RachelsAdventure.com

It's been awhile.  Sorry. 
The internet at the school is down (except in the office) because of a broken cable and my connection is dependant on the school...so I'm internetless (at home) for the time being.  (I'm not going to lie, I am about 1000% more productive at home without internet!  All my dishes are done, my bed is made, I've moved the furniture in my apartment around about 5 times and I've read...A LOT!  haha.)

So, what did I learn during my second week in Mexico?  A lot. 
1)  To live without a car, you have to be confident on the bus and I'm getting a lot more confident on the bus.  I'm even planning a excursion out to the Carpenters which will involve a couple bus changes.  The bus system in Portland intimidated me (and there I could at least understand the driver!) so it feels pretty cool to hop a bus in Mexico City and have a (slight) idea where I am are going! 
2)  Teaching is hard...and incredibly amazing.  Even after one week I have so much more respect for my teacher-friends.  Keeping little people engaged and learning (instead of distracing eachother) is an artform, and I need practice!  haha.  I also learned that in a few areas I am, in fact, not smarter than a 5th grader :)  I have a few books to review this weekend!  I will post pictures from my class and a complete school update this week.
3)  I work with really great people.  I have met so many wonderful new people in the past couple of weeks and I am really excited to get to know everyone better.  The teachers who live near me (Hello Julie and Claire!) and I have breakfast together every Saturday.  Today was my week so I made french toast and bacon (I know, very Mexican!).   
4)  I have my first CMF team meeting this Friday, Saturday, Sunday (here).  I've met a few other people on the team and this weekend I'll get to spend sometime with everyone! 
5)  I am getting Rosetta Stone!  I have a tough time during the week (especially when the internet is down) practicing Spanish because I have been so tired after school so I have set up a couple "let's let Rachel practice Spanish" dates with friends AND I'll be using Rosetta Stone. 
6)  The final thing I learned is this: when you are ordering food and you know what you want but you let the lady at the cash register tries to sell you anything extra, just say..."No Gracias!"  haha.  I went to lunch this week and knew exactly how to order, but the lady asked if I wanted cheese (and something else I didn't understand) so I just said "si".  Well, I ended up getting every topping they had for the the flautas and my 70 peso lunch (about $5.25 ) became 110 pesos (about $8.25).  haha.

I occasionally have these moments when everything that has happened in the last two months catches up with me...I had one of those moments this week while I was reading to the class after lunch.  I looked up and realized that I was a teacher...reading to MY class...in Mexico City.  Whoa.  How did this all happen again?!

 Today was an excellent day. 

Here was the schedule for the day:
8:30 - School starts, quick meeting with all students
8:45 - In my classroom introducing myself and reviewing the rules.
9:00 - Get to know you activity (thank you Janice!)
9:45 - RECESS (we played freeze tag)
10:05 - Team posters. (the kids are in groups so they had to think of a team name.  I now have: The Dancing Fish, The Fantastic 3 (they wanted to be "Santi and the Ladies" but I wouldn't let them.  haha) and The Jumping Pandas.
10:45 - Me Poster (thank you again, Janice)
11:30 - Lunch
12:30 - Meeting with parents
1:30 - Prep for Tuesday (copies, copies, copies!)
2:00 - Home

The kids were great.  The parents were great.  The sun was shining. 

I introduced the kids to the theme for the classroom ("Today is the Day"..we're talking about personal responsibility and how they are getting close to being adults!) and one of the 5th grade boys is mad at me because he doesn't want to be an adult..because "they don't have any fun".  LOL.  I'll show him.

Thank you for your prayers. I honestly could not have asked for a better day.  I look forward to our first day of the real school schedule tomorrow.

It's Sunday evening and tomorrow is my very first day as "Miss Rachel" at Mexico City Christian Academy.  Instead of typing up a post, I just made a quick little video for you all (this time I'm not crying!  haha). 
Thank you all for your encouragement, prayers and comments...you don't know how much it means to me.  I look forward to posting my "First Day of School" post tomorrow (assuming I survive!). 
Click on the multimedia page for my "School is TOMORROW" video.  Also, check out the participate page for updated prayer requests!
Adios.

Okay, I've officially made it through my first week here (as of yesterday!) and I've decided to start an ongoing post of important things that I learn while I'm here.  Here are the first four:

1) If someone helps you, tip them.  This seems like a simple concept, but in Mexico there are a lot of willing helpers and you have to be prepared to tip everyone.
2) Do not flush toilet paper.  Enough said.
3) I was very blessed to have a car.  Now that I am car-less, I have a new appreciation for how difficult life is when you have to think, "can I bring this on the bus with me?"
4) Futbol is awesome.  I can't wait to go to a game!

more to come...

