the cure.

so i finally kicked the cold of the century. i have spent the last two weeks sniffling, sneezing, and coughing all over everything and everyone, and generally feeling pretty sorry for myself. the worst part was that i wasn't as good of a teacher, because i felt that i was being less patient and was slightly more irritable. no fun. i finally caved and visited the mexican doctor to be loaded up on drugs. i know they are known for over-medicating, but i figured if it got me better for christmas, it was worth it!

and if you weren't convinced that monterrey could be a destination for medical tourism, then you will be when you read this. on friday, ginny had laser eye surgery. and saturday morning, she woke up with 20/20 vision. whoa! it was absolutely perfect, flawless and easy. she was in no pain, was barely disoriented, and she didn't have to miss a day of work. and, because the doctor is a parent at the school, the price is right! i think this will be my new savings goal. oh, to wake up and see the alarm clock! i can't imagine.

i leave for canada in four days. i only have to teach for 3.5 days. before i go, i have to pack up my classroom for construction (they are lowering the ceilings), i have to enter progress report grades and do a significant amount of marking, i have to finish building a grade 2 economics unit AND i have to find time to pack and get myself organized. my plane leaves 2.5 hours after my kids walk out of the building on friday, so i won't have a second to lose. this week is absolute insanity! but being busy is certainly making the time go fast, and i am all of a sudden REALLY excited to be going home for christmas.

i don't know whether it was feeling better, or making plans, or just getting more immersed in the christmas spirit, but i am SO excited! originally, i hadn't even intended on heading home for christmas. i have always considered myself to be very independent, and i knew that at some point moving away would mean missing my traditional christmas. BUT, the transition has definitely been harder on my parents, and i did have a free flight that the school gives me for the year... so i decided to book a crazy route home to have a week with my family for the holidays. and i really am glad i did. i am even kind of looking forward to jumping in the snow! but mostly, i am excited for traditions that i recognize, for comfort food and for a little quality time with the fleming's.

even though it was 5 degrees today, yesterday it was 20 degrees. so here is a picture of us at the christmas parade... in tank tops:



ginny and lindsay smelling christmas trees at the market! feels just like home:

so this is christmas?

contrary to popular belief, christmas does actually exist in countries without snow. i don't know what i thought, but i guess i didn't expect many of the traditions to be the same. or maybe that christmas was bypassed in favour of a holiday where we celebrated palm trees.

instead, christmas is here in full force. these people sure know how to celebrate - tacky, religious but also with enough spirit to bring out the kid in me.

i started the season at school by pulling out all my holiday books. as if i don't love reading enough to them already, now i can't stop! titles such as "how santa really works" and "how santa got his job" are captivating me more then the kiddies! in case you were wondering, santa is actually a skinny dude wearing a fat suit, and he takes off the suit to get down the chimney.

christmas here in san pedro, is a season. it begins with the massive san pedro parade the first weekend in december. every dance troupe, every school, every single child in the city seems to walk in the parade. we gathered our hot chocolate (spiked with bailey's, of course) and set up along the calzada to soak up the spirit. rollerblading clubs, choreographed routines and multiple santas marched past us, and the ending was timed perfectly with a HUGE firework display.

after this parade, my kids became out of control, and in many ways, the whole month has been a write off. particularly in this community, these kids are very affluent and i struggle watching their sense of entitlement when they write their letters to santa. when i was 8, i was asking for toys, and these kids are asking for cell phones and ipods. one really cool thing, though, is that they all believe. when one child brought up the possibility that they had heard a rumor about christmas, and the kids refused to believe it. santa comes. no questions asked.

on the same note, the kids were shocked when they heard that not everyone celebrates christmas. they asked me, "mizz, do you not go to church because you don't understand spanish?" i have tried my very best to expose them to other realities without being judgemental or critical of what they understand as their reality. one of my friends here is jewish, so i had her come in and talk to the kids to talk about hanukkah. i was really proud my little ones when they asked thoughtful questions such as:
"what does it feel like to be jewish?"
"why did they all fight?"
i don't know if they will remember my efforts ten years from now. but if even one kid remembers this, then all this work is not pointless.

a traditional christmas celebration in mexico is called a posada. these parties traditionally happen in the 8 days leading up to christmas and represent the difficult journey that mary and joseph took to find an inn. in spanish, posada simply means shelter, but it has evolved into a huge festive celebration commemorating the journey. half of the people at the party stand on one side of a door, and the other half stand on the other side. a traditional call and response song is sung (the song with NO tune, as we like to call it), followed by the kids hitting a pinata in the shape of the star, again representing the star that mary and joseph followed to bethlehem. we had a class posada at one of my student's houses (errr, mansion) AND we had a full staff posada at the huesteca campus last wednesday after work. it was interesting watching the children interact with each other outside of school, and to observe the lack of rules/structure they are given by their parents. but it was nice not to be in charge. our full-staff posada was also an eye-opening experience, but for a different reason. ALL of the staff were there: the security guards, the teachers, the cleaners, the custodians and the office workers. when you fill up a gym filled with all of us, international teachers are a SIGNIFICANT minority. i don't notice it on a typical day because i am always surrounded by the teachers. we were all served delicious tamales, we had karaoke (which the mexicans took with a storm) and they had a HUGE draw for gifts. every person's name was put in the draw for everything from microwaves to heaters to cleaning supplies. very cool. i didn't win, but i was SO content watching everyone else walking away smiling.

as i walk around san pedro, both on the way to school and in the evening, there are almost more decorations here then at home. or maybe they are just more prominent: blow up nativity scenes, huge santa scenes, flashing lights in multiple colours. talk about over stimulation!

presents started pouring in over a week ago, one of my kids has already left for a cruise and i am counting down the minutes until my last class this week. christmas is still christmas, even without snow. i am being won over by different traditions: visiting christmas markets with tacky decorations, eating hot churros and learning to re-gift the piles of christmas chocolates i am given by my students.

christmas is all around.

little vacation BIG fun.

day 5: its hard to get over. he was my first australian friend.

on wednesday, haley and i got some advice from one of the ladies at our language course. she told us that the nicest beach, devoid of vendors and annoying tourists, was called playa bruja, about 14 kilometres south of where we were staying. we jumped on of the cab golf carts (of course, we picked the one that was probably the slowest in the city), and found ouf little piece of deserted beach. the two biggest problems we had that afternoon were figuring out how to open our beers without an opener, and trying to understand the 'bilingual' horses that were advertised. it was an area of beach that was just north of some of the big resorts, so at the end of the day we walked down the beach to try and see if we could actually find the resort where we knew other asfm teachers were staying. i love walking in my barefeet on the beach. it feels like a massage as the sand gets stuck between my toes. we had no trouble finding the hotel, sneaking in, AND finding our friends lying by the pool. perfect timing! because i got to play with the babies AND the whole group of us went out for dinner together. it was great -- thirteen of us, or more, all enjoying seafood by the beach, two for one drinks (dangerous) and i had a baby in my lap the whole time. little quinn has not had a lot of experience with busty women in his life, so let's just say he got mighty comfortable. my mom did always tell me that someone would really appreciate them one day.

day 6: haley, stop pulling the baby's hair.

language school was pretty hard today. i was tired from a late night of dancing and two for one margaritas. we were not overly ambitious in the afternoon either, parking ourselves down on the beach and snoozing all afternoon. we met up again in a big group for a shrimply delicious dinner, and i was in baby heaven once again. good thing there weren't serving two for one drinks, only some spanish homework paired with an early night.

day 7: little people big world.

i got a little starstruck on friday. i knew that one of the guys in my language class was a tv producer, but i didn't know the specifics. it turns out that he used to produce the dr. phil show and now produces the tlc show 'little people big world'. and when i walked in to my prononciation class early friday morning, amy, one of the parents on the show was sitting there! i'll tell you, she wouldn't have been at the top of my celebrities to meet list, but it was pretty fun. i guess one of her kids is failing spanish and they were thinking of doing a show where they bring the kid down for some extra spanish classes. we found out that her and her husband matt were staying at the hotel right next door to our condo (sans cameras... too bad, because we think it would have made a great episode: elementary teachers take little people parents out for a wild night on the big town!). we did actually end up meeting up with them several times, and they even took us out for lunch!

day 8: is cam on a boat to australia?

it is always easier to leave a place when the weather stinks. it was cloudy all day, so the beach was really out of the question. instead: silver shopping! (which for me, really does rank almost up there with lying on a beach) i spent too much money, and but i got a lot of my christmas shopping done. by the afternoon, however, the weather had gone from bad to worst. it was now so windy and rainy that we couldn't keep the balcony doors from breaking open. i think it was as close as i have ever been to living through a hurricane. on second thought. that might be a slight exaggeration. but it was pretty crazy. tonight we went dancing again with the full group (minus the babies this time!) and had a pretty ridiculous night of which the details (to save face) will be mainly left out of this entry. i will only say this: there was some serious grooving and maybe some late-night ocean swims!

day 9: life lesson #368: don't come on vacation with five ladies and expect to get the ocean view flower-print room.

i woke up earlier then everyone, which was a perfect way to end my week. i am rarely a morning person, but perhaps i should become one. wandering the quiet streets and sitting at a cafe in the early morning was quite relaxing... although so is sleeping. hmm. tough choice. maybe it was only a one-time thing. unfortunately, the trip did actually end on a bit of a sour note. because i really enjoy planning things, i was the one who had found the condo and put the trip together. i make the mistake of trusting too easily and i have now learned that not everyone is as laid-back about travel as i am. i don't know how someone could have found trouble in our paradise, but i guess not everyone is so easily pleased. so, with drama to settle, we returned to monterrey... with bags loaded with silver, a tan to beat, a few new laugh lines and a brand new appreciation for all things vacation.

