how the other half live, or isnt it more like the other 1/16???

so.. this weekend was pretty sweet. friday night was a chill night, we had grades due today so we got a bite to eat and then kind of worked on grading, watched a show or two, and overall just relaxed form a long hard week.

saturday rolled around and i was set to start tutoring for a particular family. they said they would pick me up at 10:50 at the school, so i headed over to the school and waited patiently... getting more nervous for every minute that passed, i tried to reassure myself that things happen and duh im in mexico which operates on a different time clock... so i talked with the cleaning lady and security guard for the school while i waited. finally 20 minutes later, the boy (an eighth grader) i am tutpring approached me and i was relieved to know it was all going to work out. we drove to their house and i spoke Spanish with whom i presumed to be the dad...

anyway we pull up to this gorgeous house, beautifully decorated with tons of art displayed on the walls and just a really nice home. i was impressed.... they had a huge backyard with a trampolilne and a life size doll house, i met their cleaning ladies (which i later found out one is a cleaning lady and the other is a nanny that lives with them). so anyway - jorge, the boy i tutor broke out his books and we started in on his physics homework. how happy was i that i took that class in high school!!!! he is a really bright kid and very organized and speaks wonderful english, so i feel like for him it is less tutoring and more reinforcement to keep him sharp. as a teacher i applaude that effort, but i sometimes think that can also be a deterent for kids to enjoy learning.. i digress.

so after we finished up a few practice problems and reviewing it was time to go and so jorge called his mom, who was out and couldn't take me home - at which point he says "let me call the driver" yes, you heard me right, the driver... i was shocked, here the guy who picked me up was not his father at all, but the driver for their family!!!! so he called juan and he came over to drive me home. i have to say even though i was shocked, i was very grateful because i don't want to be taking taxis all around town to places i don't know just yet alone... and also its free!!! so that is pretty sweet too.

while we waited for juan to arrive, jorge gave me a tour of the house. it was mexican style but definitely could be something found in the states, kitchen, dining room, living room, play room, 4 bedrooms, and ananny suite... a backyard and front yard and garage. apparently the mother owns a gym and the father sells instruments wholesale. who knew that was so lucrative??? surely not me... but anyway tutoring is supposed to be 4 - 5 hours a week, so i am hoping that money can pay for my groceries and if i want to go out during the week at all. and then anything else i have to pay for, like traveling anywhere and my student loans (of course!!!!) will come from my paycheck. its a pretty sweet deal!!!

after i got home on saturday i wanted to kind of lazy around so i read for a while and napped, which was definitely necessary... when i got up i did grades for and chilled at the house. everyone went out to eat and work on grades at another american house, but i stayed in. i felt like i needed some alone time, just to work peacefully and without distractions. it was nice to have some space from everything...

sunday came around and i was supposed to go to a rodeo with the roomies but that kinda fell through, which in the end i feel like happened for a reason. instead i went to church with a canadian teacher, krista, who also teaches first grade at colegio ingles and i really enjoyed myself. the church was within walking distance to our houses and it was a baptist church. the beginning part of the service was all singing and the words were on an overhead projector so i could follow along, which was nice. and then we set our prayer intentions together, read some things, listened to the sermon, then the new people were asked to introduce themselves. it was really nice because even though the belief system is very different from my unitarian church at home, it was also very similar. and i took away from it the positive things i believed in. the people were so incredibly welcoming and kind and the pastor asked me to introduce myself and so i did and during and after church so many people came up to me and said "que dios bendiga" 'god bless you' and "bienvenido" 'welcome' - i felt very happy. also, it was nice to get out of my americanized routine and to hear spanish in a totally different context... all in all it was a very nice experience. and you know what not a bad way to meet local mexicans.

later in the day another teacher erin and i went to starbucks, haha - another hip place to meet mexicans and use our spanish... unfortunately the guy behind the counter wanted to practice his english - and i feel like it is rude when someone speaks to you in your native language and you respond in their language, its almost as if to say 'you don't speak that well in english, so i will make it easier on you and speak spanish"... i know when people speak to me in english after i have spoken spanish i am a tad hurt and then i lack confidence in my language skills. so needless to say, i spoke back to him in english. but the frappe was tasty enough to make me forget about speaking english. erin and i hung there a while just talking about tons of stuff. she is 25 and even though mostly everyone here is 22 or 23 i feel like there is a big difference between where they are and where i am in life. not to say one is better or worse, just that i guess my job experience is makes me feel a lot older than them sometimes, because most of them are striaight out of college. and of course that is not a bad thing, its just interesting seeing where i was two years ago in their shoes versus how i feel about my career and life in general now. i learn a lot from them too, especially about the computer and technology... thank god i have them!!!!

