Home at Last!
It's official, I'm home at last! I actually arrived back in the 15th (NZ time), where my parents met me off the plane and the air outside the airport hit my full-on with the overwhelmingly fresh smell of home, but was too jet-lagged to update my blog that day and just never got around to it until now.The weather here has been awful until today, at least in my part of the country (my sister says it's better in Wellington). This didn't stop us from having a barbeque yesterday. In the garage. Becks, my best friend also came to visit and stayed the night, which is fantastic: we stayed up talking until 2am. She's still here now and it's so nice just to have her around again:)I decorated the tree the night before last and this morning at church the kids from the Sunday School did a fantastic Christmas presentation - they were so cute! Really looking forward to Christmas: I must get the presents wrapped and post them off to people overseas (so they-ll be more like New Year's Presents really).Not much more to say for now, except that there really is no place like home!
The last day...
Well, tomorrow is my last day in Mexico, making today my last full day. I can't believe I've been here a week already! But tomorrow I fly up to LA, and the day after tomorrow I head back to NZ at long last!The last couple of days haven't been wasted: yesterday I spent the whole day at the Anthropology Museum, which was unbelievably fantastic. I mosly hung out with a couple of other people from the hostel; Katarina, the German woman (who had more of a sense of humour this time!) and April, from Canada, who was really nice and who I'm hoping to stay in touch with. We had a lot of fun trying to figure out the answers to questions like "exactly HOW did they fit the bodies into those dog-kennel shaped tombs?" (for the record, we came up with four possibilities: cremate them first (Katarina); dismember the corpse (me); allow the body to rot then use the flesh as a charnal house for the bones (me); and just kind of stuff them in (me again)). The 'Bat God' statue also cracked them up as I couldn't help humming the 'Batman' theme under my breath when I read the sign (nana nana nana nana, BAT-GOD!!).Today I visited the Frida Kahlo Museum with a tour group from the hostel. Then we went on to the canals of Xochimilco, where we had lunch on a brightly-painted barge whilst listening to Mariachi music and occasionally bumping into another boat on the very crowded waterways. Then we had a chance to browse the market - one of the better ones, I have to say - where I bought a handbag, two scarves and an icecream. And then we came back to the hostel, where I managed to score a computer to update you all! Will write again from NZ.
Random Stuff
Below are just some random houghts I forgot to post at various times, plus an update from just before I left Guadalajara which I couldn't convince Blogger to post back then...LEAVING GDL UPDATE POST...Wow, what a week! My last week in Guadalajara, and there's been a lot happening.
For starters, some of the people three doors down decided to have a party on Friday night, which was insanely loud. I'm not just talking normal annoyingly loud party here: this was what sounded like African drumming and chanting, and even with ear-plugs there wasn't any way I was getting to sleep: not good when it's already midnight and you're teaching a class at 7am! Anyway, next thing two squad cars arrive (no, I was NOT the one who called them) and, after hitting the siren a couple of times, pounding on the door for ten minutes and yelling at the windows, the by now rather irritated cops finally managed to shut them up.
On Sunday I went to St. Marks Episcopal church, an English-speaking church which, sadly, I only heard about the previous Sunday evening. It was great to be back in a church where I could understand what was going on, not to mention receiving Communion again (the other churches I've been to seem very reluctant to dish it out even to their own flocks), but rather sad too as it was one of the first times I've attended a Communion service since Holy Trinity.
On Tuesday I went on a bus tour of the city, which is something I've been meaning to do for ages. They had a commentary in English and it was really nice riding along on the top of an open-top double-decker bus (right at the front too!) along tree-lined streets and past some of the historic buildings. A great way to spend a morning.
This week has been a little weird as it's finally sinking in (for my students as well as for me) that I'm leaving. My Advanced class at Intel, which was the second-ever class I taught, will be especially hard to leave. They managed to take advantage of the fact that we'd finished the month's official coursework and were looking at a news article about New Zealand ('Come Home Kiwis, Your Country Needs You', from the BBC website November 10th) to side-track me mercilessly! They also asked for my email address and bought me a cake today (Friday). So sweet!
On Wednesday afternoon I dropped a bunch of resources over to one of my employers' offices. I happened to arrive as he was briefing the replacement teacher for my Intel class, which meant I could tell them a little more about him and also had a chance to tell him how wonderful I think they all are! Miguel, my boss, said that he was really sorry I was leaving as I'm such a great teacher and the students love me (this for someone with little formal training and no formal experience prior to arrival, who had to wing it without a textbook for the first month!). I was really touched! He also asked me to tell anyone I know who wants to come and teach English in Mexico to get in touch with him because he's always on the lookout for new teachers. So let me know guys...
Interestingly, Miguel's street appeared to have turned into a market for the day, a fairly common sight here, so I spent a little while browsing the stalls on my way back. Had a corn tamale and bought some guayabas (delicious Central/South American fruit that DT can't believe I'd never seen before coming to Mexico) before catching the bus home.
