Day 38: A Good Day

Today was a good day (as so obviously pointed out in the title). It was one of those days where I woke up thinking it was just going to be a pretty OK Friday but things just got better and better. 

Every Friday we have a culture class in the morning. It's basically this lady who takes us around town to show us different things related to the Mexican culture. Today was exceptionally fun because we got to eat. I'll explain. 

Tortillas de Maiz (corn tortillas) are kind of a staple for every meal here. It's like how rolls can go with most meals in America. Here, it's tortillas. So, Irma (our culture guide) took us to make tortillas de maiz. At first I thought we were going to her house but instead we went to this little town right outside Tehuacan called Coapam. Here, we met these lovely ladies. 

 

They make about 2-3 THOUSAND tortillas a day. We watched them grab handfuls of corn pure`, flatten that with the press, and swiftly place the flattened corn on the griddle. Easy no? 

Flattening it was...

Getting it on the griddle perfectly? Not so much. 

That wrinkled one.... it's mine. They got a good laugh out of our feeble attempts to do what they do 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. I love how when I learn about this culture, I continue to gain a new found respect for the people. These women blew me away with their efficiency. They seriously made entire batches of tortillas in about 5 minutes. 

After this lovely adventure, we went back to the school and I got to take a nap after finishing a chapter of "The Time Machine". :D I LOVE NAPS. The floor was even cold so it felt really good to sleep there. I also love this book that I'm reading. It's so exciting and interesting to read, but not too hard to understand. Perfect!

Then began the teaching. Everything went smoothly, which in a teacher's world means that everything was successful! Yay! And we got to dance today. I always love Fridays at 7:45 because that's when we clean up and get ready to dance till school ends. :) I am even starting to learn all of the "Friday" song. So now I can terrorize my brothers when I get home. MWAHAHAHA. Just kidding, I will probably hate that song by the end of the semester. 

Then I went home and changed into sweats and a t-shirt, thinking that I was staying in tonight. My sister Leslie came downstairs to help me cook dinner. Actually, she just helped me fry the tortillas. We have one of those stoves where you turn on the stove top and light it with a match, which scares the bejeebers out of me. I don't ever use them and so I think that, knowing my luck, the stove would explode once I lit it. So she helped me with that. I'm happy to say that the stove didn't explode and the tortillas were delicious.  She decided that she's become a great cook because she can fry tortillas and eggs. :) Cute girl. Love her to pieces. 

Now my night could have ended right here, and it would have been a pretty awesome Friday. Little did I know what was in store. Leslie went upstairs while I was eating and then rushed back downstairs to ask me, "Do you want to go to the games?"

"Mande?" (huh?)

"Do you want to go to the games??" (as she points in the direction of a nearby fair that is going on right now).

*CLICKS* "OH! Do I want to go to Show Vega?" 

"Yeah!"

"Yeah I want to go!! Do you want to go?"

(claps in excitement) "Yes!"

"Yay!!" (proceed to jump up and down like I'm 12 again.)

"You should probably change though."

And so I did. And we went to the carnival.

SIDE NOTE: This girl is so stinkin cute. That is all. 

Me, Mama, Leslie, and Camila joined Lucy, Luis, and Ricky to go to the fair. These are probably my favorite friends of my parents. Lucy is super nice and funny and her boys definatly take after her. They also speak moderate English. That's a huge plus. ;)

Luis and I rushed onto the first ride. It didn't look too scary to me. We got the front too! It wasn't very crowded there (which was fine cause there were no lines!) so we got to ride all the rides wherever we wanted. :D


This one ended up being scarier than I expected.

There was a point where the ride was hanging upside down for what felt like forever and a day. That got me. I can handle the feeling of falling out of my seat for a brief moment. This however, was not a brief moment. 

Me: WOO-HOO!
Luis: Uuugh....

Hahaha! Let the madness begin!

And fun times were had by all! 

Pretty awesome Friday if I do say so myself. 

