Christmas Vacation

We are now on Christmas vacations and definately enjoying the free time. Teaching is hard work! On the last day of school (Wednesday) we were invited to the 4th grade fiesta. We played in a basketball tournament, danced and ate with the kids. The basketball games were more reminisce of football with the amount they charged down the court holding the ball or practically wrestled it out of their opponents hands. We were very impressed by their dancing skills though. I´m pretty sure 4th grade boys from Sitka wouldn´t be asking girls to dance. Santa came and gave the kids gifts, which caused a lot of excitement and Perla and Saul (the 4th grade teachers) were even thoughtful enought to get us little santa boxes filled with sweets. It was a very nice celebration that they put on for the children.
The weekend before we caught the end of another surf competition at Playa Linda and went to a local rock concert. The three bands we saw played mostly American music with pieces from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ramones, Three Doors Down and Metallica. A good show. We were both suprised at Zihua´s large American punk rock following.
Thursday we decided to try the next beach down from Playa Linda (our favorite). Playa Quieta was pretty much empty when we arrived in the late morning, but there were hundreds of empty beach chairs. I convinced Sarah that no one would care if we lounged in a couple for a few hours, but when I walked down the beach she was ousted by Club Med´s security guards. Oh well, it is a pretty beach anyway.
The next day we rented kayaks from a friend on La Ropa beach and kayaked out the bay to a point past the lighthouse. Kayaking is much more comfortable here because when you get splashed, it´s actually a relief. We saw a turtle, lots of birds and fish and a floating coconut that actually wasn´t a seal head.
Also this weekend Christine took us to Barra de Potosit again. It is such a laid back place; all the restuarants have hamacks for each table. We had fresh coconuts, fish quesedillas and amazing fried bannanas. (see pic)
Tomorrow we take the bus to Manzanillo to visit some friends who are vacationing there. The actually time of the trip seems to be widely disputed between our contacts; somewhere between six and ten hours. I guess we´ll see for ourselves. We are going to stay there until after New Years and return before the start of school, which is the 7th of January.
Feliz Navidad,
Ben and Sarah

The Pre-school Surf

We started our day today paddling out to the Playa Linda Point reef break before dawn. It was our first time in ¨real¨ waves, instead of surfing mostly whitewater. Even if we still aren´t very good at surfing yet (this was our third lesson), it was great to watch the sun creep over the palm-lined beach from the vantage point of the warm blue water.
Out of the water at around 9:30 after more than two hours of surfing, we rinsed and changed in the parking lot and drove to school.
This week in our English conversation class we´re reviewing our introduction conversation with a game. Games in the classroom are a very rare occurance for the children, so the 3rd and 4th graders were all quite ecstatic. Even after we took the time to explain that we couldn´t play games if the class got rowdy, we still had the whole group jump to their feet to present the answer instead of the person writing raise their hand like we had asked. We´ll see how the 5th graders take to it tommorow.
Some domestic news: we put up wall hangings yesterday (square swatches of different patterened cloth that matches our apartment). They make the apartment seem less empty than white-washed cement walls on most sides. I bought a classical guitar from a man named Pepe. it should be nice to have some chords floating around in the warm nights after dinner. Also, we have further delved into Mexican cooking by making our own refried beans (with onions and garlic) instead of buying them in a can and by trying our hand at Agua de Jamaica (an iced tea made from dried hibiscus flowers), a very common refreshment at restaurants here. We may have to try our hand at Mexican dishes other than tea and tacos later.
This last weekend we had the oppurtunity to attend the 2007 Catcha La Ola Surfer Reunion Competition. That is, we sat on the beach (the same place we surfed this morning) and watched the 40 and older category compete. I must admit, for old men (some of who looked more like 60), there were quite a few who could really rip up the waves.
El Dia de la Virgen de Guadalupe (the day of our Lady Guadalupe) started last night at 12 and ends tonight at the same time. What we have noticed so far are parades, (increasing in frequency, but seemingly at random times with small or non-existant audiences) and fireworks. We haven´t actually seen fireworks, but we are often shaken at the table frequently by explosions that seem more like larger seal bombs than domestic fireworks. I´ve read that the main festival takes place in the north of Mexico City, but I´ve also heard there is a big parade here as well, but I don´t know how long we will stay up tonight because we have to walk the hill to school tommorow morning.
If you haven´t been able to comment because of a lack of a Google account, you should be able to now. I found the setting (which I thought I had already changed), to allow all comments.
Thanks for tuning in,
Ben and Sarah

