"Adopted" Kids

A most pleasant update on Ana Cecilia, Pablo, y Julio, who are now going to school! They are all set with new uniforms (except shoes, we're saving up for them!) and school supplies, and we are going to pay ahead at school for fees and lunch...
I was at my pilates class (don't ask, I always fall off the ball) when the kids came by, but they were still there when I got home. I came to the door, and Pablo and Julio, grins on their faces, came running to the door saying, "Te queremos mucho!! We love you so much!" and greeted me with big hugs. Helping them go to school was already rewarding, but it was all I could do to not to tear up! My roommate, Shelly, who is also heading up the "send the kids to school" unofficial operation, said, "Guess what? It's not 150 pesos per kid, it's 150 total!" Five dollars a year?? Thoughts started racing to my mind at how many kids could receive help to pay for school!! Then, it came out that it is 50 pesos per month, so 150 per month per child...and then it really dawned on me how the children's mother couldn't pay! That's, give or take, 50 USD per child per year, which is a ton of money for that family! So, it's going to cost a lot more than we bargained for, but as a teacher I REALLY can't place a dollar (or peso) sign on an education. They also need fifty cents each a day for lunch, as it turns out, but this too is manageable.
Some of you have volunteered to send funds or supplies for the kids and for others who will we will be locating to send to school. I can't thank you enough. It's too bad that you can't be here to see the ear to ear grins on the kids' faces and to receive their hugs in person, but know that I am passing those hugs and grins onto you!! We live such a padded existence in the U.S., that I feel like these little things to us can make SUCH a difference in the lives of others!!
Above, Pablo tries on his new uniform (and his mom's going to have to hem those pants! He's such a peanut!).
Below, the kids' supplies, their warm greeting, and Julio has a big hug and a smile for Shelly!

Intercultural Mingling

The English third grade teacher, Glenn, decided even before school started that he was going to have a party for the whole school at his house on the Friday of the first week of school. I wasn't sure if the idea would be forgotten, or how big the group would be, but it happened, and the turnout was great. Tons of teachers and staff from school, both foreign and Mexican, gathered in Kris and Glenn's [sweet] apartment. Many put away a ton of beer, others apple soda, and all enjoyed snacks before moving poolside. I managed to swim in my clothes, while others opted for (or had the option of) bathing suits and swim trunks. And Julio, one of the elementary P.E. teachers, drank too, too, too much and hit on everything female.

Inside pictures:
Teacher whose name I forgot, Paty, Annette, and Adriana (my boss)

Next picture: Girl I don't know who was trying VERY hard to speak English with us, Kris, and Tomas (elem. P.E.)

Next picture: Glenn taking my picture taking his picture

Next picture: Kris, Glen

Poolside Pictures:

We told Kris to "act natural"

I think Shelly is doing the respect salute?

Paty, Glenn, and Kris

Kris, Marlon, Lisa

Ana Cecilia and Pablo (and Julio, too)

The kids are going to school! I'm so happy! I feel like a proud mother hen!!
Ana Cecilia stopped by today, in her attempt at a school uniform, saying, "I went to school today. They need you guys to pay, though..." Originally we were going to take the Colectivo to Ana's stop, and meet her mother, and walk to the school because Ana Cecilia doesn't know its name, but then we got to thinking about how we were warned to be critical and on guard here, yet not jaded, and thought it better to wait for her mom to give us the name and directions of the school, so that we could go directly. Odds are, there wouldn't be any problem just meeting Ana's mother and going with her to the school, but we feel a little better going ourselves.
It's only going to be less than 100 dollars for inscription for all three kids and uniforms...and yet, they wouldn't be able to go without it. I REALLY wish there were some way to start "becas" (scholarships) here where people in nations where 15 dollars is NOTHING could send it down here for a kid to be able to pay to go to school. I don't feel knowledgeable enough about the situation to even begin trying to set a system like that up, though. Any suggestions?