so malita and charlie are huge chicago bears fans, so every weekend they try to find the game on at this one restaurant called opas. they have super tasty food, which is always a good thing. soooo the bears played the eagles last night - let down!!!! but malita and charlie and i went to opas to watch the game and get some dinner. its sweet because this restaurant always has music videos on the tv screens and on the loudspeaker, so we were watching the eagles game, stevie wonder, tina turner, and jon bon jovi came on the music videos, and i ordered a beer and a burger... it was the quintessential american (if not south jersey/philadelphia) experience... it made me laugh thinking i am in mexico, granted taking advantage of lots of mexican things too, but having such an american experience...

well i have tutoring again tonight - so hopefully that goes well. the driver for the family is picking me up and dropping me off, which is super convenient. today was a long day though, because mondays i have "lunch duty" so i have to monitor the hallways while i eat, then i have after school duty this week which means i have to stay after for an extra 30 mins to help the kids get on the bus and yada yada, then i had afterschool tutoring that is required by the shcool and my tutoring is on mondays form 4:30-6:30, now i'm waiting for juan to pick me up for private tutoring... hectic day - but truthfully i am glad to get it over with on mondays, since i have most energy on mondays.... aiight send some emails and comments my way. i miss you guys!!!! mwah!!!

bridal showers and positive parents...

well it's been a while, but i guess i have just been preoccupied. school is going well, grades are actually due on monday which is surprisingly early - but since they get report cards 7 times a year, it makes sense....

so this week at school was pretty uneventful. life goes on as normal. it has been quite rainy, which means the mosquitoes abound in my classroom in particular... and they are very bold little suckers... i got a bunch of bites THROUGH MY PANTS!!! ouch... but i have been nursing my wounds ever so tenderly. so late last week a mom had been trying to get a hold of me for a meeting during the day, well i had to change the time once, then she changed the time. finally when she came to school, i was in the bathroom because it was my five second break and what do i hear as i'm doing my business but "Miss Emily..." hahaha luckily i was just coming out of the stall, but how funny is that??? She followed me into the bathroom to speak with me. so i step out of the stall and before i can even make it to the sink to wash my hands she leans in for the side cheek kiss and starts talking. i know it sounds really over the top, but i found it endearing in a way i suppose is hard to translate through the computer. it didn't bother me, i thought it was kinda funny actually. all the parents are really nice and thoughtful.

i had a student last week that went to disney world for the few days we were off of school. he came back this monday and gave me a donald duck pen from disney. i was sooooo touched, that they thought of me and honestly as silly as it sounds - to get something from the states was really sweet. i made a thank you note and sent it home immediately!!! how nice of them. another parent, who knew i had gone to mazatlan last weekend sent in a note specifically to ask how the trip was. i like that parents are involved in school so much that talking to the teacher in the morning or afternoon is an available option. i am happy with that set up.

one of the really young teachers just got engaged at our school, so they invited all the elementary school teachers to a "bridal shower" at our principal's house. so there were maybe like 12-15 teachers at the house and it was a nice little pot luck. the food was super tasty. i was sooo excited to go to our principals house, she is super nice - actually all of the administration is really nice, but there is something so classy, so eloquent about her. so her house was gorgeous and FULL of artwork. she is very artistic, she has all these paintings and sketches in her office at school and i commented on how nice they were one time. her reply "oh anyone could do that, i just read this book" so you see she is also very modest. anyway tons of the art in her house was her own originals and one was a replica of a frida kahlo painting. now - some of you may or may not know this, but i went to see Frida Kahlo's collection on a field trip this past april with my class. so i have seen originals - i was FLOORED at how authentic it looked. absolutely amazing. her home was just the right size, with a huge patio in the back and tons of plants, cacti, and trees. the tile outside was inlayed with mini ceramic tiles too, very detailed - but not overly ornate.

the food was delicious, and all the teachers were really laid back and have such a good sense of humor. there is a saying that is very "torreon" and that is "andale pues...", which our supervisor ana says all the time. so jenna and i were telling pati (our principal) and ana (our supervisor) how funny it is... we did our impression of ana and she was all about it. we also told them how happy we were to be in an authentic mexican home and hinted at having us over the other people's houses soon. they all said yes haha - only time will tell.

