Thoughts on Chivalry

Is chivalry dead? Nope, its just gone to Mexico. While in the States people still open doors and pull out chairs its not a overly common act. A man might open doors for his wife or children but it doesn't extend much more than that. Over the past few months I've noticed how much more evident chivalry is in Mexico. Every morning multiple doors are opened for me by my students on the way to their offices. But its not just opening the door, they will open the door then stand back and wait for me to pass first. Even if the door opens inward, he will open the door, push it into the room then stand back for me to enter. Where I teach one morning a week we pass through some doors then out to a trailer type office that has a small 3 step staircase to get to the door. This morning the door (which is normally open) was closed. My student proceeded to go up half way, open the door then come back down to let me go through. This really surprised me and thus got me thinking about chivalry and if the average man in the united states would do this for someone who is basically works for them.

Another thing is that after every class I give my students always say thank you. "Thank you teacher, see you tomorrow" Its just weird for me to be thanked for doing my job, and not just like once a week or so, but multiple times every day.

Same ol same ol

So its been a month since my last blog and I guess I should have updated sooner. I have realized that I have become a total Mexican driver. Not in the sense that I am a bad driver, but that I get impatient with people after about 2 seconds. I am still not to the point where I will honk, but I just tell them in my head or out loud depending on my mood to hurry up. Also on roads that before I was frustrated by people making their own second lane where it was meant to be one large lane I tend to always be in the second non existent lane now. Not that I am doing anything unsafe, I am just getting used to the faster pace of driving. It is really ironic that people are in such a rush here while driving, because everything else is so laid back. Most my classes don’t start till at least 5 mins after they are supposed to start because the students don’t show up on time, and no one shows up early like they would be expected to in the states.

Speaking of work I have been getting more and more classes and am now up to a whole 20 hours a week and might even be bumped up to 22 depending on class scheduling. I have some group classes, some individual students and some children, I favorite are defiantly the groups and the kids, however one of my students is a 8 year old boy who has ADD, and if that wasn’t hard enough his mom doesn’t have the curriculum or the book he is working on in school so I have to do my own investigative work to find out what he has been learning in class that week and try to get a productive lesson in from what he tells me. But still, I think I’m up for the challenge.

Outside of class I still am pretty much being lazy in the daytime, which lead me to ask my dad for a gym membership for my Christmas/birthday present. There is a really nice gym a few blocks from my apartment that has two pools, a rock climbing wall, spinning, dance, and aerobic classes and of course a weight room. Hopefully I’ll find the motivation to go every day, or at least like 4 days a week. I really have no excuse because it’s not like im doing anything else with my time, other than catching up on every episode of extreme makeover home edition, Miami ink, the amazing race (so far they’ve gone through 3 seasons) throw in a few episodes of law and order and csi and you’ve got my daily schedule from about 9-5, that is if im not sleeping. I now have afternoon classes most days so that limits my nap/tv time from 9-3. I’m hoping that when I get the membership I’ll go to the gym in the morning, which will leave me with a few good hours to shower and sleep before afternoon class.

The past month has been pretty much uneventful, thus the lack of posting. My mom, bob and grandma susan came down for thanksgiving which was a lot of fun. Alejandro and I took them to a lot of places that I hadn’t gone to before, so that was fun. We went to Tonala and Talaquepaque which are full of hand made artsy things. We walked around all morning and did some shopping, then stopped for a nice lunch. On Saturday we went to tequila and took a tour of the Jose Cuervo factory, which came complete with a good amount of tequila tasting.

(grandma and bob enjoying some tequila)

Other than thanksgiving weekend everything has been pretty normal. Work, sleep, hanging out with friends. We went to a few more Chivas games, unfortunately they just lost in the semifinals, we were ridiculously close to making it to the final (which would have been played here) but were unable to pull it through. Sorry for the lack of excitement (especially if you have been religiously checking my blog-Katie, but you’ll just have to come back to gdl if you miss Mexico so much) Maybe I’ll have more exciting things to post on soon, and maybe this time It won’t take me a month to post.