treis noches con camarone.

where to start?

its been awhile. and i'm sorry about that. but i have a good excuse. i've been off gallivanting around for a whole week off! its true, i have been back for a full week already, but it has been a rough one. coming back to work was like hitting a brick wall at full speed. at times, i felt i was a bit of a waste of space! but now, with my vacation over, and back into the swing of things at work, i finally have the time (and energy) to update you all on my adventures.

in celebration of american thanksgiving AND mexican revolution, the school gave us a week off. and the timing couldn't have been better. after three months of solid teaching, we were all feeling a bit burnt out. we had just finished report cards, and two days full of parent-teacher conferences. anyone who knows me knows that i LOVE to plan trips. in fact, one day, i could see myself making a career out of it! well, it seems that i have become the unofficial trip planner here as well. my friend (sarah tambien) and i decided we wanted to go somewhere and stay in a condo for a week. on the mexican low-cost airline viva aerobus, mazatlan (on the coast, just north of puerto vallarta) was the cheapest destination. and with a few searches, i stumbled upon a magical mansion condominium in the old town. so, we booked the flight, booked the mansion, found a few friends, and off we went.

day 1: you see, the problem is...

i packed faster then i have ever packed before. friday night i was lazy and had gone out for dinner instead, so i was running around my apartment saturday morning like a madwoman. in truth, it didn't really matter what i brought, as long as it included a bathing suit and sun glasses. we had no trouble getting to the airport on time and our flight was comfortable and easy. however, tim (this. is. mexico.) definitely shone through when we had to have our baggage completely searched by HAND because they don't have the equipment to do it electronically. but getting off the airplane into the fresh warm air, smelling the ocean literally made my life complete. we did, however, have trouble figuring out transportation into town because the inexpensive buses had one small problem: "you see, the problem is, we don't know where it stops". you have an airport shuttle and you don't know where it stops?? apparently the driver just stops wherever he pleases. so we settled on taking a cab. BUT we also had trouble finding our condo because as our cabbie explained, "you see, the problem is, they changed the name of the street"... we did eventually make it to our condo, and managed to lug our massive bags up three flight of stairs. and with one look, all our problems disappeared.

day 2: this one time, i rented a mansion and i danced.

i wish i could take you all to see this mansion for yourself. i have never seen a place so huge in my life. it was a penthouse apartment, large enough to play a professional basketball game in the living room, open a night club in the loft and start a restaurant in the kitchen. my jaw dropped as i walked from room to room. our view was spectacular, our block-long balcony overlooking the ocean and the beach below. the rooms were differing in size and amenities, but the common areas were exquisit. today we decided to take a 'ferry' (slash small motor boat) to an island for escape artists lined with palapa restaurants, cute mexican kids burying themselves in sand and the most gorgeous sunset i have ever seen. but wait! how could i forget the best part! the night before, eating fresh seafood at the world renowned 'shrimp bucket', we had met the highlight of our trip: australian cam. not only was his name cameron (which in spanish literally means shrimp), but he was the loveliest, friendliest most delightful person i have met in a long time. we basically adopted him. i mean, c'mon, we had enough room in our mansion for at LEAST one extra friend. there was something about cam that just made the days better and more hilarious. i have never laughed so hard in my life! he even participated in our ridiculousness: we had a dance party, a photo shoot in a blow-up boat and drank some massive margaritas. and every night we would stay up late talking on the balcony and the moon would turn red, shrink and then disappear. seriously. i'm telling you, there was something cool about this guy that made the world wake up and notice.

day 3: language school dropout, go back to monterrey, your spanish didn't get any better, anyway.

haley and i woke up bright and early monday morning and tried to go to language school. cam even woke up to send us off to school. however, our plan was foiled when we arrived and language school appeared to be closed. there was a sign (albeit in spanish) that pointed to the door and it was locked. (inset: we learned the next day that, in fact, language school had not been closed, but that the sign was telling us to go up the stairs. too bad we hadn't learned that in spanish yet). instead, we parked our butts on the beach in front of a restaurant where a lovely waiter served us margaritas all afternoon. and what a great day it was! i played in the waves, played with an adorable puppy named milo and read my national geographic magazine all while getting a TAN! life couldn't have been better. AND we got to have seafood for dinner!

day 4: enchiladas para camarone!

a sad day. this was the day that cam had to leave us for his great love, baja california. little did he know, life would not be the same without us! haley and i had our first day of language school and met the slightly insane woman who runs it. this lady was quite the piece of work. a total nutjob. but that is another story. afterwards, we had our last meal with cam, but the cafe was quite slow, and he had to leave for the ferry before his food arrived. we all shed a few tears about the loss of our new friend. until we had a fabulous idea: we should bring his enchiladas to him at the ferry terminal! like a scene from the amazing race, we raced down the street, jumped into a cab and vamanosed to the ferry waiting terminal. we even burst through the gates thinking we were going to get stopped by the guards (which would have ruined the whole motion picture aspect of it all) but we got there in time. hopefully cam will remember us thoughtfully, running towards him with cold enchiladas... the rest of the day was a contemplative one, filled with traffic jams, grocery shopping and lots of sleep. i think i fell asleep at 6 for a nap, and woke up the next morning.

and part two will continue tomorrow of my mazatlan adventures will have to continue tomorrow. it is way past my bedtime and i am no longer on vacation!

grade a.

report card marks were due this past week.

it was a particularly hard week for me, having just returned from south padre island, struggling with the monday blues and having to be a marking machine to get all my marks in on time. i am not a last-minute lisa, but i am definitely NOT someone who has my marks entered weeks in advance. i would say, for my first go around, it wasn't an entirely awful experience.

i find that marks can be a really difficult thing. often, you just have a gut feeling, and with those children it is not difficult to decide whether they are at grade level or not. but with many of my students i am facing a myriad of factors that influence my grading. everything from how they behaved that week to my personal feelings toward their work. i find assessment to be the area i am least secure in, particularly as a first year teacher. what if i am being harder on my kids then the other second grade teachers? what if i am being easier? do i give out 'exceeds expectations' in trimester one, or do i remain stingy with them and save them for later in the year? how low do i have to go to scare parents into understanding the reality for their children? and lastly, how much do all these marks really matter to an eight year old in the grand scheme of life? some of my kids are actually being told that getting an 'approaching grade level' is bad. at 8 years old, they are already dead-set on straight m's. i don't want marks to be the focus of my classroom, but i also need something to use as leverage for good performance!

we gave each child over 30 marks. and that was just from their homeroom teacher.

i tell my kids that giving their best effort is the most important step in school. but what do i do when their best effort is still underachieving? and then they go home and get criticized? these are issues i struggle with every day.

this week we have two afternoons off for parent-teacher conferences. i am looking forward to them, because i feel that i can better articulate their child's progress in words then with letters on a page. but as a busy weekend draws to a close, i am realizing i have a lot of work to do to get myself ready for two very intense afternoons. many of these parents consider teachers experts on all aspects of child development, so i want to make sure that i am prepared and can make well-informed comments. there's always more work to be done.

except, hanging on the horizon is our week-long november break for american thanksgiving. five more days of school and then i am off to mazatlan for a week of language school, beaching and not thinking about school.

countdown begins.

in case you've forgotten...

i definitely DO live in mexico:

-there are very large bugs that live in my room.
-when kids go trick or treating, they don't have snowsuits under their costumes. they chant "halloween, halloween!" and get candy launched at them.
-swarms of ants attack any little crum of food that is left out.
-when we crossed back into mexico on saturday i accidentally showed the wrong passport and no one noticed.
-the temperature drops a few degrees and all the kids come to school in parkas.

i definitely am a new teacher:

-report card marks were due this evening and i was still marking math work at 4 this afternoon.
-i have read math lessons WHILE teaching them.
-lunch break? what lunch break?
-i'm not yet bitter and jaded.
-i started telling my friends to "make a good choice" when reaching for another beer at a party.

i definitely DO live a crazy life.

-i went to south padre island for the weekend to go golfing and sunning. i was in the lonestar state. for only the WEEKEND.
-it is still t-shirt and capri weather. i still can't believe this one.
-i have stopped noticing or caring that i don't understand a single word my aerobics instructor says.
-to celebrate the end of trimester one, the adminstration served snacks, drinks, gave us personalized cards AND made a slide show with all our celebrations from the first third of the year. can you imagine? just for surviving three months.
-i am not (yet) a regular golfer but once i learned to make contact with the ball, i almost won the 'longest drive' competition!

sometimes i have to shake myself to remember that this all this crazy new mexican teacher thing is real.

quote of the day:
i am reading a book about communities. we are dicussing transportation.
miss sarah: "did you know we have a subway here in monterrey? who can tell me what a subway is?"
kid: "subway? isn't a subway a torta? [torta is spanish for sandwich]"

se necesita un poco de gracia.

there are 7 other teachers who teach grade 2 with me. there are EIGHT classes at every grade in the school. it truly is gigantic. sometimes the size can be a blessing. for example, if you are wanting to feel anonymous and bury yourself in your classroom, it is definitely possible. however, there are many difficulties that can arise with SO many differing personalities, visions and communication styles.

i think no matter where you work, there will be drama. and difficulties and moments where you hate your life. the most important thing is whether that comes home with you at the end of the day AND whether it affects your ability to be a great teacher. don't get me wrong, i love my school, my colleagues and my job but it can be exhausting sometimes dealing with all the 'behind the scenes' stuff involved in teaching. we have weekly grade 2 team meetings, discuss all aspects of assessment, curriculum and our teaching. everyone always has the best of intentions, but sometimes i leave the meetings more stressed out then before! it is also hard, as a first year teacher, to know what you 'have' to do, and what you can use your judgement about. the school has set the bar so high for us, that i don't know if it is physically possible to get it all done! in a way, it is a juggling act... who can keep all the balls in the air, or at least drop a few without anyone noticing?

a few other quick thoughts before bed:

-we are doing levelled reading testing school-wide right now, and my kids are doing SO well! in only three months, many of them have moved up a level. it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy to see them smile when i tell them they can pick their 'just right' books from a different basket.

