To build with your hands, you must first use your feet

Edited on April 18. Pictures added at the bottom that illustrate the adobe block making process.

Wednesday, April 9 was the latest visit to San Felipe, the small village in the desert where I am documenting traditional and non-traditional building methods as well as participating in the construction of a prototype house that makes use of traditional materials and methods.

The current progress of the prototype house

This visit included members of a class I am in with Pedro entitled Materiales y sistemas alternativos en construccion.

We arrived and we took a tour of most of the village with some of the residents, which was a good review for me as each time I hear things presented in the village, I understand more as I am able to comprehend a little more Spanish each time I go. Somehow I even saw a building I have somehow never noticed before. It turns out it is the church, but it is not Catholic, therefore it is not used much, from what I understood. Many of the houses have Catholic paraphernalia (is that the right word?) in several forms including portraits, beads, and even a poster of the former pope. One brand new thing in the village that we came across is a new resident. A U.S. American woman is moving into San Felipe as she has married a man from the village. Currently the woman is living in a tent and has her supplies set up around the tent.

The homestead of the newest resident

I did not get a chance to talk with her this time, but I will on the next visit. I can't wait to hear what she has to say about leaving her old life to live here and what their future building plans will be.

After the tour we headed to the prototype house. I have not had a chance to do any work with the prototype house as work just recently resumed, so I was anxious to do something, as Pedro had told me we would be doing some work. It turns out that the plan was to make some adobe blocks. I became very excited.

First I must explain the preconceptions I had about the adobe block making process. From discussions I had overheard, I knew that to make one row of the prototype house that six wheelbarrow fulls of soil were needed. I also knew that there was a master mason being paid to make the blocks and he hired some additional helpers. I had also witnessed all the modern technology that is being introduced into specific projects in the village, such as water collection tanks, a solar panel to power a water pump, and advanced agricultural methods. I envisioned some sort of a mixing bin to combine the soil and water and then some sort of a press to make the blocks. I was wrong, wrong, and wrong.

Damasio, one of the head men of the ejido, was the local expert to show us the adobe making process. He is also the man constructing the "competing" prototype house that will use concrete for the main structure and roof because he believes it is the correct method for future construction. Damasio filled and his son, Salvador (who graciously gave me his bed the last time I stayed the night in San Felipe) filled up a wheelbarrow of the topsoil and indicated we would be making about 4 or 5 blocks. After he filled up the wheelbarrow, he proceeded to dump the dirt onto the ground. Suddenly a bucket of manure appeared and was dumped onto the dirt pile. I immediately identified the poo as coming from a horse since I grew up in a part of the country where some people use horses and buggies to get around and leave the evidence on the road and in parking lots. At this point Pedro said we would take over the work. Pedro looked at us, the students, and said that we were no different than the residents that live here and that we are going to make the blocks the real way, and started taking off his shoes and socks. It was apparent we were going to be using our bare feet to mix the dirt, water, and horse manure. At this point I chimed in and asked Pedro, "is this really how they make all these blocks, with their feet?" To which Pedro gave an emphatic "of course." Now, I'm not opposed to troucing around in dirt, I recall going to my cousin's farm many times as a kid and walking barefoot in cow manure (quite warm when it's fresh). However, I was caught off-guard by how labor intensive this process was. It immediatly became clear why so many people in the rural areas are using concrete block to build their houses. Just as I often talk myself into paying using my car to get around instead of riding my bike for free or even order Jimmy John's after a stressful day instead of cooking my already-purchased food I can see why people would pay more to haul in concrete blocks instead of stomping dirt and water to make their walls. (Horrible comparisons for examples, but it's all I could think of at the moment. I hope the point is made.)

So after this initial mild shock of reality, I took off my shoes and socks, rolled up my pant legs, and joined the mud mashing party. All but one of the students joined in the work--earlier she had a cactus spike go through her shoe and puncture her foot, so it was excusable. While we were stepping here and there, trying not to slip and fall, Pedro would say "make sure you smash in all the brown clumps so they get mixed up." The brown clumps were the horse manure, so he was really saying "make sure you step on every single piece of horse shit you can find."

Soon the mixture was good and the time arrived to place the mud mixture into the wooden frames. The wooden frame was a simple 40cm x 20 cm x 10 cm rectangle made from 2x4 (inches this time) pieces. The frame was placed on the ground, the inside edges primed with water, and the mixture placed inside. Soon our hands and feet were covered with the mixture, which was cool until it started drying and the flies started swarming and you remembered what the mixture was made of and why the flies liked it so much.

In all, we constructed 5 blocks.

The five blocks we made

We then rinsed off our feet and hands with the water. The water comes from a pond near the village. The pond water is not suitable for human drinking or cooking, so it is ok to use for this instance. The pond is used for animal water and has some contaminants that make humans sick. Before rainwater was harvested, the residents would drink some of their water from this. This water is very dirty, so in addition to the contaminants, health was not good during this time period. While we were rinsing off a chameleon came to watch us. Either he wasn't very good at chameleoning or he just wanted to make his presence known. Either way, it was cool.

