My Mexican Family: Adolfo (bro) Adolfo (dad) Luz Maria (mom)

The Secondary Class (gr.8)

Preparatory 101 (gr.12)

Preparatory 302 (gr.12)

Primary 4*B

Cacaluta (Huatulco)

Entrega (Huatulco)

Final Teaching Days and The Beach

I'm back in Canada now but I figured I would write a wrap up for my final days in Oaxaca.

The last few days in the classroom were really sad having to say goodbye to all the students. I am always amazed at how affectionate the students are. When we said goodbye to our secondary class they took so many pictures with us. They also formed a hug line and kept recycling through so it was a long time before we actually left the class. Our two grade 12 classes got together and bought Liz and I each a pair of earrings. They did a great job of selecting and the earrings really suit each of us. When we had to say goodbye to our grade 4 classes we were given so many hugs, kisses, and love notes. It was really wonderful to see how much they enjoyed and appreciated having us in their classrooms. I am really going to miss teaching in Mexico and all of the classes we got to teach.

After we finished in the schools we got to spend a few days at the beach. With the school we went to Huatulco. It is a bit of a touristy beach. Alot of cruise ships stop there and there are a couple resorts. There are a few bays that you can choose to go to. The first one we went to is called Entrega. It was a nice beach but not my favourite. Before we even got out of the cab there were people trying to sell us stuff. You could swim at this beach though so that was nice. A couple girls and I went to a different bay called Cacaluta. We actually had to walk about 30mins through a forest and past some ranches to get to the beach. It was completely worth it though. When we got to the beach we were the only one's there and it was beautiful. The waves were a little big so we weren't able to swim there, but it was an amazing day.

We also visited Puerto Angel. The bay that we went to there was Pantheon. Puerto Angel is a fishing town so there were a ton of boats in the water and little restaurants along the beach. We ate some of the most delicious seafood there. Yum!

After a couple days in Huatulco a few of us decided to take a bus to Puerto Escondido and we stayed there for a week. There are a bunch of bays in really close proximity that you can go to in Puerto. The beach that was right across from our cabana is called Zicatela. We weren't able to swim here because the waves are too big. Before we arrived there was actually a surfing competition going on. The beaches that we visited were La Punta, Carizzalillo, and Manzanillo. We were able to swim in all these places. Carizzalillo was my favourite beach. It is a beautiful bay. There are small waves there so it is a great place to learn to surf so thats what a bunch of us did. It was so much fun and we were actually able to get up.

I had an amazing time at the beach and I truly enjoyed every moment of being in Oaxaca. The people in Mexico are so warm and welcoming. I have made some amazing friends and memories on this trip. I need to say a big thank you to my FA Sarah Joyce, my two SAs Arcelia and Rodolfo, to my Mexican family the Ibarras, and to all the girls in the program. It has been an incredible journey!

The sunrise when we arrive in Mazunte

Dolphin we saw on our tour

Releasing baby turtles into the ocean

The hammocks on our deck

More releasing of turtles

Mazunte

November 20th is a holiday here in Mexico so it's a long weekend. A few friends and I decided to take advantage of this break and we went to the beach for a couple days. We went to Mazunte which is probably the most beautiful beach I have ever been to. The beach is known for it's sea turtles. Mazunte is a tiny beach town full of hippies and really laid back people. It's not very touristy or over developed. Our hotel tell was right on the beach. We just had to walk down the stairs and we're on the beach. We left on a night bus at 9:30pm Friday and arrived in Mazunte at 7:15am. It was perfect because we slept the entire time and had the entire day ahead of us when we arrived.

Within an hour of arriving at the beach we were on a boat to go see sea turtles. It didn't take us very long to find the turtles either. They were amazing to see. Probably about 3-4 long. We actually saw some turtles mating. At one point in our tour one of the guides jumped out of the boat and grabbed a turtle. We all got to jump in a touch it. There were a ton a tiny jelly fish in the water though and when we got back in the boat it felt like stinging nettle all over our bodies. We also got to see dolphins and go snorkling during our tour.

On the sunday we went on a tour at Ventanilla which is known for it's crocodiles. We got to see a wide variety of crocodiles. Some were just babies and others were massive. We paddled down a calm river that was surrounded by Mangroves. It was beautiful. We got to drink the juice from a green coconut and once we had finished the juice we got to eat the coconut with lime and chilli powder. It was really delicious.

There was a jazz festival on the beach. So at night we would sit at a restaurant on the beach listening to the music, drinking cocktails, and watching the waves crash on the beach. It was pretty magical. There is a place called Comet's Point that we hiked up to and watched the sun set. It was a gorgeous view over looking the ocean. Our last morning at Mazunte we set our alarms and woke up at 5:45am in order to see the sunrise. It was so beautiful watching the sun come up on the beach.

