Thanksgiving....Dia de los gracias
This is the second time today I have tried on this....the first posting disasppeared much to my frustartion, entonces this will be a shorter entry....
We had our next to last day of spanish school today...the school is being decorated both for the US students (garlands and plastic fruit and beads) and for the spanish students (nacimento--manger scene)...the later is much more interesting..
Since I last wrote we went to Queretero on the bus on the weekend....that is a town , very historical (Maximillan) was executed there before a firing squad...and the town has a beautiful aquaduct very old that is still in use. Maybe one of the most memorable parts of our day was the return bus home....it was a second class bus, very crowded, many stops and hot. We entered the bus and asked the driver if we could sit on the front seat...I proceeded to speak some and pantomime some of how I got motion sick and could vomit --acting this part out for more dramatic effect. No deal.....he said the front seat was for ninos....come to find out his ninos. His wife, mother-in-law, and 3 ninos climbed onto the bus. Ninos were probably 9-7-5 yrs. The women took the seats and the children: the 9 yr. son lay down on the dashboard, the 7 yr. old son sat on a stool by his dad and helped him shift gears, the 5 yr. girl played on the entry steps to the bus. We held our breath that the driver would not have to slam on his breaks, much less have an accident. This does not seem atypical of la vida here....less notice given to safety , especially in cars. On the other hand, I didn´t vomit, but Kristen almost did....nice to get our feet on solid ground...
Our Thanksgiving will be with a couple in our school from Oregon....may quesodillas, or fajitas followed by a wild game of Spanish scrabble...those rr, ll, ñ are something else to work with...
Tomorrow night we are taking the Lopez-Flores family out...this is the family I lived with when I studied Spanish here years ago.....a lovely family...and even more I can understand their Spanish.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.....maybe the next posting will be from Cuba after our arrival there on Monday....
Hasta luego,
karen
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Rope tricks in yesterday's parade....
Waiting for the parade....
The transit police preparing to do their 5 man riding on a motory cycle trick sans helmets...
Only one of the many local beauties....
Our tourism students at the universidad technologico...with Kristen( back) and Cody (far left-hipster from NYC)... these girls tourism attractions themselves??
Mexico for O!My view on my walk to school..turn your head, please..
San Martin Iglesia..San Martin Iglesia Circus!
The blessing of the cabaleros......
November 21, 2008
Yesterday and today have been a day of parades in celebration of the Revolution of maybe 1910....lots of celebrations of revolutions here...because there have been many. These parades were mainly of school children and town services: transit police force doing acrobatics sans helmets on their motorcycles, the bomboderos (firemen) setting a fire in the street then putting it out, older school children doing drums and bugles, younger school children today dressed as Poncho Via, and others as various Mexican presidents with fake beards, kids carrying arts/crafts rifles, little girsl with babies on their back, children doing tumbling on mats in the street and running thru hula hoops...quite a scene. One that you can't tear yourself away from even though it gets repetitious....There was even a marathon yesterday with Kenyans running!
Our days are full ...leaving the house at 8:30 in the a.m and returning at 7:00 or so in the p.m. It is amazing that the days can be so full with 2 hrs. in Spanish class each day, often an hour with teaching a student English, a film in the biblioteca (yesterday, the History of Mexico, and day before a docu about Freida Kahlo), a little lunch, a parade, and lots of walking.....
Yesterday we spent a good while figuring out how to load photos in this blog.....now to try some more.
Tomorrow we are going to try out luck on the local bus to go to Quretero...about 45 min journey...
karen
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
November 19, 2008
I think the above is the correct date....I seldom look at a calendar here...kind of refreshing experience.
It has turned unseasonably cold in San Miguel...all the locals talk about ¨frio¨"...while it is very sunny and warm in the daytime...with the sunset the temp plumets..about 35 last night. We have gas logs in our house, but frequently the pilot goes out! So we lie on the floor turning the pilot dial and pushing the "encensor" (or something like that)...and if we are lucky after much failed effort we get a pilot light....then heat!
