If I come back a tiiiiiiiny bit chubbier.... don't judge.
I'll go on a diet or something.
So no te preocupes.
Just kidding.
Kind of.
Bahahahaha.
I'll go on a diet or something.
So no te preocupes.
Just kidding.
Kind of.
Bahahahaha.
Thursday, August 4
Wednesday, August 3
A Visual Tour
 |
| Paco, Abuelito, Eli's bf, and Eli Abuelito's Birthday Fiesta. |
 |
| Kira, Emily, Megan, Paige, and Me Kickball for Christmas in July. |
 |
| Jesús and Rico Hotdogs SLAMMED with Salsa Valentina. Dear Beca, Your addiction is normal. All Mexican children are obsessed. |
 |
| Elvira, Jorge, and Miguelito On our way to play basketball. |
 |
| Pomegranates and things. El Mercado. |
 |
| Evelia and Elvira As we say around here: Pueden casar. |
 |
| Me and Rico This is a daily routine. |
 |
| Me, Roberto, and Evelia The Wedding. |
 |
| Back row: Roberto, Chucho, Patty, Saúl, and Rene. Front row: Diego, Itzel, Sylvia, Alejandro, and Me. Sylvia's Birthday Fiesta. |
 |
| Miguelito and Pamela Yesterday. |
Tuesday, August 2
Monday, August 1
WHERE IS THE TIME GOING?!?!?
Okay, I am so sorry. I honestly didn't realize it's been over a week since I last posted! I just checked and it said Sunday the 24th was my last post and I was like, "WHAT?!? A WEEK HAS ALREADY GONE BY! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING TO ME!"
Because guess what. I love love love it here and I truly, honestly, do not want to leave.
When I first got here to good old Mexico, there was a teacher from last semester who was still here, helping at another school or something. She stayed at least a month longer before she went back home. I remember thinking, "She is insane. I can't believe she made it all the way to the end of the semester and decided to stay for a whole extra month. I could never do that."
Well guess what people. I am not exaggerating in the least when I say I could stay here for TWO more months and be so so happy. I do not want to leave.
I love teaching, I love my family, I love Tehuacan.
And my Spanish is getting slightly better, which is awesome. On Saturday a friend of Roberto's got married, so he took me, Elvira, and Evelia with him to the reception thing. It was at this really nice place and there were these dudes serving us and guess what. The server guy came up to us and since I was on the end, he asked me first what I wanted to drink and I totally understood and I answered, and he asked if I wanted ice and I said no and it was great. Then later he was serving this soup stuff and he asked me to hold my plate up and I understood again and I did. And later he was clearing off our plates so I gave him mine, but he told me to take my fork off and guess what. I took it off. So then I felt awesome because he probably thought I could speak Spanish since I answered all his questions and did everything he told me to. It was great. Oh ya then like 5 hours later he asked if I wanted anything and I said no. Te he.
But ya, that wedding? Wow. You should really see these Mexican weddings. They are so fun. But as you can probably imagine, there is A LOT of dancing involved. Like hours. And as you know, I reeeaaaallllyyy can't dance. My body just does not move and there is nothing I can do about it. But it's fine because I have accepted that fact and I don't let it stop me. So guess what I did. I danced with Roberto. Now keep in mind, Roberto was like born to dance. He dances all the time, even just sitting there in the kitchen or something. All the time. So there I was at a Mexican wedding, dancing with a Mexican that was born to dance and he was trying to show me, but, uh, it was a failure. So then he just made fun of me and all was well. I got a cowboy had and like a hawaiian-ish hat and flip flops out of the experience. And really, it was so fun.
We got home at 4:30 a.m. and then I was sitting in Sacrament at 8:00. Two hours of sleep is what I ran on yesterday and I hardly even noticed.
