Crazy Week

It has been quite the week since I left Colorado.   Last Sunday, Drew and I headed out on a four day road trip down here.  The trip was incredible ( and a lot of fun)  It was great to have good company on the way down. :)  From piggy backing across state lines to driving across the border, the trip was one I won't soon forget!!!  

We arrived in McAllen last Tuesday and had a quick nuts and bolts meeting with the new teachers about crossing the border.  After buying mexican auto insurance, having a great dinner with the new teachers, and setting up an awesome 13 car caravan across the border; we got into Monterrey on Wednesday afternoon.  Crossing the border was a bit of an ordeal.  I am so happy that we had returning teachers and the superintendent to help us out.  We waited well over two hours to get our car permits and with my spanish, I couldn't imagine doing that by yourself.

Driving into Monterrey was a crazy experience.  The traffic here is muy loco!!  Stop signs, also known as "stoptional signs" aren't exactly the norm to stop at.  People cut each other off,  you don't use your turn signal, their aren't any lanes, people honk a lot (its not because they are mad, its just the culture) and there really isn't a set speed limit that most follow.   To say the least, its been a pretty funny experience driving Cha Cha ( sarah's car name) around here.

Monterrey and San Pedro ( the city where I live)  are very affluent.  I feel like I could compare it to living in the Beverly Hills of Mexico.  Everyone here ( especially those that come to ASFM) have a lot of money.  Everyone drives a nice car ( lots of BMW's) and the malls, super markets, shops, clothes, are much nicer than anything I've seen in Colorado.   It's not exactly the Mexico I thought I was moving to, but it is quite nice.  The city itself is BEAUTIFUL.   It's surrounded by giant mountains...its nothing like I've ever seen before. 

My house is incredibly cute and HUGE, I'm pretty in love with it.  Suzanne ( my roommate) and I live in a three bedroom, four bath house.  It has a ton of character with great tile floors and cute furniture.  A student teacher from the school, Christi, is going to move in this week.  She's great and I am really excited to have her live with us.  If anyone would ever want to visit, we would have plenty of room! :) ( wink wink)

This past weekend we had the chance to head up to Chipinque National Park for our new teacher's retreat.    It was a great way to meet the new teachers and get to know their writing and reading program here.  I am really excited because this school is just top of the line in everything they do.  They have a lot of structure, a great writer's workshop program, a bizillion resources, and TONS of support.    I know that this school is just going to be wonderful for my first year of teaching.

I started to set up my classroom today.  I have a nice room that over looks the mountains.  It has a great balcony and has a lot of windows.  I am a little overwhelmed by trying to get ready for the school year, but I'm just going to take it one day at a time.

I went to a professional baseball game on Saturday night with a few girl teachers I've met here over this past week.  The Sultones ( Monterrey's team) are in the playoffs right now.  Although baseball is not the biggest sport in Mexico ( soccer is) the game was hilarious and a ton of fun.  A few highlights were the giant fight that broke out in the middle of the 8th inning,  the huge power outage during the 9th, and my favorite...we all rushed the field when they won. ( no joke) We even did kartwheels in center field.  I was just thinking about how funny that would be if we tried to rush the field during the playoffs at an American baseball game.   After the game we went to this place called Far West.  It's a huge western bar here that actually has a real rodeo inside it.  (with a rodeo clown and actual bulls)  It's a two story emporium that would would beat the Grizzly Rose any day.  I did the electric slide a few times...and was the tallest person in the bar, lol.

I have so much more that I could update on but I'm gonna head back to my house.  I miss you all a lot.   I think its going to be a bit of an adjustment getting use to a new language, new school, new house, new friends, missing home, drew, my fam, the moz etc. but I am very excited about it.  I'd love to hear from all of you...just shoot me an email or leave a comment.  

Hope all is well!

:)