Hola! on Monday, we had a day full of meetings, training and a tour of the school!
Our school is called Glenn Doman. Sergio and Lullu are the principles, and they built the school from the ground up. It is a very respected private school. Sergio is VERY well known in town and I am 99% sure that he has a running tab at almost every restaurant. Everyone seems to love and respect him, and I totally understand why! He is so kind, and he has a killer sense of humor.
Anyways, I started my morning with yoga and meditation on the rooftop. It is my favorite daily practice...it really makes a difference in how I feel the rest of the day. At about 11 am, we headed to the school and got the grand tour! It's a pretty big school, and its beautiful. The ILP room is awesome! On the back wall, one of the teachers in 2018 painted a beautiful landscape of the Mayan ruins. The cool part about it is that the teacher who painted it, Annaliese, only had 1 thumb. Other groups also painted on the walls under the windows. One is a desert scape, and the other is the Mexico flag. On the far wall there are also dozens of colorful handprints and names. Tradition is, that at the end of the semester, each teacher leaves their handprint, name and the year/semester they taught. I think it's really beautiful that we will get to leave a real, physical mark on the school.
(ILP room)
(Courtyard)
(ILP Room)
Another really cool thing about the school is the animals! We have parrots, turtles, bunnies, goats, chickens, ponies and horses at the school! The little homesteading girl in me wants to start a garden! There is room and I really want to ask Sergio's permission. We'll see what happens! I'll update you on whether or not anything comes of this little wish of mine! We also got to meet several of the faculty members at the school. They were all so kind and the lunch ladies made sure I knew that they know I'm vegetarian and that they will always have options for me...That definitely made my heart warm. I was fully prepared to bring my own lunches, but the people here are so genuinely kind and WANT to help you. It's wonderful.
(Kayla, the amazing horsewoman)
After a tour of the school, we had several hours of teacher meetings and planning. After those, we got to ride horses! One of my roommates, Kayla, used to do trick riding, so she was definitely the best with the horses. Anyways, it was really, really fun to ride...I plan on riding a lot this semester. I always have wanted to have horses, and I've always wanted to learn to ride really well...I figure that this is a great opportunity to fulfill my 8 year old horse girl dreams. By the time we were done riding horses we were famished. Non of us really ate breakfast, and it was about 3 pm. Sergio picked us up and we got Chinese food. It was one of the best meals I've ever had. I'm not sure if it was actually good, or if I was just really hungry...but it was the first meal in which we were completely silent as we ate.
After that, we went back to the school and unpacked all of our school supplies. I want to thank anyone and everyone who donated supplies or money to my trip! We were able to completely fill up our supply closet, and Micah said he's never had a group bring so much. Thank you for helping to make our students semester the best it can be. I am SO SO SO grateful!!!
We went back to the house, and had a good long chat in the kitchen as we ate a late dinner. I am so grateful that I get along with my group...they are genuinely some of the best people I've ever met. We ended our day by watching two episodes of Wednesday....I mostly just watched the Alli's. Their reactions are EVERYTHING...10 times more entertaining than any show.
January 10th, 2023
Tuesday was another day of meetings and planning. Lot's of time at the school discussing the mechanics of teaching, and coming up with a routine and creating our first three lesson plans. It was a bit colder on Tuesday, and that really surprised us...We did not dress accordingly. There's not much to write about except the fact that Mica mentioned halfway through the day that we CAN flush our toilet paper at the house. I wish someone was there to record our reactions. The utter shock, relief and anger that flashed across each of our faces must've been priceless. We had all been SO STRESSED each time we accidently tossed a piece in the toilet. Alli had a nightmare that she flushed paper and the whole house flooded. For 5 days we had all lived in fread of being the one to ruin the houses plumbing. We're all just glad that Mica said something 5 days in and not 5 weeks, or 3 months in. We also decorated our classroom door and Sergio said that we are the first group to do so! The schools mascot is a bee, so we went with a beehive theme. We ended our day by finishing prepping for school and watching Wednesday. I was very excited for school to start. I crave routine and I love being able to plan my day and accomplish my goals. I wat to use my time in Mexico working hard and improving myself as well as having tons of fun. I think a normal routine will help me find a better balance....I was also SO excited to meet the kids. I am teaching drama for the first month, and after that month, all of us will switch what category we are teaching every two weeks. I'll explain a little bit more about the ILP method in a bit.
