This week has been a busy, but fun, week here in Tamaula. It was great to get back into the routine of the community here after having been gone for the weekend. Our English classes have continued going well. This week, my class learned the vocabulary for things in a house and specifically in a bedroom, bathroom, etc. During the afternoon sessions, I've been able to help a few students one-on-one with conversation skills. We've also been opening the prepa building more often, so we've had more company in there. The kids love practicing their typing skills on a program Clay downloaded called TypeFaster. On Wednesday, I also got to hang out with the kids while they practiced their "color guard" routine. They would practice for a little, and then we'd play some basketball.
Ramon, Tere, Angeles, Maria Santos (my "sister"), and
Juana practicing their routine
This week, we could also see hints of the rainy season beginning. The rainy season starts sometime in June and lasts about 2 to 2 1/2 weeks. Some days it apparently rains all day and night! It started raining during our usual futbol game on Tuesday, but that didn't keep us from playing! We also started movie nights this week. We open up one of the secundaria classrooms that has a projector and put on a movie for the kids and jovenes. This week, we watched the first two "Shrek" movies. It's pretty entertaining to 1) listen to Shrek and Burro in Spanish and 2) watch the kids enjoy and laugh along with the movies.
The rain starting -- and the secundaria buildings
Yesterday, we got to experience somewhat of a field trip for us and the students here. We went with some of the secundaria students, some of the girls from prepa, and a few others in the community to Leon (Guanajuato's largest city) for the Pre Conferencia Estatal de Juventud, Guanajuato 2010. It was a pre-conference for the World Youth Conference in August in which students from all over the state came and presented proposals on various topics, including poverty, immigration, and unemployment. Our students were supposed to present, but it turns out that they never got signed up, so they spent the morning listening to different speakers and students. Clay, Caroline, and I took a bus down to the centro of Leon and had a great morning/afternoon eating, shopping, and walking around the different plazas. We headed back to the Poliforum (the big convention center building where it was held) in the afternoon and joined some of the students in the activities they had. They had set up a huge room with all sorts of fun things -- a mechanical bull, painting stations, pottery stations, trampoline jumping, dressed up people walking around on stilts, and more. It was fun, and Caroline, Lady (our "sister-in-law"), and I had a blast taking pictures with all the different characters.
Lady and I with Porfirio Diaz
Another great thing about yesterday -- my sister Meredith graduated high school!!!
Oh yeah, and Caroline bought placenta extract shampoo...
13 pesos at Waldo's. We just hope she doesn't go bald.
I am loving catching up on your blog, Lin, and holy crap Carolina is SO TAN!!! must be the placenta doo.
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