3 Weeks of Orientation

Saturday 29 July
My dad dropped me off at the airport EARLY on the morning of Saturday 29 July and my viaje to Mexico started. I flew into Chicago on United and then onto Mexico City, landing with a delay of about 30 minutes. My first thoughts of Mexico City were that it is HUGE and there are more helicopter landing pads on the top of buildings than I’ve ever seen in any other city I’ve flown into in the world. I also noticed that’s Mexico is much greener than I had thought and there are vast stretches of lush, mountainous land.

I headed to Mexicana Airlines to get a boarding pass for my flight to Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital city of the southernmost Mexican state of Chiapas. I later realized that because I landed late, had to wait for my bags and go through immigration, I never had enough time to catch my flight, but nonetheless the check-in counter attendant gave me a boarding pass and checked in my bags. Due to this, I assumed that I had a chance of making the flight, but it turns out they hand out boarding passes up until the time the plane is in flight!

I went to the gate to find that the last shuttle carting passengers to the plane had left moments earlier. My first missed flight EVER on my trips around the world, which I must say is a pretty good record. I went back to find that my bags made it, so they’d be waiting for me at the airport. I asked for information on future flights to Tuxtla and was told to literally take a number and wait (similar to the system at Target when you return something). The wait was over an hour, so if there had been an earlier flight (which there wasn’t), I would have missed it using this program. Welcome to Mexico and get used to it is what I was thinking :)

The next flight wasn’t until the following day and instead of waiting, I took a taxi to the bus station and hopped on a 12 hour overnight bus. I was feeling fortunate to speak Spanish because, although it’s never necessary as I learned in Russia, it’s often more than helpful.

The bus station was very nice and it was extremely simple to buy my ticket. I checked my internet and let my family know that I had landed safely and was on my way via bus to Tuxtla. I had a bite to eat and passed the time walking around, people watching and briefly chatting with a young Mexican guy who was studying English.

Sunday 30 July – Monday 31 July
I arrived with no problem around 9am after a pretty chilly bus ride from Mexico City to Tuxtla. My luggage made it on my flight, so all I had was the t-shirt I was wearing and blue jeans. I slept with my arms inside my t-shirt, but it wasn't too bad. I arrived and reached Paty who came to the bus station to pick me up and drop my one backpack at my apartment.

You've gotta see this joint - hilarious! I don't have to stay there and I'm still deciding whether I will or not. My neighbor is Danna, a teacher from British Colombia who has a son (Zack) in his 20s visiting. My place is painted bright yellow peach with bright curtains to match - truly Mexican! It's quite dirty - I bought some cleaner today and plan to scrub the place if I decide to stay. Danna and I are talking about looking for a two-bedroom or possibly a three-bedroom with another girl...we'll meet everybody tomorrow and have a better idea of who we want to live with, etc. We're having some water issues, which may push us to look elsewhere. The price is only 100 pesos (less than $10 US) over the rent allowance given to us by the school (2500 pesos = about $250 US) and includes all utilities except internet access. If we share, we may be able to have enough leftover to pay for our groceries...always nice to squeeze as much as possible out of the school's rent allowance :)

Paty took me to the grocery store right away yesterday after she had me drop off my one backpack at my apartment. She showed me the good, handmade fresh tortillas and Chiapas cheese, as well as some yummy local salsa that's perfectly spicy. I bought a papaya, mango flavored yogurt, bread, etc. We stopped at the school to get a few things and fill out forms so the school accountant could run to the airport 45 min out of town and pick up my two bags that I was sooo hoping had arrived and were sitting safely in storage.

We stopped at a house where a bunch of extras, like dishes and furniture, are sitting for the new teachers to take. I loaded up on a blender, small table, coffee machine, fan (the apartment does not have aircon), plates, glasses and silverware. We went back to my apartment and loaded it in. I was completely exhausted, as I had only 4.5 hours of sleep on Friday night and Saturday on the bus was a sleep for an hour and wake up ordeal the entire time. They also played two blaring loud movies, one a Japanese karate movie with a lot of gunfire, until midnight. At 8am sharp, they started another movie at blaring volume - thank goodness you could shut off the speakers directly above you, but those who left them on, made it plenty loud!

I put a few groceries away, ate a few tortillas around 1pm and took a nap. I was happily awakened by the school accountant who had my two pieces of luggage at 3.30 and was sooo pleased to find that everything was inside safe and sound!

