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!!!
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!!!
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