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February 05, 2007
Tamarindo and Jamaica Jarras
On Friday I walked into the Colegio Americano on Calle 72, to find Erich sitting there alongside “Ms. Fanny”, the coordinator of English language for a school of 500 students or so. In her broken, hard to understand, grammatically incorrect English, she asked if I wanted to teach two classes of English conversational hours with Erich on Fridays from 10:30-12:30. “Yes!” I told her. And I was virtually hired on the spot and given my first assignment.
Erich and I will be teaching two classes, each with 30 students. One class is 5th grade, the other is 6th grade. We’ve divided the students in half—he takes half outside into the courtyard area and I take the otherhalf outside by the picnic benches. It was a lot of fun working with the kids and amazing to see just how eager they are to understand English. “I want a better job someday,” one of them told me. “L.A. is where the movie stars live,” said another. “And I want to speak with them.”
In both classes, I went around asking each student their name, their age, where they’ve traveled to, and why they’re studying English. I also asked them to give me suggestions about places to go and things to see around Merida. Then we spoke about what it’s like to be a 12, 13, and 14 year old living in Mexico. “I love Metallica,” one of them eagerly shouted. “And Blink 182,” said a girl from Cancun that is living with her Tia in Merida for the time being.
I really really enjoyed teaching and found it really rewarding. It ends the last week of May. On Wed. nights, I will begin a 2 hour conversational hour with students and my maestro from the UADY, who are studying Sandra Cisneros.
After my class, I went to the beach alone with my book, but met up with Will, Dayna, and Suzzanna there. It was a nice time, and it’s so great to have the beach so easily accessible to read, lounge around, and just have a good time.
Saturday was another excursion with the Rutgers Group. We went to an active hacienda and saw henquin production there. It was amazing to see how easy the task is, but how long it takes until you arrive at the finished product. The man that gives the tours at the plant was originally from New York City, and spoke to us in English and Spanish with a heavy New York accent. He thought he was constantly being funny, but in reality, his jokes really showed his poor sense of humor. A lot of what he told was unnecessary in the context of understanding more about the henquin plant and a lot of it was just simply BS.
At the same plantation, we took little trucks to get to a cenote on the premises and it was a lot of fun. There were other tourists—Mexicans—on our trip and I had fun talking to them about where they’re from and what they think of the Yucatan. Two of the couples were from Mexico City. I’m really so proud that I was able to hold a conversation with them in Spanish…
For lunch we ate at supposedly an excellent restaurant, well known by Meridians. Rebecca recommended to me a dish that Margarita, her host mother cooks for her all the time, and I decided to try her recommendation. It was GROSS. I ended up not eating most of it, looking at all the others as they devoured their plates. I stuck to the Guacamole and Tamarindo/Jamaica jarras.
Afterwards, we went to Mayapan, another old Mayan site. I really enjoyed seeing las ruinas in the evening, with the cool breeze. There was nobody at this site (its not as famous as the others, but it’s just about as large) and I was really happy to have the freedom to walk around myself. Standing on top of pyramids. Sitting in the observatory. Running through the columns.
We got home from the trip at 6 and immediately I showered and got changed to meet Fernando, Carla, and Deanella from my antro. Class. They invited me to out to dinner with them in the café in the park. I had panuchos and Jamaica (it’s becoming my favorite) and then we walked over to Calle Montejo to the Noche Mexicana festival. There was a concert going on and some crafts set up … We sat for a while, listening and then got ice cream—ice cream in HUGE waffle bowls (bigger than I’ve ever seen). And cheaper. Oh and Marianna stopped by to introduce us to her 36 year old “abuelo-novio”.
It was a really nice night, all in all, and when I got back I was exhausted.
Sunday I found myself yet again at Merida en Domingo in the centro. I ate at the same place I’ve been to many times before en el Parque de Santa Lucia…the lady that serves me the food is very nice and so grateful that I always return to her.
Later I went to my first Misa service with the family. It was very interesting and certainly a part of Mexican culture. I’m glad that I had the opportunity to see what a normal Sunday is like for the millions of Catholics that live in this country.
And at night, I made my way over to La Palapa, a restaurant, where Will made reservations for 40 or so students from the UADY to watch the Superbowl. It was a great time (and even though I really don’t give a damn who won), I found myself watching more than I usually have (probably because I’ve got Wolverine blood in me). Will introduced me to one of the Mexican students from the UADY that will be going to graduate school next year at Michigan State University. He was so interested to hear what the great state of Michigan is like and wants to meet up with me during the week to talk more about it. I’m not necessarily sure I can tell him much about State, but I can tell him about what football means to the people of Michigan.
That’s for sure.
Posted by jlsumich at February 5, 2007 12:07 PM