Home sweet home

I wrote this last Tuesday… only a week and a half delay in posting it but hey, I haven’t had internet

So I made it safely back to Guadalajara. After a very full weekend Alejandro and I got in the car for the drive back around 4pm San Diego time. After nice long 11 hour drive (only stopping for gas/bathroom) and a 1 hour time change we made it into Guaymas at 4am. My friend Chelta from the teachers training program got a job at a school there and let us crash at her place for the night. We got a whole 4 or so hours of sleep, woke up at 9 made breakfast and some pb n j sandwiches for the road and took off around 9 45 and were back on the highway around 10 after stopping for gas. From there it was about a 12 hour drive plus a one hour time change (and a few more stops than the first day) to put us back in Guadalajara at midnight. Everything went according to plan, except for one minor scare. And of course by minor scare I was more afraid than I think I have ever been in my life while driving a car. You know how in the united states if you are driving along in the middle of no where and you pass the last gas station for the next 150 miles there will be a sign notifying you of the lack of gas: “No Gas for 150 miles” or something along those lines…. Well in Mexico those signs don’t exactly exist, and when you have just slightly under a half tank of gas you don’t think you need to fill up yet. Anyways, as we were a good 60 kilometers (40 miles) away from the next town and the hope of a gas station my trusty gas light decided to enlighten us with the fact that we were basically screwed. I knew that once the gas light went on I could drive for 30 miles, but I never imagined we could squeeze out 40. After the longest 40 miles of my life, complete with a good amount of sweat, a desperate holding of hands, and a whole bunch of Hail Marys we were somehow able to coast down every hill in neutral and make it up every hill with the least amount of gas possible with just enough gas to get us to the gas station. As we were turning into the gas station I could hear the engine sucking up every last drop of gas and if the station was just a half a mile farther down the road we wouldn’t have made it. The whole time I was thinking of the feeding of the five thousand and was asking God just to multiply my gas just enough to get us to the gas station, seriously, it was a miracle.

On a less stressful note, this morning I successfully drove to work for the first time. I only got lost once and was somehow able to find my way back to the street I was supposed to be on and got to work only 5 mins late, luckily all my students were even more late than I was so it was all good. Driving in Guadalajara is like a suspenseful movie, you honestly never know what is going to happen next. Is the car to your right going to cut you off to make a left turn? Maybe. Is the car to your left going to go straight from the left turn lane that he is in? Perhaps. Is the car behind you going to honk if you delay for a tenth of a second at a green light? Definitely. Luckily I have had about 6 months to observe the driving styles in Guadalajara so I can now better predict what the other cars are going to do. In the words of Flor, one of the teachers I work with “You have to try to be psychic and guess what everyone is going to do.” And in the words of my boyfriend “you have to be a bad driver in order to be a good driver.” Basically its true, if you sit at a stop sign and actually take the time to thoroughly evaluate the intersection the cars behind you will attempt to go around because you are taking too long, thus creating a dangerous situation. Also if you sit in your lane with the blinker on and expect everyone to know you are going to turn and let said turn take place you are out of luck, you have to push down the pedal and get in front of the car next to you to get where you want to go. You have to cut people off because like I said, people will go straight from turn lanes or turn from straight lanes, so if you expect everyone else to respect you and your space you have got another thing coming.

So I’m almost all moved in, I still don’t have internet yet but hopefully that will be fixed this week. There are still a few key things I need to get for my apartment, such as a microwave, silverware (which I forgot to pack from san diego) and some other random stuff. I was really organized and even had a list of everything I needed to bring, however it would have been helpful if I had remembered to look at it before leaving my house. But it’s all good, I have the necessities plus a few extras. I can now say that I have everything I need to actually feel at home here in Guadalajara.

