A Mayan New Beginning
My Christmas this year was quietly spent in Oaxaca. As with any holiday season I get many greetings from friends. But the ones from Patty are always especially rewarding.
A bit about my Mexican-American friend. She married a Mexican National in the states, left all her family there, gave up her home and moved to Mexico with Jose to begin his legalization process. This entailed a hefty fine for his being in the States as an undocumented person and a long drawn-out and expensive and bureaucratic process. It has been 6 years and they are still in Mexico with little hope of getting the money together. So they are barely making it with Patty teaching English to young folks in her home and Jose trying to get work as a mechanic even though he has a college degree in it.
Patty’s Christmas letter 2012
“Well, we’ve made it to the end of the year and despite all of the dire predictions, we partied like it was…going to be 2013 in a matter of days!
With the help of some of my 40+ past and current students and their families we celebrated with as much hope and joy as possible and in the process consumed 150 cupcakes; 400 cookies (sugary stars, frosted Christmas trees, chocolate chip and strawberry filled); 60 quarts of piping hot homemade fruit punch (guayabas, apples, whole sugarcane, tejocote, raisins, plums and piloncio boiled for about 4 hours); and bowls of mole, beans and rice, and just about anything else that happened to wander by.
Thank you all so much for the wonderful e-mails and prayers that have been great company this entire year. I always look forward to hearing from you. When things get particularly tough I gather all of your Love close to my heart, and always seem to find myself on the other side.
The Mayans didn’t predict the end of the world, but rather the end of one cycle, and the beginning of another. In this New Beginning I pray that all of your days are filled with enough Love, Joy and Laughter to get you through whatever difficulties you may encounter along the way. And, as always celebrate the good stuff and kick the junk to the side.
Patty’s “letter” on behalf of Jose:
“What Jose Roberto Did While I Was Busy Trying Not To Get Whacked By The Crazed Mob That Was Chasing Swinging Piñatas…”
“This is what happens when you leave a guy alone for way too long, with too many loose ends-or metal pieces.
Though Jose comes from a long line of stone sculptors (endless cousins and uncles with a multitude of workshops in the neighboring town of Escolasticas) most of whom make a livingselling their beautiful artistry around the world, Jose has never shown much of an interest. As most of you know he works as a mechanic alongside his brother, Carlos. Unfortunately, lately there hasn’t been as much work as we could hope for. Usually, he and his brother sell damaged car parts to a local recycler, but unexpectedly, Jose said he was bored and starting to get a little stressed-out, when he decided that he would take some of those used car parts and create something else.
As you can see he has been busy even if he hasn’t had too many cars to repair.
The first piece he made was Don Quixote which he just sold on Christmas Eve for $300 pesos-about $24 dollars. He has another request for Don Quixote’s sidekick, Sancho Panza.
Jose was nice enough to create a statue of a figure seated with a book (actually a small, rustydoor hinge) in its hands, aptly named the “Student.” I raffled off the Student at our students’Christmas party. Each attendee received a ticket, including their family and friends. The interesting thing is that of the dozens of people present, the statue went to one of my younger students who really struggles to read and to retain information (I suspect he is autistic). God knew what He was doing. The little boy was beyond thrilled and was absolutely beaming with a smile that could hardly fit on his little face!
I don’t think I could be prouder of Jose, and if nothing else, he brought a bit of joy to my little student and his family.
Once again, Jose has shown me that when things look the bleakest, it’s the perfect time to do something for pure pleasure. And, within that, there might just be something more, something beyond the obvious. Something unexpected, and really sweet and good, for more than just ourselves.
I hope your Holiday Season is as Blessed and Joy-filled as ours.
My response:
I wish more people in the world were as good and unselfish as you and Jose. You are wonderful models for the Mexican people around you. As with our Latino high school drop-outs in our alternative education program, we just felt like we were planting seeds. You may not always immediately see the happy results of your labors…just know that you are indeed making a difference in people’s lives. They will think back on what you have modeled for them. It’s what makes life worthwhile.
I may have told you this. A baby sitter in LA from a Chinese family a couple doors up from us found me on FB about a year ago. She called me and told me what an influence we had on her at the age of 12. She used to go through our books and skim them while sitting the kids which she said opened up her world. She expressed such gratitude, it made tears come to my eyes. She since went to college and is now married to a pediatrician (!) and has a lovely family. We never know how we affect people. It was almost scary to me to realize why it is such a great responsibility to model healthy behavior. I get similar feedback from former CREATE students who are on FB with me. (Thanks to modern technology) It makes my life worthwhile. 🙂
And thanks for being such a good partner for each other.
Abrazos,
Zoe
Tags: Christmas, Festivals & Ceremonies, Mexico
Zoe
And I love you. 🙂
I’m posting Patty’s response here:
Oh, you made me cry, Z. I shared this with Jose. He had a long, deep smile. Thank you as always for saying something way beyond my imagining, and of course filled with Love. I am gonna hang onto your babysitter’s story and remain hopeful.
I’ll share a happy surprise with you: Three of my former students showed up unannounced at the Christmas Party-13 year-old Karen, her 18 year-old sister Zuleyma, and their mother Azucena. The three of them were my students up until July of this year when they moved to Texas to be with their dad (he’s had a greencard and lived in the U.S. for years) who had adjusted their immigration status. Zuley had her heart set on entering a high school in the U.S., but had been told by relatives in the states that they would never accept her as she was going to be 18 this December(?), and her English wasn’t good enough. Here, Zuley was in her last year of Prepa. Karen’s English was literally zero, and she was in the 7th grade here, and not doing well in any subject. The four of us worked hard and I think we all felt the pressure mounting as their departure date neared. I informed Zuley that if she really wanted to go to high school in the states, then that was going to happen. I contacted the school district in the town where they would be moving to and got all the relevant info for transferring from Mexico to Texas. They shared with me that upon their arrival Karen and Zuley’s English was tested by the school district, and based on those results Karen was moved into the 9th grade (she got to skip a grade). Zuley’s English was so advanced that she actually tested well enough to have been placed in the 12th grade, but Texas has a law that states that no one can achieve a high school diploma without having attended both the 11th and 12th grades. So, Zuley is in the 11th grade in the same high school as her little sister and they are both doing very well in all of their subjects. All in English. Azucena, the mother, qualified for a Teacher’s Assistant certification program, which she will start on January 2nd. when they return to Texas. They came by just to say hello and Thank You. A first. Best of all, they looked happy and proud of their achievements.
I am not sure how their lives-or anyone of my other students’-will go, but it makes me think of all the wonderful teachers I’ve had (yourself included, Z) and how we all share in these three wonderful women’s accomplishments-up to now.
I really am going to keep your story tucked away for when things seem to go south as they so often do here, and pull it out as needed.
I love you sister.