-our school does everything BIG, it seems. last night was our staff halloween party. almost everyone came in pretty great costumes and the girls who hosted it had decked out their house in decorations, food, candy... everything. their house was like a small restaurant/bar/club! this week is going to be crazy with halloween at school. we even have a costume parade for parents. aii.

-i'm quickly learning the school jargon. in meetings, we always 'unpack' the curriculum, discuss the 'nuts and bolts' of issues, and 'build common eyes' as a team. its a different language!

-i spent a good chunk of the weekend marking writing at starbucks. report cards are coming up and i wanted to get some of the bulk of my marking done when i actually had free time. sitting at rooftop starbucks marking will simultaneously getting a tan is not the worst deal!

-friday i impulse bought... wait for it... a CELL phone! my friend amy and i were sitting in my classroom after school discussing how annoying it is that we couldn't meet up easily with friends later that night without setting concrete plans. all of a sudden, she said, "hey, you wanna run over to oxxo and buy cell phones?" it took me about 1 second to pack up my stuff and run out the door. cell phones are cheap here, and you just pay as you go. texting is only 1 peso! the greatest idea she's every had! i am a happy camper again. all i need is a car and my life will be back to normal again.

happy day of the dead week!

a wee bit nippy.

i can't believe i am actually writing this. but, its true. i am cold in mexico.

let me clarify: it is not actually all that cold, but compared to the summer heat, the slight drop in temperature has hit me hard. PLUS, with the concrete floors, outdoor concept of the school and lack of insulation, you feel every degree drop. the switch happened in a second. i could barely believe that i was in the same place! all the teachers from last year kept warning them that i would be cold, but i didn't believe them. winter, in mexico? i thought. not possible! i walked to school in capris and a short-sleeved blouse yesterday morning, and even broke a sweat. however, by 8:30, when i walked out into the hallway, there had been a distinct drop in temperature. the kids were whining: "mizzz. i am soooooo cold." i told them it wasn't so bad, and shushed them. "it is only because you are from canada!", they said. now look at me. 24 hours later and i am bundled up under my duvet.

in other, less woe-is-me, news...

-things have been REALLY busy at school the past few weeks. i am over my hatred of teaching and am back feeling motivated and inspired. i get the feeling this is something i am going to have to get used to in this profession. we have started new units in all subjects this week, report cards are coming up in two weeks and i just finished up my first official assessment by my principal. i was at work until 10pm tonight, but that is still a rarity. i can't complain, because in how many jobs do you get to hear: "well, with this teacher i really learn things".

-people seem to be gradually getting out of their funks (including me!) and resurfacing back into the world of the living. i feel like i am making inroads on my spanish (finally) and my guitar has even been improving. i have discovered the physical pain of body combat at my gym and now the trainer knows my name, so i have no excuse not to pump it up.

-things in mexico seem like they will be really difficult until you finally just try... usually it ends up being much more accessible then you intially thought. in that spirit, we tried a ton of new things this weekend. on friday, my friend ally and i sought out a driving range in the dried up river bed and actually discovered we could rent clubs and hit a ball of buckets for about ten bucks! some good practice for south padre island in two weeks. we also really uncovered the wonders of the international culture FORUM which is in monterrey for a full three months. artists, dialogues, exhibits, music... anything you can imagine, from all over the world... has taken over a large park downtown. it is incredible! the city has done a ton to shape up for the exposure, and there are a ton of free things to do. i think i was there every day this weekend seeing shows, listening to dj's, wandering, visiting bookfairs and artisan fairs, and soaking up a world of culture. we will miss it when it is gone, but take advantage of it while its all here.

-our little drama club of fourth and fifth graders has been a great change of pace. tash and i don't kill ourselves to plan for it, we just go with the flow and have fun with the kids. i am really enjoying the older kids... they are slightly wild, but the work for it doesn't feel like a burden. AND, i generally just get to laugh for an hour!

-saturday evening three of the girls who work at the high school hosted the most stellar party. bollywood themed: their place was decked out! they had rented furniture for their rooftop patio, had a live dj, cooked unlimited indian food, played bollywood films on the wall and encouraged people to dress up. loads of people were invited and brought mexican friends, so it was nice to mingle with some non-teachers. (not that i don't love them!) it was a late night, but ginny and i made only good choices. we even joined the late-nate crowd at the local taco stand before crashing, which was the best, most delicious decision of all!

-and the greatest, most hilarious news of late is certainly.... the avril lavigne concert i attended on sunday! i would never, in a million years attend an avril show back home in canada, but when we discovered she was visiting monterrey, we felt we needed to represent! we sat in the back row but brought huge canadian flags and made our presence known. mexicans were actually taking pictures of us! (ha. the closest i'll ever feel to a rockstar) the most unbelievable part was that i actually knew the words to a ton of her songs, and actually really enjoyed the show. she's done quite well for herself to have a ton of mexicans singing along to her hits. yaH little old canada.

now, off to bed. cross your fingers for the return of heat to my life.

bbq, eh?

today we went on an adventure.

i had had a rough week. combined with being exhausted, my kidlets being little terrors, getting sick and having to take friday off and generally resenting my job, i was really ready for a weekend. and a quiet one.

last night i slept, ordered pizza and fell asleep watching a movie. this morning i slept in (after sleeping ALL day yesterday), did my nails and caught up on some blogging. this evening i am lying on the sofa, yawning, thinking about all the things i could do... but may just settle on reading on my own. this is NOT like me, but something i think even i need to remember to do every once and awhile.

this afternoon, though, we went on the great canadian adventure. i had received e-mails about the canadians in monterrey social club, and ginny and i decided it was time we checked it out. for all we knew, our future husbands could have been hanging out, and we were missing them! (sidenote: uh, no.)

we were told that this event was top secret, and you had to be registered to attend. as well, they told us that we needed our canadian passports to even get in! as you can imagine, we had HIGH expectations. when we arrived (after one wrong turn and a tour of greater monterrey), to three people sitting underneath a palapa and a few mexican kids playing soccer, you can imagine what we thought. did we get the directions wrong? is there another large factory that we are unaware of? ginny, amy and ally all creeped behind, designating me as the official spokesperson. i walk up slowly, tentatively asking, "where are all the canadian people?" an eager middle-aged man responds, "right here!" oh jeepers. are you sure they aren't somewhere else?

so here we are, in the middle of bf nowhere, sitting awkwardly at a picnic table. i had been expecting security, frisking, future husbands: instead, this? we cracked a beer, hoping this would ease the awkwardness ever so slightly. now, i am being slightly unfair. the people that we met were very lovely and as the afternoon progressed, more people did actually begin to show up. i would say we actually left when the party was getting started! but, in case you were wondering, i don't think i am going to find my future husband at the canadians in monterrey social club. first problem being: i think there were actually more mexicans then canadians??! but it was a great adventure into northern monterrey, and gave us all a good laugh.

and i got to eat a maple cookie. awesome, eh?

patience is a virtue.

i always said i wouldn't be the kind of teacher who gets up not wanting to go to work.

i guess this week will have to be an exception.

all week, i have not wanted to get out of bed. i haven't wanted to work, and i have been much more impatient with my class. it doesn't help that they have been SO BAD this week! i can't imagine having 20 kids to myself all day and then having to go home to them too. i don't think i would survive. you would think by now, that routines would be established, that they would have good judgement and that they wouldn't talk while i'm talking. ummm, yah.

instead, here are some things my kiddies have done this week:

spent 25 minutes in the bathroom thinking i wouldn't notice.
done a cartwheel on the carpet.
written a 'small moment' story with a different colour pen in every sentence.
stolen a prize from the prize box.
said he was going to the bathroom, but snuck to the nurse.
picked his nose. repeatedly.
three boys came back to class 10 minutes late, saying they were all going number 2 in the bathroom. uh, right. i found out they were making bubbles in the sink.
fought during our 'fort party' reward. made 'no girls allowed' posters for their fort.
asked me the same question four times in a row. literally.

i have sent one girl out of class, had four kids cry, had two anger outbursts, given three detentions and had four parent meetings.

are the kids getting comfortable or am i being too lenient? i don't think i am, because i feel like i am reasonably strict and i get angry when i need to. i think the kids respect me, and although chatty, i think i have a good rapport with them. then why are they pushing the limits and pushing me to the brink of my sanity? i have never had more respect for teachers who love their jobs more then i do this week. thank god tomorrow is friday.

me gusta guanajuato.

another long weekend, another trip!

you may think that we had a long weekend in honour of canadian thanksgiving, but i was fooled. really it was for colombus day? or some similar US holiday. no turkey for me this weekend.