It was good to briefly see the process behind adobe blocks. It added a new level to understanding the tradition within the community I have visited several times. I am returning in just over a week to spend the whole day working, which may involve more adobe making or the actual placing of the blocks, or something I don't even know of yet.

The spot where we stomp-mixed the mud with the other students and Pedro in the background

The water barrels

And if you're wandering, the fibers used in adobe blocks are not added in. They come from the horse manure. That was another big surprise to me. I felt like a dumb city kid several times on this visit.

Mixing the adobe mixture with out feet

Reforming the pile

Forming the first block

I help to make a block with the form

Making the surface smooth before removing the form

Small talk

Edit: Updated April 11. I forgot to include some things.

This post is to briefly describe what my everyday life has been like to those of you wondering. First is that at the beginning of March I moved. I started out living with a host family and it started out well. They are very nice people and very helpful. But after two months some things began to real wear on me. First of all there were 10 other people living in the house. Schedules interfere, some people are louder than others, and some people spend a lot of time using shared spaces. It was also a good distance from campus, as in 20 minutes one way on the bus, at a minimum. So I emailed my the international programs office here and told them how I felt and that my living situation was my least favorite part about being in Mexico. By doing this I unintentionally turned in my host family. It is a rule of the school that host families cannot rent out rooms to non-TEC students: there were 5 other renters who were not students at TEC. This was the second time the family had been caught. At the same time I emailed the school, I told my host mother how I was not really happy with the living arrangement. She realized that she had been caught again and began to cry, but realized that it was not my fault since I was not intentionally trying to get them in trouble. So by then I felt it was best to just move. And it was a great decision. I know live one block from campus, I get to make my own food, and I pay sooooo much less each month.

An interesting thing to note about my new living situation is that I am technically living unlegally in Mexico. I have not signed a new contract, so I just pay my roommate (Markus from Sweden) the rent and bills. Also, I am officially registered as living at my former host family's home with the government of Mexico. But the registration process takes too much time for me to want to attempt it again. I came to Mexico to learn about squatting, non-legal land occupation, and migration, and I now I am living illegally; though out of unwillingness to put up with red tape and not out of necessity.

I also recently got to drive in Mexico! While visiting casa Rosinda in the neighborhood where the 10x10 project is taking place to drop off some supplies, Roberto asks me, as we climb into the truck, "tu quieres manejar?" (do you want to drive). Sure that I misheard him, I said, "Did you really just ask me if I wanted to drive, because that would be cool." So we switched places and I drove down the rocky path of the mountain, avoiding all the big bumps and keeping a steady foot on the brake so as not to lose control of the truck and crash into someone's house. Residents of this neighborhood who drive must have to have their brakes replaced at least once every 3 months! After leaving the neighborhood I also drove on the regular roads and got to do a u-turn. After 3 months of not driving, I almost hit another car almost once. It was fun and I'm glad I got to experience what it is like to drive up in the neighborhood where the site is.

Other than that there is not much to tell. One of my friends was able to visit on her spring break, so we went to Puerto Vallarta and trekked around Monterrey. It was a fun week and a good reminder of home.

Spanish comprehension is vastly improving. Speaking is still not so good since I talk mostly in English on a daily basis. It’s a habit I have started here: often I am spoken to in Spanish but I reply in English because it keeps the conversation going. It’s bad and I need to take advantage of the Spanish while I can.

Also I am beginning to realize that in just over a month I will no longer be a student and don’t really know where I’ll be. I know I want to continue in this kind of stuff, but… Wow that’s coming up soon. I recently told a fellow student that I wouldn't mind staying in Mexico for at least a little longer and she replied "We send you guys thousands of people a year, and you return the favor by sending one. Sounds fair."

And for those of you really keeping up with this stuff, there are some new pictures and the albums about 10x10 have been updated as has the one about visits to rural Mexico.

Continuing 10x10 work

Since first reporting my first involvement with the 10x10 program in First Dirty Work of the Semester, there have been some other experiences with this. March 29 I returned to do some volunteer work and we went to Casa Rosinda, which involves building a new house for a woman who works at TEC who lives in a very poor neighborhood of town. Pictures of this worksite can be found at 10x10: Work.

The day began by fixing up the area where work has been started. The digging for the foundation had been completed and there were small to semi-large rocks strewn about that needed to be collected into neat piles. Then came the making of the reinforcing for the concrete footers that were to be put in place. This involved cutting pieces of #4 or #5 rebar with a handsaw and arranging them into grid pieces. These two tasks did not take too long and were relatively painless. The cutting of the rebar was somewhat difficult, but there were several people to share with the cutting.

Cutting the rebar

Tying the rebar together

Then came the difficult part: bringing the sand and gravel for the concrete to the site. Casa Rosinda is located at the very top of the neighborhood and amidst some of the roughest street terrain. It is very difficult to drive a regular truck through here, much less a dump truck with a load of sand and gravel.

