UNO: Study Abroad in Writing

In this, my second summer in a Spanish-speaking country outside of the U.S., I’ve come to the conclusion that living abroad is a faith-building exercise.

You have faith that you will not forget to pack anything vital, and that the stores where you are going will carry the vital things you will undoubtedly forget to pack.

You have faith that the map to your hostel is correct. That you will know it when you see it.

You have faith that between broken Spanish, overpronounced Enlish, and a repertoire of hand gestures you will be able to order food, find the bathroom, return greetings, obtain correct change.

You have faith that your stomach will flourish in its new environment of chili peppers, salsas, frijoles, and mole sauce. When it doesn’t, you have faith that Mexican Pepto Bismol works as well as the American version.

You have faith that each step you take on the jagged colonial cobblestone streets will not result in you falling and breaking your weak gringa ankles.

You have faith that all destinations can be found by starting out in the jardin, the city square, and marching on bravely from there.

You have faith in your ability to hail a cab. Budget pesos. Taste a cold avocado and tequila soup and not gag – a delicacy.

You have faith that you are here for a purpose. That you have something to learn. That you are learning it. You wake up each day and eat a granola bar for breakfast and step past the bright blue door of your hostel and set your feet on the treacherous cobblestone in the chilly morning air and think to yourself, It is good for me to be here.

Tags: General, San Miguel by jeni
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In Teotihuacán, you climb the Pyramid of the Sun. You stand nearer to the edge than you think you should. Don’t watch the people who pant as they reach the top, their faces puffy and pink. Don’t watch the children who run as though they are on a playground and not a sacred temple. Don’t watch anything but the sky, stretched blue behind the Pyramid of the Moon, and above the Path of the Dead, across the brown-green landscape and around you, 360, and try not to think about how easy it would be to tilt a little bit forward, and try not to think about your body hitting the rocks, flesh then blood then bone—like a layer cake—and try, really try, not to think about all the people you know who will never stand this close to the sun.

    On the three-hour ride back to San Miguel, the wind whips the rain into long tears as the bus speeds down the Mexican highway. Lights tease from a distance, and if you squint your eyes like this, and tilt your head like that, then you can almost believe you are home, tearing down the expressway, gazing upon the light of a city that some say care forgot. But you are not care.
It is only when a dark patch of trees blocks these lights that you snap back to your present tense, and you realize that you are passing a lake. Gripping the edge of your sweater sleeve, you clear the window’s condensation with one, quick sweep. You press your forehead to the glass and blink, your eyelashes brushing against the surface, and you force your eyes to search through the darkness and into the water, as though seeing is diving.

Tags: General, San Miguel by jeni
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So many of you have contacted me, and I want to tell you all the story, but thought I would put it here for everyone to read. Information on UNO’s and New Orleans reopening is in red at the end. Let me know if you have any questions!!!

First, you may want to know that I was unable to leave until Sunday morning because my car broke down on Friday. I’d had no indication anything was wrong until Thursday evening on my way home from work. Afer calling around on Friday I finally founf a place that could take it. Every other place was 30-40 cars deep. I took it to a Midas on Canal. They tried to charge me $800 to replace my alternator and my battery. I finally talked them down to $606. I fully intend to report them for price gouging when I return. They knew it was my only means of evacuating, and that I virtually had no choice but to pay whatever price they asked. This is the bad side of what happens in an emergency. In any case, they didn’t finish my car until Saturday, so I simply could not leave before Sunday.

Saturday evening (having cleaned out almost all edible food from my refirgerator, a couple of us headed down to Frenchman Street for dnner. Driving around the city was eerie. There was nearly nothing open, and all shops and hosues were boarded up. There was a cop on almost every other street, and the streets were dark. There was a palpable sense of anxiety. It was as if it was an eletrical current in the air…. At dinner, though we tried to talk about other things, table talk was all Gustav, Katrina, and can we get another round please?

We made it an early night. We stll had cars to load, and short naps to get before we left our homes to weather who knew what….

