Hasta Luego en vez de Adios

I can't believe I'm back in the states, the time went by so fast. I miss Mexico already. My host family wouldn't let me cry, they told me we couldn't cry or say adios because it wasn't goodbye it was hasta luego, or see you later because I have every intention of coming back. The principal even said that if I stay in touch after I graduate there could be a job there for me, which would be absolutely awesome. The last few days there were wonderful. My students threw me a party for my birthday. There was tons of food and we took lots of pictures. Friday was las olimpiadas and of course my 6th graders dominated. They are all so athletic. Varmond placed in almost every event we participated in. We had one race where first through fourth place were all taken by my 6th graders. Then in the afternoon I went to lunch with some of the teachers and go to say my goodbyes and then after that to Peter Piper Pizza, which is like Chuck E Cheese's to say goodbye to my carpool kids. I can't wait to show everyone all my pictures and show you all my students. I miss them so much. It was really strange not to get up to go to school with them on Monday. It's hard to believe that next week I transition to first graders a whole new world compared to my outspoken 6th graders. I will definitely never forget this experience, it was one of the greatest of my life. I am so fortunate to have had this opportunity and to have met everyone that I did. I am really glad that I got to be the one to pave the way for others to have this experience in the future, and I can't wait to go back and see everyone again.

la semana final :(

Wow I can´t believe today was my last Monday at Varmond. I´m going to miss it so much. Everyone there is so great, the teachers and the students. Today was a good day the students were pretty well behaved and we were all joking around at recess. I´m going to miss their smart mouth jokes and the way they look at me when I pronounce something wrong or when they pretend not to understand me when I talk in English.
This weekend was fun I went to a water park Saturday during the day and got a little burnt but at least I´m finally making some progress and starting to look a little less out of place. Saturday night I went to a bar with some of the teachers from Varmond to hang out. It was incredible, the bar is outdoors up in the mountains so you wear blankets and can see the stars and an incredible view of the city at night.
I am so very lucky to be here and to have spent my time with such amazing people. I´m going to miss the people the most, and my host mom´s cooking! This week is going to go by so fast. I can´t believe I have less than a week. Thursday is my birthday and the students have their Olympics so that will definitely be a busy day. I´ll let you know how it goes.

la semana penúltima

I can´t believe I only have a week left! The time went by so fast! The students had their English exams all this week and for the most part I think most of them went really well, except for the math exam. My cooperating teacher was not there on Wednesday because she was at a convention and the students decided that because she wasn´t there that meant they could talk and share answers during an exam. It didn´t matter how many times I asked them to stop talking or almost took away their tests they just didn´t stop talking so now they all have to retake their math test. They definitely were not happy to hear that. It´s so hard to stay mad at them though because so much of what they do is so funny. During the exam they offered to pay me for the answers and started chanting Miss Katie to encourage me to do it. Then they asked me ¿porque estás enojada Miss Katie? Why are you mad Miss Katie, and with completely serious faces. One of my students even told me to have a sense of humor. I´m going to miss them so much. Yesterday 6B had their taller, workshop about prehispanic culture. Their group is the Toltecas, which don´t know very much about but they kids are interested in learning more which is always good. I spent most of the day in the workshop with them 2 hours for each half of the class to make our project. I really don´t know how to explain what it is so I will just have to take a picture of it and post it up next week. It was a lot of fun spending so much time with my students outside of the academic setting and just talking to them and listening to them talk to each other. They have started telling me not to go and asking me why I can´t stay. I really would love to come back and teach here in Mexico for a year or two after I graduate and I´m told their might be a program through Varmond to do that. I will definitely be looking into that before I leave so I have the information in case I can someday return to work here. I am going to miss it here so much. Everyone has been so welcoming of me and I´ve been having so much fun learning about the culture and getting to know the students and the city. The people here are really great, and the city is wonderful, not mention it will be hard to leave the warm weather. :) I got a great compliment today though from one of my coordinators, she told me my accent had changed that it was stronger, that made me feel that this trip was definitely worth it if only for that reason, not to mention the thousands of other reasons I´m so grateful I had this opportunity.

Una fin de semana muy ocupada

I was definitely busy this weekend I feel kind of bad that I was hardly home. Friday night I went to the disco again and was out way late because they don´t close til 4am here. Then up on Saturday and off to Pátzcuaro with friends from the CCL to say goodbye to Katie before she left for Mexico City. Which I´m very excited for her she´s trying out for the Mexican national soccer team and if she makes it she might get to go with them to the Olympics. How cool is that? She´s half Mexican so she´s elligible to try out and she plays soccer for her college team. But anyway we went to Pátzcuaro for lunch with two of the teachers from the CCL to this restaurant called Rancho la Mesa. First of all the food was incredible and second the view of el lago de Pátzcuaro and the islands in it was incredible. We were up on a mountain a little and could see alot of the city and the lake and two of the four islands, it was beautiful. We listened to a mariachi band for a little while and then went down into the center of Pátzcuaro to walk around and eat nieve de pasta, the best ice cream ever. I´m gonna have to figure out how to get some in the states :). Then on Sunday it was Dia de La Familia, my host family tells me they have days for almost everyone here which I think is great. We all went to mass together the whole family all three of their kids and their families then back to the house for a big, delicious lunch. I´m really going to miss their cooking. Then after lunch I did a few things for school before getting ready to go to a wedding with Roberto. He picked me up to go with him and his family to the reception part. It would have been nice to see how the actual ceremony was but it was really nice of him to invite me. The food was good, his family was very nice, and I met the parents of two of my students because they are Roberto´s sisters. The dancing was so much fun. Almost every one here is a fabulous dancer it´s great. We were out til 1am on a school night. I´m going to miss it here so much everyone is wonderful so welcoming of me, a complete stranger. I really want to come back someday possibly even to stay for a year or two to work, but no matter what I definitely have to come back to visit to see all of these people again. I can´t believe I only have 13 days left. It´s gone by so fast.
Tomorrow starts English exams for my students so I´ll be busy making review games all week. Cross your fingers that they actually study for the exams, I know I´ll have mine crossed. More later! :)