Que rapido el tiempo

Wow another week is already over I can´t believe it! Only two more left. :( I´m going to miss it here so much and my students especially. This week I was definitely kept busy trying to finish as much of the book as I could with them before their exams start next week. We still have more to do but we should be able to get it done and still have time to play some review games for the exams. I can´t believe next week is really my last week teaching because the last week we only have two days of classes and the second half of the week is the Olimpiadas where the students go to compete against other schools in a mock Olympics which I´m really excited for I think it will be lots of fun.
Yesterday I went to the movies with two of my students it was fun to spend time with them outside of school. I´m going to miss these kids so much. They definitely don´t make it easy for me to get through that book but they are great kids.
Tonight and possibly tomorrow night I´m going dancing at the disco again with friends from Varmond, I´m going to be pretty tired on Monday because tomorrow afternoon I´m probably going to lunch with friends from the CCL to say goodbye to Katie from Washington, and on Sunday Roberto invited me to go to a wedding with him to see what a Mexican wedding is like. I´m so lucky to have so many great people to spend time with. They are going to be keeping me busy these next few weeks, which will be wonderful but I think will also make it even harder to leave. Tomorrow is already March 1st which means only 16 more days. I can´t believe how fast it´s gone by. I will definitely have to come back some day to see all of these people again, and to see more of this beautiful country.
(wow this has got to be the shortest post I´ve ever written, a little break for you faithful readers :) )

Un viaje muy bonito, y una obra de teatro

This past weekend, Roberto, the other 6th grade teacher at Varmond, offered to take me to see a few other cities in Michoacan. We left Friday afternoon after lunch and headed to La Piedad where he used to live and still has friends. We got to his friends´, Ricardo and Javier (I love the names here!) apartment after an almost 3 hour scenic ride through mountains and desert. His friends had dinner waiting for us and then took me to see the different views of the city at night and the central plaza. It was beautiful and you could see so many stars. I learned that because of the shape of the city and the different levels that its at no matter what part of the city you are in, you can never see the whole city at once. Then back to the apartment to rest up for the next day. Saturday we went back to the central plaza to see the church and the fountain in the daytime. La Piedad is a really nice little city. Then we dropped his friends off at work and headed on to Zamora to see the church there. It was incredible, so beautiful. It had amazing stained glass windows and a beautiful painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and one of the biggest organs I´ve ever seen. Roberto, who has traveled just about everywhere, told me the design of the church is modeled after Notre Dame in Paris, how cool is that? Then I off to a market place to try chongos a dulce that´s only made in Zamora, don´t ask me what it´s made of I tried to figure it out but all I know is it was good. Then back on the road for a little bit to head to Lake Camecuaro. It was absolutely beautiful. The lake was crystal clear and surrounded by beautiful trees. There were ducks and families there on vacation swimming, yes swimming because the water is warm even in February, and so much food. It was an amazing place we walked around the lake a little and had lunch. I tried secina, which is dried cooked meat really good, and agua miel which is made from the plant they use to make tequilla, it was really good. Then on the way home we pulled over to buy tamales de zarzamora, which are tamales made with blackberries so they were purple also very good. I am really going to miss the food here. The ride home was again incredibly scenic. It´s so great to be surrounded by mountains, and trees and green and then sometimes large patches of desert it´s so beautiful. I wish you all could see it. I will post pictures of my trip next time so you can see the church and the lake.
Today was an interesting day at school we took the kids to see a play in English called Transylvania. It was pretty cheesy but the kids enjoyed it. It was so funny afterwards to hear some of the reactions. One of my students came up to me and asked me if I understood it word for word, another asked me what it was about, one of them told me she cried because the couple got together and she thought it was beautiful. Many of the girls told me it was romantic and asked me if I was thinking of my boyfriend. And Roberto said he liked it even though he didn´t understand it at all since he doesn´t speak hardly any English! All and all a good day even though I´m still way behind in the book and will have to take a few days of next week to finish it because there have been so many extra activities going on in such a short month. I´ll keep you posted on how the rest of the week goes.

