Sarah Jane's Travels

Te Extrano

2010-01-26T16:51:00.000-08:00

As I was flying home from Mexico I began to make a list of all of the things I knew I was going to miss about Mexico as well as a list of the things I knew I wouldn't miss. Now that I have been home for over a month its about time I wrote down all of the things I love and miss about Mexico. I never ever missed home as much as I have been missing Mexico over the last several weeks. I love that country and it has been very hard to get back into the routine here at home.

Things I miss about Mexico:

Teo, Rachael and their daughters, Moroni
Zaloa and Noelia and all of my ILP girls
Ashley and Adri
Adri's host family.... Santi, Pablo and Caro
My Discovery Class
Thursday night soccer
The sun
Warm Weather
My tan
Hugs and kisses as you greet people and say goodbye
Mexican music
Dancing
The food (chiliqueles, tacos al pastor, gringas)
Comida
the freshly squeezed juice
how inexpensive things are to buy
the whistling, honking and cat calls
Spanish
men's cologne

Things I WON'T miss about Mexico:

trees in the middle of the sidewalk
having dirty, dry feet
only tile floor
not flushing my toilet paper
Tele Novelas
papaya
having to turn on the hot water every morning
pumping the water
not being able to understand people

I love that place, and I'm going to be sure to continue to add to my list of the things I miss and the things I don't miss. I can't wait to go back and visit, I hope that it happens sooner rather than later!

With every GOODBYE there is a HELLO - Zaloa

2009-12-26T19:33:00.000-08:00

Savannah and I arrived in Puebla in the evening after we had a nice visit on the bus. When we got there we hadn't been able to get in touch with Moroni yet and so we didn't know if he was going to even be there. Teo had been calling him all day and he hadn't answered once. Thankfully we had been talking on facebook earlier that week and I had mentioned to him what my plan was, I'm sure that was the only way he knew that we were coming. We walked in and moved out of the way to wait for Moro to arrive. (Hopefully!)

We didn't have to wait very long, he had been waiting for us and hiding off against the wall. I should have known that he would be there, "Moroni is the best!!" I love travelling with Moroni because he never lets us get ripped off. He just says no to that taxi driver or whoever he is negotiating with, and then waits for someone who will go for the price he is willing to pay. He is just so awesome. He got us a cab drive but with all of our luggage it was not small feat to fit everything in. Savannah and I had luggage on our laps as did Moroni. It wasn't the end of the world. We got to where we needed to go with all of our luggage and with no problems. Well except for maybe the fact that it was freezing in Puebla. I thought for sure I would probably die of exposure when I arrived in Canada, my cold home to the North.

Sav and I squished in the back with our luggage...

After we got back to the school and dropped off our luggage we went to Suprema Salsa (the place where Adri and I hung out for hours on end before we went the the Puebla FC game). Savannah and I wanted to eat as much Mexican food as our stomachs could possibly fit. It was a little bit sad that the food was no where near as good as it is a Teo's Tacos but it was still pretty good.

Moro and Me

Savvy and Me

Savannah and I wrote a really great song while we were waiting for our food. There was some English music playing and there was a song from Greece that came on. Savannah started singing

"Give me more, give me more, give me more...

...of TACOS EL PASTOR! Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh, uh huh."

I know we should probably get paid money for that song. Everyone in the restaurant was staring at us and Moroni was so embarrassed but I was killing myself laughing.

We went back to the school and Savannah went online to check in her bags, etc while Moroni and I tried to exchange music. Savannah calls from the other room "Sarah, I didn't know we were traveling first class." "We're not Sav!" Well little did I know.... she brought her boarding pass out and turned out Savannah was traveling first class. That also meant she got to check 3 bags up to 70 lbs. each for no charge. I had to pay $25 for my second bag that was a 50 lbs and I knew I was going to have to pay extra for my additional baggage. So not fair. I didn't get much sleep that night, I gave Moroni like all of my music and it took a really long time to get it onto his external hard drive. Savannah went to bed as soon as she got her bags checked in so she had a lot more energy in the morning than I did.

Moroni was talking to my on facebook while I was sitting next to him.... he was making me laugh so hard I had to take a picture. He was looking at a picture of me by the graffiti of Mario and he was talking to me about that. Oh what a guy, I'm going to miss him so much!

Tired Moroni, I don't know how much sleep he even got this night. We stayed up super late as it was trying to exchange music and then we had to be up by 4:00 am to get to the bus station in time. It was a long day of traveling.

We made it to the bus station in the morning after rushing out the door because Moroni had already gotten a taxi for us. It was a bit stressful when we were all running on like 2 hours of sleep. I don't even know if I had that much. It was crazy to think that I was going to be home with my family in less than 24 hours. What an emotional roller coaster!

Me and my favorite Mexican!

It is hard to smile when you are so sad to leave...

Moro just stood outside of the doors while we sat on the bus and waited to leave. I couldn't stop the tears. It makes me cry to write about it now. I didn't want to say goodbye to one of my best friends, one of the few people that I had been able to confide in and talk to about everything I needed to while I was gone. It killed me because I had already said goodbye to him once when he left to San Luis and it was one of the worst days while ever and then I had to do it all over again. He just stood there looking sad and I knew it was going to be a miserable day for him too. He was just going to wait around at the bus station until everyone else showed up and then he would have to say goodbye one more time. I think it would be hard to be there, he has to get used to saying goodbye to some of his best friends every single semester.

I thought I would for sure sleep the entire way to the airport but I was wrong. Savannah and I talked almost the whole way. The last 45 minutes of the bus ride I guess we slept on and off but I was so tired by the time I got to the airport that I didn't know how I was going to survive for the rest of the day. When we got there we went to check in our luggage. There was a very helpful man who checked Sav into first class and instead of making me wait in line he checked me in too. The best part, Savannah checked my extra luggage for no cost and they took care of everything for us. We were there so early though that we had a lot of time to kill. We decided to go for breakfast after we made sure we knew which terminal we were leaving from. I was so grateful I was traveling with Savannah and that it was just the two of us. We had no problems the entire time. We made it through security with no hiccups and it was just so much nicer to only have to look out for yourself and one other person. I am confident it was much more stressful to travel with the rest of the group the entire way. I was so glad I didn't have to do it.

Chiliaquiles for the last time!!

This is my favorite Mexican food..... yummmmm so good!! What a great way to spend the last day in Mexico!

Our plane was delayed from Mexico City. We had such a long layover in Houston we were not concerned about it at all because that just meant less time in that airport. I had a nap in the Mexico City airport in the terminal, it was difficult to sleep because it was so cold but I was so tired that I made it work. We worked on the computer and chatted while we waited to board the plane. The ride to Houston wasn't bad at all except for the smell beside me. There was a very nice man who was from the Ukraine sitting beside me and I have never in my entire life met someone who smelled as bad as he did. It was disgusting. He was a seaman and his ship had landed in Veracruz and now he was flying home for the holidays. He was having a lot of problems filling out the forms and so I helped him as best I could through his broken English. He was very kind and helped me put my luggage in the overhead compartment and visited with me during the flight(it is sad that very few people would offer that help anymore). I didn't sleep at all on the plane ride because I was too anxious about the fact that I would be home soon and it could have had something to do with the odor in the seat next to me.

