Ah, the weekend. In some ways I am surprised and other ways not surprised at all that I still wake up at 6:30am on weekends. I guess somethings never change. I will probably always be a morning person, but I love mornings! I never tire of watching sunrise over the hill and the old cathedral on the next hill which I see from the window of the study.

Our Spanish exams went well, at least for me. My teacher told me I need to talk more-that's a first! I used to get in trouble for talking to much in class, but that wasn't Spanish. She is right though-I do need to talk more and I know that. Luckily I have two more weeks to practice, make mistakes, and be corrected. Hopefully I won't be so shy from now on.

After class we hurriedly loaded the vans and headed to the Embassy. Mexico City is huge! There is no other way to describe it. Once I recovered from the carsickness from the drive over, I really enjoyed being in a vital city again. The longer we stood outside the front door, the more I missed Seattle and wished I could be back in a city. I love the energy, the forward momentum, the sense of life that is in cities. However, I remain pleased that we are stationed in Cuernavaca. D.F. is so polluted, we couldn't even see the sky! The mixture of smoke and smog created a hot hazy atmosphere that was stifling and made our eyes sting.

We had a panel for about 2 hours with different federal officers. It was fascinating. They told us about their position, their responsibilities, and their opinion on the current state of affairs in Mexico and U.S.A.-Mexico relations from their perspective. I was actually impressed with their honesty and their adherence to answering our questions. I expected them to try to dodge some of our more critical questions about immigration policy, the visa process, NAFTA, drug cartelling, and military involvement. While the Dept. of Agriculture and the Economic reps. did give strictly positive opinions, they at least acknowledged that in any "negotiation" (as they consider NAFTA to be a negotiation), there will always be winners and losers. From their perspective though, the gains for both countries, and for the Mexican economy especially in the past 14 years has outweighed the losses. I think their perspective has excluded rural Mexico and those who are not in the "consumer" bracket of socio-economic status (that is, those living in poverty or barely scraping by).

I think our scholars benefited immensely from hearing what representatives of the U.S. Government said about the visa process and matters of immigration. Our exposure this far was from the perspective of migrants, which is good too. But I think it is vital that we as professionals and future social workers and policy makers understand both perspectives and have first-hand resources for both sides of the debate. Since I can't tell you everything we discussed I will tell you what stood out most to me:

* Their appreciation of their position and their sincere desire to serve to improve relationships between both the countries and the people of Mexico and the U.S.A.

* Their cultural competency and appreciation of the Mexican culture. So often, U.S. Americans and officials are made out to be heartless enemies. These men, especially the Visa processor really expressed that they want to do as much as possible to ease the process and allow movement between the two countries. They clarified that it is just a legal process and that U.S.A. has the right to enforce such laws for it's own protection. However, they also gave details of the process and emphasized that there is no quota against Mexicans entering the U.S. to visit.

*Their understanding of the grave situation of drug-cartelling, and that this is not a problem that can be addressed unilaterally, but needs to be addressed bilaterally by both governments. Without the demand from U.S. Americans for narcotics, cartelling would cease to be such an overwhelming problem. However, as cartels have taken over local governments and bought-off their law enforcement (especially in the north) the violence has been increasing as different cartel groups are fighting for passage to the north. While U.S. can provide resources to assist in redesigning the judicial system and professionalizing law-enforcement so they are more effective and can earn the trust of the Mexican people again, a significant effort needs to be made in U.S. policy as well. Specifically, drug prevention and sentencing needs to be reformed. I was impressed that the representatives could elaborate on this and describe the "big-picture" so to speak.

*U.S. Immigration Policy will not be addressed in Washington until the constituents (that is, the people, you and I) push our congressional leaders for reform. Politics is politics, and if we are not convincing our representatives the Immigration Policy deserves immediate attention, then it will never be addressed. Our representatives will pursue that which is most important to their constituents for the sake of keeping their elected position. I beseech you: ask for Immigration Policy and Drug Use Prevention, Treatment, Penalty Policies be brought to the table. It is vital not only for Mexico-U.S.A. relationships, but also to the procurement of human rights on both sides of the border.

Today I am doing homework, which I hope will include some salsa dancing tonight. I can't really tell that it's Valentine's Day here in Mexico, but I hope it's a good one for you!

Peace.