What do Monterrey, Mexico, and Rotary’s PolioPlus program have in common?

A man named Dr. Carlos Canseco González, past president of Rotary International and founder of the program that Rotary is best known for: PolioPlus, whose goal is to immunize all children of the world against polio and thus eradicate the world of that terrible disease. He was also from Mexico and once the president of one of the Rotary clubs in Monterrey, whose meeting I attended on Wednesday.

I walked into the Hotel Quinta Real on Wednesday morning at 7:55 a.m. not knowing what to expect of my first Rotary meeting in Mexico. I tried to be professional and early, but not too early, as “Mexican time” tends to run on a later clock than the United States (it is a stereotype of the Latino culture that they take their time coming to meetings and events). Fortunately, I saw other Rotarians walking in at the same time, so it looked like I estimated about right.

At the meetings for my sponsor Rotary club in South Carolina, the Lake Murray-Irmo Club, we meet in a room at a somewhat casual community center at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesdays. Breakfast is informally served – we go up and help ourselves to the typical southern meal of eggs and biscuits. About ten minutes is allowed for mingling and eating, and then the meeting usually begins around 7:40.

Here in Monterrey, the meeting time was at 8:00 a.m. but the meeting didn’t begin till about 8:30, after a delicious and much more formal breakfast. Because we were in a hotel, the breakfast was all catered to us at the table. The first course was tropical fruit served in a cocktail glass, and afterwards we had some kind of fancy egg-white dish, decorated with asparagus and a tomato and a few different Mexican sauces; it was delicious!

The meeting began around 8:30 with the Mexican Pledge of Allegiance:

¡Bandera de México!
Legado de nuestros héroes,
Símbolo de la unidad
de nuestros padres
y de nuestros hermanos,
te prometemos ser siempre fieles
a los principios de libertad y justicia
que hacen de nuestra Patria,
la nación independiente,
humana y generosa,
a la que entregamos
nuestra existencia.

**Disclaimer: I found this on Wikipedia as the Mexican Pledge of Allegiance, so I assume that is what they were saying. This is the translation Wikipedia gives:

Flag of México!
Legacy of our heroes,
Symbol of the unity
of our parents
and of our siblings,
we promise you to be always faithful
to the principles of liberty and justice
that make of our Homeland,
the independent,
humane and generous nation,
to which we dedicate
our existence.

Whereas in the U.S. we place our hands on our hearts for our Pledge, in Mexico they put their hand in a salute form over their hearts.

The rest of the Rotary meeting ran very similar to the Lake Murray-Irmo meetings. First there were some announcements, and then they had a guest speaker, who spoke about a program he runs to improve the world’s perceptions of Mexico. He gave several examples of how far along Mexico is in regards to things such as education, compared to various other countries. Very impressive.

One thing that was very different from the Lake Murray-Irmo club (and I assume most clubs in the U.S.) is that the attendance was all male. I learned afterwards that the Rotarians’ wives meet separately once a month to do their own activities.

I also learned that the main service activities that the club does are 1) raising money for the university hospital here, since most patients at that hospital are low-income, and 2) bringing purified water to some rural areas that don’t have access to it. Wow!

The Rotarians were all very kind and hospitable, and I hope to attend more of their meetings. I also plan on attending the meetings of other Rotary clubs in the area. I’ll keep you updated!

Here are some photos from the meeting, taken by photographer Salome Martinez (note: the only woman there, other than me, was an invited guest for the day):







Here is an abridged biography of Dr. Carlos Canseco González. The full one can be found at http://www.rotaryfirst100.org/presidents/1984canseco/bio.htm:

Dr. Carlos Canseco González was born on March 17, 1921, in México City, México. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the National University of México. He then went on to complete a specialty in Allergology at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, and a second specialty in Clinical Immunology at the University of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania...

...From 1950 to 1952, he served as Chair of the Allergogology Services at the Autonomous University of Nuevo León. He then co-founded the Monterrey Football Club, joined Rotary International, and became President of the Rotary Club of Monterrey. He also raised funds for the purpose of building the first Children’s Hospital in Monterrey....

...In 1984, Dr. Canseco González became President of Rotary International. During his tenure, he proposed a program to eradicate polio. Rotary International and the World Health Organization began planning for the most ambitious program in its history – to immunize all of the world’s children against polio. The plan required collaboration with international, national, and local health agencies and took shape early in Dr. Canseco González’s year as RI President when he appointed the Polio 2005 Committee. He invited Dr. Albert Sabin, developer of the oral polio vaccine, to serve as a special consultant to the committee. The program for eradication of polio continues to this day. During his term as President of Rotary International, Dr. Canseco González worked diligently to form new Rotary Clubs. Rotary International experienced an increase of 978 new clubs and 45,000 new members.

