Wednesday 01 Jan 2003

I want to take this opportunity to wish all of you a Feliz y Prospero
Año Nuevo. It's hard to believe that in just two days you will be on
your way to Mexico and I will be on my way to the airport to welcome
first Annika coming from Seattle and then the rest of you. Remember
that when you arrive at the Mexico City airport, you will first go
through the visa area (be sure to fill the form out ahead of time)
and then pick up your luggage and head for the customs area (also
a form to fill out ahead of time). You push a button and if you get
green you head for the exit doors. If you get red, the customs people
will go through your luggage and then you exit. On the other side of
the door will be huge numbers of people awaiting friends and family
- or strangers with names on placards.

We have outsmarted them by telling you to turn left as soon as you
pass through the doors and look for the big Alamo car rental sign.
Vicente Isidro and Miguel Felix (some of you met Vicente at St. Olaf
in September) will be waiting for you there. I will probably be
upstairs above them (just look up for my smiling face) until you
begin to arrive. One suggestion I always make to travelers. Be
sure to pack essentials in a carryon just in case your luggage
gets missent or delayed. This has not happened to luggage yet for
our groups but I've known it to happen to individuals in the past.
Mine got delayed once flying into Minneapolis!

We'll travel to the hotel in three suburbans (or in regular taxis if
the former are not available). Hopefully, you'll have selected your
two roommates (one roommate in a couple cases) so check in will go
quickly. I'll be giving you each $200 pesos for early expenses - gift
and meal subsidy. You may want to exchange US$50 at the airport - you
will get a much better exchange rate if this is in cash rather than
in traveler's check. At some exchange places in Puebla, the difference
is not as great. I don't recommend changing money ahead of time as
the rate in the US is much worse. You should be getting between 10 and
10.20 pesos to the dollar. The dollar has been stronger against the
peso lately.

After you get settled in, we'll send you off with Vicente and Miguel
to the Balderas/Ciudadela market to test your Mexican shopping skills
- you might even try bargaining. My father, who spoke almost no
Spanish, did this by writing numbers on a sheet of paper. Not to worry,
Vicente and Miguel will be there to help you. You might spend your time
checking out Mexican artesania and some preliminary gift planning -
you'll have time to return to the market at the end of January when
we return to Mexico City. Plus Puebla and other stops on our trip
abound with artesania markets - even Acapulco!

We'll have a busy Saturday in Mexico City - the Museum of Anthropology
is one of the best in the world and Chapultepec Park is full of other
places to visit and observe. You'll get a chance to ride a city bus
to the Museum and will return by metro - the Mexico City subway - with
lots of protection from guide Paco Grajales, his daughter Citlali (star
in Nahuatl) and Vicente and Miguel.

Sunday, it's up early to pack and breakfast and head for the Basilica of
Guadalupe and Teotihuacan Archaeological site ("the Pyramids") one of the
wonders of the world - again with trusty guide Paco Grajales in charge.
Remember to bring your luggage down with you when you come for breakfast
so we can get it loaded on the bus.

In Puebla you'll meet your homestay families at my spacious apartment
which will serve as headquarters for the program. Most are longtime
friends though each year we have a few new families. We have a 90 to
100% success rate in matching host families and students but if you
are having problems, even minor ones, do not be afraid to talk to Naurine
Lennox or me. Remember, my telephone is callable 24 hours a day if a
problem comes up. This applies to your families in the US also.

Your families will help you learn the bus route to and from Puebla centro
(where my apartment is located) and to your work sites. Someone will go
with you for one or two days until you can spot the right bus line (there
are many in Puebla, each bus well marked) and key buildings or landscape
at your bus stop.

The weather has been pleasant lately - warm and sunny every day with no
rain - though we occasionally get showers even in January. You can expect
short sleeve weather by day - at least when you are in the sun - but cool
weather in the shade and at night. Some homes can be a tad cool at night
and early morning also as there is no central heating in Mexico. The same
is true of the Hotel Bamer. So have a sweater and jacket along if you
need to layer for cool times. Remember, you can buy clothes down here if
you don't have enough along - as well as all sorts of toiletries and even
medicines.

Enough, enough! - brevity was never my greatest virtue. I look forward to
seeing all of you in two days.
 