Partido de fútbol

Celebrating their victory with tacos and soda

Yesterday my students invited me to their soccer game it was so much fun. The team consists of 5th, 6th and 7th grade students from Varmond. They are really good. I hadn´t been to a soccer game in years They won 4 to 3 to be able to go on the tournament. Alot of the students from the school were there to cheer them on. It was great to hear them cheering in Spanish and they really supported their team. The girls and the guys there to cheer them on were really surprised to see me, it was fun to be there to support them. To celebrate they doused their coaches in the leftover water in the cooler then went after each other the principal and me. :) Then the team and the coaches were off to Tacopolis to celebrate and they invited me to join them. It was so much fun. The food was really good and they kids were hilarious. Screaming and yelling and cheering. I felt so bad for the waiters but man did they make a lot of money off of us. Those kids and the coaches can sure eat a lot of tacos :). I was so glad I finally made it to a game and that they invited me to join them afterwards. They are a really fun bunch of kids even if they are trouble makers. :)
The week of teaching is going pretty well I´m almost caught up to where I need to be to finish the book on time. My cooperating teacher was sick on Tuesday so I spent the whole day alone with the kids which was a definitely a challenge but a good experience for the future. They are good kids but man are they alot of work to keep focused. I think finishing the book next week will be a very satisfying experience, and playing review games with them will be a great reward for them and for me.
This weekend I´m off to Zamora and to see some of the sights along the way. One of the teachers from the school offered to take me so we leave tomorrow after lunch. I´ll let you know how it goes on Monday. Have a great weekend everyone! I can´t believe tomorrow makes 7 weeks that I´ve been here already! Only 3 left, it´s gone by so fast!

Pátzcuaro, Discos, and motos

This was an eventful weekend for me. On Saturday my host family took me to Quiroga a town where a lot of artesanias come to sell their goods lots of wood working things like guitars, games, frames and lots more. It was so interesting and there was so much to see wandering through all of the shops. Then we went on to Pátzcuaro, a city about an hour or so from Morelia. It has a huge lake which I got to see a view of and then we headed to el centro (downtown) for lunch. Lunch was nothing spectacular most of it I had eaten before but it was good. El postre (desert) was fabulous. In Pátzcuaro and Quiroga they have nieve (snow, literally translated) instead of helado (ice cream). Nieve de pasta or de hielo, pasta gives it a different texture I´m not quite sure how to explain it but it´s awesome, so good. Muy rico. Nieve de hielo is like a really rich snow cone/sherbert. You can get a pretty good sized cup for only a 1.50 with three flavors. I had coco, limon and chocolate. (you guys can guess those flavors I´m not going to translate everything! :) ).
After lunch my host brother and I wandered around to see the churches near by and the artesanias who had booths set up in a near by park. I bought some fun goodies to bring home with me. Then we headed back to meet my host mom and dad and we watched the viejitos. They are young men who dress up in traditional clothes and masks of old men and dance on wooden slabs with wooden shoes making a clacking sound as they dance. It was very cool. I forgot my camera cord so I will have to put the pictures on next time. Then we headed home so we could rest and I could get ready to go out. One of the teachers at school had a party at a local bar/discotec for her birthday and they invited me. It was a good time a mix of a dj and live music. The soccer coach, Jose Manuel tried to teach me some traditional dance steps and I failed miserably but it was fun :). And I learned that the bars here close at 4am not 2 like at home so needless to say I was a little tired yesterday. But my host family told me I could sleep in and we went to a later mass 1pm, and then came home for a big lunch with the family to celebrate my host dad´s birthday. The food was pretty good and I love being together with the whole family they are so much fun. They all get along great and they have such a good time together. My host sister´s husband bought a moto (a four wheeler) and he was letting us take rides on it. Frida, the granddaughter would ride with her dad and everytime they circled the block she´d come back and say "falta dos" or "otra" meaning she wanted to keep going. Then I got my turn I rode with my host brother and he took me to see where my salsa dancing lessons are going to be starting Wednesday which I´m really excited for. The moto was really fun, you can ride four wheelers in the street here so we were right next to the traffic and we went all over the place. The only downfall was the speed bumps :). Today was a pretty good day of teaching, but I have lots to do with the students this week we have to finish the book by next week Friday because the students start their exams the 4th of March and they have to have the books finished to study from. Hopefully I can get them to stay focused long enough to finish what we need to. I can´t wait to see their history projects finished next week. It sounds like they are getting really creative with them.
Any way I think I´ve rambled on long enough with this post. Here´s wishing some of the Mexico sun in your direction! ¡Hasta luego!

¡Feliz Dia de San Valentín!

Most of Sexto A
Most of Sexto B

My wonderful 6th graders each one with a very distinct personality. I can´t wait to get full class photos. so I can show all of you the wonderful little troublemakers that have kept me busy here in Morelia.