INSTEAD, though, i had the loveliest, most fun (and funny!) long weekend yet. things keep getting better and better. just when i think i have found the most beautiful place in mexico, i am amazed once again. or maybe everything really is wonderful.

we did not leave until saturday morning, which gave me the evening to myself on friday. my good friend raymundo (aka my english speaking taxi driver) came and picked us up at 7 in the morning. it is great having a personal taxi driver who you can call at any time of day! our viva aerobus flight was slightly less sketchy, and thankfully, there were no emergency stops on the runway this time. driving in to guanajuato was a really interesting experience, because the roads entering the city are all subterranean. when traffic became a problem a long time ago on their narrow roads, they dammed up an old river and turned the riverbeds into subterranean roads. strange, but effective.

we couldn't drive up to our hotel, because it was actually located in an alleyway on a hill. when we got dropped of and vaguely directed, i thought we would never find it! luckily, casa bertha was on the ball, and hand-painted signs directed us through the maze of alleys. good thing i hadn't brought a lot of luggage, because after walking up the hill, our hotel room was on the top floor of the hotel! casa bertha was a potpourri melange of twists and turns, strange staircases, but when we reached the top floor and looked out at the view of the city, i fell in love. our room literally looked out onto a HUGE patio which overlooked the entire city. we definitely scored one of the most beautiful views. we could see all the roofs, the coloured houses, and the mountains beyond. it took ALL of our breaths away.

after drooling for quite sometime, damon decided our first mission should be for food. a friendly local directed us to a hole in the wall mexican restaurant, where the food was surprisingly delicious! we ordered beer before noon (for real) and gave her quite the laugh. next, we explored the main square (called jardin principal), the beautiful main theatre (teatro juarez) and wandered down some adorable pedestrianized streets. luckily, our visit coincided with the cervantes festival, a huge arts and cultural festival that takes over the city. street performers, mimes, musicians were abundant throughout the city on both days. we found the most AMAZING silver shop (which to my disappointed was closed when we returned to make our purchases!!), stumbled upon dozens of little squares and even found a wall of lips. a very unique city!

guanajuato has a distinctly european feel, and i often had to blink twice to remember that i wasn't in spain. we meandered along the streets, stopping in shops, to sample street food and to take in some performances. even though we didn't understand very much, there was a great vibe in the city. we eventually made it to our goal, which was the childhood home of mexican artist diego rivera. the city had initial scorned his communist ways and rejected him, but they have now turned his house into a museum with a collection of his artwork. most famous for his murals, his work was actually very varied and diverse.

the day seemed to last forever! we had (too many) margaritas at a little outdoor patio while being 'harassed' by the street vendors. once you buy something, you're toast. plus, with a little bit of tequila in us, no one could say no to the beautiful peacock scarves and woolen carpets! (i was good and didn't buy a thing!!!) i imagine they were talking about the crazy gringas at table 2, and sending their buddies over to sell us more unnecessary goodies. hilarious.

in the evening, we decided to have a romantic group dinner in a quiet plaza and then find some classic salsa bars. i have been in mexico for almost three months, and still had not had a proper dance! we followed the music and ended up in this local haunt where men ask you to dance and have no expectation of ANYTHING other then a dance. very refreshing. we made some new friends who directed us to an even better dance bar called 'cuba mia', where we could really get a sense of the guanajuato salsa scene. and ohh boy. when we entered that bar, we were forever out of my league. i felt soo awkward stepping on people's toes, not knowing which direction to turn. it was also the most fun i've had in ages! the music was live, the dancers were almost professionals (at least in my eyes) and i actually got better as the evening went on! now i just need to get a permanent instructor. ha.

on sunday we slept in, wandered the streets some more, bought extremely inexpensive pottery, ate muy delicioso crepes for desayuno and hiked all the way out to the infamous mummy museum. now this may have been the most disgusting theme for a museum, but accurately reflects mexico's strange infatuation with death. it was literally the world's largest collection of dead people, mummified. these included (i'll leave the gorry details out): a pregnant mummy, the world's smallest mummy, the world's first mummy and other lovely additions. sunday we also managed to fit in a trip to the local university, some shopping, a visit to the covered market and a trip up to the highest point of the city.

sunday night, when the four of us lay in our beds and chatted until 1 in the morning, i literally felt like was at camp. everything about the weekend had been perfect. we truly bonded, couldn't stop laughing and discovered one of the most charming cities in mexico.

what more could we ever ask for?

firsts.

this week i had my first mexican birthday. i turned 25, which is makes me one of the youngest teachers at the school. i didn't actually feel that much older, since i had been stretching the truth and saying i was 25 for about, um, ten months already. birthdays are great, especially now that facebook was invented... because you get a million wallposts! being far away, that feels really nice.

on my birthday, i got my first teacher gifts, my first parent made cakes (not one, but TWO) and my first balloon tree delivery. (from erin, katie q and carolynn!) my kids thought this was possibly the greatest thing in the WORLD. i had a group of twenty children sing me happy birthday for the first time... "are you 1? no. are you 2? no. are you 3? no. are you 4? no... how long does this go on?" i got my first matching miss sarah necklace, bracelet and ring. lucky me!

my parents used their first phone card to call me and i got my first birthday card from a prinipal. the package did not come from my parents yet, because no one had gone to mcallen... but this only means that my first mexican birthday will be extended for a week! i also had my first late night phone call with my mom. i was tired the next day, but it was worth it!

in the evening, ginny and i hosted our first cocktail party. we had a table FULL of food, ginny made her first ice cream pie for me and i made my first sangria. it was a perfect birthday evening.

this week, i also missed my first major event back home. my dad's surprise 60th birthday party. if you would like to read what was read on my behalf, scroll down!

but firstly, thanks for the birthday wishes everyone. it just wasn't the same without you!

__________

Hi dad! Sorry, you may expect me to walk in the door, but unfortunately, a day in the hot Mexican sun really was too good to pass up… even in honour of your 60th. Instead, I hope this message will bring a smile to your face.

I know I have grown up and moved away, but I wanted to let you and all our friends and family know all the things you have sent me out into the world with.

Ahem. Here goes.

Everything (or at least some) of what I need to know, I didn’t learn in Kindergarten – but I really did learn from my father…

10. That VCRs weren’t really meant for taping anyway. Maybe Dad is the only one who gets it right – technology changes so fast that there is NO point in ever learning how to use it!
9. If you weren’t sure, it is actually possible to have a phone conversation that lasts 2.5 seconds. (Ex: Me: “Hi Dad! It is your long lost daughter stuck without water/food/transportation in the Sahara desert.” Dad: “Here’s your mother.”)
8. You really can lose your keys just about ANYWHERE. Kitchen counter? Yup. Garbage can? Yup. Your pocket? Yup. In your mind? Soon to come.
7. You can STILL go backpacking and climb mountains and sleep in bug-infested hotels in Morocco at 58.
6. It IS okay to let the woman drive. I thank you GREATLY for this lesson.
5. It IS okay to make the man to the laundry. I thank you EVEN MORE for this rich addition to my life.
4. Priests sill do like beer, watch hockey and have the occasional moment of road rage. Sorry if I ‘outed’ you there!
3. You can NEVER have too many CD’s or run too many errands or chew to loudly.
2. That bringing your spouse coffee and breakfast in bed every Saturday morning can do wonders for your relationship. I’m taking notes.
AND
1. That endless support, unfaltering encouragement and complete selflessness have made me the luckiest daughter in the world. Jokes aside, thanks. And Happy Birthday.

play fair.

i am at work on a saturday. i am almost in shock myself, so i don't blame your mouth just dropped open.

i haven't actually gotten that much done, but it has been nice to get some e-mails written and catch up on my 'keeping in touch', which has been slightly low over the past few weeks. it is really really hard, when you get so involved in life, to maintain all the connections that i want to.

yesterday was the annual 'PTA Welcome Back Party' at the huesteca campus after school. here i am thinking that it would be a few games and some cotton candy.... well, not EXACTLY. it was more like a large-scale circus was dropped off outside the school, with food booths, live music, a ticket system, and absolutely everything organized by parents. it was UNREAL. you know in movies when they have high school fairs? it was like that. except there were a lot of maids hanging out with kids while the parents socialized. roller coasters, parent-teacher basketball games, prizes, lights, haunted houses, everything you could imagine. i can't believe that i work at a school that can afford to put this type of activity on... without asking the teacher's to do it.

for me, the fair highlights were...
-the girls from my class all chasing after me to hang out. and the boys running away.
-choosing between churros, papas on a stick (literally chips made by twirling a potato on a stick), pizza, green lime ice cream, enchilados, tacitos, bebidas....
-seeing family maids stick out, because they ALL wear nurses outfits. very strange and odd. why don't they just get to wear normal clothes?
-the teacher's beating the students in a VERY close basketball game. and watching the students try to get rough with the teachers. i couldn't believe a few of the low blows.
-realizing that a LARGE portion of the teaching staff at huesteca looks younger then the students. we have a lot of teachers between the ages of 26 and 36.
-watching kids of all ages PAY to get fake married in a wedding chapel. btw, they didn't allow same sex marriages.
-the cake walk. there were hundreds of cakes to win.
-the professional gym that was there teaching 8 year olds to box and weigh lift. oh geez.
-a dunk tank that was lacking just a little water. kinda/slighly dangerous? not in mexico.

i wish you could have seen this fair. the only thing that was missing was a beer tent.
this is truly another world.

george loves izzy.

ginny and i do not have tv in mexico. we have, at the most, four channels that play cheezy spanish music videos or local news. i think i have turned it on a total of ONE time.