So yesterday. I went to a birthday party. Do you realize how many birthday parties I have attended since being here? Like seven thousand. But really, there is one almost every week. In fact, maybe there is one every week. There was one on Tuesday, there was one yesterday, there is one next Sunday, wow. But I love it. The family is so cool! We play games and talk and have fun and it's just great. I taught everyone how to play Spoons so we played that forever yesterday and it was so fun! And remember little Cesar? He is too little to play by himself so he was just sitting there watching. So I told Miguelito to trade me places and I was on Cesar's team. He was so cute! He would hold half the cards and I would tell him when to grab a cuchara and then he would smile so big and I would say, "Muy bien, Cesar!" And he thought he was so awesome. It was adorable. And then he asked if he could shuffle. So I gave him the deck and he said, "Mira, Breetahn." And then he did the cutest attempt at shuffling I have ever seen and I told him he was awesome and both our days were made right there.
Then at like 7:30 me, Elvira, Roberto, Eli, and Eli's boyfriend went to this competition thing for these four girls who were turning 15 and that was quite the experience. There was this man dressed as a woman hosting it and then like two more transvestite dudes performed for us. Yaaaa.
But anyway, point is, it was fun and I feel like I am part of the fam and it's awesome. At that competition thing, Elvira was standing on one side of Roberto and I was standing on the other and his arms were around us and he would say things in my ear since it was loud and I could understand! And I didn't even have to read his lips. He would just say something and I would answer and it was the coolest thing ever. We rode in a taxi on the way home and this song in English came on (I can´t remember for the life of me what it was!) but anyway, we were all singing our hearts out. Can you picture that? Really. I, Brittan, sat in the back of a taxi in Mexico last night in between my Mexican sister and my Mexican cousin and we were singing to the radio like there is no tomorrow. Tell me that is not Heaven!
I could and would go on and on and on about how I am so in love with all of this, but for the greater good of everyone involved, I will now force myself to stop.
Entonces, peace out.
Oh, and to answer the commonly asked questions:
1. I am coming home on August 17. A major fiesta will ensue. Just kidding.
2. Sorry, but the souveniers for y'all are semi slash pretty much lame and already purchased and there´s nothing we can do about it. I went on my last vacation like a month ago so that just adds to the fact that there is nothing we can do about it. And I partially chose for it to be this way because I don´t want to stress out about getting everyone what they want and blah, blah, you know? So sorry. Don´t hate.
More ramblings:
1. I have yet to vomit in this lovely country. Yes I am the only teacher to accomplish this feat. I just gotta hold out for 2 more weeks...
2. Elvira and I beat the whole Crash Bandicoot 3 game on Saturday. Guess who beat the final malo. That´s right. My childhood videogaming days are paying off.
Okay, for real I am stopping now.
But let me just say, when I get home, I can guarentee I won´t be able to force myself to stop talking about my Mexican life, so if you think you might tire of hearing about it, please kindly avoid me for like a month. I won´t be offended.
You´ve been warned.
Because guess what. I love love love it here and I truly, honestly, do not want to leave.
When I first got here to good old Mexico, there was a teacher from last semester who was still here, helping at another school or something. She stayed at least a month longer before she went back home. I remember thinking, "She is insane. I can't believe she made it all the way to the end of the semester and decided to stay for a whole extra month. I could never do that."
Well guess what people. I am not exaggerating in the least when I say I could stay here for TWO more months and be so so happy. I do not want to leave.
I love teaching, I love my family, I love Tehuacan.
And my Spanish is getting slightly better, which is awesome. On Saturday a friend of Roberto's got married, so he took me, Elvira, and Evelia with him to the reception thing. It was at this really nice place and there were these dudes serving us and guess what. The server guy came up to us and since I was on the end, he asked me first what I wanted to drink and I totally understood and I answered, and he asked if I wanted ice and I said no and it was great. Then later he was serving this soup stuff and he asked me to hold my plate up and I understood again and I did. And later he was clearing off our plates so I gave him mine, but he told me to take my fork off and guess what. I took it off. So then I felt awesome because he probably thought I could speak Spanish since I answered all his questions and did everything he told me to. It was great. Oh ya then like 5 hours later he asked if I wanted anything and I said no. Te he.
