This is my apartment:
This is my FAVORITE I've taken so far!
This is Los Arcos at all times of the day... I've been there at least 3 different times...
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
PICTURES!!!
All my pics are on facebook but here are a couple goodies...
This is my apartment:
This is my FAVORITE I've taken so far!
This is Los Arcos at all times of the day... I've been there at least 3 different times...
I'll be better at putting pics in my blogs now that I have a card reader... THANKS KARI!!!
This is my apartment:
This is my FAVORITE I've taken so far!
This is Los Arcos at all times of the day... I've been there at least 3 different times...
Monday, August 22, 2011
Cheese & Sprinkles
22 Aug
Today I spent the day working on getting ready for the first half week of school. I made a nice little PP about me including pictures of real winter! I was watching Rio tonight and I always laugh so hard when Blu says, “Cheese and Sprinkles… it’s a Minnesota thing”. Don’t judge that I watch Disney movies down here!! Today it was really windy; I almost lost my awesome new pink hat when I was running around the lake… or at least what they call a lake. :)
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Mercado La Cruz
21 Aug
This morning Jordan and I went to Mercado La Cruz and it was awesome! I got a new wallet, a Gallos Blancos (the soccer team) jersey, and 3 CDs (New Kids on the Block, Shakira, and Marc Anthony)... I spent about $20 US dollars :) Today's agenda: clean house and more prep for school... kiddos come on Wednesday!!
Still no Internet at my house... on Friday they said 3 weeks. I think I'm just going to have to get my own because this is just getting ridiculous! So that's why there is gaps in my posting again... once I'm connected there may be consistency!
Gallos Blanco de Queretaro + ROCK RIOT
20 Aug
Today we went to the soccer game. We sat in the loco local fan section; what that means is you stand the whole game and chant some intesting sayings. I didn't know what most of them said but lets just say that one of them referred to something about the cock balls... and everyone chants - even the little kids! The game was great even though we lost 2-1. The really intresting part is what happened next...
When we walked out of the statuim a local approached Matt (who's from IA, teaches econ, and we share a classroom) and asked him where he was from; he answered Los Angeles. Then this local guy proceedes to tell Matt that he is racist and starts yelling at him in spanish and then in english "You Mother Fucker... You go back to the US" AND in the meantime, Matt is trying to make amigos with the guy. But this is not the intresting part.
So then we try to leave. Vail, one of the local teachers, was going to take us downtown; but in order to get to her car we had to cross the riot. Now when I say riot there was some SERIOUS rock throwing going on. We were walking and all of a sudden the Policia are yelling at us to get out of the way and before you know it there are ROCKS being chucked right around us. The rocks were hitting the cars right next to us; we were litteraly ducking and running from these rocks. This riot continued on for quite awhile so we stood and watched it because where the rock throwers were coming from was where Vail's car was. There was even a Policia that had a paintball gun that went running down at the rock throwers.
A nice gentleman informed us that this never really happens and that we should just come back in two weeks when they have their next home game. It was an experience!! I did tell Vail that based on my previous record with Mexico that if I was hurt in a Rock Riot I'm pretty sure my mom would come down here and drag me home. :)
I DO HAVE PICTURES!! But it turns out my card reader isn't working so I need to find someone with the same camera thing so I can upload pictures!!
Here is a link to video Jordan took: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oWeWAFaW6o
Today we went to the soccer game. We sat in the loco local fan section; what that means is you stand the whole game and chant some intesting sayings. I didn't know what most of them said but lets just say that one of them referred to something about the cock balls... and everyone chants - even the little kids! The game was great even though we lost 2-1. The really intresting part is what happened next...
When we walked out of the statuim a local approached Matt (who's from IA, teaches econ, and we share a classroom) and asked him where he was from; he answered Los Angeles. Then this local guy proceedes to tell Matt that he is racist and starts yelling at him in spanish and then in english "You Mother Fucker... You go back to the US" AND in the meantime, Matt is trying to make amigos with the guy. But this is not the intresting part.