The road that Casa Rosinda is located on

The solution was to dump the pile about 150-200 meters from the site, which was down the street and up a steep hill. To do this job we had some 5-gallon buckets, a wheelbarrow, and some more 5-gallon buckets that some of the neighbors lent to us. The first few loads went ok; taking two ¾ full buckets, one for each hand, easing down the hill, and then trying to use the momentum of the hill to power through the straightaway to the house. After about 5 loads, my arms, which have not had any exercise for some time, began to weaken. The muscles in my lower arm that control the fingers began to give out and I’d have to set the buckets down. I didn’t feel so bad because some of the others had similar problem, plus it was a very humid day, so dehydration was setting in. It was hard work but it was also fun being a spectator for the neighborhood.

After the first few loads, I was approached by a neighbor who asked me something in hard-to-understand Spanish. I told him I couldn’t understand and if he could repeat it slowly. After a few more tries he resorted to “tu quieres?” and made a smoking gesture. I made a slightly confused face, at which point he opened up his hand and showed me a bag with some crack in it. I politely refused and kept going with my buckets. On the next bucket load the same guy had moved across the street and was smoking a joint while he watched us.

A few days earlier I had gone to the same neighborhood with Roberto and Fernando, the two students who are in charge of 10x10, and we had seen the police had just arrested a man and had hopped on some horses to go up into the neighborhood to round up some more people. The drug aspect is very important in the north of Mexico. In my Contemporary Mexico class, we had a discussion last Thursday about how the presence of drugs, drug corruption, and general “other” areas of society are acknowledged in Mexico, but they are not spoken of, outside of major politics that is. It is almost a taboo subject. The professor made it clear to us foreign students that although the class felt comfortable speaking about this stuff in the class, once they got outside it just simply was not done. This was due to violence that has occurred and the fact that you never really know what the person you are talking to is involved in. This can be explored more with the phenomenon that many of Mexico’s musicians, especially in the north, have been killed in the past years because of drug related disagreements. I really do not know enough to go on about the subject, but relating all this information to how this man who offered me the drugs somewhat fits together. In a part where tourists or outsiders hardly ever go, the person offering was not very blatant about what he was offering. He probably used a phrase that implied something, but it fell on very un-understanding ears. However, a few days later when I was in Puerto Vallarta, a very tourist oriented place, a guy from across the street yelled at me offering some weed in both Spanish and English. Is there any substance here (no pun intended) or am I just making random connections, I’m not really sure. But it is interesting how these things seem to come together.

The following Saturday I again joined in for some 10x10 work and this time it was back to experimentation and investigation. As mentioned earlier, the walls for Casa Rosinda are going to be constructed from concrete formwork. The structure is going to be metal, and some more investigation needed to be made to finalize the design. Another project is also going to be using the formwork as the material, but the option of a wood structure is being investigated. My job for this Saturday was to help construct a panel made out of wood. Overall it was a good process, although the sizes and measurements were not determined until after I made the first cuts based on the measurements on the drawing. So the panels were not perfect, but they were good enough for the test. The main test was to see what kind of connection to use, and during this investigation it became apparent how difficult a multilingual jobsite can be.

The connection in question involved a 2x4 butting up against a 4x4. The first option was to simply nail them together, but it resulted in an awkward connection. My friend Janet, who goes to Purdue and has started joining us, made a suggestion that I understood as using two angles to put the pieces together. Then I suggested using what I called nailing plates which are used to put trusses together (I guess they’re really called mending plates). It turns out this is what Janet was trying to describe to me in English. So now that we were on the same page, the challenge became to convey the idea in Spanish. Eventually I ended up going to Home Depot to explain what we meant. It was a good suggestion because it turned out being the cheapest method of connecting the pieces.

Traveling for a week

The week before Easter Sunday is known as Semana Santa in many parts of the world. This week is when all Mexican universities have their spring break, and when many people go on vacation. In fact, on Thursday and Friday, almost nobody in the country works, from what I was told. I was also told that Thursday is known as Good Thursday because of the last supper.

A group of 8 of us set out to spend this week in a good fashion. It was a concensus that we all wanted to see Mexico City and see a beach. After some discussion and advice, we decided to spend 4 days in Mexico City and 4 days in Zihuatanejo in the state of Jalisco.

The trip began Friday night between 9-10 pm as the 8 of us all got on 3 different buses for the 11 hour trip to Mexico City. It may sound like an unpleasant ride, but they really know how to do bus travel in Mexico, especially if you ride first class. Plenty of room and easy to get to sleep. My bus started with the movie National Security, one of my least favorite movies, mainly because Martin Lawrence stars in it. After about an hour I had just begun to fall asleep when I hear a voice directly behind me shout "Necitamos los luzes!" I woke up wondering why the hell someone needed the lights turned on, just as the lights were turned on. I looked down to my left (I was in the aisle seat) and immediately understood: a woman had collapsed in the aisle and was unconscious. After a brief stop which involved a Coke and water, we were back on the road with everyone functioning correctly. The next thing I knew, I woke up and we arrived at the bus station in Mexico City 3 minutes later.