Today I've spent half the day cleaning my bedroom and bathroom so that I won't have to worry about it tomorrow. The only thing left for me to do is laundry and packing, then I can head off on Saturday morning. Next stop the beach!BARRA DE NAVIDAD FOOD...I forgot to mentin it before, but I do think the food in Bara is worth mentioning. That part of the coast is pretty tropical - coconut palms and banana trees everywhere you look - so it's no surprise to find tropical fruit readily available. There are hawkers who go up and down the beach selling stuff like a whole fresh coconut (drink the milk, then they'll cut it so you can eat the flesh with salt and chilli) for ten pesos, or a pineapple drink like you see in the movies: a whole pineapple cut into a cup with the insides pulped with chilli (of course) into a delicious, refreshing drink/snack. Plus there were the jewellery hawkers: I got a lovely bracelet for 65 pesos (not bad considering he was asking 200 pesos - not good bargaining on my part so much as "I only have 65 pesos on me, take it or leave it." He took it).CHAPULTAPEC ZOO FOOD...I mention this as a waning to anyone thinking of visiting the zoo: the only food you can buy there is from a couple of the fast food chains, so I was reduced to eating the Evil Food of the Grinning Devil in Yellow (aka McDonalds: see previous post 'Make me Super Fat' for my feelings on this).CELLPHONE NUMBERS...My lovely mother has promised me a cellphone for Christmas, so can those of you who have my email address and a cellphone number please email me their numbers so I can load them when I get it?Thanks and love to you all!
Pyramids, Shrines and Butterflies
Greetings from Mexico City! I’ve been here a few days now and I’m having a fabulous time!
On Tuesday I was too tired to do much so I just visited the Temple Mayor ruins round the corner from the hostel. Wednesday I did a free walking tour of the city, which was very informative, and then went to one of the art galleries we’d passed on the way.
Yesterday – PYRAMIDS!! Yes, that’s right, I went on a tour of the pyramids at Teotihuacan with a group from my hostel. I climbed both the Pyramid of the Moon and the Pyramid of the Sun (and boy was I feeling it this morning!), and generally had a great time. There were a bunch of Aussies on the tour too, and a couple of Germans and Mexicans. One of the Germans, a lady, seemed to be pretty nervous about climbing up and down the pyramids. At one point I offered to stay with her on the descent only to be rebuffed with “this is my hundredth pyramid.” Fine then, bite me bitch, and I’ll go hang out with the Aussie blokes who are more fun and have a sense of humour. Although I notice she was only too happy to accept help from the guys…!
Anyway, we also visited the shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe, which was interesting, if a little much for me (given how poor people have always been in this country I think building four cathedrals one next to the other is a little OTT), but the Virgin, and specifically her appearance at Guadalupe in the 1500s, is greatly revered by the Mexicans (Mexico is 90% Catholic).
We had a free lunch as part of the tour: deep-fried bean tacos with nopal (a type of cactus) and cheese, followed by guayabas – yummy! And I ended up trying to teach the Aussies, Peter and Paul, a few words of Spanish * waits for DT to pick herself up off the floor where she’s rolling around laughing *. I know, I know, things have reached a pretty pass when I’m the one TEACHING someone Spanish, but they didn’t even know how to say ‘buenos dias’…
Today I visited the fabulous Chapultapec Zoo, which has to be one of the best zoos in the world! I spent pretty much all day there and saw just about everything. The highlight – of my entire trip, I think! – was the butterfly house! According to the nice English-speaking guide (who even let me release a butterfly!) they import hundreds of chrysalises from Costa Rica every week, and there are thirty species of butterflies in the climate-controlled building. It was fantastic – a little slice of the miracle of God’s creation right there in that house! I think I must have spent about half an hour there all up – my ticket was good for two entries, so I took advantage. Tomorrow I’m going on a tour of the Anthropology Museum, and on Sunday I might go to Frieda Khalo’s house, then I leave for LA on Monday.
Barra de Navidad/Mexico City
Hi everyone!
Just a quick note to let you know that I’m now in México City. I had a fantastic time in Barra de Navidad, which I fully recommend. It’s very quiet and CHEAP! Spent a day and a half basically lying on the beach in the sun and swimming. The water was perfect: not too warm and not too cold, with just the right amount of wave and dropping off fairly suddenly into water deep enough for swimming.
The place I stayed at was great too: I had a private room with bathroom for 150 pesos a night, which is really good, and there were common areas where I hung out and met several nice people. In fact, on my second night I went out for dinner with two of them, Ursa from Slovenia and Mike from Canada. We walked on the beach and watched the sunset, then had dinner at a Mexican restaurant.
The overnight trip from Manzanillo to Mexico City wasn’t too bad; at one point a guy sat down in the seat next to me and tried to grope me – not really scary, just chancing his luck – but I think I must have scared him because he backed off in a hurry and found somewhere else to sit. Hehehe, don’t mess with Paulette, mate!
Arrived here this morning feeling pretty shattered but got to the hostel okay. My three roommates are – amazingly enough – three ladies from New Zealand! Anyway, I unpacked and had breakfast, visited the Temple Mayor ruins two blocks from me (the ancient heart of pre-Hispanic Mexico), got some lunch and then had a nap.
