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| My room (3 beds, one little me) |
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| The kitchen |
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| The hallway (the door in the back is to my bathroom) |
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| The front rooms |
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| The courtyard (there are like 4 more rooms on the left and in the back) |
Monday, August 29, 2011
Mi casa
Just a little view into my house...
Sunday, August 28, 2011
El Fin de Semana!
Hi everyone,
I hope everyone's weekends around the globe were enjoyable! Mine was fun as well. On Friday night, in celebration for our hard work for the week, Veronika, Brandon, Alan and I went to a bar around the corner from me called, "Cheers" (where everybody knows your name....haha) to have a few beers. Actually, let me correct that statement: to have a few liters of beer. In Mexico, apparently what they do is sell beers in liters! So basically, you order one and you're set. I actually tried something called a michalada (sp?) which is a beer with tomato juice, hot sauce and chiles in it. It is essentially a spicy Bloody Mary with beer and was good....(for a while at least.) Also, in Cheers, there is three stories, and from the third to the second, there is a slide!! How fun, right? So we had a good time sliding and drinking and talking.
Now, before I go into the details of Saturday, I need to give a little back-story. I had told the woman I live with, Mrs. Terey, that some of my friends (aka my only friends) would do some sort of modeling stint for one of her friends who is an artist. We had no idea what it was going to entail but we all met up on Saturday morning to trek down to the Parque Ecologica for this event. It turns out that it was basically an expose for people involved in quinceneras and weddings and such, so there were cake makers and decorators, caterers, florists, stylists, etc. The lady who were were meeting up with owns a salon...so she essentially made my friend Justine into a 15 year old celebrating her quincenera and made Brandon wear some kind of strange suit so that he looked like the beast from Beauty and the Beast. Needless to say, I thought it was hilarious, but Justine (who thought she looked like a "proper tranny") was a teensy bit peeved at me for signing her up for this without disclosing all the details (in my defense...I didn't know all the details!! But I still resigned as their business manager for the time being.)
Anyway, after the expose, we walked around town for a while and saw the other market that we hadn't seen yet, which was full of cool items and clothing and whatnot. After browsing, and trying some fun Mexican drink/food and chatting it up with the locals, we hit up the grocery store and headed home.
After resting for a few hours, some of us took a cumbie (a little van that is basically a hybrid of a bus and a taxi) to go see the only movie playing in English at 10 pm...Cowboys and Aliens. I swore I was not going to see it, but I gave in...and I was actually pleasantly surprised (but considering how low my expectations were, that's not saying much.)
Today we just lounged around, lesson-planned and ate. Successful weekend!
I hope everyone's weekends around the globe were enjoyable! Mine was fun as well. On Friday night, in celebration for our hard work for the week, Veronika, Brandon, Alan and I went to a bar around the corner from me called, "Cheers" (where everybody knows your name....haha) to have a few beers. Actually, let me correct that statement: to have a few liters of beer. In Mexico, apparently what they do is sell beers in liters! So basically, you order one and you're set. I actually tried something called a michalada (sp?) which is a beer with tomato juice, hot sauce and chiles in it. It is essentially a spicy Bloody Mary with beer and was good....(for a while at least.) Also, in Cheers, there is three stories, and from the third to the second, there is a slide!! How fun, right? So we had a good time sliding and drinking and talking.
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| Michelada! |
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| Our little princess |
Anyway, after the expose, we walked around town for a while and saw the other market that we hadn't seen yet, which was full of cool items and clothing and whatnot. After browsing, and trying some fun Mexican drink/food and chatting it up with the locals, we hit up the grocery store and headed home.
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| The real Mexico |
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| The market |
After resting for a few hours, some of us took a cumbie (a little van that is basically a hybrid of a bus and a taxi) to go see the only movie playing in English at 10 pm...Cowboys and Aliens. I swore I was not going to see it, but I gave in...and I was actually pleasantly surprised (but considering how low my expectations were, that's not saying much.)