I left New Orleans at 4 am on Sunday morning. I was caravanning with some friends, and my car was packed tight with what I was bringing to evacuate, my dog, my two cats, and the tiny two month old kitten that had come running out of an abandoned house next door. The kitten put its little paws on my foot and meowed and purred and I couldn’t leave it to potentially drown, so took it with me. I’m calling it karma, because I feel like it must have some very good karma.

I was trying to beat the contraflow, which had been scheduled to start at 6, but was moved up to 4, so got stuck right in the middle of it. Merging onto I-10 was scary to begin with. The cars were inching along, and it was nothing but break lights as far as the eye could see ine ither direction. Contraflow didn’t start till the other side of the lake, and it took us over two hours just to get to the lake. had WDSU on the car radio and listened to the reports non-stop. I was addicted to information and ouldn’t turn it off. People who’d already been driving for hours were stopped on either side of the road, walking dogs, stretching legs, and eyeing the marsh in the distance. Everything felt like a very dark dream, even after it got light. I joked that I felt like was in a David Lynch film. Especially as I was listening on the radio to reports of how SUCCESSFUL contra-flow and the evacuation was going. I must have been hearing those reports from an alternate universe.

“We’re very happy that we were able to get the citizens out in a timely and expeditious matter,” said New Orleans City Council member James Carter, District C.

It took me almost 8 hrs to make it to Hattiesburg, MS, which should be about an hour away from the city. The state police kept closing off exits, as each of the gas statons there ran out of gas. By the time we got to Hattiesburg it was about noon, and I had run out of snacks and yet to have a meal. It would still be a while. Myself and my friend travelling with me are vegetarian, so the few fast food places we encountered were almost all off-limits, and every Burger King we came to for much of the day was out of veggie burgers. I lived on penauts and sweet tea between then and the time we finally found food, around 3 pm that day.

To everyone that sent me text messages – thank you. If not for you I wouldn’t have been able to stay awake, and as it was almost impossible to get a call out, you are life-savers. Perhaps quite literally! This is one of the good things about people in an emergency….

After eighteen hours of driving I made it only as far as Tuscaloosa, AL.

By the time we made it to Tuscaloosa I couldn’t go any farther. I was exhausted, sore, and the animals were restless, hungry, and thirsty. I had been feeling as if I was driving drunk for a number of hours. I was so tired I’d lost depth perception, and the never ending stream of brake lights was merging into one funny looking red dot. I knew that we could go no further.

I was very upset and we got off the interstate and started going around begging for rooms. There were none to be had. had been trying to book something or days, so was not surprised. My phone was also dead at this point, and two women at one of the hotels took pity on us, let me charge the phone, and gave us some water and fruit. It was after 9 now, and the only meal we’d had since 3 am was the 3 pm one in Laurel, MS.

Eventually, they gave us a room (after I both broke down in tears on them, and then translated for them and a Spanish speaking guest). It was well after 11 pm at that point. It had become over a twenty hours saga at that point. We were at a Hilton Garden Inn and these women, Antesha and Brianne, were incredible. They are not only what Guest Service should be, they are good, kind people. I am writing to Hilton about them….

We came the rest of the way to Chattanooga, where I have friends, yesterday. And then had a pitcher of very strong margaritas.

Bill and Nancy are in Ponchatoula. They have no power, but do have a generator, and so far, so good there…. Everyone else I know is safe so far. If there is anyone in particular you want to inquire about, let me know.

In the meantime, the University of New Orleans has decided that classes and normal operatons will not resume until Monday, Septemeber 8th. Stay in touch, and check the website for more details. Also, if you are a NOLA evacuee reading this Nagin is urging people not to try to return until late Wed or Thursday at present, as power is out in over two-thirds of city and water and sewage sytems are not working properly. The city remains on curfew. And who wants to live under martial law – AGAIN? We all remember the troops of National Guardsmen filing past the Parkview Tavern with their machine guns in one hand their beer in another. It inspires such confidence….

Stay safe everyone. And thanks again for your many kind calls, emails, texts, and well-wishes.

Jeni

Tags: Brunnenburg, General, Montpellier, San Miguel by jeni
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The following was sent to me by Dinty Moore, three time UNO Creative Nonfiction Workshop leader. He’s one of nearest and dearest, and these are some of his words about witing and exploring with UNO. Also included are some of Dinty’s majestic photos from our first year in San Miguel:

I’ve been fortunate enough to participate in three of the University of New Orleans Low-Res MFA Summer Programs – two in Madrid and the most recent in San Miguel de Allende.