Moving out and going home

I finally moved into my new apartment! After 2 weeks of trying to figure out who we could get to be my fiador and sign for me on the contract saying that if I messed anything up they would be responsible we instead turned to a lawyer to draw up a more official contract that doesn’t require a fiador, it only requires a fee of 1500 pesos and my first born child, but luckily im not going to be in this apartment 10 years from now when that time comes. The apartment is small, but I don’t need much space so its perfect, not like I’m going to be throwing any crazy parties or having people over. When you enter the apartment you step into my bedroom, which came furnished with a bed, little night stand, bookshelf/dresser and most importantly, a fan. Maybe equally important is the amount of closet space provided, in my room one of the walls is mostly closet, then in the hallway that leads to the kitchen there is another small closet perfect for hanging coats and such. But that’s not all folks, step into the kitchen and next to the pantry there is yet another closet. There is supposed to be a washer there, thus the closet space, however they didn’t install one and I don’t exactly remember why. The kitchen is small with a half size fridge but honestly, how much food do I need to keep in there? I have a stove but no oven, but really I don’t see myself doing that much baking, and most Mexican food is prepared on the stove top anyways. There is a small table and two little stools and a really neat wall with seven little cut outs, I just need to find cool things to put in them. I am really excited about the apartment, the only things is it’s a little plain right now, with all the white walls and such, but that will soon be fixed and I’ll have more things than I can find a space for probably. Whys that you ask…. Because I’m going home,

That’s right, I’m going home to San Diego and will be returning by car, a nice 23 hour car ride with a stop over in guaymas to sleep for about 6 hours. The main thing we are going to get is my car, living here without a car isn’t horrible, I just don’t like it. I’m used to my freedom and not being dependent on the bus to get to work on time or to simply go to the grocery store. So this Thursday we are peacing out of Guadalajara around noon and wont be back till late Monday night. Its weird thinking about going back, because in my mind I had it set that I wasn’t going to be back in the states until Christmas. But I’m really excited, not only because I will have my car and pictures and things from home, but because I miss San Diego. That’s right mom, I actually miss home so don’t you be getting all worried that I’m gonna run away and never come back.

I got my first paycheck this week, however it was only for one week of work, and not even a full week because I hadn’t fully been worked into the schedule yet. But still, a paycheck is a paycheck and I was excited to get my first one. Don’t tell the Mexican government but I still haven’t gotten my work visa… I’m kinda being paid under the table right now, or under water as its called in Spanish. Not that I need to be paid under the table or that it would be any problem to get my work visa, its just that I started working before I was even done with my teachers training class and it was forgotten about. I reminded my boss that I needed to get it and she was like, oh yeah, we need to look into how we go about getting you that. Basically no one really cares. Another exciting thing about my paycheck is that I was actually paid the amount I earned, nothing taken out for good ol uncle sam.

The only thing that I’m not so happy about with regards to moving into my apartment is that I currently don’t have internet or tv. I can bring my tv back from San Diego, thus no point going out and buying one here. As for the internet hopefully they can install it soon. There is a wireless network that I pick up in my apartment, unfortunately they have it password protected and when I tried to hack it it told me that the server had a list of computers allowed to access the network and my computer was not on the list. But once I get internet and bring my car and things from San Diego I can officially say that I am living in Guadalajara.

I'm a workin girl... (get your mind out of the gutter)

so much has happened since my last post... where shall I begin...

I started working before I actually completed the teacher training course, my boss called me telling me about a new client who wanted to start taking classes right away, so last tuesday after going to school in the morning, I went to my first paid lesson. My students name is Marco Polo, no, not just Marco, Marco Polo... he also has two last names as well, I guess he is just a two name type of guy. The class went well even though I am teaching Business English out of a British book, so every now and them I come across some ridiculous phrase that I have never heard before. And not like I'm all that familiar with American business terms either, so its something of an adventure teaching these classes, haha.