BUT. grey's anatomy premiered tonight. and, even though i was losing interest in the show last year, i wanted a little piece of good old comfort evening soaps. luckily, amy and ally have purchased the most brilliant cable plan of all time, and we have a fiesta of american tv shows.

in case you missed it, george loves izzy. meredith and derek are back together. and burke is gone for good.

in other news, my kids FINALLY finished their science units today, which culminated in making s'mores in a solar oven. the longest 30 minutes of my life. as soon as they were finished, i sent them home with the hope that i will never have to look at 20 solar ovens again! and then, the PTA was nice enough to sponsor a "bake sale" of chocolate bars, candy and full bags of popcorn. kids were jumping off the walls all afternoon. and it was only thursday!

sleepless on colorado.

can't sleep.
i could have done something productive, but i did not know i would not be able to not sleep for SO long.

instead, i have:

listened to trains (did not know there were trains in monterrey)
memorized the tone of the annoying cricket outside my window (they must be deaf)
heard dogs talking to each other
heard people walking around in the apartment above me (why aren't they sleeping?)
surfed three celebrity blogging sites
watched previews of upcoming movies on comingsoon.net (very excited for a movie called bella AND the kite runner)
caught up on all of my friends' blogs (never started my own blogging about my queretero trip, because i did not think i'd be awake this long)
booked a flight to the yucatan peninsula
found a hotel for my trip next weekend
stared at my clock
reorganized my pillows
read my lonely planet
checked the globe and mail, the citizen AND the national websites
written an e-mail to dad (it is now three hours into his 60th birthday!)
thought about how tired i am going to be tomorrow
browsed on facebook
and watched grey's anatomy season 4 previews

all very useful things. i am glad my life has been enriched so much over these last four hours.

you learn something new.

every day, time seems to move at a faster rate. or maybe it is just the weekends that fly by?

i have survived an action-packed independence weekend in queretaro, a colonial town in central mexico. but reality has hit hard in the form of progress reports, which are due at 4:15 tomorrow. needless to say, i was miles behind in my marking so i spent literally ALL afternoon and evening reading small moments, marking math and catching up from an assessment standpoint. despite having sat at a desk almost ALL day today, there are a few positives: there were no kids. PD did not come in the form of a 'play day' but in the form of a 'professional development inservice day'. bummer. PD DAY used to mean sleep in! BUT, thank goodness i had that time, or i may have been at school all night. assessment has definitely been the area that i have felt the inexperience the most. there is SO much benefit to having done all of this before, and having a comparative viewpoint. all i can do is follow the rubrics/benchmarks/standards and ultimately go with my gut. the kids leave at 1:45 tomorrow so it will be a race against time to get them done for 4:15... since it is not report cards, admin has told us it should take 5 minutes per kid. doubtful. but i'm still hopeful.

queretaro was an unforgetable weekend, but i am too tired to go into detail. pictures and stories will come tomorrow evening. instead, i will enlighten you on all the things i learned about mexico this weekend. you think you know a place - but really - you don't.

1. people in charge like to avoid problems. for example, when the airplane almost left us behind, NO ONE would help us. they kept saying they would be right back... and then leave forever.
2. their rules... are not set in stone. another example from the airport: when we first went through security our newly purchased margarita glasses were turned away. 40 minutes later after trying to fight our way back on the plane, they were suddently accepted. huh? clear as mud.
3. ALL mexican food is made up of beans, tortillas and carne (meat) and it is ALL essentially a taco under some other name. don't let the names fool you... still a taco.
4. time is not a reality in mexico. particularly after having some tequila.
5. it is impossible to pay with a 500 peso bill, yet that is all the bank machine gives out. waiters gasp with horror at the sight.
6. little flower pots are the new cups.
7. shaving cream is used liberally (like confetti) at celebrations... but pretty disgusto when it lands in your hair.
8. in parades, school kids carry shovels. still not clear why.
9. street vendors sell everything at the wrong time. when we were boiling they were trying to sell us shawls, but when we were frigidly cold, they were nowhere to be found.
10. it is impossible to ask for seperate bills at a restaurant. too complicated? apparently. the least they could do would be to stop gasping at the sight of a 500 pesos bill!

busy bee.

it is already wednesday night again, and i am trying to figure out where all my time goes! i have been meaning to write a blog entry about my AMAZING weekend, but i haven't had more than a few minutes to sit down and actually get anything done. i remember when i was young, my mom made me write down all my life activities and the total time that i had alloted to them was more then the time i actually had in a week. i clearly haven't learned any lessons, because i think i have myself in a position like that again.

i am busy - but good busy. and everything i am doing are things i have always wanted to do, and things that i moved away to do. i leave school at a fairly reasonable time most days, and like to think i have established some sort of a balance between school and personal. i don't touch schoolwork on the weekends and i rarely bring it home on weeknights. i think about the kids all day, but i stop thinking about them at night. luckily, i often get my energy from social situations so the activities i am doing are also relaxing for me.

on mondays i help out with a little drama club, stay a bit later at school and then play ultimate frisbee.
on tuesdays i have spanish classes, sometimes go to yoga with jen and am FINALLY learning how to play guitar with a group of awesome guitarists from 9-11.
on wednesdays i stay a bit late at school, go to body pump at my local gym (can you believe i found a gym with body pump?) and try to fit in a social activity. tonight we are having dinner for one of the teacher's birthdays.
on thursdays i have spanish class again, go to the gym at the huesteca campus and definitely fit in a social activity. there is also a potential mexican cooking class that may begin soon!
on fridays i generally take off for some sorty of travel adventure OR get ready for a relaxing weekend of exploring monterrey and sleeping.

don't worry, i am not stretching myself too thin. the only challenge i am having is getting myself in bed at a reasonable hour... i just like reading and chatting with friends and surfing the internet too much, i think!

life in mexico sounds pretty similar to life at home, eh? sometimes i forget where i live. until i try to have a conversation, and then i am brutally reminded. these spanish classes better start kicking in.

getting cultured.

i just want to preface this entry by saying that i have already written this entry. however, for some reason, it did not save properly before i turned off my computer and now i am writing it again. and since i wrote it a few days ago, i can't remember what i initially meant to say, so those thoughts are lost forever! and things are never as good the second time around. with that said, here it is!

this past weekend was a frenzy of cultural activities. while i took muchos time to sleep and relax, i also managed to fit in SO much. some may actually say it was not relaxing at all! but i swear, it was.

on friday evening after school, we spent happy hour at papalotes, a local taco restaurant similar in feel to lonestar. the greatest part was when the owners told us that they were doing a photoshoot of all their bar drinks, and they didn't want to throw them out. did we want them? OF COURSE! here is a picture of us enjoying our myriad of drinks on the patio.



on saturday, i went with two other teachers (ginny and barb) to see the frida exhibit at the marco (the museum of modern art in monterrey). before going, i didn't know much about frida, other then the infamous one-eybrow. i absolutely LOVED her work. she was so honest that i almost felt as if i had touched a part of her soul during my visit. apparently, this collection is the largest frida collection ever to be in monterrey, so this was a very exciting field trip! many of her writings were also displayed, but my spanish was not up for the test, unfortunately. since the exhibit, i have read up on frida, and even watched the movie about her, which i would highly recommend.

next, we attended a cultural exhibit called 'dialogue in the dark'. now this was one of the most unique experiences of my life, but i am not sure if i will be able to properly articulate its impact on me, or the sensations that i felt. the purpose of the exhibit was to recreate what it would be like to be blind. we were taken along a tunnel, and it gradually became darker, and darker, until we were in utter blackness. the weird part was, our eyes were open. at first, i felt really uncomfortable and panicky, but after about 5 minutes, i became more comfortable with my temporary 'blindness'. we were brought through 5 rooms: one that was a jungle, the grocery store, a cafe, a marina and a street corner. we relied incredibly on our guide, and could only move through the rooms with our sense of touch and sound. it was VERY disconcerting, but in a weird way, very eye-opening. for over an hour, i was blind - relying on the 7 friends i had with me, my guide and hoping that i wouldn't crash into various plants or get killed crossing the street. it is different then being blindfolded, as there was absolutely NO light. for me, the grocery store was most frustrating, and learning how to use cash. it is difficult to tell all the coins apart when you can't see them! when we were finished, we were introduced to our guide, who was really blind. the whole tour, we had never known. not that it should change anything... but it was good for me to speak with him about what it is REALLY like to be blind in a city with uneven sidewalks and little infrastructure in place. i highly recommend feeling what it is like to be fully stripped of something we take advantage of. you walk away looking at the world differently.

