Cultural Experiences Recap & Summary of class

-Cumpleaños de gloria
-Miami Trip
-Otomi Interview
- Pelicula cama adentro
-One previous experience

Summary:

I really liked this class. I felt like it would have been awesome to do at least one more class. My thoughts on the book we had to read is it was a lot of information. The book actually saddens me a lot. At some points I just didn't want to go on reading. I felt like it was so similar to the painful stories of the African Slaves and Native Americans from North America and the atrocities and foolery doesn't cease to disgust me. Sometimes I wonder what life would be like if different territories where never conquered and if so many people never died.

The content of this class makes you think and look at life from a different perspective, especially the activities we did when we couldn't speak for ourselves or when we had to guess where the next person was coming from, it gives you a whole new set of eyes to look into yourself and realize your judgement inst always the correct judgement. 

We had a really great class, I think Curtis was a great facilitator. It would be nice to have a possible study abroad, Normandale has one. Its easy to talk about different perspectives but you really jump right in when you are there. 

I found all the information about the ancient native peoples of the Americas very interesting and i was ecstatic when I got to meet the in laws of my best friend and hear them speak the native language.

Overall this class helped me have a greater understanding of different cultures, and cultures within cultures :)
I will continue my journey perfecting and professionalizing my Spanish  I am currently taking a Medical Terminology in Spanish class and I work at Hennipen County Medical Center scheduling patients in Spanish. I love working with the Latino community most people are warm, genuine, and caring. I look forward to continuing my quests to find my destiny. 

My item from El burrito

This is my item!!

I bought the green tribal art mat looking thing.
This product said made in Mexico. I asked the manager on Duty where he thought these products came from and he said it is possible that they are from anywhere. He said they get a shipment and he doesn't know exactly where they come from he just knows they go through alot of different hands. He was happy our class was in supporting the business. 

I currently have this item below my keyboard. Everyone at my job loves it and a lot of people have tribal artifacts and cloths here at work because people are from all parts of Latino America at my Job. Most people here at my job are from Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Columbia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Chile, Cuba, Puerto Rico,The Dominican republic and Guatemala.  

Cumpleaños de Gloria

I should've posted this a little earlier but here I attended the birthday party of my god daughter Gloria! We had the classic tres leches cake that I have eaten at every single Mexican fiesta I have been to. We sung feliz cumpleaños a ti but there is another song that was sung that I still dont know how to sing,
I´ve heard it a couple times.  There was an asado (barbecue) and the kids all played at the park. I bought her a princess piano because she is a princess brat!

Abajo yo y mi niña favorita

She has a princess cake and everyone around who loves her

Otomi & Ñanhu Interview

As stated in an earlier post I had a chance to interview the hermana (sister) and suegra (mother in law) of my best friend from Hidalgo Mexico. In the area of MX that they live in  it was explained to me that most of the older people still speak a native language called Otomi. Fortunately for me I got a chance to witness this first hand. Both the mother and father and a few of their children spoke Otomi or (dialecto). My best friends dad speaks it as well as her grandmother. I also learned a few words like - Micxi (mishi) CAT and Deje (pronounced day-hay) for WATER.
 Now lets get into the interview- This interview is of my friends sister in law

Interview of Cheri, la hermana de el esposo de mi mejor amiga.
When did you first come to the United States? Why did you come here?
I first came here when I was 12, my parents wanted to give us all a better life. Even though he was a police officer in MX, he learned he could make more money here in the USA without working as hard.

What are some difficulties you had when you arrived to USA?
The food was completely different, in MX we ate everything freshly prepared and cooked and here in the USA everything was frozen and or microwaved. The language was definitely a hard thing for me to catch on to.

Where in Mexico are you from?
Ixmiquilpan Hidalgo Mexico

What religion do you practice?
Catholosism

What is the dialect or language that you speak?
Otomi

What tribe are the people that speak this language from and what are the people like?

Ñanhu Tribe, these people are usually the poor of the poor and the most uneducated. Most women dont know how to read or write in this culture.

How do you think it was possible after all of these centuries to preserve the language even after the Spanish conquered? How did the arrival of the Spanish affect this territory?
I think it was possible to conserve because the area was so far that the Spanish never got a chance to dominate in this area. I dont think the arrival of the spanish affected our area as much as other places closer to the city of Mexico. 

How is time measured in this culture?
Time is not really measured at all. We barely used clocks. Sundown and sun up were the basics.  Also rent is not paid monthly like you see in the city of Mexico or USA, people usually have their land and they work and eat off of it. 