Last friday was our party day, basically we didnt do anything at school in the morning, played some games, sat and chatted with classmates and then said, yay, we are teachers. Friday night our class met up with our teacher in a close by restaurant, and after two buckets of beer and a surprisingly riskque game of "Never have I ever..." I learned quite a bit about my classmates and Victor, our teacher. The highlight being Victors brief dip into the world of male stripping, after working as a model for a few years he was enticed into working at a stripper bar for a little while, "But I charged them a lot!"-Victor.



My class: bottom row: Dave, Ashley, me, Emily, Chelta, Victor. Top: Allison, Orlando, Laura


The next day, Saturday, I went to work with Alejandro and experienced my first Mexican Wedding. Mexican weddings are like a paradox, they are more formal, yet at the same time they are a lot more casual. Everyone is dressed up crazy fancy, not a girl there didn't have a dress on, and every guy was in full suit and tie. The location was ridiculously fancy, everything you would expect from a high class wedding, however after the gourmet dinner, it basically just turns into a night club. One of the funniest things was that they were giving out ridiculous party favors, like what you would give at a 12 year olds birthday party. Glowy eyeglasses, flashy devil horns, angel wings, blinky ice cubes for your drink, and my personal favorite... fake mustaches.

I really think the mustache compliments the pearls perfectly.


So this past week has been my first real work week, although most of my classes still don't start till next week, I have still been getting some teaching in, including every morning at 7 am. I thought I was done with the early morning thing when crew was over, but no no no, of course not. Its actually not that bad, I have to wake up at 5:45 to leave the house at 6 to get to work by 6:45. I only teach one hour of class, which is kinda a pain to go through all that just for one lonely hour, but its all good. I get back home around 9 and after I eat breakfast I find my way back into bed and don't come out until lunch time, generally 2:30. I think I'm becoming nocturnal. I still don't have a totally set schedule, but starting next week I should have one, in theory.

Hopefully I will be able to move into my apartment soon, I found one, and put the down payment and first months rent in, but still have to wait on the contract to be ready. It will be nice to move into my own place, and it will actually be quite a bit cheaper than staying here with my host family. Although the downside is that it is a bit farther away from work (but only a little bit) and I won't get amazing home cooked meals every day. Although my señora did say she would gladly make me food whenever I asked for it and I could take it home and put it in the freezer. She is pretty much amazing. Well, I think thats about it for now, maybe next time I wont take so long in posting...

taking the good with the bad

So I went to the dance class on tuesday and it was really good. It slightly kicked my ass... dancing for 2 and a half hours after not exactly doing any real exercise for about 3 months is not such a good idea. As for the class itself if was really good. They are really heavy on tahitian, which is totally different than what I'm used to. I'd say out of the 2.5 hours i danced 2 hours of it was Tahitian. we did like 2 awanas and 1 kahiko. I really liked the class and its a good deal, 300 pesos a month for two days a week of hour and a half class. However I will be unable to join the halau... want to know why???? Because I got a job!!!!

So I went for an interview today with a lady who runs a teaching school that sends teachers to businesses that want to hire English teachers for their employees. A new business just asked for a teacher to come and teach 12 hours a week, 3 different classes. So I went to talk to her she was really nice and she liked me. So next week I am going with her to a book store to pick out the book I want to use for the class. I basically get to do what i want, come up with my own lesson plans, decide how long i want to spend on what topics and so on. Once we pick the book that we think will work best for me and the company its basically up to me to use it how i want to and teach them how i feel fit. My schedule is pretty sweet, two days a week I will have a morning class from 7-9, and monday through thursday (no work on friday!)I will have class from 6 30 to 8 30 at night. so basically 5 days a week I dont have to wake up before 5pm if i didn't want to.

