Pamper Yourself and Take a Vaca (or 2)

I cannot believe it is already March 31. Tomorrow is April and that means that I only have 3 more months here in Mexico! It's gone by so quickly, but I am getting really close to the point where I am ready to get back. My behavior problem children are exhausting daily, our school does weird things a lot administration wise, and ... I miss shopping. It may sound weird but I was even talking to my assistant about it and she said she never goes clothes shopping in Mexico, most everyone here goes to TX for their shopping needs. I apparently didn't pack many things for warm weather, and I guess by warm I mean hot. Already, it has hit 100º, in MARCH! so I can only guess what has yet to come.Two weekends ago, four of us girls decided to take a weekend trip to Parras, only a short 3 hr bus ride away. It is home to the very first winery in the Americas, founded in 1597 and still churning out some good wines and brandys. We got to tour the place and taste test a few wines. It would be much prettier in May or so when the vines that cover every pathway are covered with leaves and bunches of grapes. We even bought a bottle of wine to share later. Our hotel was a cute little place with a tiny pool out back (not really workable, slightly dingy and very small and cold), but also in this courtyard were picnic tables and hammocks. Very peaceful and much needed recoup vacation. The town even has 3 estanques, or reservoirs that hold some of the springs they have there. The water was a fun part of the city, some of the streets have a little creek running right next to it, as in under peoples driveways. So no need to buy fountains for the water noises there, just crack open the window! We swam and laid out a bit at one estanque [surprisingly big, about 3 meters deep and I don't know how wide but quite, I wouldn't have swam to the other side] before we had to unfortunately head back for school.

The pathway with the vines over head, just barely budding


This is the lovely bottle opener we borrowed
from the lady across the street.
Doesn't everyone own a deer hoof bottle opener?

I just really liked this picture.
The estanque, I think this pic
doesn't quite show its size.
but it was lovely!

Just today I decided to get myself a manicure. They are so cheap here, as most things are - massages, pedicures, laser hair removal, etc. Thankfully Friday brings Spring Break as well. I am sooo stoked for 2 weeks without school! [this week also brings 2 paydays! the 15th falls on break so we get paid early] It was quite ironic that I am IN Mexico and couldn't decide what I should do for Spring Break. The biggest group is going to Mexico City, but I already stayed there for 3 weeks or so during college, so it felt a little 'been there done that.' Most other people have family coming down to meet them. I took up an offer to go to Phoenix to one of the fellow teachers houses for the first week. I have never been, and its no hotel cost, on top of being able to go shopping :) For the second week I am going to meet two teachers in Oaxaca, a southern state in Mexico. We plan to go beach hopping, maybe surf a bit?! catch some rays, whateve. Hopefully its a rejuvenating good time!

The Birds

It has been mentioned more than once that we are living in a house that feels as if it could be in the famed Alfred Hitchcock movie, The Birds. Upon entering our tree filled courtyard, you can not help but notice all the bird feathers and droppings littering the floor. Even, on occasion, a dead bird or two. I suppose it is not completely correct to put together this movie connection because we have yet to have a bird attack, but nonetheless they are there, they are abundant, they are annoying, and they are relentless. I can even [very unfortunately] tell time by these birds. Every morning, between the hours of 6 and 7 am, the birds gather in full force. This gathering always takes place in the lovely tree selection in our courtyard...of course. They chat it up, nonstop and without concern for those who are yet in slumber, until approximately 7:30am when they all decide to change their locale. With a sudden gust of wind being forced down from their spry little wings, I can hear their departure. Again [almost as unfortunate] their new location just so happens to be the other lovely selection of trees that are those in our school just up the block. So there they are, waiting for us when we arrive.
This daily occurrence would not be quite as annoying if it only happened when I was already awake, though undoubtedly, I would still take notice. Therefore, on school days, it isn't as bothersome since that is about the time I have to wake up, it only means that sometimes I get out of bed in a state of annoyance. On weekends, however, this is a very dreadful racket that lasts about an hour, while I am trying to get in some much needed sleep-in time. .... At least, they're persistent. ?!?