There are those times in your life when you realize that if you would have just paid a little bit more attention in class you would have probably learned something really useful instead of just "making the grade".

The first time I realized this was when I started taking on more responsibility at Abundant Life.  My new responsibilities included a lot of accounting and finance and I had a flashback to my accounting class in college in which my teacher said "if you want to go far in business, you need to understand accounting".  Um yeah, NOT ME.  Or so I thought.  There were so many times that I would have LOVED a tutoring session with that teacher once I started working on reporting and the budget.

I'm feeling the same way now about Spanish.  I took Spanish for a long time.  I did a couple years in high school, a year in college, I've been to El Salvador and Oaxaca, Mexico a couple times and I worked at Hispanic Family camp for almost 10 years.  I could be a lot more comfortable with the language, but I never gave it "my all".

So, here I am...living in Mexico, wishing that all these words around me made sense.  Wishing that when I turned on the TV I would be able to understand enough to enjoy the show, wishing that I could tell the lady at Walmart that she charged me too much, wishing I could buy tamales from the guy on the corner without worrying that he'll ask me a question that I totally don't understand, wishing that when I had to read aloud in front of the youth group on Sunday (wow, that's a funny story I'll have to tell) that I didn't sound like a 3rd grader reading (no offense to any 3rd graders reading my blog!). 

But that's just not the way it is.  Instead of understanding, I get to sit and smile and nod (a lot) and hope that one day, with enough practice, these words will make sense! 

Can that day be tomorrow? :)

In a moment of vanity, I decided not to post the video from my first night (I just didn't look good!)  BUT after watching it this evening I realized that I needed to post it.  The first night was hard and I think that video captures my full range of emotion...from amazing peace and happiness to being completely overwhelmed to being ridiculously tired (I sure looked tired).  

I also realized that this blog is as much for me as it is for you...I get to look back and see the journey that I have been on (the good, the bad and the ugly!) and that video definitely captures part of this journey.

Check out the multimedia page to watch the video of my first night.

I was finally able to get some video to upload.  Now, keep in mind...I'm new at the whole video side of things so no critiquing my technique!  haha.  I'm learning.

Check out the multimedia page to watch the video of mi casa.

It's about time!  I was finally able to get pictures uploaded so that you can see the view from my apartment.  I am still learning how to use my new camera so they're not perfect...but I thought it would give you a good idea of what I see everyday (all 3 days that I've been here).

Check out the multimedia page to see the pics.  You can also click on the slide show to see it larger and leave comments.

Adios.

First off...moving to Mexico has taken my blog stats to a 'whole notha level!'  haha.  Before I moved I'd see 50 hits or so on a good day...but yesterday 129 people stopped by the blog!  Wow. 

Can I just say...today was amazing.  I went to sleep with tears in my eyes and woke up to a beautiful sunny morning.  My first morning in Mexico.  I had no food or hot water but I have two amazing neighbors (who are also teachers at the school) and they offered a warm shower and a delicious breakfast of chilaquiles.  There could not have been a better way to start my first day in Mexico.

After breakfast we went over to the school (a very short walk down the hill) and they showed me around...then I went into my classroom!  Whoa.  I had to pause a second at the door...it felt like all of the work of the past 6 weeks had been building to that moment. 

While at school I worked on a theme for my room (I decided on the theme: "Today is the Day".  More on that later) and I worked on lesson plans.  I have A LOT of work to do but I'm really excited about it and I cannot wait to meet my students.

After school, the president of the board, his wife and their son took me to La Mega, the grocery store.  Now I have delicious Mexican food!  I missed a teachers and friends dinner party tonight (bummer) but was so glad that they all stopped by for a few minutes on their way out.  So many fun new people!

I also have two things in my apartment that I did not have at home:

1. TV with HD channels (I guess most TV's in Mexico get the HD channels)
   
2. Wireless internet

Woo hoo.

I'm still having a bit of trouble with my video uploading...but I'll keep trying.  I also wanted to let you all know about one more way to get a hold of me...I updated the contact page so check it out!

I made it.

I'm sitting in my new apartment and just beginning to feel the events of the day catch up with me. 

The airport was very uneventful...I had a great flight from San Francisco and then a very easy flight to Mexico City.  All my luggage made it through (although one of the suitcases was ripped open) and customs was a breeze (thank you for your prayers!).

My apartment is really great and the location is amazing.  It's at the top of a hill/mountain and it looks down over the city.  I'll have to get some video during the day so you can see it!  I'll post the video tomorrow...way too tired tonight.

I want to write more...but I must go to sleep.  I have another long day tomorrow.  First breakfast with a couple of the other teachers (because they have food in their apartments and I do not!  haha) then off to the school, some grocery shopping and then I start lesson planning.

How can you pray for me now?  A good nights sleep.  Love to you all.