I get higher pay than that of a regular school teacher because of the demands of traveling to the business site and lack of a personal classroom. So basically I am making the same working 12 hours a week as a teacher at a language school might make working 25 hours a week. Sweet I know. So I'm totally excited. now I know how much to expect a month and can start looking for an apartment... everything is falling into place. I love it. The only bummer is now I have to find something else to entertain myself... no dancing :(

La danza hawaiiana

While living in Guadalajara for a year sounded like a total blast, I had some reservations. I knew I was going to miss my family, my friends, the beach, and my dancing. When I came down for the summer I just held my own private dance classes with myself and my ipod in my room. However a year dancing alone in my room did not sound like it would be too much fun. And while my friends are great I feel like I need something I can do on my own to connect me to the city other than being dependent on them to take me out or around town. To fix this problem before I got too depressed with no dancing and no way of self entertainment (other than going to the mall and spending money I don't have) I decided to look for a dance group to join. The search was a little depressing at first, didn't find any websites and just found a few random email addresses saying if you are interested in dance classes to write. They didn't look too promising but i figured why the hell not, and emailed them. I was pleasantly surprised when I received a response almost immediately. The woman seemed very nice and gave me her number so i could call and get info on what class i should come to and where to go. I was still a little hesitant until I saw the follow up email she sent which included attachments for a huge Tahitian festival they are having here in Guadalajara November 2-4th.

So I called the number and talked to the very nice lady and she told me I could come to class tomorrow to check it out and see if I would be interested in dancing with them. The class is tomorrow at 6 30 and I am hoping for the best. Even the idea of having a group to dance with here is enough to put a permanent smile on my face. I am pretty sure that I will fall asleep and the smile will still be there. I guess what they say is true... absence makes the heart grow fonder, and seeing as I haven't danced in a month I really am craving a good dance class. I am so excited to go check it out tomorrow... if this works out and I like the dance group I will be pretty much set to stay here. Now I just need to import the beach...

The perfect 10

Today was an amazing day. It started out as a total drag, leaving the house at 8 in the morning knowing that I would not return home until at least 8 at night. However it was a surprisingly pleasant 12 hours that I spent away from the house. For the first hour of class we basically talked about a lot of social justice issues and just chilled drinking our coffee and eating cookies. The second hour of the morning session then flew by as we briefly discussed the grammar and phonetic concepts of the day. After the break the time passed just as quickly, we finished the topics for the week with a half hour to spare so once again we sat talking and played a few icebreakers. My lunch consisted of amazing beef, beans, avocado, tortillas, tostadas, salsa, and of course with some soup to start. Basically I'm the cool kid in the cafeteria and everyone stares at my food and jump the second I say I'm full and give away the leftovers.

I was bumming because the class I had to teach didn't start till 6:15, which meant that instead of getting home around 5 or 6 (which is the standard) I wouldn't get home till 8. So for about an hour or so I cruised around the downtown area, walked to the cathedral, and did a little shopping (not that I was actually buying anything, but looking can never hurt... especially when you have 3 hours to kill) Eventually I made my way back to ITTO and got to my class to teach the 1A students (the lowest level there is). A lot of teachers try to avoid the lower levels, but I love them. They have so much to learn and are so eager to improve that its impossible not to enjoy teaching them. I feel like I help students more when they have bigger needs. If the student already had a decent grasp of the English language sure I can help them with their vocabulary and fluency, but when students are total beginners there is so much to help them with. I got a 10 as my grade for the class, but this wasn't what put me in a great mood for the rest of the night. What set me over the top was that the students at the end of the class were curious about how to correctly say Ms. Cavanagh (all the other classes I taught were satisfied with Ms. or Teacher) they also asked "see you tomorrow?" and when I said no I was only teaching them for the day they genuinely looked sad. I then asked if they liked the class and learned/had fun and they all said yes, and asked if I always taught 1A because apparently I was good at it. They actually were excited that I had come to teach them for the day while most students resent having ITTO teachers because they miss their regular teacher. I felt like saying, "they like me! they really like me!" It is such a great feeling to know that what you do actually is appreciated and that you are making a difference for someone, as small as it might be (in this case teaching someone to say "Where is Dave?" "Dave is in the library." What's he doing?" "He's studying")

