Things are different here...

Things are still going well, I am slowly, but surely getting more settled in. The kids are wonderful to work with and I’m getting to know them better as well as the family. But this is still the beginning and, while having lived abroad before certainly helps, life in Tlaxiaco has its own peculiarities to learn.
Here are some things that have stuck out to me:

Eating meat: With all the questions about me being a vegetarian, it is a little odd to me that we hardly ever eat meat. Except it’s not that odd considering that there are 28 people to feed, and meat is an expensive item on a budget- particularly for 28 people. We eat a lot of beans, corn tortillas and pasta soups. When Irene makes tacos, they are soy tacos. I think on the weekends they are more likely to buy some chicken, just because there are fewer people to feed.

One day last week I went into town with Agostin and went with him to the meat market. The meat market is indoors and has stalls for different vendors. While there are some vendors who sell bread, mostly it is meat with different sections for beef, chicken and pork. There are no refrigerators, it is all fresh meat that they cut for you. Clearly, this is vastly different from going to grocery store at home and picking up a neatly wrapped package of some sort.

Mostly, though, I was intrigued by what Agostin would buy, and how Irene would cook it. We went to a pork stall with slabs of meat, hanging sausages and sheets of chicharon. The woman seemed very nice, but I was totally taken aback when she whipped out an axe to chop off some ribs for another customer! (ok, it was more like a hatchet… I don’t know butcher tools!) Anyways, when it was our turn, Agostin asked for 1.5 kilos (3.3 pounds) of pork. This didn’t really seem like a whole lot considering how many people it was meant to feed and again I was curious as to what Irene was going to do with it. The butcher lady chopped up some pork rounds and then flattened each round until they were about a quarter inch thick. The meat was weighed and we left with a bag of very thin pieces of meat. When we got home, Irene cooked the pork in a delicious homemade green sauce. It was amazing! That day the secundaria students didn’t have classes and so they were not there. Which meant that there were about 21 people instead of 28. As far as I could tell everyone who was there got a piece of meat. If that is correct, then each person had about 2.5 ounces of meat. The meals always have protein, there are always beans and tortillas and often eggs as well. But that was the only meal with meat that week. Which makes me think that if I was actually a vegetarian, I would be eating pretty well here!

Taxis: I am totally a fan of cheap taxis. Cheap taxis + lots of busses make it really easy to get around without a car. Since Casa Hogar is out in the country, we often use taxis to get into town. The taxi service we use is more like a colectivo than a regular taxi service. These taxis basically go back and forth between the road we are on and where they are stationed downtown. They will let you off anywhere along the way, but they do not have door-to-door service. They are also a lot cheaper this way. It is a per person fare of 5 pesos ($0.50) one way. If anyone wants to go to town, we walk out to the road and start walking until a taxi comes along and we can get a ride. Often you end up sharing the taxi with other people.

Last Sunday, Irene, Jessica and I were taking a taxi to go to church. The three of us got into the back seat, and pretty soon we picked up someone else as well. So now, the taxi is full. And shortly afterwards, there is someone else to pick up. The taxi stops and the woman opens the front passenger door and slides in. The two women who are now sharing the passenger seat don’t say anything to each other, so I guess that they aren’t friends, but then again they are probably neighbors and at least know each other…. It still seems a bit odd to me, but they obviously both need a ride, and who knows when the next taxi will go by.

A few days later I go with Irene to go to the market. We end up walking all the way to the main road without seeing any taxis. Which is fine, and now that we are at the main road there are many more taxis. Shortly afterward, a taxi pulls up (different the usual service) to pick us up. But there are already 3 people in it, 2 ladies in the back and a dude in the front. Irene opens the back door and hops in. I look at her wondering… do I squeeze in the back seat with the other ladies or ??? Subete arriba, she says, and I open the front passenger door. The guy slides over without looking at me and I get in. While this seems really weird to me, it is clearly not weird to anyone else in the car, and definitely not weird for the guy I am sharing a seat with, as he continues to do something on his cell phone.

All in all, I write about these things not because they are particularly important, but because they caught me off guard for one reason or another. And because soon enough they will be just a part of any normal day.

Trying new fruit- a type of ciruela that reminds me of mangos.

Ahh... the best of American cuisine, Starbucks and hamburgers!

The fair is here! Mostly the rides and games were just like anywhere else.

Except for the kids in the giant hamster balls.

How can you possibly top kids in hamster balls? Having a Mexican giraffe as a chia pet. It´s amazing! It´s made out of wood shavings, nylons, rubber bands, foami and puff paint.