Rotary’s pledge of US $120,000,000 to fund its PolioPlus program was announced in October 1985 at the 40th anniversary of the United Nations. This ambitious commitment was well received by the global public health community. Within three years, Rotarians had more than doubled their fundraising goal, donating US 247 million.

Dr. Carlos Canseco González will go down in history as the Rotary International President who launched, in 1985, the PolioPlus Program with the goal of raising $120,000,000 to provide enough vaccine to rid the world of polio by the Centenary of Rotary in 2005...

The Beginning of Pictures!

Finally. After losing many battles with the internet here, I have some pictures posted! Click on the links below to see them, and keep updated because I have many, many more. Feel free to write comments, because I love reading them!

Road Trip to Mexico

Exploring Monterrey the First Week, Album #1

It’s one thing to learn another language. It’s a whole other world to be intelligent in that language.

I have “successfully” completed my first two weeks of school. I put that in quotes because there were some mishaps along the way, but I have so far worked to the best of my abilities, and I suppose that is all you can hope for when you’re taking graduate-level classes in a foreign language in a class of students who are native speakers of the language. I am taking the following classes:

“Comunicación de Masas” (Mass Communication). This is an introductory class that teaches about the theories and history of mass communication. Throughout the semester we will be applying the various theories we learn through analysis projects of various mass media (newspaper articles, media company structures, television shows, etc.) and the tools they use.

“Investigación Cuantitativa” (Quantitative Research). This is a research class that discusses and applies quantitative mass media research methods, like surveys and laboratory experiments.

“Seminario de Comunicación Organizacional” (Organizational Communication Seminar). This class is of particular interest to me, since I worked for a nonprofit for the last year. We will learn and discuss the most effective communication strategies for an organization (both internal and external), while studying various cases. I also like this class because naturally we will discuss barriers in intercultural communication, and therefore the best ways to accommodate other cultures from a communications perspective.

“Nuevas Tecnologías: Implicaciónes e Impacto” (New Technologies: Implications and Impact). The title is pretty self-explanatory. I think I would like this class a little bit more if the book we were reading wasn’t essentially a science book (well, the history and development of science). Imagine having to read a science book in Spanish, when you’re studying communication...

Salsa Dance: Of course! You can’t be in Mexico without taking salsa, right? :)

Truth be told, I love my classes. The teachers are wonderful, great teachers, and very helpful and willing to accommodate my less-than-perfect Spanish. I’m really glad I chose to study communication, also. The material being taught is so interesting, and although they didn’t offer any intercultural/international communications classes this semester, because we are in Mexico (so close to the U.S. and also housing thousands and thousands of internationals) and also because of the topics of the classes, we can’t help but discuss communication and use examples from an international perspective.

Although I am able to follow a good bit of what is being taught in class, and can pick up enough to definitely get the jist and most important parts of everything, it is still going to take some adjusting getting used to classes being taught in Spanish. As I entitled this blog post, it really is a whole other ballgame to be expected to think critically in a language that is not your first. Up till now, I’ve only really had classes on the Spanish language itself (grammar and conversation), which drilled me to perfect my Spanish – to be able to speak and write well. Now, I’m forced to put behind me the focus on the language that my teachers here are speaking, and move past that – move into actual comprehension of the ideas, theories, and analysis being discussed. I bring my Spanish-English dictionary to class with me everyday to look up various vocabulary words that come up during class, and I try to take advantage of the fact that the classes are being taught in Spanish to perfect my Spanish listening skills, but in order to fully absorb the material being taught, I need to move past that. I know it will come with time, so I’m not going to be too hard on myself, but I thought I’d give you all some insight into the world of the sincere mastery of another language. And hey, I am proud to say that I have read – and understood the general jist of - the first three chapters of a Spanish science book! Now if only I can master the vocab of the region, next time I will do my homework correctly instead of assuming that “dos cuartillos” means “two paragraphs” (turns out it means “two pages”...whoops!).

First Week, First Impressions

Note: Since I wrote my last blog post, I have added a few pictures to compliment the narrative – so scroll down to my previous post and check them out! Also, as soon as I’m able to secure a strong internet connection (the one in my apartment building is pretty weak), I will post lots of photos online).

