Well, here in Mexico, my time is soon coming to a close, so I thought I would post a little bit before the last week's activities and celebrations get in the way. To say first, my learning in Mexico has been very unique, challenging and enlightening. I don't think I could have expected any of what I have experienced and I am baffled when I look back at my former expectations and perceptions of what I thought the whole experience WOULD be like. Safe to say, we just never know about much of anything till we are in the thick of it. I guess that carries through to all of life, and frankly, I think I am ok with that. Makes life a little more exciting.
To say secondly, I am thrilled to be coming home. Mexico has been good to me, but home has grown greater in my heart, so I will be glad to return to my beloved BC, the lovely cold, the reviving rain, the comforting wind whistle, rough beaches, rugged mountains and all other such things.
This next week holds wrap ups for teaching, final evaluations of our time here, final papers and assignments, meetings, celebrations and goodbyes. Then in 12 lovely days I will be off to the beaches of Puerto Escondido for 5 days where we will finish up the last of our program and enjoy a little sun and sand.
I don't anticipate writing much if anything after this so I'll say now, thanks for keeping up and for being interested in whats happening in my travels and experiences down in Mexico. Hope to see you soon!
peace
Christina
Steph's
Ben's
Friday, November 14
Wednesday, November 5
Safety or Insanity?
Four days a week, I work with students at Motolinia Private School in Oaxaca. (The fifth day is spent at another school for college students wanting to learn english). This is a private school that costs families more than other schools would, and kids attend from the time they are 3 years old and up. They are barely toilet trained when they enter but they jump right into the whole experience with uniforms and the whole works. Its so funny seeing all of them running around in sweater vests with the school crests adorning the front left corner and crisp white collared shirts, so cute!
At the school, the kinder building is two blocks away from the older grades (primary, secondary and preparatory). At the kinder school there is a doorbell to ring outside, and one of the reception girls comes to check who it is and won't let just anyone in. I am now a familiar face, and also a very foreign face compared to most of the Mexican kids and parents that come by, so I don't need to use my ID card anymore. But before the door is opened a latch is unhooked, another latch unlocked and then unhooked as well. Immediately they are locked again whenever anyone exits or enters. The inner square of the school has a playground and balls and an open concrete space for running around (rarely do I see grass around Oaxaca) and classrooms extend off of this area. The walls are two stories high on the building and everything is entirely enclosed. The little ninos and ninas are in a giant concrete playpen it seems:)
The upper grades, held at the other school campus, are not in an entirely dissimilar situation. The main entrance to the school has large bars that are watched and waited by a security guard. Then entering the building there is another set of casual guards watching who are the people entering and exiting. Students play and have recess in a central area which also serves at the open air gym. Concrete, once again, with only a glimpse of the tantalizing green mountains in the distance just north of the school. Students are not permitted off campus during school hours. Not even to buy a popsicle from the vendor around the corner or take a walk down the street to be away from all the noise and chaos of other students at the school. But this is the norm, so no one questions these practices or conditions and no one seems affected by them, except for maybe me, who longingly gazes at the mountains on my breaks, from a third floor seating that breathes a waft of open sky and green trees calling me to come. Oh boy, I miss BC!
Well, the end of the day seems to be the most strange of all. When the final bells ring and students run to find friends and books and backpacks, the older students are permitted to leave at their "own risk", but the primary grades are not allowed to leave on their own. Here is the process I stand amazed at everyday: students wait in their communal concrete play area for their name to be called over a loud speaker by a woman hollering spanish designations into a microphone at a door, the lady is reading these from special signs that are held up by drivers of cars out along the street beside the school, these drivers, NEVER get out of the vehicles. When a student's name is called, a person in an orange vest at the door (there are usually 4-5 of these orange vested escorts) matches the personal ID tag (that a student wears around their neck all the times) to the name being called. The student is then walked directly to that car without disruption of direct shoulder or hand contact between escort and student. The student is locked and loaded in the car before its onto another little munchkin for shipping off in another vehicle.