februaryshmebruary

A whole month later and not much to report, can I point out that February is a short month though?! :)
I feel like there has become a pretty regular routine and not too many exciting/new things happened this last month that are really noteworthy. A basic day in the life of Breanna: I get up M-F around 6:30, try to get ready by 7:30 in order to get to school on time. Walk that short block to the school, go through the crazy ness of a day with my children, mostly referring to the large amount of misbehavior, and leave the school by 2:30. I get in an afternoon meal, third meal as we call it, maybe take a nap, maybe mess around on my computer maybe watch a movie, get in a fourth meal, and usually get to bed around 10:30. Weekends are more up in the air, but mostly consist of the same goings on as well - get together with friends, pretend we don't have school to think about and have some laughs.
I will highlight some things that have happened outside of the usual grind, in no particular order....
SuperBowl XLIII
It doesn't matter if I am in Mexico, I still got my Superbowl party. A bunch of our Torreon friends came over to the guys house (my neighbors) to watch the game. The thing that made it interesting was that Victor, one of the teachers here, is from AZ and the biggest superfan I have ever met. We got ready for the party by buying two cases of beer in the neighboring town [as Torreon is dry on Sundays and everyday after 9pm, so just a short drive to the nearest town....] the people that came to the house also brought two cases of beer so now there are approximately 96 bottles of beer in this house, not including the few 6-packs that were brought in by others. Too bad I don't like beer, huh!? The game itself was really good, close and unpredictable... The Cardinals did well, but not well enough for Victor. I have never seen anyone so upset about a professional team losing.... but besides that, it was fun to have the game on even if it was Spanish commentators and no super Superbowl commercials. And no school the next day!!! We had a 'puente' as they are called so we got to just chill for a three day weekend.
Santos
I finally made my first professional soccer game. I never took the opportunity while I was in Spain so I guess its about time! Victor, Erin, Cara and I got our only slightly more expensive scalped tickets to the big game a day ahead just to make sure we'd get it. It was a Santos vs Chivas game which is one of the more popular Mexico teams. Don't tell, I own a Chivas bag, because I of course went to cheer the Santos! :) Our sun tickets were quite the entertainment. The stadium itself is interesting, its small, only one level, and all the seats are cement stairs, so not marked just free for all first come kind of service, unless you pay bigger money of course. Our seats were very near the section that everyone knows you sit there if you are going to be crazy! It is a very large section that they don't even have to show up early to know they will get it, because like I said, you just know. Throughout the game I would find myself watching their section instead of the field. People would climb the fence, put off smoke bombs, play their many band instruments; their section was in constant noise and motion. It was a good game to watch and we kicked their butts!
Cerveceria
A group of about 15 of us got together and got our Colegio Ingles tour of the Corona factory. [I just thought it was funny that we put our school down as our name for the group:)] So we set off with our helmets and protective goggles, and our really nice tour guide. We got to taste test the raw barley as it was being emptied from one of the semi trucks... we got to sit in the chairs at the computers that did all the adding, mixing, creating... and then we got to taste the product before any bottle processing was done, as in uncapped straight from the vat freshest beer ever. Again, too bad I don't like beer! But it was fun to learn about the process and see it done, possibly even more fun since we half of us dressed up like them for Halloween :) Most interesting thing I remember was that yeast is probably the most important part. You add that at the end and let it create all the fizz through metabolizing and also excrete all the alcohol! without yeast, I don't know what it would be, nasty yellow water?! It was fun to walk past all the bottling things too. Too see the cans without the tops yet being filled at something ridiculous like 1400 cans per minute, and the bottles a bit slower but still really fast nonetheless. ( I don't remember the real number so don't quote me) And to see the six packs being made with the plastic rings put around them and then cased up.... interesting to watch for a tour but thinking about the people who we saw working.... I don't know how they can stand it day after day such monotony. At the end of the tour we regrouped in a cafeteria type room where they gave us the standard Mexico snack food: chips and hot sauce, along with a fridge full of a few different kinds of beer and soda. And All of that for free!!
Casa Sonrisa
Tom started a volunteer program every Saturday at a local orphanage so we can go help out those kids to learn English. We can go and teach different ages of kids and just hang out with them, give 'em some love. Its a pretty cool thing, especially since our school is so much the opposite. We get to see something 'real' for a change I feel. The kids are mostly really into it too, excited to take the opportunity.


