Their travels didn’t start till around 1 pm on Monday. Each woman packed her bag to the fullest; clothing, make-up, pillow pet, and more. The professor was rearing to go but struggled with the idea of traveling with four young women. Their minds were on different tracks, heading to a variety of different dimensions and answers for how the trip should take place what they should learn or do. When finally arriving in Mexico the women set out to exchange their money and get through customs. The cultural shock was strong as they realized how little Spanish each knew, forcing language skills that had not been used in years to be dusted off and utilized.
Today was our first day being on the Prepa Tec campus. It is both exhilarating and exciting to be in a new place and experience a different culture. We met with an administrator from Prepa Tec and he gave us our meal tickets. The food was different than from what I’m used to, but the hardest part about being on campus has been the language barrier. I am by no means fluent in Spanish, but I usually am able to speak enough to get around and make sense of things. It has been so hard to ask for food, pay for checks, speak to people around campus, and to just get around. It was challenging to not be able to communicate and I was frustrated with not knowing the words and phrases that would have made me more sociable or simplified other ability to understand me. I have learned a lot about being culturally mindful throughout my ESL classes at Drake University, but how rude and ignorant must I seem that I do not speak a second language? Most of the students and faculty at Prepa Tec speak two sometimes three languages. I feel insignificant. Actually when I think about it as a citizen of the United States of America, I sometimes feels as though it could be assumed that the U.S. is “better” than other countries. But in many ways the U.S. cannot compete with others. I am as a student and as a person no better than any other person I meet in another country. I in many ways feel as if my attitude has been uppity and pretentious. When I went to Belize we had done so much reading on service-learning and how to help the people we were working with rather than looking down upon them. The students and teacher at Prepa Tec are amazing! They surprise me not only with their intelligence but their maturity and respect they have in the classroom. I think that many people would respond by denying their feelings of inferiority in consideration to being in another country, but perhaps this helplessness and vulnerability is a feeling that needs to be felt. In the United States being Caucasian is starting to mean minority, yet many act as if they are not only the majority but part of the ruling class. I don’t believe in class systems or that my race makes me “better” than others, but I will admit that many times having white skin gives me privileges that others do not have. Privilege can separate a teacher from her students if each learner looks and sees the power that her race gives her. I think all white teachers should have to be the minority at some point in their teaching career so they won’t look at their students and possibly blame a difference of opinion or understanding on skin color. No, we should not be color-blind but students should not be thought of as less ever because of their cultural or ethnic background. I want to learn more Spanish as of right now and to experience more cultures. I think that it is important I learn more about alternative teaching styles too.
