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~