2 hours break
AND I had a complete, homemade, lunch for 10 pesos. (!)
And a bag of fruit for the same price. (conversion to foreign currency: next to nothing)
What a perfect country for foreigners that are obsessed with food but on an anorectic student budget.
The scenario where this, which seems like no less than a miracle to a Norwegian who is accustomed to the idea of spending an hours salary on a slice of bread, took place
is still unclear to me.
But it was a beautifully messy market, at some obscure location.
I felt nearly naughty as I embarked on this solitary adventure. But I didn't feel threatened, despite being reminded by sweet old men to take care. As my hair is not even slightly blonde (at least according to Norwegian standards) I shrugged it off and pulled down my skirt. (No worries mum, it was the decent one.) And I returned safely. Was never really doubting that. Only doubting my capability to manage a confusing public transport system. With reason.
Despite spending half of my break time walking under an aggressive sun, searching alternative buss stops, I was felt happy about my mini journey.
But even more when I returned to the course site, with a mountain of baby bananas and baby mangos.
As anywhere in the world (especially in deprived parts; United World Colleges) food is by far the best way to buy yourself friends. And in this case the satisfaction of that action was tripled by the how little it costed me.
(If it had not been for the fact that exporting food in your luggage is slightly illegal I would have been the queen bee in Norway, considering the WONDERFULNESS of Mexican cuisine. Oh well, I am more than prepared to wrap whole families of mangos in aluminum folio.)
I am doubting whether this tale of my passion for mangos has any moral, but I can certainly say that even though a variation in food and location felt right and energizing, I cant say that it felt any more like a holiday than partaking in the course.
Interacting with the locals at and around the market place felt enriching, but I also missed out on intriguing things happening in the course.
For those who require examples:
Did you know that permaculture is as applicable to your way of living as it is to agriculture?
Have you reflected on what historical and demographical causes there are to poverty existing in your nation?
Whether national identity is a disadvantage, or maybe pure bullshit?
Did you know that ancient civilizations struggled with air pollution?
And what is actually the reasons for poor education? And its psychological consequences?
Can NAFTA agreements be seen to be the major forming force leading to Mexico's nutrition situation today?
More than just thinking we all know, feel, or have at least heard, that we have a certain responsibility to act. To change.
But how?
Today we actually dedicated time to theorize the dynamics of taking action. Cause is the really anything that have more repercussions than passivity? And isn't really terrorism one of the most drastic forms of civic engagement?
What do those to last words even mean?
I believe that I speak for a lot of us when I say that nothing is more painfully enlightening thank those moments where you suddenly understand what you already knew.
And is there anything more moving and meaningful thank for the first time hear a personal story that encounter all the things you chose to believe doesn't really happen, because you have heard its theoretical aspect to many times.
Nothing is more upsettingly beautiful than when you realize what part you play in all this talk about change. That you play a part at all.
Let me incoherently summarize all of this:
All this is meaningful cause we make it be it.
And thank you for making work be the most delightful holiday I have ever had.
Thank you for the sweetness that strangely accompany the moral challenges.
You all make up the other half of my inner mango stone.
and of course it is about sharing, and not about status.
And the pricelessness of that.
I guess that only what’s left is for you to make sense of it all.
Ingvill Maria Daatland Hekne (Norway, AC 09-11)
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