First impression #1: Monterrey Tec is an excellent, beautiful, and very wealthy university. Our first full day in Monterrey, my dad and I decided to walk to the Tec (no “h” in the Spanish spelling, so the abbreviation here is just “Tec”) campus and check it out. First of all, I am very lucky because I live an easy 5-10 minutes walking from campus. Once we arrived, I discovered that I would be pretty safe on campus; I had to explain to a security guard that I was an international student at Tec (with no ID yet) in order to be able to enter the campus. The campus itself is beautifully landscaped, with modern architecture and lots of trees. We also stumbled across a peacock hanging out there! (And I’ve been told that there are deer, or “Bambi” as they are called by several Europeans here learning English who don’t know the word “deer” yet). It was clear that the campus offers a lot of services and facilities for students, and that I will be well taken care of.

I hate to admit this, but I was actually pretty surprised at how excellent of a school Tec clearly is. I had heard reports of its quality from various sources, but still I couldn’t get out of my head all of the negative news stories about Mexico that had been pounded into my head by the media for the last several years. It is one of my goals through my year in Mexico as a Rotary Scholar to shed light on the true nature of Mexico, as I will experience it. For starters, I hope my readers will realize once and for all that Mexico is producing incredibly intelligent, educated, capable, and well-rounded young men and women ready to go out into the world and contribute something beautiful.

First impression #2: Despite its industrial character, Monterrey still has a lot of culture. The evening of our first full day in Monterrey, my dad and I decided to visit Barrio Antiguo, the old, historic part of the city. There we met up with a girl from Memphis named Sara, who has been a godsend in helping me get adjusted to and figure out things in Monterrey. She moved to Monterrey a few weeks before I did, so she had just “been there, done that.” Anyway, Sara, my dad and I went to Paseo Santa Lucia, a river/canal that runs through Barrio Antiguo. They have tourist boats there that take you down the river and back, and although we waited for almost two hours in line (!!), it was worth it. By the time we got on the boats, it was dark outside, and the lights of the Paseo (“passageway” is the loose translation) were beautiful. We passed a few Mexican cultural bands that were playing beautiful music, as well as a few restaurants on the water’s edge. Kind of reminded me of Venice. After the boat ride was done, we stopped and had tacos at a little taco shop, which is the typical food/restaurant here. The tacos, although small, are nothing like what you would eat in the U.S. – sooo much better!

My dad and I went back to Barrio Antiguo the next day to walk around some more. One of the best things we stumbled across was a band playing salsa, merengue, cumbia, and other cultural music in a big patio area, where there were a lot of random couples dancing! There was a whole crowd of people surrounding the people dancing, watching and listening to the music. It made me so happy to be in Mexico. We then walked across the street to a cathedral, which happened to be in the middle of a Sunday evening service! We were there for the last ten minutes of it, and both the singing and the church itself were absolutely beautiful.

After the service we wandered along the Paseo, and stumbled across a flea market where they were selling a lot of cultural items, like woven cloth dresses and handmade jewelry. There were also a few stands with Mexican food, and we both sampled mole, a spicy Mexican chocolate spread which is more spicy than chocolaty! I think you might have to be Mexican to really enjoy it...


Our last stop was at a restaurant on the river/canal, where we ate outside and enjoyed old U.S. love songs (haha) sung by Mexicans attempting an American accent.

First impression #3: The natural wonders surrounding Monterrey are incredible and breathtaking. The following day my dad and went to La Cascada Cola de Caballo, or Horsetail Waterfall. It’s in a town called Santiago, about 30 minutes from Monterrey. We had to drive a little ways up a mountain, and then park our car and walk to the national park, where the waterfall was. There’s not much more I can say in words to describe its beauty, so here are some pictures, even though they don’t do the waterfall justice:




Afterwards we ate at a little restaurant overlooking the valley:


We shared slices of steak (carne asada), tortillas, guacamole and salsa – a typical Mexican meal. And of course, cerveza (I would have preferred Corona to Tecate, but that was all he had. Tecate is like the Budweiser of Mexico). The steak was cooked on the grill right there as we waited, and all the food was fresh and delicious.



I experienced the natural wonders of Monterrey yet again just a few days ago. My friends and I went to Las Grutas de Garcia, a set of caves about an hour outside of Monterrey. The grutas doesn’t really mean “caves” though. It’s more used to describe stalactite and stalagmite, which is a much more accurate description than just a “cave.” The caves were at the top of an incredibly steep mountain, up which we had to take a cable car, and they were the most incredible things I had ever seen. They were filled with white-crystal stalactites and stalagmites. The air was cool and crisp, a welcome change from the 110-degree heat we’ve been having. The caves would have been creepy, but for flood lighting in various nooks and crannies, accentuating the designs of the grutas (actually, the lighting may have made it more creepy). We walked around for an hour or so, up and around the various passageways and staircases. After the tour, we dined in the little town of Garcia, which felt like a ghost town as there was barely anyone around and there was ominous music playing in the town square. The food was delicious though!

