Non-Conventional Spring Break Part #3

Sorry for the lack of updates in the blog but my life was overtaken by actual real spring (as opposed to snow) and Easter Break (as opposed to Spring Break). I am backtracking to my Tuesday of Spring Break because I actually look forward to looking at this blog in years and thinking how crazy I was when I have a boring desk job (then I really won't have any interesting experiences). On Tuesday we first went to a parking lot where migrant workers get picked up by unidentified school buses for work in the tomato fields every morning (this day involved waking up at 4:30 A.M. because the workers got there at around 5:00 P.M.). We got there and we saw the main parking lot and then the pinhookers parking lot (the pinhookers rent out land from the farmers to pick up produce and sell it locally). We would find out later that they might be the source of all the injustice (but then again all is murky in this place so who knows). This did not stop us from buying horchata in the pinhookers market four or five times. We also never stopped buying from Wendy's even though they might not have adhered to the penny for pound campaign. We also got the honor (puke) of seeing Tasha again. She translated (again she is awful at translation: Does she not even know Spanish?) for the worker that was giving us the tour (they live in the US and I know they speak English so let them be, Tasha!). Even though we were not in the parking lot every worker that was waiting for the buses was looking at us (after all we were all these white kids taking a tour of their misery). It was really awkward being the center of attention that morning because I would hate it if people came by to see where I work (wait a minute we get tourists all the time at Georgetown... still not the same thing as what happens in Immokalee) They were looking at us because they had no jobs because of the freeze (the tomatoes are almost as bad as DC in handling the cold weather).

Then we went to a park for canoeing close to Naples. We did not end up doing it because they were crocodiles in the river (this would never happen at Georgetown!). Instead we went on a nature trail that ends in some marshes (I immediately thought of the Dead Marches in LORT... actually we talked about the LORT there but did not refer to the Dead Marches... after all I am sure no epic battle happened there, except possibly with the Spanish and Indians but it is unlikely). During our time in the park we slept in the cars (I am now an expert at sleeping in cars and on the floor). After this we went tutoring at a local elementary school. I realized I cannot tutor kids because I do not have the patience for it. Actually its even worse for me than usual people because they were in FCAT month so they really had no homework so we were playing games and I was still bored. Then we went to the park where we had a cook out because we were not allowed to go back to the community center because they did not want us there until night. So we had some reflection time in which I found out that another girl in the group that was in my classroom had noticed that some of the kids were already in gangs (I was shocked because I never picked that up... completely oblivious).

We decided to leave and my van was slated to go to Winn Dixie (the supermarket) and I wanted to go to have the experience of it (everyone else had gotten to go, except me so I felt left out because it was a "cultural experience"). As we were about to leave I needed to go to the restroom so I told my van driver that I needed to go so he would be aware. I came out to get in the van to Winn Dixie when I noticed they were not there. I waited for 10 minutes outside in the parking with the mild hope that they would actually realize that they had left me. However, when that did not happen I started to get scared that I would be victim of a gang or a criminal (it seemed like the perfect place to do so). After 10 minutes I went to the park center where I might find someone who is less sketchy. I went to talk to the employee who works at the reception so he could help me. I explained that my group had left me annd I had left my cellphone in the car (I was trying to not rely on my phone due to my excessive texting as well as attempting to not check my emails compulsively because I had just reprogrammed my phone to receive them again). Despite this I still left my cellphone in the car every single time after this(I was really trying to be good about not texting during break). So we called the police to figure out where I was staying (it does not help when you do not really know the full details of the name of the place you are staying, the organization it belongs to, and the street where its located). I start rambling places that are close by like CVS and Wendy's and the guy tells me they are in opposite sides of the town (I go uh-oh I might be in trouble now!). So I tell the guy that I can check my email to see if there is any info on anyone's number. Therefore, I start checking and I think I come up upon one of the leader's number when it is only his Corp CFO number and we are not in Georgetown anymore so it does not work. finally I am able to GChat one of the leader who just sounded very confused at first when I told her I was at the park (she thought I was locked in the backyard). She told me if she wanted someone to get me to which I responded: "Unless you want me to sleep alone." At this point she got it that I was actually alone in the park and not the backyard of the community center. Then they came to pick me up. At this point it was nearly an hour since they had left me. I was glad to be found because I did not want to get lost in Immokalee (after that every time they left they made sure they checked the vans for me... it's cool to be special).