There is so much good to say about the program and the workshops – but I’ll leave that to the students. (Hopefully, even a few of my students.) But I wanted to say a few words about living in a foreign city for the full month, which is a part of the experience that I truly value.

Most tourists are lucky to spend three days in a new city, or maybe a week if time allows, but the full month experience is a wonderful opportunity. Yes, as part of that month, you will see the tourist sites and eat at the usual restaurants that are listed in the usual guidebooks, but for me the simple pleasures of going grocery shopping in an unfamiliar culture, of cooking my own meals, of getting to know the people who sell you fruit, of trying unknown vegetables and cheeses and wines, of seeing the city wake up, go to bed, move through the day-to-day transitions of work and weekend and weather, of negotiating laundry and haircuts and other personal needs, is what becomes the most fascinating.

You don’t know a city until you live in that city, and though a month is not like moving abroad for a full year or two, it certainly shows you a lot more than you might see if you breezed through over three days. Because you live there – you don’t just take pictures.

I call it immersion, and it fascinates me each time.

Dinty W. Moore

Tags: General, San Miguel by jeni
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I am going to be psoting some accounts from different program participants over the next few days.  Here’s the first from post-grad member and Spanish Conversation teacher Emily Lupita Plum.  Emily talks about her experience reading, and gives some tidbits from our post-grad workshop:

Excerpt from Emily Lupita Plum’s blog she kept while in San Miguel: http://starmountainview.blogspot.com/

Last night I read for the first time from my recently completed childhood memoir, Growing Mexican Plums. And…I sang because one of the sections I read was called “Song” and is about the songs I used to listen to as a kid. I sang lines from Supertramp’s The Logical Song and had the audience join me in a few lines from Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2). I also sang a lullaby my mom used to sing when I was little, in Spanish.

It was the first time I’ve ever sang during a reading, and I found it powerful. The audience was wonderful…gracious and generous. I felt a surge of energy when I was reading & just afterward. It helped me to remember why I’ve “chosen” the life of a writer, anyhow.

We had two guest speakers at our writing group this week and they were both fantastic. They talked about their path to becoming successful writers and gave us suggestions…imparted wisdom.

Dinty W. Moore said that writers need to pay attention to three things: karma, responsibility, and opportunity. (For more…see Dinty’s journal, Brevity).

When asked what advice she would give to writers beginning their career, Amanda Boyden said, “If you can imagine yourself doing anything else with your life and being happy, don’t be a writer…do that other thing. But if you cannot imagine yourself doing anything else, then be writer.”

Good words from both. I am learning exponentially.

Tags: General, San Miguel by jeni
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If you’re planning on getting traveler’s checks, don’t waste your time or money. Nobody takes them anymore, and you have to pay sometimes exorbitant fees to get them changed into cash while abroad. The easiest and best way to change money is o simply use your ATM card. You get the daily exchange rate without a mark-up by a currency exchange company. However, do beware of bank fees. You may pay a fee at both ends – from your home bank and the one you are trying get money from abroad. Do yourself a favor and talk to your bank before leaving – sometimes banks can waive certain international fees for a limited period if you talk to them in advance. And also, make sure you let your credit card companies know you will be abroad. Many of them now have theft protection plans where they monitor your spending, and if they see (or if the computer sees) spending out of the ordinary, they will close the card. I’ve known a number of people this has happened to, and it really is simple to fix ahead of time by letting them know. Also, make sure you have numbers you can call FROM your destination (ie a US 1-800 number probably isn’t helpful) in case your card gets lost or stolen…. Although these numbers are readily available on the internet, sometimes it takes some surfing ot find the right one, and you don’t want to be having to surf the net while you’re in panic mode because your wallet or purse has just been stolen.

And finally, you can minimize those bank charges by being careful with your planning. You don’t want to have to get money out every day. But you also don’t want to be carrying tons of cash on you as you explore foreign grounds. Think carefully about how much you legitimately need for the next 4 or 5 days, add a little to it, and get that much. And never, ever, carry all your cards, cash, and id on you at once!