December 4th

Today was the first day of our independant teaching. (Until now we have been assisting Christine in her classes, which was a great way to start off, but we wanted to do more.) We all felt that the kids would benefit from having an additional hour of English each week, so Ben and I are designing a conversation class to supplement Christine´s general English class. Our first conversation is ¨Introductions¨. Today we worked with the third graders and it went well considering it was our first day. We gave our first class of third graders a writing task that was way too hard, so the second class received the benefits our mistake in a toned-down lesson. It´s kind of an experiment for us (maybe guess and check is more descriptive, experiment sounds a little refined), not having taught much in a classroom before, nevermind in a different language, but we´re learning. Luckily for us, Christine is very generous with her teaching knowledge.

This evening we experienced our first storm; thunder, lightening and rain. Very exciting, but over in a little more than an hour. Ben took a picture of the street from our balcony, the discoloration in the sky is from the lightening. With this rain hopefully the flowers and green will stay a little longer!

This week in English class Sarah and I gave a presentation about Alaska. We taught some Alaskan animal vocabulary and showed Dan Evan´s photo book to give them an idea of Sitka. Also this week the kids are making cards for the school´s donors. They are writing half of it in Spanish and half in English. The first graders take the whole hour to copy the message, but turn out cards with impeccably high cuteness levels.
This evening we visited the dormitories and distributed the clothing we brought up. Being from Sitka the amount of cold weather clothing was a little more than needed in this climate, but the children were thrilled to get new clothes. They were also really excited to see us up there, so we´re hoping to go up at least once a week to play with the kids and help out. Usually there is only one woman up at the dorms at night with the fifteen children there, and as if that couldn´t wear out a normal person, she teaches a class of thirty kids during the day. She´s an amazing woman and it seems the children really like her.
This last weekend we painted all the large areas with the help of the renter. Sarah and I are still painting a little every night and besides the floor collecting paint drips, the place is really looking better.

Friday

Friday was the school 13th anniversary. There were classes from 8-10 and then a celebration from 10-12. In the morning we helped (Well, more watched and learned for next time) Christine give a tour to a party of vistors from Washington. The celebration included singing, dancing, little skits (with very cute costumes - traditionally dressed womand and farmers, and some leopards) and basketball games. They are learning basketball in PE. Everytime someone made a basket on either side, all the kids erupted into cheering. They might still be working on the details of the game. We were invited to come sit up with the teachers, and they recognized us in their speech. Which was very thoughtful.
In the evening, we were invited to go to dinner with Christine at Bill´s house. Bill is a benefactor of the school who lives down here from November through May and in California the rest of the year. Right now he is staying in a friend´s rental house while he builds his own. We ate this rental villa, Casa Leo, seemed straight out of a magazine. It typically goes for $2000 USD in the high season. We were greeted at the door by the butler, who showed us to the pool and brought us towels and drinks. Then he served us a delicious chicken dinner made by the personal cook. It seemed like a dream to be there. It was very generous of Bill to invite us along. This weekend we are going to work on painting and decorating the apartment.