Unfortunatley I didn't think ahead and forgot to recharge my camera so I was only able to take pictures on the Saturday. My friends took some amazing photos though. It was an incredible weekend and it's hard to believe that we were only at the beach for 2.5 days. We did so many fun things and made so many memories.

Arbol del Tule

The Lion Heads

The Antelope Head

I couldn't fit the entire width in my picture

Tule and Teaching

Last weekend I went visited a tree called Tule. It is over 2000 years old and has the widest trunk on earth. This tree was huge. Some of the branches looked as though they could be tree trunks. It was interesting because there were knots in the tree that looked like lion heads and there was one part the tree connected to a branch that looked like an antelope's head. We didn't spend too much time at Tule, but my home stay mom said that if you just sit and look at the tree you can see all kinds of different animals and things. The trunk of Tule looks as though it could be multiple trees but it has been proven to be the same tree. The diameter of the tree if it was smoothed out is 30.8ft making it the widest tree in the world.
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This past week my teaching partner Liz and I have finally been able to start to teaching some classes. It has been so much fun. We work really well together and come up with some dynamic lesson plans. It is an interesting situation because she is an elementary teacher and I am a high school teacher. Normally you are paired up with someone of the same grade levels as you. So we get to teach in an elementary school, middle school and high school. I enjoy being in the elementary school and I think that the young kids are very nice and funny, but I am definitley more comfortable in the high and middle schools.

Before we started teaching, Liz and I were a little worried about classroom management. The kids here are just so full of energy and are constantly yelling and getting out of their seats. We have observed many classes where there was maybe only 10 minutes of actual instruction the entire block. However, when we get in front of the class the kids are attentive for the most part. We really don't have much trouble getting them to stay on task and do their work. I think that team teaching is a great help with this because as one of us is speaking in front of the class the other person can wander around making sure the kids are on task. The classes still tend to be loud but I really enjoy all the enthusiam and energy the students have. I feel more comfortable when there is noise in the class rather then when it is all quiet. Especially when we give the students activities to do, it's great to hear them discussing with each other and practicing their English. I really enjoy teaching here and it will be very interesting to go back home and experience the differences in the classroom.

The altar we made

Graves at the Panteon

Dressed up at the Panteon

Graves at Xoxo

All the people at the Centre of Etla

The Parade at Etla

Dia de Muertos

Dia de Muertos was such an amazing experience. It all started on Monday with a presentation explaing the beliefs of Dia de Muertos. In short it is a couple days where the people in Mexico honour the dead by making altars. These atlars are made of flowers, fruits, and different favourite foods of the deceased. After the presentation we went to Central de Abastos, which is a market, to pick up different materials for the altar we built at our school. I was in charge of getting peanuts.

Monday evening we all got together to paint our faces for when we went to the cemetary. We painted our faces because it is believed that during Dia de Muertos the spirits come back to earth and we need to hide our faces so they don't confuse us for other spirits. We then went to the Panteon, which is a cemetary in Oaxaca. There were candles and flowers everywhere and so many people. After the Panteon we went to Xoxo, another cemetary in Oaxaca. The graves are very elaborately decorated and there were many people sitting graveside. It was kind of sad because Monday is the night that the children spirits come back so there were many small graves decorated. It is believed that first the children spirits come and then on the second night all spirits come.

Tuesday night we dressed up and painted our faces yet again. We hoped into the back of a truck and drove up to Etla. There was a parade that went on all night, it didn't stop until 9am wednesday. There are people dressed up very elaborately and they walk around the town going from house to house. There is also a band that walks with them and they dance as the band plays. At every house they go to there are chairs set up in a circle in courtyard type area. This is for the people watching to sit. The band and dressed up people come in and dance around. The home owners give everyone shots of tequila or mezcal. It was a lot of fun following the parade around the town. There were some young kids who were dressed up dancing all night. I don't know how they did it. We stayed out until 5am and I was more than exhausted at this point.

I had to wake up at 8am Wednesday morning to go to the Panteon with my homestay family. On November 2 they always go to the cemetary and visit the graves of their family members. We made sure that the flowers at the graves all had enough water. Outside of the Panteon it was almost set up like a carnival with food stands, games, and rides. So we went and had breakfast after visiting the graves. It was a really neat experience. And a very busy couple of days. There are so many tourists that came to Oaxaca for Dia de Muertos because Xoxo is a famous cemetary. It will be nice when Oaxaca goes back to being our town ;)

Cuajimoloya

View of the city from our Cabanas

The 100 year catcus

View from our hike

Basketball Court

Cuajimoloya

Last week we went on a three hour bus ride to a small town in the mountains called Cuajimoloya. There are only about 600 people who live there and they didn't get street lamps until 1997. It's 10,000 fas so it gets very cold at night and in the morning. All the kids there have the rosy cheeks like the kids in Tibet because it gets so cold. It is absolutely beautiful, mountains as far as the eye can see. There is one tractor for the entire town and they all share it. Alot of the people are farmers and have animals. Unlike the city, it is very quiet there except for all the animals.

