As you know, I’m not the only one who chose to come teach English for the summer. There are 12 of us total. I met them all the day after I arrived, when we all attended church together.
As a whole, the other teachers are ridiculously awesome. I like every single one of them! I find that pretty cool since usually in a group like that, there is someone you get along with less, or just prefer not to be around or whatever, but not with these chicas. They are all great. As far as I know, everyone else feels the same. I haven’t seen any drama or contention whatsoever. I know it’s only been 2 weeks, but still. That’s a good sign. But let’s face it, even if there was drama, I probably wouldn’t notice since I don’t care a bit about such things.
First, there is Kelly. She is the head teacher here in Mexico. That means that she has already been on a trip with ILP, so she knows what’s going on, and how to handle everything. She doesn’t actually teach any classes; she’s more like the principal, if you know what I mean. She is very nice, caring, and funny. She really cares about helping us be good teachers, and since she just graduated with an elementary education degree, she really knows her stuff. It’s pretty convenient. I like her a lot, and I think she will make a great head teacher, which makes a huge difference in this whole experience.
Then, there is Brian. Not only is he the only male in the group, he is also Kelly’s husband. He speaks Spanish because he served his mission in Spain. He is awesome as well. He works hard, and all his ideas are GENIUS, as far as teaching goes. Him and Kelly are so funny together and provide some great entertainment for the rest of us. He is currently not feeling well, so let’s hope things go better for him tomorrow.
Then there is Megan, who I met at the school on Saturday night. I like her. She makes me laugh pretty much everyday and she laughs at other peoples’ jokes, which is quite a good quality, if you ask me. She is 21ish and she has a great life story, which she shared with us on the beach last week. Isn’t that precious? And don’t forget, she’s an Aggie.
Next is Hannah. She is 22 and just graduated from BYU. She cracks me up. She seems so serious and stressed out all the time, but then she will whip out some random joke that is so beyond funny and everyone will just die laughing. She is actually the only one I remember (aside from my immediate group) from the training we all went to in March, and here is why: She seemed so nervous and stressed out, and worried about the whole thing. I remember her asking what the houses would be like and if we would be living on dirt floors, and about the safety of everything, and I was just thinking about how worried she looked. Well, now I have met her for real and that’s just her personality. She acts serious, and she is, but just not as serious as she appears, you know? Basically, I like her and that’s all that matters.
Hannah’s sister is also joining us, and her name is Emily. Emily is 19. She reminds me of Meckenzie because she is so cute, but funny and normal at the same time. At the same time, people! (That’s something she would say). She’s great. She speaks Spanish very well, and even bore her testimony that first Sunday. She always makes everything so cute for her classes; all her little props and things are just adorable. We had a game night last night and her and Hannah did a Sonny and Cher interpretation and it was hilarious.
And then we have Paige. Paige is going to turn 20 during this Mexico adventure. I think she is the one I would most likely be friends with in the real world. Last weekend during vacation (yes we have had a vacation already) we were shopping buddies and we had a splendid time. When she talks about her host mom, she calls her “Madre.” So she’ll be like, “My Madre told me to wear lots of sunscreen.” I love it. And yes, she burns very easily. And she has some sweet sandals that have caused a sweet tan/burn line to develop.
We now come to a teacher called Corey. She is 20ish. She has long brown hair, and the best Spanish skills of the group, aside from Brian. She is going to be a Spanish teacher, but she is here teaching English in a classroom that does not allow Spanish, which I find funny. It was her life-long dream to teach English abroad and now she’s doing it. Congratulations to Corey.
Now we will meet Kira. Kira is also 20ish. She is tiny and she has curly blonde hair. She is really quiet, but not afraid to talk, either. So I guess she just talks quietly? I don’t know. I just know that she is not wild and crazy. She has an adorable laugh that I love to hear. She needs protein or else she might honestly faint. That would not be good.
Timber is also a fabulous teacher in our group. She is 21. She has the cutest style. Her clothes are so her, her hair is super short, and her jewelry is gorgeous. She is terrified to teach children. Every single day she has to keep herself from running away, or so she says. She is a Political Science major and she is going to change the world. I just know it. Yesterday we had a training meeting, and we decided that we are all going to have a role to play in our little family of teachers. The roles include things like Master Travel Coordinator, FHE Mommies, Holiday GooRoo, Party People, etc. Timber is my partner in the role of Birthday Awesomeness. We are going to dominate.
Then there is Jill. Now that I am telling you about her, I realize that I don’t know her very well at all. She is 20, I think. Don’t take this as a bad thing, but Jill reminds me of a soccer mom. Just the way she talks and the way she thinks about things, you know? I think it’s cute. She has been really sick since getting here. She had to go to the doctor and get medicine and everything. Not cool. But now she’s back and ready for action so don’t even worry.
Siciley is Jill’s accomplice in life/Mexico. They live with the same host family, and they even originate from the same state, just 20 minutes away from each other, but like Megan and me, they didn’t meet until coming here. Crazy. Anyway, Siciley is quite a funny one. She is thinking about transferring to Utah State, which would be sweet because then THREE of us can hang out together when this is all over! Yay!
Finally, there is me. I am the youngest of the bunch, by at least a year. I am awesome, of course, and I get along so well with myself. On Monday of this week, we teachers were all sitting in the main room of the school, planning lessons and things, when I said, “Guys. We are teaching children today! In Mexico! Can you believe that?!” Everybody just laughed at me. But, everyday since then, at least one person will say that before we go to our classes. It’s awesome.
That is us! We are just a small group of 18 – 23 year olds from America trying to teach these little ninos some English skills. It’s quite the experience.
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