Classroom Pictures

I'm posting some pictures of the school and of my classroom. No class (student) pictures yet, however, because I only know half of their names so far! Well, I know most of the names, but matching them to faces is proving interesting. And to top it off, there are some language things that confuse me. Like, Jose Maria is a boy, but the two Maria Joses are girls. And in addition to two Maria Joses, I also have a Maria del Mar. I have a Sergio Enrique who goes by Enrique, and a plain old Enrique. I could go on.

The classroom The books corner, in between the two groups' attendance charts (yes, those are fish with their names on them)

Above: color words; above that: The Days of the Week, The "Traffic Light" of discipline (if we end the day on green, the kids go home with stickers...Red is hard-core bad; we haven't gotten there yet), and the beginning of my Alphabet chart (thanks, Megs!) and numbers

No ProblemA for groceries

"No problemo!"
How many times have you heard that one?? More than you can count on one hand, or both, or maybe even using feet, too, I would imagine. BUT...it's wrong! The word for a problem in Spanish is problema, with an A, not an O. I would hazard a guess that since so many words in Spanish end in O, someone just created this to be funny, and it stuck, but you can do the world a favor by starting to say, "No problema!" Or, not.
Anyhow, I just grocery shopped, and it always makes me happy to see that, if I don't buy stupid American products (and even if I buy one or two), my grocery bill is never much more than what would be $10 USD. To give you an idea of what food shopping costs here in Tuxtla (and at the Bodega Gigante, to be more specific), here is my receipt.

Cheese, 2 packages $3.00 USD
Popcorn, 2 packages $1.20 USD
Quaker granola cereal $1.50 USD
Oranges for juicing (5) $1.00 USD
Pasta $0.30 USD
Hot sauce $0.50 USD
Cilantro (1 big bunch) $0.30 USD
Jar of Jalapenos $0.35 USD
Three fancy cookies $0.80 USD
Tortilla chips (Tostitos) $1.40 USD
Apple Soda $0.50 USD
Bananas (2) $0.15 USD
Tomatoes (2) $0. 62 USD
Serrano pepper (1) $0.03 USD

Grand total: 116.14 pesos, or about $10-11 USD.

Ding at the Domino's

I was riding a combi (or colectivo, the busses/vans of death that serve as public transportation) home today with my Principal (no, this is not scary) and I kept looking out the window for my stop, and told her, "Gotta ding at the Domino's". To which she replied, "That'd make a great title for an email home." Since I am no longer doing the big emails home, I've made it a blog title. And yes, I ding at the Domino's to signal my stop on my ride home; if I dinged at the closer Pizza Hut, my driver/grim reaper would whiz past my street by about 4-6 blocks. I have no right to complain about walking one stop further, though; colectivos cost 4 pesos (about 40 cents) for as far as you want to ride in one direction on one colectivo.
Speaking of Colectivos, or combis, one of my colleagues, Glenn, has postulated the following. Becoming a colectivo driver has one prerequisite: the would-be driver must have a death wish. I have NEVER seen a female combi driver. Not sure why. Maybe women are too smart to want to spend hours a day in an endless near-death experience? In addition to having a death wish, my colleague hypothesized, the test to become a combi driver must including having to take down at least 2 pedestrians. I'd like to add that coming a centimeter within hitting the bumper between you and then miraculously stopping in time not to hit it must be on the exam, too. Below is a picture I TRIED to take of a colectivo, but they drive so d**n fast that it's a wonder I got the rear end. And,here's to hoping never to end up like the second combi pictured here (taken from the net, not by me). The picture above, I stole from Glenn (a colleague) because I'm just not fast enough with my camera. But he got three in one shot!

Huatulco

For the earlier portion of the 4-day weekend before school starts, I went to Huatulco, a beach town in the state of Oaxaca (pronounced Wa-hah-kuh, not O-ahx-ahca). We took an overnight bus there and back, and stayed for two full days. August, ironically, isn't their high tourist season, so the rates were decent. October-December is their high season, when all of the Canadians and Americans truck down to the beaches to escape frigid fall and winter weather.