Today we just lounged around, lesson-planned and ate. Successful weekend!
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Day 2
Well, today went a little bit better than yesterday. My third-graders were relatively well-behaved but my first-graders were the ones who were acting up today. It is like a catch 22 because it is super hot in the classroom, so we open the sliding doors but then the little monsters run out of the room but when I close them, we are all sweating....ayyy.
The most interesting thing that happened today was that when I went to turn on the hot water heater from outside, Brandon was helping me and I didn't realized he had turned the gas switch on and my face was basically blown away by a huge burst of flames. Needless to say, I screamed and then immediately starting punching him. I am pretty sure some of my hair is burned off. FML
Nicole
The most interesting thing that happened today was that when I went to turn on the hot water heater from outside, Brandon was helping me and I didn't realized he had turned the gas switch on and my face was basically blown away by a huge burst of flames. Needless to say, I screamed and then immediately starting punching him. I am pretty sure some of my hair is burned off. FML
Nicole
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Ay Dios Mio
I feel like I was just run over by a truck. Full of small children.
The first day of school was definitely intense. I have 4 classes and each of them have their own personalities. The first graders are sweet and just a little rambunctious as are the 2nd graders. The 4th graders and good and they are my smallest class, only 6 of them. We were able to get relatively far and they are decent readers, so that was fun. The 3rd graders, however, are another story in another book in another library in another city! They are awful. They were basically screaming and running around the whole time and each time my back was turned, I knew this little kid, Josemaria, was behind me making some weird gesture and whatnot. They love to tell me the wrong names too, so I had a "Juanita" who was actually Nuria and a "Pancho" who was actually Sebastian, just to name a few. They may think it's hilarious, but I am just confusada!
As it was my first day teaching, ever, and I have no formal training...I am proud that I came out alive and relatively unscathed...it can only get better from here (right??)
Nicole
The first day of school was definitely intense. I have 4 classes and each of them have their own personalities. The first graders are sweet and just a little rambunctious as are the 2nd graders. The 4th graders and good and they are my smallest class, only 6 of them. We were able to get relatively far and they are decent readers, so that was fun. The 3rd graders, however, are another story in another book in another library in another city! They are awful. They were basically screaming and running around the whole time and each time my back was turned, I knew this little kid, Josemaria, was behind me making some weird gesture and whatnot. They love to tell me the wrong names too, so I had a "Juanita" who was actually Nuria and a "Pancho" who was actually Sebastian, just to name a few. They may think it's hilarious, but I am just confusada!
As it was my first day teaching, ever, and I have no formal training...I am proud that I came out alive and relatively unscathed...it can only get better from here (right??)
Nicole
Monday, August 22, 2011
Visuals!
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Update: Taco Time
I know everyone has been waiting on edge to hear if we did tacos 4 nights in a row...alas, we did not. Instead, we ate a Tehuacanian specialty called Chiles en Nogada which was BOMB. I couldn't even explain to you what it was, but it was absolutely to die for.
Adios, amigos!
Adios, amigos!
Vitamin T
Hello stateside folks,
So on Saturday, we all met at school to go on a tour of the city with one of the student at HELP!, Dylan and an administrator of the school, Margo. They are both super sweet women and it was really nice to meet and get to know them a little better. We didn't really know what was going on for the tour, but we all boarded a bus and took it to the Mercado Purisimo which is the huge market here in Tehuacan. It was insane....I was not expecting such a massive market in this sleepy little town. We tried lots of fun things, such as tuna, which is the flower of a cactus and tastes kind of like a weird sherbert-like strawberry. We also saw something that looked like brains which we found out was congealed blood! Ew, right? We ate some honey and fresh vanilla bread which was delicious. After the market, we went to the natural spring here and took a tour of the factory which is a bottling company. It used to be only mineral water, but it has grown to bottle juice and flavored waters and sodas and a lot of different stuff. It was pretty cool.