Our lay over in Texas was actually fun and I spent a lot of the time visiting and laughing with strangers and Savannah. Savannah's flight from Mexico City to Houston was much more enjoyable than mine, she had a delicious meal in first class with dessert and drinks. They just spoiled her!! We were trying to get to the next terminal in Houston by weaving our way through huge line ups (it was a very very very busy day in the airports) and taking short cuts that some of the employees suggested to us. I always find that the people that work that the Houston airport are so friendly and I enjoy being there. We finally arrived at security and we walked over to this lady who had no line up. I realized we weren't in the right place so I told Sav "We have to go over here, this is the premier line." She is so trusting so we walked over to this other lady who had a really long line up. She actually sent us right back to the other lady because she didn't have a line up and could get us through faster. Savannah handed her her boarding pass and the lady looks at me and says "You could have come here all along, she's first class. You didn't have to dance around like a maniac and drag your friend all over the place." The way she said it and her cute accent made me burst out laughing. I think the fact that I was extremely overtired made me think it was much funnier. Sav and I laughed about that for probably half an hour after it actually happened. We needed sleep more than anything. While we were waiting in the terminal in Houston we met a few really nice people. I had a nice visit with a lady who lives most of the year in a small town in Mexico and just loves it. Maybe one day I can live like that, that would be amazing! Then we also met a boy from New York area who was going to Banff with a bunch of his friends to go skiing. He took some pictures for us while we were there and I had a nice visit with him after Savannah got to board early because she was flying first class. The reason we met in the first place was because I thought he was wearing a General's jacket and he looked like a hockey player. Turns out he was a lacrosse player and his jacket didn't say Generals but it was an honest mistake. Plus he made two cute Canadian friends. The flight from Houston to Calgary took an eternity and just about killed me. I was just dying to get home at that point. I got off the plane as fast as I could, we got all of our luggage and then we took a few last pictures. Sav was convinced no one in her family would be there and I was nervous as heck to see my boyfriend and my family.

After a terribly long flight home from Houston... I'm sure it just seemed long because I was so excited we finally arrived. We got all of our luggage and took one last picture before we walked through the doors to see our long lost families.

I was greeted by the two best hugs in the world. Max and Lucy ran up to see me and from that point on I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. I was still sad to have left but I was glad to be home and I remembered why I love home so much!

I missed these hugs

Oh what a cheesy grin, I believe he may have been excited to see me. I'm sure my smile was even cheesier if only the picture was taken from the other side.

The Wheatley's

Mom and Dad went and gave Savy a hug and I got hugs from all of them too. Holy smokes Porter had gotten big. What a great family, love them so much!

LOU!!

It wasn't hard to remember why I wanted to come home once I saw these faces and the rest of my family and friends!

They were so patient, waiting for me for what seemed like forever!!

Lucy just kept repeating "Sarah, we haven't seen you in just so long!"

Tyson is holding the flowers Lucy and Max made for me. They didn't bring real flowers because they were worried they would freeze in the cold. What smart kids!

Oh I missed you little sister, almost as much as you missed my jeans!

Me and my favorite Canadian!! I love you Tyson!

Final Farewell!

2009-12-26T19:20:00.000-08:00

What a tough day! I woke up early in the morning because I knew I had a lot of things to do. I started packing and cleaning up some final things around the apartment. I was sitting in the spare bedroom working on my computer, copying some music onto a CD for some people I think, when Ashley woke up. She walked into the hallway and stood outside the door and said "I woke up really depressed this morning!" I asked her why and she looked at me with a sad face and said "It's your last day here Sarah!" As soon as she said that I guess it just hit me, I was leaving Mexico. Ashley had been crying and I told her she had to leave before I started to cry. It was sad to think about the fact that it had been the last time when I would wake up and Ash wouldn't be there to talk to. We always talked in the mornings, sometimes we talked for hours without even meaning to. That started on the night I got there and it never ended, we just talked and talked and talked. When we weren't talking to one another we were talking to our boyfriends on Skype while we sat next to one another. I'm going to miss Ashley a lot!

A few people came over in the morning to help with last minute stuff to say goodbye which was really nice. Savannah came to stop by and it worked out really well because she was going to Juan Pablo's (her host family's cousins) house for a bit with Chelsea. It worked out great because I had a Christmas gift I wanted to drop off there before I left and I didn't know how I was going to do it unless I had a chance to see them. I could have just given it to Chelsea I suppose but this way I could drop it off myself and say goodbye. We walked over there and the three of us had a nice visit while we wandered. When we showed up their family wasn't home so we had to wait for quite some time before everyone arrived. I gave them the small gift I had and then visited with the sisters while we waited for their parents and Juan Pablo to arrive back. This family is so amazing. They are so kind! They don't even have children in the ILP program and yet they host teachers just out of the goodness of their hearts. I think it is very good practice for Juan Pablo, who teaches English at the university, to have someone who speaks English in his home. They are just amazing. In the last few months that we were there this family was kind of thrown into a major crisis after a car accident that Celia was in. They had to sell everything and they were still stuck in a situation where they were having trouble paying for the health care of their daughter and the other victim involved in the accident. It is a very sad situation and the least I could do was offer some small amount of assistance. It was nice to see them once more though and to say one final goodbye!

Me with Juan Pablo and his girlfriend

Juan Pablo's parents, Gracia and Me

Me and Celina (this is awful but this may not be her name)

A beautiful house we walked by often on our way to the centro

The park close by Adri's house... they were playing Christmas music over the loud speaker. It felt like I was on a weird summer vacation. Christmas is so different down there.

One last picture of the three of us!

The busy center!

Adri buying movies... Ashley and Adri always went down here

The tree stumps that were left over after they cut down most of the trees in the center are being carved into beautiful artwork. This one is amazing... there is another one that isn't finished yet that is being carved into a motorcycle. It's amazing what people can do!

This is one thing I never got used to, men standing outside of buildings with huge automatic weapons just freaked me right out. Sometimes police officers stood outside of parties and you just knew they were paid off. It is scary when you know there is so much corruption.

This is a very wide sidewalk, most of them are very thin and just to top it off they plant trees in the middle of them. Even I have to duck sometimes to miss the leaves and the branches. I hate it so much!

Sandy and her family came to say goodbye to the teachers who were at the school. Arad, Atzi and Vanilka took a few last pictures with me before they left to go to Puebla for the weekend.

Arad loves giving bunny ears... I'm going to miss these kids so much too!

How could you not love those cute faces??

Ashley and I had to walk to Heslington to print off our boarding passes. On our way there we met up with Teo who drove us back the apartment when we were done. When he walked up to us he unzipped his jacket and said to me "I'm wearing my Canada shirt just for you today!!"

One last trip in Teo and Rachael's new Honda Accord

Teo was a Canadian all day just for me.... when he first showed me that he was wearing the t-shirt I had given to him (which is way way too big for him) it made me cry. I love Teo like he was my second Dad! I'm going to miss him!

The tears started to flow when Kami and Kelsey said goodbye. I don't think they stopped for the rest of the night. I just kept reminding myself of what Teo said to us "It is okay to be sad, that means that you were happy!"

Adri, Ashley and I left our permanant mark in Mexico. We put our hand prints and initials in some new cement right outside of the school.

Totally worth it...

My handprint and my heart will forever be in Mexico.... I know cheesy but it is true!

My Mexican Family.

Everyone else lived with a host family, Ashley and I became members of this one!

Helena, Adri and Ashley came with Teo to drop me off at the bus station!

One final goodbye, my best and most favorite roommate in the entire world! I love you Ashley!!

Adri started to cry about 5:30 and the tears didn't stop coming until I left. She became my best friend while I was down there and helped me learn what a true and real friend is like. I have been very blessed in my life to be surrounded by good friends, Adri is one of those and I will cherish her friendship forever. There is no one I would have rather spent my time with in Mexico than this girl. I love her with all my heart and I am going to miss her. I am going to miss her silly jokes that without fail made me laugh, I'm going to miss our morning runs and our midnight talks while we were walking to her house. I'm going to miss making cookies and brownies almost every week to satisfy our cravings for them and I'm going to miss her hugs and cuddles when we had to share a single bed in Puebla. I love you Adri!!