The hostel I’m staying at, Hostel Moneda, includes dinner in the price, so the really good news is I don’t have to go out after dark.
Two weeks to go!
Hello everyone!
Less than two weeks to go now until I leave Guadalajara. So, what have I been up to? Well, not much really. My regular Saturday classes have finished, which is actually okay because I've managed to pull a bit of relief teaching for the same hours, so I haven't lost any money. One of my classes was really sweet: they gave me this cute little dolphin keyring to say goodbye! Another class finishes this week and the last two the week after next.
On Saturday the 3rd I'm going to a place called Barra de Navidad, which is a beach resort about five hours from here by bus. I'm staying there two nights then getting the overnight bus to Mexico City. I have five full days there, and I'm really excited: there's so much to do! Pyramids, anthropology museum and zoo are a must, plus I don't know what else - I have too much to choose from.
Apart from that, life is pretty quiet. I've started writing CSI fanfiction, which is keeping me amused, and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again.
I do have little token Christmas presents/souvineers for some people, but I'll post them when I get back to NZ, so they might be a little late!
Seeing the Sights
First of all, I would just like to say that Blogger is crap, and it’s currently taking me approximately a week of daily attempts to convince it to accept an update, so I apologise for the delays.
I had a fantastic time in Tonala on Sunday. In the end there were three of us who went, Laurence, Jorge and myself. We wandered the shops, had lunch in the town square and climbed to the top of a hill with great views out over Guadalajara. I didn’t buy much, just a couple of little presents, but there was so much lovely stuff that I spent a lot of time thinking ‘if only…’. Also had an interesting and protracted conversation with Laurence more or less on the subject of ‘Christianity: valid truth or superstitious nonsense?’ Guess which side I was on. I guess you could say we didn’t really get anywhere, but it was certainly stimulating, especially as Laurence isn’t the sort of person to tip over from heated intellectual disagreement into personal nastiness.
Yesterday was Día del Muertos (Day of the Dead: DT, did I spell that right?), which is pretty much a Mexican custom, although I’m aware of similar customs in ancient Rome, contemporary China and a number of other cultures. Basically, this meant that I had most of the day free, as my morning and afternoon classes were cancelled, leaving just the 8pm. So one of my students, Fernando, offered to take me out to Tequila, the town where they make the drink, which happens to be where he’s from. We had a fantastic day, visited the Tequila Museum and took a tour of the José Cuervos factory (I now know the difference between Blanco, Joven, Reposado and Anejo tequilas, spelling please DT), and enjoyed a couple of free samples, plus a margarita each. Yummy!
After we left Tequila we detoured to some Aztec ruins Fernando knew about. Not very well-known (and I can’t remember what the place was called), there was a round pyramid perhaps three stories high surrounded by what looked to be a courtyard layout. Very few people, and absolutely fantastic!
Arrived back in Guadalajara with plenty of time for a nap and dinner before my class, which happened to be their oral final exam. They have their written exam today. So far they’re doing great!
Make Me Super Fat
That’s more or less the literal translation of the Spanish title of the American documentary movie ‘Super Size Me’ by Morgan Spurlock. How do I know this? Because I’m watching the movie with my advanced English class. Why? Well, we read an article about it as part of another lesson last week, and since none of them had seen it I asked them if they wanted to watch it as the movie of the month (we watch in English with the English sub-titles turned on, which gives the exposure to natural spoken English). I also figured it’d be great for promoting discussion and giving some fascinating insights into the American way of life. The really interesting thing, though, is how many more people turn up for class when the word ‘movie’ is mentioned!
Life here is having it’s ups and downs at the moment. On the one hand, it looks like I’ll be losing some classes in November, as several of the courses I teach are finishing and they don’t want me to start new ones when I’ll be leaving a couple of weeks through. Another class is liable to get cancelled through lack of students (the school won’t keep a class running with less than five students because it isn’t financially viable). On the one hand, this means a dip in income which means I’ll be arriving back in NZ with a bit of credit card debt. On the other hand, it’ll be a pretty manageable amount and, as the classes in question are on Saturdays, I’ll have my Saturdays free again.
On the plus side, next Wednesday is a public holiday, and one of my students, who happens to be from Tequlia, has offered to take me over there for the day to see it, so that should be pretty exciting. Otherwise, of course, I can use one of those free Saturdays to go! And this Sunday I’m off to a place called Tonala, which is a town near here with a large and well-known market, with a couple of my flatmates, so I’ll be buying people’s Christmas presents (those of you not in NZ, I’m afraid your presents will be late this year because I refuse to pay the extortionate Mexican postage fees to mail them to you!).
The other really great thing is that I finally managed to reach Becks on her cellphone yesterday! This is a pretty big deal because, what with me moving about so much and her not having my email address (?!!!) or checking her emails regularly and my phonecard not connecting calls to her cellphone nine times out of ten… well, we’d been out of touch for a bout two months which is not at all nice when you’re talking about your best friend of almost ten years. Anyway, we couldn’t talk long, but she now knows when I’m coming home and the great news is she’s now living in Auckland, so we’ll DEFINITELY be able to see each other!
Hard to believe I’ll be home in about six weeks!