I realized during one of the rides with my sister, that I really enjoy being childish for moments. Like when riding a roller coaster, You get to laugh and laugh at the thrilling sensations and laugh more at the person next to you, who is also laughing. It's one of those little moments that I will always cherish. Not going on that specific ride, but laughing like a fool with my sister. I will cherish the memory not for the things, but for the people. Days where I make those kinds of memories end up being very good days. 

Later, while eating tacos from a taco stand, Leslie asked me, "Today. It was a good day?" Smiling, I said, "Si! It was a very good day." 

And that was my Friday. :) I definatly love surprise fun-tastic Friday's like crazy. 

Day 37: Teaching... Just kidding. Playing.

Got to be honest, I kind of love teaching. And I thoroughly enjoy teaching the older Elementary 2 students. I like my other kids, don't get me wrong, but there is something about this class that has more "AHA, I get it!" moments. Moments when the kids understand what's being said or what's going on. More moments where they connect with each other. Like I've said before, it's why I teach. Even though sometimes lessons epically fail and kids think you're the most boring teacher ever....

 

But you wanna know how I beat that? I draw cartoons (My kids sometimes get to draw too...) This week we were talking about punctuation. Fun right? It is when your characters are awesome like mine! We've got the "hipster comma", the big fat period, the EXCLAMATION POINT! and the Strong Shouting Question. I made up the hipster comma but the others were mostly made up by the other kids. They told me what to write in the speech boxes. 

You should have been there for last week's drawing. I had wrestling characters and was quoting Nacho Libre. There was "Sentence" who was complete, "Fragment" who was missing a few limbs and an eye, and "Crazy Steve" to represent those sentences that just plain don't make sense. They were epic as well. Should have taken a picture... 

The things we think of to go along with our lessons are quite fun too! I am finding now that I will save ANYTHING thinking that maybe I can use it in my classroom. Right now I'm collecting bottle caps for future balloon race cars. For these beauties, I cut up cereal boxes and let the kids draw what they wanted on their shields. We're reading the "Ballad of Mulan" currently, so making armor is essential when you're going to war, no? I was Captain Mushu, bravely fighting side by side with, not one, but TWO Captain Americas, as well as one Captain Ka-Pow. I love lessons like this because there is so much language learning, and the kids didn't even know it. I didn't even realize it till I was thinking about it later. Yay, learning through fun!

Today I took one of the crafts I made home. As soon as I pulled it out of my bag, my little sister gasped and ran over to me saying "dame!" (give it to me). In my broken Spanish I tried to ask what it's name should be. She said a lot of things, none of which I can recall. I tried to suggest "panda" (because hey, it's a panda and she needs to apparently learn more English according to mi mama) but she wasn't havin' it. She did let me take her picture with it. Actually, as soon as I pulled the camera out, she started posing with the panda. It was quite adorable. Unfortunately, she was moving so fast (I seriously need a video of her running around everywhere) that I only got one sort of good picture. Success enough for me!

And that's pretty much it. 

I like it down here. I'm grateful I got to come to Mexico and volunteer for these children. I'm also very grateful for mi familia. As we're learning to communicate, I'm finding that it gets a little easier everyday to understand each other. It's a good thing. It's a little funny because now mi mama is even saying small English words like "house" and "school". So proud of her! :D And I'm learning to speak better Spanish with her. I'm still really slow and can't talk a million miles per hour like they do, but I'm getting there. I'll get there. I'm too determined to fail. Actually I really can't fail. I can only learn more. 

I Love Mexico Like Crazy! 

Day 31: El Cumpleanos de Paisley

My mamma is one of those people that will always amaze  me. She's taught me many things over my lifetime; Some that have gone in one ear and out the other, while others have successfully stayed with me. Now as she gets another year wiser, I'm sure she'll have more to teach me. Actually, she'll probably ALWAYS have something to teach me. 

Things I have learned from my mother:

1. Life isn't fair. Whatcha gonna do about it?

I choose to dance on beaches.

2. Families that play together, stay together.

3. Never, ever, under any circumstances, ever, wear flip-flops to church. Always dress classy, not trashy. 

4. If you think your life is boring, you're probably a boring person. 

5.You can cook almost anything correctly if you FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS.

