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.