Hasta luego,
David Brye
 

December 12, 2002

Hola Oles,

I had hoped to get this sent off this morning but other
events came along to prevent my doing so. Besides, it is
mainly a holiday today - in honor of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
Hundreds of thousands from all over Mexico are visiting
the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City - we will too on
your first Sunday here on the way to the Teotihuacan pyramids.
Whatever ones beliefs, the Virgin of Guadalupe is important
in Mexican history and in present day Mexico. The local
Iglesia de Guadalupe on the Paseo Bravo is also the center
of much activity today. I went last year but will avoid
the crowds this time around. I'll be attending a performance
by one of the local ballet folklorico groups as part of a
conference on rural workers - including friends from the
SEP office of Bilingual Education.

I continue to be busy visiting sites for this January.
Tomorrow I'll go with a representative of DIF out to the
Casa de Angeles, a new institution for poor handicapped
children; then on to the Hospital General for their
annual reception for outpatients (they have no inpatients)
with AIDS (SIDA in Spanish); then back to the downtown
area to finalize Alejandra Fonseca as a speaker - she
works with state benefits programs but also continues
her work with male transvetite prostitutes (she'll talk
about this and the broader issues of prostitution in
Mexico during the program). Finally, off to my dentist
to see how the hole left by my recently pulled molar
is healing. Monday I'll be checking in with the Instituto
Poblano de la Mujer and the Casa de la Familia - the
main orphanage of the DIF - where babies and children
deserted or from problem families are first sent before
being apportioned out to other families. Then my
umpteenth visit to the Secretaria de Salud trying to
nail down our visit there and the willingness of the
Hospital General to receive some students.

The volunteer situation for Juconi (street kids) helping
them set up for their Three Kings party on Monday and
Tuesday - the party is Tuesday afternooon and we'll all
be there after our social service Tuesday afternoon -
is falling into place. The orphanage run by the Sagrada
Corazon nuns will not be able to receive us at first
(they will be off at a Three Kings activity on Monday)
so the three or four assigned there will work at Juconi
on Monday and Tuesday and begin their work helping the
kids (boys froom 6 to 14) with their homework and with
some games - if the Mother Superior relents a little
bit - she is a tad serious!  Our program participation
will be short - and I hope sweet. Irina Rodriguez and
partner will be give a 15 minute presentation of Mexican
folk dances and Amy Trowbridge will be preparing a couple
songs to sing (something popular and easy listening, Amy)
- I hope to have an electric organ if someone can play
for her. You'll have Monday evening at my place for final
rehearsal. Yes, Amy, bring music along. There will be
others who will join you in singing at different times
and, hopefully accompanying you on the piano. I can't
tell if any one plays guitar but we'll try to have one
available also. I know several of you want to learn.

OK, first of all mail - that's the easy one! It usually
takes about three weeks for letters to arrive so it
hardly pays for people to send mail unless they want
to do it before you leave. Fortunately, almost every
one can be in touch by e-mail (correo electronico in
Mexico) as there are cybercafes (computer connections
but no coffee at reasonable prices) all over the place.
Also, it costs 85 cents to send either a letter or
postcard from Mexico so don't promise to send too
many.

Secondly, telephone calls. I know e-mail has not replaced
these! Long distance and local telephone service are
expensive in Mexico - you pay almost 2 pesos or 20 cents
for each call over 99 in a month. Forget about calling
long distance from your homestays. Our general policy is to
say that you pay 2 pesos for each call you make from
your host family's telephone - even using a telephone
long distance card. The latter do not always work. You
must check with the card issuing company to see if it
works calling from Mexico. MORE IMPORTANT, you must get
the Mexican 800 number; the US 800 number does NOT work
calling from Mexico. Calls from the US can cost up to
US$1.00 a minute unless you have a special international
service. This past August and September, I saved a huge
amount of money on my calls back to Mexico from Wisconsin
and Minnesota using the Sams Club ATT Prepaid Phone card.
The calls cost me less than 20 cents a minute. I recommend
it or a similar card. Beware of some cards which have
an expensive connection fee in addition to the minute
charge. I will try out my Sams card here (I have a Mexican
800 number for it) to see if it is reasonable in making
calls from Mexico.