then, for a TRUE monterrey cultural experience, a futball game! there are two rival teams in monterrey: the tigres and the rayados. apparently, being a devoted fan to one or the other runs in the family. you cannot move to mexico without attending a soccer game. it would just be wrong. SO, i sought out a local ticketmaster (which, in fact, was a great find! avril lavigne is coming to monterrey next month), and bought tickets for four of us to go to a tigres game. allez allez tigres! ally, amy, myself and elise hopped into a cab and were off to a potentially sketchy part of town. luckily, all was well. i'll admit it: we definitely didn't belong. we stuck out like a sore thumb. first off: everyone was decked out in team jerseys; everyone was male; and absolutely NO ONE was blond. one guys even said to us in spanish, "do you speak english?" and when we answered yes, he looked starstruck. while happily ignoring the stares, we pushed our way into last row seats (next to the beer cooler) and enjoyed the game. there is no assigned seating, so this process was actually WAY more difficult then i am describing here... but i'll let you imagine it! we were definitely a big part of the half time show, and people actually wanted to take pictures with us! it was like we were celebrities. it was quite interesting to feel the difference even just from wandering around san pedro. in san pedro, we don't get stared at AS much as in other places in monterrey where foreigners are just not overly common. anyway. i made friends with the kid next to me, who told me all the important things that i needed to know about futball. the one thing that you couldn't miss was... the caged in section of fans who literally cheered and bounced the WHOLE game. good thing the tigres weren't playing the rayados, because i have heard that can get a little rough n tough. when we left the game, we left a group of cops who said to us, in english, "you lik-e-the boy cops?" and we decided it was time to go....



finally, we moved across the street from the tigres stadium to an infamous bar called 'far west'. picture this: cowboys, girls line-dancing, a dance floor the side of a football field, drink tickets, a rodeo INSIDE the bar, professional line-dancing shows and allllll country music. you might think you are in texas... but no. they are all mexican cowboys and mexican rodeo clowns. a strange, but fabulous sight. the greatest part was when the power went out for more then 45 minutes, but no one moved! we just drank beer in the dark. at midnight bells ring and the indoor rodeo commences with REAL bulls and bullriders. it was slightly grotesque and cruel, but an experience nonetheless. here's proof of our adventures:



not bad for a two-day weekend, eh? and i haven't even mentioned sunday yet! we have vowed to try to do ONE new thing each weekend we stay in town. i don't think it will be a difficult feat.

gimme a break.

i just woke up from a 14-hour nap. when i fell asleep, the plan was to sleep for an hour or two, and then rally by hitting up the barrio with a large group of asfm'ers. however, i crashed hard, and that was the end of that. even when people called to get me moving, it still wasn't enough to motivate me to move. ginny knocked on my door and said, "the girls called for you", to which i did nothing. ginny ended up calling back and updating them on my status. just like a mom would do.

it didn't help that after school we had gone to a taco restaurant with a patio to celebrate tgif. i had two excessively large margaritas before the owners came and told us they had a whole load of free drinks for us. do we make the rational decision and turn down the drinks? or do we suck it up and do them a favour so they don't have to throw them out? of course. almost a dozen drinks later (don't worry, there were more than 8 of us at the table), after we had sampled every drink under the sun, we finally went home... exhausted from the week, and slightly drunk.

i think i also needed a 14-hour sleep for the following reasons:

-teaching is exhausting. cut-to-the bone exhausting. do you want to try it sometime?
-i still hadn't kicked my nasty cold from the week. and even after the lengthy nap i still feel the rumblings of a cough.
-i could barely keep my eyes open during my read-aloud to the kids.
-i was ditching prep time at school to sneak out for a coffee at the corner store, and it is really gross. (because the timmy's my parents sent from home is decaf)
-i almost considered instituting nap time in grade 2.
-my patience runs thin with the kids when i am tired. and three kids cried last week. are my kids overly sensitive? or was miss sarah being grumpy? perhaps a bit of both.
-i didn't have enough energy to get out of bed for dinner. a travesty.
-my pillow is so damn comfortable. and worthy of being slept on for more then my regular 6 hours a night!

don't worry, be hippy.

and so sums up my weekend trip to the little town of real of catorce. about four and a half hours south (ish) of monterrey, real was a wealthy mining town in the mountains until around 1900. when the price of silver plummeted, real became a ghost town in less then 30 years. recently, efforts have been made to conserve the crumbling buildings, but rustic does not even begin to describe it. a 30 kilometre long cobblestone road leads to a one-way tunnel through the mountain, the only way to enter and exit the town. a passageway to the past, of sorts.



a combination of crazy characters, incredible conversations, bumpy cobblestone roads, messy gorditas, missions for ice, picture-perfect moments, warm sweaters, bongo drums, horses named punto and an incredible group of friends made for an unforgettable weekend getaway.

"don't panic, on the titanic"
it is impossible to describe my experience in real de catorce without giving a shout-out to our rustic little hotel, rincon magico. i don't know how this place got started, or how this random group of hippies found each other and manage to keep the place going day-to-day (through an ever-constant haze of you-know-what), but this place was truly magical. with views overlooking the valley below, we found a little piece of perfection. our little 'cabin' had a balcony (with only one wall, mind you) with a hammock and a toilet that worked about 50 percent of the time. we put 5 people in 2 double beds and got pretty cozy, particularly because it was freezing cold in the mountains. tash hit reality hard when she realized her bikini and mini shorts were not going to cut it in the frigid air. we were all smelling magnificent by the end of the weekend, as you can imagine. back to rincon magico. the little posse included chef david, who cooked the most delicious large-scale meals for only 5 dollars a person (i can still taste the tacitos, yum!), also gave lessons on ancient instruments that he picked up in india AND forced me to dance next to a fireplace in a sleeping bag to bongo drums. true story. next was the owner. not sure of his name, but he had wavy hair that was longer then mine. finally, gabriel (or peter gabriel), who actually lives in tulum, an old hippy who plays mean bongo drums and invited us to stay at his house. he is the one who reminded us of the motto of real every day: "don't worry, be hippy!"



"they must be sensing the male domination"
one of the must-do activities in real de catorce is going horse-back riding. it is impossible to avoid the cowboys who approached you immediately on the main square. a nice young man named gerardo found us on the first night outside our hotel and made an excellent pitch. we didn't forget about him! and since the town has only a few permanent residents, he found us easily the next day. for twelve dollars, we each got to ride a horse out of the city, up a mountain to an abandoned spanish hacienda and over to a ghost town called pueblo fantasmo. i hadn't been on a horse since i was about 12, so it was SO excited. my little dude was named 'pinto or punto' and he responded relatively well to my directions. he wasn't overly competitive so i was never at the front of the pack, but i think we had a nice bond. particularly when he would find soft ground near the edge of the mountain pathway and ALMOST throw me off the edge. but he never did! thanks, punto. wandering around the ghost town and ghost hacienda was really cool. there was an abandoned mine shaft that we crawled through, an old well/elevator to drop pennies down and crumbling arches for beautiful pictures.



"this is the greatest day EVER"
do you ever just stop and realize how great life is? for elise, tash and me, this weekend was all about appreciating how lucky we are. the three of us live for amazing conversation and really enjoy actively appreciating the moment. we caught ourselves several times, deep in conversation or even meeting eyes across the room, simply soaking up the moment. the ability to be able to even live a life where we can work hard all week but still take off on adventures on the weekend is pretty amazing. the moments that were the most striking for me were certainly on the day of the rainbows. friday, during our drive, the rained off and on the whole time, and we reaped the benefits with the most incredible arc-en-ciel's that i have ever seen. the colours were so vibrant, almost like technicolour. i'll have to upload some pictures to prove it.



"the fire knows everything..."
a few times during the weekend, i went off on my own to take some pictures, to write in my journal, or to simply soak up the scenery. there aren't actually that many things to DO in real de catorce, but a lot of it is the atmosphere, or people watching. one of my favourite moments was eating gorditas with a group of drunk students who loved it that we spoke in broken spanish. another favourite moment was eating soup made out of cow's stomach lining for breakfast at a local stand and making friends with the five kids who worked there. (btw, the soup was ok.... kinda slimy) i also loved meeting three traveller's who had come to real de catorce to found an organization dedicated to improving the schools in the area. wandering around real de catorce, i felt i was living a lifestyle where i actually take time to get to know people, and to get to know myself.

"whose toothbrush is on the floor?"
i got my first taste of dirt, grime and cold in real de catorce. because we were so high in the mountains, not only were we often above the clouds, but it was also freezing cold! sweaters in mexico? i could barely believe it. we left dirty, tired, sick, cold, wearing new silver purchases (all handmade!) but content with our adventure. little did we know, it would continue on the road. i was driving, and we got pulled over at a regular check point, but the police officer was not pleased that we did not have our work VISA's. according to him, we had no way to actually prove that we were legal in the country. i kept asking him calmly, "what do you want us to do, they are being processed as we speak?", but i just couldn't get anywhere. i felt i was up against a brick wall of frustration. luckily, damon the diplomat stepped in and saved the day... not to worry. apparently this happens all the time, and the cops really just want money. i'm so proud that we didn't cave!



real de catorce is certainly one of those gems that you have to experience to believe. if anyone ever makes it to monterrey (please come!) i promise to take you there to meet the hippies for yourself. i am sure they will still be there.

quest for curry.

some things are really hard to find in mexico.

for example...

the cottage cheese just does not taste the same.
lemon juice is non-existent. only limes exist to mexicans.
light brown sugar. only the grainy dark kind.
delicious milk chocolate chips are three hours away.
good peanut butter is impossible to find! thank goodness i thought ahead.
i can only find imported goat's cheese.
chewy granola bars only come in one flavour.
food without tortilla's, cheese or beans are rare.
i'll have to learn to live without mini wheats for breakfast. such a travesty.
curry paste does not exist in monterrey. trust me. i looked everywhere.

as i write this i am simultaneously packing for a weekend away and trying to deal with a huge water leak from my bathroom into my closet. wet suitcases. not ideal for packing. it is also almost impossible to find things that are fully functioning in this country. you just have to anticipate that something will go wrong.

embracing limes and the unexpected.

