La Mejor Despedida

This week was my last week of teaching! I can’t believe I’ve lived and taught here for 9 months. The last week was a week of celebrations! We celebrated my student’s improvement, completing the course, and my moving back to the United States.  I am so grateful to have such wonderful students. I know I’m a lot younger than some of them (because I mostly teach English instructors) but they still treated me with respect and valued what I had to say. They not only say kind words during the last classes, they unnecessarily showered me with gifts! Here’s my week in a nutshell:

On Mondays, I work with English teachers with a basic level of English at the English Center in Toluca to help them improve their grammar. It’s a small group and on any given day, there are between 4 and 6 students. I started the class by reviewing what we had covered the previous week (first conditional). Then, I shared with them a PowerPoint I made about websites they can utilize for their own English improvement or to use to teach their students. I shared this PowerPoint with all of my classes this week. I also taught them about MadLibs. We did “hall pass” ones. After, we feasted! One student brought a wide sausage called obispo. It’s made from various cow parts, raisins, and almonds. You can really put whatever you want in it. She made two versions: one spicy and one not because she knew I can’t eat anything too spicy. We also had rice, beans, my veggie dip, and coffee jello with a cream sauce. I don’t drink coffee but I loved the jello. At the end of the class, they gifted me a hand-made wooden chess set from the village of one of the students.

On Tuesdays, I’m all over the place. I start in the mornings at the English office for the state of Mexico. I give basic English classes to the employees in the building in the other departments of education (math, science, etc) and also the accountants and any other personnel. Then, I walk over to Eudoxia Calderon Elementary School downtown to work with sixth graders for an hour. At noon, I go to the teacher preparation school (called an “Escuela Normal”) to assist in a basic English class for about an hour and a half. The teacher I work with is wonderful. She’s the one who invited me to her daughter’s wedding last month. She gave me a bracelet and a Kleenex sleeve as a thank-you gift with a lovely note. She asked if I could help administer a speaking test to the students for the last class. While I assessed one student, the others were outside the room. The last student to finish the exam asked me to accompany him to another room. All the other students were in traditional Mexican dancing outfits and had prepared a performance for me. They did a great job and after, they cooked for me! We had enchiladas, tamales, rice, beans, sweets from Toluca, and fruit water. Some of them made me the most creative cards. No wonder they are studying to be preschool teachers. Everything was perfect!

In the afternoons, I work in the English Center in Toluca. I have a more advanced group on Tuesdays and I get along with them really well. We decided to have a potluck for the last class. We had half of a regular class and after we ate and ate and ate. The students brought tacos al pastor, pepperoni pizza, and fruit salad. I made my dip, too. We did a special activity at the end called silent affirmations. I think they liked it. They gave me a beautiful necklace to remember them by.

Wednesday mornings I go back to the Escuela Normal to help with another class who are farther in their career than the Tuesday group. In the afternoon, I take a bus to Metepec to teach an advanced conversation class at the English Center. After having class for a while, we had another potluck. I ate really well this week. One of my students made chilaquiles with green salsa. We had my dip and people brought desserts. We ate a couple of different jellos and a Ferrer Roche cake. They gave me a jewelry set from a nearby town and a mini Oreo cake because they know how much a love my sweets!

Thursdays are big days, too. I start at the office with a different group of employees in the education building giving an English class. As a going away present, they took me out to breakfast to my favorite place in Toluca, Lusso. It’s an adorable café with delicious food. They gave me a computer bag, a mug, and a leather notebook. After the class with the office, I go to Edoxia again to work with another group of sixth graders. I had commented how much I like the decorated binders of the teachers and my cooperating teacher ordered me a binder and notebook set with my name! It’s very cute. Then I head to Carlos Hank Gonzalez Elementary School to work with various groups of sixth graders. Each week, I usually work with two different classes. For my last class, Faby and I stopped by all the classes because they had written me the most precious notes that they wanted to give me. The group I spend the most time with gifted me a framed pencil with a poem in Spanish about education that made me tear up.

