Return

I made it back to Mexico this time without any delays or problems! Yay! It was good to be home for a month and see everyone but I'm glad to be back. It's been a little boring as the coordinator at the tech had not yet organized classes so I had nothing to do the last two weeks. I started teaching last week but I only had two classes, neither of which had their books. It's been a little frustrating trying to get started this semester- organization is not a strong point here! I'm supposed to start my full schedule this week and right now he has me scheduled for 30 hours a week. I have two English 1 classes which is very basic so my Spanish is getting a workout. This week I should have a few higher level courses and he is having me teach the English teachers to improve their grammar and pronunciation. It should be a fun class, there are three other English professors at the tech and I enjoy teaching advanced levels. Strange that I will be teaching the teachers but they are excited at the opportunity. He also wants me to give English classes to the directors of the tech- including the principal. I'm a little nervous about that one!

My classes for the basic level are huge, I have 29 students in one class and 23 in the other. Not very many girls either! It's definitely a challenge and they are testing me to the fullest right now. The boys are a little rowdy- it's the first semester for most of them at the tech so they are fresh out of high school and are getting a huge kick out of having a young blond English teacher. The first class I was trying to gauge how much they knew in English as most have classes in high school and one of them asked, in English, "Do you have a boyfriend?" I said no and he asked if I wanted one! Took a few minutes to calm the class down but I'm just being really strict the first few weeks until they figure out my class isn't play time. There are a lot of really good students with a lot of potential but I have the clowns and one or two students who don't like to be told what to do. Definitely a different experience so far from Culturlingua! It feels good to be back in the classroom, I never saw myself as a teacher but I really enjoy it most days!
I'm also trying to organize a few private classes on the side. Some of my friends want some private lessons and it should be fun to teach them.

My parents were worried about the hurricane affecting me here but not to worry- it was way north of Los Reyes. I have noticed a little change in the weather, it's been cloudier than usual and we have had a few days of just solid rain all day with no sun. Not sure if I can blame it on the hurricane or if it's just part of the rainy season. Most days we only get rain in the afternoons for an hour or so and the sun comes back out so the days of cloudiness and rain are a little strange.

That's all for now, I'll update again soon- next week is Mexico's independence day- the 16th of September and I'm really excited to be here for it. They actually get a lot more excited than Americans do- they celebrate the entire month, there are flags everywhere. I mean everywhere- they have flags that fit over car hoods and on the mopeds and in the stores and on the buildings and they sell them on every corner. I guess they celebrate the 15th and the 16th with parades and fireworks and bands in the street- the whole shebang! So I'll put a posting up after Independence day and try to describe the chaos! Hopefully it's a kind of quiet day- last year there was a bombing in the capital's plaza during the celebrations and with all the violence lately it's a little worrisome but I'm staying in Los Reyes for the holiday- no big cities for me that day!