We got there thursday around noon and went pretty much straight into the classrooms. We were spilt into groups of 3 and assigned a grade. I was in the grade 3 class. We did an identity art project with the kids. Zapotec is an indigenous language, but unfortunately emphasis has been placed on Spanish and not many people speak Zapotec anymore. They are trying to reintroduce Zapotec to the kids. So it was our job to ask the kids when they drew their pictures of Cuajimoloya to ask them if they knew any words in Zapotec. And tell them that we were very interested in learning the language. This made the kids excited to share the words they knew and the other kids wanted to learn words so they could share with us.

We went on a couple hikes while we were there. We went on one at night and it was amazing all the stars that you could see in the sky. It was absolutely beautiful. You could see even more stars than you see at Chilliwack lake. We went on another hike in the morning before we went to the classes again. Our guide told us about many different plants that are used for different things. Some for tooth aches, some to quite babies, they use sap to make casts. There are some catci that grow for 100 years before they get flowers and they only grow one flower a year. We saw some that had close to 30 flowers.

Cuajimoloya was an incredibly beautiful and peaceful place. We were very fortunate being able to go there. Apparently Omar (our Spanish teacher) has been working with the community for 15 years so that we students can come there and experience the culture and enter the classrooms.

The designs as Mitla

Mitla Ruins

Hierve El Agua

Hierve El Agua

Monte Alban

Pyramid of the Sun, Teotihuacan

Oct.2 Protests in Mexico City

Monte Alban, Zaachila, Mitla, Hierve El Agua

Boy this has been a busy week. We've gone a visited a bunch of different sites.

Sunday we visited Monte Alban, which is the largest and oldest ruins site in Oaxaca. It was inhabited by the Zapotecs from ~300 BC to ~500 AD. The ruins are found at the top of a mountain, and the mountain is completely flat. It is believed that the Zapotecs spent 200 years flattening out the mountain before they built the ruins that remain there today. It is crazy to think that generations of people spent their lives flattening a mountain so the future generations could build upon it and live there.

On Thursday we visited the Zaachila market. It is massive and sells everything. We had to pick a vendor and do a quick interview to practise our spanish. Danielle and I choose a bread vendor and I'm pretty sure she thought we were crazy lol. We bought some bread to make up for it though. There was a massive meat section and there were pig heads, tails, and feet everywhere. The meat is just out in the open, but there are no flies. There were also alot of people carrying around chickens and turkeys, They tie their feet together and hold them upside down. Apparently this keeps them calm and from pecking people.

On Saturday we went to Mitla which is the second largest ruins site in Oaxaca. There was a crazy amount of detail in the buildings. The amazing thing is that the designs are all individual rocks that they place together to make the design, they didn't just carve a massive rock. The designs are perfectly aligned along the entire building.

We also went to Hierve el Agua on Saturday. It was the most amazing view I have ever seen. We were up in a mountain and we were surrounded by other green mountains that seemed to go on forever. We get to this place near the edge of a cliff and there are pools of beautiful blue water. It is full of 11 different minerals and has bleached the cliffs making it look like there are waterfalls of white going over the edge. There are also a couple areas where the water looks like it is boiling but really it is just bubbles from the rocks floating up the water. We got to swim in the beautiful blue water and look at the surrounding view of the green mountains. It was amazing.

PS I am still trying to figure out how to add pictures onto the blog. Hopefully I will have some up soon.

The Mexican Classroom

I was not sure what to expect when I entered my first Mexican classroom but it was definitley eye opening. I am teaching at Instituto Pedagogico Profra Margarita Aguilar Diaz A.C. which is private school. I teach at the elementary school, the middle school, and the high school so there is a wide range of ability. The teachers move from school to school, teachers who teach english do so in all of the school. Both the students and the teachers wear uniforms and when the principle enters the class everyone stands up and says "Good Afternoon Maestra." Liz (my teaching partner) and I first went to the schools on a Monday. Every Monday morning they start off the day with a flag ceremony, the national anthem, announcements for the week, and other important information. At this ceremony Liz and I got introduced to all the students. The middle and high school students seemed curious about us but not overly excited. In the elementary school all the kids started cheering and seemed really excited to have us there.

The first class that we observed was a gr.6 english class. The energy in the classroom was unreal. There was never a moment of silence and hardly a moment where it wouldn't be considered loud. The kids would often get out of their desk and not pay attention to the teacher. It was the polar opposite to the gr.12 classes back home where it is a struggle sometimes to get the students to speak. The teacher did not seem overly concerned with the students moving around. She would pick a specific student and ask them to answer a question while everyone else did whatever they pleased. When we moved into the gr.12 class, however, the energy was alot lower. They were still quite talkative and more energetic than the Canadian classes, but they were managable and it was more of a learning environment.