But ya, that wedding? Wow. You should really see these Mexican weddings. They are so fun. But as you can probably imagine, there is A LOT of dancing involved. Like hours. And as you know, I reeeaaaallllyyy can't dance. My body just does not move and there is nothing I can do about it. But it's fine because I have accepted that fact and I don't let it stop me. So guess what I did. I danced with Roberto. Now keep in mind, Roberto was like born to dance. He dances all the time, even just sitting there in the kitchen or something. All the time. So there I was at a Mexican wedding, dancing with a Mexican that was born to dance and he was trying to show me, but, uh, it was a failure. So then he just made fun of me and all was well. I got a cowboy had and like a hawaiian-ish hat and flip flops out of the experience. And really, it was so fun.
We got home at 4:30 a.m. and then I was sitting in Sacrament at 8:00. Two hours of sleep is what I ran on yesterday and I hardly even noticed.
So yesterday. I went to a birthday party. Do you realize how many birthday parties I have attended since being here? Like seven thousand. But really, there is one almost every week. In fact, maybe there is one every week. There was one on Tuesday, there was one yesterday, there is one next Sunday, wow. But I love it. The family is so cool! We play games and talk and have fun and it's just great. I taught everyone how to play Spoons so we played that forever yesterday and it was so fun! And remember little Cesar? He is too little to play by himself so he was just sitting there watching. So I told Miguelito to trade me places and I was on Cesar's team. He was so cute! He would hold half the cards and I would tell him when to grab a cuchara and then he would smile so big and I would say, "Muy bien, Cesar!" And he thought he was so awesome. It was adorable. And then he asked if he could shuffle. So I gave him the deck and he said, "Mira, Breetahn." And then he did the cutest attempt at shuffling I have ever seen and I told him he was awesome and both our days were made right there.
Then at like 7:30 me, Elvira, Roberto, Eli, and Eli's boyfriend went to this competition thing for these four girls who were turning 15 and that was quite the experience. There was this man dressed as a woman hosting it and then like two more transvestite dudes performed for us. Yaaaa.
But anyway, point is, it was fun and I feel like I am part of the fam and it's awesome. At that competition thing, Elvira was standing on one side of Roberto and I was standing on the other and his arms were around us and he would say things in my ear since it was loud and I could understand! And I didn't even have to read his lips. He would just say something and I would answer and it was the coolest thing ever. We rode in a taxi on the way home and this song in English came on (I can´t remember for the life of me what it was!) but anyway, we were all singing our hearts out. Can you picture that? Really. I, Brittan, sat in the back of a taxi in Mexico last night in between my Mexican sister and my Mexican cousin and we were singing to the radio like there is no tomorrow. Tell me that is not Heaven!
I could and would go on and on and on about how I am so in love with all of this, but for the greater good of everyone involved, I will now force myself to stop.
Entonces, peace out.
Oh, and to answer the commonly asked questions:
1. I am coming home on August 17. A major fiesta will ensue. Just kidding.
2. Sorry, but the souveniers for y'all are semi slash pretty much lame and already purchased and there´s nothing we can do about it. I went on my last vacation like a month ago so that just adds to the fact that there is nothing we can do about it. And I partially chose for it to be this way because I don´t want to stress out about getting everyone what they want and blah, blah, you know? So sorry. Don´t hate.
More ramblings:
1. I have yet to vomit in this lovely country. Yes I am the only teacher to accomplish this feat. I just gotta hold out for 2 more weeks...
2. Elvira and I beat the whole Crash Bandicoot 3 game on Saturday. Guess who beat the final malo. That´s right. My childhood videogaming days are paying off.
Okay, for real I am stopping now.
But let me just say, when I get home, I can guarentee I won´t be able to force myself to stop talking about my Mexican life, so if you think you might tire of hearing about it, please kindly avoid me for like a month. I won´t be offended.