Many things were seen in Mexico City and pictures can be found in the links to the right. We stayed in a hostel that was perfectly located right on the main square and had a price of $15/night/person.

I could go on for awhile about what I saw, but there's something else that struck me; and you can visit Mexico City for yourself someday and see the same stuff. What really struck me was the amount of people who had informal means of income all throughout the city. I have heard several times about the high number of people in Mexico who have informal "jobs," and the even higher number within Mexico City. In Monterrey and the surrounding areas the only informal income practices I had seen were people getting on the city bus and selling snacks, people juggling at stop lights, and musicians performing outside in certain parts of the city--especially at night. But these home experiences were somewhat rare, maybe I experience them 3 times a week. Mexico City, on the other hand, had a more diverse collection of "jobs" and they were almost constantly visible.

First I will mention the people simply asking for money. In Indianapolis and Chicago, the two places I am most familiar in terms of people asking for money, they are usual men who are by themselves. Mexico City has mothers with their toddlers or infants sitting on the sidewalks, holding their child in one hand and an empty cup in the other. At night you could walk by some alleys and see families sorting through trash they had collected in order to find some food or possibly other things. In Wes's studio last semester, he emphasized several times the fact that 2007 was the first time in recorded history when more people live in urban areas than rural areas, and an average of 180,000 people are added to urban populations each day. Mexico experienced this rural flight in the 1980s as the economy suffered a crisis, and the move continues today. It is likely that the families we saw on the sidewalks were a part of this move, but have yet to find a stable way of living in one of the largest cities in the world.

One crazy idea I had while in Mexico City that stemmed from this observation involved an art exhibit that is currently in place on the Zocolo. The exhibit is known as the Nomadic Museum and is constructed of bamboo, shipping containers, and other materials that emphasize sustainability and reuse. The exhibit will end at the end of April, and the fate of the materials is unknown. Instead of moving all the materials to a new city or simply taking them to a landfill or scrapyard, why not explore ways of providing temporary shelter for the people on the nearby streets. Or better yet, a collaboration with the people to create a base structure from which they can build upon over time. I'm sure that some students in the nearby architecture schools would be happy to participate in such a project as there seems to be a fetish with shipping containers in architectural education these days.

Besides the people asking for money were people selling food and tourist junk in parks and on sidewalks. They would often yell at you to look at their stuff, especially at night which was a little unnerving.

The most interesting to me were the people on the subways. The first person I saw was a blind man leading his family from car to car with a speaker around his neck that would play snippets of a cd he was selling. This turned out to be a very frequent thing as nearly every stop your car was boarded by another person selling a cd or even dvds. There were also gum and candy sellers. What was really interesting to me about this was how many miles per day these people traveled all over the city. And I wondered if they ever got lost. But it got me thinking about other jobs that this type of transport could offer. Perhaps they are already in use? A "moving company?" A library book/movie rental return service? Dumb ideas? Yes, but it will be interesting to see what happens in the future.

The most annoying informal job were the men at the pyramids of Teotihuacán. It was amazing how many of them there were selling blankets, carvings, stones, whistles, and more. Some parents elected to buy the whistles for their children. I remember the only 3 minutes where I did not hear any whistles during the 5 or 6 hours we spent at the pyramids.

After the 4 days in Mexico City the five of us heading to the beach again boarded a bus for an 8 hour trip. This time The Benchwarmers was playing. The movie did not impress me as it put to to sleep. We arrived in Zihuatanejo at just before 6 A.M. I called the hotel we had a reservation and was greeted by a sleepy voice in Spanish that clearly had the effects of years of smoking. It was a difficult call to get through, but I learned that we could not check in until 11 A.M. and we could not drop off our bags until 8 A.M. So we walked to the cab stand and headed to the beach nearest the hotel, which was only 5 blocks. There we sat on the beach with our baggage and watched the sun rise as the locals jogged by surely thinking we had camped out on the beach. Zihuatanejo began as a fishing village in the middle part of the 1900s and still has that type of feel. In fact, within the first hour we saw a man walk by with 4 fish dangling from some hooks he was holding in his hand.

Overall, Zihuatanejo was an excellent place to be in. I recommend the place if you ever want to go to Mexico and avoid the touristy areas. There is a major tourist resort 5 miles north if you're into that kind of thing, but only a small number of them come to Zihuatanejo. Also, there is a large central market that sells mainly food, but almost everything else as well. Our room had a kitchenette in it, so we were able to cook most of our meals.

The informal economy was present at the beach as well as many people walked from beach towel to beach umbrella selling sea shell necklaces, the service to cornrow your hair, sunglasses, and, the most disgusting one, ceviche at about 4 P.M. For those of you who don't know, ceviche is semi-raw seafood, usually something like octopus, squid, shrimp, or regular fish. At 4 pm on a hot day and being carried around on the beach it probably was not so fresh.

One more thing that made a very big impression on me was the guns that the police would carry up and down the beach. These things were huge, as in bigger than my legs. And they had huge bullets. I am not even close to a gun expert, but these looked like a cross between a stationary rifle and an AK-47. They were huge. And I don't know why they were there. But they were.

