Back to the Forestal... and last week of class!

Whew! What a whirlwind! I have officially been here for a little over three months... wow. Hard to believe... Bueno. This week was the last week of class, huzzah for all! It was a full week, as one of my colleagues was out for the week with a broken nose, so I took 4 of her classes... My job was mostly to help them get ready for their oral exams, over comparatives/superlatives, and then another group was modal verbs (can, should, might, etc). They were generally very kind and participated well, which was nice.

Friday a group of Frenchies arrived from all parts, and Anne-Marie had to go to work, so Memo and I took them on a mini-tour of Toluca, including the bus station, and tried to climb a volcano. Unfortunately we had gotten a late start, so we only got halfway up the volcano-- about 3,600 meters. My ears were hurting! They planned to return the next day and make the climb in a car, which I was sorry to have to miss, but I had a prior engagement. That evening we went out for tortas and enchiladas and ice cream, ending up at a local restaurant that we enjoyed until the wee hours of the morning.

Saturday morning early they headed up to the volcano, and I headed to Mexico City to visit my friends from the church. So good to see them, as always, and after youth group on Saturday night they all came back to my friend Marce's house to hang out, have snackies and ponche, a fruity cider, and play games. They are all wonderful people, and they are so generous to share with me the little that they have. Sunday morning, church went for 3.5 hours-- including communion-- and though I was tired, I really enjoyed being back up there. In the afternoon, after church, we all (Marce's family, including her 6 brothers and sisters) enjoyed a delicious lunch, and then Marce came with me back down the mountain to the bus station, so she'll know how to get to my house. :)
This week is exam week, and for my students, that means presentations. During the first week of class, I assigned them a Decade Project--each group of two has to tell me about their assigned decade in the US, touching on economics, politics, society, important dates, and important people. They haven't always been very good at handing their material in, bit-by-bit, so we'll see how it goes. I'm sure they'll do great. Then evaluations, and then they're done.

Next week will be cool; I'm putting together an activities manual, different from the listening activities that I'm also putting together, and assembling materials from a bunch of different sources--thank God for the internet! :) I'll put in a few extra hours every day, because on Thursday, Dec. 11th, my dad arrives! :) We'll be doing lots of fun things, including The Anthropology Museum, probably Teotihuacán, and the Christmas party that my university is holding. And a few surprises along the way... he will be my first international visitor. :)

Thanks for reading... besos~

Long time, no write...

...again! Sorry about that...

In case you were wondering, I am indeed still alive. Just busy :P Also, in case you were wondering, my "surprise trip" last weekend was actually to (drumroll, please)... Naperville! My sister was supposed to come visit for that weekend, but she couldn't, so my family and I just decided that I would come home. And please don't be offended if I didn't call you... it was a very family-centered weekend! It was wonderful to be at home, in spite of the cold, and we did lots of fun things, including lots of food that I missed-- LOTS of salads-- and also lots of football. And hugs. :) Excelente.

It was hard to come back to Mexico, but last week was a good week at school; one of the English teachers made my Conversation Workshops mandatory, so instead of zero, 2 or 3 students, I had 25 last week! Thankfully some students had tipped me off, but I still had to seriously think on my feet. Some of the students are really super basic, so we did more of the same basic "What is your name, how old are you, what is your favorite color" business, questions and answers with their partners... then we rotated. It was like speed dating... just kidding. :) It was fun... and then a few students stayed after for MORE conversation, and we played 20 Questions... also fun. :)

Then this past weekend I headed to Cuernavaca, where my fellow Fulbright friend Kim lives... she's awesome. And Cuernavaca has a very Southern California-like climate, so I just loooved it... on Saturday we went to a park called Las Estacas, which has a spring-fed river (which made for a one-way lazy river... back upriver, NOT so lazy...), so we laid out and laughed and caught up and chatted with her friends... it was pret-ty glorious. Saturday night we went to this great outdoor restaurant, and ate Picaña, apparently a Brazilian cut of meat… juicy, tender… man. Also some delicious side dishes. Later in the evening, we went salsa dancing—and I think my salsa classes are paying off! ;) We had a blast…

Sunday afternoon, as I bought my ticket for Toluca, Kim decided on a whim to join me and come visit Toluca and Victoria… we went out for a turn about the city, stopping for quesadillas and later churros and hot chocolate.

Today, for some reason, was a great day. I got home from dropping Kim off at the bus station so she could get to the lab on time, and I meant to go back to sleep, but ended up journaling and talking to a bunch of people on Gchat… what an incredible invention. My room-slice Anne-Marie and I caught up, she had gone to Puebla for the weekend with some other Frenchies, and then I hurried to shower and get to work, where my students were particularly awesome. We played a vocabulary game, beginning with different themes: all the words you could think of regarding the themes of “vacation,” “countries,” and then some more variations… they came up with these outrageous words that I had no idea were a part of their lexicon—it was enjoyable to be so surprised! :P Then French class, then my conversation workshops, another big group… Then Anne-Marie and I went out for lunch (linner, really, it was 5 pm) and then I headed to my clase particular with my student Gonzalo, always a joy, then to work out… and now some Skype dates. Oh, and some class prep… one of the other teachers is out for a few weeks sick, so I’ll be taking some of her classes, for activities, their oral exam, and then their written exam…

All of a sudden, this is the last week of classes! Next week are my students’ Decade Projects (ask me about that one ;)), and they have no final exam… the following week is (I think) a conference in Mexico City, and then my dad gets here, and then we’re headed back to the US together on the 19th! It’s been a whirlwind three months, some highs and lows, but overall, I’m glad to be here.
Thanks for reading!