Well minus the fact that I got very little academic accomplished the second half of this week putting me behind a few days on my schedule for the book, it was a great week. Thursday was so much fun. My students gave me lots of treats and hugs (which are my favorite). They also gave each other lots of treats and gifts. I learned a little more about who has a crush on who on Thursday. The school had a Kermesse for the students, which is what they called the fiesta the students got to enjoy for over 2 hours. The morning started with games outside class versus class. The sixth graders and I faced off with the 5th graders in a game of volleyball with a giant red ball. It was absolutely hilarious. Then the teachers faced the students 4 of us against about 15 of them, again, hilarious. Then off for food, I tried elote which is corn with mayonaise, parmesan cheese and lime juice, really good. There was also tacos and agua fresca and popsicles and churritos and all kinds of goodies for the kids to buy. They also had a stand called Registro Civil where the students could "get married" in front of an honorable 6th grade judge. I was innocently standing by to see what was going on when I was dragged by my students over to the table and wed to the soccer coach Jose Manuel. Absolutely hilarious. The couple puts on a veil and black cowboy hat and sign the paper with witnesses saying they got married. One of the students I carpool with (who is in 4th grade) married one of my 6th graders, her brothers friend, because he bought her a bouquet of balloons for Valentine´s Day. Too funny! This is why I love kids. Then off to the disco inside the gym. They have alot of songs here that have dances that go with them like our Macarena and cha cha slide. When we went back out in the afternoon for second recess after a fairly unproductive afternoon there was still music going in the gym so many of us were in there dancing all through recess and the last class of the day. Everyone was having so much fun that the teachers let the students have the last period of the day free. I think I danced with them for almost a straight hour it was so much fun. They are all great dancers, students and teachers included. My sixth graders were really good. I really wish I had brought my camera out to recess to capture the fun. They helped me learn some of the dances and they were pretty impressed when I was able to keep up (most of the time). Overall, yesterday was a blast and I finally got some pictures of my classes to share with you.
Today was fairly uneventful, but tomorrow I´m off to Pátzcuaro with my host family to see the sights. Then tomorrow night off to a party with the teachers from Varmond at a Discotec to dance and have some fun. Then Sunday a family party in the backyard to celebrate my host dad´s birthday. Then Monday back to school and my first salsa dancing lessons after school wish me luck! I´ll let you know how it goes.

algunas refleciones

Just a few thoughts to leave you with today.
I decided that I´m very mimada, spoiled here! I have yet to clear my own plates, change my own sheets, make any food, I´ve had dinner in front of the tv more times than I can count. All I have had to do is wash my own clothes which they let me do for free in their house instead of walking to the lavanderia. I am very lucky to be with a family who takes such good care of me. I have a little bit of a cold right now and they made me tea the other night and offered me cough medicine. The culture here is so caring and conscious of everyone else. I wait in the mornings at a bus stop for my ride to school and there have been three different occasions where other school families or teachers have passed by there and offered me a ride because they thought I was waiting for the bus. It will definitely be a culture shock for me to return to the states and it´s much more individualistic society.
Today I went with my host brother to some of the mercados, markets, in downtown. I needed to buy candy for my students for valentines day so we went to a dulces market first. There were all kinds of fabulous goodies there. I got some suckers and some dulce de leche candies for my students. Then we went across the street to the mercado de independencia. It was huge. It´s like going into the exhibition hall at the Wisconsin State fair except this place is full of stuff you can actually use! (Just kidding, that was a cheap shot, I really shouldn´t talk seeing as I will be working there one more summer, so come to the fair and buy a belt! Those are actually useful!) It was incredible. There were stands full of fresh fruit, of meats, cheeses, honey. There were stations where you could order food. There was a giant section of fresh flowers. There were clothes and shoes and even stands that sold all different kinds of herbs. It was really cool. I wish we had more things like that in Wisconsin. I know we have the occasional farmer´s market but this really showed up any farmer´s market I´ve ever seen.
My teacher voice is really getting a work out this week but I think that working with this class is a good challenge for me in classroom management. I am thinking of starting a behavior chart with them with the incentive of the number of stickers the class has by the end of the week earns them that many extra minutes of recess on Friday. I am going to talk to my teacher about it tomorrow. I am very excited for tomorrow. I have never been on the teacher end of a Valentine´s day party and I am excited for the fiesta the school is having for the kids tomorrow. I will let you know how it goes on Friday and I will have pictures of my students to post!