The whole thing is quite an event. Students are accustomed to it so it all seems quite usual for them. But you might be asking "why?". Well the why comes with to answers. First, lately in Oaxaca kidnapping has become quite the lucrative business. Some of the families we are staying with have even experienced these terrible events first hand and had to pay whatever ransom is asked of them. The going rate these days seems to be one million pesos. Another reason for this elaborate set up is that teachers at this school and faculty members look at students more like clients that they are catering to. This is what also makes it very difficult for teachers since students are clients and teachers who use lots of discipline are frowned upon and can even be fired on the basis of student petition if one is instigated (this is mostly just an opportunity for the older grades, 12 years and older).
Such a strange phenomenon. Students as clients, education as a payed and catered service, and learning as an entirely secondary aim or goal of school itself. The school is all about prestige. Families as well as their kids that attend the school are entirely aware of this. Their teacher's jokingly call them snobs, though in spanish it sounds slightly more mellow and less of an insult (fresas, same word used for strawberries).
So my teaching experience is quite a different one so far, and this is only a small portion of the differences, much more could be said, but perhaps another day.
At the school, the kinder building is two blocks away from the older grades (primary, secondary and preparatory). At the kinder school there is a doorbell to ring outside, and one of the reception girls comes to check who it is and won't let just anyone in. I am now a familiar face, and also a very foreign face compared to most of the Mexican kids and parents that come by, so I don't need to use my ID card anymore. But before the door is opened a latch is unhooked, another latch unlocked and then unhooked as well. Immediately they are locked again whenever anyone exits or enters. The inner square of the school has a playground and balls and an open concrete space for running around (rarely do I see grass around Oaxaca) and classrooms extend off of this area. The walls are two stories high on the building and everything is entirely enclosed. The little ninos and ninas are in a giant concrete playpen it seems:)
The upper grades, held at the other school campus, are not in an entirely dissimilar situation. The main entrance to the school has large bars that are watched and waited by a security guard. Then entering the building there is another set of casual guards watching who are the people entering and exiting. Students play and have recess in a central area which also serves at the open air gym. Concrete, once again, with only a glimpse of the tantalizing green mountains in the distance just north of the school. Students are not permitted off campus during school hours. Not even to buy a popsicle from the vendor around the corner or take a walk down the street to be away from all the noise and chaos of other students at the school. But this is the norm, so no one questions these practices or conditions and no one seems affected by them, except for maybe me, who longingly gazes at the mountains on my breaks, from a third floor seating that breathes a waft of open sky and green trees calling me to come. Oh boy, I miss BC!
Well, the end of the day seems to be the most strange of all. When the final bells ring and students run to find friends and books and backpacks, the older students are permitted to leave at their "own risk", but the primary grades are not allowed to leave on their own. Here is the process I stand amazed at everyday: students wait in their communal concrete play area for their name to be called over a loud speaker by a woman hollering spanish designations into a microphone at a door, the lady is reading these from special signs that are held up by drivers of cars out along the street beside the school, these drivers, NEVER get out of the vehicles. When a student's name is called, a person in an orange vest at the door (there are usually 4-5 of these orange vested escorts) matches the personal ID tag (that a student wears around their neck all the times) to the name being called. The student is then walked directly to that car without disruption of direct shoulder or hand contact between escort and student. The student is locked and loaded in the car before its onto another little munchkin for shipping off in another vehicle.
The whole thing is quite an event. Students are accustomed to it so it all seems quite usual for them. But you might be asking "why?". Well the why comes with to answers. First, lately in Oaxaca kidnapping has become quite the lucrative business. Some of the families we are staying with have even experienced these terrible events first hand and had to pay whatever ransom is asked of them. The going rate these days seems to be one million pesos. Another reason for this elaborate set up is that teachers at this school and faculty members look at students more like clients that they are catering to. This is what also makes it very difficult for teachers since students are clients and teachers who use lots of discipline are frowned upon and can even be fired on the basis of student petition if one is instigated (this is mostly just an opportunity for the older grades, 12 years and older).
Such a strange phenomenon. Students as clients, education as a payed and catered service, and learning as an entirely secondary aim or goal of school itself. The school is all about prestige. Families as well as their kids that attend the school are entirely aware of this. Their teacher's jokingly call them snobs, though in spanish it sounds slightly more mellow and less of an insult (fresas, same word used for strawberries).
