Week 3 - más o menos

It has been a roller coaster week. At first I thought I was going to be sent home; miscommunication I think due to both cultural expectations and my not feeling well. But then, a couple days later, I was put in front of my first English class without much of a preparation. They said I would be chatting with some students, which to me is informal, get-to-know-you kind of stuff, probably with people who knew more English. Was I wrong. I have a group of students who don`t know much English at all, just the basics and I had no idea what to do with them. All I know is if someone came to teach me a language and showed up looking hopelessly lost, I wouldn`t be very happy. I don`t know if the expectations are different here, or if they are just too polite. I`ve now had a few classes, so I feel a little better and I got some guidance from one of my former Spanish teachers.

I also have a "real" job working at a hotel. I`m working 9-1 for now, so I can still teach English in the afternoons. I`ve only been there two days now, but I think that it is promising. They are going to try and have me work in a lot of different departments, so that I can learn as much as possible and meet a lot of people too. The name of the resort is El Cid, it`s main business is timeshares, although it does have a regular hotel as well.

I will be relocating again as well. The person I am staying with right now, Adriana, has her house under construction, and so it is not exactly the ideal place. I will be moving to the house of another university employee; her name is Marta. She`s also going to teach me how the bus system works, so I can move freely on my own.

Today, I had a semi-scary thing happen. Marta was giving me a ride home, and we came to a railroad crossing with the red light on. In Mexico this doesn`t mean stop though. It`s more of a yield, make sure the train`s not too close. The problem was that the traffic stopped for a short time while we were still on the tracks. To say that I almost got hit by a train is a little bit of an exaggeration, but I was definitely contemplating my options should traffic not move forward quickly. Luckily it did, and I made it out unscathed, but I think I now know why there are so many crosses and flowers at all the railroad crossings.

Take care everyone!

Some photos

I thought I should finally put some photos on here...

This is me against the beautiful view of Mazatlán.

A beautiful sunset.

A night out with Miriam (top) and Chayito (left)

Week 2

I thought I was settling in, but this week I was sick. I was not feeling well at all. I ended up having to take some antibiotics and thankfully it worked and I am feeling better again. I´m still not sure what my schedule will be; I`m hoping that everything will be decided on Monday. I didn`t realize how much I like a schedule until I didn`t have one. I`m slowly adjusting more and more and I think it will be a little while before I am completely adjusted. I`ve met a bunch of nice people. One in particular is Tina. She is 24 and works at the university; she will be going for a master`s degree this fall in sociology. She took me to her home and I met her family. Her mother made tostadas for me...they were very good. She also walked with me around the downtown and I got to see more of the sights. The next day I went to her house for a "carne asada" (literally...grilled meat). Her whole family meets and shares food and company. It is a traditional weekend activity. I played Mexican bingo with her family too.

Side note: I am starting to be more comfortable with listening to the Spanish. It seems that I have to familiarize myself with how each person talks. So, every time I meet someone it starts over again. Obviously, some are easier to understand than others.

chow,
erin

For those of you who don´t know....I came to Mexico as part of an internship program. This is something completely new for the university, so it has been a little rough to begin with. I will be teaching English to a group of professors here and taking a class of some sort to meet other students. I have also been given the opportunity to work at a company in Mazatlan, Ingles sin Barreras. They design multi-media software to help people learn English. I will work with the support "instructors" who answer questions from students who call in and eventually work with the students who call in themselves. It is very important to learn English in Mexico; it can determine the type of job that you can get and the better jobs require some level of English. I have been given a few examples of people who didn´t get the job the wanted or didn`t get as good of a job because their English skills were lacking.

Cute story of the day: I went to visit a group of junior high students. Adriana, my new host, teaches there as well as the university, and her class was asking me questions. One of the questions was "What does snow feel like?" I wasn`t sure how to answer her - I`d never thought about it before.

My first week

A lot has happened this week. When I arrived, I went to my host person´s house. It is a newly built house and it is actually not finished yet. Chayito, my host, had not completely moved in yet and there wasn´t a fridge or stove or microwave. They seemed like nice people, so I wanted to give it a try still. I stayed there for a few days and met a lot of people in her family. She has lots of cousins and her brother was nice enough to drive me around the city...I had a good time with him and their cousin Paola. I also met a lot of people at the university...I´m afraid there were too many names for me to remember them all. After a few days though, we decided that it would be better for me to live with Adriana; I need to be able to eat at all hours of the day and she seems to be less busy than Chayito. Chayito works at the university and owns her own sushii restaurant. So, now I am settled in, more or less, with Adriana and her daughter. I met some of Adriana´s family and they are also nice people. Tomorrow will be a busy day, so I should go to bed.

chow, erin

I´m here!

I made it. My flights were tiring, but I`m starting to adjust to all of the changes. It isn`t extremely hot, a little warmer than home, but it is very humid so it feels a lot worse than it is. It is their rainy season right now, so I´m hoping it won´t be this humid all the time. I`ve driven around the city and seen a lot of it. There are some beautiful spots, but there is also signs of poverty. I`ve also been to the university and met a lot of people. I will have to post some pictures later, but I don´t have the cable for my camara. I´m tired so that is all for now.

Hasta luego (until then),
erin

Day Before Flight

Going down to Detroit today with my mom and will be leaving tomorrow for Mexico. I will post more later, but have too many things to do right now.

erin