My final hug in Tehuacan was from this man, Teo Luna. My second dad and one of my best friends. He was the hardest person to say goodbye to. I knew I could maintain my friendships with those who live in Utah but I don't know when the next time I see Teo will be, I hope it is sooner than later. I have more respect for this man than I know how to express. I have grown to love him like a father, respect him as my Stake President and confide in him like my best friend. He honors his priesthood and is willing to bless the lives of the people around him with it. He is one of the most amazing men alive and he is a leader to the people in Mexico, whom I have grown to love. As he gave me one last hug and told me that he loved me, I knew that I had been blessed more than I could have ever asked for. My Heavenly Father loves me! I know that is true! He has poured out blessings to me and I have not had room to receive them. I have been blessed with the most amazing family in the world. People who love me and take care of me! I have siblings who are my closest friends and parents who have taught me more through example than anything else. I have been blessed over and over again with people who love me and my experience in Mexico is another example of that. I was blessed with people who loved me, who took care of me and who will be my friends forever. I don't have to look very far to see the blessings in my life and to see all of the people who have loved me and helped me to become the person I am.

My Last Game

2009-12-26T18:57:00.000-08:00

So we arrived a little bit late because our excursion to Ana Esperanza's took us longer than planned but we made it to futbol and it was awesome. I officially realized how terrible I am at that sport but I still love playing it more than any other sport in the world. I am all Canadian when it comes to my favorite sport to watch, HOCKEY is an easy winner there. So we showed up and our favorite boys were there waiting patiently like always. I am going to miss Thursday nights so much. It has been so great to have people who are consistent and always show up to play. I think it is going to be just as sad for them as it will be for me. Once a week we were basically having YM's activities with two girls there. It is so much fun and tons of people come because it is fun for everyone. One thing about Tehuacan is that there isn't a ton of things to do, the discos are super popular for that reason. It is nice to have alternative, uplifting activities to choose. To be honest there wasn't much playing that went on that night because we wanted pictures with everyone and there were a few quick injuries. Nestor was playing goal for a bit and got kicked right in the thumb, I wouldn't be surprised if it was broken. It was very very swollen and it was hurting him a lot. He sat out for the rest of the night, good thing he came for 5 minutes of play.

Salvador and Me

Oh A-rod, how I love you!

Gabriel and Nestor.... Gabriel left right after I took this picture. He never came to play anyway he just wanted to flirt.

Nestor was trying to put his sweater on and he couldn't do it, I came off the court to help him and I guess Adri took a picture.

This is how I spent most of my Thursday nights, talking and joking around and then getting in trouble for sleeping while my team was trying to play.

Salvador had a crush on Adri... I do not just say that because I think I am good at sensing those kinds of things. He came right out and told her that. The whole time she believe he liked me. Oh A-rod when will you learn, every boy liked her down there!!

Poor Nestor.... his hand was hurting so much. He was a good sport though and just hung out until we were finished so we could take pictures and so that his brother Daniel could still play.

Omar is so cute, I don't even think he is 13 yet but he is just so fun!

Zefe and Me

Me, Alfredo, Salvador and Adri

Thank you Alfredo and Sandy... without you I wouldn't have had Thursday nights to look forward to, without you I wouldn't have made all of these wonderful friends. I am so glad they organized it the first time. After that, they hardly ever came but we that was okay because we still talked to all of our other soccer friends and made plans.

One of the few pictures we have of Daniel smiling!!

We actually got several good ones of him that night.... we told him if he didn't smile I would destroy him. There is nothing worse than destruction by Sarah, I assure you!

Isreal.... normally I would stand by someone and put my arm over their shoulder for a picture but he was so grossly sweaty after playing that I couldn't even do that. I was grossed out even standing that close to him.

The Gang!! Oh and our soccer ball, thanks Tyson!

Adri always got tired at soccer and would sit off... she was extra tired this evening!

This is everyone who came to play on that last Thursday... I love these boys!

Nestor, Me and Daneil.... these two brothers are awesome! Oh and they rock at futbol!

We had a lot of fun....

The boys dog-piled on Daniel...

....which killed him!

Me and my best friend at soccer... two of my favorite things in the whole world!

My boys!

Daniel found a cockroach and pretended to eat it. Then the boy that he is chased Adri probably 4 blocks with it. I don't think I have ever seen her run that fast. I was laughing so hard!

Once they got down to the end of the block the boys were being dumb and started ringing people's doorbells. Then all of the boys took off running down to where I was around the block. I looked back down the street to see if they had answered the door and all I could see was Adri standing almost right by the door of the house that the boys had woken up. She was just walking along at a snails pace obviously tired from running away from Daniel. Haha I just yelled at her down the street "Adri, the boys rung that doorbell." She looked at me, looked at the door and just started sprinting. I don't know if there was even anyone home but I was not prepared to get yelled at in Spanish on my last day in Tehuacan. Stupid boys!! We ended up by our favorite graffiti wall and took a bunch more pictures there.

Nestor and Daniel don't even have to try that hard to make me laugh

Nestor is so strong... he couldn't even turn his bad hand to make the picture look cool

Peace and Love

Isreal's bike... he looked like a pizza delivery guy!

Another of my favorites from our trip.... this is our awesome group of futbol friends!

A lady took one last picture of all of us... this was after we had exchanged emails addresses and facebook names!

I told Daniel that he needed to add my sister of facebook. My beautiful little sister... then in my broken Spanish I told him that he should marry her. "Marry her?" "Si!" "Is she beautiful?" Si!" "Live in Canada?" "Si!" "Perfecto!!" Haha oh he is so funny!! Salvador made a joke later about marrying Janeen instead of Daniel and he was so mad. When we finally said goodbye and gave our last hugs I waved at Daniel and said "Adios futuro cunado!!" "Adios futuro cunada!" Haha if only Janeen knew how cute he was.... I guess I'll just have to take her down to visit after Daniel gets home from his mission!

They gave Adri and I this comic that is all about the Independence of Mexico and the wars that went on. Adri was being so funny while she was trying to read the Spanish... it was an intense story!!

Girls just wanna have fun...

2009-12-22T12:37:00.000-08:00

So when we got back to the apartment after lunch we had to rush and get ready to go and of course take a few pictures in the process. We still had a lot of packing to do and the house was still a bit of a mess but that was what we had left Friday for. I took the opportunity to borrow Ashley's clothes for the last time before I went home.

This is our sweet bathroom... and at least one of us straightened our hair every single day. I guess we just had to get a picture of it

We usually got ready at the same time and so a lot of bonding went on during that time. Ash and I would talk about our issues while we were fighting for space in the mirror. What an amazing roommate... she is the bomb!

Yes very flattering!

I got taller because I stood on my tiptoes

This is the place... a bit messy because I have so much packing left to do but this is it!!