Here are three photos, but many others are available on Facebook.

San Cristobal

About an hour from here by "bus" (translation: 15 passenger van), for 35 pesos (about $3.00) one way, lies San Cristobal. Once a colonial city and the capital of Chiapas until the late 1800s, San Cristobal de las Casas is a beautiful day trip away from Tuxtla. I visited it on Saturday, and the first thing I noticed on the way was the difference in altitude. To reach San Cristobal from Tuxtla, one climbs 1000-1500 meters (I've forgotten the exact figure), and my ears, which popped on the way up, can attest to the fact that the difference is noticeable. I enjoyed wandering the markets, parks, and streets of the town, as well as eating at a wonderful all-natural restaurant tucked away on a quiet road away from the tourist path. Their bread is delicious, and you can buy a small loaf for 10 pesos (about a dollar) or a large one for about 20 pesos.

Mariachi (Did I spell that right?)

Last Friday, our school put on a BBQ for us, complete with lamb (tear), beans (of course), and a Mariachi band! It definitely put a smile on my face.

Come visit!

I'll take this moment to shamelessly plug coming to visit me in sunny southern Mexico! Free lodging, cheap food, and a built-in tour guide and half-decent translator await you in Tuxtla Gutierrez!
There's tons to do in the region, including the beach 2 hours away, San Cristobal less than an hour away, and a beautiful jungle canyon not far at all. I have TONS of long weekends throughout the year, so anyone who visited for a week or so that included one of these weekends would be able to travel a little in the area with me. My long weekends, as of now, are:
September 14-17 (4 day weekend for Mexican Independence or Chiapas joining Mexico, I forget which)
November 2 and 4-5 for Dia de las Muertas
November 18-20 (3 day weekend)
December 1-3 (3 day weekend)
February 3-5 (3 day weekend)
March 17-19 (3 day weekend)
April 28-May 1 (4 day weekend, not confirmed yet, but I do have the 1st off)
May 11-15 (5 day weekend) for Teachers' Day!
I also have 2.5 weeks off at the end of December and beginning of January, but I will be in upstate NY for a week and France for the second week. In April I have two weeks' vacation for Easter/Holy Week, but I'll most likely be home for part or all of that.

New friends

Last Wednesday night, around dinner time, a little boy about 5 years old and a little girl about 7 or 8 showed up on our doorstep. They asked us if they could take out our trash for us in exchange for a glass of water. We refused the trash offer but took them up on the water and threw in a peanut butter sandwich. As it turns out, these two kids come to our complex three days a week on trash nights and ask if they can take out residents' trash in exchange for a few pesos or a snack, or water. They don't go to school, and asked us if we could teach them. They also asked us if we had anything that they could try to sell, and even if they could come back to the U.S. with us. Later that night, at about 11pm, the little girl came back, with her mother! Her mother asked us if we could take her daughter back to the states with us, saying she could work there. We told her, politely, that it doesn't work that way, and that you need visas and permission to come, and that lots of people want to move to the U.S. And the little girl's mother, eyes full of naiveté, said, "We'll have to ask the President." The whole experience really put things into perspective, especially when the little girl asked how much house cleaners make in the states, and I realized that per hour, they might make a lot more than someone here might make in a week. Count your blessings...
Ana Cecilia and Pablo, as we have learned are their names, sure enough, were back Friday night, working our neighborhood on trash night. Again, we offered them water and peanut butter sandwiches, and they told us a little more about their life. They used to go to school, but they can't afford the 150 peso entrance fee (that's about 14 dollars), so they aren't going this year. My roommate and I told them to ask their mother if they could go to school if we paid their entrance fees right to the school. There is no way a child should go without an education because of 14 dollars. I always knew that some kids had to work instead of attending school, but it had never occurred to me that a child might not go to school because he or she can't afford to attend public school! I hope that there's a happy ending for Pablo and Ana Cecilia.