It was a good spring break, the most memorable so far.

The sunrise in Zihuatanejo

It's mid-March already!

Time is flying bye and there is a lot of work to make it go faster, but it is enjoyable. Since I can't seem to find time to write a lot on here, this will be a sort of summary of what I have not shared.

I have been back to San Felipe, the small village in rural Nuevo Leon, twice since the first visit. The first time I went with Pedro, my professor. There had been some work done on the prototype house by some people in the village and Pedro wanted to look at it, and I went along to become more familiar with the people and to do some more documentation. On that day I did more of the familiarizing and less of the documenting. I spent the day riding a donkey while following an old man (I can't remember his name) and his grandson David as they guided their cattle to the watering hole. Then I sat with a family and made some small talk before heading home before it got too late. The third visit I went by myself. Going by myself involves taking a bus, being dropped off at a bus stop on the highway (mile marker 60 if you're curious) and getting a ride to the village. When I arrived at the bus station in Monterrey, I bought my ticket which immediatly became outdated as the bus informed the station that it would be 90 minutes late. The late bus then took a different route than I expected, and the 3 hour trip in a car turned to a 5 hour trip in a bus, plus the 90 minute wait. I was not thrilled, but I was back in rural Mexico; a place without pollution, a place with scenery I'm still not used to yet, and a place I just simply enjoy being in. This trip was for documentation. One of the goals of the San Felipe project is to produce a booklet that documents every house in the village (there are about 30). My task is to document 2 traditional houses, two houses with mixed techniques, and one house that has no traditional techniques at all. So I spent several hours drawing, talking, photographing, and walking which ended with kicking a soccer ball around and eating two dinners, (both very good). That night as I laid in a bed that was offered me, my body decided to be awake from 12:30-4:30. A bit annoying, but had I been asleep I would never have heard the coyotes that were just outside the village, if not inside. It was very cool to hear, and when I asked about them the next morning I was told that they sometimes are able to grab a careless chicken in the night.

Going back to the second visit. One the way to San Felipe, Pedro told me about some of the things outside of school that he has done, especially in his neighborhood. These stories were interrupted by a cop pulling over Pedro who was doing 30 km/hr over the speed limit (about 18 mph) and getting a 500 peso ticket, which would be reduced to 250 pesos if paid in the next 15 days. That is about $50 and $25 respectively, a bargain price and unheard of for speeding tickets where I'm from. Pedro told me about a park in his neighborhood that was being taken over by semi-bullies who liked to play soccer in the park. As president of his neighborhood association, he came up with the idea of putting semi-large rocks in the ground which added character to the park, and made it very difficult to play soccer. Another problem with the park is littering as people who don't live nearby do not have a problem leaving trash on the ground as they pass through. Besides a candy-for-trash-pick-up day with the kids, Pedro also involved some children in the construction of a bench made from found plastic bottles made from sand. The children loved the project and signed their names on the bench. Unfortunately the bench was destroyed the next day by someone, but the community involvement part is nice.

Besides the part, Pedro has had other problems, security problems. His neighborhood is near a neighborhood that contains many of what are considered illegal houses. This other neighborhood, known as Nuevo Almaguer, is built on the bottom of Cerro de la Silla, the signiture natural landmark of Monterrey. This can be described as a squatter neighborhood. I went into this neighborhood a few Saturdays ago while doing some work in the 10x10 program mentioned in another post. This neighborhood is rough, there is no other way to describe it. Not to be too sensational, but all the romantic notions of squatters fending for themselves and the fascination with the fact that such communities exist are quickly dashed when entering one. It was a rough area to be in. Apart from the lack of proper building materials and infrastructure that the rest of the Monterrey area is accustomed to, simply getting around is difficult. The neighborhood is built on a mountain. Mountains are giant rocks. Giant rocks are impossible to reshape without a lot of money. This neighborhood did not have roads, they were paths of rock. We were in the 10x10 pickup truck and it was difficult getting around. Driving to the construction site involved some turnarounds, big bumps, and bottoming out about every 200 ft. Trying a different way out of there was worse.

Anyway, back to the Pedro story. In this neighborhood on the mountain that is near Pedro's house lives gangs. Our plan was to meet at 6 am on campus to head to San Felipe and Pedro was a bit late because the window on Pedro's car had been broken by someone. Pedro suspected it was gang related as there had been a lot of gang activity in the previous days. In fact, the previous day was the day I was in that neighborhood and I heard a story about a gang fight that had happened the night before. I couldn't tell you details because it was in Spanish, but I can tell you there was a gang fight and it was fairly big. This window incident was not the first time Pedro has seen violence. His house has been broken into as well. Every house has some sort of a wall around it, but Pedro, being an architect with ideals, refuses to put a wall up for security, and he has paid the price a few times. He says he is trying to design a solution to the problem not only for his house, but for his neighborhood. He pointed out that the walls actually attract the gangs because they become places for graffiti and to get their name out.