After we finally got everything in order and got everything together we walked to Heslington. I tried the entire time to prepare myself to say goodbye to my girls. This was the night I was dreading the most. These girls are so wonderful. I couldn't have asked for a better class or for better friends. I'm going to miss all of the cute and fun things about them. Maryfer's little eyebrow look she gives me when she is being cheeky. Katya's sweet smile and how she would get embarrassed when we would play "Little Sally Walker." Marity and how she would say "What?" Whenever you said her name because she hadn't been paying attention and was worried she was in trouble. Andy's Hello to the Moon, yoga pose, Noelia's laugh, Zaloa's stories about Diego, Zaira and how cute she was when she would take care of her little sister Sophia. Idalia and the sweet notes she would leave on the board after class. They are all so thoughtful and they are all so unique. When I think about the semester and how much class changed from the beginning to the end it puts a smile on my face. I had to work very hard to win the hearts of these girls. The first few weeks were really difficult but once I figured out how I could become their friend it was easy from that point on. They were patient with me if class was really boring that day and they enjoyed every moment of a fun class. We spent most of class laughing and smiling and usually it ended up with them making fun of me. The age difference in my class was almost 4 years between the oldest and the youngest student. At the beginning of the semester the younger students were very reserved and shy. By the end of the semester I saw these girls becoming better friends than I could have ever hoped. Every single day they became more confident and more comfortable with who they were. We laughed and preformed for one another, we were sad when someone was sick and had to miss class. We just became best friends. My biggest fear is that throughout the course of the next few semesters that the teachers do not continue to develop the talents these girls have and boost their confidence. They are all so amazing!! I learned so much from them every single day and every single day at the end of class I had a smile on my face. It really is contagious!

Katya, my Russian Mexican

Maryfer, I love her smirk!

Ya she thinks I'm crazy, she told me that every day!

Idalia and Katya

Zaloa and Me

Here we are doing our program... I was sitting on the end and I did the dance moves to all the of the songs that we learned. Instead of dancing with me the girls and everyone in Kami and Kelsey's class just laughed at me the entire time. I was so disappointed. Finally at the very end a couple of the girls busted out a few of their moves and the parents loved it. Too bad they didn't do that the whole time, the rents would have been on their feet. Zaloa and Noelia's mom sat in the audience and danced the whole time too. It was awesome!

All of my girls with their Diplomas!

They were being a little bit silly

Like I said... silly

Zaloa leaned back hoping they would all catch her and not one of them even put their arms out. She fell right onto her butt! Soooo funny!

Marity and Me

This is def one of my favorites from my trip!

I wish all of my girls had been in this picture but that's okay I love it anyway!

We're missing Marity because she had to leave and Andy because she was sick for the entire last week. We are just all best friends. We usually ended up like this in class too, we just all wanted to sit close to each other!

Sofia, Me and Zaira

Zaira and her sisters are just so cute!

Idalia

Zaloa is crying, I look like I'm in pain because I'm trying not to cry

Everyone is so sad we're leaving.... I love Maryfer's face in this picture!

Adios Edwin, we always saw you in the office so we had to take the picture there!

Hermino, our dance teacher came to say goodbye too!

As it got closer and closer to the end of the night Zaloa and Noelia kept checking if I was crying. I was doing a pretty good job I think. It still hadn't sunk in that I was leaving. As the night progressed it got harder to keep it together.

Weirdo.... I know!

But that's so awesome that you got a diploma!

Richard came running up to me to give me a hug, then he turned to me and said. "What about Monkey on the Back?" I just about burst into tears typing that, I miss that boy! I missed him when he didn't come to class now I have to leave and may not ever see him again. Oh sad!

So we took a picture of us doing Monkey on the Back

Sandy is so beautiful and just so amazing! Oh and such a cute pregnant lady!

This perfectly sums up my relationship with Ryan. Sometimes I want to kill him and sometimes he is great to talk t.o We keep our distance and enjoy the short amount of time we spend together.

Elementary Teachers Rock! Love ya Kathy!

Everyone minus Brooke

Such an amazing group of people! (that isn't excluding Brooke)

Alfredo... my soccer bud and the guy who always helped us fix problems around the apartment!

Pepe and Dani showed up at Heslington to drop off some treats that their mother had mad for us. The treats she had given us for lunch that we loved so much.

Tears started freely flowing when their mom came back to pick them up. It was so hard to say goodbye for all of us. Zaloa knew that she would go home and cry even harder when there weren't people around. I knew that I would cry the hardest leading up to them driving away. Change is so hard, its too bad it is so necessary in our lives!

Zaloa trying to pose like Tyson... what a weirdo!

Our very last hug.... until we meet again someday

Fernanda and Martin are Kami and Kelsey's host siblings. I ate lunch at their family's kitchen most days. Their family is wonderful. They have one more younger brother who's name is Joan Pablo and he is absolutely adorable.

Atzi, Vanilka, Me and Arad... doesn't he look so happy to be there

This is how we usually saw Edwin, working hard!

This is Martin Sr. Kami and Kelsey's host dad

He called me Barbie the entire semester and he laughed everytime he saw me. It think it is ironic that he called me Barbie because I was the only teacher that he met that would get even close to the pig and goats they would slaughter out back of their kitchen. I guess growing up on a farm it just didn't bother me as much. I didn't love it but it didn't make me not want to eat meat, or sick to my stomach. Haha oh well, at least the fact that he called me Barbie made him remember who I was, he forgot a lot of the other teachers.

After the ILP program Adri, Ashley and I took at taxi to go to Ana Esperanza's ice cream shop. I don't think I have ever been down to that end of town before, or maybe it was just because it was later at night but it was an adventure. When we got there their mother served us up some delicious ice cream. They own a shop called Doan Sebastian's.... I think that is right. Well here Grandfather opened that chain and now they are all over the city and all over the state. Everyone says that they have the best ice cream in town... I tried so many different kinds before I decided which one I wanted. The best kind is 'queso' or cheese ice cream. Mmmmmm so good!

So many samples!!

Oh so good, maybe a little bit spoiled!

Me and Ana Esperanza

She is an angel, she is the sweetest girl ever and is so quick to obey and so patient with everyone around her. She is so loving and so good at sharing. I loved having her in my class!

After we ate our ice cream Ana Esperanza showed us all of her pets and then her mom gave us a ride home. It was a very nice evening and I was glad to be able to see her one last time before we left. We gave lots of hugs and made sure we exchanged emails. It was just wonderful! I'm going to miss that girl and her hugs and her sweet comments everyday we had class.

Adri with one of their turtles

We had our final day of ripping a link off of our count down chain. There was a big ceremony and it was a very happy and yet very sad day.

CoMidA

2009-12-22T12:12:00.000-08:00

Thursday was quite a day, it was busy and kind of sad. I think it kind of started to hit me that I only had a couple of days left in Tehuacan as we started cleaning out the apartment and the school. It was almost depressing. We went out for breakfast, after most of the teachers came to help clean up all the closets, etc. at the place that makes the best chiliaquiles verdes in town. Ummmmm sooo good! Savannah and I shared which was perfect because there is no way I could have finished one on my own. We had a nice visit and then I went back to the school to keep packing before I had to go for lunch.

Ya I know.... When you're hot, you're hot! Right A-rod??

Me and Savannah

Sandy, Kelsey and Brooke

Chelsea, Kathy and Kami

Dusty and Savannah

As we were walking back to the school Savannah and I were talking about some of the things we love about Mexico. Some of the thing that we are going to miss. One of the things that we both agree we love about this country is that they are still so focused on family. Every single day everyone in the family gets time off to go for lunch and the entire family goes. Cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles. Every single day is spent with your family and it is important to everyone. At home we don't take the time for our families like we should. Even as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where we are taught about the importance of family and spending time together as a family we don't do it often enough. We get too caught up in the busy lifestyle that everyone has. I cannot think of anyone back home who doesn't live that way, everyone is busy and everyone just packs their schedule so full that you rarely can enjoy time with your family. If you do spend time with them it is on vacation or on the weekends, most definitely not every day. We also talked about the slower pace, how you can enjoy the day, it doesn't just rush by. It is so nice to live that way. I am nervous that as soon as I get home, I'm going to start work, I'm going to start soccer and then fill up all my other time with my social life that I'm not going to forget that. I still worked a full day in Mexico, but it was different. I hope I can remember the lessons I have started to learn while I have been down here. I hope that I can keep the important things at the top of my priority list and that I don't get so busy that I forget about those I love and the things I love. That would be a very sad day!