as for the bridal shower, it was interesting. there was one gift - a crucifix and bible wrapped in cellophane against an upholstered piece of wood, to put above the married couple's bed. pati started the celebration by offering some advice and said everyone would go around the table and offer their own insight. i know i speak spanish, but i was nervous - i have never been married! and to speak in front of all these native speakers, well it was a bit nerveracking at first. i got over it and all the mexican teachers were pleased that we all (the 4 american teachers) spoke in spanish. after that we ate the pot luck dinner, a tasty salad, mixed vegetables, and cheese crepes... YUM, we are sure to get the recipe from our principal cause it was damn tasty!!! not only does she keep a beautiful home, paint, cook, and run a school - she even plays the piano. we were like "pati, tell us what don't you do???" she laughed and of course said she was mediocre at best for the piano... yea right. needless to say it was a fun evening.

i am happy to report that an advanced spanish conversation class and literature class starts next thursday. here is the thing, it is kind of a time of caution in torreon. there are some drug issues happening and so the school tells us it is not the best idea to go out to places unknown at night. well clearly, EVERY place is unknown to us so out contact with the spanish language has been limited at best, because we teach in english and live americans. so i am happy about the class getting underway. also i start private tutoring on saturday and i will teach wed and fri evenings. i hope the extra cash is enough for groceries and such so i can save a little more. now with the economy eekk...

one final story then i will call it quits. jenna and i decided to go out for a bite to eat at our favorite lil place, forgetting it closes at 4pm... so we tried another place but were unsatisifed with the choices. se threw out the idea of taking a taxi to this really well known restaurant, so we went. and boy am i glad we did. i never had such good food in my life. the chips were so light and salty, yum. the rice and beans, perfectly seasoned and light, yet filling. and the salsa was spicy but tasty and the horchata (which is a delicious milky type of juice) was to die for. i haven't had juice like that since costa rica, and i've been chasing the dragon ever since. well now i am pleased to say i have found the best place for juice in torreon...

so we decided to walk home and see the town a bit. we walked into a few stores and all of a sudden we hear "MISS MISS" (which is the infamous name for any and all teachers)... so they go "Miss Emily, Miss Jenna" and we realize one of Jenna's students and one of my students is in this minivan calling us from the road. the mom yells out "do you want a ride" - while shes stopped at a red light. so we quick run through traffic (don't worry it was stopped as well) and hop in. haha that would NEVER happen in the states.... she was so nice, she talked to us the whole time in spanish and asked us about school and ourselves and she dropped us off at the house - it was really cool. and random haha but i liked it.

well ladies and gents thats whats been going on in my neck of the woods... and of course i have been keeping updated on the US... how is it over there now, is everything like it was when i left or are changes happening a lot - gas prices, prices of food, people losing jobs??? i feel aware of whats going on but strangely out of the loop since im not there, im only reading about it. how about this one of the mexican teachers here who picked us up for the bridal shower was telling us her and her husband were thinking of buying a house in texas, but they don't know anymore because they think the US is going downhill. just one person's opinion, but i was like - if a teacher in mexico thinks the US is in bad shape that isn't good....

casi gratis...

...a phrase we were trying to figure out all weekend. it literally means "almost free", but really does that even have a meaning??? it was the joke of the weekend in lovely mazatlan - "casi gratis"...

so we embarked on our 12 hour bus trip at 8:30pm and truthfully is wasn't that bad, aside from some irritating passengers that luckily fell asleep rather quickly. we pretty much slept on the bus and arrived in mazatlan at 8am, to a beautiful, warm beach. we grabbed a taxi and headed to our wonderful hotel. the hotel "la siesta" was right on the beach front, with a cute little balcony that overlooked the ocean view. we kinda unpacked, showered, walked around a bit, ate breakfast and then napped. we found the cutest little place by our hotel, it was the center of old mazatlan complete with a tree and bench filled square and tons of restaurants surrounding it. the weather was divine, cool and comfortable - not humid, just divine...

day1
we walked around a while longer and took the bus into town, walked on the beach, shopped a little. i bargained a lady down from $38 dollars to $20 for a sassy lil dress, that i will be wearing to work in the near future... needless to say i was proud of myself... sooo after that we took the bus home and found a cute lil place to eat, the waiter was adorable. he was a big muscular guy, but totally soft spoken - we found it rather endearing.

we headed to the beach for a bit and stayed until we watched the sunset. it was spectacular, simply gorgeous.

for dinner we decided to get dazzled up and go out... we made it to the hotel restaurant for dinner and could barely walk upstairs after dinner we were soooo tired!!! i had a delightful margarita, that was PACKED with tequila... it was yummy, but one was enough!!! a man with a guitar asked us for a song so i paid him to sing "la bamba", always the classic... when we went back to the hotel, we slept quite soundly that first night.