Apart from the experiences above, the last few weeks have mainly been campus based. The studio project has been focusing on the current amenities and state of the surrounding area and we have met with the urban growth secretary as well as others.

As for now, the week of March 17-21 is Semana Santa here in Mexico and that means spring break. So in a few hours I am heading to Mexico City via bus (11 hours) and spending a few days there. One thing I don't look forward to is the pollution. Monterrey has a decent amount of pollution and I, and others (actually it seems almost everyone), have a bit of a constant small cold from it. Mexico City is in a low spot where strong winds can't blow away the pollution. So apart from the wonderful sights and sounds, there will probably be a lot of tissues (not Kleenexes, Greenpeace is boycotting them, haha). After Mexico City the group (3 from the U.S., 1 from Canada, one from France) are heading to the state of Guerrero to a town on the coast named Zihuatanejo (the place mentioned Shawshank Redemption) to enjoy the Pacific Ocean for a few glorious days. Then we cap it off with an 18 hour bus ride back to Monterrey!

Been away too long

It's been exactly 20 days since I have posted anything here, and I don't like it. The past few weeks have been quite busy with required work and extra-curricular stuff. Sitting down to write a fairly-intelligent grouping of words turned into several attempts not amounting to anything, and then realizing I had a deadline to meet for something else. But this time I'm back.

Apart from time restraints, I believe the biggest reason for not sharing much publicly is because I am, and have been, chest deep in the 2nd stage of culture shock. Until a few days ago I thought my culture shock was over with when I realized minor differences and somewhat accepted the fact that communicating would be difficult for my stay. But then someone informed me that culture shock is a much longer and complicated experience. To verify, I checked out Wikipedia, and she was right. The 2nd stage is a bitch. The "Negotiation Phase" as it is called is described as "After a few days, weeks, or months, minor differences between the old and new culture are resolved. One may long for food the way it is prepared in one's native country, may find the pace of life too fast or slow, may find the people's habits annoying, etc." This sentence is too nice. Currently, I cannot believe how I find myself disliking some aspects of this city. It does not help that Monterrey really is not a nice city, really, that's not culture shock talking. I even found myself starting to write a blog post describing the things that I did not like, but realized that I did not start this thing to complain or make blanket statements, but rather to put some intelligent (maybe) thoughts out there so that I can organize my thoughts and to hopefully get some good responses. Therefore I will not publicly state what I find annoying or what I currently do not find appealing. I'll save that for emails and instant messages when I can also brag about the nice weather compared to the snow I would normally be in at this time (I still can't believe I get to miss January-March in Muncie, so truly happy about that).

But today I received an email from Bryan Finoki from Subtopia about a little book quote chain that is happening. And I'm using this as a spring board back into writing. And it's working. I keep jotting down notes for several more blog posts in the near future. The rules to the blogtivity (can I claim that word, Google?) are:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.


Well, the nearest book was a tough call as I had a neat stack of three that was impossible to determine which was closer to me (feet, head, hands?). So I opened each to find the most interesting, and I was quite surprised to find a common theme between all three, and even more surprised at how they directly related to a major goal in two of the projects I am working on.

The first book, Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, A New Urban World, by Robert Neuwirth has page 123 in a chapter about Mumbai, India and states "[Sunder] guesses that Dharavi is home to 5,000 small printing businesses, and that there are more than 1,000 businesses related to the clothing industry with more than 50 sewing machines, and perhaps 3,000 businesses with fewer than 50 machines. Although it's impossible to know exactly, since all of these businesses are technically illegal, and therefore don't report income or pay taxes, the total turnover of all these firms probably amounts to $1 million a day. But, of course, even as Dharavi has developed, Mumbai has developed, too." This slice from the book kind of distorts the point of the chapter. In the last sentence, if Dharavi and Mumbai are switched, it would make more sense. The point to be made is that all parts of a city will adjust to survive. This part of the city is viewed by the legal city as an eyesore and a tax burden, but there is a huge amount of money being made here, which is what the legal city is based upon. We do not know if the operations of these businesses are efficient or were planned well, but we do know that they exist, and will continue to exist, on their own. Just because something is ignored does not mean it will simply go away. The ideal situation is to have this area acknowledged and to have it become part of the overall planning process. This is where the other two books step in.

The next book was Good Deeds, Good Design: Community Service Through Architecture, edited by Bryan Bell. Page 123, which is a piece written by Mark S. Goldman titled "The DreamTree Project: Forging Community Relationships," offers us "On the day that I assisted an elder from the Taos Pueblo, a sustainable community since ca. 1200 AD, in a ceremony blessing the DreamTree Shelter and its future residents, I reflected on the enthusiasm of the multicultural staff. Not only had we really created a place for homeless teenagers to be safe, but we had also built a home in which they could live with genuine pride." This is only two sentences because the chapter ends, but it is a good excerpt. The final 3 sentences comes from Studio at Large: Architecture in Services of Global Communities by Sergio Palleroni and Christina Eichbaum Merkelbach. Page 123, which describes a straw-bale house project, tells us "This house changed her life. She has been instrumental in getting several other straw-bale buildings built in the Crow and Northern Cheyenne reservations, and she has become a more vocal advocate for other issues on the reservation, such as cultural heritage and children's education opportunities. Trailers now form a courtyard behind her house where she runs an after-school study and reading center and a Crow cultural heritage center."