At 3:00 we had to be at the Discovery school so that we could go to Dani and Pepe's house for lunch. Their dad gave us a ride and tried very hard to speak English to us which I greatly appreciated. When we arrived they told us that their house was under construction and apologized for the confusion. As we walked through the gate, I was shocked. The home they were building is beautiful and their yard is also. The whole place was beautiful.

Ashley and Me by their beautiful poinsettia trees

Me with my favorite Mexican Twins!

Because of all the construction going on they didn't set up a Christmas tree. This tree near the back of their yard is what they decorated and what they were going to use for their tree that year.

A beautiful well they had for decoration near the front of their yard

This is where we ate lunch. The window looks out from a small kitchen and then right beside that is a beautiful dining area and then some couches and a small party area. This I think would normally be used for parties, etc but they were using it temporarily

A mini palm tree... how cool!

This is the view of their home from the front gate... well minus all of us. It was such a nice afternoon with Pepe and Dani's family. They were so thoughtful. Their mother makes the most delicious treats, I have no idea what they would even be called, but she insisted that we try some of those. Lunch was just so so so good. She made the most amazing bean tortilla soup. Plus we had a delicious salad and the chicken (pollo) was so good too. Mmmm she was a good cook! It was just a very very very nice afternoon!

Their beautiful home

Me with their family

We had to rush back to the school and get ready because we had to be at the ILP program at 4:30, but it was a wonderful afternoon and it was too bad it had to end so quickly. Dani and Pepe's mother have a friend who actually lives in Calgary and she told me she would ask them where they get good Mexican food. I'm hoping I can find some good authentic food when I get home. It will just never be the same though.

Girlfriends!!

2009-12-22T11:49:00.000-08:00

I really don't know how to even explain in words how much I love these two girls. They are two of my very best friends in the entire world and I'm going to miss them so much! On the Tuesday night at ILP (our last ILP classes) I showed the girls the video I had finally finished that we made throughout the semester. It is our version of the Taylor Swift "You Belong With Me" video and it is hilarious. The girls did such a good job in all the filming. I showed them the video and they were all excited to see the final product. Then we exchanged email addresses and said some teary farewells, at least until Thursday when we would be preforming our program. Zaloa, Noelia and Marity came up to me and Zaloa told me that she and Noelia were Marity's cousins. Something I had known since the beginning of the semester. I just laughed and said "Yes I already know that!" Then they proceeded to invite me to go for dinner with them the following evening. Oh man I was so excited.... of course I said yes. I love spending time with those girls. I just had to make sure that her parents wouldn't make fun of me if I didn't know how to speak Spanish. Thankfully both of them speak English very well and were more than willing to speak to me.

Wednesday after the Discovery program all of the other teachers went to a movie at the theater with Teo and I went for dinner with the girls. Zaloa had gotten sick that day and so Noelia and her mother came to pick me up and then we went back to the house to meet up with Zaloa and their dad who were just getting back from the doctors in Puebla. Noelia showed me all around their beautiful house while we were waiting for everyone else. Their home is beautiful. It is in the middle of renovations and so I'm sure like most of us would be, their mother was very apologetic of the non-existent mess. She is such a nice lady! Noelia, showed me their grandmothers house which is just across the wall from them. It is beautiful. It has a huge swimming pool and tennis court. The entire place is very nice!

Me with my two favorite Mexican girlfriends!

Noelia in her closet

This is the view across the wall from Noelia's bedroom. That is the front door of their grandmother's house.

The stairs up to their play room and the sewing and exercise room. Their house has a huge back yard and then it has another building on the other side of the block. It is a bar and a family room type area that can open up to the back yard for parties, upstairs is where I was standing when I took this picture. This building also connects to their grandmother's guest house which is over top of her garage. It was a very neat house.

The Christmas Tree

This is the back of their grandparents home... you can see the diving board. I'm standing right in front of a beautiful dining area where their grandmother has tea with all of her friends each day. It is an outdoor room with a beautiful view of their entire yard.

Marity and Me playing the piano

Zaloa finally arrived and we just had fun chatting and joking around like we always do!!

Yep, these are my girls

They didn't even know they were wearing matching shirts. Zaloa had gone to see the doctor by the time Noelia changed out of her school uniform. That's okay I thought it was super cute!

After they gave me this gift they just sat there and waited for me to cry. They just know that I'm a bit of a cryer and that I especially love them. It was a disastrous combination... how could I not cry? The truth is I did a very good job that night and was able to keep myself together, for the most part.

They got me a beautiful silver necklace and earrings to match. I love them!!

Hanging out with these girls just about kills me... they make me laugh so hard. While we were eating dinner with the family I had a very nice visit with both of their parents. They are such kind people and promised me that one day if they could they would come visit me in Canada. Then they opened the invitation for me to come back and visit as often as I could. How could I turn that offer down? I love Mexico, I love Tehuacan, I love their family... sounds perfect!! Right after dinner Marity's brother came to pick her up. Well I've heard all about Zaloa's cousin before, they have made me look at pictures of him on facebook because according to them he is just so hott!! I very strongly disagreed from looking at the pictures. So they drug me outside to see him, yes it was as awkward as it sounds. However I will admit openly that he is much more handsome in person than he is in pictures. In fact I would willingly rate him in the top five most handsome men I saw the entire time I was in Mexico. Zaloa insists that one of the most attractive things about him is his car. Haha oh I love those girls. After they finished embarrassing me we went up and played guitar and just hung out in Noelia's room until I needed to go. I find it so interesting that as a 20 year old woman I would rather hang out with a 13 year old and a 10 year old than anyone else. Their parents were so wonderful and kind and most adults would probably visit with them but my friends are Zaloa and Noelia and I love them as if they were my peers. They are going to be the number one thing I miss when I leave this place. Along with Teo and Rachael and Moroni. In the past four months these people have become my closest friends and my temporary family. I confide in them, I joke around with them. They make me smile and they are there for me when I cry. They look forward to talking to me as much as I look forward to talking to them. I didn't realize how strong relationships can become in the period of four months. It is going to be just as hard to leave here as it was to leave home.

I love Discovery!!

2009-12-22T08:13:00.000-08:00

So our kids couldn't have been better prepared for the Discovery program and unfortunately it couldn't have been any colder on the night we had to preform it. Okay maybe that is a false statement its not like we are living in Northern Canada, however it was the coldest day of my four months in Mexico. Even colder than the week that we had rain everyday and a lot of flooding. It was a gloomy and cloudy all day and of course the one day we needed warm weather we didn't get it. It even got dark a few hours early because it was so cloudy out. The mist that was coming down looked like snow in the light, maybe one of our Christmas gifts while in Mexico. I had been complaining about how much I missed snow, maybe it was all my fault.

Teo and I set up the sound system and Teo teased me the whole time about being the worst assistant he has ever had... at least until Kami started helping and then he changed his tune and started to tease her. He makes me laugh so much! The kids showed up and Frida and Santi helped me untangle a bunch of cords and get ready to go. We wanted to start on time so that we didn't have to sit out in the cold too long. Once we were finished with putting the chairs on stage and then getting the sound system set up all the teachers just had to get their classes together. As per usual my class was the first one organized and the first ones quietly sitting in their seats. It is easier when you have older kids for sure and it helps that I have the best kids in the whole world. I love my class!!

Ana Isabel, Frida and Anaisabel.... they are so beautiful!

