This is the organization that trained us how to give workshops to a group of 15 kids, teaching about 20 different hour long activities to empower them to use their voice and participate in gaining their rights to education and in understanding their relationship with the media.
http://www.derechosinfancia.org.mx/ (copy and paste)
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Sunday, August 7, 2011
La Casa Azul de Frida Kahlo
Pictures of Frida's amazing house in La Colona de Coyoacan and some friends from the conference.
Distrito Federal a Guadalajara
What a great week so far. I arrived a little more than a week ago and I have learned so much. I was in a workshop for the last 7 days put on by the Network for Rights of the Child here in the capital, Mexico City. We were learning participatory methods for educating children in their right to education, while looking at their relationship with the media and violence/comercials specifically.
I was with about 12 other men and women from different states in Mexico who work with children and education in one form or another, specifically with street kids and vulnerable populations. I met some really great people and learned a lot about different states: Queretaro, Chiuhuahua (Ciudad Juarez), Tobasco and others.
Mexico city is pretty great. Though it is very polluted (you can see the dirty air). Diana and Nidi and Maria Luisa and I went to the Casa Azul, Frida Khalo's house which is in the neighborhood Coyoacan (named after Coyotes). Its a great neighborhood with such amazing food, the most famous donuts, coffee from Jarocho, mezcales, and street food. Her house was amazing- brilliantly blue with amazing books about philosophy and life, some in english, her paintings and a beautiful garden.
It was great to end the week of workshop with cake with the kids and a reflection session. I got so many sincere welcomes to the country and to this culture- from Javier, a colleague in the workshop, saying I hope you enjoy this country and the culture because you fit here and will be great; from Susana my new friend from GDL, saying you are going to have the best time and that she will show me around the city and we will explore together; from Magaly, a colleague/good friend now, saying this country welcomes you to its land because you are a part of it and you will fall in love with it here. SO NICE! My field advisor here, Danielle, has been great too.
I got in last night, Friday night, to GDL, a smaller modern airport to rain and warm winds with my two huge blue bags. I was worried about missing my flight and having to stay in DF, which would not have been ideal (I was ready to leave the craziness of a huge city) since my taxi was late and it was raining and there was of course tons of traffic. But I got there in good time and jumped on my Viva aerobus, where you sit anywhere you want and talked to this really nice guy who worked with the government in the department of public health. So Jose (from the plane) and Susana (from the hostel in DF) are some new friends in GDL and I am excited to explore more and learn so much!
I have limited connection to internet here, I am using a telcel broadband USB to connect. Danielle pays to get a couple of hours a day so hopefully in a couple weeks when I move from her place to a new apartment I will have something stable. All is great and I am excited to be here!! I feel like a real person again after traveling around this summer and living out of a suitcase all summer then being in DF in a hostel- I now have a cell phone, a real bed for a little while, and warm water!!
Hasta pronto...
I was with about 12 other men and women from different states in Mexico who work with children and education in one form or another, specifically with street kids and vulnerable populations. I met some really great people and learned a lot about different states: Queretaro, Chiuhuahua (Ciudad Juarez), Tobasco and others.
Mexico city is pretty great. Though it is very polluted (you can see the dirty air). Diana and Nidi and Maria Luisa and I went to the Casa Azul, Frida Khalo's house which is in the neighborhood Coyoacan (named after Coyotes). Its a great neighborhood with such amazing food, the most famous donuts, coffee from Jarocho, mezcales, and street food. Her house was amazing- brilliantly blue with amazing books about philosophy and life, some in english, her paintings and a beautiful garden.
It was great to end the week of workshop with cake with the kids and a reflection session. I got so many sincere welcomes to the country and to this culture- from Javier, a colleague in the workshop, saying I hope you enjoy this country and the culture because you fit here and will be great; from Susana my new friend from GDL, saying you are going to have the best time and that she will show me around the city and we will explore together; from Magaly, a colleague/good friend now, saying this country welcomes you to its land because you are a part of it and you will fall in love with it here. SO NICE! My field advisor here, Danielle, has been great too.
I got in last night, Friday night, to GDL, a smaller modern airport to rain and warm winds with my two huge blue bags. I was worried about missing my flight and having to stay in DF, which would not have been ideal (I was ready to leave the craziness of a huge city) since my taxi was late and it was raining and there was of course tons of traffic. But I got there in good time and jumped on my Viva aerobus, where you sit anywhere you want and talked to this really nice guy who worked with the government in the department of public health. So Jose (from the plane) and Susana (from the hostel in DF) are some new friends in GDL and I am excited to explore more and learn so much!
I have limited connection to internet here, I am using a telcel broadband USB to connect. Danielle pays to get a couple of hours a day so hopefully in a couple weeks when I move from her place to a new apartment I will have something stable. All is great and I am excited to be here!! I feel like a real person again after traveling around this summer and living out of a suitcase all summer then being in DF in a hostel- I now have a cell phone, a real bed for a little while, and warm water!!
