Busy Day!

Hi everyone! My name is Emily Velichka and I am a junior student at the College of Wooster. This is my second time on the trip to Tijuana.

Today we had a busy day! This morning, I was fortunate to attend a Catholic mass at a church down the street from the posada where we stay. As I am Catholic myself, but speak little to no Spanish, it was very interesting to follow the order of Mass I am typically accustomed to, but in a different language! My knowledge of prayers and responses was definitely tested throughout the service, but it was powerful to receive Holy Communion in a church so different from my own.

Next, we traveled to the border wall. However, this time felt a bit different than the previous year. The wall is painted a bit differently, but the main difference was in the overall atmosphere of the boardwalk. I saw several families communicating through the wall, with children bringing small gifts to their family members on the other side. A typical greeting between these people is to touch pinkies, and this sign is actually displayed as a small mural on a section of the wall itself. The most powerful part of this trip segment was a portion of a church service we were invited to participate in. As a group, we walked to the wall and were invited to stand across from someone on the other side. As a large, collective group, we then prayed together for a solution to be found regarding the wall and all it brings to our two nations. During this time, I felt an immense amount of emotion that I'm not sure I can quite put into words, but know I will take this feeling with me to put all of myself into our work this week as well as when I return home.

After this, we went to Revolution street, where we enjoyed a rooftop lunch complete with a scerenade from a mariachi band! We then enjoyed some time to shop around afterwards. Bartering with the shop owners is always an interesting experience, and this time was no different!

Finally, a small group of us traveled to the Cultural Center of Tijuana to end our day. This was my first time going to the center, and it was interesting to learn more about Mexican history as we typically just learn the basics throughout our own history classes.

Today has been a long day filled with many emotions, but it was a great way to enter in to the rest of our week! I'm looking forward to starting our first work day tomorrow, and know the rest of this trip will be just as fun as today!