First impression #4: Monterrey is a safe city. You can take a deep breath; Monterrey is one of the safest cities in Mexico. Since it is a big city, I do have to be careful about walking alone at night, petty theft, etc., but really I feel safer here than in Memphis, my home town. Ironically, I am more worried about the cops here; they are notorious for being corrupt, and I’ve been told to keep a few hundred pesos on me as a bribe (anywhere from $30-$50 USD) in case I’m stopped for something they say I did. But don’t worry, I feel safe here, and am not experiencing any of the violence you may here about in the media.

First impression #5: Monterrey is a very international city. I spent the last week in orientation for international students at Monterrey Tec. There are about a thousand extranjeros, as they’re called here, from all over the world. Tec prides itself on its international flare, and it seems to me that other universities here do as well. The locals are accustomed to accommodating the extranjeros, and it seems that every semester the Mexican students seek out international students as friends. I have a Mexican friend assigned to me as a “buddy,” who has been very helpful in showing me around the city and getting acclimated. I have made friends with French, Germans, Canadians and Australians primarily, and have also met people from Sweden, Finland, Italy, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, and many other countries. I came to Mexico hoping and expecting to have my eyes open to Mexican culture, and in the process am having my eyes opened to a wealth of other cultures and languages (I even feel like my Australian roommate and I don’t always speak the same language!).

I like to think that I’ve always had an open mind to other ways of thinking and to other cultures, but I realize now that I could only absorb so much living in one country for my entire life. Of course, my semester in Costa Rica helped a lot, but there was still so much U.S. influence it was sometimes hard to differentiate between cultures. It is suddenly hitting home that there is a whole world out there, much larger than the one that my life has been more or less centered around. Those of you who know me know that I consider myself pretty culturally aware, but now I see how vital it is for me to interact and make friends with people from other cultures for it to really sink in. There is only so much that textbooks can teach you.

Road Trip of a Lifetime

I am in Monterrey!! I apologize for the delay in posting – it’s taken awhile to get settled in! I’m going to break up the last week into two blog posts: this one is for my road trip to Mexico, and the following one will detail my first few days in this beautiful city.

Day 1: Wednesday, July 29: Memphis to Dallas

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After a delayed departure time due to a decaying car muffler and a slow-moving Shelby County Clerk’s Office, my dad and I were finally on our way to Dallas (had to get my car muffler fixed in order for it to pass Tennessee inspection, which had to be done in order for it to be re-registered in TN). It was about an eight-hour trip, during which time we passed through Little Rock, AR, and Texarkana (I’m not sure which state that city belongs to, since it’s a mix of each!). At about 10:30 p.m. we finally arrived in Dallas, where we stayed overnight with one of my friends from college, Stefana. It was great seeing her and catching up – thanks for putting us up, Stef!

Day 2: Thursday, July 30: Dallas to Laredo

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We got an early start since Stef had to leave to go to work, so of course the first thing we did was to stop at Starbucks, where we reviewed our trip itinerary for that day. However, despite our morning “map prep”, it wasn’t until right outside of Dallas that I realized that we would be passing directly through Waco, where one of my childhood friends, Marianna, goes to college. Luckily she answered her phone and we were able to have a spontaneous – and delicious – lunch with her!

It was as we were leaving Waco that it finally hit me that our next stop (other than a brief stay in Laredo overnight) would be Mexico. We were on Highway 30, heading straight to Mexico and continuing through, where it would change to Highway 85. You cannot imagine my excitement when I saw a sign that read “Nuevo Laredo: 56 miles” (the Mexican border town)!!

Laredo (the U.S. border town) was not what we were expecting. We had heard it was a little bit dangerous, so I think I was already on edge. However, I think my dad was expecting an old Western cowboy town where you can walk cobblestone pathways and hear old Western cowboy music and, if you're lucky, see John Wayne (I forgot to mention that right before Waco we stopped to use the restrooms at “Willie’s Place”, a country store playing tribute to Willie Nelson, where my dad had a field day).

Laredo, though, was a mix of nice-looking strip malls and sketchier areas, depending on what street we were on. I saw some billboards and stores for U.S. naturalization services and Mexican and U.S. car insurance. Other than that, there really didn’t seem to be that much interesting or memorable about the town, other than the fact that we were sleeping four miles from the border of Mexico!