Hasta pronto...
Friday, July 29, 2011
Bienvenidos a Mexico City
Wow- what a trip flying from Boston 6 hours to SF then connecting after a 4 hour layover to Mexico City. SF had the best looking flights so I had a back up plan to stay in the city if I wasn't going to make the flight, but I ended up getting first class, it was awesome except for the fact that it was a 4.5 hour red eye. But I got in this am at 6 and hopped in a cab after, surprisingly, not being questioned at customs and getting both of my bags after being told neither were confirmed to arrive.
I got to the apartment where my supervisor, Danielle, is and had a warm welcome. We chatted and talked about work and Mexico. After showing and sleeping, we ventured out to the Zocalo which is the main plaza and saw some pretty amazing buildings.
Today, July 28th is actually the dia de San Judas which is the saint for hopeless causes, so we went to a church where a lot of people holding the virgin where just standing in a massive crowd holding small statues of the saint. Another interesting sight was a female police officer in her blue suit wearing those police brimmed hats and silver sparkle eye shadow. Wow! What a surprise...Danielle, my field adviser here and I were cracking up. Definitely a little surprise.
Danielle is definitely the typical "gringa" as she calls herself in the organization, and she is going to be so great to work with. She is hard working, outgoing and passionate about educating street kids so they can have a better life. She emailed me an organization that wants to partner with CODENI called sOccket that uses soccer balls in developing areas that when they are kicked around they generate energy. I do question how practical and useful it would be for some communities, but it is an interesting idea. Check it out: http://www.soccket.com/
I start the workshop on Saturday and am here for a week then off to GDL to find housing! Super exciting...
I got to the apartment where my supervisor, Danielle, is and had a warm welcome. We chatted and talked about work and Mexico. After showing and sleeping, we ventured out to the Zocalo which is the main plaza and saw some pretty amazing buildings.
Today, July 28th is actually the dia de San Judas which is the saint for hopeless causes, so we went to a church where a lot of people holding the virgin where just standing in a massive crowd holding small statues of the saint. Another interesting sight was a female police officer in her blue suit wearing those police brimmed hats and silver sparkle eye shadow. Wow! What a surprise...Danielle, my field adviser here and I were cracking up. Definitely a little surprise.
Danielle is definitely the typical "gringa" as she calls herself in the organization, and she is going to be so great to work with. She is hard working, outgoing and passionate about educating street kids so they can have a better life. She emailed me an organization that wants to partner with CODENI called sOccket that uses soccer balls in developing areas that when they are kicked around they generate energy. I do question how practical and useful it would be for some communities, but it is an interesting idea. Check it out: http://www.soccket.com/
I start the workshop on Saturday and am here for a week then off to GDL to find housing! Super exciting...
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
CODENI and Guadalajara
As you know I will be in Guadalajara, Mexico starting Thursday the 28th for the next 7 months (maybe longer who knows!) and I will be blogging again. I am so excited to be working for CODENI (a child rights organization ) doing assessment of their six different program areas (recreation, workshops, education, social work, street outreach and psychology) to support the creation of an education model for the organization and develop their rights based approaches to development.
I am super excited and look forward to staying in touch with friends and family!
I am super excited and look forward to staying in touch with friends and family!
Austin, SF, and Kansas
Austin was so amazing with my friend in my Masters Program, Elizabeth. She is so amazing, did Teach for America in Brownsville, Texas and will be working in immigration in Mexico City for her field work- so she will be close to me! Here are some good times...
Awesome Breakfast Burritos at Torchys Tacos!
Here I am with Elizabeth and her GF Andrea
Classic Austin shot!
Going home was great, a lot to do and see. I stayed with my aunt since my parents were renting our house in Atherton. I got to see all of my close friends and catch up. Three of them are going off to grad school and a couple others getting their dream jobs and also still figuring out what they want to do. So proud of my friends!
Here I am with Maile and Steph.
Love that city! I do want to look for jobs there after graduation...but who knows where I will be!
Then off to Kansas to spend time with my Moms family- Aunt Candy, Uncle Loren, my cousin Sammy and my gma Irene. We went to holy field winery, very small and very good! Then to the lake house where I found the best and most fun instrument- the COWBELL! Check this out: It is pretty funny with Will Ferrell- so all year Kristina (my best friend) and I said that we played the cowbell and I finally found one at my familys lake house in Kansas. I also found letters that my mom wrote when she first started working for United when she was my age in 1972-74. She actually visited Guadalajara and loved it!
Awesome Breakfast Burritos at Torchys Tacos!
Here I am with Elizabeth and her GF Andrea
Classic Austin shot!
