ceilings do to the place.  The house is a two bedroom, so if anyone is interested in sharing, let us know!

Today was another busted beach day. The group tried to go last week, went but said it was miserable due to the weather. Lucky for me I stayedin bed all day curled up talking to this really cute boy named Weston. Well... he's alright.  This week it seemed to have warmed up... until we went ot the bus stop anyway.  Instead we decided to go out to lunch. We went to this place I had glimpsed at oneday while lost. It was absolutely positively the best restaurant I had ever been to due to its atmosphere. Its this hidden gem in the middle of nowhere and called, "La Casa de Cultural." The eating area is an outdoor patio encased by vines. Everything is very cutsey, cultural and dollhousy. Just my cup of tea. There s also a room with a drop down screen where they show documentaries. 

As always, you guessed it, I'm currently at a coffee shop being a trendy yuppie hunched over my netbook furociously typing away in my blog. Oh I love being able to say that.

Its the nighttime commute home on a shaky, graffiti covered bus. I have come to realize that Merida (well the northern part) is actually a very safe place. From my own observations as well as those of the American from my Spanish class who has lived here for two years, Merida is actually much more safe than Chicago. Or thusfar it seems anyways. This is not to say I'm not careful or that there have not been times where I thought i was in the process of being kidnapped or something of the sort... but I guess I'm wondering if it is at all okay to have my netbook out on the bus? My morning or nighttime commute is pretty long and usually when I have the most reflective thinking. But when I try to write in my journal it is extremely unlegible as Mexican buses are EXTREMELY bumpy. Recall the childhood joy of sitting on the back of the school bus and raising your hands in the air just as it were about to go over a speed bump. Now multiple that by the highest number you can think of.


The most striking difference between the Yucatan and American culture lies within the people's kindness towards one another. Taxi cab drivers actually enjoy talking to you and many will be the first one to strike up the conversation. In the ladies room at nightclubs girls smile at one another and all seem to be friends. Wheras in Chicago I often dread going to the bathroom because of the death stares I always get. I have yet to meet one person who isn't happy to strike up a conversation, regardless of age, gender, or class. Life here is much slower placed. Meeting times are general and always understood to be flexible.

I have yet to experience any real culture barriers, as I feel as though the culture here is much more fit for myself than that of America. The only thing I am having trouble with is at the dinner table. People here don't ever wait for everyone to sit down before eating. In restaurants they bring out each person's plate one at a time, often with a 5 minute span between each one. At dinner I absolutely can't stand to start eating before everyone, especially because I get served at least 5 minutes before the rest of the family. "Empieza" they will demand to me, "start!" But I just feel so weird doing so. What can I say mom, you raised me right. Well according to American customs anyways. I'm still loving the fact that lunch is the main meal of the day and dinner is light. It is so much more healthier not to mention many other benefits that I would develge into if my busstop weren't soon approaching........

My adjust to the city thusfar has been very smooth yet exciting. Today I went to my friends house for lunch to meet her parents. They are both anthropologists who practice in fields that I find most exciting. The mother works more in ethnography studied different tribes within the region and writes books about her studies. The father writes more journalistically and practices photography for documentation and exhibitions. Their house was absolutely amazing. Most of the rooms were divided into different houses spread amongst a pebbled garden complete with a wishing well. I made friends with one of their cats... "the one that hates people." Yeah, thats what my host family said about Blacky, our cat. And look whose snuggle buddies with me now (sorry Weston).

Right now I'm at an internet cafe with a couple of my friends. Its kind of one of those places you stumble upon with low lighting Mexican yuppies spread around, all laughing over their computers and beer.

There are constantly so many beautiful things I see and experience and make mental notes to come back and write about in this. But alas, as many have already figured out my mental notebook is extremely unreliable. Lo siento.

I absolutely love my classes. My spanish class is way too slow paced due to us catering towards the slowest student in the class. My history class is phenomenal, and my anthropology class, which we just had our first class is great. It is about working with "underprivaliged" communities and how to improve them, how they get to be that way, etc. Myself and another student will be recruiting people to join a computer class that we will teach. I'm really excited to do this, I will be able to construct the program however I would like. We are going to go to a food bank as well as go door to door to recruit.