That's all I can think of for big changes/happenings... It has been a pretty wonderful average of 90º most days, makes me wonder why people take MN, never been big on cold... Going to the pool and getting tan in February?! That's awesome. We have been having a bunch of grill outs too it seems. One day a few of the maintenance guys came over and cooked up some delicious costillitas... mexican ribs, though definitely not the same cut you think of when you hear ribs, their are much different, but no less delicious. And this is the kind of meat you rip off the bone, insert into tortilla and dress as you desire - lime and carmelized onions for me. Other times, we just grill bacon wrapped hot dogs :)
Otherwise, its been pretty standard. My kids are still giving me grief, one in particular. He had to recently spend the day with the principal, which I guess in another setting would probably have been called ISS (in school suspension). He didn't do anything, not one word written, I dont even think his pencil hit the paper all day, and on top of that he messes with everyone else to distract the whole class and cause me to stop teaching to try to get him under control. So I tell Miss Charo this and she says tomorrow with me. Is it a bad thing that I had a lot of fun finding all the work he could do that he has missed or refused to do to keep him busy in her office?! It was a really good day too which should prove to the school that he is too much to handle, and its not just me being a poor behavior management person... no one can handle him, not even his mother. At home life is also interesting... my roommate Emily put it best: we are living in a situation with the physical closeness of being a family but without the unconditional love of a family, so that causes stress/tensions/arguments/etc. I think we also all just want a break, most everyone says they are finding it harder to get up in the morning. It makes me wonder ... and wish I knew what I wanted to do with my life...

Rata, Rata Flaca ♪

Saturday I went to my first Banda concert! basically Mexican country. It was fun [at least until the last hour or so when it was too cold for comfort (ha, I guess it would have been a major heat wave in MN)] I didn't really go in with many expectations as usual, but it wasn't what I imagined. First of all, Victor, his cousin, and I enter and are separated into segregated lines - girls to the right, boys to the left. I think for a split second that was weird but continue on and pass off my ticket and get my purse searched. Just like many other stadiums or arenas so nothing too out of the ordinary, wouldn't want some girl sneakin in a bomb or anything... Then I look over to the mens line and there are 10 or so cops dressed in full uniform lined up near the wall. We see these guys around dressed in their solid navy blue uniforms and packing some major heat, pretty imtimidating fellows. between the wall and them are all the men who enter, now with their hands on the wall, legs spread, and bodies being groped. That took me by surprise. I mean I know the drug/gang stuff is a pretty big deal here in La Laguna but still... Anyway, quickly forgotten. Let me set the mood: EVERY man there is wearing the boots and hats characteristic to Durango (only a slight exaggeration I promise). This means boots are made of materials such as alligator, ostrich, etc, and the toe is pointy as ever! The joke is that they are good for killing cockroaches in corners. Really though, think pointy...ok now add 3-4 more inches in length to your mental picture and there you have it. The cowboy hats are also worn very high, an inch or so above the ear. Its a distinct look they have. Many were even in full out suits, one especially fine young gentlemen decided to get his name embroidered on the back and the pant leg of his... very classy. Another part of the scene I want you to imagine: I am the lone, and I mean one and only, white person in attendance. Also neither Victor nor I went in proper attire to be sure. Victor was sporting a zipup hoodie and his grandpas while I have on an apparently conservative outfit with Chucks. Most girls there were in belly baring tanks (despite the obvious cold spell) and heels. The things we do for beauty... So, there were a couple of different bands playing different stages of obviously different calibers, the 'not quite so popular' to the 'we hail from Chicago' popular. I of course didn't really know any of the songs but that didn't stop me from dancing :) Its hard to explain how they do it, you would have to see it I think. Some of the guys were leading like crazy, throwing the women all around with their feet hardly even touching the floor! Which, by the way, soon became a mess of Tecate beer cans. Garbage cans dont matter, when you finish just drop it on the ground, better yet, why dont you throw it with some force on the ground?! In short, banda was fun.... you should try it some time