Cristobal, Pepe and Ana Isabel (again)

Ivanna, Dani and oh yep, there is Ana Isabel... she loves being in picture!

I think this is my favorite picture of Anaisabel from the entire semester.... what a pretty girl!

Rachael and Ashley introducing the Kindergarten classes!

Me and Dani

Adri, Dusty and Ryan's opening group had a separate program all about Disney characters travelling to the North Pole. Each of the kids were assigned to be a character and they all wore the most adorable costumes. Elasti-girl, Mickey Mouse (little Rodrigo... such a sweet little boy), Sully, Goofy, Donald Duck, the list goes on and on. They did such a good job and made me cry while they were singing their songs. They did such a great job!

Princess Aurora, Pochaontas, Cinderella, TinkerBell, Genie... the best costume out there. He wasn't even wearing a shirt, he was just totally painted all blue. He had to eventually put on that sweater so that he didn't freeze to death. Ryan gave him a high five and was like "David your costume rocks!" When Ryan looked at his hand it was completely blue.... all of us stayed away so that we didn't end up blue.

Captain Hook, Jack Sparrow, Peter Pan, Belle, Daisy Duck, Minnie Mouse, Jasmine, Robin Hood... it was just oh so good!!

Yes, Rodrigo happens to be my favorite student from that age group. He gave me a gift after the program was finished. He came running over to me and gave me a huge hug and then handed me this chocolate treat. He is just so sweet and his smile just is so contagious.

I don't think there is anyone in the whole world that could possibly think that this boy isn't cute. The things he had on his feet (over his shoes) to look like a ducks feet were too big so he had to walk differently to make sure he didn't fall. It made him look like he had a waddle which just made me think he was even cuter!

Our program was all about Magic and my kids did a great job. All of them knew their lines so well and practiced them over and over. Singing was hard because most of the kids were shivering, we didn't get much dancing out them either. I don't really blame them it is so hard when you're freezing cold. In the end they did a wonderful job and their parents were proud of them as were all of their teachers. It was a great way to end the semester!!

Cristobal is the only student that really made me cry. Just as he was leaving at the end of the evening he asked me if I would go to his house for lunch the following day. I had already promised someone else I would go to their house and so I couldn't go to Cristobal's. He said that was okay but then he started to cry. That just made me so sad!! I had to turn away so that I didn't burst into tears right there. Then he told me that his family is coming to Calgary this August. Then he asked me if he could see me when he came. I told him of course and then made him promise that he would come visit me, and told him he could stay with me if he wanted. I love this kid, he is such an angel and so willing to do whatever it is that is asked of him. He loves to learn English and every opportunity he gets he practices. I couldn't have asked for a better student, he is such a wonderful kid and a total stud!

My little Ruly... can't you tell he is so excited to be there??

Me and Dani

Dani invited me to go to her house for lunch on the Thursday. She was very sad and crying a lot, it was hard not to cry when I saw her tearing up.

Me and Paula... oh man I'm going to miss this girl!

Andrea and Me

Adri and her Mexican siblings!

Me and Caro.... I love this girl! I'm going to miss her entire family so much!

Santi and Me.... I love this boy. He is my favorite Santi in the whole world and I don't know how I am going to live without his hugs.

Typical Joseph

I can't even tell you how much I love these kids... maybe if you could hear my voice and listen to how I talk about them but just writing down I love these kids over and over... not sure if it really gets the point across. I know that I'm going to look at these pictures later and have to fight back tears. Caro and Santi and Pepe.... they are just the most loving and most kind and oh I just love them!

One of the last pictures of the entire group....

M last picture with the kids from Discovery.... what a sad, sad day. The kids did such a great job in the program I was so proud of them. It was so cold and all they wanted to do was get off the stage and into warmer clothes or get inside but they still preformed so well and spoke so well. I am so proud to be their teacher and I love them all so much. I am going to miss them!

Tehuacan

2009-12-22T07:55:00.000-08:00

My last days in Tehuacan were sad and difficult but they were great also. We packed the last week as full as possible which kept our mind off the fact that we were leaving in a few days. We ate out as often as possible at our favorite places, we saw our favorite people and I spent every day trying not to cry. We went out for 'mamelas' one morning which were so delicious... who am I kidding when are they not delicious?? I already miss them!!

Adri and Me

Kami and Bethany were not impressed that I was taking pictures on a day when they didn't have makeup on. I had to approve them making funny faces or else I wouldn't have gotten a picture.

Sooooooo goooood!!

Adri and I walked to the Bodega to get some of our favorite treats and we took pictures the whole way there..... oh so much fun!!

This is a random motorcycle that someone has worked on a lot. We drive by this bike every time we go to the Bodega and get a taxi home. Its weird... the huge box on the back is a big sound system they have added and then there are seats for 3 people.

This intersection is one of the busiest in Tehuacan and there are always a ton of men there to wash the windows of the cars that stop. This guy is up on the hood of the truck washing the window... it's impressive how fast they are at it. This is all over the place in Mexico!

In this one you can get a better idea of how many guys there are

Another thing you can enjoy while sitting at this light is the performers. These guys play with, juggle and blow fire.... ya pretty sweet. That's Mexico for ya!! We rarely tip these guys, if ever actually, they are perfectly capable of going out and getting a job they just choose not to. Oh well that's a totally different issue.

Bodega Aurrea.... this is where I did all my shopping. Unless I was on vacation!

Delicious freshly squeezed juice.... it doesnt matter which juice stand you go to all the men shout the same. I don't remember what this store was called but there are lots all over the city. They all shout "Jugo" the same way. It must be a part of their training.

Yet another thing that is unique about Mexico. Their super high curbs. Sometimes you have to find something else to step on to boost you up on the curb they are so high. I really have no idea why they are so high because it's not consistent. Some of them are regular height some of them are pretty much non-existent and some of them are gigantic. Doesn't really matter to me, just one more thing to add to my list of unique things about this country.

Men whistling... definitely near the top of my list of things I will miss. Haha just kidding.... but seriously I think it is so funny and it makes me feel good about myself. Its going to be weird to go home and not be a novelty anymore. Who cares if I'm a blonde, white girl people back home see those all the time. These men in particular whistled louder than anyone I had ever heard. I had to discretely take a picture while I was walking because Adri and I were laughing so hard. Even when we were a block and a half away we still could hear them.

Cinco de Mayo... what a sweet street name!

Oh Mexico..... there was a pot hole in the sidewalk and so instead of pouring new cement they just nailed coke bottle caps to the ground to fill it in. Coke bottle caps are like duct tape down there, they are use for everything. Washers, pot hole fillers and the list continues....

This is one of my favorite places in Tehuacan... the Lavandaria. They wash my clothes, they dry my clothes and they fold my clothes and then I pick them up in sealed plastic bag to take home. They were the best place in the entire city and it was only a 5 minute walk from m house. It turned out pretty awesome.

Our Lavandaria puppy friend

This is how Dusty discovered the place the first time.... good old light up signs!

A Week of Goodbyes!

2009-12-15T14:12:00.000-08:00

Well this week is going to be a sad one I think.... it started off with a bang and it was a wonderful Monday but I know that I'm going to be a disaster when I have to say goodbye the kids I have grown to love this semester. I showed up to Discovery on Monday and everyone was so excited to see the teachers. My kids were so cuddly and I reaped the benefits of it! Everyone wanted to take a picture with me and then everyone wanted to take turns taking pictures with my camera.

Anaisabel, Ruly, Me, Dani and Ana Esperanza

I'm so glad we finally got Ivanna in this picture... too bad she didn't even pay attention

This is my whole class except for Frida who wanted to take the picture

The kids always tease me when I have gum because I have a tendency to blow bubbles and snap them really loud. I have stopped chewing gum in class for obvious reasons!