Basically today just reinforced why exactly I am here and made me realize just how much I really do love teaching

studentless and wireless

So today was supposed to be my fifth observed teaching session. However, no students showed up to class. The observer ran over to the other building to make sure that they hadn't given us the wrong room number, and sure enough everything was in order, except of course for the 11 missing students. After waiting around for 20 mins for someone to show, the observer said I could leave. While it was nice to get to go home 40 mins early it was a total bummer that I spent a solid two hours preparing for the class which turned out to be a complete waste of my time. The annoying thing is that ITTO (international teacher training organization) decided to make the students(teachers) come up with their own materials starting the Wednesday of the second week of teaching. Which is a good idea for grammar and conversation classes, I guess it makes the teachers be creative with their activities and examples. However, when you have to teach a reading class it is a total drag. I had to write a level appropriate story which was emphasized the grammar concept from that particular chapter and also happend to include their new vocabulary. I also had to come up with a script for a listening activity as well as questions and answers to go along with it. I also found and modified a poem that went along with the topic being covered so that they could get some experience with real literature. Pretty much my lesson plan rocked and I was going to get a 10 on the evaluation, last time I got a 9.8 and I just want the stupid 10 already. gah!

Anyways, on the bright side when I got home my mama informed me that the wireless internet was now set up. Thus, I am currently lying on my bed upstairs instead of having to go all the way downstairs to sit on the couch and plug into a cable. Another bright side of the day is that American football starts today and we are going out and watching the game/betting/having some drinks/all that good stuff. Hopefully I will get back before 1 am, seeing as I have homework due tomorrow and I also teach a class tomorrow evening, that is if the students decide to show up.

6 days down, 14 to go

So I am pretty much a third of the way done with the program and the time is flying by. I still can’t believe that in two and a half short weeks I will be a certified English teacher. This weekend I had a lot of fun and got to know some of the people in my class a bit more. Friday night Allison came out with my friends and I to some house parties, one of which was at this crazy huge mansion type house. At the bigger parties here the people hire bouncers that sit at the door with their list, and you have to be on it or be with someone of high enough status to get you in with them. One of the parties we attended also had their own bartender and bar set up as well as their own personal catered hotdog/hamburger stand. I personally got one tequila and coke from the bar, followed by three mini cheeseburgers and half of my friends hotdog.

After sleeping until noon on Saturday, Allison, Emily, Dave and I went to the open air market called San Juan de Dios. You know, the kind of place where you can buy some good knockoffs as well as the products that “fell off the truck.” I bought a sweet pair of fake designer sunglasses for a whopping 40 pesos (about 3.75) along with a large, fake coach purse. I was really excited about the bag because now I have something slightly more professional looking than my backpack to take to school every day. After our exciting trip to downtown Emily headed back out to the suburbs of Zapopan with me to hit up one of my friends 22nd birthday party. Sunday was nice and relaxing, slept in till 1, met up with Allison in the mall, did a little shopping, watched a little tv, and did a little homework. I’m thinking that soon I should start looking for an apartment. It would be nice to find a job first so I know what exactly my budget is, but I kinda need to start looking for a place now so that when the course is over I can move out. Not that I don’t absolutely love the house I’m in… it would just be nice to get out on my own.

First days teaching

I am pleased to say that I have now finished my first two days of teaching English. Yesterday I taught a conversation class, which was unobserved, and un graded and basically the point is to get the students talking and interested in whatever topic you chose for the class. I picked relationships and for the first activity had them create a personal add and then go around meet other people in the class. The students really liked the class and it was a great first experience for me as a teacher.