You´ve been warned.
Sunday, July 24
More Bits and Pieces of Mi Vida
Teaching:
I know, I know, from the videos it appears that all we ever do is play around. Oh wait, that is all we do.
No, just kidding, we do legit learning every single day, but why would I film that? Thus, you only get to see the fun. This is 3 of 10 students from Megan's class. (We rotate mid-class and teach another class for a half hour).
Aren't they adorable?
I may have forgotten to tell you, but they combined Brian's class with mine, so remember Nydia who I mentioned forever ago? She's mine now! We painted faces on Thursday. It was great fun.
Eating:
This is called a Guanabana.
It's a fruit.
It's acutally green on the outside, but here it is already peeled.
It's slimy.
It has giant seeds.
It's really quite delicious.
It makes good agua tambien.
I don't remember what this next thing is called, but at the bottom right corner you can see it. It's stuffed chili with stuff on the outside of it and it's a July food. I also don't remember what that black stuff is at the top of the pick, but yes, that is black. Probably the only real food I have ever seen that is suppsed to be that legitly black. It was crazy.
Vacationing:
The fam and I went to Teotihuacan to see the pyramids on Friday. Best day of my life.
Speaking:
I have found words from both languages that you just need to use sometimes that don't exist in the language you are speaking. For example: Just kidding. That doesn't exist in Spanish. I mean, ya, they say, "Es una broma," which means it's a joke, but that is not the same, trust me. Sometimes you just need to say just kidding and you can't. And from Spanish? Grosero. When someone does something that is disrespectful, like hit a girl, fart, flip you off, kick you in the knee, ignore you, etc., that is called a grosero. And if you're a girl, it's a grosera. And if it's a bad word coming out of your mouth then it's a groseria. I seriously think I'm going to use that word from now on, even at home, because it makes so much sense! Like yesterday, I was trying to explain to Miguelito the difference between "Excuse you" and "Excuse me" because he kept saying "Excuse you" to me, even though he knew it was wrong. He was just trying to tease me because I would always be like, "It's excuse me!" So then I explained that to say, "Excuse you" is una groceria of sorts because it's rude, you know? It's hard to explain via blog, but suffice it to say, every language has it's missing words/phrases.
But here are some that are not missing from the Spanish language:
Ojo por un ojo, diente por un diente (Eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth).
Buen punto (Good point).
Piensa rapido (Think fast).
Also, we love making words small around here, just for fun. Like, cochecito, perrito, grocerito, Breetahnita, graciasita, etcita.
La Familia:
Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of this yet, but we have been playing basketball and soccer like non other lately and it is soooooo fun. Next time I swear I will bring my camera and take pictures for you. We run around and play hard and sweat and hurt and just have a blast. And then we come home and eat cereal. Boo yes.
So here's just a pic of us at la casa de los abuelitos.
Emperor's New Groove:
You know the part where the two niños are in their bunk bed arguing and they say, "Yahuuuuuu...yahuh nuh uh ya huh nuh uh ya huh nuh uh, 'night mom, ya huh nuh uh ya huh nuh uh..." Well we quote that on a daily basis. Te he.
The Wedding:
This is Elvira y yo in the dresses Evelia made for us, at the wedding last week. I know you can't really see the dresses, but whatev.
The Weather:
It's perfect. Not too hot. Not too cold. I know, Heaven, right? Exactly what I was thinking.
Random Pic of the Day:
Peace out.
I know, I know, from the videos it appears that all we ever do is play around. Oh wait, that is all we do.
Aren't they adorable?
I may have forgotten to tell you, but they combined Brian's class with mine, so remember Nydia who I mentioned forever ago? She's mine now! We painted faces on Thursday. It was great fun.
Eating:
This is called a Guanabana.
It's a fruit.
It's acutally green on the outside, but here it is already peeled.
It's slimy.
It has giant seeds.
It's really quite delicious.
It makes good agua tambien.