In the afternoon, I go to the English Center in Toluca. It’s within walking distance of the office as are most places I teach. We had half of a class then we went out for dinner. They decided they would rather do that then have a potluck. They were so generous and not only paid for my dinner but they gave me a tree of life, which is typical of Metepec, a painted box, a silver ring from Taxco, and a necklace with a mini tree of life. This group has the biggest hearts. The things they said during dinner were very thoughtful. They said that even though I was young, they respected me for my spirit and my optimism.

The people from my office also took me out to eat as a despedida. We went to a restaurant in downtown Toluca. I ordered the biggest torta of my life. I ate a fourth of it. This past year, I made so many strong relationships with the people in my office. I went to the office to lesson plan more than other assistants in the past and because of that, I was able to get to know them very well. It’s a diverse but awesome group of people. They are always smiling and make working in the office fun. They treated me to dinner and they bought me rebozo and a doll. I’m exited to be working with them next year, too!

I was so blessed to have such a variety of groups and people to teach this year. I’m truly thankful but the amazing experience I had here in Mexico. I know most of my blogs were about traveling but teaching was just as an important part of my life here. Thank you for reading and for those of you who were a part of my experience!

Take me back to the hot springs in Tolantongo!

Another fun-filled weekend! On Friday I had brunch with Adris at Lusso in downtown Toluca. It’s possibly the cutest café in the world. Everything looks and tastes delicious. I had pancakes and they came with a guava sauce that was divine. In the afternoon I visited Bruno at the hospital because he had his gall bladder removed. I feel so bad for him. I stayed with him for a couple hours then went to a friend’s house for a get-together. I was told there would be tacos so obviously I had to go. They hired people from a taquería to make tacos in the backyard with their equipment. I had never seen that before but I guess it’s common here. Best idea ever.

After a good 1.5 hours of sleep I headed over to the bus station with the lovely Faby, Jasmin, and Andy on Saturday morning to start our adventure to Tolantongo! We took a bus to Mexico City to meet up with Ellis then another bus to the state of Hidalgo then a taxi to Tolantongo. Tolantongo is a box canyon made up of rivers, caves, grottos, and waterfalls all with naturally hot water in a resort. It’s a natural hot springs paradise basically! The resort is made up of 3 hotel complexes. When we got there, we tried to find a hotel room but they were all booked because tour companies bring buses of people at a time. We decided not to think about it at the moment and we enjoyed the natural beauties of Tolantongo.

First the girls bought water shoes. I had flip flops so I opted out. The first “attraction” we went to was a long and narrow tunnel/cave. You started by walking in the tunnel with water up to your ankles but by the end you were swimming and holding onto a rope to guide you. The second place we went to was a big, water-filled cave. It had another one of the tunnels insidevbut with a much stronger current. I lost a flip flop. Thankfully Jasmin rescued it for me! I should have bought water shoes. After we stayed in the cave for a while, we thought it might be a good idea to figure out where we were going to sleep for the night. There is camping all around the resort area so we ended up renting a tent and a blanket because that was the only option. We got help setting the tent up and right next to the tent there were big man-made pools with warm water. I think we spent about 3 hours just relaxing in the water, talking, and learning to swim. Not only am I an English teacher, but I was also a swim instructor for the day. We stayed in the pools until we got kicked out around 10:30PM. We went to bed early because no one had slept the night before.