(LOVING the bakeries)
(Literally the prettiest sunsets)
Oh...We also stopped at one of the MANY bakeries in SJI on our way home at lunch. The bakeries here are absolutely amazing. Everything is fresh and delicious, and I am going to miss them so much back in the States. We just do not compare. Honestly, all the food here is simply top tier. I am going to come home so spoiled. I went to bed with a few butterflies in my tummy...In then morning, was entering the Hunger Games of being an ILP teacher.
January 11th, 2023
My first ever first day of school! Sometime in the night I remembered that I've directed multiple shows, and that there is nothing scarier than that, so by morning any nerves I had were long gone. We got to the school late, but nothing really starts on time here, so it was no biggie. I met "The Guardians" as we walked into school. They are 3 strays that always hang around the school, and many of the faculty believe that they are good omens and protectors of the children. We walk into the school, and much to our surprise, every single child in the school is gathered in the courtyard in a huge semi circle...not just the kids in the English program...every child and their teachers. Sergio then got their attention and proceeded to introduce us one by one. After we introduced us, we were each expected to run around and high five every single child in the circle, much like a celebrity. When we had all been introduced, Sergio said a few more words, then every child surged toward us, and we were suddenly covered in small arms pulling us to them. We spent the better part of 10 minutes hugging the kids, and my heart grew 100 times bigger. I honestly believe that this will be my favorite ILP memory. I don't know how I could top it. We finally made our way to the ILP room, then went back to the courtyard to conduct opening exercises. After that, we took our classes to our assigned spots and began to teach. My schedule is a little different than the other teachers because in the morning, I am out of the normal rotation and instead have the preschoolers for the full 2 hour morning session. I do a hybrid class since they won't be switching teachers and doing new activities every 25 minutes like the other kids. These preschoolers have stolen my heart. I don't know what else to say. They don't speak a lick of English, but that only makes it all the more rewarding when I get them to repeat a color, or get them to ask a simple question in English. We drew, danced and played our time away, and before I knew it, it was lunch time!
(On our way to school!)
(The guardians)
(My first ever school lunch!)
(Grecia)
(My pre-schoolers)
Being an ILP teacher is really like being a celebrity. As you walk, you hear choruses of "Hello Teacher" and "Teacher, look!". The amount of hugs I received in my first day of teaching also overrode my whole hug count in the entirety of my 18 previous years of life. Love just radiates off these kids. One little girl pointed at my hair a bit concerned and said "Teacher, Teacher, you painted your hair!".
After lunch, we had a break, so we went back to the house and I drew and called my sister, Emily. It was a great re set before teaching again. We walked back to school, and I prepared my afternoon class and prepared for a normal rotation, then at 1 I began teaching again! My first class was a little crazy, but the classes after were easier. It honestly went really, really well. The 6th graders definitely need the elementary English program, but it'll be a few weeks before we can get the teachers trained for Elemetry. The SJI location is adding it this semester, and I really think it'll be great for the older kids. We had a short 5 minute sprinkle of rain...it was the first rain I've seen in Mexico! 3 of the afternoon classes are outside, so we had to cram under the pavilion for those 5 minutes, and that made class a bit difficult, but we adapted. Another cute thing is that most of the kids call me 'Teacher Merida'. I LOVE it. Merida is my favorite princess, so this turn of events makes me VERY happy.
(She survived School)
I've had a cold for the past few days, so my voice was pretty shot by the time teaching was over. I went through MANY cough drops that day. Kayla and I went out to the animals after we cleaned our class spaces (I teach outside) and held bunnies and pet horses. The animal therapy was well deserved after completing our first day of school! The biggest thing I learned is to make my lessons more simple. It's about the language, and the kids enjoy the simple things WAY ,more than the crazy/cool things.
