Ever since I was a little girl, I have been fascinated with the Mexican culture. My parents use to tell me stories about their trip they took to Mexico and the amazing atmosphere of food, family, and fiesta. The stories they told inspired me to further my knowledge on Mexico and the Spanish culture. Therefore, in eighth grade I decided to sign up for Spanish one. That class ignited the love and passion for the Spanish culture that I still carry with me today. Since that class, I have furthered my Spanish by taking Spanish one, two, three, four, and currently five and AP. Each time I advanced to another class, my love for the Spanish culture grew. Every week, in Spanish five we research noticiaros, which are current events, but focused on Spanish news. When I was looking online for a story, I came across an article about the back to back earthquakes in Mexico. It devastated me that this beautiful country and its amazing citizens were undertaking a massive natural disaster. I knew that Mexico has had many financial struggles that are still ongoing today, which is why I choose to research the financial burdens of the earthquakes.
My Spanish five class
Before I decided to research about the Mexican earthquakes, I looked into other topics. I thought that the earthquakes would be very depressing, since I have so much love for the country. The initial question I had was not very specific and I was not very passionate about the subject, so I decided to go back to my original plan and research the Mexican earthquakes. When researching the financial burdens of both earthquakes, I did not consider how many industries and sectors of Mexico they affected. I was sadden to hear that so many people lost their homes and unfortunately many lost their loved ones. I learned that one does not truly understand the parameters of natural disasters until they look at the numbers and see the destruction. Even though my topic was emotionally ambitious for me, the research process was not very strenuous. The earthquakes had such a huge impact on the country that it was not hard to find information on the topic. I was even able to incorporate my Spanish translating skills, by including Spanish written articles into my research. The most challenging part for me was having to make the 25 note cards. Since a part of my information was in Spanish, I had to translate every article in order to incorporate it into a note card. This took a lot of time and became very frustrating, when all I needed was one piece of information. I also got very frustrated with the note cards because I had to write every title and every source, which became old and annoying after the tenth note card. However, once I was done with the note cards and started writing my essay, I realized how helpful the note card process was when it came time to create the works cited page. Once I turned in my essay, a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. However, there is still a haunting reminder of the challenges Mexicans are still facing today. The country is still under ruble and are drowning in debts and sorrow. It does however comfort me to see how the world has responded to the earthquakes. So many people are donating money, sending supplies, and keeping Mexico in their thoughts and prayers. One day Mexico will be recover from this horrible disaster and I hope that day is very close in the future.
Header borrowed from nationalgeographic.com: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/destinations/north-america/mexico/top-10-things-to-do-in-mexico-city/#/dia-de-los-muertos-sugar-skulls-mexico-city.JPG