We are in our second week now at Queretaro. This morning Arturo greeted us with his familiar smiling face. I thought he must be tired getting up so early to drive us most morning. At school, we were met by Gerrando, who we had not worked with yet. His class had made signs for us which were taped to the wall. In my group the students had prepared questions which were very thoughtful in nature. Several questions or answers surprised me. One student told me she would like to learn Mandarin, another Japanese. A girl who wants to own her own gym, asked how could she practice English more. Gerrando, the teacher, was so very complimentary to us, saying again and again how much he appreciated and enjoyed our visits. In his other class, Gerrando again had prepared his class. Each student not only tried to ask a different question but they also had name tags which was very helpful to me. One male student surprised me by saying he had 2 children. I have had mothers in my class but this was my first father that I am aware of. We taught in Daya's room too. In her class, the students had only parts of a question that had to be transposed into a correct grammatical sentence. All the questions were related to the topic of World Traveler. It was also a good activity but the students had difficulty composing the correct question. On student told me about a great book he was reading called "Hitler's Ovens", if I remember the title correctly.

At the end of the day, Diego was kind enough to give us a ride home. He drove a different way which took us by the arches of the city. Also, Diego shared his connection to Oregon, his thrill of driving a manual shift car, and politics.


I didn't sleep well last night, maybe the coffee was not decaf.. ha!

No rain this morning as we waited for Arturo. He was slightly late, maybe traffic is heavy this morning. At school, we had two new teachers, Lalo and Richardo. Diego, our other teacher didn't show for his 9:00 am class. In Richardo's class, I used the 3 X 5 cards with my group asking them to write down their name and one thing they like to do in their free time. It worked well, and Richardo liked it too. One boy in the group belongs to a track club and enjoys running. I thought this was quite interesting as I had not heard about this with any other student. I took lots of group photos which will be a nice memory.

In Lalo's class, we had to discuss natural cures and remedies of minor problems, like headaches. It was quiet interesting. I found my group the most advanced in English so far, and this was a group of all boys. Now, sometimes I didn't understand their English but they were confident to speak and understood what I said. One topic that came up was diabetes. A boy in the group was diagnosed with diabetes two years ago and said that he used a natural remedy, but I am not sure what it is.

At lunch time, I ordered two tacos from the cafeteria, then went outside and sat with two teachers who do not work in the English department. One was a math teacher. They gave me lots of suggestions for places to visit in Mexico. I told them about my weekend visit to Pozos and Guanajuato. I also talked with some students who showed me their video commercial they had made about Alka-Selzer. It showed them drinking, then getting sick and finally Alka-Selzer being the cure. It was very well done.

During my free hour, I went to the TIC building, found Gonzalo, a teacher I had met two years ago. We made a plan to meet later in the week. Walking back and forth to class today, I stopped several times to say hello to former students that I had met during the week. They all greeted me so pleasantly and for the most part I could call them by name. I think it is important for them to know that I value my contact with them during this two weeks. For some, it could be the spark to stay in school, to study English more, or to just get small window of information about life outside their world.

Wednesday started normal. I had a good night's sleep. Arturo had on his UTEK jeans and blue jeans' shirt. At school we were met by Diego who took us to our first class, even though another teacher was scheduled. Once in the room, Jean, my teaching partner was moved to another room to teach, which makes it better as sometimes the noise level is too high especially if the students are speaking softly. Now, I am speaking to faces that look more familiar, like Oscar who I had spoken with yesterday near the cafeteria. I also saw Alex on the way to class who I gave my email to because he wanted to chat with me. Most of the time in my groups I have been just asking them to introduce themselves and tell me something they like to do in there free time. Sometimes, I get surprised, like the boy who likes Tai Wan Do which I found out he takes it at the school. I try to get the students to talk as much as possible and I try to limit my information unless asked. I find that once I can get them to relax a bit, they will make more of an effort, but I also try to remember to be patience. In one class, Chello's, she only sent three students each to talk to us in the cafeteria. This was different than any of the other teachers but I like the variety. It worked out good as these students would have been lost in the large group.

At lunch, I again ate tacos from the cafeteria. Then I looked for Jean as we were going to have a Spanish lesson. After a while, I remembered that the lesson was going to be in the English building, not in the cafeteria. Then, I couldn't find Jean, so I thought maybe she was there already. When I got to the teacher's room, I found Bernice but there was so little time, so we just visited. In the afternoon we had class with Esperanza. I had a larger group of boys, maybe twenty. It took me a while to get them on track, with quite a wide range of speaking ability. In the end, we played Simon Says. Several thanked me even though we ran over ten minutes.


After we got back to the hotel, I walked to the market to buy tangerines and bananas for our Thursday party. It is a huge market and like a network of puzzles interlaced. When I did find the produce, there seem to be mostly oranges but I bought something. On the way home I spied another interesting coffee shop for later. Later that day, we went to dinner at place that has very nice art work on the wall and a dance studio. Thursday,We woke up to torrential rain. Maybe it is because of the hurricane Alex. Our major project was to make sure all the party food arrived at the school safely. Pam had bought the pastries the day before, plus some accrouterments, and the rain was posing a minor hindrance for the final farewell leg of a great two weeks. Once at the school, Pam went to the Teacher's room to prepare the food, while Jean and I walked with Bernice to the class. We had three classes with Bernice. Each class had prepared some questions using past tense. The questions were interesting and thoughtful. Many students thanked me which reinforces my wonderfully positive experience here. At eleven, Jean and I walked back to the party room. Most of the teachers were there and it was a nice time to kibitz with them. I offered a short and informal speech to the school for Global Volunteers. It was a nice time to have more time to speak to all the teachers. The butterflies were a big hit. I took some photos of the teachers. The teachers gave Jean and I a nice cap with the school's name . I left a little be before noon, as I had arranged to met Alex, a student I met in one of my first classes. Alex is seems to represent the typical young man in Queretaro, very intelligent, thoughtful, and a great host. We talked about many things. He wants me to come back to visit him at his house and met his family. I would love to do this. His main concern was about what Americans think of Mexicans. He worried that all Americans think bad of Mexicans. I was really blown away with this question. I assured him that all Americans did not think horrible things about his country or the people, yet some probably are prejudice. The topic of immigrant didn't really come up. I worried that I had said all the right things. After an hour, we ended our conversation with an wonderful embrace, and as I looked at him, I could see his eyes tear up. I felt the same way. I know I am only one person with one point of view, but that made my trip. Simple yet very powerful communication with one student.


Later, I had one more class with Bernice and then we made our final voyage back to the hotel. Now, most of the rain had stopped. Tomorrow we are lucky and have a free day.
Portland is only days away. Ha!


This morning I was picked up by Gonzalo, a teacher on networking at UTEK. He had his two sons in the back seat. We then went to the Grandparents house to get Lucy, his wife. From there Gonzalo drove to his son's school for the Kindergarden Graduation. Twelve five year old students were given diplomas with some Mexican songs and the Mexican national flag salute. Afterwards, it was inside for a slide show with music depicting all the students throughout the year in different activities. A lot of crying on this last day by the girls, the boys were all non emotional about the final farewell. Next, it was on to breakfast and a very nice bowling alley and playground for kids. Inside, the adults watched the World Cup, eat, and talk, while the kids played in a secure area. I even talked politics with Gonzalo, without worrying about what he would think. I thought it was really genuine kindness and hospitality on his part to do this today for me, as he is quite busy and was going to work at the school this afternoon. I will keep in contact with him and hope to repay him in some way. This morning just reinforced my final thoughts regarding my experience here.

Adios Mexico.... hasta luego!!!