When I envisioned my 6 weeks in Mexico City, I forgot to think about the practical health issues that can arise. I'm typing this week's reflection from my bed, where I've come down with a stomach bug. One thing that has been hard to grasp over these last two days is taking a step back for my health. I'm a person who likes to be productive or on the move at all times, and thus, getting sick threw me for a loop. However, before I came down with this stomach bug, I had a pretty fantastic week, both in terms of my project and getting to explore Mexico City.

As a reminder, the main goal of my project is to help Las Sabinas, an organization that provides support to sexual assault survivors, expand their child sexual assault prevention program by creating games and puppets they can use to teach children about topics like consent, autonomy, and healthy relationships. At the beginning of the week, my teammates and I solidified a lot of our ideas (and I got to meet my final teammate, Ruby, who had flown in from Ireland!). For our puppets, we decided to take an anthropomorphic storytelling lens and make them all animals that are native to Mexico. Each puppet represents a different theme related to our project, and each of us took one on. My puppet is supposed to be representative of socioemotional education in an effort to combat machismo culture and the stigma around seeking mental health support. My puppet will be male-gendered and will be a jaguar! On Tuesday, we presented our ideas to Las Sabinas, and they were fans of our puppet and game ideas. I'm so excited for the creative process that will unfold over the next few weeks!

Unfortunately, due to getting sick, I had to miss the meeting with the local volunteers who will support our project in the coming weeks. I luckily have really great teammates who shared notes, and I'm so excited to work with the volunteers who are giving a lot of their time and energy to this project. I have never been in a role where I had to delegate work to volunteers, so this process is definitely pushing me out of my comfort zone. 

Outside of my LiA project, I have had many opportunities to explore the CDMX this week and last weekend. From visiting the Basilica of Our Lady Guadalupe to climbing the Teotihuacan pyramids, I have had many adventures! However, despite all of the amazing experiences I've had, my favorite part has been getting to speak with those living in Mexico City. I do not speak Spanish very well, and that was one of my biggest worries coming into this project; however, I have been so welcomed here. I've received numerous recommendations on where to visit and eat, and have had many conversations strung together by Google Translate. I think that's one of the things I've loved most about being in Mexico City.

Anyways, I'm signing off for now, and I'm probably going to take another nap.

Until next week,

Mara