day 2
we slept in and woke up to the sounds of the ocean... we hung out a little while on the balcony then headed out for breakfast. what a fun little place. the restaurant overlooked the ocean and had the most delicious food!!! to start we had fresh home baked bread... OH that was the best bread i have ever had... and for those of you who know how i love food... yum - i couldn't stop murmuring "mmmmm"... then i had fresh pancakes with fresh fruit and boy was that good, so sweet i couldn't even finish them, and a fresh squeezed oranje juice to wash it down. it was a breakfast to die for. not to mention how sweet and sincere our waiter was - sooo friendly.

so mazatlan is famous for it's numerous statues, as well as being a center for culture. along the shore there is a huge sidewalk - one could equate it with the boardwalk in a sense. so along this sidewalk are the countless statues of mazatlan. we walked from our hotel (where they begin) for about 2 and a half miles, by which time the sun and heat had become too much we needed to catch the bus. we stopped and took photos of the statues and posed like them for fun, we had a good time... so we went to la zona dorada, which is like the newer section of mazatlan with super expensive hotels and such. we rented an umbrella and hung out on the beach all ding dang day long. it was sooo nice. you can't imagine how many random items i was offered to purchase. if i wanted sunglasses, a hat, a sarong, a towel, jet ski lessons, parasailing tours, jewelry, you name it i was offered to buy it on the beaches at mazatlan. and what is the price of all these fine items??? simple "casi gratis" - "almost free"... there was even a mariachi band in full dress with all their instruments walking up and down the beach playing songs for vacationers. i didn't get a song, but i took a picture.

we bussed back to town and got dolled up for another lovely dinner. we went to the famous pedro and lola's restaurant and i had fish again, with a tasty pina colada... mmm mmm good!!!! mind you this restaurant is in the squre in old mazatlan, so all the tables are outside the actual restaurant and you are dining with masses of other people from neighboring restaurants and taking in all the festivities of the square as well. so while we were finishing up our meal i noticed a mime and a guitarist walking through the square. they saw us and walked right over and the mime did a bunch of card tricks, one in particular that breanna figured out and called him out on it.... he didn't get mad, he did another trick, a better trick... it was really funny, we had a good time. another nice enjoyable day. we went back to the hotel and hung out until we fell asleep.

day 3
ah check out day :( the weather wasn't fabulous for the beach, so we showered and packed and headed to breakfast. our hotel was kind enough to hold our bags at the desk until 9pm when we came to pick them up. well it was hot and humid on monday - ick! not a good day to be without a hotel and air conditioning... but we did it anyway, we had breakfast at the same place and this day we got fresh homemade biscuits YUM!!!! and we had the same sweet waiter....

after breakfast we walked ALL around town, haggard and sticky we finally came upon a cute little cafe and got cold beverages... that was a nice pick me up. we hung out there for a while then headed out again. realizing how much it sucked having bad weather and no hotel in a town not our own plus 5 extra hours until our bus left, we went to the bust station to see if there was room on an earlier bus. alas there was not, but you know what we ventured on yet another bus and took up some waiting time.

from there we found a taxi and asked the driver to take us to his favorite restaurant for dinner. he chose wisely! we ate at the tastiest little place. oddly enough called Panama... it was like a mexican diner in the sense that it had a huge menu and really good prices. it was a very good choice on the part of our taxi driver. afterwards we walked around town a while. i ahd wanted a reall cute halter top sarong dress, so we tried to find one for the right price - but it just wasn't happening. i was extremely dissappointed, because i like dresses and this one in particular was sooooo pretty. but alas, it wasn't meant to be. so we got our things together and went to the bus station.

what an unfortunate surprise to arrive at 9:45 thinking the bus leaves at 10.... we got there and saw it didn't leave until 10:35, ok we were a tad ruffled, but nonetheless fine. so come 10:30 we go outside to catch our bus - what does he do but refuse us entry and drive around the side of the station. curious, after about 10 minutes we walk to the side of the station and there is aour bus getting the royal bus washing treatment... that lasted for an HOUR!!!! at which point, we were more than ruffled and extremely tired...

so we enter the bus and find the bus driver's wife and two kids and their luggage sitting in 2 of our 4 seats. the bus driver tells us to take seat 16 &17 in the back instead (which brings one to the question - why bother to pick your seats when you buy the tickets anyway???) i digress... so breanna and jenna grudingly obliged only to then be kicked out of those seats by other passengers. so breanna goes to the driver and explains the situation, to which he replied "vete" which is a really nasty response, pretty much meaning "go away"... but what are you to do when customer service and professionalism is not upheld in mexico?? i'll tell you - you grin and bear it, because no one cares, especially if you have already paid for the service... so that's just what we did.