6. You always love your children. You may not always like them, but you never stop loving them.

7. Hard work won't kill you, and neither with healthy food. 

8. You don't need to keep everything you've ever had possession of. Some things just need to go. 

9. Always take pictures. You can never take too many pictures. 

10. Sometimes, eating dinner (meat, cheese, and crackers) on a blanket, while watching TV in Mom and Dad's room, creates the fondest memories. 

11. Pedicures are awesome. 

12. Scrap-booking can turn an entire room into a jungle. 

13. Marriage may be the hardest thing that will ever happen to me, but it will be the most rewarding to be together as a family forever. 

14. Kindness matters. Be careful about your temper, or you may just break a heart. 

15. The higher the heel, the better. Never underestimate a fantastic pair of shoes.

16. Visit your loved ones as often as you can. They may appreciate it more than you think.  

17. Do what you love to do. Sing, dance, be with family. Be your true self. My mom will always accept me for who I am.

18. I'll never stop being her little girl. (And that's OK by me.)

And those are just some of the things I've learned. I can't list everything, and I'm sure more will come to me later, but it's good to know that my mom has taught me many important things in life. I'll always be in debt to her. Hopefully I will be able to be the super-heroine of a mother for my children as she was for me. 

I am definatly my mother's daughter. Love her like crazy!!

Day 17, 18, 19: Dinosaurs, Frozen yogurt, Cockroaches

I was counting out the days and was surprised that I have been here 21 days. That's cool. However, it's crazy how fast time is already flying! I keep thinking I just got here a few days ago, not three weeks ago. I guess that just means that I'm keeping myself busy and having fun doing it. 

I guess I have been pretty busy. 

Last Friday was the finish of our first week of teaching! We survived! ... But at a price. We were all pretty tired and ready for something fun to do. And boy did we find something fun to do. 
Fridays are our Culture Class days. This is basically when this lady takes all of us around town or to her house and we learn about Tehuacan, Mexico, and lots of traditions and customs that are all around us. That Friday, we went to the Mineraila. It was cool walking into the little shop filled with rocks and beads of all colors and material and shapes and sizes. After looking through that for a couple minutes, I thought that was the end of it, but I was wrong. 
She took us to the other side of the building where we went inside and saw....
A ginormous warehouse of stones. They were all made of different and cool material. There were sculptures and figurines and beads and such all out of material like Onyx and obsidian and jade and.... lots of others that I don't actually remember. I'm guessing that this place is the warehouse for all of Tehuacan. It was pretty huge. We walked down the aisles and I found something quite peculiar. It was kind of funny just sitting there in the middle of the store. I'll tell you this, it wasn't a rock. 

I made a dinosaur friend. So... My Friday was definatly super exciting!

After that adventure, we continued on teaching. Me and Miss Cassie had planned something extra special that day for the kids. We were pretty excited for the last 15 minutes of class. 

We were gonna have a dance party. :D Now if you know me at all, I LOVE dancing. Doesn't matter how or to what music, I pretty much love dancing in general. We decided to make it a song that all the children could sing along to (after all this is an English Class).... Something fun and upbeat..... Something a little ridiculous....

Something like this....

Don't worry, you don't have to watch it. But you have to admit, this is a fabulous song about weekends and what day it is and what you do during the day. I'm pretty sure she got this from Sesame Street or something, it seems like it would fit perfectly into their TV program. 

Long story short, our first class... 

Yeah, that was a pretty Epic Failure. But we learned what we did wrong and our second class was a Complete Success!! So it shall become a tradition. Every Friday, is dance party Friday. 

We're going to have to get video of the kids dancing. It's pretty fantastic. 

So after that whole adventure... it was time to go home. Yay! 

Saturday was a teachers day out. We all met at the mall and did some shopping and went to see a movie. Typical me, I got food at the mall. That frozen Yogurt was just calling my name!

Those gummy bears were too. 