I don't remember what this next thing is called, but at the bottom right corner you can see it. It's stuffed chili with stuff on the outside of it and it's a July food. I also don't remember what that black stuff is at the top of the pick, but yes, that is black. Probably the only real food I have ever seen that is suppsed to be that legitly black. It was crazy.
The fam and I went to Teotihuacan to see the pyramids on Friday. Best day of my life.
 |
| Miguelito, Rosa, Miguel, Jorge, Breetahn |
 |
| Me. Estoy bolando. |
 |
| Miguelito. |
 |
| Me, Jorge, y Elvira jumping off the Pyramid of the Moon. |
Speaking:
I have found words from both languages that you just need to use sometimes that don't exist in the language you are speaking. For example: Just kidding. That doesn't exist in Spanish. I mean, ya, they say, "Es una broma," which means it's a joke, but that is not the same, trust me. Sometimes you just need to say just kidding and you can't. And from Spanish? Grosero. When someone does something that is disrespectful, like hit a girl, fart, flip you off, kick you in the knee, ignore you, etc., that is called a grosero. And if you're a girl, it's a grosera. And if it's a bad word coming out of your mouth then it's a groseria. I seriously think I'm going to use that word from now on, even at home, because it makes so much sense! Like yesterday, I was trying to explain to Miguelito the difference between "Excuse you" and "Excuse me" because he kept saying "Excuse you" to me, even though he knew it was wrong. He was just trying to tease me because I would always be like, "It's excuse me!" So then I explained that to say, "Excuse you" is una groceria of sorts because it's rude, you know? It's hard to explain via blog, but suffice it to say, every language has it's missing words/phrases.
But here are some that are not missing from the Spanish language:
Ojo por un ojo, diente por un diente (Eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth).
Buen punto (Good point).
Piensa rapido (Think fast).
Also, we love making words small around here, just for fun. Like, cochecito, perrito, grocerito, Breetahnita, graciasita, etcita.
La Familia:
Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of this yet, but we have been playing basketball and soccer like non other lately and it is soooooo fun. Next time I swear I will bring my camera and take pictures for you. We run around and play hard and sweat and hurt and just have a blast. And then we come home and eat cereal. Boo yes.
So here's just a pic of us at la casa de los abuelitos.
 |
| Me, Itzel, Alejandro, Diego behind Alejandro, Jorge, Miguel, Abuelito, Moises, y Cesar. And yes, I finally figured out how to spell his name: Cesar. |
Emperor's New Groove:
You know the part where the two niños are in their bunk bed arguing and they say, "Yahuuuuuu...yahuh nuh uh ya huh nuh uh ya huh nuh uh, 'night mom, ya huh nuh uh ya huh nuh uh..." Well we quote that on a daily basis. Te he.
The Wedding:
This is Elvira y yo in the dresses Evelia made for us, at the wedding last week. I know you can't really see the dresses, but whatev.
And then we have Miguel drinking the wine.
The Weather:
It's perfect. Not too hot. Not too cold. I know, Heaven, right? Exactly what I was thinking.
Roberto y yo drinking a giant coconut.
Thursday, July 21
Kinder
I love teaching. I don't even know why. Really, why??!!!? I'm so confused! How can I possibly love it this much?!
First of all, Elementary. You all know that I teach Elementary because I've told you like seven times and I've introduced you to all my students at least once or twice. I love elementary with all my heart. The kids are SO funny! They are so cute and so smart and they freaking rock at English. We get to learn real grammar which I love and play actual games and tell actual stories and we all understand each other because we are all speaking English. Plus they say the funniest things.
I know I always tell you what Rico says, but that's just because he is always cracking me up, so here is what he said last week. Someone stole his pencil or something so he started shouting, "Robber! Robber! Robber with... a R.... big!" You know, like capital R. Haaaaa. Also, like a month ago I taught them about slang words and I told them that sometimes kids use the word "sick" to mean cool. Rico has really taken that to heart and just yesterday he came and sat on my lap and said, "Teacher, you are very sick." I about died of laughter. And his accent makes it even ten times funnier.