Today I had my first real class to teach, I got off pretty easy because I didn’t have to present a new grammar topic or anything new. It was a reading comprehension day so we did some activities that centered around the story the had to read. I was really nervous but apparently it didn’t show because my evaluator said that he liked my presence in the room and that I did a great job working with them. Obviously I have a lot to learn but I got a 9 out of 10 so I was happy with myself.

I have been meeting a lot of cool people. My closer friends in the class are a girl from Hawaii named Allison, Emily who is from New Mexico, and Dave who is from Mane. Today for lunch we all took our little packed lunches and walked over to the square in front of the cathedral and sat on a bench to eat. Its really cool being right in the center of the downtown historic Guadalajara… although it can be a little sketchy at times for the most part its really cool. Tomorrow I teach another class, somehow I got a busy schedule for the first days, but I’m not complaining. Everyone has to teach 10 observed classes, teach 1 one on one class, and two conversation classes. I guess I’m getting mine out of the way quicker.

And yes, I moved back in with my old host family on Tuesday. Although I am staying in a room that’s really isn’t a room, more of a wide hallway with doors, I am much happier here than at my old home. Because really, my room has a bed and that’s all I need, and the house has internet and cable tv (and there happens to be a tv in the little den where the internet cables are). The food is also amazing, I feel bad thou, my stomach shrank because I basically ate nothing the 4 days I was living at the other house and now I cant eat all the delicious food my mama gives me. Oh well, in time I will be able to eat it all and more!

Sunday Mass and Monday class

So I went to Mass on Sunday with my Señora and couldn’t help but to feel out of place. Not only was I the only one there with light hair under the age of 60 but I felt like I had never been in a Catholic Mass before. While I knew exactly what was going on I could not participate in any of the prayers(seeing as I am unfamiliar with the Spanish versions) or customs, which by the way are totally different than those of the States. A few things of note: first of all, instead of genuflecting in the isle before entering your pew and making the sign of the cross, you would enter the pew and go to your seat, then kneel on the kneeler and make the sign of the cross on your forehead, lips, and chest followed by the standard sign of the cross ending by kissing your hand. And we’re not talking your typical American style cross on forehead/lips/chest before the Gospel with the simple two quick lines traced by your thumb, it’s a full 4 point motion dabbing on the top bottom left and right. So by the end you have done a whole 17 dabs, and most people I observed seemed to be able to complete this ordeal in less than three seconds.
Secondly only about half the people go up for communion. I guess its kinda good, if people haven’t gone to confession or something and feel unable to receive, but I’m used to basically everyone going up, and if not for communion at least for a blessing (which they don’t do here, its all or nothing)
I also found a few things that were rather funny, like the familys a few pews in front of me each had a son, one wearing a Chivas jersey and the other in his Atlas jersey. I thought it was sweet, everyone coming together, Catholics and protestants, Jews and gentiles, black men and white men, Chivas fans and Atlas fans, joining hands and singing the words of the old negro spiritual “free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we are free at last!” Martin Luthor King Jr totally should have added that part… maybe Raiders fans and Chargers fans too. Another thing that made me smile was this little girl about ten years old in the pew in front of me, I swear it was her goal at the kiss of peace to shake hands with every person within a 15 foot radius, the priest started taking again and she was still scrambling to shake more hands. I actually admire her because when I was little I would always try to sit between my mom and my brother so that I didn’t have to hold a strangers hand during the Our Father and at the kiss of peace would shake as few hands as possible, basically I was a horrible child.
The most exciting and culturally different part about the Mexican Mass is the aftermath. As you leave the church, at the bottom of the steps I was greeted with an old man with a wooden cart on which he is grilling fresh corn, there was also a rather large mobile taco stand set up as well as a man cooking hotdogs. As you entered the small square you then came across more food stands, including a man with a pot of hot oil making churros along side a man with a bunch of ice chests full of ice cream. I would have liked to stay and check everything out but my Señora seemed to be in a hurry to get home, it was almost 9 o’clock… dinner time.