Scene of the day: a young guy in the bed of a pickup with truck with a lama..and he is selling chances for 10 pesos for some lucky person to become the owner of the lama! I didn´t buy a chance on it although the lama was quite pretty...I would be the unlucky one to win it!
Kristen and I continue to each meet a student in the library two times a week to have English conversation...My student, AnaValeria Luna Colunga is 14...looks about ll. Speaking English is very, very hard for her...but yesterday I got a Beverly Cleary book from the library shelf and asked her to read...she did really well!! It is the "ed" on the end of the word that proves hard...she wants to pronouce all the letters so will say "laugh..ed", etc. Spanish is easier in that you pronouce all the letters in a word...but I can totally sympathize with her. She would meet me every day if I could...eager to learn. We meet 2 afternoons a week. She does watch the Disney Channel and another Disney channel that is mainly about animals....you may know it..
Our other teaching experience is 2afternoons a week inthe Universidad Technologico where students are studying tourism and gastronomy...in other words studying to be waiters, work in hotels, be receptionists, chefs, etc. We take 2 buses to get there...about 30 minutes away and costs us 5 pesos each for each bus..... in total that is less than a US $1 each. The road to the school finally becomes a dirt road...and much to my surprise just before we arrive at the school I realized we were on a airplane runway!! I saw a small plane the first day we went but none yesterday!
So, yesterday, we role played with the students....Kristen and I were the difficult American clients in a restaurant..all in English. Really the waiters, cafe manager, and chef did quite well. We gave them a pretty hard time with sending back food, wanting to smoke in a non smoking area, questioning what was in the food, asking for the manager, finding problems with the bill...
When Kristen demanded to smoke the waiter told her how bad it was for her health and that she would die from it...maybe waiters in the US should try that approach!! The school is a government school and costs $20a month for the students. Students are l8 - 22 yrs. old.
The economy is slow here...so much impact from the US...usually the school we are in may have 50 students, but now there are about l0 of us. The director has had to let several teachers go. She has hopes for Dec. Jan, Feb as that is the high season, but also has doubts...well founded, I think.
On the other side of the coin, we have a maid in our apt. 3 days a week....cleans the house, washes our clothes, irons--even our underwear and will cook if we give her the $ to buy food. We invited company last week so Mary Anna cooked enchiladas, Mexican rice, made a salad and guacamole......Kristen and I had 4 meals out of this!!
We are meeting people who have traveled in Guatemala and are giving us good tips. They suggest we go to see the ruins at Copan, Honduras while we are there. (Ellen, since you have been there, what do you think?) This would be instead of the ruins of Tikal, Guatemala.
We will leave here Dec 1 for C. then on Dec 11 to Guatemala and to the US on Dec 22.
Since Ihave been in this internet cafe, it has grown dark outside and the temp is quickly going down so must go to lite the pilot and turn on the logs! Cost of internet cafe computer time is about 85cents an hour! Many internet cafes here.....
Until later.....karen
I think the above is the correct date....I seldom look at a calendar here...kind of refreshing experience.
It has turned unseasonably cold in San Miguel...all the locals talk about ¨frio¨"...while it is very sunny and warm in the daytime...with the sunset the temp plumets..about 35 last night. We have gas logs in our house, but frequently the pilot goes out! So we lie on the floor turning the pilot dial and pushing the "encensor" (or something like that)...and if we are lucky after much failed effort we get a pilot light....then heat!
Scene of the day: a young guy in the bed of a pickup with truck with a lama..and he is selling chances for 10 pesos for some lucky person to become the owner of the lama! I didn´t buy a chance on it although the lama was quite pretty...I would be the unlucky one to win it!
Kristen and I continue to each meet a student in the library two times a week to have English conversation...My student, AnaValeria Luna Colunga is 14...looks about ll. Speaking English is very, very hard for her...but yesterday I got a Beverly Cleary book from the library shelf and asked her to read...she did really well!! It is the "ed" on the end of the word that proves hard...she wants to pronouce all the letters so will say "laugh..ed", etc. Spanish is easier in that you pronouce all the letters in a word...but I can totally sympathize with her. She would meet me every day if I could...eager to learn. We meet 2 afternoons a week. She does watch the Disney Channel and another Disney channel that is mainly about animals....you may know it..
