Global Kids' Online Leadership Program

Arturo Morales is an historian we met while in San Miguel. He taught us a lot of history about Mexico and connected most of it to the US. We learnt a wide range of things. We stared off talking about the independence of Mexico in 1810-1821. Even though his accent was strong we were able to comprehend every word and cover a lot of topics.
Mr. Morales seemed very galvanized about the fact that six student of different nationalities and schools that all live in New York, would be highly interested in what I'd like to call the authentic history of Mexico. I saw this through the way he wanted to enrich our knowledge of the history and at the same time slowly covered them so each point would be saturated in our minds.
We really did a lot of work in covering a lot of topics and took the time to listen with in enthusiasm. Some topic we covered, just to name a few were; Mexico's independence(1810-1821) Conspiracy in San Miguel (1810), USA invasion (1821-1846), French invasion (1862-1867), Social Revolution (1910-1920), Presidentialism (1934-1999), URSS-launch first atomic bomb (1949) and the Olympics in Mexico (1968).

Posted by Kemar HRAP at 4:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ever since I was little, my uncles and a few of my aunts would watch wrestling. But it wasn't the ones where the wrestlers we know would come out. They watched the Mexican wrestling or las luchas, as they would call it. Lucha libre translated literally means free fighting. This term used in Mexico and other Spanish-speaking areas to refer to a certain form of professional wrestling involving varied techniques and moves. The ones who perform are known as luchadores (singular luchador). Lucha libre or mexican wrestling is played by rapid sequences of holds and moves, as well as spectacular high-flying moves. Many of these moves have been adopted by American wrestlers.
The history of lucha libre goes back to the 1900's.. In the 1900's,professional wrestling was mostly a regional phenomenon in Mexico until Salvador Lutteroth founded the Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (Mexican Wrestling Enterprise) in 1933. There, it gave the sport a national foothold for the first time. The promotion company became popular and quickly became the premier spot for wrestlers. When the invention of the television came and everyone had one, Lutteroth was then able to broadcast his wrestling across the nation, making it very popular. That changed the sport of lucha libre. Then , there was a wrestler known as El Santo (The Saint). He made his debut in Mexico City by winning an 8-man battle royal. The public became amazed by the mystique and secrecy of Santo's personality and he quickly became the most popular luchador in Mexico. El Santo's wrestling career spanned nearly five decades, during which he became a folk hero and a symbol of justice for the common man through his appearances in comic books and movies, while the sport of Lucha Libre was played as national sport. Everyone in Mexico idolizes him like a"saint"
So when i went to see them LIVE, I was amazed! Everyone was cheering, rooting, and everthing. Men women, children, od people, little kids, just like i used to see in t.v. They even lokked like the people I saw.I was pretty close, too so that's what made look even more touristic. I finally knew why everyone was so hyped about wrestling. There were two groups, los techinos (technicians) and los rudos (rough ones). Everyone was cheering for the techniques because the technique the used amazed people. I didn't know who to cheer for so i just went with the crowd. I was with Amanda yelling and cheering, and I din't know what i was doing. ! But I had fun.
Outside the arena were sellers who were selling masks, toys, movies and stuff related to wrestling. Then a block away, there was an antenna that was to Televisa, Mexico's main t.v procduction studio. I figured that they used it to broadcast the show. Also, I saw the Av. Champcultepec 28 Colonia Doctores. That address is where my dad's (and also mine's) favorite comedy is. I got so hyped about it, I was like," Wait let me get an autograph!" But seriously I was a little too happy when I found out that was where my dad and I's favorite comedy show.

Posted by Norma HRAP at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I would have to say that this was one the most entertaining parts of this whole trip. We had some time left over on one of the days that we were in San Miguel, so we decided to go to the dance class. I mean who would have thought that there would be an African dance class in Mexico. The teacher happened to be one of Nassim's friends Lamine, he was a dancer and a drummer. The class started with Lamine showing everybody some of the steps that we were going to need later in the class. Everybody was having fun. We all had a chance to show everybody our moves. At the end we had a chance to show them some of Global Kids' stepping. Then we went to have a little something to eat with Lamine so we could get to know him better and so he can get a chance to know us a little better.

