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!
jueves, 30 de agosto de 2007
miércoles, 29 de agosto de 2007
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.
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.
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.
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