After touring a little bit, we went back to the school and got straight to work! Our first day of class is on Monday, so we had a ton of lesson-planning to do. It was a rough few hours, but it ended with a delicious meal of tacos con Dylan so it was nice. We all got to practice our Spanish with her as well, and she got to practice her English, so it was a win-win situation. We also got some insight into how life is in Mexico; pretty strict and conservative. People live with their parents for a really long time and have to abide by their rules, which can be taxing, it seems. We also learned that Mexican people say that they take, "Vitamin T" because of all of the tacos and tortillas and tortas that they eat!! Hilarity.
Today we were able to sleep in a little bit for the first time, and now, my temporary bunk-mate, Brandon, calls me a "sleep machine" which I think is completely unfair because I only slept until 10! Anyway, Brandon and I went for a nice (looooong) walk around the city today and we frequented this other market that is right by our house. It was way more manageable than the big one and I actually bought so food items (bananas, cheese, bread and a papaya...the essentials, duh!) Everyone is always really friendly and nice to us even though we are Americans. One guy was asking us what each fruit was called in English which was cute, but then he told us that he had been in L.A. for a while...until he got deported. Awkward...
After the mercado, we went to the parque ecologica, which is basically like a little park with fountains and classical music playing and we had a coffee and hung out in the sun, so that was relaxing. Then we decided to check out the biggest supermarket ever (it was more like a Wal-mart because they had clothing and shoes and stuff) and had a fun time looking around and trying samples.
Unfortunately, I had to go back to school for a few hours in the afternoon to continue lesson planning but it was OK and I think we are ready as we will ever be for tomorrow! But get this--when we were at school, my friend Justine and I were exploring and she was climbing into the corner of this one room and all of a sudden freaked out and ran toward me screaming because she saw a bat!! A bat, I say! I hope to the Lord that it gets out of there before tomorrow's classes.
OK, it's dinner time, so Brandon and I are going out for....tacos?? Can we do 4 nights in a row?? I'll let you know!!
Nicole
So on Saturday, we all met at school to go on a tour of the city with one of the student at HELP!, Dylan and an administrator of the school, Margo. They are both super sweet women and it was really nice to meet and get to know them a little better. We didn't really know what was going on for the tour, but we all boarded a bus and took it to the Mercado Purisimo which is the huge market here in Tehuacan. It was insane....I was not expecting such a massive market in this sleepy little town. We tried lots of fun things, such as tuna, which is the flower of a cactus and tastes kind of like a weird sherbert-like strawberry. We also saw something that looked like brains which we found out was congealed blood! Ew, right? We ate some honey and fresh vanilla bread which was delicious. After the market, we went to the natural spring here and took a tour of the factory which is a bottling company. It used to be only mineral water, but it has grown to bottle juice and flavored waters and sodas and a lot of different stuff. It was pretty cool.
After touring a little bit, we went back to the school and got straight to work! Our first day of class is on Monday, so we had a ton of lesson-planning to do. It was a rough few hours, but it ended with a delicious meal of tacos con Dylan so it was nice. We all got to practice our Spanish with her as well, and she got to practice her English, so it was a win-win situation. We also got some insight into how life is in Mexico; pretty strict and conservative. People live with their parents for a really long time and have to abide by their rules, which can be taxing, it seems. We also learned that Mexican people say that they take, "Vitamin T" because of all of the tacos and tortillas and tortas that they eat!! Hilarity.
Today we were able to sleep in a little bit for the first time, and now, my temporary bunk-mate, Brandon, calls me a "sleep machine" which I think is completely unfair because I only slept until 10! Anyway, Brandon and I went for a nice (looooong) walk around the city today and we frequented this other market that is right by our house. It was way more manageable than the big one and I actually bought so food items (bananas, cheese, bread and a papaya...the essentials, duh!) Everyone is always really friendly and nice to us even though we are Americans. One guy was asking us what each fruit was called in English which was cute, but then he told us that he had been in L.A. for a while...until he got deported. Awkward...