Ok, I hope all this was helpful. I just think its best to plan for the worst, and hope for the best!

Tags: Brunnenburg, General, Montpellier, San Miguel by jeni
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Ok, not THAT Gran Prix, the Prix Litteraire, a major French literary award. He just received notice that Three Day Road has tied for first place in this competition, thereby reinforcing his International Bestseller Status.

Commenting on the news of the win, Joseph said, “I’m well on my way to becoming the Jerry Lewis of France.” To which Amanda said, “Or something like that.”

Joseph’s short story collection is also up for an award in France. His new novel is slated for publication this fall, and can be pre-ordered from Penguin Canada.

Here’s Penguin’s description of the book:

From internationally acclaimed author Joseph Boyden comes an astonishingly powerful novel of contemporary aboriginal life, full of the dangers and harsh beauty of both forest and city. When beautiful Suzanne Bird disappears, her sister Annie, a loner and hunter, is compelled to search for her, leaving behind their uncle Will, a man haunted by loss.While Annie travels from Toronto to New York, from modelling studios to A-list parties,Will encounters dire troubles at home. Both eventually come to painful discoveries about the inescapable ties of family. Through Black Spruce is an utterly unforgettable consideration of how we discover who we really are.

I for one can’t wait to read it! And congrats to Joseph on his big win!

Tags: General, San Miguel by jeni
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So some info on taking the bus to San Miguel from Mexico City, and from San Miguel to other places can be found here. And here’s a link to the About.com article on Traveling by Bus in Mexico.

Tags: General, San Miguel by jeni
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Ok, it seems we have dueling articles out there this month. Southern Living also has an article, “A Change of Pace,” which I was keyed in to by Bryan Camp and his fiancee. Of the two articles, I like this one better. This one also made me hungry talking about some of the food – I am going down to San Miguel (I think) later this month, and I will be sure to do my best to rate as many more restaurants as I can!

In the meantime, a quote from the article:

“San Miguel has great rooftop bars—perfect for winding down before dinner. And the city’s restaurants serve an incredible variety of cuisines, including Italian, Arabic, organic-vegetarian, Chinese, and German. You can also sample an array of local dishes, from fancy corn fungus crêpes served in a rooftop restaurant to gorditas made to order at a wildly popular stand across the street from the public library.”

hmmm. Corn fungus? I’ll try anything once….

Tags: General, San Miguel by jeni
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Read the NY Times article on Ken Kesey’s Mexico, and have a trippy good time doing it.

Tags: General, San Miguel by jeni
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Yes Ladies and Gentleman, its that time. Two truths and a lie time.

1. I am an acrobat who once made it to Olympic trials.
2. I didn’t submit any work anywhere for over a year after I graduated.
3. I am, in my spare time, a writer of soap operas.

Ok. So that should have been easy. I have no spare time, and have never set foot nor flip near the Olympics. Its number two thats true. Thats not to say I didn’t write anything new after I graduated, just that I stopped sharing it with people, for a variety of reasons. But what I really want to talk to you all about is the pact I made with several friends and writers here in New Orleans over the Christmas holiday. We made a pact to submit to at least twenty different places by the end of Christmas Break. We set a date for a dinner far enough in the future that we could expect to have most of our responses back (which, ladies and gentleman, requires about four months). Anyone who gets anything picked up brings a bottle of something bubbly and good to the dinner. Our goal of course is to have a lot of bubbles. We also threw in a provision that we’ll chip in for a bottle of something fun for the person who gets the most hand written rejections. And a punishment – anyone not meeting their goal of 20 submissions has to pick up the tab for the dinner. For about five people. So this works for us – it mainly gets us submitting – which is a chore at best. What appeals to me most, though, is that it makes the whole process a social affair. It makes it fun and you get more rewards than those rejection letters would normally bring all by themselves . There are a number of different ways to structure it, and you have complete freedom as to what you do. But I am going to dare you, San Miguelers and Brunnenburgers – submit to twenty places in any genre by the start date of your program. Celebrations and consolations to ensue during the program. Who’s in?

Tags: General by jeni
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