So my teaching experience is quite a different one so far, and this is only a small portion of the differences, much more could be said, but perhaps another day.
Monday, October 27
Fueling the Fire
Sometimes when I watch all the little Mexican faces running around a classroom, poking, pinching, prodding, laughing, singing and shouting, the group of them look like a fire. One that sways and grows and sometimes gets out of control but can be simmered with a bit of cooling soothing water. But honestly, what is to be expected of fire that is growing out of control, and is usually larger than should be anyways, and then you decide to feed the fire a whole batch of oxygen.......or in the case of my students, SUGAR!!! Our kinder kids are the most active of them all and they come to school literally twitching from caffeine and sugar. (seriously, even Special K, the Mexican version, same box, same label, same advertising as being a healthy alternative, is LOADED with SUGAR!) Mexico is also an area very high in diabetes, wonder why?
Anyways, today the kids were their usual overly perky and jittery selves and I was supposed to teach the kinder 3 kids (five year olds) a lesson in English on Body Parts. Tough enough is my task with 36 little ninos running around, me not knowing much spanish, and a previous programming in their little sugar filled brains that constant activity and not listening to the teacher is TOTALLY ok. Roll on the floor, talk while the teacher talks, run around, wander aimlessly, its all ok, the teacher just usually ignores it and tries to shout over it. But today, oh today was extra special for me, before my class came back, the other teachers were making chocolate sculptures with the students, oh joy. Not to mention that it was recess before that and every student runs around with a lollipop in their mouth, one in hand......and another in the other hand. One sweet little sugar faced girl came and told me quite quickly today, between licks and splatters and jitters, that one lollipop was from her brother, one from her mother and one from a friend. Yikes! Every kid here also has some sort of stylish little grill across their front teeth and if not, they have little brown rotten ones, take your pick, whatever it is, their toothy grins are quite the assortment of holes and metal.
So, I am glad that in Canada a health conscious environment is more prominent and I hope that as a teacher I can help my students to make wise decisions not only in their studies but in reference to caring for themselves and being well ready for each day, fueling themselves with the right stuff to aim to go forward, and hopefully give me, as a teacher, some sanity:)
Anyways, today the kids were their usual overly perky and jittery selves and I was supposed to teach the kinder 3 kids (five year olds) a lesson in English on Body Parts. Tough enough is my task with 36 little ninos running around, me not knowing much spanish, and a previous programming in their little sugar filled brains that constant activity and not listening to the teacher is TOTALLY ok. Roll on the floor, talk while the teacher talks, run around, wander aimlessly, its all ok, the teacher just usually ignores it and tries to shout over it. But today, oh today was extra special for me, before my class came back, the other teachers were making chocolate sculptures with the students, oh joy. Not to mention that it was recess before that and every student runs around with a lollipop in their mouth, one in hand......and another in the other hand. One sweet little sugar faced girl came and told me quite quickly today, between licks and splatters and jitters, that one lollipop was from her brother, one from her mother and one from a friend. Yikes! Every kid here also has some sort of stylish little grill across their front teeth and if not, they have little brown rotten ones, take your pick, whatever it is, their toothy grins are quite the assortment of holes and metal.
So, I am glad that in Canada a health conscious environment is more prominent and I hope that as a teacher I can help my students to make wise decisions not only in their studies but in reference to caring for themselves and being well ready for each day, fueling themselves with the right stuff to aim to go forward, and hopefully give me, as a teacher, some sanity:)
Sunday, October 26
Never say you're embarrassed
Did I mention that we eat grasshoppers down here? Yeah, breakfast, lunch, dinner, light snack, grasshoppers, or in spanish, chapulines. And yes, I have eaten some, not half bad either. They are fried with different spices and set out for anyone. The other day though, there were some larger ones on the table and I asked my homestay mom why they were so fat, she said they were "embarazada", pregnant! She then proceeded to open one up, show me its insides and pop the little thing into her mouth, SICK! This I just can't do, but its a definite conversation starter:) Just remember never to spice up the word embarrassed if you are trying to find a word in spanish for saying you are slightly humiliated by something, you will be more embarrassed when you realize you have just said you are with child.
