John Collings

The National Museum of Anthropology – Mexico City, Mexico

When people think of Mexico City, they often think of the great food that is available there, and then they think about the various civilizations that span centuries and makes this one of the most in interesting cultures that the world has to offer. There are ruins both inside and outside of the city that offer a glimpse at these civilizations, but the country was smart enough to gather the most important antiquities and put them together in a museum that allows people to explore these cultures and learn a little about what mankind knows about them. This place is found on the edges of North America’s largest park, Chapultepec Park, and is open six days a week from 9AM to 5PM called the National Museum of Anthropology.

To start off with, this museum is huge and holds a massive collection of mesoamerican pieces that cover cultures from the Mayans to the Aztecs to the Teotihuacans and many more. It is not as large as the British Museum but all of the pieces on display here actually come from the region that the museum is in, and does not take the treasures from other parts of the world to put on display. Though not as big as the British Museum, it would still take more than a day to cover all that this place has to offer. You could probably do it if you wanted to, but you would be exhausted afterwards and everything would blend together in the end, not allowing you to get anything out of the experience that you could if you just took your time instead.

I would recommend just picking and choosing what you want to look at instead of trying to take it all in. The museum is laid-out exceptionally well which makes finding what you are looking for easy. The civilizations are divided up into separate rooms with the main descriptions of what you are seeing written out in both Spanish and English. Unfortunately, when it gets to the more singular piece details, they are usually written in Spanish, so you better brush up on that language if you want to know all the in-and-outs of what you are seeing. But still, there is plenty enough English if you do not know Spanish that you will be satisfied with the knowledge that you will gain visiting here.

I spent most of my three hours in the museum in the rooms about the Aztecs and the Mayans. It is impressive the amount of pieces that were spared from the Spanish colonial period as they went through destroying much of what they had to offer the world considering it blasphemous to their religion and thinking. I am also amazed at how much can be learned about the culture by looking at these pieces because, especially with the Aztecs, much of it was lost due to the conquistadors and priests that came over from Europe. They had spent a lot of the time destroying the stone statues believing that they were blasphemous towards the Catholic religion. I am grateful that there was such a vast collection out there that I was still able to view so much of it, but it also makes me wonder what treasures were lost.

If I have any complaint about this museum, it is a minor one and it is more of a reflection of who I am rather than what this museum has to offer, and that is with the gift shop. Most of the time, I believe gift shops to be a waste of time filled with a bunch of silly trinkets that don’t really mean anything, and this museum keeps up with that tradition, but I still go and visit them anyway to see if I could find a book that would help me learn more about what I just saw. I have found some really good books all around the world that have helped me dig deeper into the cultures I am exploring, and there were some books that looked really good in this museum’s gift shop, except they were all in Spanish. My Spanish is not strong enough yet to be able to read these more complex texts, so I wish that they supplied some books in English so I could have known more about the Aztecs and the Mayans. Still, I should be able to find this information elsewhere, and like I said, it is a small complaint about an otherwise wonderful experience.

Even though it might not be on your radar if you are visiting Mexico City, it is a place that you should consider adding to your itinerary. It is something that is truly a part of the area, and explores its long history. The National Museum of Anthropology is easily one of the best museums I have ever been to, and worth the visit.

Game Day in Mexico City

When we booked our trip to Mexico City a couple of months ago, the World Cup was the last thing that was on our minds. We just thought it would be a great stop-over on our way back to the United States for the summer where we could get a little culture, and enjoy some great food. What we found was a little bit more than that. It was a celebration of a sporting event that brings the world together to see which nation has the best football team for the next four years.

There has been an electric vibe to the whole city ever since we have arrived. I have seen many different jerseys as we have walked around from Columbia to the Netherlands to Ecuador, but the one that is most prevalent has been the green jersey of the Mexican national team. Everywhere we have gone we have seen street vendors selling this jersey, and I have been told that it is easier to find the knock-off version rather than the official version as a symbolic middle finger to FIFA has overcharged for anything concerning this event for the fans that truly buy into all of the hype.

Things built up to a crazy amount of enthusiasm on Tuesday night as Mexico played in their first knock-out game of the tournament. People starting filing out onto the streets around four o’clock to find their special spot where they could watch the game. The bars had all of their seats taken and vendors started popping out from all corners of the city to sell jerseys, horns, drinks, and flags. Everybody was excited to see Mexico move on to the next round for the first time in decades.