So then we try to leave. Vail, one of the local teachers, was going to take us downtown; but in order to get to her car we had to cross the riot. Now when I say riot there was some SERIOUS rock throwing going on. We were walking and all of a sudden the Policia are yelling at us to get out of the way and before you know it there are ROCKS being chucked right around us. The rocks were hitting the cars right next to us; we were litteraly ducking and running from these rocks. This riot continued on for quite awhile so we stood and watched it because where the rock throwers were coming from was where Vail's car was. There was even a Policia that had a paintball gun that went running down at the rock throwers.
A nice gentleman informed us that this never really happens and that we should just come back in two weeks when they have their next home game. It was an experience!! I did tell Vail that based on my previous record with Mexico that if I was hurt in a Rock Riot I'm pretty sure my mom would come down here and drag me home. :)
I DO HAVE PICTURES!! But it turns out my card reader isn't working so I need to find someone with the same camera thing so I can upload pictures!!
Here is a link to video Jordan took: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oWeWAFaW6o
TGIF
19 Aug
One of the fellow teachers, Melanie, had us over to her place for a little TGIF fiesta. It was a lot of fun to get to spend some time getting to know the other teachers and having a few cervasas. At 11 when it was finally time to go out we went to Barra Habana (a salsa club) with a live band. It was pretty awesome. Note to self: Go to salsa dance lessons next week
One of the fellow teachers, Melanie, had us over to her place for a little TGIF fiesta. It was a lot of fun to get to spend some time getting to know the other teachers and having a few cervasas. At 11 when it was finally time to go out we went to Barra Habana (a salsa club) with a live band. It was pretty awesome. Note to self: Go to salsa dance lessons next week
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
¡Vivo Mexico!
My apologies for taking so long to post! Apparently it takes at least 3 appointments with the Internet company until they actually show up! AND to top it off I'm sitting in my fellow teachers apartment because they forgot to bring a wireless router... but all is good they may have one for us by FRIDAY!
So here is a little info about the last week...
Monday 8 Aug
Day two of being in my new ‘home’ and I LOVE it! One thing that is different for me is there is no air conditioning or heat. All you have is the windows. One of the other new teachers was telling me the walls are not insulated like they are back home so it helps keep the house cooler in the summer. The weather is perfect here so I can’t complain. I think it may get in the 80s during the day but at night it does cool off. Even though it does cool off at night I am very thankful I brought a fan for by my bed. The elevation here is like being in Denver so after walking around all day I was more tired than I thought. I did get up and read and then made my first dinner here in the apartment. (I even took a picture – hamburger and green pepper). picture to come later
10 Aug
Today was the first day at the school and WOW is all I can say. They really take president about getting their kids a good facility. It was so nice there! The high school kids have their own corner that only they can go into. They even have their own area where they can buy food AND they have a radio station that plays during recess… that’s right I said recess. There are 50 teachers in the high school and 16 classrooms that are in a square.
I went for my first run here today… LOVE my new shoes! It takes me almost 27 minutes to run down the el parque de dos mil and back so that’s a good run. I have to get used to the altitude though, I was pretty out of breath on my way back. It was really nice to run and not have the humidity suffocating me. Tonight I organized a little trip to downtown Queretaro with Jordan (CO), Jo (Kansas), Mia (NY) and Kerri (CO). We went to dinner at this great Mexican place where I tried new food and it was great, I think it was called pancharos and tostos de pollo. We walked around the squares and to the shops. I might be in trouble because so far out of the couple shoe stores we went into they only go up to size 6 – it may be a blessing in disguise. After that we watched a soccer game at a pub and then came home.