What are the important celebrations of this culture?
 Dia de los muertos, Celebran a los Santos (they celebrate the saints).
They dont really celebrate any native celebrations. 

¿Que saben sus hijos de esa cultura o dialecto? What do your children know about this culture? 
Realmente no saben nada/ nothing

In your opinion what are the biggest issues today (financially, socially) in the area you are from ?

Delinquency, fraud, corruption, drug trafficking, lack of jobs

What do you think about the new generation compared to the old traditions and customs that you were brought up on?

I think its all bad these days. When I was younger you would kiss the hand of your elders, and if you didnt you were slapped. Before there was so much more respect for parents, grandparents and elders in general. We talk to our parents in the Usted form English for (mam or sir).

What do you miss most from your country?
The food, the environment, the tranquility, the social life. 
There if you want to you can do what you need to do today tommorrow or maybe even in a few days and there is no problem with that. I miss The social life, it seems like the time passes so fast here because of how we live. 

What are the typical foods from this area? 
Tortillas, frijoles, muchas frutas y vegetales.
 Quelites (herbs/ hierbas),

 Nopales (cactus looking prickly pear-pictured below) This picture was taken at their house/ my friend makes a great black bean soup with Nopales!!

Who are the Otomi?

Otomi (Hñähñu)

Otomi is an Oto-Manguean language spoken by about 240,000 people in Central Mexico, especially in the states of México, Puebla, Veracruz, Hidalgo, Guanajuato, Querétaro, Tlaxcala and Michoacán.

Otomi was first written by Spanish friars after the Spanish conquered Mexico during the 16th century. The friars taught Otomi speakers to write their own language using the Latin alphabet, and several books were composed using their spelling system. The language in which they were written is known as Classical Otomi. Since then many Otomi have abandoned their language and switched to Spanish, partly due to negative stereotypes about them perpetuated by Nahuatl and Spanish speakers. Attitudes began to change in 2003, however, when Otomi gained recognition as a national language of Mexico along with 61 other indigenous languages.

AREAS OTOMI IS SPOKEN

Origin of Otomi People

The Otomi people were one of the early complex cultures of Mesoamerica, and were the likely the original inhabitants of the central Mexico before the arrival of Nahuatl speakers around ca. 1000 AD, after which they were gradually replaced and marginalized by Nahua speaking peoples. The Nahua people included the Aztecs and three hundred years after their arrival they came to dominate the region, however they seemed to have held the earlier Otomi people in high regard as warriors.

The live in maid- Cama adentro (reportaje de la pelicula)

Movie Report

The 1st synopsis of the movie is from rotten tomatoes. 

This movie can be streamed live on Netflix. 

A once-wealthy Buenos Aires socialite who has fallen on hard times finds the roles between herself and her longtime live-in maid suddenly reversed in director Jorge Gaggero's class-conscious drama. Mrs. Beba is a 58-year-old woman whose days as a well-to-do socialite have long since passed, and Dora is the 51-year-old housekeeper who has been Mrs. Beba's live-in housekeeper for 35 years. As a successive cycle of personal and financial crises force Mrs. Beba to sell door-to-door beauty products as a way of making ends meet, she finds it increasingly difficult to pay her employee in a timely manner. Since Dora has been using her money to construct a house in a shantytown on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, this naturally poses something of a problem. It's been six months since Dora has received her last paycheck, and her patience has finally run out. Yet, despite the fact that class differences continually come into play between the pair, there is no denying the bond that has formed between them over the course of their three decades together. When Mrs. Beba finally produces enough money to pay Dora's debt and offer a six-month salary advancement, Dora decides to finally strike out on her own despite her employer's objections. Later, after Dora moves into her new home with her weekend boyfriend, Miguel, Mrs. Beba's energy and telephone services are turned off for lack of payment. By the time summer arrives, Mrs. Beba must sell off her apartment just to stay out of debt. Remembering that her old employee has a new home, the now-homeless Mrs. Beba kindly offers to give her furniture to Dora. But Dora can't turn away an old friend in need, and before they know it, Dora and Mrs. Beba are living together once again. 

Here I have notated a few things I have deemed interesting: 

1.  They used the Mate like Derrick had in his  Argentina presentation

 2.The attitude of both women were far from warm, it was like a cold almost like how Americans treat each other in Minnesota. Especially at the beginning of the movie,  I couldn't tell why Dora was so rude. I have always heard that alot of Argentinians are rude but I thought this was over the top. She would talk to her very firmly and not smile at all. Dora didn't smile at all throughout the whole movie.

3. The rich people were whites in the city and the poor people were more indigenous looking people, shorter, looked dirtier lower class, lived in an area with houses that looked more like shacks and where people rode bikes. 