Santi came up behind me at one point and said "Sarah, I'm going to miss you so much!" I just about burst into tears with there. I gave him a big hug and all I could say back was "I'm going to miss you too!" If I had said anymore than that I would have cried for sure. He is such a sweet boy and I love him so much! I love his hugs and kisses and he always tells me how much he loves me. It's hard not to be jealous of Adri when she gets to go home to that everyday.

All we did on Monday was practice for the Carnival on Wednesday. My kids were without question the best class ever. They knew their lines super well, they sang so loud and to make me so proud they were so well behaved the entire day. Some of the kids who give me the most trouble were probably the best behaved. I am the luckiest teacher out there. I love these kids and I'm going to miss them so much.

My little angel Ana Esperanza

All the kids wanted to be next to me, we did the best we could!

Ruly was paying really good attention during practice as you can se... haha oh I love that kid!

Fernanda and Me at lunch time

Monday night we had our last FHE as a group of ILP teachers. It was probably the best FHE all semester. We ordered tacos which were delicious and then we watched "Christmas Vacation" which just got me in a super great mood because I'm looking forward to Christmas back home. We went and bought drinks and such good cheesecake that the lady at the corner store makes. It was just a great night!

Good tacos... the taco man really delivered this time!

This is how we watch a movie... no wonder this bed is so beat up

Today Discovery was a bit more of a challenge. All of the kids refused to pay attention because they all wanted to get the teacher's e-mail addresses and give us theirs. It was hard to call them to attention. My class was great while we watched the younger kids preform their program.

Dani and Me

Frida ran up to me in opening to give me a gift that she had made for me.... its so hard not to love these kids, even though sometimes they are not little angels.

Dani and Pepe.. my favorite Mexican twins!

They gave me a sweet Christmas gift.... I'm going to miss them so much!

Frida (she looks so beautiful in this picture!)

Dani (so pretty!)

Ana Esperanza

Anaisabel

Ana Isabel

I love this picture of Frida and Me

Cristobal

These kids are what makes this quote true for me

"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard!"

- A.A. Milne (Winnie-the-Pooh)

I love these kids and some of them have become some of my closest friends in the world. It is sad to leave and know that I won't have the opportunity to see them continue to grow and have them as a part of my life. It is now my responsibility to stay interested in their lives and stay in contact with them. If I leave and forget about all of them they will forget about me, I don't want either of those things to happen!

Weekend End!

2009-12-13T14:48:00.000-08:00

This weekend was one of the best weekends of my entire life. I had so much fun and it was all because of the people I got to spend it with. Friday night Adri and I went to her family's house to make brownies with the boys. Santi and Pablo have been looking forward to it all week. They kept making sure with Adri that it was still happening and that Sarah was going to be there. We had so much fun making cookies together the last time that we just had to go again. When we got there after classes at ILP no one was home so we just went and hung out in Adri's room (which is actually Caro's room) and took pictures and listened to music. When everyone got there all we heard was the door open and then Pablo shout "Adri??" I think he was kind of excited.

I love this girl... she is just so awesome!

Typical Sarah

Okay, maybe this is typical Sarah

There was so much love in this room!!

Yes one of my talents, that you may not know about, is that I can crack and egg with one hand... I know you all love me so much more now that you know that!

C. Blanco is known for all the swearing he does on the field

Oh Pablo, how can you not love him?

Me and my two favorite Mexican boys

Sisters

Pablo's mother is very health conscious... we told Pablo he could lick the spatula but right before his mother walked into the room he decided to take a scoop of the brownie batter. I thought for sure she would kick Adri and I out of the house. Well not literally, she just got after Pablo, oh what a boy!

While we waited for our delicious brownies to bake we played some Wii! It was pretty much a party!

Santi was the best

Adri was in first place the whole race and then placed worse than I did, what a disappointment!

Santi gives great kisses

...and cuddles!

And more kisses!!

Santi is the most loving boy I have ever met. He always tells us how much he loves us and gives us hugs and kisses. I have been running low on those two things seems as I'm away from my nephew Max so it was a pretty awesome weekend!! :-)

I was much better at the racing than I was at the battle on Mario Cart. I sucked on the one where you have to collect the coins, I could drive around the coin but I could never pick up the coin. Santi finally took the controller away from me and put me out of my misery!

Pablo beat Caro up when she wouldn't let him go get brownies

They were much better with milk. Santi just put his whole brownie in his glass of milk and ate it with a spoon.

We went back to the school that night so that we could hang out and have a sleep over... while I was talking to Skype to Tyson Adri watched a movie like this on the cold floor in the big room. I just about died laughing when I saw her the first time so I had to run and get my camera.

Caro and the boys invited us to come back in the morning and she would teach us how to make Pay de Limon. We were pretty excited. When we got there in the morning the kids had decorated notebooks for us to write the recipes we wanted from Mexico in. It was so sweet. Then they went through a whole bunch of really yummy recipe books with us and helped us translate them. It was so sweet. The best part of the morning was that we got to eat Caro's Pay de Limon which Pablo says is the best in Tehuacan.

The yummy mixture!!

You pour it over layers of cookies and it just ends up being the most delicious desert ever!

Pablo was in charge of watching the timer... he did that diligently for 45 minutes until it was ready. It has to chill for at least that much time!

Doesn't look that appetizing but I promise you it is... those are crumbled cookies on the top not crackers!

Sooooooooo goooooood!! I lo-ooo-oove it!!

We then ran a bunch of errands that afternoon and went out for lunch. It was a great day and we got pretty much everything done that we needed to. Our checklist I believe is complete! Hooray, now we can just enjoy our last week in the beautiful place we have called home for the past four months!

Sunday we had beautiful weather and we made sure to take pictures by the cool graffiti by the church. PEACE and LOVE!!

Last Day

2009-12-12T15:57:00.000-08:00

Well Friday was our last day of real classes because next week will be spent practicing for the presentation that the kids are going to do for their parents. My class went great which was a nice surprise since every other class this week has been some of the worst this entire semester. The other thing that made Friday just one of the best days ever was the sunshine. Everyone has been telling me that this is one of the hottest December's in a long time which I'm so grateful for, I've been enjoying every moment of it.

Adri and I had to go to the market on Friday and there is a juice stand right across the street. We got some delicious freshly squeezed Orange Pineapple juice and it was super super delicious, possibly some of the best juice I have had since I've been down here in Mexico and the boys who were serving it to us were pretty excited that finally the gringas they shout after every day we walk by finally stopped by

Our LAST Opening

Ana Isabel and Me during our last opening (tear)

Awesome air guitar

All the kids attacked Teacher Brooke during opening...

Frida likes to take pictures with my camera so I let her walk around and take pictures during opening. It was a good deal for both of us.... I got pictures and she behaved.

I'm not as cool as Alex Trebek but I was the host of Jeopardy on Friday and it was so much fun!

Elementary 2

So awesome!!

Rodrigo

My little monkey... she can climb anything

Santi, Luci and AnaEsperanza

Elementary 1 and Elementary 2.... we are crazy but we always have fun!!

We go on break together everyday, it is what the kids look forward to the most.

Me and Cristobal.... what a little stud!

Miguel, Cris and Ruly

I love these boys, they are all going to be trouble when they grow up!

