Blogs from Querétaro, Mexico, North America - page 7

I am sorry for my 3 week absence -- I can’t believe it has been that long! I have a lot to report. My parents were here for a two weeks stay followed by a quick 4½ day visit with my brother. I will summarize some of the highlights from each week. Week #1 Four Cities in One Day! San Jose Iturbide - A small town with a very nice central square (it had some really pretty trees that had just bloomed with beautiful purple flowers). We walked around the central square, enjoyed the beautiful day and visited a small bread store for some sweet treats. We discovered a really neat little market. I have finally learned the trick to finding the “central square.” Just look for the tallest church in the city. Just like that ... read more

This past week has been great. It has also been a week of reflection. I have come to a couple of conclusions. The first, people are people. Whether you are in Mexico or the United States, people are good, bad and in between. Fortunately, the vast majority of people choose to be good. I am constantly amazed at just how much good there is in Mexico. This week, I spent several days driving outside of Queretaro. Much of the time I was hopelessly lost. I must have asked for help (directions) 15 times last week. Without exception, the people I spoke to were kind and earnestly wanted to help. In fact one person jumped in the back seat and really saved the day. He directed us to our location and then jumped out! Yes, I gave ... read more

EDITOR NOTE: This was my first time blogging. This entry is WAY to long! I just kept adding to it, until I finally realized I could break them up. All that follow are much shorter and highlight our explorations around Mexico! We have big news for the new year! On December 25th we leave for Mexico. We are moving to the heart of Mexico, Santiago de Queretaro. I am taking sabbatical from the University of Cincinnati and I will be teaching at Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey Campus Querétaro. We will be living in Santiago de Queretaro, Mexico from about December 28th to June 30, 2007. We just secured a house last week! Keep us in your prayers & thoughts! DEC 30 Well, we made it! From Cincinnati to Queretaro in about 36 hours. We ... read more

So last night our little group had quite possibly one of the most cultural experiences of the whole trip. We went to La Lucha Libre. A rough Spanish translation = free fight. These are very popular in Mexico, sometimes underground. In my Spanish Civilization class we actually watched a little excerpt on the fights that tied them to indigenous roots. The theory is that the fights give the people a chance to escape reality and live in the fantastic realm that was so prevelant in the indigenous culture. I can see it to, the wrestlers as well as the audience seem to lose themselves in the heat of the moment... The arena is actually just three blocks away from Meghan and I´s house! Our host mother laughed at us when we told her our plans for ... read more

This entry started out as an entry about a ¨typical day¨for me during the week. I started writing it thinking the typical day would eventually materialize after about another week. Funnny that I even thought that. So intead I´ll tell you about a common denominator of every day, which is food. Everyday my roomate Meghan and I eat lunch at our host mother´s restaurant. We eat lunch after classes, which is usually around 3:00. The restaurant kinda of reminds me of a Mexican Franny´s (those of you SEK people know what I mean). Her food is always very good and she has a variety every day. Lunch is the largest meal of the day and always consists of three courses. The first is usually a soup or dish of pasta of some sort, or sometimes rice. ... read more