Sparrow's Flight: Tickling the Ivories

Monday, March 6th, 2023

I had stayed up pretty late on Sunday, so I was not very motivated to get up on Monday and get my morning routine done. I pretty much just read my morning away. School was fine. I was glad to be back with my preschoolers after a week of Alli teaching them. We've decided that we won't switch off anymore. I will just be on Preschoolers every morning for the rest of the semester. I am thrilled about that! I prefer my full 2 hours of preschool instead of normal morning rotations. During lunch, I got some exciting casting news! I can't announce what show or part yet, but I am thrilled! I am actually shocked to have booked a show while in Mexico! I do not love self tape auditions...I prefer in person, so I was super skeptical about whether anything would come of my little Mexico self-tape, and I am over the moon excited that something did come of it! I am so excited to get home and start rehearsing. My afternoon kids were rough, but I was on such a high from booking my show, that I didn't even care. I also found two pesos coins on the ground. Two is my lucky number, so I think it's interesting that I found two coins.

At home, I mended a few of my garments, finished lesson plans, prepped the following days lesson and had a long call with my fairy godmother (the one and only Tammy). I felt like I was curled up next to her on the couch telling her all my news. That call was exactly what my soul needed. As I was on the call, my roommates surprised me with a big bouquet of flowers to celebrate my summer booking. I have never received flowers for booking a show before! We then had a meeting, and then I almost convinced Sergio into letting me get a house cat, but alas, the others talked him back out of it. After our meeting, my roommates treated me to margacitas in celebration of my casting news.

(We are never serious in meetings)

(The sunglasses in the house killed me)

(Sergio brought cheese!)

(He always eats yogurt at meetings then proceeds to scrape the bowl with his spoon for the whole hour we are sitting there)

(He said he would be my cat since I can't buy one)

(Nutella, banana and strawberry)

At home, I played uke, journalled and then went to bed. It was an awesome day!

Tuesday, March 7th, 2023

After classes, we started deep cleaning the ILP closet. It has been a wreck lately. We got about halfway through cleaning before we had to go meet a family for dinner. While we were cleaning, we tried to brainstorm the end of year program thar has been stressing us out. I think we reached a conclusion, but I am not entirely sure. We came up with more problems than we did results. We figure that the day after the program, we are getting on a plane and leaving the country, so if it is terrible, we won't have to face anyone after, lol.

(Mom, these are little seed sprouters at the school. The seeds sprout and give the potato men hair! Your should make some with Ro)

(Organizing)

We had dinner with Aineharah and Yolanda's families. We had the most delectable salad bar. Aineharahs mom is a professional cook, and she had made the red wine and jicama salad dressing that was simply to die for. She also spoke really great English, and hearing her story was really inspiring. We spent the better part of two hours after dinner putting beads in each others hair and playing with the girls. Yolanda and Aineharah are sassy and so fun. Yolanda does karate, and Aineharah is an amazing dancer. I showed her a picture of my pointe shoes, and she showed me a video of her Christmas solo. It was fun to be able to bond over dance. When we went home, Aineharah's mom sent us with a huge tub of chick peas and a bottle of the salad dressing.

(Chia Seed pudding for dessert)

(Josh was master of the beads)

At home, I worked out, then Sergio came home with chocolate from a nearby city...apparently the best chocolate in Mexico. Unfortunately, it had all melted in the car, but we did not let that stop us. We got spoons and dug in. Later that night, as us girls hung out in my room, I tried to teach them how to talk in a lifted way to preserve their voices in class. None of them could really do it, and they kept switching into an accent. It was hilarious. I explained to them that most of the time, voice lessons just consist of making really weird noises and moving your hands weirdly as your teacher puts pressure on your stomach. After trying to teach them that, we stayed up and played Utter Nonsense. It is my favorite card game. No game with make you laugh so hard. I won.

Wednesday, March 8th, 2023

School was pretty normal on Wednesday. Kayla was having a hard day, so the Allie's and I went to the bakery and decided to load up on treats to bring her. As we were there, a woman came in and asked us in Spanish if we were international women. We said yes, and she wished us a happy international womans day then bought pastries for us! It was a wonderful moment. We then all sat in the kitchen, ate baked goods and talked. I had a call with the ILP office, and it went really well. I then called my friend, Gabe, and we talked for quite a while. It made me miss Little Women! After our call, I made soup and rolls, and Allie M told me that anything I want she will give me, lol. She says food is her love language, and the dinners have won her over. I will for sure be keeping that in mind for future. I finished my day with a strength training session followed by a yoga session in the light of the full moon up on the roof.

