Going for a Ride

This was probably the hardest activity for me that I did. Every place that I tried calling to see if I could set up an appointment was either booked or had availability when I worked or had class. I didn't give up on trying though. At my job I would ask my coworkers and the patients that would walk into the office if they knew of someone that owned horses or knew of a place near by that had horse back riding. I finally got to set up an appointment at Cypress Trails. When the day arrived I decided to call before I left to the place just to make sure my appointment was still confirmed. The lady I talked to said there was no appointment under my name. Hearing that got me so upset, this was ridiculous. The lady told me she was booked and could not do much for me. I left it at that and hung up.

My parent's friend told me he could help me out. He said his neighbor had a couple ponies that I could get on if I really wanted to. I was really desperate at that point so I agreed to visit them. They were adorable! It was a good time, I had couple of laughs learning how to adjust the saddle on the pony. It was more difficult then I thought it was.

 

 

 

Learning how to sew

As a child growing up I would always see my Grandmother and my mom sew. I would ask them why they would do it and they told me it relaxed them and it was fun. They sew all kinds of things like blankets, scarfs, shirts, and dresses. My Grandmother tried showing me how to make a scarf when I was younger, but I didn't have the patience to learn. My mom volunteered to teach me again. She was in the middle of sewing a blanket for my dad and told me if I learned this time I could help her with the whole thing.

The trickiest part of sewing with two needles was making sure the string wouldn't slip out of the needle. If it did, then you would have to insert it back which was not an easy task.

I ended up getting the hang of it and started realizing what my grandmother and mom were talking about when they said it was a good way to relax yourself. The only thing that I had in mind was making sure I didn't let go of the string.



Analyzing an Object

 

I visited the website that was given in the Living History handout, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/index.html. I saw that they had a section for the Civil War so I clicked there. They had a lot of interesting objects but the one that caught my eye was this picture of a what seemed to be a flag. It stated that these kind of flags were carried by soliders during the Civil War. When I first saw the picture it looked like it was made out of a ripped page of a book and wrapped around a twig from a tree. After observing it for a while I read that they were called "Bible Flags". I'm assuming they were called "Bible Flags" because the page was ripped out of a Bible. What I thought seemed to be a stamp on the paper of the flag was actually hand painted by the soliders. It was the symbol of the Confederate States of America.

 

 

Making Tamales With My Madre

I was born in Evanston, Illinois but have parents that were both born in Guanajuato, Mexico. Getting together for any special occasion is a big thing. And having specialty dishes is a MUST! For Christmas, New Years, Birthdays, and Weddings we either have Mole, Posole or Tamales. I sadly don't know how to make either alone. Which is why I asked my mom to help me prepare some Tamales. There are two kinds that we usually make. We can make them with banana leaves or corn leaves. Both are delicious! But we decided to make the banana ones.

 Mixing the Masa together

 

 Washing the banana leaves

 

 

 

 Wrapping the Tamales together

 

 

 

 Tamales cooking!!!

 



 

LISTOS PARA COMER!!! (ready to eat)

 

 

 

Visit to the Holocaust Museum Houston

In front of the Holocaust Museum

This was my first time visiting the Holocaust Museum Houston. I honestly didn't know what to expect. Although a day before I visited the museum my coworker told me a little about her experience. She had gone when she was in High School. She said that being in that place and reading what the victims of the Holocaust had to go through touched her deeply. I invited my sister to go with me that day. The day that we went seemed like the weather fit perfectly with the setting. It was gloomy and raining. When we walked in, the first thing that came to my head was "Where do I start"? A lady that worked there seemed to notice our blank look on our faces and came up to us. She explained all the areas that the musuem had. The first area that we walked into was the "Bearing Witness: A Community Remembers". This gallery was full of pictures of some of the Jews that lived through this time. The pictures explained the culture and life that the Jewish lived. One thing that did stood out to me in this part of the exhibit was a quote that was hanging on the ceiling. It stated "It happened,therefore it can happen again, this is the core of what we have to say"(Primo Levi). I took this quote as a message that a victim of the Holocaust was trying to get across to people. If humans had the courage to do this to other human beings during their time what makes us think it cant happen during our period of time. After passing through the Permanent Exhibition, we went to the Lack Family Memorial Room. This part of the exhibit had a Memorial Wall that served as a place where local Holocaust survivors can show respect to lost loved ones. It amazed me how below the ceramic tiles they had soil mixed with ashes of those that had died during the Holocaust. Leaving this museum was honestly a great experience. Just being able to see a little bit more of  what the Jews,gypsies,homosexuals,people with disablilites, Jehovah's Witnesses,prisoners of war,political dissidents and mentally impaired had to go through during the persecution by the Nazi Germany.

 

  

Quote by Primo Levi

 

   

 



                                       Pamphlet of the Museum



                            The Wall of Tears                                         

                                                                                   

Examining my Family's Immigrant Roots

                            

 

 

I am from a family that migrated to this country from Mexico. The migration started from my grandparents, both from my mom's side and my dad's. Both of my grandfathers left my grandmothers and their children in Mexico, while they decided to come to the United States to find work. They believed coming to the United States they would find a better job than the one they had in Mexico.

                    

( Pa Abelino)                              (Ma Carmen & I)

My mom's dad arrived in California. He lived there for about 40 years. Although, during the time he lived there he would go back to Mexico to visit my grandmother and his children. He didn't like being away from them but he didn't have any choice.   

                                           
(Pa Chio y Ma Sirenia)

My dad's dad also arrived in California when he came to the United States. He only stayed 10 years and he also went back and forth to visit the family. Once my dad became an adult and got married he decided to migrate to the United States as well. He's the oldest out of his siblings and was the first one out of the them to come to the U.S. The difference between my grandfathers and my fathers journey was that my father stayed in the United States. Both of my grandfathers moved back to Mexico after saving some money.  







I'm grateful that my parents talked to me in both languages while I was growing up; Spanish and English. It's an advantage in the work force and being able to communicate with my family back in Mexico. When I have children of my own I will make sure that they speak and read English and Spanish as well.



Sleeping in a Tent

I couldn't get to go camping out in the wilderness but I got to sleep in a tent outside my parent's house for a night. I had not slept in a tent since I was 12. Last time was when I went camping with my cousins back in Chicago. If I had to be honest, this time was no fun! I had forgotten how hard the floor feels on your back. Putting up the tent was fun though. We had lost the instructions to the tent so I had to juggle with knowing what went next.

 

(My masterpiece!)

 

 (Saying Goodnight)

 

Sleeping in this tent that night was definitely getting away from my "comfort zone". My "comfort zone" is my wonderful warm bed. That night was chilly and windy. Having three blankets didnt seem like enough.