the ride home wasn't wonderful, because the driver kept on turning the air conditioning on and off so i was getting a little nauseous. and this bus didn't have a foot rest which proved to be extremely painful. i didn't know this was even a possibility, but my calves and feet were burning from lack of movement in the middle of the night. by morning when we FINALLY approached torreon and i stood up my feet hurt soooo bad. im not even exaggerating in the least, i had the swollen feet of a pregnant woman nine months in... i have pictures to prove it. all day today i have lying on the couch with my feet elevated. and exactly 12 hours later the swelling has gone down, but my ankles are still wider than my toe span...

well folks that was my weekend... the good, the bad, and everything in between. we only have a 3 day week this week WOO HOO... just the break i needed. i hope all goes well, tune in later this week to find out.... i'll put up some new pix tomorrow, for now it's off to bed for me.

to mazatlan we go...

so we're heading to the pacific coast tonight to a beach called mazatlan. it i supposedly one of the nicest beaches in mexico. and get this the travel and hotel only cost 120 bucks for 3 days... i think that is rather cheap :) i guess i will know if the deal was a good one once we arrive, don't fret i will definitely let you know.

anyway, this week at school was much much better. monday was okay and tuesday was so frustrating, my students were so unruly - i had a few moments where i just wanted to sit down and cry... i thought about the problem and decided they have too much on the agenda all the time with a lot of wasted minutes in the middle. so i got to thinking, i had a few copied for coloring pages on numbers and letters for them to color - but i never used them. i never "had time". well let me tell you, come wednesday, the moment one person was finished but half the class was still working i had them color and practice numbers. it worked like a charm - it was peaceful for once, because they were occuppied. you might think this an easy solution that i should have figured out 2 and a half weeks ago, but truth is - i had planned on doing it all along. i simply never thought there was time to do it. i figured there might be less quantity if they have these coloring pages on top of the other work, but there would definitely be more quality of learning if i don't have to constantly wrangle them back in to the lesson. best thing is, they didn't lose out on quantity - they actually gained it, because they want to color they work faster!!! who knew :) oh what a wonderful pastime coloring is... even i love to do it, why wouldn't kids???

needless to say this week went much much better than the past few weeks of constant up and down with a good day, a bad day... totally frustrating, totally satisfying. i hope i have found a good tool that will work for the year. today we had a little extra time in both classes, so we played Miss Emily says, the Hokey Pokey and this cute game "chichi wa, chichi wa, chichiwa wa wa" - i never heard of it before but it was super fun, i learned it at our retreat two weeks ago. anyway it was sooo fun. and i get to make the kids do anything i want, because i lead the game!!! of course i when we played Miss Emily says i made them hold air in their cheeks and pop them with their hands (i don't know how better to explain that - i hope you get it)... anyway it was hilarious. they liked it too.

so they are understanding me much better and getting more acclamated to the routine, as am i. all in all it seems to be coming together.

so last night colgeio ingles had a welcome to the new teachers dinner. we played a little game in the beginning and then had dinner, which was rather tasty. unfortunately i was forced to drink coke, because they only had coke, no water, no sprite, no other decaf drink. i am super sensitive to caffeine, but i had to drink it to wash down the yummy shrimp tacos. well i paid for that coke later, i couldn't sleep until 3am!!! so this morning i opted out of a shower and went straight to work. oh well it happens. i got a lot done though, i caught up on my politics. watched lots of stuff on you tube, did some laundry, returned some emails... you know the deal.

well its that time we're heading out soonish, returning on tuesday morning. its an all night bus ride, so im hoping it will go by fast with sleep. wish me luck!!!

you need the sun and the rain to create a rainbow

so last thursday we had back to school night... boy was it interesting. because the spanish teacher and i share two groups of kids, we each had 30 minutes to talk to a huge group of parents.

so Casa C - my house and roomies, head out to the school. for some unknown reason it always seems to rain whenever parents and school come together. all the back to school and parent teacher conferences i had at my other job - it rained. so why was i surprised when it was torrential downpours on thursday for the back to school night here?? because i live in the desert... that's why

anyway we made it to school relatively dry, which was a miracle because none of us brought umbrellas to torreon... when i got there the door to the spanish teacher's room was closed, so i was kind of walking around, but i was a little put off because none of the parents were introducing themselves. fast forward - my presentation was in english with a spanish interpreter (why an interpreter you ask? - because they want the parents to think i speak very little spanish and i would NEVER speak it in english class...) anyway the talk went well and by 8:30 the spanish teacher still hadn't shown up... as i was finishing up, the director of the school, the principal, and another administrator come in the room.