(Our failed jumping photo)
Back at the house, after teaching, we all decompressed and talked about how everything went and then I made chocolate chip cookies and we finished Wednesday. We also had our first burritos here in Mexico for dinner. They were AMAZING and HUGE!
(Burritooo)
Later that night, I spent about 2 hours talking to my momma. and I did some yoga and journaling. It was a good end to a busy day. Apparently when there is no other noise in the house, any walking on the roof sounds very loud. My roommates' were trying to sleep, and apparently my walking sounded like loud dancing and leaping. I felt pretty bad when I found out, but I also thought it was pretty funny. I mean, if anyone was to dance on the rooftop deck at midnight, I am the most likely suspect.
This was my last thought of the evening as written in my journal: " The cathedral at night is one of my very favorite sights. Seeing it all lit up is very comforting and it adds a layer of majesty and beauty to the town and my night sky. I find so much comfort in the sight of it against the stars."
(The cathedral)
January 12th, 2023
On Thursday, I realized that I hate myself. Lol. I made a "rule song' to sing in our opening routine at school, and it is all I can think about now. It is stuck in everyone's head. I'm pretty sure that I will still be singing this song in 50 years. Thursday went even better than Wednesday. I did have a little more trouble with my 6th graders, but Emily gave me some tips from her time in ILP when I called her after classes, and I am pretty confident in them working. I got in some music theory and Spanish lessons while on my break, and I've been spending so much time outside. The sunshine makes me feel so alive and happy!
Later in the evening, we walked to the Harry Potter Cafe and got smoothies! They were really good, but really thick and a bit hard to get through our straws.
Dinner was really yummy. I had a plate of veggies with some sort of cheese sauce. The veggies were really good in the corn tortillas and with some green sauce. Lullu also came home from taking care of her mom, so we wrote her a card and bought her flowers and gifted them to her before she got home. Alli and I also hid in her room, painted nails and watched 'Onward' when the dinner table talk turned to blood and surgeries. Gross.
I started feeling the tiniest bit homesick. I think I just had a realization that 4 months is a big commitment and a good chunk of time! I think between the high emotions of starting something new, the tiredness from expending so much energy teaching, and my first time really living somewhere else as an adult, a little homesickness was bound to pop up. I called Emily, and we talked for hours. That really helped. After our call I prepped for my final day of teaching this week, and I realized that my earbuds were missing...I was very sad about that.
January 13th, 2023
Happy Friday the 13th! We walked to school knowing that for the rest of the semester we would start teaching at 10 am instead of 8. That made the sunrise very sweet, and the cold didn't seem to bite as much. My preschoolers were having a hard day, so I did use chocolate chips to bribe them into being good. I also had a frank talk with my 6th graders. I told them that I knew they didn't love class, and that they were ready for more, but that this is what we currently have. I told them that they have two options; One, pretend to like class and be respectful, and if they do that then at the end of class for 5 minutes they can just talk to each other in Spanish and ignore me until it's time to go to the next rotation, or, option two was continue to be disrespectful and break the rules, and we can all have a sucky 25 minutes. Luckily, they chose option 1, and were complete angels.
The kids here LOVE dances, and everyone is obsessed with the Wednesday dance. One of my preschoolers, Oscar, kept singing the song she dances to so that I would do the Wednesday dance for them. Their giggles were well worth the 22 times he made me do the dance. All of us teachers are planning on doing a flashmob of the Wednesday dance one day at lunchtime. It is VERY popular here.