Anyway, I love them and I always have a fabulous time with them. But then it turned to the Summer session as I told you in a previous post. Let me tell you what exactly that means. First of all, it doesn't affect the evening session. The morning, however, is totally different. We now teach every other morning from 10 to 12 and it's mostly kids who weren't taking ILP earlier in the semester. Some of them know a lot of English and some of them know nothing.
So before it all started, we really didn't know what to expect. We didn't know who would show up, how much English they would know, how old they would be, nothing. So we told Kelly what we would prefer to teach, if possible. As you could probably guess, I told her I prefer Elementary. Because they are so fun! And I didn't want to have to learn how to teach something else and I thought it would be hard when they don't speak English and blah blah blah. We all have our reasons, but whatev.
In the end, I was assigned to Kinder. A.k.a. the kids who stare at you when you ask them their name. A.k.a. the kids who only say, "Blue" when you say, "What is this?"
So I was nervous. I didn't know what I was doing, I didn't know how to plan my lessons, I didn't know what to ask the kids, I could hardly remember their names after I forced it out of them. Last week was week one of all this and it was crazy. We didn't know how to separate the kids, we didn't even know how to separate the teachers, we just didn't know what was going on, but we had to pretend like we did, because all these kids were showing up everyday to learn English. So we took that week to get everything figured out, and then this week came. Week two. And guess what.
I LOVE KINDER! I seriously can't get over how fun they are! I didn't teach on Monday or Tuesday morning, so yesterday was my first time, and oh my gosh. When those two hours were up, I could not stop smiling. I kept talking and talking to Kira and Timber about how awesome it was and how much I loved it to death and I honestly had this permanent smile on my face. I couldn't wait to come back the next day (today) to teach them again.
And guess what. This morning? Just as fun! The little Kinder kids are just adorable because they are so little and they have these big eyes and they think everything you do is amazing and if you act really excited, they will be really excited, so it's just a big ball of excitement and learning and it is sooooo fun. But if you think the little Kinder kids are fun, try the older ones. They are my favorite. They are like 10 and 11 years old (same as my Elementary students), but they don't speak any English. They try so hard and they have such good attitudes and they are so fun. It's weird because I feel like I can still talk to them like they are older, even though they don't really know English, you know? So they are like Elementary in their matureness, which I love, but they don't know any English, so they are fascinated by everything we do and they smile all the time and I love love love it.
And another thing absolutely fascinating about teaching Kinder is that you can totally see their progress. Last week when they came and didn't know anything, we would say to them, "Who wants a pencil?" And they would stare at us. So we taught them to say, "I want a pencil!" And after a couple days we would say, "Who wants a crayon?" And they would say, "Who wants a crayon?" So we taught them again to say, "I want a crayon!" And today, I said, "Who wants to feel it?" And I didn't even have to tell them, they just said, "I want to feel it!" It's crazy! This program totally works.
So after two hours of ridiculously fun English learning, they all file out of your classroom with their arms folded, smiling, and saying, "Bye, Teacher!"
If this is not Heaven, I don't know what is.
First of all, Elementary. You all know that I teach Elementary because I've told you like seven times and I've introduced you to all my students at least once or twice. I love elementary with all my heart. The kids are SO funny! They are so cute and so smart and they freaking rock at English. We get to learn real grammar which I love and play actual games and tell actual stories and we all understand each other because we are all speaking English. Plus they say the funniest things.
I know I always tell you what Rico says, but that's just because he is always cracking me up, so here is what he said last week. Someone stole his pencil or something so he started shouting, "Robber! Robber! Robber with... a R.... big!" You know, like capital R. Haaaaa. Also, like a month ago I taught them about slang words and I told them that sometimes kids use the word "sick" to mean cool. Rico has really taken that to heart and just yesterday he came and sat on my lap and said, "Teacher, you are very sick." I about died of laughter. And his accent makes it even ten times funnier.