After the mercado, we went to the parque ecologica, which is basically like a little park with fountains and classical music playing and we had a coffee and hung out in the sun, so that was relaxing. Then we decided to check out the biggest supermarket ever (it was more like a Wal-mart because they had clothing and shoes and stuff) and had a fun time looking around and trying samples.
Unfortunately, I had to go back to school for a few hours in the afternoon to continue lesson planning but it was OK and I think we are ready as we will ever be for tomorrow! But get this--when we were at school, my friend Justine and I were exploring and she was climbing into the corner of this one room and all of a sudden freaked out and ran toward me screaming because she saw a bat!! A bat, I say! I hope to the Lord that it gets out of there before tomorrow's classes.
OK, it's dinner time, so Brandon and I are going out for....tacos?? Can we do 4 nights in a row?? I'll let you know!!
Nicole
Friday, August 19, 2011
Tacos Tacos Tacos
Hi everyone who is still reading this thing!
So today started with a breakfast of tacos. I kid you not. Along with the tacos were pieces of cactus plant that we ate as well! It was relatively gross but I am glad I tried it. Anyway, we met early this morning at the school to eat (tacos) and begin our training. Oy vey to the max. It was mad overwhelming and relatively chaotic, but at least we were able to see and look over the books that we will be using for the upcoming semester. I am teaching 1-4th grade, and the children's classes are actually at this private school called Discovery. We move around from classroom to classroom and are sort of interspersed in their regular school day, so that is pretty cool. I am extremely nervous about teaching, but tomorrow we are going to make some comprehensive lesson plans so hopefully I will get an idea of what I am going to actually do with the kids when I meet them. (I got my class roster today....contrary to popular belief, I only have a few kids named 'Jose'!)
The middle of the day was spent exploring. We saw the city center...it is really cute with 2 really decorative churches in the center and lots of little restaurants and street vendors and such. It was great! I am also starting to get to know my fellow teachers pretty well. We are a motley crew...4 from America, one from Scotland, one from Australia, one from England and I believe that's it. I am already learning lots of fun English/Scottish slang ("it's a bit dodgy" is my favorite so far.)
Other amazing news is that the woman who lives in the apartment I live in offered to cook for me for a small fee pr week...yes please!!! I am going to be eating like a little Mexican queen. (Not that I haven't been already....Brandon and I frequented the taco place from last night again tonight...I realized that I only spent $1.20 on three of the best tacos I have ever had. I told the man who runs the stand that it is my favorite restaurant in Mexico and that I will be going back night after night. He thinks I'm a psycho.)
Pictures to come!
Nicole
So today started with a breakfast of tacos. I kid you not. Along with the tacos were pieces of cactus plant that we ate as well! It was relatively gross but I am glad I tried it. Anyway, we met early this morning at the school to eat (tacos) and begin our training. Oy vey to the max. It was mad overwhelming and relatively chaotic, but at least we were able to see and look over the books that we will be using for the upcoming semester. I am teaching 1-4th grade, and the children's classes are actually at this private school called Discovery. We move around from classroom to classroom and are sort of interspersed in their regular school day, so that is pretty cool. I am extremely nervous about teaching, but tomorrow we are going to make some comprehensive lesson plans so hopefully I will get an idea of what I am going to actually do with the kids when I meet them. (I got my class roster today....contrary to popular belief, I only have a few kids named 'Jose'!)
The middle of the day was spent exploring. We saw the city center...it is really cute with 2 really decorative churches in the center and lots of little restaurants and street vendors and such. It was great! I am also starting to get to know my fellow teachers pretty well. We are a motley crew...4 from America, one from Scotland, one from Australia, one from England and I believe that's it. I am already learning lots of fun English/Scottish slang ("it's a bit dodgy" is my favorite so far.)
