stuck out like a sore thumb

In Puebla our sponsor was the local government again. We were dropped off in the downtown square near and briefly met our sponsor. They also took us on a brief tour of their historic building. It was nice, and old. Ha. Then we went to our allocation meeting spot and facility. It was called CENCH. It was a major high school in the city that was known for its 200 person marching band. At CENCH, our group stuck out like, well, really like a group of 90 international kids in a Mexican school of 4000 kids.

The following day we were treated to a tour of the Cadbury Chicklets factory. It was awesome! The smell inside the facility was sooo pungent. OK it was so strong that some people loved it, some people hated it, and for some people it made them sick to their stomach. Covered in masks, hairnets, and lab coats, we had fun seeing and hearing about the processes of how to make gum and other sorts of candy.

The rest of our tour was kind of unspoken for, literally. I had no idea what we visited because there was no tour guide to explain the sites we passed. I think the best part of the tour was ducking all the Independence day paraphernalia hanging from the buildings over our open-top bus. LOOK OUT! MORE FLAGS!

The following day, I convinced the dance director that I should go on CI (community impact) work rather than be signed out for dance. We were working on our European medley dances – one for Poland and one for Denmark. I am extremely glad that I asked for this because 1) the CI work we had was awesome, and 2) (writing from a future perspective) they took the Danish dance out of the show. For our CI activity, a group of us students bussed in town to an old-person day center. Think of it as day care for gramps and grandmas. The center provides activities and meals for the people during the day, and then family members pick up their elders at night. We did some sewing activities, some tai-chi (for old people, of course), sang a couple songs and then danced with them. The dancing was the best part. I had the honor and privilege of dancing with an 85-year-old Mexican lady, Rosa. She was light on her feet and took my turns with grace. Ok not really, but it was a great slow dance. So what a blessing to be able to help others than waste time learning a dance that wouldn’t be used!

Later on I was picked up by a stranger. Strange. But not really. My host mom was celebrating a friend’s b-day at a restaurant so she sent Antonio to come pick me up. It was a fun ride to dinner in his BMW Z4 zig-zagging through the Mexican streets. We ate dinner, a quite delicious one. It consisted of many rounds of skewers with varieties of meat. My host-mom knew that I had a big appetite so she took joy in waving down the waiter to bring the latest meat on the floor. I’ve actually had a dinner very similar to this (at a restaurant in Denver called Rodizio’s) so I knew to avoid the overly-rubbery, hard-to-chew chicken heart.