mexico mishaps.

all in a day's work:

mishap 1: i was invited over to santa catarina for dinner at mike and dean's house. i decided to make a delicious apple crisp for dessert, so i went shopping for all the ingredients and slaved in the kitchen all afternoon. (well, actually, about half an hour, but who's counting) i trekked all the way over to their house and then asked dean to put it in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes... after talking for about 15 minutes, we noticed that the kitchen was starting to smell distinctly like a firezone. dean ran over to the oven only to discover that my crisp was truly a crisp - mostly because it had been cooked at 350 degrees celsius, rather than farenheit. BIG oops, considering that is almost 250 degrees hotter then it should have been! charred black apple crisp. yum.

mishap 2: ginny brought me a mini coffee maker all the way from canada so that i would be able to make myself coffee every morning. the first morning, i set it all up, drank my delicious timmy's and then went on with my day. the NEXT morning, as i picked up the coffee pot to pass it to my friend (also named sarah), it was still boiling hot. not only did i burn her hand, but i also have burnt coffee at the bottom of my coffee pot. not to mention the extreme fire hazard. what a way to go down. 'miss sarah burns down campus on the first day of school'. perfect.

mishap 3: for the first week, almost every day, i would forget about morning recess. i would be giving instructions, and then one of my kids would pipe up, "um. miss? um?" to which i would reply, "not now!" or something to that effect. when really they were only trying to tell ME that it was time to clean up for recess. oops. one time i also forgot to send my kids to p.e. i just got so excited about science! my kids think its hilarious... while their focus this week is to practice following directions, my focus is simply to start paying attention to my plans!

mishap 4: trying to order anything from the cafeteria. to my kids, this is more fun then free candy.

mishap 5: trying to tell the nice man who cleans my classroom that i appreciate all his hard work. i think he thinks i want him to build me a shelf, because he proceeded to show me everything in my classroom that he had built.

mishap 6: the other day, i was taking a cab on my own, and the cab driver was trying to chat me up with broken english, and i was responding in broken spanish. he told me he loves canadians, and he is so happy that i love mexico. do i love mexican tequilla, he asks? of course, i respond. and to my surprise, he reaches under his seat and swings his arm out holding a full bottle of tequilla. a shot, he asks? ONLY in mexico. what hospitality.

true colours.

red is the colour that THREE kids have already received in our stoplight discipline system. of course, the hope was that no one would ever reach red because they would be too busy behaving....

green is the colour of the nametags that the kids are busy picking off their desks. WAIT! i spent hours taping those darn things down.

brown is the colour of the old school desks that keep getting slammed shut.

blue is the colour of the carpet that kids think it is okay to roll around on during reader's workshop. uh, no.

brown is also the colour of my furrowed brow when forteen kids interupt me while i am conferencing with another student.

purple is the colour of the directions that i write on the board that are never followed. well, that is not completely fair. they are eventually followed, but the kids feel the need to tell me after they have completed each step.

orange is the colour of the bulletin boards i still haven't found the time to decorate!

yellow is the colour of the sun. we are starting solar energy tomorrow and i haven't even had time to read the curriculum.

so many times, when you are tired and overworked, it is easy to look at life with the glass half empty.

good thing i like to look on the bright side of life.

tied up in knots.

tonight i became a pretzel. in full immersion spanish. while sweating like a pig.

"you want me to put my legs where?" - i asked.
"aqui"
"where?" i asked again.
"aqui"

ok. clearly the conversation was not going to get anywhere.

ginny and jenn suggested that we go to yoga this evening. initially, this sounded like a great idea! do some stretching, sweat a bit and go to bed feeling great. of course, i forgot the whole class would be in spanish! i can't say i learned any spanish, but i certainly stretched my body in ways that i have never stretched it before. apparently yoga is tougher in mexico.

feeling energized the three of us returned to the apartment for our weekly 'family dinner'. this is supposed to occur on sundays, and there is only one stipulation: we must cook something that we have never cooked before. since i was stuck at work until after six today, ginny was nice enough to do the cooking for us. to go along with our healthy yoga kick, we had a quinoa/bean salad and cooked zucchini with onions. deliciosa!

on a side note: it seems that hurricane dean will only be reaching as far as tampico. it is expected that we get a few big storms and loads of rain on thursday and friday, but no hurricane winds. hopefully no more flooded playgrounds!

school-free zone.

it is sunday night. and i haven't thought about school for 48 hours! while this may have been a good thing for my mental state, it means i am going to pay for it royally when tomorrow morning rolls around. but i have decided that there is absolutely no point in making my job my life, because i know that will lead to several years of unhappiness. instead, i jammed the weekend full of a dozen social activities and i feel like it has been the longest weekend in history! friday afternoon feels like days ago, and i am good and ready to go back to school tomorrow.

here are the top eleven things to do on a sunny perfect weekend in monterrey:

11. jump on a trampoline in the middle of the night. with three other adults.
10. sleep in until 11. twice.
9. pick up starbucks on the way home from school. then go to the gym and get ginny to take you through a killer ab workout.
8. try to avoid hitting goats/cows/donkeys/taco stands/wild dogs while driving into huesteca canyon for a full staff evening bbq and campfire.
7. be pegged as the 'baby holder' at parties. mom's love us, and we get to give the kids back when they cry!
6. get cultured by going to the monterrey history museum and learning all about mexican history. for the big price of one dollar!
5. eating the famous monterrey baby goat. seriously. we ate half of one. kind of tastes like chicken?
4. spend all your food coupons in one grocery shop. and accidentally pay 9 dollars for imported goat's cheese.
3. dancing until the wee hours of the morning to a live ska band. like in 10 things i hate about you!
2. pay twelve dollars to go to a local hotel for full access to their pool and beach chairs AND a delicious buffet dinner. the greatest find. i may finally get that mexican tan i have been dreaming of.
1. go rock climbing in the mountains for REAL! and conquer the wall. what a rush.

if only every day was a weekend!

first day.

i survived one day. and as someone reminded me, only 180 to go....

the kids were super cute. and eager. and chatty. and silly. i had such a fun time with them! we have A LOT to learn, and a lot of routines to establish, but i am optimistic. i didn't feel tired until the chaos of dismissal was over, but when i sat down at my desk and looked at all the work i had left to do, i wanted to crawl into bed and sleep for a week. there is so much behind the scenes work in teaching. when you think about the day as a performance, being 'on', that takes preparation! and i am not the kind of person that is going to want to live at school every day. definitely a fine balance.

there was a full staff meeting after school, and the a-team (as the administration likes to refer to themselves as) presented all the new new teachers (as in starting our careers) with a photo of us with our class that they had just taken today! attached was an inspirational message welcoming me to teaching. gave me little warm fuzzies.

one of the assistant vice principals sent us an e-mail this morning that really struck me. he asked, how many nobel prize winners can you name? and how many of your teachers can you name from K-12? the answer is fairly obvious: while teacher's might not change the world, we become a significant part of memory/history for children who end up growing up and moving all around the world. and it is up to us how we choose to be remembered. food for thought.

3 memorable quotes from my first official day on my own in the classroom:

"miss, you MUST learn spanish, or you will not survive in monterreY!" (me: thanks for reminding me)

"miss, are you in love? you are in love!" (me: i wish)

"miss, you have a tattoo!" (me: oh shit.)

on becoming a mexican.

after the pta party last week, and the staff was sufficiently spoiled, work really cracked down. reality set in that this teaching thing really is a lot of work – particularly when you have to learn all the curriculum, policies and procedures of a private school. i was given more material to read then i could read in a lifetime, and was in more meetings than i could possibly count. i felt that i barely had two minutes to set up my classroom!

however, in typical sarah fashion, i found sufficient time outside of school to learn a little more about monterrey and take in the social scene. it is easy to stay at school until 7, because there is always more work that can be done. but when a cold beer and good conversation is calling, almost nothing can keep me away. last week, i attended my first salsa party (the dip, not the dance), found the only place to get locally brewed draft beer in the city (sierra madre brewing company... hellO 2 for 1 beers), ate tacos at the principal's house overlooking the city (again, free beer and food for the entire staff), danced in a house overlooking the city and successfully ordered empanadas and red wine at an argentinian restaurant. it seems that to become mexican, all you really need to do is drink a lot.

all jokes (and drinking) aside, i have also become more confident in using my butchered spanish. i feel less like an outsider. i am no longer shocked when CRAZY things happen on a regular basis. i am comfortable with the insanity of monterrey driving. i can navigate around san pedro and know the route to santa catarina. the sweat running on my brow and running down my back (all day, every day) is now a comforting thing. i have stopped taking pictures of the mountains, because i have finally realized that they will still be THAT beautiful tomorrow.

my other feats for the week included: directing two different friends through the jungle of streets to the gym at the high school campus. it is a miracle that i found the place with all these one-way streets, disappearing lanes, people jumping over medians and even a man biking a huge cart of garbage on the highway… in the slow lane, of course. i also found a key cutter and successfully signed that i wanted a copy made. AND i found a dollar store a block away from my house. i guess we aren't in siberia after all. i can even order my "uno grande latte con leche light" at starbucks without speaking english at all! little, by little, i am settling into life as a temporary mexican.

however.

there are some things i will never be able to get used to….