i figured they came in to explain there was a family emergency and miss claudia would not be showing up... not so. they started off "this is not a very easy situation..." everyone is waiting with bated breath to hear what has gone down, and then it came "miss claudia na va a seguir con nosotros..." translation - the spanish teacher for my students either quit or was asked to leave, either way, she's not coming back! i was shocked, my interprester was shocked, the parents were shocked, there was silence. then the fabulous women that head our school chimed in, "what questions do you have for us?", "what can we do to ease your discomfort?", "how can we accomodate in any way?" - even though there are a TON of things about this school i am not in accordance with, i have to give it them, they are so hospitable and compassionate and understanding. and every worry that i have had, if i spoke to my supervisor or principal about it has been addressed and remedied.

at the end of the evening i talked to so many parents and they all gave a hug and a kiss and were so delighted to hear about their children. it was really nice. and they all tried to speak english, most of them are pretty fluent - which is good for their kids definitely. although it wasn't what i expected, with the weather and the absence of my spanish counterpart, it was overall positive.

sooo - remember the lil story about my students turned warriors because they put white paint on their faces???? well i had to send a few notes home that day and the very next day a note came back to me - which was fine... except it was a touch rude. in so many words she called me a liar. i wanted to cry, because why would i ever accuse a CHILD of doing something they didn't... clearly, i held my composure and talked to my supervisor and we went to the principal together.

they both read the note and agreed we needed to met with the parent immediately to set things straight. so on friday i met with her and the principal and actually it went really well. the principal translated (because again they want to make sure everything is understood to the tee, which is good because i felt more comfortable that way anyhow). it was all cleared up and i thanked her tremedously for attending and she recounted her negative comments towrds me. all in all it was good. i was happy.

well this weekend coming up is a 4 day weekend. we bought bus tickets to go to mazatlan which is a beach on the pacific coast. the tickets were $86 dollars roundtrip and our hotel is $15 a night on the beach, with a view. i will be blogging about that next week when we come home. but i'm really happy we have a long weekend (it is for mexican independence day). but we need a break, school is sooo hectic everyday, there are no "prep" periods and lunch is only 25 minutes long. additionally, during lunch you inevitably have students that have to finish their homework or classwork - so in between bites im really still teaching... needless to say i NEED a break...

the other kinda sucky thing is you get no personal or sick days. if you're sick you have to go to the doctor (which is a long process involving the socialized medicine system) and only if they give you a note do you get paid for the day you took off. my poor jenna is sick and may stay home tomorrow, she has a stomach thing... i just hope we are all healthy for this upcoming weekend. aiight ya'll hasta pronto!!!

this goes out to the glinkas

hey there fam!!! i had the most fun and interesting dream last night - you were all in it!!! it was a family picnic that started out in denise and ricky's OLD house... (i'm surprised i can even remember that house, i was so little when you moved). the best was when we had a pinata at the house, and i got the coolest beaded wallet - ah memories...

anyway so it started out at the old house and little ricky was still really little, then (as dreams goes) it randomly was MY old house. i know i know - it's just a house - but i get sentimental, so i was happy to be there... :) everyone was sitting around the kitchen table. denise, funnily enough was cracking jokes to stephanie and steph and i were CRACKING UP!!! whatever D said apparently was a tad racy and steph, blushed!!! which made me laugh even more, because i was so surprised ANYBODY could make stephanie blush!!!

just then i looked over and saw sarah was wearing my clothes and they looked small on her (which i thought was WRONG). so i got super pissed and was like "did you put that shirt in the washer?" and she's like "yea, why" of course i had specifically told her she could wear it if she hung it dry... well in true sarah form she waited until the last minute to clean it and then had to dry it in the dryer. needless to say if the shirt was small on sarah it wasn't gonna ever fit me again. i let her have it - that was the most normal part of my entire dream - me and sarah arguing about clothes... haha

uncle harry was there and looked soooo good. it was really nice to see him. he was in the cooking kitchen area smoking a cigarette, which was sooo odd. what more, no one cared that he was smoking or that he was doing it in the house. i don't know where i got an image of him smoking, because as far as i know he never smoked when i was alive... but i digress.

it was funny because no one's ages coincided. stephanie was like 19, unmarried and sans kids - martha was about 14, little ricky was a baby, but mason was TEN - go figure... i can't say with certainty how old i was, but i feel like it fluctuated between 10 and 17...