At the end of the day, one of my students, Natalie, came and showed me her handstand and cartwheel. She's been working on them really hard and is almost there. I took of my fanny pack and coat, and started doing walkovers, cartwheels, handstands, leg holds and my splits for them. I got a pretty good sized audience of children cheering "Teacher Merida" on. Afterwards, Natalie asked me with big eyes 'Teacher, are you and acrobat?" I replied by saying 'No, but I AM a dancer"...I don't think I've ever seen any child so excited and amazed by that news. I was gifted a leaf tattoo and a music note tattoo for my efforts by two of my students. They did the honors of applying them to my hands. It was a very solemn moment...I think I was accepted by the children in that moment.
(Teacher Josh being weird in P.E.)
(Special Tattoos)
(Nataylie, my 'acrobat')
After school, a few of us went and worked out at the gym. There is a huge padded room upstairs, so after a nice conditioning workout, I was able to work on my leaps, dance tricks and even began choreographing a dance. It was wonderful. I was really afraid of falling out of practice while being here, but I plan on visiting the gym everyday after school so that I can continue to improve my dancing.
For dinner, we went to our students Rafa and Inka's houses. Their parents spoke really good English, and we had an amazing time. We all agreed that we had the best food to date that night. Daniella and Rafa (the elder), served us a feast. Taco soup, salad, little tostadas (thats not the right name, but i forgot), the yummiest enchiladas and to finish, a variety of bakery items and their famous hot cocoa! We ate way too much, but it was well worth it. We played Mario cart with the kids, jumped on the trampoline, lit the biggest sparklers I've ever seen and talked and talked with Daniella and Rafa. It was seriously delightful. We also played this electric shock game, and I was the only one who didn't scream or laugh like a crazy person when Rafa turned it up to 9. The game reminded me of when I would jump on the trampoline with friends and get staticy, then we would all touch fingers as one of us touched the metal rim of the trampoline and the shock traveled finger to finger....it was llike that, but times 100. We ended up dubbing Daniella and Rafa the "ILP auntie and uncle" because they sent us home with two GIANT boxes of salad supplies. I was a very, very happy girl.
Here is the hot cocoa recipe with a few Ivie modifications (I tested the improved recipe on my group, and they all agreed that it was the best cocoa ever...so just do it)
1 liter of milk
1 bar of Abuelita chocolate
1 spoonful of natural sugar
about a teaspoon of vanilla
about a teaspoon of cinnamon
Heat milk, then add all ingredients to blender. Blend, return to pan and heat to desired temperature
January 14th, 2023
Everyone but Alli and I went to Quartaro to go shopping. I desperately needed a day to myself, and staying home was well worth it. I read all day, did my lesson plans, ate chocolate, did yoga, journaled, talked with Marquessa, did some writing, and just reset. I am currently reading “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” by Suzanne Collins. It is the sequel to the Hunger Games, and I am pretty sure that I am Lucy Gray. Like, it’s a bit uncanny how alike that character and I are. One funny thing did happen today...Josh keeps buying marshmallows and rice Krispies in hopes of making rice Krispie treats, but he's only been able to find jumbo strawberry marshmallows, so they haven't turned out. He has been SO frustrated about it. I was digging around in the very disorganized kitchen drawers, and I found two bags of regular marshmallows already here at the house. I put them on his bed as a surprise for when he got home, and his reaction did not disappoint. Definitely a highlight of my day. At first, he thought we were just nice and bought him marshmallows, but he was super butt hurt when we told him that they were here the whole time. It was a very valid reaction, and it gave us all a good laugh.
Since not much happened, here are some pictures of the beautiful SJI
January 15th, 2023
Today was another relaxed day. A few of us went and got brunch this morning. It was really good, and we left all of our coins as a tip which I think ended up being bigger than the actual cost of the meal. Haha! Later, at home, we took two hours to go through every cupboard in the kitchen and re organize everything while listening to Taylor Swift and dancing around. It feels amazing to know what we have and to have everything nice and clean. After that, I called Emily and my girls which made me so, so happy. then we had dinner and a vacation planning meeting! I am super excited for our upcoming vacations, and I made my new and improved hot cocoa for the group (recipe above...you won't be disappointed) spent the rest of my night working on this blog!
(My girls <3)
Ivie Noelle <3
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