Mexican pay phones work with prepaid "Ladatel" cards which
you buy here for from $30 to $100 pesos. You need them to
make calls from pay telephones - of which there are plenty.
The charge is $1 peso per minute for local calls and (half
what it used to be) only $5 pesos (50 cents) per minute for
calls to the US. You will all want to buy these here. We
suggest that you use one of these from a pay phone on the
street or in a restaurant to call the US, telling the
person to call you back in  x  minutes when you arrive at
your family home.

Better yet set a time when you will probably be home with
your Mexican family and have relatives and friends call at
that time. We have a general policy of no telephone calls
after 11:00 p.m.CST (Puebla is in the same time zone as
Minnesota etc.). We also have a policy of NO local calls
longer than 5 minutes and NO long distance calls longer
than 10 minutes. We can't tie up the telephones of our host
families more than that. Also, remember that messages,
especially in English, may get lost.

A dependable fall back is to give my telephone to your family
and anyone else who might call and, if they are having a
problem reaching you, they should call me at 011 52 222
232-6710. Good times are 8:00 to 10:00 in the morning and
7:00 to 10:00 in the evening except when we have activities
elsewhere. My telephone is also a 24 hour a day emergency
number. At this point I don't have an answering machine.
Also, I will be checking my e-mail every morning and other
times during the day. So give family and friends my e-mail
address: davebrye@gemtel.com.mx.

Tell your families that it will take awhile before you will
be able to call them the day you arrive. If they don't hear
from you soon enough they should call the Hotel Bamer and
ask for you - saying you are in the group of David Brye. The
operator does not speak English so have them ask for me if
they don't reach you. The hotel number is 011 52 55 5521-9060.
We'll be busy until about 9:00 p.m. - no curfew on calls to
the hotel!

This is more than anyone wants to hear about telephone calls
but they are often a problem. I suggest you print the
relevant section out and leave it with friends and family.

And I think it's enough for you. Good luck in your meeting
tonight. Be sure to send me a message if I don't already
have a pretty good idea of what kind of service site you
want. Some have responded by e-mail, others were clear in
their inititial application blank. I will try to have both
work site and home stay information in your hands by the
middle of next week.

Hasta luego,
David Brye

PS I suggest you print this message so you have the information.

Tuesday, December 10, 2002

Hola Oles,

I assume you are now in finals and looking forward to Christmas
vacation. I just want to send you a few words on the Mexico
program.

A number of you will be taking the course for your Social Work
Major Global Component. This involves writing a paper on a human
need in Mexico - and there are lots of those. I keep clipping
files on many issues related to Mexico including social issues.
The majority of the articles are in Spanish but I also have a
goodly number of English articles clipped from magazines and
newspapers. These include information on the following:

poverty in the country
poverty in the city (less on this)
intrafamily violence women/children
street kids
prostitution
Mexican machismo
women's roles
gender discrimination
gay discrimination
AIDS - lots of information on this
orphans and adoption (not alot)
prisons
juvenile facilities
indigenous issues and discrimination (lots)
human rights
police and crime
corruption
medical problems
socialized medicine system

In addition, many of these issues will be addressed by different
speakers and site visits. You should be primed to ask extra questions
when your topic is being addressed - maybe even catching the speaker
afterwards for more information. I can also put you in contact with
other people to interview. I would especially like some of you to
take topics related to indigenous people in Mexico as we will be
spending a week in contact with a village and its institutions.

We are gradually lining up the social service work sites for the
nine afternoons from January 6 to 16. I have some indications about
where some of you would prefer working. However, I would appreciate
more input. I cannot guarantee that you will get your choice but if
you have a special interest in any of the following, please let me
know in the next couple days. My e-mail address is davebrye@gemtel.com.mx
You can also reach me by pressing Reply to this message. Roommates
will generally be sent to the same work sites.

The following sites are probable work sites:

Casa de la Familia Poblana - casa de hogar or orphanage run by DIF
the government program. We had a group there last year. DIF sends
people out to other orphanages after a brief stay here. They also
handle adoptions.

Casa Hogar run by nuns of the Sagrado Corazon de Jesus - another
orphanage

Juconi program for street kids - working with the kids in their
workshops making things to sell

La Granja - facility for Juvenile offenders

Casa de Angeles - facility run by DIF for handicapped children
from poor families - a new site

Casa de Sal - AIDS facility and drop in center

CERESO - prison for women - giving English lessons

General Hospital - a new site under the Secretaria de Salud

There are other possibilities still in the works. You may not get the
place you want but do let me know if you have any preference. Housing
has to await work site assignments as we try to place people near
direct transportation to their site whenever possible - a real
challenge.