Make that TWO nights that no one slept. We were so cold in the tent because we didn’t rent any kind of cover. Faby put all of her clothes on top of herself to stay warm during the night. We woke up bright and early before 8 and explored a waterfall. It was beautiful! We only went to take pictures because the water wasn’t as warm as other parts. Then we found some other pools and stayed in those for a couple hours before the breakfast hunt. It was more like a brunch hunt by the time we could pull ourselves out of the water because it was so heavenly. The food the whole weekend was great! Most of us had chilaquiles for breakfast. After the meal, we visited the river and got ready to hit the road. Right before we were about to leave it started pouring. Thankfully we were all packed and ready to go. We took a bus to Ixmiquilpan about an hour away and ate because we were going to be traveling for the rest of the day. We took a 3-hour bus to Mexico City then got on the metro to go to another bus stop in Mexico City before getting a bus back to Toluca. Lots of buses, taxis, and trains but Tolantongo was beautiful and totally worth it!

Shopping, Babies, the Holy Spirit, and Cowboys

The state of Mexico celebrated not only with one, but TWO Teacher’s Days this year! Meaning we had no school for two days making last weekend a 4-day weekend. May is the best. I celebrated on Thursday by going shopping in Mexico City with Jess, Adris, and Anabel. After picking up books for Jess to donate to her school, we went to Antara Polanco. It was such a beautiful mall! When you come off the elevators, there are hundreds of colorful umbrellas there to welcome you (and protect you from the rain). I was worried I would be the only person not to buy something but it was the opposite. I bought the most! I got a pair of dress shorts and some gifts. We got lunch, enjoyed 2-for-1 ice cream, and headed to another mall in Santa Fe. The second one was three times the size; it was huge! I found a fabulous dress for the baptism for only $8.50 at H&M. On the way back to Toluca there was an accident and it took two and a half hours! It should have taken 45 minutes. We got home at 1:30AM and just crashed at Anabel’s where I got to meet the tiniest and cutest dog in the world: Tota!

On Friday, I treated myself to a gel manicure (for $8). I got it to match my dress for the baptism. I can’t even tell you the last time I got a manicure. When I showed the woman doing my nails at the salon my dress, she did a design to match my dress and but 835 rhinestones on my nails. Unfortunately, they started falling off later that day. (I apologize for the girly-ness of this post.) At night, I went back to Mexico City to celebrate Anabel’s birthday with Anabel and Adris. We started at a bar in Santa Fe. There was a piece of glass in Anabel’s drink which she almost choked on so we got a free round. The waiter offered us nachos so we accepted them thinking they were free. But they weren’t. At least we thought they were on the house when we ate them. That made them taste better. Next we went to a club called SENS. I had been there before with the girls. I love it. They have an electric violin player who kills it everytime and the music is awesome. Needless to say, I slept on the car ride back to Toluca.

Saturday was a big day filled with children and the Holy Spirit! Bruno and I had two baptisms to go to. In Mexico, baptisms are huge. You invite everyone you know to the mass then you have a gigantic reception with hundreds of people. It’s almost identical to a wedding reception minus the newlyweds and plus a baby. We went to the first mass (late) then drove to the second mass (and arrived late) then drove to the reception of the first, then of the second. The babies wear these beautiful baptismal gowns that cost hundreds of dollars and are paid for by the godparents typically. The receptions were in reception halls with plated meals, bar service, and DJs. After the music was playing for a little while at the first reception, there was the Mexican tradition of money-throwing. The godparents convert hundreds of pesos of coins and throw them on the dance floor for children and adults to collect. This also happened at the second reception along with a massive piñata for the kids. We stayed at the second reception until about 10PM.

Sunday was a very Metepec day. Bruno and I went on a run in the park in the morning and tried to go to church after but there was an irregular schedule so we ate brunch in the market instead. I had a quesadilla with tinga. We then went to his house to watch the San Isídro parade with his family because it went right past his house. San Isídro is the crop saint is celebrated in the middle of May. After the parade, we changed into our cowboy/girl gear (or as Bruno likes to say, “vaquero/a sexy”) and went to mass in the church of one of the baptisms the day before. Then God called us to the fair in Metepec! We were going to go to the Julion Alvarez concert in the Palenque but the tickets were sold out. They were originally going for $350 pesos but were being resold for $1,800! Who is going to buy that ticket?! Not us. So we just enjoyed walking around the fair. We took pictures with photo stands, ate crepes filled with banana and Nutella, shot metal toys off of wooden rails to win pirated CDs, threw rocks at upside down glass bottles to shatter them, and much more. This was a typical Mexican fair. The prizes also consist of chocolate bars, stuffed animals and stuffed beer bottles and cigarettes. #onlyinMexico. I had a blast! We acted like kids and it was great.