I hopped in the shower - realizing that like Thailand, I have no hot water, but I was warm enough to be okay with it (and the water sits in the sun and is slightly chilly, but not freezing). Danna and Zack were heading to one of the squares in town that have marimba music and dancing from 7-10 pm each night. We noticed how nobody is drinking on the streets and we saw no public drunkeness, which was a surprise, but a pleasant one :)

We had some carne azada meat inside tortillas with delicious salsa (a red and a green), onions and cilantro, cucumbers, lettuce and tomato. A large plate of that was 45 pesos (just under $4.50 US) and came with a cup of pork and bean soup. We ordered Dos Equis Ambar beers for 14 pesos and Danna ran across the street to get an ear of corn with butter and a few different spices on it. It was okay. We were amazed that there aren't many bars around town, but we managed to find a place later in the night to enjoy a couple Coronas.

The following day, the three of us hopped on a bus to San Cristobol, a colonial city an hour east of Tuxtla, to do a little shopping and exploring. It's a very cute, quaint town and due to the altitude it's MUCH cooler than Tuxtla.

Tuesday 1 August
I woke up for our first day of new teacher orientation to no running water. It was a bit expected, but nonetheless irritating. I brushed my teeth at the kitchen sink with bottled water and used the same water to awkwardly wash the coffee machine I had picked up from storage when there was a knock at the door. I expected to see the landlord, but instead saw Danna with a look of agitation on her face. We both just started laughing and commented on how loud the people were speaking in the hallway at 6am this morning.

We left at 8:30am and briefly waited on the corner of Av Belisario and 12a Poniente until a colectivo or combi, as they’re sometimes called, picked us up. For 4 pesos (10 pesos: $1), you can ride up and down the avenida. As we’d each only been to the school once, we weren’t sure exactly where to get off, but all we had to say was “Colegio Americano” and the driver stopped at the proper spot.

The school has white walls with white barred windows to match and an overgrown soccer field that I’m sure they’ll mow before the first day of school in three weeks. A nice guy named Tomas, who turned out to be the PE teacher, picked us up and drove us down the fairly long road/driveway.

I met the other five the new American and Canadian teachers, Sarah, Heather, Chris, Glenn and Lisa, as well as the Mexican staff. For each K-6 grade level, there’s an English speaking and a Spanish speaking teacher. The elective teachers like Music and PE are also Spanish speaking. During our introduction session, it was nice to listen to the Spanish speakers introduce themselves and actually understand them.

We split into a groups of six for an intro game, took a tour of the school and had pizza for lunch. It was a nice and easy day, but the fun was about to begin around 2pm when Danna and I went with Paty to look at more apartments. It was hot and tiring and after an hour of finding nothing good, I decided to move in with Heather in her two-bedroom and leave the decision to Danna of living alone or living with one or both of the new teachers yet to come.

We went to school, so Paty could look through the newspaper and make a few calls to set up apartment showings for Danna. Danna and I hopped in Camacho’s truck and the plan, which was explained to him three times in Spanish by Paty, was to stop by Heather’s to make sure she was home and could let me in, stop at my apartment to load everything up and haul it to Heather’s.

We went to our apartment first and I had to explain again what the plan was, but when we drove to Heather’s she wasn’t home. Camacho dropped Danna and me off and said he’d go to Heather’s and wait for her. It wasn’t until 9:00 pm that he returned! I was initially very annoyed, but found out that Heather didn’t get home until late.

Heather was a bit surprised to see me, but she’s a night owl so she wasn’t even close to going to bed. I unpacked and felt so relieved to be all settled in! I took a shower, relaxed and read my book and fell asleep around 11pm.

Wednesday 2 August
It was so nice to wake up and know that all my stuff was in its proper spot and hung in the closet. I woke before my alarm, so I had time to make fantastic Chiapas coffee, Café David, and eat a bowl of cereal and watch CNN En Espanol before heading out the door with Heather to walk 25 minutes to the Plaza Civica.

We met everybody and Lisa and I ran to get some fresh Jugo de Coco Natural from one of the women in the market before hopping on the bus to the Canon de Sumidero. Lisa is allergic to sugar, so we had to make sure we were getting it natural. The woman was so kind, referring to us as bonitas and asking where we were from, so I explained that we were new teachers at the Colegio Americano. Foreigners are treated as quite a novelty here and given much attention.

We hopped on the tour bus and headed up the mountain taking in five gorgeous views of the canon and Tuxtla Gutierrez below. There were many hawks dipping and diving as they flew, butterflies, boats sailing down the canon’s river below and lush, green jungle as far as the eye could see.