Isn't it just a masterpiece? 
Nutella and Mint yogurt with coconut, gummy bears, cherry filled chocolate bites, and a chocolate wafer. I now realize as I am typing this, I had three different kinds of chocolate in there. Yes. :D





For the movie, I finally saw The Dark Night Rises. In espanol. I understood most of it actually. The only thing I won't be able to take from the movie is all the quoteable lines from it. But it was good enough that I would see it again in English. Got to say, I am pretty excited for Joseph Gordon-Levitt and his role in Batman. 

That was all for Saturday. Pretty nice and relaxing. 

Sunday was also very good. I got to go to church and one of the other teachers came with me this time! Yay! Amanda and I sat together and listened in sacrament meeting to all the Testimonies (since it was fast sunday). I was actually surprised at how many youth got up to bear their testimony! It was so cool to hear them speak about what they knew to be true and the happiness the gospel brings to their lives. Even though I couldn't always understand them, I could understand the spirit they brought into the room, and that is the most important part of the whole meeting. 

I didn't stay the whole time because I had to get back to my family. They were planning on going somewhere a little farther away. We ended up going to Orizaba with them and a couple of their friends. 

I have to tell you about the way to Orizaba. 
It's kind of a little insane.
The drive was beautiful because you're traveling through the mountains filled with trees and jungle life. But it was treacherous because of the winding path down the mountain. I wish I had taken pictures because I just don't know how to describe it, it was so crazy. There was a neat little system they had though to help cars not have such tight turns. There were lines drawn on the road indicating the cars to switch sides on each turn. At first I thought it was very strange, but once I figured it out, I thought this was a super smart idea! I hope to get pictures next time I go down the road... if there is a next time. 

Once we got to Orizaba, we got out of the car and me and my sister got ready to go....

Wanna guess what a tirolesa is? Don't cheat. 

I love that girl's facial expressions. She's at that "I'm cute and I know it" phase. All sugar... well sometimes.  










We're all ready to go! Honestly, I don't know everyone's names but their all really good friends so I have a feeling they will become like extended family.









I wasn't the first to go but I was the first to go upside down! Figure it out yet? That's right, we went ziplining! So fun! Papa ended up taking pictures because he said he was afraid of heights. The only time I got scared was when flipping upside down and the harness feels a little loose. Not loose enough to be dangerous but too loose for comfort. I flipped back to normal soon after, but now I have photographic evidence that I went ziplining upside down.

Leslie went afterwards. Woo! You go sis!

 And then we returned safely. I just like the guy's face in this picture. It's kinda funny. I think he's saying, "Woah!" He thought we were going too fast. 

After that whole adventure, we went out together for chicken and pork tacos. They were really good. There was only one thing about the restaurant that kind of freaked me out!

Up in the corner (the corner near Leslie in the picture) was none other that a huge......

Cockroach. 

Ew.

One of the dad's jokingly told me it was for dessert. Now if I had actually been even a little bit younger, I may have believed him. I can imagine it now... they come out with ice cream and a chocolate covered roach on top of it.

Like I said before. 

EW.

Lucky for me, the thing stayed up in it's corner the whole time. Yes, I did keep an eye on it the whole time. WOULDN'T YOU?? So I was able to enjoy my food in slight peace... praying that that bug was single and friendless. 

And then we went home. 
And then I skyped my family. :D SO AWESOME. I'll admit, I already miss them a ton but I am glad that they are doing well. That's Logan. Being... Logan. :) Love that kid like crazy!

I love spending time with family on Sunday. It's what I think, and what I have grown up knowing, is the best way to bond with family. I love the laughing, joking, and togetherness that I have gown up with in my family back home and I am grateful that here in mi familia de Mexico they have similar traditions. :)

And that was my weekend. A fabulous weekend if I do say so myself. Just livin my crazy, beautiful, life. :) 

Just lovin teaching, dancing, mi familia, my family, and Mexico, like crazy. 

Day 15: New Discoveries

These past few days of teaching have been pretty fun. Besides sometimes not having kids at all, the days I do have kids, they are pretty good for me! I like teaching the older kids and having pretty decent conversations with them. I also enjoy teaching a lot of different subjects... This makes me wonder if I should go into K-6 teaching... that's new discovery #1.

Discovery #2. Kids here like the Muppets more than Sesame Street. Good to know for future learning videos. 