Other amazing news is that the woman who lives in the apartment I live in offered to cook for me for a small fee pr week...yes please!!! I am going to be eating like a little Mexican queen. (Not that I haven't been already....Brandon and I frequented the taco place from last night again tonight...I realized that I only spent $1.20 on three of the best tacos I have ever had. I told the man who runs the stand that it is my favorite restaurant in Mexico and that I will be going back night after night. He thinks I'm a psycho.)
Pictures to come!
Nicole
Thursday, August 18, 2011
It's all happening....
Hi folks,
This day has been one of the longest of my life. Everything started smoothly....Tampa to Charlotte, no problems...Charlotte to Mexico City...totally fine. However, when I go to pick up my 2 giant pieces of luggage is when shit starts to hit the fan. I can barely carry everything and, flustered as I am, I go through the customs line without filling out the customs form. Then I have to retrace my steps to get the form only to find out that it is only in Spanish. Needless to say, I couldn't read a damn thing so I basically asked a Mexican security man to fill it out for me, which he did (probably cursing my stupidity in Spanish the whole time, but I wouldn't know anyway.)
Luckily, I spotted Joe, one of my fellow teachers, in the customs line (my second time in the line, his first) and we met up to embark on our Mexican adventure together. It was so nice having another person around...especially because he carried my pink Jansport backpack for the rest of the day. Thanks Joe! So we got on the bus to Puebla which was actually really plush and they gave us free snacks! Once in Puebla, we had to switch buses to take another one to Tehuacan. Since we had about an hour to kill, we decided to get some food. Upon looking at my options, I chose Church's Chicken. Yep...my first meal in Mexico was fried chicken and biscuits. Don't judge me!
The bus ride to Tehuacan was uneventful, but the scenery from the bus was surprisingly beautiful! Who would have thought Mexico was just a country of rolling, green mountains. When we arrived in Tehuacan, we were greeted (rather abruptly) by Teo, who is one of the founders of HELP! and he drove us to our respective homes. I met another teacher named Brandon who is currently sharing the bunk below me, but I had to say goodbye to Joe because he lives several blocks away from me. I'm not gonna lie, I was bummed because Joe and I had made a great team during the day and I wasn't sure how I was going to do without him!
When I arrived at my "apartment," I was surprised...to say the least. It is like a huge house type thing with a few bedrooms and a huge kitchen and a little bit of a common area that looks more like a kindergarten classroom than a living room. And there is like this huge outdoor space as well. I come to find out that we share this space with a couple (Terey and Ramon) who treat this place like a community kind of house, so there are supposedly people/kids coming n and out all day long. I haven't met Terey, Ramon or the randos yet, but I am assuming that I will. As of right now, there is a girl, Gina, from New Zealand who has been here for 4 months living in the room I am going to take over when she leaves on Saturday, as well as Brandon who is just staying the night until the homestay he is staying in is ready for him. Oh, and there is Beverly, an older woman who is going to be my housemate. Yep.
I think I am going to like this little set up....but so far, I have only been causing problems. First of all, one must turn on the hot water some weird way with like the gas and a lighter and whatnot and basically we couldn't figure it out/broke it so I had to take a cold shower. Second of all, my shampoo exploded in my suitcase and made everything all soapy and gross, so that was rough.
However, the highlight of the night was that Brandon and I went to this little taco stand at the corner of our street and ate legit tacos with some locals. They all just sit out there and watch this little TV that has Spanish soap operas on it and chit chat and eat tacos and I absolutely love it. We talked to a cute couple and the husband asked us if Americans think Mexicans are bad....Brandon was like, yeah a lot of people do. The man replied, "No somos malos. Somos trabajadores." (I think.) So I liked that man and I hope I see them at the taco stand again.
That's all for now!
