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!!!