I’ve moved around this continent for the past 24 years of my life. To me, there is no one place where I can truly call home. Everywhere that I have lived has impacted me in a unique way. One of the most significant places for me was when I lived in Mexico for a year. A foreign country seems like a world away, so do the people and culture that are there. This time opened my eyes up to what the real Mexico was like.
I moved to Mexico for a year because that is where the Novitiate was located. The Novitiate is a where you live and learn about the religious life for one year before taking vows.
I arrived in Mexico on July 31, 2017, in the city of Guanajuato. I knew next to nothing about Mexican culture outside of the quite strained relationship its government has with the United States; the drug wars with the cartels and that mariachi music came from there.
There to greet me was my n0vice master and a future classmate of mine. Then we got into the car and headed to my home for the next year. After a relatively short car ride, we arrived at the cloister where the rest of my classmates were eagerly awaiting our arrival.
Waiting eagerly for us were the rest of my classmates. We then had a light lunch with introductions, and I moved into my cell, just large enough to have a bed and a place to my clothes.
When we started, there was a huge Mass and an even greater fiesta for all the parishioners and religious. Then the real experience began.
Every day we began at six in the morning sharp. We’d then put on our habits, go to the chapel and begin our day. After that, we would have breakfast, consisting of papaya, instant coffee and different types of meats.
Then we would do our chores, learn about Religious Life and then have an hour or two of free time until lunch. We then would recite our communal prayers and then relax together.
On Sundays, after each Mass, we would be spilt up either to selling various items outside on the church steps or head over to the local prison and have services there. Selling the various things gave me time to get to know the various parishioners who adopted me as a son of the parish.
At the prison, all of the guards and inmates gave us nothing but complete respect and when the inmates saw that I was struggling with Spanish, they found someone in the congregation who spoke decent English and would act as an interpreter.
What surprised me about watching television is that a good mix of the television programming were American shows that were dubbed. Shows like the Flash, Modern Marvels Gravity Falls and Ghost Hunters. At the same time there was original programming like “La Rosa de Guadalupe” and “La Sultana” in their own unique ways.
In terms of music, I fell in love with a new genre, Cumbia which is a combination of African, Latin and Spanish that has a heavy emphasis on percussion and rhythm. This style often has a orchestral accompaniment. The group which I especially like is the Los Angeles Azules.
The only thing which was really worrying was the constant presence of the armed police. You would be heading to the local taqueria and in the parking lot and there would be a couple of police officers in full combat gear or heading home there would be a checkpoint at the roundabout. I was never put in a dangerous situation, although, everyone could feel the tension there.
Overall, my year in Mexico opened up my eyes and heart to a greater reality and it is a part which will be with me forever.