In general, I'd like to hear from all of you indicating any concerns
and preferences for the program. It is almost all in place now but
Mexican bureacracies move slowly and sometimes take sudden shifts.

I will be sending you information about a special project calling for
volunteers at Juconi preparing and helping with their Three Kings
Festival the first two days of the program in Puebla. We will all be
attending it but they need help setting it up.

Also, I'd like to know if any of you would be willing to "donate"
your talents at any of the sites. I am especially interested in
musical talents. We have one muscic ed major and several of you with
musical experience and ability. I plan to buy an inexpensive portable
electric piano/organ to use in the program. Who would be interested
in preparing something musical for the sites? I plan to locate an
old violin in San Miguel so the violinist in the group can see if
she can learn local tunes to play with one of the many guitarists
in the village. Several of you mentioned interest in guitars, are
any of you at the playing stage? Please send me an e-mail on this
and bring along any music you have that might be useful. Two years
ago Jessica joined the marimba band father and sons on the drums
at one of the parties.

Enough enough. And I promise not to SPAM you too much. I get 40 to
50 messages a day (I'm on lists and have friends who forward) and
am very used to pressing the delete key but I realize that for some
of you a filled box can be a bit daunting. I'll try to indicate
by Subject which ones are more personal messages from me.

Lest I forget, there is a lot of need for clothes, shoes, toys
(especially educational) both in your work sites and in the
villages. Why not spend part of Christmas collecting clothes,
school supplies etc. and bring them down. If you get your own
clothes etc. in one suit case, buy an old one at Goodwill and
fill it up. We will be doing a distribution in San Miguel but
you can also have in mind your work site. Sweaters and sweat
shirts and jackets are especially welcome in San Miguel this
time of year. Come to think of it, I still have a batch of
sweaters I hardly ever use to contribute - though not too many
large and extra large sizes are needed!

Feliz navidad,
David Brye
4 Oriente 204-2
Puebla, Puebla 72000
Mexico
Tel. [011 52] 222 232-6710
davebrye@gemtel.com.mx
 

November 21, 2002

Hola Oles,

I met some of you briefly in September but just to reintroduce myself. I
graduated from St. Olaf when we still dined in Ytterboe and Mohn Halls -
now not only the dining rooms but the halls are gone! I grew up on a farm
near Coon Valley Wisconsin and went to high school in Sturgeon Bay Wis.
After college, I went on to graduate school and eventually received my
Ph.D. in American History from Harvard University. From 1965 to 1981 I
taught at Luther College. However, in 1969 I "discovered" Mexico and liked
it so much I began to spend more and more time here, eventually moving down
full time in 1981. I have lived in Mexico City, Monterrey and, for the last
eleven years in Cholula and Puebla. I have taught at different universities
and American high schools in Mexico. Currently I work with a variety of
programs for colleges and universities in the United States - mainly in
January and in the summer. I did a semester program for human service and
criminal justice students from Saint Mary's of Minnesota for six years -
my initial contact with social work sites in the Puebla area. These contacts
have expanded during the last four years as I have coordinated two earlier
January term programs for Professor Naurine Lennox and the St. Olaf Social
Work Department.

I will send you a copy of the TENTATIVE schedule for this January - there will be
changes to meet the needs of our speakers and the places we will be visiting.
I am currently contacting and recontacting the speakers and the institutions we
will visit and where you will do your work experience each afternoon. More and
more of this material will be placed on the Web Site Professor Lennox is in the
process of creating.

Our first two days will be spent in Mexico City. We will stay at the Hotel Bamer
(note address and telephone number on the schedule) right downtown in Mexico
City. You have no doubt heard scary stories about the capital of Mexico - and
rightly so. However, I would rank it not much more dangerous than Minneapolis -
St. Paul and less so than Chicago or New York City. Our hotel is safe and in
a very open area - no narrow streets or alleys. We will always travel in a group
and (on Saturday) in safe taxis or public transportation. You will be warned not
to go out at night except in groups. I will have at least two people working with
me who will also help look after your security. You will be generally three people
per room. Professor Lennox has already indicated that the rooms are very spacious
with two double beds. Those who prefer can have a third small bed added. We will
eat some of our meals at the Hotel - hopefully in the large fifteenth floor
dining room with its great view of the City. We are centrally located across from
the Alameda park and about five blocks from the Zocalo or Central Plaza where
the Presidential Palace, Templo Mayor Museum (from Aztec times) and Cathedral
are located.