We finished the day off with lunch that consisted of drinks, each including an order of appetizers. Michy told us that the school would pay for three drinks and the food that came with the drinks as “appetizers” was plenty for a meal! We enjoyed chips with a variety of salsas, some including shrimp, others beef and still others with innards that I didn’t try. I don’t enjoy meat enough to consume the entire beast. Several of us tried Cheladas and Micheladas which are beer, in this case Sol, mixed with lime juice and the later includes a variety of spices, as well.

Heather and I headed to the mall and browsed around Chedraui, similar to a WalMart (which is going up in Tuxtla and is scheduled to open in a few weeks), where we bought a few things for the apartment. It was nice to get home, put everything away and relax.

Thursday 3 August
We headed out the door at 8:30, but hopped on the wrong bus initially and had to transfer to another, arriving just a few minutes after 9:00. We had a morning of AMCO training, the curriculum that we follow developed by a Mexican American in Southern California.

We learned that the beat dunt…da..du…dunt…dunt……..dunt…dunt means f@$% your mother! Unknowingly, a former teacher told the kids she’d clap her hands like that when she wanted them to be quiet! We were told that taxi drivers or other cars on the road make that sound with their horns when they’re upset. Good to know.

The three of us walked to find a recommended restaurant that turned out to be a drinking and tapa-like place, similar to yesterday’s lunch, so we turned around and chose a taco place near our apartment. It turned out to be excellent, serving delicious fish tacos for 10 pesos with an excellent toppings bar including onions, guacamole, two types of salsa and jalapenos. We finished just in time to get home before the afternoon rain came pouring down leaving behind the most amazing rainbow I’ve ever seen! Several people were on the stairway balcony taking pictures of it stretching completely from one side of the city to the other.

Friday 4 August
One of the drivers from school gave Heather and me a ride home in order to install the gas tank for our apartment, but once we arrived and he looked at our setup, he said something about a guy at school, hopped in his truck and drove off. I was a bit confused, but figured he had to pick something up at school. What, I wasn’t aware of, but Heather and I waited and waited, taking a nap and waking up with no sign of him.

We headed to the Manhattan Fitness for our Pilates and Salsa classes and laughed quite a bit during both. We had an audience for the Salsa class, I’m sure they were laughing at the gringas who can’t dance, but it was good fun and we plan to join and see how good we can get at it.

Saturday 5 August
I woke up around 8:30 and had my usual breakfast of coffee and cereal before sitting in front of CNN En Espanol with my laptop. Around 9, Camacho, the driver from school, came to the door to complete the gas installation. We went downstairs with the key and he fumbled around, putting the tank inside of the metal cage.

He asked if I had a large key, modeling with his hands the size of a wrench! I knew I did not, but showed him in the apartment to look around. He explained that there was one at school and I was a bit surprised that he hadn’t brought it and would have to go all the way back again, but knowing Camacho this wasn’t too much of a surprise.

Heather and I walked to the market where I bought 2 mangos, 2 jalapenos, 2 avocados, 3 Roma tomatoes, cucumber and cilantro for the unbelievable low price of 25 pesos (less than $2.50)! I had fresh, frozen yogurt with fresh kiwi and mango for 10 pesos and we hopped in a colectivo to the Gigante Bodega to pick up a few things that weren’t at the market.

Sunday 6 August
I woke up to church bells at 6:30 am and almost every half hour thereafter. I finally got out of bed at 8:30, had breakfast and wrote in my journal. I watched a little CNN and a few shows with Spanish subtitles, a great way to learn and reinforce vocabulary. My abs are feeling the Pilates workout from Friday, which is a good sign. Heather and I lazed around all day watching a maratón of Desperate Housewives, among other things.

Monday 7 August
Heather and I headed to Manhattan Fitness to meet Lisa and check out the gimnasia reductiva. Upon arrival we spoke with the owner about package options and were given exactly what we wanted; for 270 pesos on a month to month basis we could use the gym equipment, take salsa lessons and do pilates and/or gimnasia reductiva. The regular package included aerobics instead of salsa and no pilates, so we were thrilled with this deal.

Gimnasia reductiva turned out to be more like stretching and strengthening, but we were happy with it. We’ll most likely do a combination of pilates and GR and continue going to salsa lessons which make me realize just how much I’m NOT a dancer! The instructor is about my height, 5’ 7”, with thick, wavy, black hair and a stocky build. For two-left-feeters like me, he goes through the steps at breakneck speed and always seems to throw in a little something extra for good measure.

Heather and I like to skip the partnering up part of class because we usually don’t have the basic steps down in the first place and spinning with a partner just isn’t fun. We hung out in the corner for the last ten minutes and watched Lisa, who is a natural, dance away with the instructor.