Back in Business

Christmas break was a very good / much needed break. I didn't realize how good it would be to be home for awhile, catch up with family and friends in person, and get out of Torreon. Travelling around would have been fun of course, dont get me wrong, but having the people around me was great [and in the end cheaper than all the hotels food and travel it would have been. Thanks for the room and board Padres :) ] Plus I got to be one of the first to see my little cousin Sammy's new baby girl! soo cute.
Now school is back in session (since the 7th really), and I'm back in the usual grind. It was good to come back to a three day week, ease into things. Someone had the bad idea that we should bring a toy from Christmas on that Friday though... good in theory, and maybe could be carried out better at a different school or with different kids... not my little hellions though - that caused so many issues.
I feel like my kids are somehow, miraculously(!? bad choice of word?!) worse than before break. We just had parent-teacher conferences last week... interesting tidbit on that: every single female students parent mentioned one girl's name: Queen Bee. 'Something needs to be done about her, my child is afraid of making her mad' She is feared! Thankfully the parents were very understanding and said they will run into many people like her in life but I should just watch out for it, believe me I have been. She can get any girl to do any dirty work she asks. "put this in my bag, hang up my jacket, dont play with her or I won't be your friend" that kind of thing. AND she's 5. Excellent. When she is gone from school it is seriously a 360º difference with the other girls, they play freely and talk more often! So imagine - I have 6 girls and that is the drama between them, now add in 12 boys where at least 3 are demons (said most affectionately of course) and they can cause a domino effect on many others. Makes for an interesting class to be sure.
Today I am very excited because we changed assistants, apparently they do this semesterally so nows the time. The new assistant I have knows more english and is much more outgoing. With my last assistant, the both of us being fairly shy/introverted didn't make for such a good team. Anyways, even after only today with my new helper, I can see a difference. She is also quite helpful with behavior management and thinks up projects to do on her own. Hopefully my students will start to miraculously shape up. Its getting exhausting

