We’re on the home stretch! I can’t believe how quickly the time has gone by. We have been here in Oaxaca, Mexico (away from the brutal New York winter!) for almost 4 months and I remember quite clearly those first days in Oaxaca…feelings of cluelessness regarding my Spanish (I still feel that way sometimes), parades that pop in the streets from seemingly nowhere, tomales…We have had an amazing experience! However, by this time, I am very excited to get back to our home in New York…our friends, church family, and the city itself. We are making preparations to return to New York one week from tomorrow, Saturday, March 27. However, this doesn’t mean that there has been a lack of amazing cultural activities. Two weekends ago, my uncle (John Schuetze, a professor at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in Milwaukee, WI, studying Spanish in Puebla, Mexico…most nieces and nephews call him ‘Uncle John’, I prefer ‘Tio Juano’) and a friend (Nathan Wagenknecht, a bilingual missionary currently living and instructing future Mexican pastors in Puebla) visited us in Oaxaca. We had a wonderful weekend. It was great to see familiar faces for a couple of days and we covered a lot of territory. Apart from the tlayudas (huge, delicious Mexican style pizza) and variety of artistic performers in the streets (See picture of university singers in ‘Photo Gallery’, category ‘Monte Alban’), we enjoyed a day at Monte Alban.

Monte Alban used to be a city on a mountain 1000 feet above the city of Oaxaca. Archeologists date the first settlers of Monte Alban at 500 B.C. These settlers were the ancestors of the present-day Zapotec people and are said to have founded the Americas’ first metropolis. Their city was quite advanced as they built pyramids, palaces, and athletic fields. They grew many fruits and vegetables and are one of various ancient Mexican groups that domesticated dogs (although, there are still many vagabond dogs running around in the streets!). Ranging from a population of 2000 people at it’s beginning and 40,000 at its height (this is in an area of roughly only 3 square miles…sounds like New York!), Monte Alban ruled a large part of southern Mexico for about 1000 years, was overrun by a combination of drought, disease, and war, and was almost completely uninhabited by 1000 A.D. However, they left behind ruins of an amazing, ancient city for us to visit! ¡Muchas Gracias! (See picture of Monte Alban in ‘Photo Gallery’, category ‘Monte Alban’)

Last week, one of our teachers, Javier (both Sarah and I have him for private classes) took me to one of the pueblos outside of the city for our class. This pueblo, called San Bartolo, is famous for its black pottery. I have an early class with Javier so, when we arrived, the market was still closed. There was, however, one tienda/store open. Here, the pottery is made by an elderly woman who is quite famous for her work. By coincidence, her grandson who sells their products in the adjoining tienda was one of Javier’s high school classmates. They hadn’t seen each other in 10 years! Thanks to our ‘in’ with the grandson, his grandmother gave us a private demonstration and tour of the operation! (Again, see pictures in the ‘Monte Alban’ category.)

Finally, today was another fiesta in Oaxaca! Every year, on the 4th Friday of Lent, they celebrate ‘El Día de la Samaritana´. This day commemorates the time when Jesus was resting at a well and asked a Samaritan woman for a drink of water. He, then, proceeded to talk to her about ‘living water’, referring to the gift of faith that is the ‘water’ for eternal life in heaven. The tradition has evolved quite a bit over the years to what it was today. (Pictures in ‘Photo Gallery’, category ‘Monte Alban’.) At about the sixth hour’ (as the Bible says), which is observed here at 11:00A or 12:00 Noon, many schools, offices, and churches give away water, flavored with pineapple, watermelon, horchata, chilacayota, and many other flavors. I don’t know what they all are, but they taste good! In a picture in the photo gallery, you will also notice a woman dressed up as the Samaritan woman from the story.

That’s all I have for now. We look forward to seeing those of you in New York in about 1 week!
Steven, Sarah, & Adia