Tuesday, October 21
Mexican Jumping Beans
Did I mention that Mexican children get far too much sugar and caffeine in their diets? Seriously! I walk into class and kids are practically bouncing off the walls! This is not an unusual case. Many of our SFU students are experiencing the results of caffeinated kids and sugar high tykes, its crazy! Most of the time my teacher is trying her best to keep up with their energy level but in the meantime they themselves are not even able to keep up with it. Focus is not something these kids know well, tasks are but momentary occurrences, and everything that can be grabbed, pulled, poked, pinched and thankfully in some lovely cases, hugged, it definitely done so. But they are really cute, the little ones of course, the older ones are tyrannical, and finally getting into the teens they are still trouble but very fun and amusing students, smiling, laughing, eager to talk and to get to know new people.
I had quite the adventure trying to keep all the students' attention today, especially since my teacher does not have classroom management high on her priority list, and as her student in training I am aiming to find the balance between upstaging her role in class, and sticking to what I believe a teacher needs to display and expect from her students in reference to respect and community. I hope I am able to find this balance because here in Oaxaca i am still only a guest and a student learning, so I can't hope to make any great changes in the system, but I hope to learn, listen and stay true to what I believe teaching is about. In the meantime, I am truly enjoying sitting back watching and playing with some of my new jumping bean friends.
I had quite the adventure trying to keep all the students' attention today, especially since my teacher does not have classroom management high on her priority list, and as her student in training I am aiming to find the balance between upstaging her role in class, and sticking to what I believe a teacher needs to display and expect from her students in reference to respect and community. I hope I am able to find this balance because here in Oaxaca i am still only a guest and a student learning, so I can't hope to make any great changes in the system, but I hope to learn, listen and stay true to what I believe teaching is about. In the meantime, I am truly enjoying sitting back watching and playing with some of my new jumping bean friends.
Monday, October 20
Here and there and everywhere
Well, for the last couple weeks I have talked about Mexico, its wonders, excitements, colors, people, food, amazing sights and more, but I would just like to state that as much as I am enjoying this experience, it still makes me love my home all the more, and feel very blessed for the things I have. There are so many things we don't experience that are amazing here in Mexico, but there are so many little things I take for granted in my beautiful province of BC.
I miss the ocean, raw ocean. The kind that has rocks that have presence and character and seem solid and harsh standing lonely yet firm in their place. I miss the cool weather, muggy and hot is not my preference, though the weather here has been mild. I miss fresh salads all the time and having tea without sugar loaded into it. I miss being able to take a shower and be able to slurp at the water with my tongue without wondering about the many forms of bacteria oozing into my stomach to haunt me tomorrow. I miss friends and family and a special someone. I miss Friday night pizza at the Russell house, and late night slurpies, popcorn, movies. I miss being able to understand everything that is going on, and being able to express my emotions and sentiments to the people around me. There is lots more, but I think it is possibly useless and fruitless to spend more time missing. But I do like remembering and appreciating. Mexico is a wonderful place, but so is Canada. I look forward to the rest of my journey here but will leap straight into my return as well.
Hope you are enjoying where you are too:)
I miss the ocean, raw ocean. The kind that has rocks that have presence and character and seem solid and harsh standing lonely yet firm in their place. I miss the cool weather, muggy and hot is not my preference, though the weather here has been mild. I miss fresh salads all the time and having tea without sugar loaded into it. I miss being able to take a shower and be able to slurp at the water with my tongue without wondering about the many forms of bacteria oozing into my stomach to haunt me tomorrow. I miss friends and family and a special someone. I miss Friday night pizza at the Russell house, and late night slurpies, popcorn, movies. I miss being able to understand everything that is going on, and being able to express my emotions and sentiments to the people around me. There is lots more, but I think it is possibly useless and fruitless to spend more time missing. But I do like remembering and appreciating. Mexico is a wonderful place, but so is Canada. I look forward to the rest of my journey here but will leap straight into my return as well.
Hope you are enjoying where you are too:)
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