flash to me and jason outside playing on the front lawn or porch. we saw all the neighbors cars in the street were really banged up, and if course we knew the culprit was our new neighbor, who had a bad rap as a terrible driver. immediately i ran inside to tell my dad to pull his beloved suburban into the driveway so it didn't get hit. instead of pulling it in from where it was, we took the scenic route.... which seemed a lot like vermont.

we got back and we were in ricky's old house again sitting at the table and mason (at 10 years old) sat down on a picnic bench and whatever he was doing, scip sends him outside, because obviously the picnic bench was inside the kitchen along with the other table. so he ran outside and i thought "boy did he get big fast..." little did i know!

it was a really short dream, but it was the last one i woke up with - so it was fresh in my mind. even though only some people spoke in the dream, i felt everyone's presence there and i miss you so much, but i was really glad to see you!!! hugs and kisses to all :)

here's some pictures from my graduation party 2 years back... you probably never saw these i realize, so why not throw in some good ole family pix??? and some from jess and vinnie's wedding too :) you see on my laptop i don't have as many recent pictures... so you'll have to do without the past 3 family picnics...

tgiF

i have been wanting to post my pictures and finally i have a link on my blog to my picture blog!!! yay, so you can see them. i only have about 50 pix, but i am going to make sure i take more this weekend.

here is a photo of one of my favorite students and arguably the most favorite student throughout the whole school. on thursday the lil cutie came to school with sports glasses on... he looked adorable. later during the day he started crying in class and when i went over to give him a hug and ask what was wrong he told me in spanish "i dont understand you...." oh the poor lil guy.... tear my HEART OUT!!! imagine this teeny weeny lil boy crying in your arms... i felt awful - but i talked to him and he perked right up. oh i love him!!!

well hope you enjoy the pictures, don't forget you can comment now on any blog you want (without any hassle of signing up for anything) and don't forget to email!!!! miss you all

don't you worry 'bout a thing

today was full of little surprises. firstly, i am extremely excited because i downloaded skype - which is AWESOME and supercheap to make phone calls from none other than my fabulous computer. so i talked for a total of probably 3 and a half hours and spent less than 4 dollars!!! HOLLA!!!

well since i arrived, i have been interested in this university that is close to our house. i finally had the energy after a long day of work to walk over there yesterday with breanna and jenna in tow. i went in simply wanting a course catalog from which i might find a pottery class or something light, where i could learn new vocabulary and meet mexicans my age. easy enough - or not... haha the administration office was sooooo confused by the fact that i only wanted to take one course, "you want to start a career path?" no. i have a career. and so the ladies at enrollment called some student employees to meet us - because clearly they thought the misunderstanding was a language barrier. not so - after much explaining (in english this time), i was offered a finance class or a management class. i respectfully declined. i was really surprised, but they do not have one course catalog for the entire university - it is by department. turns out the misunderstanding was cultural, not linguistic. we left after a quick tour of the campus and talking to the students, who just happened to be former students of my current school Colgeio Ingles. we left and even though i had my heart set on joining a class - i wasn't upset, interestingly enough.

i also wanted to post up some flyers for an intercambio - so i could meet some mexicans and speak more spanish, since im in mexico... that didn't happen and i saw zero bulletins around campus, so i was a little put off by that.

so... i have this one student who, in my expert opinion, is developmentally delayed with learning disabilities. so last week i had to send him down to the office because he was hitting people in the class and everything i tried (talking to him, removing him from the table, time out) did not work. well at the end of the day i went to talk to Ms.Lorena, our discipline person. i wanted to explain what happened, ask what she suggested and what she had done, and know if there was any paperwork i had to fill out. well when i said i was this students teacher, she sternly informed i wasn't allowed to send a student down at the beginning of the year and that he would never respect me if i just send him to the office when he behaves poorly. clearly i responded with all the modifications i had made and explained to her that i was unable to teach the entire rest of the class while he was constantly touching and hitting people. i left feeling extremely disrespected and unsupported.

my next step was to talk to my direct supervisor. i explained to ther the situation and she immediately set up a meeting with the school psychologist. *a note about mexico's education system - special education does not exist* we had a meeting right then and there and they offered me the other school psychologist as an aide. i was flabergasted. and ecstatic!!! because seriously when the school gives you 3 red pens and 3 black pens in your supply box, you think bare minimum - but i was offered an AIDE in the classroom, who is certified and educated in behavioral issues!!!

so today was her first day with us and it was an absolutely amazing experience. i sometimes feel like a horrible teacher because my students are not 100% (or even 85%) in tune with my expectations and routines yet, which means i have to constantly stop during class because they are talking or not paying attention and i refuse to talk (truthfully scream) over them. well today i stopped a bunch of times until they became quiet - but i wasn't sure what the psychologist would think (geez miss emily is a horrible teacher) and the like... boy was i shocked when i talked to her and thanked her after our day together and she said how important it was to NOT talk over them and to make sure they understand they are not permitted to talk during class. i was soooo relieved. and i felt validated.