Hasta pronto~Besos

Victoria~all over the place!

This week, as I'm sure you're all aware, was an historic one. Tuesday night was election night, and also happened to be Victoria's birthday eve. Soo we got a bunch of expats together, plus 2 Frenchies, 2 Mexicans, and a quesadilla in a lime tree...

We had a blast, watching Obama's numbers go up, eating nummy things like pretzels and chips and guacamole, and mini-pizzas, and precisely at 10 o'clock, as Victoria blew out her birthday candles, Obama won California--for the victory, or la victoria! It was a beautiful few moments... later as we listened to his victory speech, we got chills... I found myself reeeeally wanting to be in Grant Park for the victory party! (Adriana, you dirtbag! :))

Wednesday, Victoria's actual birthday, was also super fun, la familia, or our little family of Anne-Marie, Memo, Heather and I took her out for dinner at a cute French café that we went to the first weekend that Memo was here with some of their University colleagues... We got salads and crépes and a gorgeous bottle of Italian Pinot Grigio... it was beautiful.
Friday Memo made crépes and chocolate mousse, and some friends from the university made mole verde, and like true fusion, we enjoyed them together. Their house is huge, and they're all awesome about sharing it... we're really fortunate!
On Saturday, some of the same friends invited Victoria, Memo and I to Malinalco, a pueblito típico about an hour and a half away from Toluca. We stopped at another little town before (Tenancingo, I think), where we went to the flower fair, and I was able to buy some Gerber daisies... In Malinalco we ate some more carnitas (yessss), some seriously delicious gelato, and climbed about a thousand stairs to some pyramids. Ok, more like 480, but it felt like more... :) The view from the top was precious...

Today has been a day of catching up on correspondence, putting up pictures on facebook, cleaning up a bit, and packing for my secret trip this weekend. :) More on that later...

Hasta pronto! besos~

Morelia!

Long time no write... a lot has been going on! Last weekend Anne-Marie invited me to Morelia with a group of Frenchies, including Memo... she had to go early to meet some other friends, so Memo and I headed up (over?) on Friday morning...

We obviously had to eat when we arrived... ginoooormous quesadillas, a little expensive, but totally worth the value... we hung around Morelia all day, seeing the gorgeous cathedral, the huge amounts of tourists, and of course, the ofrendas. From what I learned, the Day of the Dead is the day that everyone remembers and venerates the memory of their loved ones who have passed on... it's different from the US in that there's not a certain date to do that for everyone; it could be that you visit the grave of your loved ones on the anniversary of their death, or their birthday, or just when you can... For the Day of the Dead, a person's relatives or friends put together an ofrenda, an offering, usually including bright colors and food items--maybe something that the muerto enjoyed while s/he was alive, usually including fruit, bread, and other various and sundry items...

Also present were various images of La Catrina, a well-dressed skeleton. According to wikipedia, "the figure, depicted in an ornate hat fashionable at the time, is intended to show that the rich and fashionable, despite their pretensions to importance, are just as susceptible to death as anyone else." Verry interesting. She's now a symbol commonly associated with the Day of the Dead...
On Saturday, with the rest of the Frenchies all assembled, we headed to Pátzcuaro, a pueblito where Día de los Muertos is apparently celebrated in style. We headed over there by bus, had some DELICIOUS carnitas (my new favorite food!), and headed down to the lake... we ended up crossing the lake by motorboat (one of my favorite ways to travel-by water), to the island of Janitzio... a quaint little place, lots of shopping, and LOTS of stairs... we ended up climbing the stairs to the top of the island where the huge statue was located... no seriously. Lots. Plenty of food and shopping to keep you going along the way, though... real sweet. We stopped for some photo ops...
Once we got to the top, we enjoyed the view for a while, some of our number got lost, but we eventually found them, saw some cool dances, were awed by the sheer numbers of tourists... and then back on the boat to the other side...

Sunday was more of the same, sightseeing, watching drama presentations on the street, eating num-nums... we came back around 9 or so with Aúrelie, who had to leave for Mexico City at 6 the next morning to catch her flight back to the south of Mexico... It was a busy- but fun-weekend! The Frenchies spoke a lot of French, but I totally do that too with Victoria and Heather... sometimes it's just easier in your own language. And I found myself able to pick up (very!) few words as they were chatting... French suuure is purdy.

Another entry for this past week... Besos~