Nicole
This day has been one of the longest of my life. Everything started smoothly....Tampa to Charlotte, no problems...Charlotte to Mexico City...totally fine. However, when I go to pick up my 2 giant pieces of luggage is when shit starts to hit the fan. I can barely carry everything and, flustered as I am, I go through the customs line without filling out the customs form. Then I have to retrace my steps to get the form only to find out that it is only in Spanish. Needless to say, I couldn't read a damn thing so I basically asked a Mexican security man to fill it out for me, which he did (probably cursing my stupidity in Spanish the whole time, but I wouldn't know anyway.)
Luckily, I spotted Joe, one of my fellow teachers, in the customs line (my second time in the line, his first) and we met up to embark on our Mexican adventure together. It was so nice having another person around...especially because he carried my pink Jansport backpack for the rest of the day. Thanks Joe! So we got on the bus to Puebla which was actually really plush and they gave us free snacks! Once in Puebla, we had to switch buses to take another one to Tehuacan. Since we had about an hour to kill, we decided to get some food. Upon looking at my options, I chose Church's Chicken. Yep...my first meal in Mexico was fried chicken and biscuits. Don't judge me!
The bus ride to Tehuacan was uneventful, but the scenery from the bus was surprisingly beautiful! Who would have thought Mexico was just a country of rolling, green mountains. When we arrived in Tehuacan, we were greeted (rather abruptly) by Teo, who is one of the founders of HELP! and he drove us to our respective homes. I met another teacher named Brandon who is currently sharing the bunk below me, but I had to say goodbye to Joe because he lives several blocks away from me. I'm not gonna lie, I was bummed because Joe and I had made a great team during the day and I wasn't sure how I was going to do without him!
When I arrived at my "apartment," I was surprised...to say the least. It is like a huge house type thing with a few bedrooms and a huge kitchen and a little bit of a common area that looks more like a kindergarten classroom than a living room. And there is like this huge outdoor space as well. I come to find out that we share this space with a couple (Terey and Ramon) who treat this place like a community kind of house, so there are supposedly people/kids coming n and out all day long. I haven't met Terey, Ramon or the randos yet, but I am assuming that I will. As of right now, there is a girl, Gina, from New Zealand who has been here for 4 months living in the room I am going to take over when she leaves on Saturday, as well as Brandon who is just staying the night until the homestay he is staying in is ready for him. Oh, and there is Beverly, an older woman who is going to be my housemate. Yep.
I think I am going to like this little set up....but so far, I have only been causing problems. First of all, one must turn on the hot water some weird way with like the gas and a lighter and whatnot and basically we couldn't figure it out/broke it so I had to take a cold shower. Second of all, my shampoo exploded in my suitcase and made everything all soapy and gross, so that was rough.
However, the highlight of the night was that Brandon and I went to this little taco stand at the corner of our street and ate legit tacos with some locals. They all just sit out there and watch this little TV that has Spanish soap operas on it and chit chat and eat tacos and I absolutely love it. We talked to a cute couple and the husband asked us if Americans think Mexicans are bad....Brandon was like, yeah a lot of people do. The man replied, "No somos malos. Somos trabajadores." (I think.) So I liked that man and I hope I see them at the taco stand again.
That's all for now!
Nicole
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Blogging: Take 1
Hi everyone!
As most of you (should) know by now, I am about to get down and dirty in Tehuacan, Puebla, Mexico for the next year, so I decided to try my hand at blogging.
Just to set the record straight...this is where Tehuacan is located:
Yep..way down there.
Hopefully this blog will give all of you a little insight into how life is in typical Mexico as well as keep you up to date on how this little gringa is handling herself in the deep deep deep south.
So....the age-old packing saga. Considering I have no idea the amount of space in my apartment, what the weather is going to be like, what people wear in Mexico, the fact if I have a washing machine or not and several other unknown variables...I have to say I did pretty well. Jessie had a serious fight with the zipper of my suitcase earlier but we did it!
Don't ask about the two backpacks....I don't have it all figured out yet.
Ok, that's all for now...my next post should be from Mexico City! (Wish me luck!!!)
Nicole
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