Posted by Mirza HRAP at 9:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While we were in Mexico City we decided to go to see some pyramids. The place that we went to was called Teotihuacan. One of the people from our partnered organization (El Centro...) went with us on this trip also. In the beginning we got a little two hour tour of the whole place and the guide told us some of the history that lies in Teotihuacan. He told us that there was four periods of time with humans, before our period of time, which means that we are the fifth "group" of humans to live. One of the things that the guide was talking about was when the ancient people thought that the world was going to end. The ancient myth says that the world will end some time in 2012, I hope that this myth is not true as will most of you (). The last part of the tour was when we went inside one of the pyramids. While we were in there we learned a lot about how the Aztecs lived and prayed to their Gods. Now lets get to fun part, the actual climbing of the pyramids ( again). Thew two major pyramids were called the Moon Pyramid and the Sun Pyramid. The moon pyramid was the smaller one but was said to be the most important. We were all able to climb both of the pyramids. When we were done we went home. This was one of my most memorable moments of this trip.

Posted by Mirza HRAP at 8:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was a day of endless surprises. At breakfast we congratulated the Zerriffi's on their 38th anniversary. Everyone busted out laughing when Ali a.k.a Papa Zerriffi said"oh snap it's today".After breakfast we went to CASA hospital and then their building. It was beautiful. Most of the buildings in Mexico are housees turned into offices or stores.But anyway we did workshops for them and vise versa. We spent most of the day at CASA interacting with the youth. Then we went home and got ready for dinner. We had dinner with the Zerriffi's. This place was so nice and had the best salmon ever made.While we ate we were singing songs, laughing and chatting like a real family. After dinner is when the surprises started. Mirza gave them a glass bird that stood on top of a beautiful crystal. We later found out that she is in love wit crystals. Fahim gave them a little bicycle that had a blue outline. Orginally made in Bangladesh. Then we gave them I LUV NY shirts that we had signed. At the table we let Nassim sign both shirts. Then we let Mama and Papa Zerriffi sign each other shirts. The funny thing was that when they signed them they wrote the same thing "forever yours" in different languages.Naomi a.k.a Mama Zerriffi wrote it in spanish and Papa Zerriffi wrote it in Arabic. This was a night to remember.

Posted by Tashawna J at 5:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was a day of endless surprises. At breakfast we congratulated the Zerriffi's on their 38th anniversary. Everyone busted out laughing when Ali a.k.a Papa Zerriffi said"oh snap it's today".After breakfast we went to CASA hospital and then their building. It was beautiful. Most of the buildings in Mexico are housees turned into offices or stores.But anyway we did workshops for them and vise versa. We spent most of the day at CASA interacting with the youth. Then we went home and got ready for dinner. We had dinner with the Zerriffi's. This place was so nice and had the best salmon ever made.While we ate we were singing songs, laughing and chatting like a real family. After dinner is when the surprises started. Mirza gave them a glass bird that stood on top of a beautiful crystal. We later found out that she is in love wit crystals. Fahim gave them a little bicycle that had a blue outline. Orginally made in Bangladesh. Then we gave them I LUV NY shirts that we had signed. At the table we let Nassim sign both shirts. Then we let Mama and Papa Zerriffi sign each other shirts. The funny thing was that when they signed them they wrote the same thing "forever yours" in different languages.Naomi a.k.a Mama Zerriffi wrote it in spanish and Papa Zerriffi wrote it in Arabic. This was a night to remember.

Posted by Tashawna J at 5:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We had planned to visit the hot springs before going to San Miguel. But due to a very busy schedule it was looking impossible. But the day before we left San Miguel one of our meeting with Arturo Morales got canceled and some people wanted to rest and some people wanted to go to the pool and the hot springs. So we split up in two groups. Wing Mai and Norma left for the hostel and rest of us left for the hot springs. It takes about half an hour to go there. We reached there at 4 p.m meaning we have about an hour and half to stay there. As soon as we went there we went to the hot spring. It is like a small cave followed by another. Hot water comes from a small opening. The water fall is very strong. If you go under you feel tremendous pressure on your body. Then we went to the pool. We dumped each other, raced and a lot of fun there. The best part is when we worked as partners to dump each other. Mirza couold not swim because of his broken hand. But he had fun though. Me and Nathaniel tried to dump Nassim. We tried in vain except once and then Nassim took revenge on us. The hot springs are awesome. Anyone visiting San Miguel should go in there.

