El Género (Y el privilegio?)

Today we talked about cultural difference/shocks in my Spanish class. It was interesting to hear what people had to say. The professor brought up that women go to the bathroom in groups, and so we discussed that for a while. Someone said that people who society identifies as women (I almost never say that phrase here...I have enough trouble communicating myself, that adding extra words that tend to confuse people seems like too much. ah, so nice to get to write) are comfortable talking to their friends while they are in the stalls, and even perhaps talking on their cell phones, but that men almost never speak in the bathroom. Ironically, my dad talked to me on his cell phone for the first time while he was in the bathroom. He had to begin saying it was his first time on a ell phone in bathroom so that people didn't think he was weird, but apparently he got an odd look from one person, and the other person ended up making a comment. But I digress.

The potluck (festival de traje) was fun. There was a fair amount i could eat. Rachel brought a bread salad (think Back Street Bar and grill dipping sauce and bread all rolled into one), Ana brought a nopale (type of cactus) dish, Cat brought a rice dish, Aleshia brought fruit salad, Francisco brought Guacamole, and there may have been a few other things I tried. Lots of people liked the chocolate coconut macaroons, but there were plenty left over (which I got Cat to take home, since they were in containers from Cat's house). We all sat around a table and had an interesting discussion about birth control, other safer-sex products, and bras. Apparently Mac, also from UCSC, took female physiology from Zavanelli (a class I hated), and so he cited it as evidence. lol, ugh.

Then we had Contemporary México, which was in a different room than usual because the projctor had been moved there. We talked about gender. The professor asked me for a definition, since I'm studying Feminist Studies. Then shortly, we got into a big long discussion, about people's personal experiences, as well as analyzing gender. Race got brought up too, which I think is important, because these units of analysis don't exist isolated. I wish we had talked more about privilege in terms of both, because the conversation got into one about exclusion of white men. Yes, this is something important to address, but I think talking about privilege adds an important perspective. Ana ended up saying something to this that I thought addressed everything really well, and I really appreciated that she said it. We also talked about the ways gender expectations get put on everyone, and perpetuated by pretty much everyone, making them hard to break out of.

We talked about very little of what the professor wanted to get through, so we're going to have class during lunch one day, and not finish with everything. After class, some of us stuck around and continued talking about gender. One person had suggested we have a facilitator, which I think would have been really useful (as usual, I didn't speak), but it didn't end up happening. It was an interesting discussion though.

I signed the forms for my visa validation, so it's almost done!

After school, i came home, had some pasta, and then headed to my counseling appointment. I spoke in Spanish again. Yay! But I mixed up "aprove" and "take advantage of." lol. Then I went to Mega (a supermarket...which I still need to research to see who owns it. It's huge, so I'm sure it's not tons better than walmart, but I'm hoping it's at least owned by a Mexican company, so that the money stays in the country), and I bought some mole, rice, pizza crusts, guacamole and tortillas (oh how I miss the tortillas from Xela!).

For dinner I had falafels on rice and guacamole on tortillas. Then I took a shower since we're going on a field trip tomorrow to Tlahuac, and therefore will have to be at school earlier = Valerie has less time to get ready.

I did some homework (I have a thesis, an outline, and the beginning of a paragraph now!), but I still need to do a lot more before I have 8-12 pages. I had been invited to study at a cafe in Coyocán with quite a few friends, but I like hanging out with people when I can interact with them, rather than writing when I'm around people. I wasn't that productive here, but at least I wasn't preventing others from being productive.

Well, time for bed. Although writing part of my paper now would be a good idea homework-wise, I definitely need to stay on top of the sleep. I don't know if I said that Aleshia doesn't have swine flu, but it was just something respiratory, because of the climate/elevation/pollution (it's a false cognate in Spanish - don't use it!) change. But still, I want to stay healthy and not get sick in general. Especially with the UNAM orientation on Wednesday (things are going so fast!).

Now why was I able to write this so much faster than my paper?