Capula y la Catedral

This weekend on Saturday I went on another day trip to a small town called Capula about 30 minutes outside of Morelia. Capula is known for it´s pottery work so naturally we went to see how it´s done. I went on the trip with a teacher from the CCL (the place that found my housing and where I go to use the computers) and two students, and the friend of another teacher here. We took a bus out to Capula and then walked a few blocks to the home of a family who works with clay and making the pottery for a living. They showed us the process pretty much start to finish. La Señora Martes showed us how they crush the rocks into dust both by hand and with a machine. Then they filter out all but the finest grains to be mixed with water which we got to do. It was messy but fun! Then after we had made a batch of clay she took us back inside to show us how they form the clay into the different shapes. They have a whole wall filled with shelves of forms they made to form the different plates pots and jars. We each got to pick a form to make. She made it look so easy! I think mine will turn out pretty good though. Her daughter was behind us washing the pots that were leather hard after a few days so they could be ready to go into the fire the next day. They make 450 of the pots their family is known for in a week. The whole process from start to finish of hardening and firing the pots takes 7-8 days so they are working all the time. We also got to paint some jars that had already been in the fire once so they were hard and they will go in again to be glazed later this week. The whole family works there together doing all of the different tasks. It was great to see and you could tell they are close family. I thought it was very interesting to see what the difference between successful businesses is, by American Standards this family would probably be considered poor, but in Capula their pots are highly desired and they sell them wholesale to other vendors to be sold all over Mexico. I can´t wait to see my finished products later this week. My only regret of the trip was that my camera battery was dead so I don´t have any of my own pictures but one of the other girls has facebook and said she would share her pictures with me.
Later Saturday night I met up again with the teachers from the CCL, Ramses from our trip, Dee and her guest Jan who came on the trip and go figure another Katie is another American here to study. We met at Dee´s house and had some snacks and saw the view from her roof before going to the Cathedral for the illumination ceremony which involves music and fireworks, a very good recipe for a good time. It was beautiful. I took lots of pictures, I will post them soon. Then we wandered around downtown a little so that Jan could see some more of the town. We walked into the lobbies of two of the fanciest hotels in Morelia, absolutely beautiful. One was an open courtyard with a fountain and ivy everywhere, the other a huge building with a stained glass ceiling. Probably muy caro! (expensive) All in all a great night, that ended much later than I have been up yet here 1am! I usually am in bed by 10 or 10:30 since I´m up at 6 every day.
Today at school my students continued to let me practice my teacher voice and I got to work with the 4th graders for the last hour of the day for math class. I´ll will keep you posted on how the rest of my week of teaching goes, and the festivities of Valentine´s day. :)

En Frente de la clase

Well, Wednesday was my first day as the classroom teach of the 6th grade english classes at Varmond School. Wednesday I did not get much accomplished because there were other things going on all day and I´ve been playing catch up all week. I´m a little behind on my lesson plans but I think I will be able to catch up next week. The way the curriculum is designed at Varmond is that you have to get through one book per month and this month it is really important to get through the book because they have exams the first week of March on the last 2 books and this one. So I have the responsibility of making sure they understand this book and making sure they get review questions on the last two books. I have some ideas for fun review games for them in March. This first week has been a little challenging. The students have decided that Miss Katie being in charge means they don´t really have to pay attention so I´ve had lots of practice with my `teacher voice´. I even had to take away 5 minutes of recess yesterday to show them I was serious. The teacher also lectured them about respecting me, so I think next week will be better when they realize that I´m in charge and that I have a say in their grades this month. They are good kids they just don´t like to focus in English class. It doesn´t help that the class leaders insist upon speaking spanish in the classroom, which is not supposed to be allowed. I have to remind them to speak in English. It´s pretty funny how they think I´m naive because I´m new, but they are forgetting that it was only a few years ago that I was in classrooms pulling those tricks and watching my friends pull them. I see when they pass notes, or are hiding gum. I see when they try and cheat and I´m not stupid enough to fall for the `can i go to the bathroom´ and their best friend asking if they can go get a drink at the same time. They tried to pull that one on me yesterday. I´m also learning who has a crush on who in my classroom. Valentine´s day should be interesting with a bunch of 12 and 13 year olds. :)
My plan for the month is to get through the book and hopefully have time to play the fun games I have planned. I think next week will be better now that they are starting to realize that I mean business. I want to be able to have fun with them but they also have to understand that I´m there to be their teacher. So wish me luck I have lots to do with them on Monday! I will post pictures from the classroom next week and probably take some during the Valentine´s party and festival too. Have a great weekend everyone! Stay tuned for more classroom adventures, and a post on my trip tomorrow to Capula!