El canon del sumidero

Our second day of "orientation" really consisted of a trip up into the jungle outside Tuxtla, but in a safe part where the mosquito bites I got were deemed not malaria-threatening.
In the near future, I hope to be going to nearby Chiapa de Corzo to take a boat or kayak in the canon del sumidero.

More recent Tuxtla happenings/observations

The picture above is the high school wing of my school, the American School Foundation of Chiapas. Coming soon, pictures of my decorated First Grade classroom.

One of the markets in Tuxtla is in the Plaza Civica, the park at the center of the city. There's a stand there where you can buy coconut milk, rice water, or Jamaica (pronounced Huh-my-kah, not like the country), which is a sweet drink made from hibiscus flowers. The other park, Marimba Park, is so named because nightly, from 6-10pm, Tuxtla residents come to dance Marimba to a live band. I wasn't brave enough to shake it in the dance area, but I did have a great time watching. My favorite song was one in which the band sang, "La vaca, [pause] ugh!" La vaca [pause] ugh!" La vaca, for the non-Spanish speakers, means "the cow." Before going to the park, I dined with some of my new friends at the Marimba Park restaurant. I sampled empanadas and tomales, which were, of course, delicious. In most restaurants in town, one can eat for about $5 USD. After dinner and [watching] dancing, we took a ride on the "Panoramico" bus for 15 pesos (a little over a dollar), which takes riders up a hill near the city to get a... panoramic view of Tuxtla. It also points out a few historic and/or cultural points.

Although the school partially pays for a gym membership for its teachers, I was not planning on going anywhere NEAR these sweat-inducing establishments. But, a gym near me offers classes, two of which are modern dance and salsa. I decided to give the salsa dance class a try, and, despite tripping and nearly taking a dive, I have enrolled in the class. Sometimes we look down over the balcony and see people working out have stopped to watch the three gringas (white girls) trying to dance. Let it suffice to say that salsa is not in my blood. And, the instructor, Andres, is like the Mexican equivalent of Billy Blanks (the big Tae Bo guy) in terms of intensity, and doesn't really appreciate the gringas giggling throughout the lesson. I think he forgives us because he's taken a liking to Lisa, one of the teachers who also takes his class.

Getting cable service in other countries appears to be a universal struggle. I had quite the time trying to get service in France due to loads of paperwork and non-existent customer service, and things haven't improved much in Mexico. On Saturday morning, my roommate went to the cable office to investigate our options, but the line was out the door and down the corridor, so she gave up. Monday afternoon, we both went, and there was no line, but they also had no registration forms. Perhaps they ran out on Saturday? They said they would have forms "manana", or tomorrow, which I'm quickly learning could really be "manana manana" or even "manana manana manana". Flexibility is key. Nothing accomplished, but they did realize we weren't paying for cable and turned it off! Funny how they can turn off the cable in 30 minutes, but it takes a week to install. We trekked back to Megacable the next day, and sure enough, they didn't have any forms. We told them that they had turned off our cable, and suddenly, out of nowhere, forms appeared! Not only did they suddenly have forms, but they signed us up, and arranged for installation for 7 days later. Another friend had been told 10 days. Sort of a "dartboard" system, like I ran into often in France.

Here are some photos of my apartment.

The living room/dining room area, my bedroom, and the oh, so charming exterior (my apartment is on the third floor, on the left).

Getting here

Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital city of the state of Chiapas, is the city I will be calling home until July 6, 2007, give or take a few days. The city has grown quite substantially over the past few decades, and this can be seen from above the city, which now fills most of the valley it is in. It is the first Mexican city I've ever been to, actually, but from what others have told me, it is comparatively very clean, safe, and pretty. I like the fact that it isn't huge like Mexico City, but it isn't a small village, either, which means most modern day conveniences (maybe even too many) are readily available.

