Today was my bad day. I woke up with a stomach ache…maybe the spicy soup, but more likely the American food I ate in the airport yesterday (Subway and Starbucks). Then about two hours into the day my asthma got the best of me and I had trouble breathing. I also hadn’t been sleeping too well in Chiapas and think it finally caught up with me…I could barely keep my eyes open. Needless to say, while many of the others were enjoying some time in Oaxaca, I went back to my room and slept in the air conditioning.
I didn’t miss out on everything though. I attended the trips to Universidad de Tierra (locally known as Unitierra) and Ollin Tlahtoalli (which means “Language and Motion” in Nahuatl), both alternative schools in Oaxaca.
Unitierra is a school for adults who have decided against traditional education. Some students at Unitierra never graduated from high school and others have received college educations. At Unitierra, students do not take formal classes with professors, nor do they receive a degree. The benefit is that students are allowed to study what they want to study, when they want to study, and how much they want to pay for their education. The difference also is that students at Unitierra are matched with professionals in the area who specialize in the student’s area of concentration. For example, one girl I met named Luisa mentioned that she works with a clothing designer in the area and just made her first shirt as an apprentice.
Ollin Tlahtoalli is a language school for students who want to learn English or Spanish. The director, Omar Nunez, explained that he has taught local merchants English so that they can better communicate with American tourists who visit the city. Omar also travels to small villages outside of Oaxaca to teach English and/or Spanish to indigenous people. He showed us a video of a conversation he had with some children in a small village who are Mexican but lived in the United States for a period of time and recently returned to their home country. Before this lecture, I would have assumed that many children would be excited to know how to speak English, but as it turns out, some of these kids are teased for knowing English, so they are shy to do so. What a different perspective this gave me…
I spent much of the evening walking around Oaxaca. First I got gelato with some of the ladies, and then I walked with Alex and Jacques to the Iglesia de Santo Domingo, which I missed which I was napping today. There was a band outside with people dancing, so that was fun. Then we came upon a small street fair with lots of food and carnival games. Oaxaca is definitely a cool city to hang out in and one I would come back to…
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