(The bakeries here are unreal)

(Surprise!)

(Taste Testing Party!!!)

Thursday, March 9th, 2023

I had a beautifully slow morning followed by a insane teaching day. My kids were wild. Somehow they got water bottles, and dumped them all over their worksheets, then they ripped and drew over each others pictures, so everyone was just mad at each other. They were even worse in Allie's class. All you need to know is that they found shaving cream somewhere, and more than one kid was brought to the office. My other two classes were also crazy. I sent kids to the office in all three rotations. It was an exhausting, hair pulling day.

(Somehow the only picture I have from this day)

At home, i sketched, finished filling my journal, did some vocal conditioning, then a couple hours of dance. I was able to make a breakthrough with some of my turns, and that felt awesome, I finished with some strength conditioning and stretching. I then got ready for bed and made pancakes for my next day's lesson and read until I fell asleep. Unfortunately, our internet went out, so I wasn't able to get my blog written.

Friday, March 10th, 2023

The kids were pretty rowdy on Friday as well. By the end of the teaching day, we were all ready for the weekend. I didn't journal on the 10th, so I honestly don't really remember what happened. I do recall making zucchini muffins, and Sergio being very alarmed that I put zucchini in a dessert, but then he tried them and couldn't get enough of them. He kept exclaiming "Wow! These are delicious, teacher. I'm not lying!". He then gave me the title of 'Super Mega Diva Chef" and told me I am the most beautiful and his favorite teacher. I will for sure be holding this over the other teachers heads for the rest of the semester. We were also informed that we had been saying "Good Butt" instead of "Good Night" to Sergio and Lulu each night before bed. Whoops.

Allie, Kayla and I also had a long rooftop conversation that night. From the few things I recall, it was a lovely day

(Sergio with his prized muffins)

Saturday, March 11th, 2023

We were all up and in the car by 6:30 am on Sunday to head to a nearby town to visit Sergio's nephew. On the way to his Nephews house, we stopped and looked at the beautiful San Miguel. We are hoping to really visit the city during our 9 day. It looked absolutely stunning from the road, and we spotted like 5 different cathedrals. We got to Sergio's nephews house, and it was beautiful. More of a mansion really. There were about 7 dogs at the house, fruit trees, an epic star wars collection, a pool, and a PIANO!!! I was thrilled. I have not found any other piano while being here, and it has been so hard not to play. When I first sat down, I was really worried...I couldn't remember any songs, but as I stopped staring at the keys, and instead closed my eyes and let the muscle memory kick in, I was able to remember all the songs I have memorized. It felt so good to play again. It was for sure ,my favorite moment of the day. We then ate tamales and cake in celebration of 3 different birthdays, went swimming and explored the big house. Playing the piano did make me homesick a bit. I miss being able to play whenever I please, but it helped me resolve to work on music theory while I am here so that when I get home, I am improved in my skills. It was a really wonderful day. We weren't home until much later, and so we all headed to bed shortly after we arrived at the house.

(San Miguel)

(Love these crazy kids)

(There was also a turtle pond)

(I miss Aka)

Sunday, March 12th, 2023

It rained. Only for a few moments, and only a light drizzle...but it was rain! I have been extremely jealous of all the SO Utah people and their storms. I was up on the roof, working out, and the rain started coming down. Kayla and the Allie's ran up to the roof, and we all danced in the short spurt of rain that we got. When it stopped, I stayed outside and worked on some vocal conditioning and played with a few different songs. I then journalled, did lesson plans and read. That night, all of us hungout in Alli and Kayla's room. It was wild. We were all loopy and it was late. We played some games, and Josh wowed us all with his Jennifer Coolidge impression. It's really, really good. I am so grateful for the roommates I have. We get along so well, and there is pretty minimal drama. My biggest concern before coming to Mexico was about if my roommates and I would get along or not, and I prepared myself for the worst, so it is awesome to know that I instead got lifelong friends and travel buddies who I can rely on and who I feel I truly know and who truly know me. I love it when things exceed my expectations!