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.