In the city people went in taxis, they lived in apartments got their hair done frequently and lived a life of luxury.4. Most people had maids or (nana con cama)

Final Thoughts : I thought the ending was beautiful, a life lesson to all people who think their caca doesn't stank

It related to this course because it showed the difference is class and social status and how that shapes ones identity. 

Beba (La Señora) had little to no contact with her daughter, her daughter was living abroad in Spain , and everytime she called she only talked to Dora (la nana-maid) 

I thought it was ironic that only after Dora threatened to leave Beba offered her her 7 checks of back pay and pay in advancement. I was proud of Dora because she still left and kept her dignity and pride. Something that seemed interesting to me as well is that even though Beba did her so wrong, by not paying her and having her still be the maid, Dora still came by on her birthday and made her a cake and bought her stockings. Dora still checked up on her, en cambio La Señora never once checked up on Dora, she never called, never invited her over, until La Sra. Beba lost everything she took a trip to where Dora was living (Un barrio) and really needed to stay there and live with her. Talk about humbling yourself. You never know when you might need someone. She treated a great friend and employee like mierda and  the way La Sra. Dora repays her is by giving her a place to stay. I thought the ending was indeed beautiful, my boyfriend thought it was boring. 

What would you do?? Illegal Immigration / And story about my friend

What would you do if you had two options?

1. To stay in the home you love and know so well and starve or 2. Leave your family, your friends, your life , and everything you know to have a better future as long as you stay under the radar. 

This is the story of my best friend translated to English from Spanish and shortened a bit. 

I left my hometown of  Hidalgo, Mexico at the age of 14 years old. I left by herself. I saved up money by stealing crops from my fathers farm and selling vegetables and fruits in the city. I found her own coyote and left in a group of 25. I walked days in the desert and sewers, and many people died most of them being children or older people. People starved and died on the way because they didn't have water, it was a horror. 

When I got here it was nothing that I even expected. The extended family I had didn't act like family, and over charged me for rent knowing I had nothing. I wasn't given a chance to get on my feet. My first job was Mc Donalds earning 6.25$ an hour, then I picked up another job at night at Arbys. I knew NO English, and no one taught me anything. I got on the bus and caught taxis everywhere. This big city was so scary compared to where I came from; Farms and dirt floors. 

After about 3 months I saved enough money to move in with a few decent people and get a car. That is when I met Juan*, Juan* was 8 years older than me but that didn't matter to me I loved him and he loved me. I ended up getting pregnant that next year and when he came with me to one of my OB appointments the Doctor asked how old he was. Soon after the interpreter had a pale look on her face as the Doctor made a phone call. Moments after that Juan was arrested for the age gap that we had. I didn't know that here in the United States it was illegal to date or have sex with someone my age. 

We went to court and the lawyer was able to make a deal and the deal was that if I went back to Mexico he wouldn't go to jail. (It was a crooked deal) I agreed to go back to Mexico Voluntarily, and I didn't technically get deported because I was only 15. I arrived to Mexico and everything was the same. By this time Juan* was making enough money to send for me and I crossed over in a car. I was 6 months pregnant and back in Minnesota with my man. I had my baby when I was 15 and me and Nia met when we were both working at KFC in 2006  and we have sisters ever since. I have learned so much from her and she has helped me so much I love her!

What would it be like

5 minutes of writing:

What would it be like to leave your whole life family behind?

My response- 

It would definitely be disheartening to leave all of my family behind. I think of my best friend Elvi and how she hasn't seen her mom for 5 years. She is an illegal Mexican immigrant who came here on her own for a chance at a better life. It would be nearly impossible to visit just like its a normal vacation. It makes me think of the luxuries we take for granted sometimes. 
It would just break my heart in two to be in that situation. To have your daughter at five years old to never had met her "Abuela" , to leave your father, sisters, nieces and nephews and entire life behind to come to nothing familiar. To be forced to make a decision of vida o muerte. Its just "Inimaginable". For me it would be scary, I don't know if I could do it. 

What are things you would preserve?
We talked about how some people cant shake their customs all of the way. Some people just flat out assimilate. I think I would try to preserve my racial history and still celebrate or think of some of the things you also cant shake are your underlying thoughts. 

My friend has preserved her language, her holidays, and her cooking customs. 
Her and her family still celebrate el dia de los muertos, El Baptismo of a child, She still only cooks all authentic Mexican food. See below the tostada (i think) and the cacto. She makes a mean black bean soup out of cactus. She also teaches her daughter about all of her customs because she doesnt know much about the American customs and holidays and her daughter doesnt speak English.