Former Volunteer Posts AMAZING YouTube Videos!!

We at Global Volunteers are privileged to work with so many wonderful volunteers, partners, and supporters each and every day.

Last week, one particular volunteer, Graham, truly knocked our socks off when he shared a 9-part video series he had created about Global Volunteers and posted on YouTube!! These videos feature the travels and experiences of numerous Global Volunteers (particularly one tight-knit group from New Jersey) and we welcome you to take a look at these exceptional videos by using the link below.


Thank you, Graham!! And for the rest of you... ENJOY!!


Global Volunteer Retrospective Video (End): http://www.youtube.com/user/endlessmug#p/u/53/1YT9erIK0k4

Pictures from Queretaro with Love!

Many thanks to Volunteer Team Leader Pam Cromer for sharing these great photos with us!! We've had a large team of successful volunteers working with students in Queretaro this February!



If you might be interested in volunteering in Mexico later this year, the following are our 2011 Mexico Service Program Dates, and please note that you can volunteer for a one or two week period (we simply ask that you begin on the set start date):

June 4 - June 18 (Dolores Hidalgo)
June 18 - July 2 (Queretaro)
October 15 - October 29 (Dolores Hidalgo)

We look forward to hearing from you soon!!

Learn about... Queretaro!!!

I thought you might enjoy these words from a team leader to Mexico! Queretaro is one of Global Volunteers' two host communities in Mexico. We currently have four volunteer teams scheduled for 2011, with two of the four headed for Queretaro. Please let us know if you would be interested in learning more about these wonderful teaching service opportunities!



QUERETARO, MEXICO: The glorious past – The dynamic present!



Written by: Francoise, Global Volunteer Team Leader


When I agreed to lead a team of volunteers to Queretaro, Mexico, I had already traveled extensively to more “exotic” sites south of our border, mostly in Central and South America, and I relied on memories of an earlier trip to Mexico - many years before…. This recent service program experience in Mexico gave me the opportunity to re-connect and fall in love with a country that is so close to us, yet so full of surprises and riches!

Queretaro: a fascinating city of contrasts whose quaint “heart” pulses with the memories of an illustrious past still lingering in the many gorgeous colonial buildings of its historic center. This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (neighboring San Miguel de Allende is a Mexican national monument) and many defining moments of Mexico’s history come to life in Queretaro’s restored mansions, monuments, and public landmarks. One can discover them along the pedestrian walkways or around the several squares adorned with fountains, statues, and carpets of flowers. From our hotel, located right across the street from the City Museum, we were able to safely explore this compact historic center, visit many of the churches, several museums, markets, while mingling with friendly families as they enjoyed the beauty and liveliness of their public places. But Queretaro – which I found very few Americans have ever heard of! - is also a fast growing, dynamic, and sophisticated metropolis of 1.5 million habitants that boasts a new international airport and hundreds of U.S., Canadian, and European companies with modern facilities that stretch into the mountainous Heartland.

Since 1988, Global Volunteers has been teaching conversational English at UTEQ (Universidad Technologica de Queretaro), and our host there is well organized, appreciative of the volunteers’ contribution, and intent on facilitating better communications and understanding between our two cultures. English as a second language is an important subject at the University, and students who become bilingual speakers will find better jobs. Our students appreciated the opportunity, the only one they have during their time of study there, to practice the language with native speakers. Depending on their level we were able to engage in interesting conversations which turned out to be quite an eye-opener to us. Most of the recent polemic we have been exposed to at home about Mexican/US relations, has focused on poor Mexicans desperate to make it across our borders or hiding from the authorities, and how to deal with this problem. Yet, the students we interacted with (and we were told that the majority came from very poor families) were quite confident in the future of their own country and their own contribution to it. When asked where they would like to travel to, they spoke of exotic places such as Egypt… not Texas or Southern California… Most of them felt confident that they would find employment in this rapidly growing area.

In Queretaro, the contrast between the pride of the past and the pull of the future is everywhere present, yet the Mexicans we interacted with seemed to have found a comfortable balance. We definitively felt a strong sense of responsibility to the family and a commitment for the young to help their elders. Catholicism is a grounding religion for most, and the town’s beautiful churches are often filled with worshippers, yet there are many very progressive social initiatives that “push the envelope.” We saw plays and dance performances sponsored by the city or state that were quite “unorthodox” and experimental, and exhibits that would have been censored in a City Museum here. We were impressed by the sophistication of Queretaro’s cultural scene, the variety of venues that offered high quality events – many free of charge! Our team took great advantage of this. On a typical day, after the afternoon rest following our teaching schedule, when not eating at our hotel, we enjoyed delicious Mexican cuisine at a new restaurant, then attended a show or a concert at a nearby venue. We also could choose to watch a group of young people working on a spontaneous mural or make music, as part of a preventive state-sponsored program for “youth at risk” Or we could join local people in the main square (we especially loved the children in their pretty clothes) to enjoy Latin music, and watch elegant couples perform the traditional “Danzon.” Most of the time we were the only non-Mexicans in the crowd, but everyone was gracious and welcoming.

