Synopsis of class

Tuesday October 16th 2012, is a day that will be remembered, this was our last Hispanic Culture and Civilization class and the end of the first half of the semester.  This class has really opened my eyes I will think about people before passing any kind of judgment and be more open to other cultures and their communities.  I don't live far from the Wellstone Center but only come to that area a few times a year to eat, I will be visiting El Burrito for some authentic food much more often.  As I said in our circle discussion I have been to some great places in Mexico, Cancun, Cozumel, Puerto Vallarta and Ixtapa.  I will have a deeper appreciation for the culture and not be afraid to go off the beaten path, we always stayed in the tourist areas before.

We all had to do a presentation on a country in Latin America, it was very interesting to hear the presentations and learn from the other students.  We had a meal with food from each of the 4 countries, it was pot luck or buffet style.  All the food was fabulous with many different varieties.

I really enjoyed this class, the freedom to make it our own, I met some fabulous people as well.  I have taken many classes at Inver Hills over the years and have never gotten to know the instructor or students as well as I did in this one.  It was a great experience and one that will stay with me.  I wish everyone the best of luck and success in the future.

Synthesizing of Thesis

This is what I wrote regarding my summary for the class that I was going to share with everybody but we never read them so I thought I would post it for everyone's reading pleasure.

My takeaway from this class is a far better appreciation for the Hispanic/Latino Culture and how it was shaped by the past, and how it has evolved into the present.  I have a better appreciation for why immigration is taking place in such a big way.  The NAFTA discussions and research was interesting since this is still happening and shaping the countries involved.  I enjoyed completing the cultural experiences and how the class discussions had such a personal touch.  This class has sparked my interest in learning Spanish.  I enjoyed the flexibility of the class and the professor’s knowledge and passion about the subject.

Great cultural week

I finally got to watch the movie mentioned at the beginning of my blog "A Better Life", it took a long time and lots of effort to locate it and find time to watch it.  This movie was a realistic look on immigration to the US from Mexico and the challenges that take place, I am not going to give details because I would encourage everyone to watch it yourself. I was informative and touching at the same time, I learned some more about the culture about a proud people.

While having a conversation at work with a person from Costa Rica about the challenges of going to college in the US she mentioned the Hispanic Heritage Council at work.  I checked into it, and the Council had a Spanish conversation hour on Friday.  I went to the meeting which was held over the lunch hour, it was really cool to see how organized they were.  One person is in charge of picking a topic and organizing the meeting.  There was a person from Tempe Arizona on the video conference system who learned Spanish from Rosetta Stone.  They had expected to have guests from Guatemala also but the technology wasn't cooperating so we never got to communicate with them.  The impetus of the meetings is for people to practice and speak better Spanish.  There was 19 people in the room, I was the only one with no Spanish speaking experience.  There was a women from Argentina, a guy from Peru and one from Brazil who helped to keep people on track with their language skills and also told stories about the politics of their countries.  They mostly talked Spanish the entire time, I was surprised that I could even tell what the topic was from time to time.  This was a great group and I can see myself going back again

New find

I just found this great website regarding the Hispanic/American history, this is an easy read and very informative, it takes you from the 1400's to today.

http://www.gale.cengage.com/free_resources/chh/timeline/index.htm

Starting to get a little stressed about the class, there is so much to do in the last two weeks.  Our group has been working on the presentation and I am beginning preparations for the interview I get to do with my two other team mates.  I ordered a movie for part of my cultural experience, I hope that shows up this week so I can use it as part of my credit.

We are almost out of fresh salsa and the tomato plants froze the other night so no more fresh salsa from our garden, I guess I will have to wait until next year for more.

More to come after class tomorrow night.