Our other teaching experience is 2afternoons a week inthe Universidad Technologico where students are studying tourism and gastronomy...in other words studying to be waiters, work in hotels, be receptionists, chefs, etc. We take 2 buses to get there...about 30 minutes away and costs us 5 pesos each for each bus..... in total that is less than a US $1 each. The road to the school finally becomes a dirt road...and much to my surprise just before we arrive at the school I realized we were on a airplane runway!! I saw a small plane the first day we went but none yesterday!
So, yesterday, we role played with the students....Kristen and I were the difficult American clients in a restaurant..all in English. Really the waiters, cafe manager, and chef did quite well. We gave them a pretty hard time with sending back food, wanting to smoke in a non smoking area, questioning what was in the food, asking for the manager, finding problems with the bill...
When Kristen demanded to smoke the waiter told her how bad it was for her health and that she would die from it...maybe waiters in the US should try that approach!! The school is a government school and costs $20a month for the students. Students are l8 - 22 yrs. old.
The economy is slow here...so much impact from the US...usually the school we are in may have 50 students, but now there are about l0 of us. The director has had to let several teachers go. She has hopes for Dec. Jan, Feb as that is the high season, but also has doubts...well founded, I think.
On the other side of the coin, we have a maid in our apt. 3 days a week....cleans the house, washes our clothes, irons--even our underwear and will cook if we give her the $ to buy food. We invited company last week so Mary Anna cooked enchiladas, Mexican rice, made a salad and guacamole......Kristen and I had 4 meals out of this!!
We are meeting people who have traveled in Guatemala and are giving us good tips. They suggest we go to see the ruins at Copan, Honduras while we are there. (Ellen, since you have been there, what do you think?) This would be instead of the ruins of Tikal, Guatemala.
We will leave here Dec 1 for C. then on Dec 11 to Guatemala and to the US on Dec 22.
Since Ihave been in this internet cafe, it has grown dark outside and the temp is quickly going down so must go to lite the pilot and turn on the logs! Cost of internet cafe computer time is about 85cents an hour! Many internet cafes here.....
Until later.....karen
Saturday, November 15, 2008
November 15, 2008
We think we have our tkts for the next leg of this journey, but will be uncetain until it happens??
That has been a real experience...
Have enjoyed this free day (Sat)...sunny, cool and clear here...this is another of those "celebrating another of the revolution weekends"..no fireworks yet, but sure they will come before the weekend is over...And there is an exhibition in the huge parking lot near our apt...the wool and brass exhibition.....lots of artisans there for the week with mainly wool things and music..but the music usually ends by 10 pm.....easy tohear from our apt.
We have not been very happy with our Spanish teacher, but have arranged for another to begin on Monday.....luckily the school is most agreeable place.
After much searching we finally found a Scrabble game in Spanish.....try that game in your spare time! I use the dictionary alot..just to look up words for ideas.....double "rr" is a real problem and words with"ñ"..
Think they are closing up shop here at the internet cafe....so more later...
karen
We think we have our tkts for the next leg of this journey, but will be uncetain until it happens??
That has been a real experience...
Have enjoyed this free day (Sat)...sunny, cool and clear here...this is another of those "celebrating another of the revolution weekends"..no fireworks yet, but sure they will come before the weekend is over...And there is an exhibition in the huge parking lot near our apt...the wool and brass exhibition.....lots of artisans there for the week with mainly wool things and music..but the music usually ends by 10 pm.....easy tohear from our apt.
We have not been very happy with our Spanish teacher, but have arranged for another to begin on Monday.....luckily the school is most agreeable place.
After much searching we finally found a Scrabble game in Spanish.....try that game in your spare time! I use the dictionary alot..just to look up words for ideas.....double "rr" is a real problem and words with"ñ"..