11 Aug
Today was a LONG day! We had to do all the formal things at the school like fill out paperwork. It’s really hard to do when most of it is in Spanish, even with the help of translations. Everything has to be singed in English and Spanish. I feel like a fool because I forgot my birth certificate. I also think I’m going to give up pop; its so expensive to buy it in cans down here. So, tonight I bought a 2L but I know it will go flat by the time I get through it, so I might as well save money and give it up for awhile. I did get my Mexican Bank account today. It so funny because I am also contributing to a Social Security type account down here, and when I’m 65 I can come down here and get the money I put in with interest. Maybe I’ll keep adding money to my account down here and retire here some day
12 Aug
13 Aug
Woke up early and went running. The elevation is hard on my lungs! I can barley make it back to the apartment before I get wheezy. Showered and headed downtown for our coffee and tour with the school peps. We went on a really nice trolley and walking tour and I learned a lot about the Independence Day we will be celebrating on September 15th, I can’t wait. It is the day that some guy (because of some girl that was trapped) told everyone to gather their weapons or anything they had at home to fight with because today they were going to start their fight for their independence. So on Sept 15th the mayor will right the bell and everyone will scream ¡Vivo Mexico! The war actually went on for 11 years. At the 100 year anniversary of the declare of Independence is the date they began the Revelation. I have pictures with the years to confirm. I had lunch with some of the teacher peps and than Jo, Mia, Kerri and I walked around for a bit. We finally got our maps of the city; it really helps to see how it’s all laid out. Then we decided to try and brave the bus system. It didn’t take us where we thought it would, but it worked out for me because I got off at the bottom of the parque de dos mil. Jo and Mia ended up coming with me to see the park and come see my apartment.
So here is a little info about the last week...
Monday 8 Aug
I cannot believe the day has come that I change my address from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Queretaro, Mexico! Got up at 3am this morning so I could shower and get to the airport by 4. Of course we didn’t get to the airport until 4:30 and there was a super long line to check-in; it was the first time in a while that I was nervous about getting my bags checked in on time. But as always I made it, by the time I got through security I only waited about 10 minutes and we boarded the plane that took me to Houston, Texas. Once I reached Houston I got an American hamburger and fries for the last time for a while. It amazed me how fast 3 ½ hours went; before I knew it I was making those last calls in the US to the fam. I finally slept for a little over an hour on the 2 ½ hour flight down here to Mexico. When I got to Mexico City I was very relieved to find my bags had made it with me! I went through customs with no trouble even though I was randomly selected to have my bags searched… I wasn’t worried J I had to take the train (aka tram/lightrail/whatever you want to call it) over to the other terminal. Once there I met up with the group of others that were waiting for my arrival. One girl had been there since 6am! They paid their restaurant bill and we headed towards the bus for a 3 hour drive (it takes longer on the bus, if you drive it’s more like 2 ½ hours). I spend some time talking to my fellow new teachers, but then took another hour long nap. Before long were made our first stop at an apartment and I was told it was where I would be living. Everyone helped me brings my bags up and I got the quick low down on how some things work and they were gone. This place continues to amaze me every turn I take. I live in a great two-bedroom apartment that is very spacious. I walked in to find all brand new furniture and dishes. My school even had a little care package made up for me that included things like a few food items, paper towels, and JFK goodies. I couldn’t of been more impressed with the living conditions. I did unpack everything tonight. Only one of my body oil’s leaked but it wasn’t that big of a deal.
Once I figure out
9 Aug
Thoughts for the day:
- It cracks me up that everything in my house is so high – like my closet rung, the hooks on the back of the bathroom door, and the cabinets in the kitchen… Mexicans are short – how do they reach these things? And I mean like they are high enough that sometimes I stand on my tippietoes to reach!
- I wonder how many books I will read without a TV in my house? It is really hard to get used to so much quietness!
10 Aug
Today was the first day at the school and WOW is all I can say. They really take president about getting their kids a good facility. It was so nice there! The high school kids have their own corner that only they can go into. They even have their own area where they can buy food AND they have a radio station that plays during recess… that’s right I said recess. There are 50 teachers in the high school and 16 classrooms that are in a square.
