Mexican Tree-Huggers

Every week for Noche de Hogar, one person from each room is assigned to teach. There are no assigned topics so honestly you’re allowed to just wing it, but most of the time the girls come up with something pretty creative to talk about. I’ve got some killer lessons in store for my family when I get back.

Last week we had the most creative lesson yet.

They started out talking about God’s creations and how we often don’t appreciate how beautiful our world is, etc. Genuinely, I thought that was really sweet. And then we moved into the more interesting segment. Our Hermana showed us the pictures of her dog and cat that she keeps in the back of her journal. They are no longer with us, but they serve as a reminder of the world that could be. We then went on to talk about how we need to be careful with the leaves and how even the grass is living. I felt like I was stuck in the middle of a conversation between Pocahontas and Al Gore. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good environmentalist stimulus every now and then, it just surprised me when we really did go outside, sit in a circle, hold hands and sing kumbeyah (maybe it was a different song, I’m not really sure, it was in Spanish, but it sure felt the same).

Then, Friday we had a field trip that all seniors are required to go on to the Vida Silvestre. It was more or less a ghetto zoo (Abbey and Karina, I couldn’t stop thinking about you :D) with a little spice of environmentalist propaganda. How I wish I could post pictures from here. I’ll admit I enjoyed myself, but I couldn’t help but laugh at the environmentalist trends I was experiencing.

Then to top it all off, today, our new Unit in Ecology class was Environmental Awareness. We watched a song/video by Roberto Carlos entitled “El Progreso” and then another about global warming. Feel free to look them up on youtube if you are feeling green.

I hope that I haven’t offended anyone or persuaded anyone that I am completely environmentally insensitive. I admit it’s a problem. I guess I just wasn’t expecting to be bombarded by environmentalist ideals in the middle of…Mexico City :).

P.S. I forgot to mention, Saturday Night we had a one-hour energy conservation party. Lights out, laptops off, phones “off,” everything.