Anyway, I love them and I always have a fabulous time with them. But then it turned to the Summer session as I told you in a previous post. Let me tell you what exactly that means. First of all, it doesn't affect the evening session. The morning, however, is totally different. We now teach every other morning from 10 to 12 and it's mostly kids who weren't taking ILP earlier in the semester. Some of them know a lot of English and some of them know nothing.
So before it all started, we really didn't know what to expect. We didn't know who would show up, how much English they would know, how old they would be, nothing. So we told Kelly what we would prefer to teach, if possible. As you could probably guess, I told her I prefer Elementary. Because they are so fun! And I didn't want to have to learn how to teach something else and I thought it would be hard when they don't speak English and blah blah blah. We all have our reasons, but whatev.
In the end, I was assigned to Kinder. A.k.a. the kids who stare at you when you ask them their name. A.k.a. the kids who only say, "Blue" when you say, "What is this?"
So I was nervous. I didn't know what I was doing, I didn't know how to plan my lessons, I didn't know what to ask the kids, I could hardly remember their names after I forced it out of them. Last week was week one of all this and it was crazy. We didn't know how to separate the kids, we didn't even know how to separate the teachers, we just didn't know what was going on, but we had to pretend like we did, because all these kids were showing up everyday to learn English. So we took that week to get everything figured out, and then this week came. Week two. And guess what.
I LOVE KINDER! I seriously can't get over how fun they are! I didn't teach on Monday or Tuesday morning, so yesterday was my first time, and oh my gosh. When those two hours were up, I could not stop smiling. I kept talking and talking to Kira and Timber about how awesome it was and how much I loved it to death and I honestly had this permanent smile on my face. I couldn't wait to come back the next day (today) to teach them again.
And guess what. This morning? Just as fun! The little Kinder kids are just adorable because they are so little and they have these big eyes and they think everything you do is amazing and if you act really excited, they will be really excited, so it's just a big ball of excitement and learning and it is sooooo fun. But if you think the little Kinder kids are fun, try the older ones. They are my favorite. They are like 10 and 11 years old (same as my Elementary students), but they don't speak any English. They try so hard and they have such good attitudes and they are so fun. It's weird because I feel like I can still talk to them like they are older, even though they don't really know English, you know? So they are like Elementary in their matureness, which I love, but they don't know any English, so they are fascinated by everything we do and they smile all the time and I love love love it.
And another thing absolutely fascinating about teaching Kinder is that you can totally see their progress. Last week when they came and didn't know anything, we would say to them, "Who wants a pencil?" And they would stare at us. So we taught them to say, "I want a pencil!" And after a couple days we would say, "Who wants a crayon?" And they would say, "Who wants a crayon?" So we taught them again to say, "I want a crayon!" And today, I said, "Who wants to feel it?" And I didn't even have to tell them, they just said, "I want to feel it!" It's crazy! This program totally works.
So after two hours of ridiculously fun English learning, they all file out of your classroom with their arms folded, smiling, and saying, "Bye, Teacher!"
If this is not Heaven, I don't know what is.
Wednesday, July 20
Teasers
So here's what my mother said about my last post (not in these exact words), "I liked it. You gave lots of info is a small space. Maybe you should do that whole numbers thing with your vacation. Just give us little teasers and then you can give us all the details when you get home. Then you won't forget."
Isn't she brilliant? That's why I call her my mom. Aside from the obvious reasons.
Thus, your post of vaca teasers...
1. Leave Thursday morning at 5:30 a.m. Final destination? Taxco, a.k.a. Heaven. Jesus even guards this place.
2. Visit our temporary home. Yes it was a monastery. Yes there were legitmate nuns. Yes they make candles and granola and play basketball and pray and wear aprons and things on their heads at all times. Yes they were freaking hilarious. Do I want to be a nun when I grow up? I think YES.