This idea of designing and building something as a catalyst for other things, more than just buildings, still seems like a cool and almost innovative idea; and it upsets me a bit. My fellow students at Ball State and myself have all had this goal in our projects, but it is often not the first step in the design process. Allow me to explain. Early in our education, the idea that your design is the culmination of all the surrounding contexts and functions is very common. Your project will solve any problems in the immediate surroundings. This may have happened in real life a few times, but really it's a design-ego building exercise, and it is difficult to put that aside--that feeling of fixing many problems with one design. The idea of a god working hard for several days and then stepping back and resting as she watches the creation function like clockwork. Well not even the God that is credited with the original creation had a screaming success, so how can a person who has 5-6 years of "superior education?" do better? My point being, it's difficult to alter this approach and to think of your project as a step in the process of many steps.

The studio project I am working on (group project) involves a nearby community that is in an area of constant development. These communities are not necessarily ignored, although there are several informal communities (either placed there by the government after illegally settling somewhere else, or actually settling illegally). But their unique, individual characteristics are not being thoughtfully considered in the master plan, nor are the individual characteristics of the land they are on. The goal of this studio is to start a master plan the evolves from conversations with social workers, urban developers, the people in the community, and with site visits. The project will actually be about 3-4 years, or 6-8 studio projects. We are just the beginning. Now that does not mean that we are half-assing it or anything, but it is a very appropriate and realistic approach to a project that will allow us to monitor what happens next. This is similar to what the book excerpts describe; that the projects had results that extend far beyond AutoCAD or trace-paper. Ideas are born by the people who use the result of the project, and they evolve naturally, not forced from a master plan. Also, the community is not left by itself to fend for itself, as is described in Shadow Cities. The community in the book is successful, but they are still illegal and can be stopped at anytime. It is not the ideal solution.

Another project that has a very defined goal involves the community of San Felipe that I have written about before. The goal of this project is to reintroduce traditional building methods and materials to the community. This reasons are to provide houses that are more comfortable, are sustainable, and have a true sense of place. This prototype house is a clear example of a catalyst for future development.

Well this simple book-quoting-chain thing turned into more writing than I expected, but it is good to be able to share more thoughts. And to finish the deal, here are five blogs that I find interesting, ranging in subject matter: bldgblog (very interesting stuff discovered here), Design Altruism Project (interesting thoughts and work), A Matter of Life and Death (blog of someone that lives in Monterrey), Slums: The Problem (A semi-blog by Lebbeus Woods), Inhabitat (a site that generally has good environmentally-friendly product news).

Getting my hands dirty for the first time

Saturday the 9th was the first day where physical results could be seen. It started with me wanting to get involved with the volunteering organization here at Tec. There is a project entitled 10 casas x 10 familias, where employees of Tec are provided decent housing, as some of them do not currently have it. The architecture department designs the houses and then student volunteers build the houses later in the semester. All students at Tec have to complete 400 hours of social service, so the volunteering program is very popular. The situation of one woman who is a part of the program was briefly explained to me. She is currently living in a house made of corrugated metal pieces on a very uneven surface of rocks, and one room cannot be used as the sewage from the neighboring house has begun to seep into the house. It is good that Tec is doing something, but I wonder if other situations are being missed.

Then I remember some situations in Indiana. The houses may not be in as crude a state, but there is a lot to endure, especially now with the temperatures at night and the flooding that recently took place. Does BSU know about the living conditions of their employees? Are they doing anything to find out? If so I have no idea about it. But everyone in the architecture program here in Monterrey knows about 10x10. And what is so cool about this is that the homeowners are involved from the beginning. With every decision.

I chose this project because it is a very good thing that is happening, but also I want to improve my knowledge of building within the community, learn Spanish words for building related terms, and simply to get out of the house and do something memorable. When I signed up with the volunteering organizers, I found out that 10x10 was being headed by a graduate student I had met a few times, and actually works with Pedro (my professor) quite a bit. So I sought him out on Friday and he said to meet up the next morning at 9:00 am to start working. First he showed me some of what has been happening.

Let me first say that some of the facilities at ITESM are amazing. There is a whole part of one of the buildings, a very large part, that is full of student experiments in sciences, computing, construction, and stuff I haven't even seen yet. The coolest thing I have seen is some students working on an earthquake-proof house. This is an adobe house with many layers of wire, but the entire structure is built on a platform that can mimic the motion of an earthquake. There are also sensors being implemented into the construction for further data. It looks so cool. They were working on it on Saturday and I asked when the shaking is going to happen. One of the students told me 7-10 days. I hope I don't miss it.