Dia de Revolucion

Today was the 97th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution. The main community event featured hundreds of kids representing dozens of schools in a parade. Some of the children were in costume and some wore uniforms and performed small stunts. Unlike the usual American parade where the main purpose of an individual parader is to impress the audience in the time it takes to proceed by, most of the groups would stop to make a prymid or act out a sport, battle or way of life. We came late, watched for at least an hour and then started walking against the parade to see the groups faster, but we probably walked ten blocks without finding the end. This was a very long parade. Frequently there wouldn´t be a group passing by for at least five minutes, because the next group was busy displaying a marching band performance. Our low heat tolerance smothered our curiousity, (I can´t imagine marching in costume in this weather) so retreated back to the apartment.

The Apartment

We have found home. After following all recommendations, leads, and suggestions to no avail. We stumbled upon a ¨Se Renta¨ sign on the way home. Fortunately, someone was home and heard us at the gate. Yelling is the usual substitude for doorbells. The woman who came, Christina, showed us two very plush apartments for $600 and $800 a month, far beyond our means. But when we seemed disappointed by the offer, she took us to another place just two blocks from the downtown hostel we were staying at. The apartment seemed to be exactly what we wanted: two bedrooms adjoining another larger room with a small kitchen and a small bathroom. The flat is one the second and highest floor, so we have stairs to the roof. The roof has a big cement sink for washing clothes and a places to hang dry. $400 a month was a little more than we were hoping for, but splitting the costs makes it entirely feasible. It only took us a few hours to call back and accept.
We moved in today, as they were bringing in the furnishings. Both Chrinstina and her husband Juan, a multifacited handyman, are very kind and accomidating. They brought in a fridge, oven, fans, table, chairs, cooking supplies and to our astonishment, a t.v. We haven´t used it yet, but if may be a useful language tool.
We´re considering repainting the inside a little because it isn´t as cheery as the orange and blue exterior.

Novice Teachers in a New Language

Christine was gone today, so Sarah and I filled in. We taught a make-up lesson to the second 6th grade class on colors. As older kids we had a little harder time getting participation in the song we use, but in general the students were diligent workers and eager to learn. It is very rewarding to see a student get excited about something you´re teaching. So beyond the hesitant students, expected communication problems and the giggling which ensues, the class went very well and I think the students learned the material.
The next big item on our slate is an apartment. Money goes alot quicker in short term housing, along the unsettled feeling. We will both be very relieved when we can move in to our own place.
hasta luego
Ben and Sarah

En Mexico

We have arrived. All went well with travel even though we had more than 250 pounds of baggage with all the supplies. It would have been a lot harder without Christine Berger, a Swiss volunteer, to help us out when we got here. She took us to dinner our first night, school the next day and has been showing us around the city. Everyone else at the school is very busy and wouldn´t have time to introduce us.
We have started teaching english with Christine who has been here since August. She is doing great even though she is teaching a non-native language in a non-native language. She developed the cirruculum and teaches each class one hour a week, from 1st to 6th grade. We are able to help a lot with pronunciation though and giving more one-on-one time to the students. The kids are great and very excited to learn english. Tommorow Christine is gone and we may teach one class on our own. We´re not sure what we will do in the future, we may keep teaching english or start helping out with the classes that are overflowing.
Communication has been bearable, but definately not easy. I´ve had a few embarressing moments where I don´t know the right word or just can´t get the idea across, they look at you and are probably thinking "tourista tonta." Most people are very kind and patient though. Zihuatanejo is a very friendly town, much more small-town like than I would have thought. Even with just the people that Christine has introduced us to, we are bumping into people on the street we know.
Blogging extremely frequently might be hard becuase we are using computers in an internet cafe and the computers are slow and the keyboards are partly rearranged.
Thanks for the support, we would love to hear from you, email us at netzavolunteers@gmail.com or comment on the blog.
Ben and Sarah

Hi everyone, thanks for checking out our blog! We leave the day after tommorow and are making the final preparations for our trip now. We decided a blog would be the best way to keep in touch with everyone at home, so here it is! We are both really excited to work at the Netza School and we'll try to keep you updated on our work and adventures while in Zihuatanejo.

Thanks for your support and interest,
Ben and Sarah