On Sunday we'll leave fairly early by chartered bus to visit the Basilica of
Guadalupe where the cloak of Juan Diego (recently sainted) with the impression
of the Virgin of Guadalupe is displayed. This is an important story in the
history of Mexico - and continues to be important to many Mexicans today.
We'll go on from there to the famous pyramids at Teotihuacan (these predated
the Spanish Conquest by 1500 years - the people who inhabited them were gone
long before the Aztecs entered the central valley of Mexico.

We'll go on from there to Puebla where you'll meet your host families at my
home/office/classroom - just two blocks from the center of Puebla - the Zocalo.
We'll "partir la rosca" - a January 6th (ok, so we're a day early) with our
families and see who gets the dolls in their pieces of the rosca. Those who
do will have to prepare (with the aid of their families) something special
for the going away party on Friday January 17 - our last night in Puebla.

You will be generally two to a family unless you request a single home stay.
You will probably be sharing rooms but everyone will have their own bed for
the two weeks you are with your families. You will eat most of your meals
with the families - be prepared for your comida (lunch), the main meal of
the day in Mexico to be at 2:00 p.m. or even a little later as that is the
Mexican custom. Our señoras (or their maids) are almost all good cooks and
accustomed to US student tastes. You probaby won't get hamburger but you
will be well fed - and the food will not be picante unless you ask for it.
Be sure to let me or Mari Carmen Juarez, she's in charge of the homestays,
know if you have problems in the house. Often these are the result of
misunderstandings or cultural differences and can be fixed. And don't be
afraid to speak directly to your señoras (most come with husbands but they
are our primary contacts) about problems. Many of the host families come
with children but not all. We will try to match your preferences but cannot
always promise to do so. We also try to place students with little or no
Spanish along with a student more experienced in the language as not all
of our homes have English speaking people living in them. Have this in mind
as you begin to pair up for homestays.

One reason for this is the effort we make to place you in afternoon practicums
or work experiences compatible with your interests. These are located all
over the city of Puebla - as are your home stay families. We try to reduce
transportation as much as possible. I will send you a list of this years
work sites before too long along with tentative assignments. These change
each year as we discover new sites and old ones no longer function well.

I'll also discuss the Puebla schedule in more detail in a later missive.
Our general pattern is a speaker at 9:00 a.m.; a visit to a social service
site at 11:00 a.m.; return home for meals about 1:30 p.m. and then head
for your work site from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.

A high light of the trip for me (in every way except sometimes the weather)
is our visit to Cuetzalan and the nearby Nahua village of San Miguel Tzinacapan.
Vicente Isidro (some of you met him in September - he's been back in Mexico
since the end of that month) will be my assistant for the month and our
trilingual (Nahuatl, Spanish, English) guide to his village. You'll also
meet lots of other people - your age, kids and families in the village.

One last comment. I think you all will be selecting topics - some area of
social need and how it is being met or could be met in Mexico (am I right
on this Naurine?). I will be happy to send you some suggestions for this
- and I have an extensive archive of newspaper and magazine clippings
related to most of these topics in both Mexico and Puebla. You'll also
be able to interview people about your topic.

Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions about the program and
your part in them. If you don't get an answer in a couple of days, please
resend the message. I am pretty good about responding to e-mails (Professor
Lennox and I sometimes have almost a chat room situation going) but at
times they get lost in the shuffle. Unless you ask me not to, I may send
my answer to the whole list. You might want to send this message on to
your parents. I welcome their questions as well.

Later on, more about telephone calls, mail, safety, money - how much and
how to bring it - and other practical issues.

¡Bienvenidos al programa y en 45 dias a Mexico!

David L. Brye
4 Oriente 204-2
Puebla Centro
Puebla, Mexico
Tel. [011 52] 222 232-6710
E-mail: davebrye@gemtel.com.mx

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