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Monday, 12 May 2008 |
David is a Junior at St. Mary’s High School and a member of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Parish. He participated in the March 2008 Uxpanapa, Mexico Immersion Trip with Nerinx Hall, St. John Vianney, and St. Mary’s students.
 This trip was very important to me and I am very excited I got to go on it. This really did change many views that I had on both the people and the country.
It changed the way I understand about Mexico because here in the U.S. way too many people believe that they are better than everyone and in Mexico, they are all like one big family. Everybody down there got along well and there was not a single feeling of hatred. The culture was very different and I did not mind it at all because it was easy to understand and feel comfortable with. Everybody was so nice to us Americans and they all treated us with respect just as we treated them. This trip has changed me because now that I know more about Mexico and its people, I have a better understanding of how they actually eat, work, and live. I learned that everyone should be treated equally no matter who they are. I would recommend that people get their food transition from American food to Mexican food and get their stomachs ready for the experience. The work that I did was help build a concrete basketball court. We had to level the entire ground that the court would cover and make it smooth. Then some guys would shovel the dirt from a big pile that was delivered into the buckets and others lift the buckets and pour into the concrete mixer. The girls were the ones who were pouring the actual concrete from wheelbarrows where they were directed to. After smoothing the ground on the first day of work, we made the concrete and poured it for the rest of the week. I never got to see my completed job but hopefully I can go again next year and see what a wonderful job we’ve done and help out in other jobs they have planned.
On Saturday before Easter Sunday, we went to a three hour long mass that was in Spanish. The mass was long because they had weddings, baptisms, and other sacraments to do during the mass. In the house that I stayed at, they had a mini super mart. They sold food, toys, and other necessities. I shared a room with a boy from Vianney, Aaron, and two Mexicans who were doing service, Cellerino and Elias. We all four slept in the same room and our family consisted of a mother, father, and two little girls. The bathroom, shower, and laundry room were behind the house. They were each in separate cells. It was nothing like what we have. To shower, you had a big bucket full of water that you had to pour on yourself to rinse. In order to flush the toilet you had to pour water down the toilet and you could not put ANY toilet paper in the toilet or else it would clog up the plumbing pipes on the whole street. It was very fun trying to talk to the Mexicans when you don’t speak Spanish, but sometimes it got a little frustrating.
Living in Mexico for one week was not difficult at all. There was this Mexican girl that I met down there and she was very beautiful. Her name is Gudelia and she was telling all the Nerinx girls that she liked me. I “tried” to talk to her and I guess it went good. We are now talking to each other through e-mail along with my other Mexican friends.
I just want to say thanks to all of those that put this trip together especially Brother Roberto and his staff. I also want to say thanks to the teachers from St. Mary's, Vianney, and Nerinx that went on this trip with us. This trip was very fun and it really was a life changing experience and I hope to get a chance to do the same thing next year.
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