• miniature bugs on my toilet paper
• freezing and loud air conditioners
• children with maids, drivers and cooks
• getting up at 5:30 am
• dead cockroaches in the laundry room
• spanish television (sidenote: I watched it during dinner tonight, even though I did not understand one single word)
• cabs that honk to ask if you want to be picked up
• stop signs that are ‘stoptional’
• one-way streets… everywhere
• blocked traffic from lineups at the fast food restaurant pollo loco – ie. crazy chicken

i should end these reflections by saying that tomorrow is the first day of school. not only am i becoming a mexican, but i am also becoming a teacher! today the kids came by with their mom's to drop off their supplies (picture hundreds of kleenex boxes, post-it notes and sparkly pencils... where exactly am i supposed to store all of this stuff?), so i have met them all, but tomorrow it all begins. tonight i was at work until after after 9 setting up the classroom and putting my plans in place. this will certainly not be a tradition, but i don't think it is unusual for a new teacher during the first week of school. but you know what? even though i worked almost 14 hours today, i still came home, cracked a beer and chatted with ginny. carpe diem.

nothing on a small scale.

i remember reading ginny's blog around this time last year, and i would like to echo her sentiments. when people in san pedro do something, they really DO it. in capital letters. if they go for a run, they wear a matching outfit; if they plan a party, they have it catered; if they build a starbucks, they build 14 more (there will literally be 15 starbucks' in san pedro by december, last year at this time there were only 4). there is more money in every square inch of this place then i will ever have in my whole lifetime. it is so bizarre to me. teacher's know what is going on at school. the PTA really values us. if you have a problem in your apartment, they send a worker within 24 hours. this is a luxurious lifestyle that i will never live again. i can understand why people never leave.

last night, the parent's council hosted a welcome bbq to introduce new teacher's to mexican food and culture. first of all, the setting was spectacular: the backyard was under a huge canopy of plants, the tables were decorated with hand-made paper flowers and there was unlimited food and alcohol. the mothers welcomed us like family! we got to try:

-cactus cooked in a red sauce.
-chicken in a mole sauce. i quote, "there is chocolate in the chicken? this place is the BEST." - ellise
-hand cooked tortillas.
-margaritas.
-some sort of cheese dish. and a mushy looking beef dish.
-tamales.
-mushy refried beans.
-spicy peanuts.
-weird mushy candies... are you noticing a trend?

the thing about mexican food, is it looks incredibly unappetizing. the refried beans look suspiciously like vomit and the rest is all messy and mushy and gets all mixed together. while i DO understand why people don't like it - if you get over the look of it - you will discover the magical mystery of deliciousness. it is incredible! i could never eat it every day because it is too fattening, too spicy, too much.... but i am so glad it is here. good thing i am not in a picky phase.

you may think the greatest surprise was the catered dinner and free alcohol... but NO. it gets even better. mid-way through the meal, a 12-man mariachi band marched in and surprised the bejeezus out of us! in 'stylish' huge red bowties, heavy suits and incredible voices, they serenaded us for almost 30 minutes. now these guys can entertain! choreographed movements and all. apparently mariachi bands are not only for tourists, they are a legitimate part of mexican culture. if a boy has a crush on a girl, they will often have a mariachi band play outside her window. a girl can dream.

today was another busy day. we had a FULL staff breakfast (also catered) over at the high school at the beautiful luxurious huesteca campus. dean showed me his classroom and it looks almost new! it was a nice chance to see familiar faces, and then all the staff met in the auditorium for service awards. some people have worked for asfm for 25 years! i almost cried during his acceptance speech, even though it was in spanish and i didn't understand a word he said. the elementary teacher's came back to san pedro for more sessions, team meetings (there are 8 grade 2 teachers in total) and finally we got a few more hours in our classroom this afternoon. i went through a few moments today when i felt really underprepared for the kids to come... a week tomorrow! but luckily, ginny and everyone have been SO supportive, and i am realizing that not everything has to be in place for day one.

from the way we have been treated and valued by administration, i can't imagine not being able to pour my heart and soul into this school. i truly believe this is the first organization that i have worked for that has got it right. if you value your employees, make them feel special, and make their lives easier, then OF COURSE we will be able to work harder for students. by making our personal lives more enjoyable and efficent, they are only benefiting the school. they understand that teacher's need balance, and they certainly provide a work-hard/play-hard atmosphere here. over the next few days, i imagine i will be at school for long hours preparing my classroom, my library and planning. but i won't hesitate for a moment because i know in exchance, they are working hard for me.

monterrey musings.

i have been in monterrey now for five days. in some ways it feels like a lifetime, and in others it feels like 2.5 seconds. so far, i have been completely without internet -- not an easy thing when being 'connected' has become my fix (next to coffee of course!) so much has transpired over these last few days, and it seems difficult to put into words my feelings during such a big transition. mostly excited, never nervous or overwhelmed... i'm just taking it one day at a time. they have been keeping us busy busy busy, so it is impossible to feel homesick or worried, we just move the motions trying to find time to ourselves. i have been at school all day today, and at this moment, in my empty classroom, it has been the first time i have been by myself since i arrived. i should preface this potentially long entry by saying that i am really happy. walking around this morning on my way to school, i felt very at peace with the move and i know i am going to have a really exciting year, both personally and professionally. i juts spent all day setting up MY classroom. all MINE! no more student teaching. it is pretty cool. and it is hot outside. really really effing HOT. it is pretty much my dream come true.

rewinding five days...

dean and i woke up last wednesday in alice, texas. when we woke up and saw the hotel in the daylight, we realized it was a pretty sketchy joint. but luckily, all was well. we piled ourselves into the car for the last time (to dean's delight) and drove two long and painful hours to mcallen. i think because it was the home stretch, it felt like it was taking forever. AND, i would not say that southern texas is really known for exciting scenery... we arrived easily at la quinta inn, and seperated to run a few errands. i tried for about an hour to find the mail box store, and then treated myself to my first starbucks since ottawa. mmm mmm good. mcallen was much more lively then i expected, with lots of box stores and restaurants. it will definitely become a very good errand-running destination. in the late afternoon, we had a meeting with all the new folks who had driving down. looking back now, after knowing people for several days, my impressions of people seem pretty funny. everyone was incredibly nice: we had a girl who snorted at dinner... at least we got that out of the way; a guy who kept talking about how old he was (turns out he is only 28!); a super-nervous-worry-wort-compulsive girl and her laid-back-relaxed-go-with-the-flow husband and several other genuinely lovely people. after a sleepless night (terrible pillows) we hit the road convoy style. if you want a good time, you should definitely try crossing the border into mexico and driving all the way to monterrey while trying to keep 11 cars in line. i thought dean might have a hernia with all the white knuckle driving. it was really interesting to watch the scenery and vibe in southern texas transition as we got closer to the border. in some of the small towns in the south, there were more mexican license plates then american. the border was easy - even though we all got red lights - they waved us through quickly when they realized we were just silly gringos going to teach.

my first few hours in monterrey where hot, sweaty and slightly overwhelming. we were quickly asked to sign leases (in spanish), given allowances and sent to our houses. when we unloaded the car i was shocked that we had managed to fit so much into the car! the workout of the century was certainly carrying it all up a flight of stairs into our apartment. the place is so fun: colourful, bright, and really feels like mexico. ginny didn't arrive for a few days, so i arrived to an empty apartment. but luckily, the school had thought to stock our fridges with food basics and leave us welcome packages. everything has been so impressive and well thought-out. they certainly spoil us here. i spent a few hours unpacking before heading to a welcome dinner at the assistant principal's house. everyone looked wide-eyed... some people had arrived but luggage was still lost in space!

we woke up early the next morning to head up into the mountains for a two day training retreat. nestled at the top of one of the beautiful moutains that surrounds monterrey, the chipinque park hotel was our little oasis for 48 hours. aside from some room confusion (welcome to mexico), everything was amazing. the retreat was only for new asfm teachers, so it was a chance for us to socialize, bond and get all the information on school philosophies and curriculum that we could soak up. the sessions were really useful, and i feel like i now have a solid foundation in the vision that the school has for the year. the school philosophy is not unusual: teaching kids using best practices. such an incredibly huge goal, but they make it really accessible and achievable. along with training we got exposure to a cultural panel, some hiking, swimming, stunning views of monterrey at night and even a few guitars in the evening.

friday afternoon we came back to reality and had the weekend mostly to ourselves. i was SO thankful for this time because i felt i hadn't even had a moment to set up my life and get groceries! we were still busy the whole time with optional activities, sleeping, and social events each evening, but i managed to fit in a few meals with ginny's family, cleaning out the kitchen and even a visit to santa catarina (another part of town where the high school is located). ginny has a car here this year and is braving the insanity of mexico driving which is making life SO much easier and more convenient. i am so proud of her! the new teachers are an incredibly friendly group of people, and we have been doing so much together! on friday night, we had a little patio get-together; saturday we danced hard downtown in the barrio and sunday we had a house crawl over in santa catarina. we are certainly a sociable group, so i imagine we are in for a bit of a shock when work hits us hard next week.

today is our last new teacher training day and our first with access to our classroom. i am going to organize the furniture to my liking, and then tomorrow i will be hitting the ground running meeting the WHOLE staff. this evening the PTA is hosting a dinner for new teachers, so i imagine it will be an eventful evening.

so far mexico has been everything i had hoped for, and more. while it does take four keys to get into my apartment, there a million one-way streets and all women look like models every time they leave the house (particularly in san pedro, which i've been told has the highest per-capita income in all of latin america)... the good certainly outweighs the bad. countless people have stayed way longer then the initial two years they had planned, and built incredible lives here in mexico.

you never know.