It got so crazy last night that there were places where you could not even more except for the way that the crowd pushed you to go. Cars could no longer travel on some of the major thoroughfares because they were packed with people. And the whole crowd cheered their team onto a victory that could be felt throughout the whole city. I have been around the World Cup before, but never like this, and it showed me for the first time how much people love this event.

Congratulations to Mexico for winning the game and moving on, and I wish them the best in the next round.

Karaoke

Life will move slower down in the valley
As we take a pause from our busy days.
We can create nighttime festivity
Where only the bolder come out to play.
We will dust off the old songs from our youth
To sing with the new friends that we have made.
In their simple lyrics we find a truth
Whose remembrance has started to fade.
Our time to control this city is gone,
Passed on to the younger generation,
But for now, we have ’til the break of dawn
To pretend that we still own that station.
So raise your voices to the stars above,
And embrace out past in these songs of love.

A Remembrance to Snow

There was a time when snow covered the land,
Hiding all of the world’s imperfections
To everywhere that eye had spanned,
Forcing us to run to our reflections.
The icy landscape chased away the birds,
Leaving behind a moment of silence.
We took the time to part from our own herds
So we could shed our facade of pretense.
The cold would cloud our breath and bite our nose,
Yet we would fight against the discomfort
As we searched for understanding that grows,
And through meditation we can support.
But for today the only wind that blows
Is in remembrance of days of snow.

Ziplining

Only a rope allow me to dangle
From high above the forest canopy.
Within its threads, my fingers will tangle
To make sure that the ground I will not see
Until I can find it with my own feet,
And not from a free fall from the wire.
Traveling by zipping, I will complete
This moment of fear from being higher,
And I feel like I accomplished something
That was always buried deep within me,
An irrationality that is holding
From experiencing life that is free.
It’s the way we conquer those things that scare,
By overcoming that childish dare.

The Mighty River

Do not take the river’s might for granted,
For it has spent years carving this valley.
It’s hard to follow what it has ranted
As it rushes out to the distant sea,
But if you stand upon its muddy banks,
And pause from your busy day to listen,
The river will regale honestly frank
Tales of how the pride of men it’s taken.
They have tried to dance upon its rapids
In flimsy boats carved out of hollow wood,
And though its rage absolutely forbids
The challenges these men thought they could,
Boats and men have both cracked in disarray
And the river flows mightily this day.

No Tech

We have left our technology behind
And ventured out into society
To see if we could start to be more king.
It’s what it really means to be hands free.
It starts with a little conversation
As we probe into each other’s thinking.
There might be some cause for hesitation
To see if our deep beliefs are linking.
We poke and prod trying to uncover,
From the people we are getting to know,
If we can handle what we discover
Will agree with our opinions also.
We will find with this quality time spent
That we are really not that different.

Lunahuana – An Experiential Vacation

I recently asked one of my students where people traveled to in Peru. He rolled his eyes, looked at me, and instantly said Cusco. I realized my mistake, and asked for clarification; where did Peruvians go to for their getaways. He talk about many spots along the coast, and then mentioned one spot not far in the Andes where Peruvians went in the Andes mountains not far away from the coast where some went to play on the river or around the surrounding mountains. There are ruins, and playgrounds set up for both children and adults. It is not well known by people outside of Peru, but it is a great getaway for those that live in Lima. I got to learn about all it had to offer as I took my students out on an experiential education trip to this region of the Andes Mountains.

There are many things to do in this valley, and a bunch of vans to take you up and down the main road that follows the river to take you to these activities. The travel only takes fifteen minutes at most from the furthest away hotel, and some of the hotels even have some of these activities available on their grounds. All of the activities are great outdoor experiences throughout the year because even in the coldest months, it is still warm enough to enjoy these activities.

The biggest problem with the whole area though is the river. There is always water in a very dry climate, and this creates the perfect conditions for mosquitoes. They are all over the place, and they are hungry. If you come to this part of Peru, remember to bring your bug spray because you will want it to keep these critters away. I had not sprayed any on me when I first arrived, and I had my one bottle hidden in the bottom of my suitcase. I thought I would be okay, but the bugs just saw fresh meat and they were all over my legs within seconds. There are still welts all over my body from those first few moments that I arrived, and I am sending out that warning to anyone that comes.

Do not let the bugs discourage you from coming. As soon as you lather yourself in the bug spray, the activities are a joy. There is rock climbing, high ropes courses, zip-lining, kayaking, rafting, bird-watching, camping, ruin exploration, and just taking a stroll along the river. Each of the activities take about an hour or two to accomplish which makes for the perfect trip experience where you take on a challenge in the morning, head back to the hotel for some downtime, and then heading back out for a completely different experience in the afternoon. It makes for the perfect balance of fun and relaxation so you can come back from the trip feeling refreshed and yet having experienced something that you can hold in your memories.