Posted by Fahim HRAP at 4:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

El Jardín is located in the heart of the city, and is the meeting spot for most people at anytime. It's surrounded by beautiful buildings and archways from the colonial era. It is like the center of the town. It is visible from anywhere in the town. If you get lost anywhere in the town the church is your destination. San Miguel de Allende has been a designated historical landmark since 1930. As such, the town has preserved its colonial heritage by banning new style construction, neon signs and other heralds of "modernization". The colonial buildings remain, today, in the same style as when they were originally constructed. I was so interested in the history of the town and I did a lot of research. The Jardin has been the center of the city since 1737. In the 16th and 17th century, this area was known as the "plaza parroquial", as the town gathered at the "plaza de la soledad", which is now known as the "Plaza Civica General Ignacio Allende". The "Jardin" was originally a paved, open area with a fountain in the center, much like the Zocalo of Mexico City, that has become the pattern of cities all over the country. In the 1860's, a garden was started and the fountain was replaced with a gazebo. The gazebo that is there today is a replacement built in 1950. The first building in the Jardin was the "Templo de San Rafael", also known as the "Santa Escuela de Cristo". Construction began in 1564 by order of the first bishop of Michoacan. The mansion immediately to the right of the Parroquia is the Casa de Allende. It is one of the best surviving examples of 18th century architecture of the Spanish colonial noblity. Jardin is almost like the Times Square in N.Y.C in the sense that it is always full of people. San Miguel De Allende has a lot of foreigners. People from Canada, U.S.A and other European countries are moving in there. So it hosts events like international film festivals, plays dances, live music performances. It also hosts different international events. The Jardin is beautiful at night. There is something going on every night. One of the most common things is live music performances by the Mariachis. They have hundreds of people for an audience. The confluence of different factors makes the whole environment amazing. You feel like you are in a paradise or something. There are also restaurants around Jardin which has live music both in English and Spanish. You really need to visit it to experience the amazing life in there.

Continue reading "[hrap/mex] San Miguel's Jardín Principal (or main square)" »

Posted by Fahim HRAP at 10:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While our team was in Mexico, we ran into some new friends. When we traveled to Mexico City, we met a retired woman named Rolene Walker. She has a mission to walk from San Diego, California to the south of Chile. That is an amazing, interesting, and long journey that she is going on. She says that she's doing it for the beauty of the Earth. Before, she worked in the criminal justice field for labor workers and now that shes retired and traveling, she is meeting new people and getting a more positive view of people instead of a negative one. I believe that this is a very important journey for her and the rest of the people that are walking with her. She says that others only walked to different parts of California, but she is taking an even longer journey by walking to Chile. I also believe that by doing this she is spreading a very powerful message to others. This journey is suppose take take up to two years and I'm glad that I had the priviledge to interview her.

Posted by Nahtahniel HRAP at 10:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

During our stay in Mexico we made a visit to see a museum of masks on July 22. Bill Levasseur founded this museum and still runs it with his wife. They named the museum, La Otra Cara de Mexico which means, The Other Face of Mexico. This museum is open to the public right behind Bill's house. When we entered the museum, everything was very nice. They had a variety of masks that represented different dances and other things. One mask represented a very popular dance called, Baila Vieja (old man dance). The masks for this dance was never painted. The hair is from the bark of mulberry trees and wrinkled skin is carved into the mask. The dance consists of an elderly man and woman. These dances are from different indigenous groups in Mexico. This dance is from the Chontal indigenous group. Of course there were more masks that I noted about but this seemed very essential to state because it represented the elderly of Mexico. This museum really showed another side of Mexico that I did not see. I guess thats how it got it's name.

Posted by Nahtahniel HRAP at 9:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)