Going to the elementary school was a new experience for me since I have only been in high schools. I first observed a gr.3 class there and again there was a tremendous amount of energy. The kids were hardly in their desks, but they seemed more engaged with the material. They were moving around but listening to what was being taught to them. Instead of raising hands like back home, they all just yell out answers. When I first walked in the class the kids began cheering and about 10 of them jumped up and were hugging me. They were touching my hair and asking me many questions in really fast Spanish that I could not understand. They were cute and it was nice to have them so excited to have me there.

I am eager to spend more time in the Mexican classroom. It is quite different from back home and I feel I will be able to learn alot from my time there. I think I will be able to bring home a new a wider understanding of education.

Welcome to Oaxaca

My first week in Oaxaca has been amazing. Luz Maria, my homestay mom, picked me up from the bus station after our 7 hour ride from Mexico City. She is extremely nice and speaks very slowly so I can understand most of what she says. I'm living in the north section of the city with 6 other girls, while everyone else is either in the central or the south. Liz, a girl from my program, lives right across the street from me with my homestay mom's sister. It's been great because we've been able to do alot of stuff together.

The routine here is a little different from back home, but I'm really enjoying it. I wake up in the morning and have breakfast with Luz Maria. I usually have a plate of fruit with some nuts, and a plate with eggs, ham, and beans. My homestay dad, Adolfo, told me they're going to try and make me fat lol, I eat sooo much food here. After breakfast, us girls from the north walk or take the bus down to Ollin, the spanish school. It takes us about an hour to walk. After school, we go back home and have Comida (the big meal of the day) with our families around 3. We always start with soup and then have the main course. It always tastes so delicious. Luz Maria makes some kind of different water every time. We've had rice, tuna (a catcus fruit), orange, chocolate, and other yummy kinds. After Comida, I'll have a siesta, or I'll work on some homework. Then around 5 all of us usually get together in the Zocalo and do something in the evening. I really like this way of going about the day.

Luz Maria is always worried that I am cold because it is the end of the rainy season (It's only rained twice, and for 20 mins at that) because she says she's always cold. I'm pretty sure I come home sweating everyday because it's that hot lol. I can only imagine how hot it will be once the hot season hits. The siesta is great because it's during the hottest part of the day so you don't have to suffer through it.

So far Oaxaca has been great. I feel very much at home in the house I'm staying in, my homestay family is very welcoming. I'm beginning to learn how to get around and how the buses and taxis work here. Tomorrow we start in our schools, so that will be an experience for sure. I really have no idea what to expect. I'm sure it will be great though

Mexico City

We arrived in Mexico City at 9pm so it was already dark and hard to see the city. Driving to the hotel Mexico City didn't seem too different from Vancouver or Victoria; alot of buildings, cobble stone road, billboards all over. The hotel that we stayed at is very nice. Nicer than many back home.

On Saturday, Ian took us around and showed us the zocalo (the main city square). We visited the Cathedral, the President's Palace, and the Palacio de Bellas Artes. We went up in a tower and saw just how big Mexico City is. The outskirts look as though they are creeping up and taking over the surrounding mountains. The outskirts of the city are much more poor than the central part where we stayed. There are close to 36 million people who live in Mexico City, almost the same population of Canada. Yet the city never felt overly crowded.

On Sunday we took a bus to Teotihuacan to see the pyramids. When the Aztecs discovered Teotihuacan it had been abandoned for over 500 years and there is no evidence to indicate who lived there. So it is unknown who lived there and who built the pyramids. There are two pyramids in Teotihuacan the pyramid of the sun and the pyramid of the moon. And they each align with the sun and the moon somehow.

When we returned to Mexico City there was a large demonstration going on. It was for the anniversary of the 1968 massacre. In 1968 there were many Mexican students who were protesting peacefully before the olympics. As they were protested the government opened fire on them and ended up killing approximately 400 students. So over 40 years later hundreds of students walk the streets carrying banners saying things like never forget never forgive. They walked right past our hotel.

Mexico City was a great experience. The food was amazing and the people were also been very nice. There were many people trying to sell us things, but if you just say 'no gracias' they leave you alone. It has been a great introduction to Mexico so far and I can't wait until I get to Oaxaca and get to my homestay.

Pre-Oaxacan Journey

So here I am, the night before I leave for Oaxaca, and I am just finishing packing up all of my stuff. It's surprisingly easy to pack my life away and feel set for the next two and a half months. I sure hope I'm not forgetting anything.
I've decided that instead of doing alot of emailing while I'm away I am going to blog about my experiences. I'm going to attempt to write atleast once a week. I think it's a pretty realistic goal. I will greatly appreciate any comments left and will love to hear about what it going on in your lives.