A woman joined our spanish class yesterday who has been living in Merida for about 2 years. She took a cruise here many years ago, fell in love with the area and her and her husband bought a house. After their divorce he got the house in America and she got the house in Mexico. Sounds she got the high end of the bargain, eh?

Last night I saw a man on the side of the road who stood in front of a giant van that had his face painted on it. He looked so serious in his jeweled stunna shades.

If there were to be only one thing I could blog about during this trip it would be the man in a thong that stood on the roof of a truck with an elephant in its bed that I saw today.

My fellow observers and I simply blinked once and went back to sipping our coffee.

This post is dedicated to Brittany and Matt who have not only take in Professor Bananas, brought him back to health, but also... **drumroll please** TRAINED HIM TO STOP MEOWING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT! Round of applause!!! That's right... I typed it.


I found my spot. Well two actually. There is a big park in front of a church by my house that will be great for writing as soon as the weather warms up. But I am currently sitting inside a coffee shop that I have absolutely fell in love with. The interior is all red and black and the only lighting comes from the light that pours through the glass walls. The music they play is a combination between BitterSweet and Hooverphonic... but slightly more jazzy. Okay well that was just for that song... ever since they have been playing Frank Sinatra.

The coffee in Mexico is extremely smooth and the mint cappucino I am currently drinking is beyond words to describe.

Tonight we will be going to our first disco. I'm very excited but a bit nervous because I know my moves are nothing to compare to those of hispanics... or any race for that matter. Something good about my location is at night the tables turn in terms of long commutes. Now the students have to come to my neck of the woods where all of the discos are located!

Last night we went to an all you can eat and drink restaurant for only 115 pesos (approx 8 USD). My favorite place thusfar (I say this like I have gone everywhere... DISCLAIMER: I have only been to two bars thusfar) was a Mayan pub. With its dimly lit backyard seating and stray kitten scrounging about for food I felt exactly like I was in a movie.

**Sidenote I just killed a mosquito in midair and it has a butt like a bumble bee but red. Just thought everyone may want to know.

The other day a couple of amigos and I went to grab lunch at a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant. Here they served tacos with meat parts such as tongue, ear, hoof, brain, etc. The two girls we were with were unforutunately not having it so we had to go someplace else. But me and the rest plan to get back ASAP. Kevin said his mother makes grasshopper tacos all of the time and will have me over for dinner next time she makes them. Can't wait! This is going to be just like that scene in Lion King where Simba meets Timon and Pumba and trys the bugs. Hopefully! In my eyes so long as it is edible it is okay to eat. And this is the whole point in traveling isn't it? To try new things, send your senses on new adventures? What doesn't kill me will only make me stronger...

We visited the location where we will be doing our community service last night. It is in a very poor part of Merida where they are rebuilding a building for the community. I have a choice to either teach adults how to use computers or coach a kids soccer team. I am praying I get to do the later!

Some interesting facts:

There is no formal bus system. You wave a bus as if you were a taxi and simply stand up when you want to get off. Some buses are actually vans whose doors swing open and you jump inside and jump out when you get off looking exactly like that of a kidnapping scene. These vans also have no formal route and simply go to the direction they are marked with (example towards the center of town). Needless to say every one of us has been lost for many hours at some point or another, including myself. Mom and Dad--- BLINDFOLDS: It was really fun the other day when I was stranded in a factory part of town without a cellphone.

It is not the tourist season. I have only seen one other white person that was not affiliated with DePaul. They were a couple of students on the bus. Also, barely anyone speaks english here. I suspected some would... but almost nobody does. That being said, my spanish has improved dramatically, but don't expect me to be able to freestyle en espanol anytime soon. In 1 or two weeks my history class will switch over to spanish. Wish me luck.....

Hope everyone is having a great winter:) Time to take my fiesta...

PS. Sorry for all of my typos... I have a new netbook which I am still having trouble getting used to.

As I walked from the internet cafe I walked past an artisan on the side of the road chiseling away at a stone making a Mayan statue and a wild dog helped me cross the street. In Mexico cars have the right of way making if very hard and dangerous to cross the street.