Hasta Luego!

Volunteer in Mexico & take in some Cultural Events!!

If you've been thinking about volunteering in 2011, consider joining us during or near the time of a cultural celebration!! Check out the list below to find out when our friends in Mexico take time to throw a fiesta :)

**2011 Holidays**

Año Nuevo
New Year’s Day – First day of the year.
Saturday, 1 January 2011

Día de la Constitución
Constitution day – Celebrates the Promulgation of the 1857 and 1917 Constitutions. Observance: First Monday of February.
Monday, 7 February 2011

Natalicio de Benito Juárez
Benito Juárez’s birthday – Commemorates President Benito Juárez’s birthday on March 21, 1806. Observance: Third Monday of March
Monday, 21 March 2011

Día del Trabajo
Labor day – Commemorates the Mexican workers’ union movements.
Sunday, 1 May 2011

Cinco de Mayo
Fifth of May – Celebrates the victory of the Mexican Army, led by Gral. Ignacio Zaragoza against French forces in the city of Puebla, on May 5, 1862. Also widely celebrated in the United States. US “celebration” of this Mexican historical event is largely a result of promotions in the US by liquor, beer, and bars/taverns/clubs/restaurants since the 1980s. For many years Cinco de Mayo celebrations in the US promoted Cinco de Mayo as Mexican Independence Day which is actually September 16. Although Mexican citizens feel very proud of the meaning of Cinco de Mayo, it is not a national holiday in Mexico, but it is an official holiday in the State of Puebla where the mentioned battle took place.
Thursday, 5 May 2011

Día de Independencia
Independence Day – Commemorates the start of the Independence War by Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in 1810.
Friday, 16 September 2011

Día de la Revolución
Revolution day – Commemorates the start of the Mexican Revolution by Francisco I. Madero in 1910. Observance: Third Monday of November.
Monday, 21 November 2011

Navidad
Christmas – Christmas celebration; secular and religious holiday.
Sunday, 25 December 2011

Vote Now & Vote Often for Global Volunteers!!

From November 15 - November 21 the Star Tribune newspaper is holding a contest entitled 'Full Page Project' amongst MN non-profits and the winner will receive a free full page ad in the Sunday paper!

Please vote for us this week ~ you can vote once per hour!

Here is the link where you can register and then vote for Global Volunteers (please copy and paste the link):
http://startribune.upickem.net/engine/Registration.aspx?contestid=22815

We would also encourage you to pass this link along to your family and friends, and post it on your personal Facebbok page or blog. Let us know if you have any questions, and remember voting has begun!

Thank you for your support.

Summer 2010 ~ A Terrific Team of Two!!

A Farewell to the Volunteers from our Mexico Host

Farewell Global Volunteers!

This is mainly just a thank you speech from us, teachers to you Global volunteers.

We always appreciate what you do for our students, and believe me… they might not say it but they appreciate it too.

I specially would like to mention a couple of things that make me feel personally very happy and satisfied about your visit.

One of them is that our students, once they have had the opportunity to meet you and talk to you, have a feeling that what they have been learning through all these months or years is blooming and have the feeling of fulfillment now that they have seen communication for them is possible with an English speaking native.

Another is the great experience that you have shared with all of us teachers, which leaves a deep mark in our hearts because we learn a lot from you, and I hope I don’t just speak for myself; because you are teachers of life, because you have traveled all over and that sharing with everyone changes minds, perceptions, and attitudes on people towards our fellows.

I had the chance to have some of you working with my students and you are really amazing people. I specially want to thank your availability to spend time with the students even when you were having lunch, and I know some of you even brought your own snack so you could spend more time with them.

When you guys are in our facilities, the environment is different; people in some ways are better, more open, more accessible… I think there’s no science that can explain that. I call it love, love to what you do and to life itself. I think is will, will to be, will to live, will to be better and greater. I personally think that makes a great difference in the world.

These are supreme feelings and from the deep of my heart I thank you all for letting me be part of it and I hope, one day I will be able to do something like what you do, Then, the world would be better if we all could change that bit.

Juan Luis