Well, with such a nice place to work and plenty of room for storage, many ideas are being born. With 10x10, the goal is to make good houses that are easy to build, do not cost a lot, and have principles of sustainable actions. The wall materials that are being investigated are fiberglass form work that was used to pour concrete in the construction of the Tec parking garage as well as refrigerator doors that came out of the factory with small defects. Pedro has actually put refrigerator doors on part of his house.

Right now there is a small experimental structure that is completed that used the concrete form work, but the house using refrigerator doors is only about 1/4 done, and there are many issues to work out, namely keeping water out. Two photos can see seen below. More can be found here.





Saturday morning began with some loading of materials and then heading to the job site, which is a piece of land on Tec property where agriculture research is also being done and there was a pen of chickens too. Some time was spent on the job site, with some of the new students debating strategies with Roberto, the graduate student who is in charge of the operation. The conversation was in Spanish, but I believe it consisted of Roberto telling the younger kids that the goal was not to complete the house as soon as possible, but to investigate different ways to put the materials together. And also to use safety on the job site. After the discussion we dismantled a section of 6 doors that had been assembled to a steel frame with the expectation of somehow putting the assembly onto the roof. They realized there was no feasible way to do it, so we took it apart and started carrying the doors up to the roof and installing them. After awhile, Roberto took me to see some other things.

His thesis project is similar to what my studio project is this semester. A studio from a year ago went into a community very near Tec called Alfonso Reyes. This community used to live illegally somewhere else but was relocated by the city to a piece of land that borders a canal that is occasionally the overflow area for raw sewage. The community originally wanted a church built, but after some discussions, they changed their mind and wanted a classroom for children to learn computer skills. The structure is 90% done and further development of a master plan is in the process. This last part is Roberto's thesis project; studying the outcome of the work done so far and finding out what to do next.

When we arrived at Alfonso Reyes, it was determined that the plan was to collect several semi-large stones so that a concrete pad could be constructed. In order to save money and amount of concrete, the area to be paved is covered with rocks and then the concrete fills the gaps and binds the rocks together. Not only does it save money, but it looks more unique than a regular concrete pad. The problem is getting the rocks.

I soon learned that we were going into the adjacent canal to get the rocks, the same one that has been used as raw sewage overflow. The canal was fairly dry, but the underside of the rocks were not, and every time I touched something gooey, a little part of me said "stop, this is gross." But I gritted my teeth and kept on, making a mental note not to touch my eyes or mouth. We worked for about 1.5 hours and searched in two locations. It was actually kind of a fun activity, despite the smell. There were 4 of us students and 6 men from the community.

At one moment, one of the men, Moya, collected a few corn-cob looking things that were growing. Roberto told me that they were used for showering. It is amazing at the little things that one can learn from simply getting out of the cushy university environment. A shower sponge from just a few hundred meters away instead of paying for one at the store and having to wait in line with snotty-nose kids all around. What is to be noted from this observation is not the fact that Moya is overly intelligent for making use of this natural material, as it is required due to the fact that money can not be spent for such things, but rather the fact that it is surprising to get something very useful without spending money. When we need something, we give someone else money to get it, a simple process. Many people do not know what is growing in their back yards, or their back yards simply exist to show others that they know how to drive a lawn mower in a straight line for an extended period of time. I am thankful that I grew up in a house that grew a lot of it's food during the summer months, but there is so much about our 4-acre property that I never really knew. 3 of the 4 acres were pretty much left to grow wild. What kind of things grew and lived in these unknown acres? Without straying too far, the point is that such a simple act of collecting a plant to shower with struck me as unique. And it would strike most people the same way.

A similar event happened during the first visit to San Felipe. When some of the men were showing me the water collection areas in the desert, they showed me a plant that they chewed that made your breath fresh. It did not taste great, but it was not horrible. After a few minutes, they told me that it was also a digestive system cleaner. I stopped eating it immediately as I did not want a surprise reaction to some desert plant during my first night in rural Mexico. Some of the guys laughed at me when I spit out the plant after finally deciphering what it was they were telling me.

I want to make it clear that I'm not attempting to romanticize these actions. In the case of Alfonso Reyes, the people do not have a choice whether or not to use found materials for everyday life. But I find myself asking myself, "what gives me the right to come in thinking I know about sustainable design when I don't even know the environment around me?" William McDonough has said (paraphrased) that most architects don't even know how to find solar noon. It's true, I have no idea, and it makes me uncomfortable that I don't know. I'm sure this was taught to us in one of the 9:00 sessions of Natural Systems back in 2nd or 3rd year, which is also the least favorite class of anyone in the architecture program. Anyway, there is a big disconnect between ideals and reality. And the sad part, this has all been said before. Now I'm saying it like it's a new idea. And someone else will say it again. I want to blame education for not teaching me this stuff, but I know it's more my fault, perhaps not a conscious fault, but a fault nonetheless in the sense that I have not made a big effort.

The subtitle of my thesis proposal: "Working with and Learning From ignored communities." Both objectives started and somewhat completed this weekend. I may miss the concrete box in the sky back in Muncie, but it is good to be here.