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

happy independence day----Viva Mexico!

Here are some fun pictures from our celebration at school---it was a spirit day, so we dressed up in traditional mexican dress.....and when i say we---i really mean the kids did:)

Here are some of the girls (in black) that are gonna dance!

Here's a typical monday assembly picture:

And here are the pics of us today!

It was fun!!

Oh and here is my new favorite kind of chip---too bad it's not in the states!

Thanks for reading!:)

a day/night at the beach...

I went to the beach for the first time last Saturday here in Tampico! It was great. I stuck my toes in and waded up to my ankles, but didn't swim yet. The foreign staff from school went for a birthday barbeque for Michael---he's our librarian. There was great food, a campfire, fun people, and sand, water, and sun----all in all it was a beautiful day and a fun time:)

Here i am at the beach!

Here is my friend emily and i enjoying the sunset at the beach.

Here are my feet in the sand!!

Here are some of the teachers and the birthday boy!

Next week it's independence day and there's dancing and fun times ahead---hopefully i'll remember my camera and can update you soon!:)

pics from school

As promised-----Here are some pictures of me and my students at school working!:) It is picture day in the pics so they are all looking spiffy! I'll try to remember to take some when they have their uniforms---they have to wear them on gym days and Mondays.

Oh and here is the boot i had to lug around for so long...

Here i am with no boot!

The rest are my students working on math facts and other work.

Thanks for checking in! This last one is just me one early morning!:) can you see the sleep in my eyes!?

living free!:)

Hey there! It's been awhile since i updated, so here I go:)

Things are going really well here in Tampico. I feel like it's home and I'm enjoying almost everything about it. I say almost b/c i could do without the little critters we've had randomly----ewww....just little centipedes and ants---thankfully no cochroaches yet! Our maid comes to clean thursday--so hopefully with it even cleaner the bugs will be less. It's not bad, but even one big one a week is creepy! haha..

Speaking of a maid, it seems weird to have someone come clean an apartment:) but it's common here and honestly i definitely do not want to attempt mopping all the tile here!!

Teaching is going well---I like my class--they are full of fun and laughter, and are pretty smart too. I'm still getting used to things like giving grades and dealing so much with parents but it is going well i think. I feel like the days go so fast!

Today the kids were begging me to show them my foot---I went boot FREE this week!!! I finally could shove my foot into a normal shoe so i could start walking without the boot outside and at work! yay!! I feel so much freedom---that thing was heavy! Anyways, I told the kids i would show the scars to them if we could get through all the things i had planned for the last 30 minutes of the day today and at 1:55 I would let them see---they were so excited!! lol it was really funny in my head to think about.

So i got great ooooooooooo's and ahhhhhhhhh's and ewwwwww's from them all. Then they left and a few asked if some of their friends could see too:) haha...gotta love little kids!

So here are the newest pictures of my foot. It's all closed up and healing well---of course i'll have the sweet scars for a while and my foot is still a little swollen but it feels fine!

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Preparations for Mexican Independence Day (Sept 16th) are already in the mix with invitations to dance lessons and a party. I guess we also dress up at school? I need to find out what to wear!!!:) Sounds like fun! I'm ready to dance now that i can wear shoes!

Is there anything i miss from the USA?

I can get most things i like here, but i do miss:

---driving a car

---more than 8 English channels

---church in English (Although i do love church here, it's just exhausting to translate for that many hours when your spanish isn't super awesome yet)

----a fall festival or football game

I think that is it for now---i'm trying to take pictures of me at school, or with friends---hopefully this week and weekend i can get some and post again soon!

much love and hugs to those of you far away---email me anytime---i would love to hear from you!!! juliamitt@gmail.com