Day 3: Friday, July 31: Laredo to Monterrey

(Google maps won't let me get directions in Mexico, but you can see from the other maps if you zoom out where Monterrey is)

Having worked in an immigrant rights organization for the last year, I had been hearing and reading almost every day about issues down at the border, and until Friday, July 31, the U.S.-Mexico border had remained in my mind a nebulous concept rather than anything concrete. So needless to say, I was more than a little bit thrilled to be crossing, with also more than a little bit of trepidation.

Like I said, we were only four miles from the border so it took us next to no time to get there. However, at the border in Laredo there are two international bridges that you could cross, so it took us a little while to figure out which one to take. From the Laredo Visitor Center, we found out we take Bridge #1 to get into the tourist part of Nuevo Laredo, and Bridge #2 to pass through Nuevo Laredo on the outskirts of town, so we took Bridge #2.



Crossing the Rio Grande was a letdown – it took less than a minute. At least at the Laredo-Nuevo Laredo border, it should be called the Rio Pequeño. But, we did cross into Mexico without any problems, as we got a green light which meant that we could pass without an inspection. However, once we passed through the border we were completely lost – it was like they didn’t care where we went once we were in Mexico, and we could have easily entered the country without a passport or visa (when I drive back to the U.S., I’m sure it will be a different story). But since I didn’t want to be deported from Mexico for being there illegally, we figured it would be a good idea to find the place to get visas and a car permit. I had been told by a few people that to get to that location, after leaving the international bridge we would drive back around to a building that was under the bridge. Oh my god. Streets in Mexico are so confusing. In trying to figure out how to get under the bridge, we almost went back to the U.S. Twice. (Really – once we found ourselves back on the bridge about to drive back over, so a guard had to help us turn around and get out of there!). We finally figured it out, though, and got our visas and car permit without much problem or too long of a wait.

So.We had visas and a car permit – we were legal. We each took a huge sigh of relief (I may have needed it a little more than my dad) as we saw signs pointing toward Monterrey, and we were on our way.

Really, as soon as we entered Mexico I could see the difference. Houses seemed to be a lot older than in the U.S., but with more character. All signs were in Spanish, and it brought back memories of my time spent in Costa Rica and elsewhere in Central America. The highway to Monterrey was pretty straightforward and easy. Brown desert stretched for miles on either side of us, sprinkled with greenish-brownish shrub. Occasionally we would pass the stereotypical tiny little Mexican pickup truck, but that was about it. The ride gave us some time to relax and tune into some radio stations playing old Mexican cultural music that my dad would consider polka (proud of his Polish background, he made sure to let me know that there were many Polish that settled in the Texas-Mexico area).

All of a sudden, after about an hour and a half of driving in the flat desert, we saw mountains. HUGE mountains that were made to look like a fake backdrop from the haze. And we got to drive right through them. I’ve only been to Colorado a few times, but as much as I love the Rockies, they don’t compare to the Sierra Madre mountains of Mexico.

We were amidst beautiful mountains (montañas in Spanish) for another couple of hours, and then we hit Monterrey. Or rather, Monterrey hit us....like a storm. Yes, we did come in right as rush hour was beginning, and yes, we did find a taxi to follow who could take us to my apartment building, but that was certainly a roller coaster ride through the city. Although my dad was driving, once we got to my apartment, I vowed never to take my car out in the city again, but since then I’ve driven it a couple of times and it’s been great! I am definitely glad I brought it to have a little more freedom with getting around the city, and I think I will ease into driving in Monterrey quickly.

The apartment I am living in is great. The building is about 5-10 minutes walking distance from Monterrey Tec. It has 24-hour security and a secure parking garage, and of course my favorite part: a Starbucks in the same parking lot. I live in an apartment with three other Tec students: a French guy, an Australian girl, and a Mexican guy. We each have our own room and bathroom, and we share a kitchen. The apartment is basic like a dorm room, but it comes furnished and it really has everything I need. I’ve already become friends with several of the great people who live here.

With that said, I will close my posting of my incredible and memorable road trip to Mexico. I would like to quickly thank my dad for everything he did to get me to Monterrey: helping me put together all the arrangements, and driving with me for three days straight (and that says a lot that he was willing to be in a car with me for three whole days!). He also helped me get settled into my apartment in Monterrey during the first few days of my stay here, which I will write about in my next post!

Till then, ¡hasta luego!