Tijuana Service Trip-Spring Break 2008

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--Sunday, March 9, 2008--
The day was a long one. It started in LEhighton, PA saying goodbye to the love of my life. From there I traveled to Glenside, PA to pack my things. I arrived at my dorm at 2:00am to pack my bags for a weeklong trip for spring break. It was a service trip to Tijuana, Mexico. We worked with Esperanza International ( www.esperanzainternational.org ) It is a program that helps build homes for low-income families. I didn't know waht I was getting myself into, but I didn't really want to know, and I was excited!

4:30am we left Arcadia University on a school bus headed for JFK international Airport. We flew Virgin America to San Fransisco, and then grabbed a connecting flight to San Diego. We went outside and walked down the palm-tree lined streets to catch a bus and then a tran to the border. It was a long ride, but I got to see the city and it's outskirts. We got to the border...and as I'm crossing the bridge from the United States to Mexico I see a road sign that says "U TURN TO USA"...interesting.....

-Monday, March 10, 2008--
The first day we drive about an hour and a half to get to the place. The houses were made out of such scrap pieces of wood. It looked like they picked up the rotted pieces of wood we forgot about laying on the ground behind the barn. We started work doing odd jobs around the site...moving wire and stones, restacking cinderblocks (that were all handmade) digging trenches. THe trenches were the part that took the longest....that lasted the two days we were there. Ther wer too many of us there so a few of us went to a different house. It felt so stereotypically Mexican. Ten of us grabbed shovels and picks and and jumped in the back of a pick-up truck to go to another location. The second house we were working at was a woman with five children. The house that was built for them was about ten fet wide and maybe twenty feet long. That was her entire house. The one she's living in now they made with whatever they could find around. THe house that they were livng in now was still theirs and the land it was on. Which I thought was interesting, and great, in a way. THey owned this new house now and hte land the old house was on...they could do something with that. I'm not sure what, but it seems like they could.

--Tuesday, March 11, 2008--
We did more work on the same two houses today. It was mostly digging the ditch for the foundation. 36' deep by 18' wide. We hit one minor problem...we broke the water line, which was heartbreaking because the family didn't have water the, but for 18 dollars we bought them the new pipe the needed and rerouted it...which they needed to do anyways. To us an 18 dollar pipe was nothing to cry about...but to them...they may have had to save for weeks to be able to afford that....
We went to an orphanage. I wish i spoke more spanish so I could play with the girls more. They were just so happy to have us there and play with them. Pushing them on bikes, chasing them, drawing with chalk... The one girl just grabbed my hand and ran with me but as soon as I didn't speak spanish with her I was no good haha The other girl though, just grabbed me, jumped on my shoulders and had me run around. She was in heaven! On my back running around chasing her friend..."RAPIDO, RAPIDO!" She just kept screaming it and giggling so hard running around the play ground! It made me so happy to hear the girls laughing and screaming and having so much fun...it made me so happy, and excited.....

--Wednesday, March 12, 2008--
Today was our free day. We were told we were going to the Beach Town...silly me thought i would actualy be able to stick my feet in the Pacific Ocean! NOT! It was fn though.... The first stop the bus pulled over and i ran over to the edge and it was all...stone terrace like things built onto the side/top of the cliff overlooking the ocean...it was so beautiful! I want to live on the ocean like this...I just ripped off my flipflops and ran around climging ove the edges and onto the rocks. A few of thepeople were freaking out thinking I would fall or kill myself....they don't understand that I live for this.....as cleo told me "If you're not living on the edge you're taking up too much room..." I live by that...
I was sad to get back on the bus but we headed to a little shopping market. I bought so much stuff it seemed for twenty-five dollars...two handmade boxes, two purses, two necklaces, a bracelet, a bobble-head turtle, and an elephant! I love mexico...finally somewhere where the US Dollar is worth somthing. There was this guiser there that was so sweet...I was leaning over the edge trying to get it to spray me! and of course, me Danielle and Sara got soaked! we LOVED IT...Pacific water...the closest I could get! hehe
We went into Ensenada to take a boat ride around the area there. It was really chilly so me and Kristen who were in tanktops decided we should get sweatshirt or something...of courses none of the shops had any...we see a shop wieh them hanging on the wall...the shop was disgusting...it smelt like fish and ther were hundreds of flies everywhere. THe guy comes around the corner and she asks how much they were "40 dollars" and we were both just like ooh now way and turned to walk away and the guy goes "ok ok, 12" we looked at eachother and I said "we'll give you 20 for two of them" and we got it! How sweet was that...we felt pretty proud of ourselves! It was fun becuase I love boats. We saw seals on an old sunken boat, two cruise ships in the harbor and the most gigantic flag you've ever seen. We went out to eat and I got the best tasting grilled fish I think I've ever had...pacific ocean fish is a good hit!

--Thursday, March 13, 2008--
THursday I just dug at a rock/earth hill for the entire day! My back was to the sun all day and got a bit burnt. I didn't even take a break. I worked the entire day except lunch. That night we were taken to the border. Edwardo talked t us about what it's like living here, and how its his people and his culture and he wouldn't change it for the world...or leave... He talked about the family he has in the United States who want him to come vsit but he isn't allowed to cross the borders. He was incied to go to Africa to work with a program like the one he's part of ther in mexico (Esperanza Intl) He couldn't meet the rest of the people in the US he had to fly to Amsterdam to meet them. He told us how he wishes more than anything that Mexico could fix it's internal problems, to make it so that people wouldn't want to leave. Mexico is a third world country and it's losing its strongest and hardest working people every day. It's only hurting Mexico. The average factory worker makes 6 dollars a day. Daniella made a comment about how years ago her people (Irish) were allowed to come into the United States when things were bad in Ireland and it doesn' ake sense why Mexicans aren't afforded the same opportunity. It changed how I see Mexico. I changed my views from Carlos and Paulina last summer and this added to that. The wall they have built goes kinda far into the ocean. There's a park in the US side of the border called "Freedom Park" Ther's something weirdly sick about that. San Diego is a 30 minute walk from the border. As Edwardo said "If you could see, physically se the city that could offer you a better life, wouldn't you try to go too?" It maeks me realize how sick it is that the US has built walls to keep the people away...like animals ( I completely understand hwy they do it, but stil)
That night Danielle, Ryan, Sean, and I sat in the kitchen and talked for hours about everything...I mean everything. It seems like good convo's always happen in the kitchen. It was so cool!

--Friday, March 14, 2008--
We dug until 1 today. We only worked half a day and they had a fiesta for us. The community we worked in the last two days seemed a lot better off than wehre we were in the beginning of the week. That night we went to dinner and to se wrestling. I for some reason, got really sick. I had the chills for a few hours and then I had a really bad fever. I was soooooo tired!

--Saturday, March 15, 2008--
The day started out at 4:00 again...we took a bus ride to the border...crossed without realy any trouble and gt back on the bus to San Diego....took a flight from San Diego to San Fransisco...where we had a 3 hour layover...i wish i would have left the airport to se the city a little bit...I didn't think about that until too late though. We flew back across the United States to JFK where we actually landed an hour early...some storm winds helped push us along! How nice :D We got back on our school bus and I walked into my dorm room at 1:30am....22.5 hours later....

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