The next day we went to a march by the CIW in front of Publix (another supermarket chain). It was so weird because we were told that we would be able to sit by and watch (which I was planning on doing because I was not liking the CIW) but there was no place to sit without catching the attention of people. This was the result of it being mainly college students protesting (only about 30 of us from different universities) and 5 migrant workers plus Tasha and protege. So I forced myself to go around a circle like the rest of the people and feign interest in the march while crying out chants for justice(I was probably not very good at it but then again I did not want to be good at it). We protested in a corner and everyone thought we were protesting Perkins because Publix was not even near (the people in the parking lot at Perkins looked at us weirdly... I looked at myself weirdly because I did not even want to be in a protest which looked so forced because it was just mainly ignorant college students). We ended up staying there for 45 minutes and after two college groups had left we told them Tasha that were leaving. Due to the fact that we were the last group leaving Tasha promptly said "Georgetown is leaving, the march is over" (it was just weird to us that she would end the march just because of us but we were able to call the bluff on this one... Tasha has been exposed!). When we were done with the (cough*false*cough) march we went to a mobile slave museum (this was actually impactful because we got to see images and read about the 7 cases of modern day slavery in the United States in the last decade). Tasha did not go with us to this. I was so thankful because after the march I never wanted to see Tasha or her protege again (it was so uncomfortable to be around her... she was nice but her hippiness and lack of voice or knowledge was getting on my nerves). After all she had lived there for nearly 5 months and did not have answers to even our basic questions (you engage those issues everyday I think you should know how prevalent prostitution and gang violence is in the area). She arranged a march for us to put up the farce to college students when in reality she is just using us because clearly she cannot get more than 5 migrant workers when most of them are jobless at the moment (I have my pouting face on).

To counteract the Tashaness I kept on getting horchata (I got a double horchata once which I am sure my stomach appreciated because I was treating it really well because I actually was eating healthily). We returned to that park at night (you know the one where I got lost) because the community center really did not want us there before 7:00 P.M. (the people at the community center were trying to be nice about it but their intentions were so transparent). Anyway I did not want to be there because I have limited patience with elementary school students which I had to tutor and play PE with them (I once joked that we should set kids lose in the Tombs bar but no one got it that I was actually kidding). At night we went mini-golfing at Naples. It was cool because I actually got a hole-in-one (granted everyone else but one person got a hole-in-one in that one but our leader did not so its now legitimate). I also got a reputation as someone who likes to run away because I saw a gas station about 100 feet away and ran quickly there to check if they had a postcard (they did not so I quickly ran back but everyone was confused).

The last day in Immokalee before we were to drive back we went to talk to Mr. Medina who works for the education department (he was much better than Tasha... I needed to see someone who was not her and actually understood something about the town). He took us to the farm of one of his friends, Mr. Salazar. So we actually got to see the other side of the story. It was clearly not as one-sided as everyone had made it appear that the migrant workers were just being treated badly. After all they got minimum wage but this failed to escape the CIW who never deemed to mention this (I felt bad for Mr. Salazar because we grilled him with questions on everything about his business and his workers because we were now so confused). He was also nice enough to let us drive around his tomato fields and let us stop to look at the frozen tomatoes (they were all dead on the floor... it seemed like a plague had gone through them and ravaged them, exactly as those described in novels and seen in movies).

Last post on spring break to come up soon!

Immokalove to be continued...