during my lunch i had to keep a lot of students in for not doing their homework, which means i have NO break at all. and i am continuously reexplaining the instructions and demonstrating in between grapes and a turkey sandwich bites. so the other 1 grade teacher comes into my room and i was in a bad mood :( because i needed a break!!! and so i turned and when i spoke, i couldn't mask the annoyance in my voice. she was so sweet, she came in to bring me a piece of homebaked banana bread.... between classes i ran to her room and gave her a huge hug and apologized and told her how much that rejuvenated me. she was happy. i was forgiven :")

enter 2nd group of students - not bad for the most part, until we had a special. i had to keep 2 students in during special because they didn't finish their work in class. even during this semi punishment of missing a special, they were still being really badly behaved. so we went to pick up the other students from religion and that turned into a fiasco - apparently there was wet chalk or wet paint or something at eye and face level of my students. OF COURSE the boys wanted to be warriors - so they stuck their hands in it and painted their faces with their white hands. as funny as it sounds to all of you - i had 5 white faced boys running around the courtyard of the school (in plain view of EVERYONE mind you) like maniacs... needless to say i sent home 5 letters to parents and made sure to mention how much i look forward to meeting them at back to school night (which is tomorrow).

so after school malita and charlie went to granny's house and breanna had to tutor, so jenna and i were left to ourselves. we went for an ice cream cone (yes ANOTHER one...) and ended up talking for 2 hours!!! haha - the cool thing is, in mexico no one hassles you with the check to leave. it's very welcoming. so as we were leaving this woman asks us if we are teachers at colegio ingles and if we would be interested in tutoring her family in english. boy were we happy, here we went all the way to the university to try and find it, and lo and behold there is a family around the corner with 4 willing participants. we said "heck yeah, we'll be in touch" and she gave us her business card. she is a dentist and she has 2 sons and a hubby who want to learn/improve their english. i don't know about anyone else, but this is exactly the intercambio i was looking for. i hope it works out and we make friends with a family, how cool would that be!!! i love it.

phew, that was a long one - if you're still there thanks for reading. sometimes i feel like this is more cathartic for me than anything. but i do hope its interesting for ya'll back home.

great news!!!

i made it so anyone can leave comments on my blog :) i wanna hear from you - happy commenting.

monday monday, monday is a fun day

well today was a good, albeit long, day. my students are starting to get used to the routine. it is difficult to help them adjust because things are really really un-routine at the school wide level. there is a weird schedule. everyone has 2 groups of students, mine are 1A and 1B. when i am teaching 1A, the Spanish teacher is teaching 1B. after lunch we switch. on odd weeks, i have 1A first then 1B after lunch, but on even weeks i have 1B first. to make things more confusing, there is a "Specials" schedule - but there is no consistency to it. everyday the special is different and at a different time. so i feel really bad for the 1st graders, because it is such un-structured structure if that makes sense. and to top it off, they all have lockers, filled with notebooks and books that are specifically for spanish and notebooks and books that are specifically for english class. it is A LOT for them to try and handle. and here i am trying to maintain some sort of normalcy in my class, but it is really difficult with this absurd schedule and just circumstances for such young students.

phew - that sounded like a rant... and i apologize. it is not horrible, i just feel like it could be soooo much more enriching and efficient if it was done differently. but, that is the way it is - so i am learning to deal.

today was a really good day. my students were really well behaved and we got mostly everything done we set out to. the most important thing though is, i think they are underdstanding me. i have to learn to be a little more patient with them though - it's just so hard though because we have such a limited amount of time with them each day and so much material to cover. i have to constantly remind myself that it is not about the amount of work we get done, but the wuality of the work. if they understood me, if they got the concept.

so even though it went well today it was super hectic. once a week we have lunch duty - which basically means we walk around the school while we eat lunch monitoring the students. my lunch duty is on monday. also each week after school for 1/2 hour everyone has afterschool duty, which is helping kids find their parents and get on their busses yada yada. this is my week. and we have mandatory tutoring hours, 2 hours a week. mine is monday. so today i went to work at 7:30, taught, ate lunch on my duty, taught, held kids in from special to reteach some things, monitored afterschool until 2:45, came home and ate and relaxed, went to school and tutored from 4:30 to 6:30. it was a doozy of a day, but honestly i'm not even that tired. my students reengerized me today because of their stellar behavior.