I live on Calle 16a Poniente Norte, which means I live just northwest of the city center (about 16 blocks, to be more precise, as I live on 16th street NW). After landing at the Tuxtla Gutierrez airport (one of the smallest airports I've ever landed at), surrounded by some of the greenest scenery I've seen since England, I was met by Paty, a representative of the school, and the person who hired me. After three flights and twelve hours of traveling, I was happy to see a smiling face, albeit one I'd never seen before. Paty drove me to my apartment, and as we pulled into the apartment complex, I thought to myself, "I will be spending the next 11 months in the ghetto; how interesting." However, the inside of the apartment doesn't look as crumbly as the outside, and I've found this to be a recurring theme: many buildings aren't freshly painted, and sometimes look delapidated, but the interiors are often nice. I've hypothesized that this is to avoid advertising worthwhile targets to would-be thiefs.

Nearby San Christobal is a beautiful, colonial town where a surprising number of European backpackers are not hard to spot. It's quite quaint, and gives the impression of an authentic Mexican town. We went to the Museum of Mayan Medicine, which is off the beaten path, so to speak, and saw the other side of San Cristobal, where the indigenous population lives. The Museum was small, but on its grounds was a Mayan medicine shop, with natural remedies for many things. I'll have to get back to you regarding whether the things I purchased work.

After bringing me to my apartment, Paty took me to the nearby Bodega Gigante, or Gigantic Store/Grocery Store, to grocery shop. I wasn't really in the state of mind to grocery shop, so I came out with odd things like packaged tortillas, pastries, apples, spiced peanuts, chicken, etc. I found out very quickly that it will be quite difficult, if not impossible, to eat organic here, so I've resigned to just trying to eat healthy and attempting to scrub potential pesticides off my fruits and veggies. I was also a little sad to see the bag wasting at stores. Baggers put 2 or 3 items in a bag, and often put small items in small bags that will end up within bigger bags. I usually have to insist several times to get the bagger to reuse bags I've brought, and I get a lot of funny looks from them for it. It's funny how the U.S. and other [over-]developed nations started being wasteful, and the rest of the world has caught on and made it even worse. I've been realizing that I have a great location. I'm a 20 minute walk to the city center, and about 10 minutes from an internet cafe, the Bodega Gigante, a few taco places, a laundry place (not really a laundromat, as you leave your laundry, and for about 50 cents a pound, they wash, dry, iron, and fold your clothes), and other food places. And, as I've discovered this week, I live across the street from a camouflaged ice cream and dessert shop with very good prices!

The day after I arrived, orientation started at school at 9am. The rest of the foreign teaching staff (and the local teaching staff, for that matter) is made of a lot of great people who've taught abroad before in lots of cool places, like Egypt, India, Thailand, Argentina, and Saipan. As it turns out, orientation and classroom setup will last three weeks, with school starting on August 21, and we only have to be at school till about 1pm on orientation days. After the first day, I explored the city and some markets with two other teachers, and was almost pickpocked. I can't help but look out of place here. I'm getting a tan despite SPF use, and I wear sunglasses (which cover the light eyes), but my hair keeps getting lighter from the sun, which isn't doing me any favors for blending in. And I'm pretty sure the handful of American and Canadian teachers are the only foreigners in Tuxtla. Back to the would-be pickpocketing incident. Due to my lightning-quick reflexes, I was not robbed. Okay, so one of the guys got the pickpockets away from me. But if he hadn't been there, I could have fended for myself...maybe.

Getting ahold of me

If skype, AIM, MSN, and email aren't enough, you can call me at:
(from the states/Canada:) 011 52 961 60 23406 (my apt line)

I can receive mail with more stability at school:
Heather Way
American School Foundation of Chiapas
Blvd. Belisario Dominguez 5580-F
C.P. 29052 Teran, Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas
MEXICO