We walked home, finding an alternate route and a quaint, little café near out apartment. Minutes after entering the apartment, I spotted a huge cockroach near the ceiling just above where Heather was sitting at the table trying to get online. I waited for it to walk to the corner so it was away from the couch and armed with RAID, I stepped on the couch and sprayed away. The cockroach ran toward me, of all things, and I kept spraying until he fell on the couch – precisely what I was trying to avoid! With the shoe in my other hand, I hit him once and missed the second time as he slithered into the corner of the couch and down the crack. Horrible.

Using the butt of the broom handle, I stuffed it into the couch trying to smash the cockroach to no avail. The whole apartment stunk like chemicals and now we’re afraid we have a cockroach living in the loveseat. We were up for another couple of hours, but saw no sign of the cucaracha.

Tuesday 8 August
Before heading off to school, we heard the water guy yelling, “Agua…agua…” and, for the first time, bought a refill jug of water for the kitchen counter for 14 pesos (just over $1 US). He carried the jug up to our 3rd story apartment and even installed the plastic pump, taking the old container with him. I really like the system around here for refills!

A similar method is used for filling up our cylindrical gas tank which provides our water heater and stove with the energy they need to run. When we hear a vehicle with chains dragging behind that make a clanking noise on the road, we run out and let the driver know that we need a refill which costs $25 US and should be necessary every two months at the most.

It´s always fun to see how things are done in other countries. It's been very easy to go through the culture shock, which is becoming less and less shocking with every new environment I live in :)

Thursday 10 August
The highlight of today was when we received a checklist from school that listed our desk materials as a stapler, scissors and ghetto blaster! I thought it was written to be humorous, but apparently it’s been so long since Michy has lived in Canada that she thought we were still using that term! Most of us were laughing pretty hard and I continue to find it quite funny!

Sunday 20 August
I'm loving Mexico!!!! I've been here for three weeks already, but my students don't begin school until tomorrow. It's been nice getting all set up and accustomed to the area before school starts. Initially, I thought three weeks too much, but it turned out to be a great idea for us newcomers.

Everybody at school is great! The way it worked out is that after 1, 2 and 3 years, the teachers from last year all departed at once, so the foreign teachers this year are all new. It's been nice and has really given us a chance to relate to one another and bond.

There are 6 Americans and 3 Canadians; Michy the Principal is a Canadian, but she's lived in Mexico for years, is married to a Mexican and actually USED the term ghetto-blaster, so we've joked that she is no longer a "foreign" staff member! My roommate, the only 2 male foreign teachers on staff and I were dying when we read that we'd each be receiving a ghetto-blaster for our classroom. I thought Michy was kidding, but she wasn't. We had and continue to have good laughs over that one.

There are three other administrators that they call coordinators; one for Preschool, Primary and Secondary (here secondary is 6-9 and Preparatory is 10-12...our school doesn't have Prep). They are all female and extremely nice, warm and welcoming. I'm sure there will be frustrating cultural things to deal with in terms of how things are done or how fast they do (or don't) get done, but nothing that mutual respect can't work out.

To give you a rundown on my English colleagues:

My roommate Heather is 23 years old, from the state of New York and teaching 1st grade. She spent a year in France where she met a guy whom she's still dating. She plans to stay here for a year before returning to the States or France for grad school.

Lisa is 36 years old, from Ottawa and the 5th grade teacher. She did quite a bit of traveling about 10 years ago, living for a couple of years in Switzerland and traveling through SE Asia, India, etc. She's been in Canada since and is happy to be getting back into the travel world. She may stay for a few years in Mexico, possibly heading to another location next year.

Sarah is 28, from Maine, but lived in Chicago for a while before coming to Mexico to teach preschool this year. She studied in Oaxaca seven years ago and is married to a guy from there.

Danna is in her 50s and is the preschool teacher from Vancouver Island, BC. She traveled to Mexico in the 70s with a group of friends in a refurbished bus and has visited Costa Rica where her daughter lived for awhile. She spent three years teaching in North Carolina before coming to Mexico this year.

Carrie arrived last week, so all I know is that she's from Oregon and will be teaching 7-9 grade Language Arts.

Glenn is a 39 year old from Edmonton, but he's lived and taught in British Columbia most of his adult life. He's spent a considerable amount of time traveling, teaching in Egypt and working as a chef on a ship that traveled quite extensively around the world. He'll be teaching 3rd grade.

Kris is the 2nd grade teacher in his late 20s (yes, he's male, although the name is spelled with a "K") and from Sacramento. He taught in Bangkok for a few years and actually lived in Thong Lo where I initially lived!

We haven't met Jennifer, the 4th grade teacher, yet but we know she's from Oregon and is in her late 20s or early 30s.