Ay! Guadalajara hermosa, quiero decirte una cosa.

Yet another fun filled weekend with friends! Bruno and I went to a Nissan work dinner on Friday in Metepec. I got to meet one of his best friend’s baby! It was the one whose baby shower I went to last year. Her daughter was precious. After dinner we went on a CD player hunt. Fulbright gives all the English Teaching Assistants an allowance to buy a gift to donate to the institution they work at. I work at 6 so I chose 5 and I’m donating CD players to the English program in each of the locations. We didn’t have any luck with the CD players because we were short on time. We rushed over to a coworker of Bruno’s house because his girlfriend was throwing him a surprise party. However, there was no need to rush because the birthday boy didn’t show up until 11PM! We ate without him. Bruno and I brought a raspberry tres leches cake so we all sang and had cake together once he arrived.

Bruno and I hit the road early Saturday morning to go to Guadalajara for one last reunion with the People I Like. We got there early afternoon and met Jordan, Preston, Britney, and Charllotte in the zócalo. It was a beautiful and HOT day in GDL. It was in the 90s! We went to the 3-story markets to have lunch. Guadalajara has great tortas ahogadas (drowned sandwiches) so we ordered those. Then we walked over to the Instituto Cultural Cabañas Patrimonio de la Humanidad. In short, it was a culture/art museum. They had some cool exhibits. One was of the Olympics when they were in Mexico in 1968, another was a room with logs and a poem in English projected on the wall, and my favorite were the architecture ones. There were pictures of some street signs and sculptures that are around Toluca.

On the walk to the car after the museum, we tried tejuino (a corn-based drink) with lime flavored ice cream and ice cream in the form of a stick. Both very recommendable. After our treats, we hung out at Charllotte’s cute little apartment before finding housing for the night. The boys and I found a great place for a reasonable price but when we got our room key, someone was already in the room! Thankfully, we got a free upgrade. Then we met up with the girls for wings at a nearby restaurant before heading to a place called Barecitto. They had a little man dressed as Chucky walking around with the shock box. You hold on to these metal pieces and see how much electricity you can handle before letting go. Brit and Char were crazy enough to do it! The bar had a live band with great cover singers.

Sunday morning was started off right with a big breakfast at IHOP. Jordan couldn’t decide what he wanted and he wasn’t that hungry so he ordered two plates. I know. It doesn’t make sense. We still love him. I ordered French toast but it was still raw like bread on the inside. No one makes French toast like my mom. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone because it was the last time we would all be together for a while. Bruno and I drove Jordan to Toluca with us but we had to stop a few hours into the trip because of the hail storm. I had never seen hail that big. We parked under a bridge for 30 minutes while the storm passed. We got back to Toluca too late for Jordan to take a bus to Tlaxcala so we all went to the Lord’s House instead. After, we went to Bruno’s house to have dinner with his family and especially his mom because it was Mother’s Day! We had a cookout which in Mexico always consists of grilling steak, green onions, and cactus to make some mean tacos. We had stopped by a panadería on the way to Bruno’s house to pick up a cake. It was a chocolate cake with chocolate and cherry filling. No one does cakes like panaderías here in Mexico. Another thing I will miss when I go back to the states.