Goodbye for now, Mexico

School is finally over for 2008. Jenna and I will fly out tomorrow afternoon to MN, hopefully no bad weather interferences.... It still doesn't seem like I will be going home, nor that it has been 4 months! I don't know where the time went! I am excited that I get to see family and friends, traveling around would have also been fun, but a completely different fun. And after Thanksgiving when I Skype chatted with the whole fam, I am ready to see them all. Also hoping I get to see Sammy's new baby!!
My Christmas program is over now as well..... I was reminded I have to take it in stride that any 5 year old program would be mildly chaotic and not completely polished. My procrastinator habits maybe didn't help the fact but I think they did pretty well! I tried to talk as little as possible in front of the large crowd which included the usual - Maternal through Preprimaria classes (3-6 yr olds and their teachers/assistants) along with Jenna and her 4th grade class (which happens to be our Reading Buddies so they know my kids well) and Emily and her first grade class which was performing after us and helped with the decorating. We started off with reciting an acrostic poem about Christmas [this is the kind that says C is for.... H is for... R is for... and so on]. The morning of before school, I was still running around trying to get all the little details taken care of and one of my kids stops me as she walks in the gate. "Miss Breanna," she says, in her cute shy voice, pulling a folded paper out of her pocket [I had sent home the words to both our poem and our songs so they could practice with their parents], "T is for toys to play with" she said in a voice that was almost bold but certainly proud. Ahhh, I loved it, it was a perfect distraction I needed from being a little too stressed out about a program hardly any one would see and probably no one would remember. She made my day!
So anyway, the program began with the Poem, most too shy to speak loud enough for the sketchy microphone to pick up, but they each had a letter to hold along with a prop explaining their line. Next we dropped off those props to change for bells! Jingle bells, Jingle bells! Another change of props and we were all wearing Santa hats and singing and dancing our way through Santa Claus is Coming to Town! adorable if I do say so myself :) The show ended with a rowdy round of We Wish You a Merry Christmas, rowdy only because they know it so well they basically just shout it out and then we had everyone join in for an encore. Hopefully the audience enjoyed it well enough. One of the mothers in attendance told me after, and I quote, "It was good enough." I am hoping this was meant well, and maybe worded 'poorly' because English is not her first language, but either way, I guess she approved.. I think my kids had fun being on the stage and now it is over so all is well!
Today we didn't really have school.... we had to punch in at 830, the kids arrived at 9, and we got out at 1230. The schedule for the day was something like: time to finish parent christmas project, posada, auditorium for charoling, Piñatas, cake, home. Rough day. It was actually a hassle for the teachers simply because it was so lax. There were times we were told to get our kids ready for this activity and we would be in line ready only to wait ten minutes for it to begin... this means a lot of "get back in line, please" "dont hit him" "no kicking" etc. Overall though, it was a fun day. We colored the cutest picture of a little Mexican kid in front of a cactus decorated as a Christmas tree, they had a piñata for each grade, cakes galore, and then we were pretty much free to go. They took home their cute final projects we had painted for their parents, along with the stockings we had decorated with our Reading Buddies, yeah, we do more than read! I would add pics with this but I had forgotten my camera these last two days so I will have to wait and get the pics from the other teachers camera I used instead.
Thursday night we also had a Posada as a staff. It was the culmination of our Secret Santa gift giving as well as a big dinner-Merry Christmas celebration. My supervisor dressed up as Celia Cruz in order to lead the karaoke for the night, it was a pretty fun night. The night ended in a raffle that included prizes like a computer, an ipod touch, and other notsocheap items..... So it ended up being a pretty late night but luckily we had a late call time the next day :)
Well... now it is just one night before I set foot back in MN... back in cold, snowy MN. It was still upper 80s this week, just to let you know....

Christmas Time is Here

December is here! I can't believe its already been 3 months, it flew by so quickly. Two more weeks left of school and then we get over two weeks off for break! I'm pretty stoked about that! And the weekend of Thanksgiving I decided I wanted to come home instead so I bought myself a plane ticket to MN!!! I think it is better this way because Jenna and I would have been basically the only people here so that would have been a bit lonely and my mom ditched out on me :) and it will probably save me money this way in the end instead of paying for all the travel, food, and hotels throughout that time. Plus I get to see many of my wonderful family and friends :D I think we need a break from Torreon too, school is getting me down lately.
I think it is mostly due to the fact that I am a little more stressed than usual. My class is in charge of the Christmas program for the kindergarten area, so I have to plan and practice and teach all that stuff on top of normal things. Plus this is of course a very 'crafty' time in kindergarten so there are those things to plan and execute as well. Hopefully all goes well, wish me luck. Teaching English language learners christmas songs can be funny. I like when i stop singing the words and I just listen to what they think they are supposed to be saying... not quite right but its cute! Does it really matter?! I hope not!
I should take a picture of our Christmas door... and tomorrow Jennas 4th graders are going to help us make stockings out of foamy paper! Its a fun time, I should be enjoying myself right?!
Anyway, Heck Yes to homecoming! December 20-January 5, get ready Minnesota
[and by get ready, I mean get warmer and you dont have to snow so much... its 80º here still!]