3. Shop, eat ice cream, get drenched by a thunderstorm, visit Jesus himself, sleep in the softest bed of my Mexican life, eat the best breakfast of my Mexican life, talk to the coolest nuns of my ENTIRE life, visit the biggest caves on the planet, etc.
4. You know the saying, "Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite?" Well someone should have said that to us before we went to sleep. Because bite they did.
5. Learn that it is really quite creepy how much English everyone knows in these touristy towns. I don't like it.
6. Ride on every level of a combie possible, front, middle, trunk, you name it, I sat there.
6.5. Speaking of combies, one evening the driver was playing a bunch of American music so we sang our hearts out and guess what. All the other passengers loved us. They loved us so much in fact, that when our time came to exit at the bottom of the monastery street, they kindly asked the driver to take us all the way up. AWESOME.
7. El Rollo? Best water park on the planet? Again, I think yes.
8. What? More ice cream? Best food on the planet? Is that even a question?!
9. People like to make out on buses. FYI. I mean, I thought the sidewalks were public enough, but to have a front row view to the sights and sounds.... te he. That was fun.
10. Awesome markets full of awesome souveniers and great memories.
11. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints? Best church ever? I KNOW yes.
12. ENDLESS jokes about nuns. Thank you, Brian.
13. ENDLESS jokes about colors. Remember those?
14. And finally, a bunch of random pics, definitely not in order, but still enjoyable, if I do say so myself.
After this bottom pic was taken, I was walking away and I heard that, "Tch, tch" sound that people do around here to get your attention. So I turned around and there was a guy standing there with a camera wanting a picture of me "for the press." So I gave him one. Baha.
So. Best vacation ever? Yes, my friends. Best vacation ever.
Isn't she brilliant? That's why I call her my mom. Aside from the obvious reasons.
Thus, your post of vaca teasers...
1. Leave Thursday morning at 5:30 a.m. Final destination? Taxco, a.k.a. Heaven. Jesus even guards this place.
2. Visit our temporary home. Yes it was a monastery. Yes there were legitmate nuns. Yes they make candles and granola and play basketball and pray and wear aprons and things on their heads at all times. Yes they were freaking hilarious. Do I want to be a nun when I grow up? I think YES.
3. Shop, eat ice cream, get drenched by a thunderstorm, visit Jesus himself, sleep in the softest bed of my Mexican life, eat the best breakfast of my Mexican life, talk to the coolest nuns of my ENTIRE life, visit the biggest caves on the planet, etc.
4. You know the saying, "Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite?" Well someone should have said that to us before we went to sleep. Because bite they did.
5. Learn that it is really quite creepy how much English everyone knows in these touristy towns. I don't like it.
6. Ride on every level of a combie possible, front, middle, trunk, you name it, I sat there.
6.5. Speaking of combies, one evening the driver was playing a bunch of American music so we sang our hearts out and guess what. All the other passengers loved us. They loved us so much in fact, that when our time came to exit at the bottom of the monastery street, they kindly asked the driver to take us all the way up. AWESOME.
7. El Rollo? Best water park on the planet? Again, I think yes.
8. What? More ice cream? Best food on the planet? Is that even a question?!
9. People like to make out on buses. FYI. I mean, I thought the sidewalks were public enough, but to have a front row view to the sights and sounds.... te he. That was fun.
10. Awesome markets full of awesome souveniers and great memories.
11. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints? Best church ever? I KNOW yes.
12. ENDLESS jokes about nuns. Thank you, Brian.
13. ENDLESS jokes about colors. Remember those?
14. And finally, a bunch of random pics, definitely not in order, but still enjoyable, if I do say so myself.
After this bottom pic was taken, I was walking away and I heard that, "Tch, tch" sound that people do around here to get your attention. So I turned around and there was a guy standing there with a camera wanting a picture of me "for the press." So I gave him one. Baha.
So. Best vacation ever? Yes, my friends. Best vacation ever.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)