Christmas fun

Christmas started early for me in Tampico...I started getting my class ready to celebrate right after Thanksgiving. We put on an assembly teaching others about Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa as well as dancing up a storm!!:) It was so fun and we had a great day of Christmas fun that Thursday. After school was out I had a few warm days before heading home to COLD Illinois. Running out of the airport in Chicago in flipflips when it's 30 degrees F is not recommended!!:) haha. After having out traditional family celebration with my sister and parents Christmas eve we spent Christmas day relaxing and then went to see The Blind Side--great feel good movie! I love those! The next morning we were on the road up to Iowa to see my mom's side of the family and then finished our traveling on Monday visiting my dad's side in Illinois.

I've got a new car that will be on it's way to Mexico (thanks to my grandparents) this week and hopefully I will be able to have it in Mexico sometime in January. And my parent's were great and part of my Christmas present was to install an IPOD hook up in my car:)

It's been a great holiday at home so far and I still have the rest of the week to go! I'm looking forward to the warmer weather awaiting me, but I've been enjoying the familiarity of home:)

Check out the pictures of Christmas fun at school and such below!:)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

hot and cold

Wow...this week has been crazy! It has gone from warm 70's and 80's to cold 50's and 60's! Without heat and a bunch of humidity that 55 degrees feels like 30! I spent most of my time wrapped up in my beach towel (i haven't bought a blanket yet--haha) or in my bed just to stay warm! And finding closed toe shoes to fit has been a challenge too----i guess i'll have to go shoe shopping over Christmas---shucks!;) haha

Thankfully today, Monday, it warmed up back to normal--82!:) yaya...and tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer. It's amazing how accustomed to this i have become--makes me really nervous for the cold and snow that will greet me upon my arrival to the Chicago Airport in less than 2 weeks. Yep...less than 2 weeks...like 12 days and I will be home!

My 2nd grade class is putting on an assembly for the holidays so we have been busy getting our lines memorized, learning to speak clearly into a "microphone" (really a highlighter right now), and a dance of course!:) They are doing great and it is so fun to dance together and see them be excited to perform and share their knowledge about Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and Christmas. Stay tuned for pictures and such of that fun event!:)

Thankful for Xilitla

This Thanksgiving I had the great opportunity to go with my friend Dana and her family/friends to an interesting town in the mountains called Xilitla. We left Thursday morning and spend the day driving there----It was interesting to find our way. I drove and it was quite interesting as we went over the ever popular surprise speed-bumps on the highway and ventured through the small towns. Then we started climbing up the mountains....and the fog and rain increased---great combination huh?:) lol. We eventually got there, but had no idea how to find our hotel, so we went down one crowded narrow street after another, asking various cops along the way, and finally found it. Whew!

We found our hotel, which was so cool! It is called El Castillo (the castle). It was a house that the surrealist artist Sir Edward James stayed in with a family along with other famous artists like Dali and others I don't remember:) Check out these amazing pictures of the hotel/house:

It was quite a gloomy Thursday with misting rain, so we took a quick walk around the town and then back to the hotel to watch the informational movie and also a chick flick while cuddled up in blankets in the cute common room trying to stay warm---it was colder than we thought it would be and we were not prepared! After the movies we ventured through a secret door/passageway (seriously) and ended up at a restaurant to feast on amazing homemade hot chocolate and hamburgers/bruschetta and pasta.

Finally we headed to bed ready and hoping that Friday would be warmer and dry. Friday morning came with a delicious breakfast of papaya, bananas, sweet breads and toast. Then we were off to the rainforest to see Las Pozas (the creation of Sir Edward James). I have to say it was one of the most interesting and beautiful places I have experienced---he created a whole dream world with stairs and bridges and curves and houses all connected and combined to make such an interesting and inexplainable atmosphere. These few pictures don't even do it justice at all...

It was a trip full of laughs, crazy driving, beautiful scenery, and many memories. I will definitely be going back sometime and hope i can take any visitors that come see me (hint, hint) to this amazing place.

dancing and singing in the streets of San Miguel...

So this past weekend a few friends and I went on a trip to San Miguel Allende...it's inland and quite a ways on a bus (overnite bus 10-6 and then another bus for a few more hours) My roommate Robyn, and 2 other girls Dana, Cheryl, and I all went together. We started out on Friday night at 10 and had a great time!

on the bus...

Here is the front of the hostel we stayed at---kinda felt like we were at camp in the bunk beds but for US $10 a night....it was worth the shared bathroom and hard bunks:)

Here is the center square with the beautiful cathedrals, cobblestone streets, and just wonderful atmosphere.