I made another discovery. I was craving chocolate today. I didn't know this though until one of the little girls brought in a chocolate bar and said it was for me. As soon as I realized what it was, I was pretty delighted to have chocolate. The other discovery as I ate it later, things either taste better here or better in America. Chocolate here is better. However, wafers are not. But that's ok. It was still a good chocolate bar. 

Another discovery I made about food was definatly a surprise to me. I was eating a really good soup mi mama had made and there were these pieces of what tasted like dense popcorn. I asked what they were and she told me they were Garbanzo Beans. REALLY??? I'd gone through my whole life never trying them and thinking they would be gross. Turns out, I like Garbanzo Beans. Go figure. 

And the discoveries keep coming!! I looked on Netflix because I was kind of bored and a little sick one night and I found that the movies on the Netflix channel in Mexico are 1 Million times better than the movies in the USA! Or Netflix just got a deal with disney and The Back to the Future people. Yesterday's movie? Back to the Future III with spanish subtitles. Woo! Tonight's movie? The Swan Princess! I love everything about this movie. It's funny, witty, and the music is pretty awesome. 

So that's my day today. Pretty good. I'm excited for friday though. :) Tomorrow's discovery will be on how to use the Kombi. Wish me luck!! 

Still lovin life like crazy. 

Day 12: First Day of School

Today was finally the day. 

The day that I had prepared for.

The reason I am in Mexico.

Today was the first day...

I taught English. 

After all the vacation and meeting mi familia, it was time to buckle down and get to work. I was stressing a lot today before I had class because I didn't know what was going to happen. I didn't know if I would have enough material for the 2 hour classes, if it was even at the children's level, whether or not the kids would behave or even like me... There was a lot of uncertainty when I woke up this morning. 

However! I realized it was Monday, and Monday is always a good day because I get email. I have a dear friend who is serving a mission in Sweden who sends emails out to family and friends weekly. His awesome mom posts them on a blog (so go check it out if you'd like to know more about what he does {Austin's Mission to Sweden: I felt like a greenie again!} ). This email was actually pretty perfect for me and gave me hope. He talked about his recent experience with an investigator. He was called in to help teach someone in french because he used to speak french (before he started to learn swedish). It was interesting to read that even though he prepared like crazy, he still didn't do as well as he had hoped. However, he didn't give up. He went home and studied. He prepared more. I think if that had been me, I wouldn't have done that. It payed off for him though! He succeeded in teaching in french the next day. It's actually better if you just go read the story cause he tells it way better than me. 

ANYWAY. Long story short, I felt like even if I failed today, I could regroup and try again tomorrow. 

So I prepared till my first class started at four. Leslie, my sister was the first to arrive.

We waited for the other girls that were on the roll to be in my class. 

We waited...

And waited...

And waited...

And then...

waited a little longer...

Finally, I decided to start the lesson because who arrives to class 30 minutes late? Seriously. 

I taught my entire lesson with just me and Leslie. It was actually pretty fun. She is very smart and a good learner. It was actually more stressful when my Head Teacher came in to see how things were going.

After the first class, I actually felt a little sorry for the other teachers. They looked like their nerves were being tried to the limit. I was grateful for the tender mercy God gave me today. I can't let this get to my head though. There are always things I can improve on. 

The second class was good too! There were four boys (huh, kinda like home) and they were all really smart and definatly right at the level that I had prepared. I'm waiting for the second shoe to drop though... it's almost too good to be true to have 2 classes where nothing really goes wrong. 

I have a feeling that this semester will be a good one. I will probably face challenges with the kids but for now, I'm glad they were good for me today. It gave me confidence to move on and to take a breath and say to myself, "You're ok. You can do this."

I know that this is going to be a part of my life forever. Teaching. I love it and I love to see kids learning. My favorite part is when you're explaining something and they're struggling but all of the sudden something clicks and they get it! The light goes on. That's why I like teaching. You're teaching these kids truth and as soon as they understand, they get a little more light in their life. Truth is what I love and I can't help but share that. That is why I am a teacher. I love it. :) I love it like crazy. 