Think they are closing up shop here at the internet cafe....so more later...
karen
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
November 12, 2008
At last I got into my blog...guess you thought this blog thing was all a fake idea! Kristen and I are settled in our very comfortable apt. in SMA, Mex and have 3 days of Spanish school under our belt..We think we are doing pretty well until we go into a store and ask for a tea kettle or a Spanish game of scrabble (yes, they do exist), or try to get directions somewhere. Today, we began teaching English one on one to students that come to the library...after our first teaching experience some older kids approached us and asked if we would come to their class tomorrow for an hour of English conversation!! We will have to take the local bus for about 20 min to get there....so will see how that excursion and experience goes....welcome the opportunity to speak our native language!
The experience that has dominated our every day is our time at the travel agent trying to work out this next leg of our journey----muy complicado!! We should just move in there with the agent and his one helper. The agent swears he will meet us at the office at 12:30, 6:00, 2:00, etc, but only his assistant is there...luckily she speaks some English....she types, types, types onto the keyboard and we look, look, look...wait,wait, wait...for some explanation of what is happening..which is apparently not much. So, now we have a 6pm appt. with Antonio, the agent, with great hopes for leaving there with tickets in hand!!
The other outstanding event of this week was going to the pilgrimage to San Martin--this village has the church of San Martin---who is the patron saint of horses....riders come from thruout this region of Mexico to be blessed by the priest...they ride right up to the door of the little church for the holy water blessing....but that is only a minor part of what is going on ....This event is a combination flea market, state fair, carnival, and huge campout....There must have been over 1,000 people there selling everything imaginable: birds in cages, pots, hammocks, agave cactus, fruit, piggy banks, bras, toy horses, toilet paper, many animal parts, blankets...and you could ride a ferris wheel or miniature twin donkeys or a large white Brahma bull.....On relection, this is likely much like pilgrimages of yore....people selling things the pilgrims needed plus just taking advantage of the situation.....
Must go see Antonio...have high hopes for success this time!!
Hasta luego...karen
At last I got into my blog...guess you thought this blog thing was all a fake idea! Kristen and I are settled in our very comfortable apt. in SMA, Mex and have 3 days of Spanish school under our belt..We think we are doing pretty well until we go into a store and ask for a tea kettle or a Spanish game of scrabble (yes, they do exist), or try to get directions somewhere. Today, we began teaching English one on one to students that come to the library...after our first teaching experience some older kids approached us and asked if we would come to their class tomorrow for an hour of English conversation!! We will have to take the local bus for about 20 min to get there....so will see how that excursion and experience goes....welcome the opportunity to speak our native language!
The experience that has dominated our every day is our time at the travel agent trying to work out this next leg of our journey----muy complicado!! We should just move in there with the agent and his one helper. The agent swears he will meet us at the office at 12:30, 6:00, 2:00, etc, but only his assistant is there...luckily she speaks some English....she types, types, types onto the keyboard and we look, look, look...wait,wait, wait...for some explanation of what is happening..which is apparently not much. So, now we have a 6pm appt. with Antonio, the agent, with great hopes for leaving there with tickets in hand!!
The other outstanding event of this week was going to the pilgrimage to San Martin--this village has the church of San Martin---who is the patron saint of horses....riders come from thruout this region of Mexico to be blessed by the priest...they ride right up to the door of the little church for the holy water blessing....but that is only a minor part of what is going on ....This event is a combination flea market, state fair, carnival, and huge campout....There must have been over 1,000 people there selling everything imaginable: birds in cages, pots, hammocks, agave cactus, fruit, piggy banks, bras, toy horses, toilet paper, many animal parts, blankets...and you could ride a ferris wheel or miniature twin donkeys or a large white Brahma bull.....On relection, this is likely much like pilgrimages of yore....people selling things the pilgrims needed plus just taking advantage of the situation.....
Must go see Antonio...have high hopes for success this time!!
Hasta luego...karen
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