I went for my first run here today… LOVE my new shoes! It takes me almost 27 minutes to run down the el parque de dos mil and back so that’s a good run. I have to get used to the altitude though, I was pretty out of breath on my way back. It was really nice to run and not have the humidity suffocating me. Tonight I organized a little trip to downtown Queretaro with Jordan (CO), Jo (Kansas), Mia (NY) and Kerri (CO). We went to dinner at this great Mexican place where I tried new food and it was great, I think it was called pancharos and tostos de pollo. We walked around the squares and to the shops. I might be in trouble because so far out of the couple shoe stores we went into they only go up to size 6 – it may be a blessing in disguise. After that we watched a soccer game at a pub and then came home.
11 Aug
Today was a LONG day! We had to do all the formal things at the school like fill out paperwork. It’s really hard to do when most of it is in Spanish, even with the help of translations. Everything has to be singed in English and Spanish. I feel like a fool because I forgot my birth certificate. I also think I’m going to give up pop; its so expensive to buy it in cans down here. So, tonight I bought a 2L but I know it will go flat by the time I get through it, so I might as well save money and give it up for awhile. I did get my Mexican Bank account today. It so funny because I am also contributing to a Social Security type account down here, and when I’m 65 I can come down here and get the money I put in with interest. Maybe I’ll keep adding money to my account down here and retire here some day
12 Aug
Friday was another long day at the school learning all the information; at least this time it was all about the high school. It’s pretty strict but I think that will be okay because I really like the black and white with respect and treating these kiddos like adults. I got my schedule; finally I know I will be teaching IB Business Management to 11th and 12th graders. The schedule is really funny, but it’s all new, right? Apparently I was left out of a few emails and I never go the IB outline and standards, needless to say I left the school feeling very VERY overwhelmed at what I need to teach this year. I did leave with and IB book and the standards. We’ll see how the year goes. Then we went to Mirtha’s for a late lunch, her house was beautiful. Patrick brought Jordan and I home. Once we got home I felt completely defeated so I took some time to look through my information about my class and than watched part of a movie and feel asleep at 9:30. Nice first Friday night in Queretaro!
13 Aug
Woke up early and went running. The elevation is hard on my lungs! I can barley make it back to the apartment before I get wheezy. Showered and headed downtown for our coffee and tour with the school peps. We went on a really nice trolley and walking tour and I learned a lot about the Independence Day we will be celebrating on September 15th, I can’t wait. It is the day that some guy (because of some girl that was trapped) told everyone to gather their weapons or anything they had at home to fight with because today they were going to start their fight for their independence. So on Sept 15th the mayor will right the bell and everyone will scream ¡Vivo Mexico! The war actually went on for 11 years. At the 100 year anniversary of the declare of Independence is the date they began the Revelation. I have pictures with the years to confirm. I had lunch with some of the teacher peps and than Jo, Mia, Kerri and I walked around for a bit. We finally got our maps of the city; it really helps to see how it’s all laid out. Then we decided to try and brave the bus system. It didn’t take us where we thought it would, but it worked out for me because I got off at the bottom of the parque de dos mil. Jo and Mia ended up coming with me to see the park and come see my apartment.
Then I took a nap because Anai (Jordan’s girlfriend) and her friends were coming up and we were all going to go out. They and we went back downtown and walked around, the city is just as pretty at night. Then we went to Cantintina for some cervasas. It was fun; Fernando made me dance it was really embarrassing, but it was a good night. There was a live band so it was right up my alley. When the band would break they played music videos and it was really funny because one that they played was “Man I feel like a Woman”.
As soon as I can figure out how to get the pics off my camera I'll add them on here! For now I have to get out of Jordan's apartment! XOXOXOX
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Happy Birthday!!
After many hard days of packing, moving, and saying a couple 'see ya laters' it is time to PARTY! My send off starts in a couple of hours and I can't wait. I can't believe in about 40 hours my address will be in Queretaro, Mexico. In this blog I plan to get everyone updated about my adventures in Mexico and the lessons I learn on the way. I hope you enjoy!!
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