Going home was great, a lot to do and see. I stayed with my aunt since my parents were renting our house in Atherton. I got to see all of my close friends and catch up. Three of them are going off to grad school and a couple others getting their dream jobs and also still figuring out what they want to do. So proud of my friends!
Here I am with Maile and Steph.
Love that city! I do want to look for jobs there after graduation...but who knows where I will be!
Then off to Kansas to spend time with my Moms family- Aunt Candy, Uncle Loren, my cousin Sammy and my gma Irene. We went to holy field winery, very small and very good! Then to the lake house where I found the best and most fun instrument- the COWBELL! Check this out: It is pretty funny with Will Ferrell- so all year Kristina (my best friend) and I said that we played the cowbell and I finally found one at my familys lake house in Kansas. I also found letters that my mom wrote when she first started working for United when she was my age in 1972-74. She actually visited Guadalajara and loved it!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Summer fun!
So much fun since the second I hit send on my last final the middle of May (a 15 page paper for Rights of the Child of quality education- it was sooo hard!).
I have hit up NYC with my Stepgrandmother, the Lovely Mary Ellen. We galavanted around the town going from Central Park to the Met to the Public Library to the biggest Macys in the world! Loved it and it was such a great day.
After NYC, I went to Pittsburg, PA to visit my dear friend Katie (who's wedding I went to a year and half ago in Pitt) and is actually moving to Cambodia with her husband for 2.25 years to work for the Peace Corps. She is a rock star an I had to see her before she left and I am gone for who knows how long. We saw U of Pitt, Bluefields, helped throw a fundraiser for Awamaki, a great non profit doing womens weaving empowerment in Peru.
Then Kristina (my amazing roommate and best friend) had her mom come for a weekend, then her Dad and stepmom and brother for a week so we had a ton of guests. At one point her parents were here, her brother, Tom our other roommate had a guest and I was going to dogsit for the night! Madness at 871 Harrison!! It was great to spend time with them, we did the Freedom trail for a whopping 6 hours (usually it does not take that long) and had some great food- Senegalese, Flour bakery, and at at Faneuil Hall. So much fun.
Then the 24-26th of June I was in St. Augustine, Florida visiting my friend Audra who is doing a Yoga teacher training for a month. We worked together at the Office of Experiential Learning at Brandeis and have become close. She is great and did her Masters in a similar arena with a focus on non profit management. It was such a relaxing time at the beach with fine white sand. We bike rode, went out to this no name bar, had great vegetarian local food and had sushi! love it!
Next up is 4th of July in Boston. I am really looking forward to a reenactment and listening to the Boston Pops on the Esplanade (green area by the Charles river) and watching hours worth of fire works on the water! This is so going to be the best place to be for the 4th!
Then the 8th-10th i'll be in Austin, TX visiting Elizabeth, a friend from Brandeis. Stories to come!!
I have hit up NYC with my Stepgrandmother, the Lovely Mary Ellen. We galavanted around the town going from Central Park to the Met to the Public Library to the biggest Macys in the world! Loved it and it was such a great day.
After NYC, I went to Pittsburg, PA to visit my dear friend Katie (who's wedding I went to a year and half ago in Pitt) and is actually moving to Cambodia with her husband for 2.25 years to work for the Peace Corps. She is a rock star an I had to see her before she left and I am gone for who knows how long. We saw U of Pitt, Bluefields, helped throw a fundraiser for Awamaki, a great non profit doing womens weaving empowerment in Peru.
Then Kristina (my amazing roommate and best friend) had her mom come for a weekend, then her Dad and stepmom and brother for a week so we had a ton of guests. At one point her parents were here, her brother, Tom our other roommate had a guest and I was going to dogsit for the night! Madness at 871 Harrison!! It was great to spend time with them, we did the Freedom trail for a whopping 6 hours (usually it does not take that long) and had some great food- Senegalese, Flour bakery, and at at Faneuil Hall. So much fun.
Then the 24-26th of June I was in St. Augustine, Florida visiting my friend Audra who is doing a Yoga teacher training for a month. We worked together at the Office of Experiential Learning at Brandeis and have become close. She is great and did her Masters in a similar arena with a focus on non profit management. It was such a relaxing time at the beach with fine white sand. We bike rode, went out to this no name bar, had great vegetarian local food and had sushi! love it!
Next up is 4th of July in Boston. I am really looking forward to a reenactment and listening to the Boston Pops on the Esplanade (green area by the Charles river) and watching hours worth of fire works on the water! This is so going to be the best place to be for the 4th!
Then the 8th-10th i'll be in Austin, TX visiting Elizabeth, a friend from Brandeis. Stories to come!!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
23 Years with United
I realized the other day that I just passed the point of being 23.5 years old and that was the exact same number of years that my mom worked for United. 23.5 years of her life.
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