It is definitely not the first place you should choose if you are coming out to Peru. Go to the Sacred Valley if this is your first trip out here. But for those who live in Lima, and have done all of the big things that Peru has to offer, and are looking for something new and exciting, Lunahuana is a great place to consider. It will give you a unique experience out in this country that you might not have thought to have in the first place.

The Day’s Departing Sun

A weird thing always seems to happen during the last couple of months of a school year in the life of an international school teacher; a bittersweet moment between those who are moving on to their new lives and the ones that are staying around for another year starts to occur. It ends up being the busiest time of the year and not just because final grades are being completed and the final units are wrapping up, but because there are gathering after gathering that happens in order to say that final goodbye. But it is part of the lifestyle, this constant first impression that is brought on by the new group of teachers that will arrive the next year while maintaining a bunch of relationships with the friends that have been created over the years that have been spent with the group that you have spent a year or two with. A tickle always happens in the back of my mind every year, thinking that I will see most of these people again in random places all around the world, but after eleven years of teaching on the international scene, I have come to realize that it is only a select few that I keep in touch with in the way that I would have thought at the end of the school year.

This phenomenon is not uncommon in other industries as well as this one, but the difference comes with the fact that at the end of every year, it is guaranteed to occur in the international school community. There is another big difference as well; when this group moves on, they really move to places like Switzerland, and South Korea, and back to their hometowns in America. It is not like they are just leaving the job, but whose paths can still cross because we still live in the same town. The only way we find out about each other is in passing through social media which does not feel the same as the face to face contact.

This year, I will be saying goodbye to a lot of great colleagues that I have gotten to know over my first year in Peru. It will be sad to see them go though I have only known them for a year, but in that year, I have been able to share some great memories from them, and learn new ways of exploring the profession that I have been a part of. I also know that they had the hardest year out of any of the other people that I worked with. The ones who are departing have a different mindset than the ones who are staying behind, and for those new individuals that show up in that last year, it is hard to make strong connections with them, especially if you know that you are one of the ones leaving. The ones who have been in international teaching for a long time know that the relationship that they will make with the new group will be a short one, and they are also aware of the possibility of never seeing those people again, so it gets hard to push to build that strong relationship in the first place, especially with all of the other things that they have going on during the school year. Still, it is hard to make it through a school year when you work so closely with some people and not to make those relationships to last in the first place, so by the end of the year, they find themselves saying those hard goodbyes to the people that they believed would not have been on that list at the beginning of the year.

It doesn’t make it any easier for the ones that are staying behind. There is the friend group that is staying behind, but if there is a piece or two missing, then the friend group does not feel the same the next year. This group also has to contend with the backlash that is felt by the students as their favorite teachers move on to other exciting adventures around the world. They have to console those students the next year as they go through the remembrances of those that made the school a great place in the first place. Those teachers also have to welcome the new people in who are taking the places of maybe some of their best friends of all time, and trying to find a way not to compare them to the person who has just left. They are never going to be the same person and they will always do things a little bit differently. It is not a bad thing, but it is still change. And though an international school teacher has learned how to do deal with change, it is still never an easy thing for anyone to have to experience.

The day’s departing sun is the perfect image to capture the feelings that are going through people during this experience. On one hand, it is always beautiful to watch the sun dip below the horizon on any given night. The sky lights up in a dazzling display of colors, and we can’t help but just watch it go, knowing that it is moving on to the place where it is supposed to be. At the same time, it marks an end of a day well spent. It gives us pause to reflect back on that day and what it had to offer. Did we get the most out of that day or were there some things that were left undone or not said? If there were, then it is too late to go back and correct those mistakes because the day is now done. It is this bittersweet moment that we are running to every night to witness in the hopes that it can fix those conflicting emotions we have just by making sure we are there.

This is what the end of the year feels like for international school teacher. It is not just about getting excited for that time off to spend away from grades and with family; it is about saying goodbye to the friends we have made, and preparing for the memories made with new ones.

Arcs

A dark blight has settled upon the Reach
And we’re scrambling for what’s left behind.
We will use ev’rything from war to speech,
Securing a position for our kind.
We can only claim it as ambition
Whether we are a tyrant or warlord,
But Space will not be a destination,
And out here we live by our own accord.
There is a court that has a little sway
Over the direction that we can take,
And if you ambassador came to play,
There is a deal with them that you can make.
We are trying to leave behind our marks
That can be rewtold in our story arcs.