UNAM students teach us the school cheer. If you could see this live at a Puma (their soccer team) game in the stadium, you'd understand why it was exciting. They have great school spirit!
All of us: so happy together!
Me and the powerpoint presentation. An addition to the 10-page research paper I wrote in one day :) Gotta love college and study abroad.Well, it's been awhile. My apologies. These three weeks have been pretty much ridiculous. I've decided to catch up by making a different entry for each week. You will see that each week has been completely different and completely packed.
After returning from Texcoco, I came home to two big projects for my policy class, which consumed the first 48 hours of the immersion week. The UNAM students came from Mexico City to live with us this week. We shared classes to compare some SOCW policies (I presented Housing and Development's Strategic Plan), and to share experiences of SOCW in our countries. It was quite a change of pace and environment for us, going from our urban homestays to overflowing shared spaces. I felt badly that I couldn't spend more free time with them, but I did manage to tan by the pool with them for an hour one day!
During the week we had several interesting speakers visit us to talk about various issues: racism and the third root of Mexican heritage, the politics and perspectives of indigenous women, etc. We also had large group discussions of these issues, as well as other challenges and rewards of the SOCW field. All in all, it was a interesting experience. I think all students benefited from one another and from the sharing of ideas, time, and space. After all, we, as social workers, have the common goal of working to increase social justice in our communities, our countries, and our world. We all readily addressed the stereotypes we had brought with us to our convivio, and were pleased to find most of them false or overgeneralized. This week was a great way for us to make more connections to social work/social workers in Mexico. Undoubtedly we expanded our resources as professionals and students by augmenting our understanding and connections to the country and our coworkers across the border.
While all this was going on, I was thinking about going on Spring Break finally. I also missed my host family dreadfully, so fled our busy house for a good home-cooked meal and short visit with my Mom on Wednesday. In my other life in the States, I received notice of upcoming job applications with due dates over the break/our stay in DF, so I had to complete those before I left Friday. It's really hard to even try to think about summer jobs or summer plans. I had a lot of options, and everything was way out of my reach. I didn't (and wouldn't) have enough information to make a sound decision. And I was considering extending my stay another week. And did I mention that I also received notice that I was accepted to work my practicum at the VA in Seattle this week also!? The thing with making all of these decisions is that, unlike the organized flow of falling dominoes (where one decision depends on the result of another), these are more like the untangling of a big ugly knot (where slowly and with difficulty to pull out one piece at a time until finally it comes apart and you can move on). Everything depended on the results of another decision, or another office at SU, or another person, on a job decision, and on my own personal choices in regards to what will be most advantageous to this summer and my last year of undergrad when I return to Seattle. That means that I needed to be reflective, and our schedule doesn't allow a lot of time for personal evaluation lately...Therefore, the cold persisted, the stomach ulcer increased, and the stress zits continued into the Easter weekend.
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