Day 11: Mi Familia en Mexico!

Ok, I skipped a couple days but mostly it was traveling, training for teaching, and getting settled in Tehuacan, and I forgot the rest. Kind of boring stuff. And today was a good day so I wanted to write about it before I forgot it. 
Today was a pretty good Sunday for me! I got to go to church and lucky me it's only a five minute walk away from my house! I got there and it was kinda funny cause I was the ONLY blonde in the building. Oh wait, there was one other. It was one of the missionaries. Actually, he walked in and saw me, and his eyes got really wide like he was surprised to see a white girl.

Sacrament meeting was really good and I understood some of it... ok not too much but a bit. Then the missionaries told me where Gospel Doctrine and Relief Society met. In gospel doctrine I met a lady who was from Idaho Falls who was kind enough to sit with me and help translate for me. She had the cutest little kid you ever did see! 
The lessons were good. We were in Helaman 13-16 and the talk from last conference called "Sacrifice" by Elder Oaks. We talked about where your heart is and the sacrifices that we make as members of the church. It was good even though I didn't understand a whole lot of it.

After Church, mi hermona y yo watched the hunger games. To help with her english, we watched it in english with spanish subtitles. It's still a good movie the second time around. It was my sister's first time seeing it though so she was worried the whole time that Katniss wouldn't make it! Yeah, it actually scared me a little too... even though I knew what was coming. Funny how movies can do that. 

After the movie we went on a little drive up to the mountains to play with one of the family's friends. We went to this restaurant that was pretty cool. I call it the secret restaurant because when you drive up to it, it just looks like an ordinary general store. BUT in the back, is the entrance that opens up to a nice restaurant. I thought it was cool. I tried Pozole for the first time. My host dad loves it and they told me it was only a little spicy. So, me and my tender taste buds decided to get adventurous. 

That isn't my picture but it is Pozole for ya'll who are wondering what the heck it even is. 
I actually really like the stuff in it. Except the broth. I would change the broth to a chicken stock and it would become my favorite soup. Closely behind clam chowder and my mom's chicken noodle soup. The broth was kind of spicy, but as you ate more and more, it felt like the spice just kept adding instead of fading away. I had to stop eating it so I wouldn't make myself sick... which was sad cause I wanted to eat it... Does anyone else ever have this problem? 
So, I learned a valuable lesson and my familia won't let me forget it. A little spicy to mexicans is REALLY spicy for me. I'm proud of myself for trying it though. Just had a thought: Chandler would LOVE it. 

We got up to the park in the mountains called Puerto del aire and it was SO BEAUTIFUL!

Mi y mis hermanas

Once we got out of the car, as is custom and expected, out came the futbol. We were just kicking it around but then we started a game. Me and mi papa vs Daniel (the family friend) and Leslie. 

Not to brag or anything, but me and papa totally won after a awesome comeback. Woo!

Then we went walking through the foliage and saw some pretty amazing sites from on top of this mountain. It reminds me of Oregon... just different trees and bigger hills. 

The coolest part about being up that high? It feels like you're touching the clouds. At one point, we were actually in a cloud as it rolled in and you could feel it in the air! Too cool. I've always secretly wanted to touch the clouds and now I have!

Holly (dog), Daniel, Leslie, Me, Camila, y Mama

I call her Sugar. She's too sweet!

This picture gets to be explained. Me and Leslie bust up laughing every time we see it. So what had happened was we were playing a little futbol before we left and I don't know why, but Leslie decided to pick up a stick at the same time me and mama were posing for a picture. Somehow, that stick got tangled up in my hair, and when Leslie went to throw it on the ground, I went with it. Best part was, this all happened right as papa took the picture. Still laughing... but maybe it was a "you had to be there" moment.  

I love spending Sundays with family. No matter what part of the world I'm in. It's always fun to laugh, play, and bond with those people who are near and dear to you. I plan on doing things like this with my own future family. As our family says, "A family that plays together, stays together."... and "Long live the Dinosaur!" But that's a different story. 

So all is well in beautiful Mexico. Loving it like crazy. :)