My Trip to the Supermercado

This week out task for the class was to go to El Burrito in St. Paul and find a product and write about it.  We were tasked with picking an item, ask questions of workers in the store about the product, figuring out how did it get there, where did the materials come from and how did NAFTA affect this item.
The item that I picked were fried corn tortilla chips (totopos) these are my wife's favorite, it reminds here of our trips to Mexico where they make them fresh.  Although these are not as good as fresh ones they are not salted and are thick, so they are good for dipping in guacamole or salsa.  The product I chose at El Burrito was made in Chicago IL, so as you can imaging it would be hard to equate this to anything to do with NAFTA.
Luckily earlier that day just before class I went to my local Mexican grocery or supermercado in South Saint Paul called "La Merced".  I had been there a few years before  but didn't really remember what is was like this is a small place with stuff packed in there like sardines.  I asked the nice lady behind the counter (in English) for something authentic candy to provide for the class.  Of course this place is authentic and she couldn't speak enough English and I enough Spanish to effectively communicate.  With the lack of communication we had going she called a younger person out to assist, this young girl was bi-lingual and was a great help in bridging the communication gap.  She asked what it the purpose was and what I was looking for.  She effectively communicated back and forth to find an authentic Mexican candy I could provide for the class.
The product I chose was called Vero Elotes made by the Dulces Vero company, it was a lollipop made up of a strawberry hard center and coated in chili.
Below is a picture and link to the companies website:
http://www.dulcesvero.com.mx/vn_2010/s_i_corporativo.html

 

I thought the sucker was an interesting combination of sweet and spicy and found it to be quite good especially when you get to the hard strawberry part.

The Dulces Vero company is purely a Mexican company and there is a lot of information on their website link I provided above.  In my opinion this would be one company that actually benefited from NAFTA because it had nothing to do with corn production and farming.  I could see some cost increase in the sugar used but the lack of tariff and increase of Latinos in the United States would have benefited the company.  Since the company is based in Mexico and all products are produced there the workforce used in the production of the lollipops directly benefit the Mexican people.  I couldn't find exactly how the product makes its way to shelves in the US, I would suspect that they are shipped by truck.
Like I mentioned with all the disparity of NAFTA and the effects on Mexico I think this product and company is one of the shining stars that came out of it.
Barry

Trip to Miami

I had a trip for work to the City of Miami last week, unfortunately the trip was way to short.  I arrived Tuesday afternoon and left Thursday afternoon at 1:00 pm, it didn't give much time to sight see.  The first night for dinner I went to Miami Beach, I have never seen so many Lamborghini's and Ferrari's in one place in my life, I know the people who have those don't work at the same place I do.  Since it was late, and I was tired, I didn't get to see much for sites or the culture of Miami.  Our group ate at a place on the main street by the beach and it was just o/k, I had a steak and it was not very good, at least the Corona's were cold.

On Wednesday Night I connected with a person who lives in the area and works for the same company as me, she has quite the cultural variance in her life.  My co-worker is originally from Montreal Canada, she is now an American citizen, her first husband was Jewish so she still celebrates some of their traditions.  Her current husband is from El Salvador so she is quite good in speaking Spanish.  She knew I wanted to experience some Cuban food so she choose a place that was known as a trendy upper scale authentic Cuban restaurant.  The place was called YUCA which is an acronym for Young Urban Cuban American.  Below is the menu that was part of the special deal:

http://www.ilovemiamispice.com/menus%202012/yuca_dinner.pdfs

The special was three items, including an appetizer, entree and desert.  I had a fabulous appetizer which was a spicy sausage wrapped in a tomato peel, this was probably the best part of the entire meal, the flavor was fantastic.   Below is the description from the menu:
PIQUILLOS DE PEPIN ROASTED SPANISH PIQUILLO PEPPERS, CHORIZO, PORCINI MUSHROOMS, CREAM CABRALES CHEESE SAUCE

The entree I had was Pork I was told that Pork is a staple meat in Cuba so I had to try it, the meat was served on the bone kind of like a crown roast except with only one bone.  The pork was very tender and not overly seasoned, this was very good and a lot to eat, it was served with rice.  Of course we had to have a side of black beans and rice which is a Cuban mainstay. Here is the description from the menu regarding the entree:
PORK OSSOBUCO
CONGRI RICE, RIOJA SAUCE

For Desert I had to have the cake and ice cream, this was very good, the cookie on the bottom of the ice cream was a little chewy but the rest was tasty and put me over the top as far as being full.

TRES LECHES DE TURRON
“A YUCA ORIGINAL” SPONGE CAKE MADE WITH SPANISH “TURRON DE JIJONA” SERVED WITH OUR HOMEMADE GUAVA CREAM
CHEESE ICE-CREAM

Picture of YUCA

I really didn't have as much time to explore the city as much as I wanted to, it seemed that there was no lack of cigar shops, they were on every corner as well as women walking around selling them.

This was a great experience and I would like to be able to go back some day and spend some more time soaking in all the culture it has to offer.

Until next time, thanks for following my journey.
Barry