Moving!!!

I was informed that I haven't updated this in awhile! Thanks Miss Duffy! This week has been very busy, it is the last week of the semester. I have been busy busy with tests and grading and trying to fill out report cards for students I have only known for two weeks!
We are moving on Saturday to Los Reyes so today was spent repacking all my stuff. Angela and I are dropping our things off at the house Saturday morning and then taking a bus to Guadalajara for four days. I am very excited to go back to my old stomping grounds! We aren't sure yet if the two guys will even be out of the house on Tuesday yet so we may be crashing on the couch for a few days but we are ok with it! There has apparently been some miscommunication (surprise surprise here!) about the moving situation. The guys were informed they could stay until the end of the month in Los Reyes while we were informed that we had to be there next Wednesday for teacher meetings and evaluations of students. Who knows what next week will bring!
Angela and I are just excited to get out of Periban. It is definitely a very closed community and it is quite uncomfortable to walk around as the foreigner. We are excited about everything in Los Reyes; it's bigger and warmer, has more restaurants and shops, a nightlife, more people our age, a full kitchen in the house! (I'm very excited about that one). We still get a few curious looks from people when we walk around but that I am ok with. It's the conversation stopping, staring and odd looks that make me uncomfortable here. In Los Reyes, everybody doesn't know everybody else so it is a bit easier to blend in if that is at all possible with blonde hair in Mexico!
I wanted to tell you guys about a few of the funnier things I have seen down here. When I was taking the bus here to Periban my first day, a big burly pot-bellied man got on the bus and he was wearing this tight white t-shirt that said "Tommy Girl" on it. I couldn't help but laugh as he probably had no idea what the t-shirt said. Also- today on the combi (the converted volkswagon vans from the 70's that act as buses here) there was this little old Mexican man half asleep next to me wearing a baseball hat. The hat had two naked obese people embroidered into it facing each other with their bellies touching. The man was scratching his head and looking at the woman. On the hat it said "Mission impossible". Angela and I were just cracking up when we saw it. The words are very similar in Spanish so I'm guessing the little old man was perfectly aware of what his hat said.
On a different note, I have told all my classes by now that I won't be coming back in February to teach here in Periban. It actually raised my self-esteem as a teacher that all of them were disappointed! (Not sure at this point if they are going to actually miss me or if they just really don't like the teacher who is coming back to Periban!) Even the teenagers have warmed up to me and are talking and having fun in class. Half of them still don't show up for class but I would almost prefer they not come at all than come and talk or sit and stare blankly at me. The ones who come now come nearly every day and they are a pretty good group. They still need to be yelled at a lot but its more good natured than anything else. They talk to each other in Spanish a lot and sometimes forget that I understand most of it. Sometimes I have to laugh when they suddenly remember I understand the swear words in Spanish and they probably shouldn't use them in class!
I have had to make some cultural adjustments in running the classes. Most students do not show up until quarter after the hour, which shortens the class considerably. It is common in Mexico to be late for everything which is very different from the US. They also tend to take it easier in classes- they get very flustered when I try to push them too fast and they like to take their time learning the lessons. Even the adults get very anxious when I move through the lessons too fast, even when they understand all of it and are doing well. The general routine of the class is they show up late and we talk for 5 minutes or so before starting the material. It is essential to all ages for this little warm-up routine. Then we do anywhere from one to two pages of the book and some activities associated with what they are learning. The last 5 minutes of class is often games or talking again. Total teaching time in a class is usually only about a half hour. This bothered me the first week until I realized that it was actually good practice to just sit and converse with them in English for 10 minutes out of the class. It is actually kind of nice; I have always liked the slow pace here. Nobody is rushed or stressed about anything. People in the US could learn a lot!
Anyways, all for now, I probably won't be able to update until next week as we will be in Guadalajara until Tuesday! :)