Las Mariposas

This past Saturday I went on a day trip to see the butterflies. The Monarch butterflies come down here for the winter and stay in the mountains in some of the towns here in Michoacán. My host mom spoke to a local travel agency and found a trip for me, it was only about 50 dollars for the van lunch and the ticket to see the butterflies. The car ride took 3 hours but there was so much to see. It is absolutely beautiful here. We drove through small pueblos and up into the mountains. Once we got to Angangueo we were able to go a little further in the car up the mountain and then we got out, got our guide and started climbing the mountain. Well, so we didn´t really climb it we walked up the uphill path to where the butterflies sleep and hang out until their journey back north. They were so amazing I can´t even begin to describe it. They were everywhere one flew right past my cheek and another landed right on my leg. I will try to post a video so you can see what I mean by everywhere. We stayed and watched the butterflies and took lots of photos for probably half an hour 45 minutes, then we hiked back down the mountain and raided the little vendor booths for cool souveniors, can´t tell you what I bought though because some of them are gifts :). Then we drove back down out of the mountain to the pueblo Angangueo for lunch,( it was about 4pm, so a late lunch). All that was left was the drive home. It was a great day and the butterflies were so amazing I will post the pictures as soon as possible.
The next day was Sunday so my host family and I went to mass in the morning at 10, the earliest we´ve gone yet, because the family was coming in the afternoon for a big lunch to celebrate my host sister´s husband´s birthday. We ate outside in their garden and there were about 13 of us. We had carne asada, which is basically barbequed beef, quesadillas, rice, taquitos, chips with salsa and guacamole, there was so much food. I couldn´t believe how much I ate. Then to top it off we had desert this really yummy cake my host mom made with rompope, which is mix of all kinds of stuff, peach syrup and peaches. Not your traditional chocolate birthday cake but still very good, muy rico as everyone at the party said. Then when everyone left after stuffing themselves my host family and I watched the SuperBowl. (I´m sure many will not agree but I was kind of glad that the Giants won. :) )
Monday there was no school because it was a day to celebrate the Constitution of Mexico, it´s like our Memorial Day or Labor Day, a day off of work and school to remember something important, so on my day off my host brother took me to see some museums and historical sights downtown. We went to the birthplace of Morelia´s namesake, the museo de artesania, the museum/marketplace where artisans from all over the state of Morelia can display their work and sell it, I think I may have to go back there before I leave to buy some of the crafts. We also saw the Palacio de Justicia and another very traditional style church. It seems like there is so much more to see here than if someone were to come visit me in Wisconsin. I feel like I would run out of stuff to show them before their visit was over :).
Well I´ve rambled on long enough. More updates later this week. I take over the class starting tomorrow so wish me luck! I´ll let you know how the first week goes on Friday!

¿Sabe que... ?

So not much exciting has happened since Wednesday except that it´s official that I´m going to see the butterflies tomorrow! and that next week I officially take over teaching the class, which I´m very excited about! So I decided I would just post some interesting facts about Mexico and what I have learned.

¿Sabe que...? Did you know that....?

- In Mexico the plumbing isn´t very strong so you put your toliet paper in the garbage can instead of flushing it.

- In Morelia they can´t drink the water either so everyone has those giant water jugs, you know like the Culligan man commercials? so that they have purified water.

- that the monarch butterflies come to the mountains of Michoacán (the state in Mexico that I´m in) for the winter and that you can climb the mountain and see them in the trees, which is where I am going tomorrow

- That Mexico has stores like Sears and Walmart, and restaurants like KFC and Applebees

- That they have stores called Pick and Go´s that you can drive your car through and buy food at a convenience store while still in your car

- That there is no spanish word for muffin, so they pronounce it "moofin"

- Here in Morelia the most common animals are wild birds and domestic dogs. I saw a few squirrels at the zoo but thats it, and only one cat so far

- that there´s a Latin American Idol? One of my host families relatives actually took third place in it a few years ago.

- that keyboards here have the upside down question mark (¿), exclamation point (¡) and accent mark (´) functions built in, a huge advantage over trying to put it in manually in Word!

I will add more posts like this everyonce and a while with some more interesting facts for you, just in case my blog wasn´t already long enough lol :)