During the day we went shopping in the market and other stores surrounding the center square area---check out the great stuff I got!:) Some I won't show as they are presents for people, but here is what i got just for me!:)

That night there was a band singing with people gathered around singing along....and then some people started dancing---we felt like we were in a movie with how perfect it was! See the pictures and video's below:)

Sing along in the street----and Dana:)

We splurged and bought the expensive bus tickets for the ride home Sunday night and were very glad to have more space and not freeze like the way there. Although I cannot sleep on a bus very well, it wasn't too bad of an experience:)

So we have 2 short weeks and Thanksgiving and then only a few more week's till Christmas break! It's going crazy fast, but I'm looking forward to going back to the States for a little while---but i will probably feel strange hearing everyone speak English all the time everywhere:) haha

In case I don't write again before Thanksgiving----Happy Thanksgiving!!:)

halloween

WOW! I just got home from school...what a day! There was so many fun things about today. I'm not used to being able to do Halloween at schools, so it was really fun to see it, and at ATS it is extreme. The mom's help decorate the outside of the school, organize the parties, and the kid's costumes are just amazing! After a fun day, we ended with a parade around the school showing off our costumes, and then an assembly to give our awards for the scariest, funniest, most eco-friendly, most original and creative. In addition to this there were performances by 2 different dance groups and some of us teachers broke out of the audience to do Thriller to end the assembly. It was such a fun day!! See below for pictures!:)

The school was decorated inside and out!

I just had to!:) i may look like i'm standing funny...i am trying to show off my fin;) haha

Fun kids!

even the mom's dressed up!:) well some of them did...And they organized a wonderful lunch and party for our class! I am so thankful for their help!!!

Happy Halloween!:)

weeks are flying by...

Hey everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates lately...it's hard to think of what to write sometimes:)

Here is a brief update of my life the last few weeks:

About 2 weekends ago I developed a strange skin thing and had to go to the hospital to figure out what it was---kinda like little blisters smack dab in the middle of my face on my nose, chin, forehead and then a few on my body--back, ankle, etc. I missed 2 days of school while going to a dermatologist who determined it was a staph infection. Fun huh?:) Then wednesday I missed part of a day of school due to going to immigration, so that week was a little unusual to be sure.

This past week has been quite uneventful, but nice and predictable for a change:) On Monday I went to a meeting at church that tells you about the vision and mission of the church and such. It was nice of my friend Carrie to take me and help me by translating something when I didn't understand. I met a few people and am glad to be making small steps in getting to be a part of it here. I love Sundays and really enjoy the worship time at church--in fact one of the songs we sing has been stuck in my head all week long---i've been waking up singing it!!! haha....

The weather here has been really hot lately and tons of mosquitos!!! but that all changed today---a Norte blew in this morning and it has been raining very hard and the wind has been blowing like crazy. It's only in the low 70's right now and is quite chilly!

Sadly this kind of ruined our plans=-----A bunch of the foreign staff and I went about 30 minutes away to a hotel called El Solito. It was a cute place with a big pool, waterpark, "zoo", golf course etc. We BBQ'd last night, swam, hung out by the pool, got bitten by bugs, and had great plans to golf and hit the waterpark today, but the rain came so we ended up coming home:(

We had planned this fun getaway to the countryside because we are all working tomorrow at school (Sunday) for a special Field Day event. My job is the best because I get to walk around and just take pictures!:) I'm glad it won't be in the 90's and sweaty!

This week is exciting in and out of school---We have a bunch of special events planned at school because it's Character Counts week so we have a jog-a-thon event on Tuesday, a picnic on Wednesday and another closing assembly on Thursday and no school on Friday!:) And to top all this off my mom and aunt are coming to visit this Wednesday night through the weekend! yay!

Well i think that's all that i've missed telling everyone, so hopefully I will have some updated pictures or something soon to add--Until then, i'll leave you with this video of that song that has been stuck in my head:) This isn't of my church, but the same song anyways: enjoy!!

crazy and other things

Wow! It's October already! This weekend marks the 2 month anniversary of my arrival in Tampico. I'm learning a lot and really enjoying it here.

This week we had crazy hair day at school and let me tell you---they go all out!!! check out the fun below in the pictures!

Although I have been blessed to avoid any kind of stomach flu or other stomach issues, I have been battling a cold. I had one for almost 2 weeks.....go 2 weeks off and now it seems to be back again, so that is a little frustrating---especially since i don't know what kind of meds to buy here. So if you think of me, just pray that whatever bug I have in my system would go away so I can be back to normal soon again.

I'm starting to make my room and apartment feel more homey---got new bedding, added a few candles a vase and flowers. As soon as I can find some things to put on the walls I will really feel like it's complete:)

That's all I can think of right now to write about so I'll just stop:) thanks for checking in!

julia