Guess what? Yesterday my host mom asked me how many books I've read while I've been here. I told her (maybe 8-10) and she was shocked! She asked me if I like to read and I was like, "YES!" However, I've been worried about running out of English books....I know I should read in Spanish. But I do! All the time. For classes. And I bought the Alchemist in Spanish....I just miss the easyness of English before I go to bed. So she says, "We have tons of English books here that we can't read that students leave behind because they don't want to weigh down their suitcases when they go back home." (That's an approximate translation). And she proceeded to open this HUGE drawer FULL of books!!!!!!! OMG!!!! Navidad!!!! Then I got really excited and they were all laughing at me. But they are books! Good books! Like The Historian and some from Oprah's Book Club (gotta be good right? haha). Yes. It was wonderful (=. I'm stocked up!
Also. Today I was talking to my aunt here about my mom and how she likes to pull teeth of her students haha. So she asked me if we put our teeth under our pillows so that in the night a "raton" can come and leave money behind. FYI....raton=mouse. I said yes but for us it's a fairy, not a mouse! How different isn't it? I think if I thought a mouse was going to come get things from under my pillow at night then I would've never earned anything off my baby teeth. I'd be too scared! Maybe that's the point....haha.
Finally. On a more serious note. Today in Anthropology, which I should probably just called Indigenous studies, we learned about a movement that took place here in the 70s to reduce population growth. Get this: in 1910 the population of Mexico was 10 million. Today the population of Mexico is 57 million. WOW. Talk about an exponential growth spurt. So this movement involved encouraging all the people in Mexico to cut back on the number of kids they have by advertising smaller families, the benefits of having smaller families, and distributing contraceptives in public places like restaurants, etc. BUT because the Indigenous people were "cut off" from these things, the government tried another method to reduce their population....the sterilization of women in clinics, etc without their permission or even their knowledge! It's horrible. Yes....one goal was to reduce deaths of children of malnutrition, etc. But I wonder...and my professor implies...that there was an alternate motive as well. I know that when they did this in the United States a lot of it had to do with "promoting a superior race." And I wonder if the same idea applies here. It's horrible. And if I can find enough information/articles about the topic, then I've definitely found the theme for my 20 page final essay. I just hope I can find articles....
Anyway. I'm sorry if that was boring. But it was shocking and really interesting to me. So I thought I'd share. Since usually I just write about what I'm thinking. (=
Love to all!
Oh...and Lee....so far I've tried Mole Negro, Mole Amarillo, Mole Rojo, and Mole Estufado. And tamales con mole. 4 out of the 7 moles that Oaxaca is famous for! My favorite is Mole Amarillo, and I've discovered that Mole Negro is only good if the right person makes it....(=. However, I've also discovered that I love Chiles Llenos. Have you tried them? UMMM!!!!!
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