Monday was rather eventful but to keep this somewhat short so this blog is actually readable in a reasonable amount of time I’ll just go over the highlights. –Rode the bus for the first time, -met the 18 other students in the itto course, although we are separated into two classes so I am really only getting to know 8 of them, -threw away most of my lunch as it was basically inedible, -suffered through 6 hours of introduction to the program, -observed two really good English teachers during their classes, -found out I would be teaching my first class on Wednesday, -met a girl living in zapopan going to itto and decided it wasn’t that much farther away after all, -left my house as soon as I got home because I didn’t exactly feel like hanging around with no one to talk to, no internet and no tv, -showed up randomly at my old señoras house begging for a place to stay, -came home and had to tell my nice little old lady (but horrible cook and non supplier of hot water for showers) that I was leaving the following day.

Old friends and futbol

So my first weekend back was rather exciting. When I first decided to come to Mexico (a whole 3 weeks ago) I opted not to tell all my friends here I was coming back, so when I randomly showed up on Friday night at a going away party for a friend who is studying abroad for the next year I was greeted with a lot of double takes and “what are you doing here?”s. My favorite response was a look of shock followed by a loud shout of “What the F*$%!” from a friend driving past the car I was in at the time.
The señora I am living with is very nice, however I still miss my old señora and her house (where I had both cable tv in my room and internet access in the house). My new señora is quite a bit older, and lives in the house with her husband, her daughter and her husband and their 19 year old son. Instead of giving me a key to the house like most host moms here do, I get to ring this old bell at the gate when I get home (even when I arrive at 4am) and she gets out of bed to come let me in. I kinda feel bad waking her up, but it was her choice to not give me a key.
She isn’t a horrible cook but certainly is not a good one, at best the food is edible. Yesterday when I sat down with them from my first comida here (la comida, or lunch is the biggest meal of the day) I was asked if I liked beer, and when I said no, the question was if I liked tequila. I naturally said yes and then my grandmother aged señora proceeded to pour two decent sized shots of tequila for us to sip on. After I finished my tequila I was asked if I would like another so I told her I would like one with coke this time, not just pure. So she started to pour tequila into a large glass but then stopped and handed me the bottle and told me to serve how much I wanted. After I finished all that I could bear of my food, she offered me more tequila and more food, but after telling her I was satisfied I left the table to get ready for the futbol game.
There are 2 futbol teams from Guadalajara, Chivas and Atlas, and they happened to be playing each other my first full day in the city. My señora told me that her husband, daughter and herself are for Atlas, while her son in law and grandson are for Chivas, and with me being for Chivas the house was divided 3 and 3. When my friend came to pick me up for the game my señora told him that we should enjoy the game, although atlas were going to win (Chivas won, 3-1 and when he dropped me off later that night she told us not to say anything about the game). The stadium was crazy, we were in a box close to the centerline, and the stands behind the goal to my right was full of Chivas fanatics, and behind the goal to my left was full with Atlas fanatics. Most the stadium in comparison was relatively calm, shouting for most the match and only standing and dancing around when goals were scored.
Well, that’s the quick run down on my first two days back, class starts Monday so I’ll probably post something later this week about all that craziness… meeting new people, trying to be a teacher… I guess we’ll see how it goes.

Back in Guadalajara

For those of you who don’t already know, I am currently in Guadalajara Mexico… again. After four years of college classes, working, and rowing all the time I was slightly (ok, maybe totally) burnt out. After spending two very short 6 week summers here I fell in love with the city and thought it would be the best place to come and relax for a little while. While life down here is more relaxing, I am not here on vacation. I am taking an intensive one month course to get my certificate to be a teacher of “English as a foreign language”. Once I finish the class I hope to find work here in Guadalajara, the program I am taking the class with guarantees me work in Mexico, but I hope to stay here. I am planning on staying in Mexico for the semester, returning home for Christmas, but who knows what will happen if I find the perfect job here and can’t bring myself to leave… I might just have to come back after new years.