Exploring the beauty of Las Pozas

Something I love about the month of May in Mexico is that there are 5 days off of school/work for teachers. And this weekend was a 5-day weekend (known here in Mexico as a “Puente”)! We had Friday-Tuesday off so you know I did some traveling. Bruno and I set off for Querétaro Thursday night after he got out of work. The city of Querétaro is beautiful! It’s one of the nicest (and most expensive to live) in Mexico. It’s very clean and everyone was really well dressed. We got there pretty late but we made sure to take a lap around the zócalo. Near downtown Querétaro there was a restaurant with live Cuban salsa music so we ate there and then asked for recommendations for where to go out. We took a mini tour/taxi ride to a salsa club on the other side of the city. It was packed! It was the perfect place to spend a Thursday night. The people were our age, the music was good, and it was a lot a fun!

Friday morning we had brunch downtown and watched the parade of teachers and workers who didn’t have to work because it was Labor Day. Then we packed up and headed to Jalpan de Serra. We were supposed to make it to Xilitla on Friday but it took longer to drive than expected. In Jalpan we walked around downtown and took lots of pictures of the beautiful church. There are churches of a similar style all around the area. At night, we attended a traditional dance performance. It was really good! They did at least 10 different dances with various outfits and props like small wooden boxes to dance on and glass bottles filled with water to put on their heads. A bird pooped on Bruno and it was hilarious because right before it happened he said that we should move so that we don’t get pooped on. WE didn’t. He did. They even had cake after. We tried to find a restaurant but they were all closed by the time the performance was over so we had some delicious gringas. Gringo(a) is a not-so-nice slang word for white people but it’s also a tasty quesadilla with meat and a poor name choice.

 We finally made it to Xilitla in the state of San Luis Potosí on Saturday and went straight to Las Pozas. Because it was a long weekend, the line was huge but totally worth the 2 hour wait. It’s a garden created by British poet Edward James in a subtropical rainforest in the mountains. It includes more than 80 acres of natural waterfalls and pools interlaced with towering Surrealist sculptures in concrete.  Massive sculptures up to four stories tall are everywhere. The dozens of trails throughout the garden site are made of steps, ramps, bridges and narrow, winding paths that lead to nothing. It cost more than $5 million to build it. They are currently renovating parts of it. It was like a big kid’s playground. It would be a great place for wedding pictures. After exploring the gardens we went to Ciudad Valles. It started to rain so we went to the movies and saw Avengers then watched the Mayweather vs Pacquiao fight (which should have been won be Pacquiao).

Sunday was spent in the state of San Luis Potosí. We drove to the town of Tamasopo in the morning to go to the Puente de Dios (The Bridge of God). It’s has beautiful waterfalls that lead into a narrow gorge and cavern that you can swim under. Too bad about the stairs to get down to the waterfall. We didn’t swim because it was a little cloudy and cold so we went to Las Cascadas de Tamasopo (Tamasopo Waterfalls). It features three waterfalls 66 feet high that fall into pools divided by ledges and shelves. It was like a staircase of water. There was a rope swing and all. Lots of people were enjoying it because of the long weekend. They even brought cookout stuff. After the water phenomena, we went to the city of San Luis Potosí. It was a lot bigger than the littler towns we had visited. We tried to go to mass but it was too crazy. It was a confirmation mass so there was a mountain of people and there was a toddler behind us who projectile vomited on my bag. Instead of staying until the end we went out to eat and had San Luis Potosí enchiladas. Devine. Then we hit the road back to Toluca because Mr. Adult had to work Monday and Tuesday.

On Monday I took a little visit to the dentist because my molar was killing me all weekend. My friend tried to call her dentist but the dentist didn’t answer so I went to her boyfriend’s mom who is a dentist and works out of the office in her backyard. It was actually pretty legit until she started using this laser on my tooth…then my chin….then my temples to “relax” me. She was convinced it was working so I just went along with it.

Tuesday was spent with friends. Jess, her German friend and I went to the mall and the movies to se Motrdecai. At night, I met up with Adris to have tacos and meet up with other friends at a bar. That’s what she calls chill. Getting home at 1AM. I loved the long weekend and think every work week should be like this one!