A New Christmas Experience

2009-12-10T14:23:00.000-08:00

One thing that has been hard this year, since I have been away, has been the change in the Christmas Season. Normally at this time of year it is cold, there is snow on the ground and Christmas decorations up everywhere and I have been listening to Christmas music for a month. I have helped decorate the tree and have started thinking about what I am going to give as gifts to those I love. By this time I have already had a delicious glass of eggnog and more than one mug of hot apple cider. I have eaten an entire box of Christmas oranges myself, I have worn a turtle neck several times and have been sporting my winter jacket for quite some time. I have gone to the Messiah, if I didn't have the opportunity to sing in it, and I have gone to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional with my family.

This year none of those things have happened. Nope this year my Christmas Season has been very different. I have spent every morning up on the roof tanning in the hot Mexican sun, I don't even have a jacket in my wardrobe down here. I have seen only one stand selling Christmas trees and only a few stores sporting or selling Christmas decorations. I haven't heard hardly any Christmas music and I haven't seen a flake of snow. However as I have thought about the Christmas season I have realized that although there are very few things down here that are familiar to me, we still are preparing to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. As I was sitting up on the roof yesterday I was thinking about all the things I have missed about Christmas back home. As I was sitting there thinking the school just down the street from us started to play the song "White Christmas" over their loud speaker. Although it was in Spanish I knew what the words were and I was grateful for one of the Lord's tender mercies in making sure I knew that I was loved and remembered this Christmas. It was a nice gift and made me realize that it is not the snow and the eggnog and the decorations that make Christmas special. President Monson's and President Eyring's talks at the Christmas Devotional also reminded me of that. The Spirit of Christmas always seems to find us and now I am trying to keep my eyes open for the unique gifts that I have been able to enjoy here in Mexico this Christmas season.

I was reminded of one this week by my mother when she talked to me about taking a picture of some of the beautiful trees that I see everyday. Right outside my classroom door there is a beautiful poinsettia tree growing. Those flowers are ones that I associate with Christmas but I hadn't appreciated the blessing it was for me to be able to look at that beautiful tree every single day until I received that gentle reminder. What is another thing I always enjoy at Christmas? Mandarine Oranges! I love them and like I said before I could almost surely finish an entire box myself if I so desired. I have a Mandarine tree out behind my classroom also as well as a huge orange tree. Every single day my students at Discovery and I pick mandarine oranges from that tree and enjoy them together. I have eaten more than a box this year and I have been able to enjoy them for much longer than usual. They are the sweetest most delicious mandarines I have ever tasted and I get to eat them right off the tree.

My dessert today for lunch

Although my Christmas season has been very different this year I cannot say that it has been any less enjoyable. I have learned to focus on those things that are most important. It's not the showy things that we all associate with Christmas. It is the Spirit that we feel as we celebrate and focus on our Savior and our families. I love my family with all of my heart and I miss each and everyone of them. Merry Christmas everyone!! I can't wait to be home with all of you soon!

Check List

2009-12-09T21:48:00.000-08:00

Adri and I have spent the last week beginning to check things off of our list of things to do before we go home. We had plenty of shops to go to and lots of other things to get done before December 18th. Savannah and I leave the Friday night so that we can be to the airport in time for our flight on Saturday afternoon. It is going to be an adventure and I cannot tell you how excited I am to be home for Christmas.

The first thing that we checked off on our list was getting recipes for some of our favorite Mexican food. After church on Sunday we went over to Rachael and Teo's house where we learned to make Salsa Verde and Fritas which by the way are so delicious. Its too bad that they are so unhealthy for you but I think once in a while its okay to eat them. I was able to spend the entire day at their house playing with the girls and getting music and pictures for Moroni. It was a great way to spend Sunday afternoon. I have been very grateful for the opportunity to spend time with Rachael and Teo's family. It has made the fact that I miss my family so much a little more bearable. I can't wait to be home with my niece and nephews. I miss them more and more every single day.

Well of course something at the top of the list was to go to Teo's Tacos again... we will probably have a couple more check marks beside that one. We went on Monday night to eat there and as always it was delicious!

Tuesday morning Adri and I had some errands to run to buy some final gifts and some things that we have wanted to find in Mexico since we got here. We made it to the baking shop Ofreve and had no problems finding what we were looking for. Hooray!! I am finally done with my shopping I now have less than $20 (CAN) in my wallet and it is going to last me until I go home. No problem!! I love how cheap it is down here. That is going to be a major adjustment when I get home.

We not only found some of our favorite treats while we were out shopping but we found some of our least favorite treats..... these are gross and they come on a spoon for you, yum!

I realized I hadn't taken any pictures of the Center since I have been down here. This is one of the buildings in the City Center, the paintings are beautiful!

Zaloa was telling me that they recently cut down all of the trees that used to surround the center. Some of them were more than 100 years old. The entire center was covered she said... if you looked at if from an airplane you would only see green. It has most definitely changed a lot since then

Okay this was not on our list of things to do but it was something we love.... we love the freshly squeezed carrot and orange juice that we get from this stand. This lady is so friendly and we love going there in the mornings.

We get our delicious treat in a bag and then walk back to the school!!

Mmmm.... I will miss this for sure!

We have a few more things on our list like places we want to go for lunch, and things we want to finish before we leave. I have a student who's family owns an ice cream shop an we are going to go visit there. We have gotten most of the important things done and now we just need to enjoy the next week and a half and make sure we make good memories. 9 days isn't a long time, I need to enjoy every moment I have but also look forward to going home. I am going to miss this place but change is good and it's important to have it in your life. One things that Teo said, which I may have written in one of my previous blog posts, that has stuck with me is this "It's okay to be sad because that means that you were happy!" I believe that is true.... I have been very happy down here and so it is okay for me to be sad to leave. That doesn't mean that I can't look forward to the next chapter of my life with great anticipation and take the things that I have learned from this experience with me. If I have learned anything from this experience it is to enjoy every moment that is given to me. Before I left for Mexico my life was one of constant rushing... one full of every activity I had time to cram into one week. I have learned that you don't always have to be rushing to enjoy the time you have. In fact it is important to just have some down time with your family and more often than not that is the time you will enjoy the most. I hope that I can remember that as I prepare to eventually start a family of my own. I am grateful for the opportunity I have had to make the important things more of a habit in my life as well as the opportunity to recognize a lot of my weaknesses and things I will need to continue to work on.

Cactus Cactus Everywhere

2009-12-05T22:07:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, wow I can't believe it is December 5th already, we decided that we wanted to hang out around Tehuacan and see things here that we haven't seen yet. So a bunch of us went to a place called Zapotitlan Salinas. There are a lot of neat things there and it was a nice way to spend the day. First of all it was freezing on Saturday so all of us wore jackets and long pants so we didn't freeze to death. Those who didn't do that regretted it later, especially when we got up into the mountains. We woke up early Saturday morning and met at the Italian Coffee Shop in the Center. I walked around the corner and all I could hear was "Sarah!!" I wasn't sure who was calling my name but when I looked up I was so excited to see Adri's host siblings Pablo, Santi and Caro standing there. Adri had invited them to come with us which was pretty much the best news ever! I love those kids, I'm so jealous of Adri! We then walked for about twenty minutes to the place where we needed to catch the bus.

Ash, Me, Caro and Adri

Santi and Pablo are most definitely brothers

Most of the gang

Pablo is so cool... he was wearing a Canada hat that day and a Canada shirt which just put a huge smile on my face. I love Canada and I am so proud to be a Canadian!

Everyone made sure to get their jokes in about Canada before we starting having too much fun that day... it just never gets old for them

Some of the cutest kids in Mexico...

At Zapotitlan Salinas there is a very neat cactus garden which is where we spent the majority of the day. There are so many kinds of cactus there and so many huge cactus it was fun to walk around and take pictures there.

There were thousands of cactus in this place

I'm pretty sure Ashley regretted wearing those boots as soon as she realized how much walking we had to do

We had a visitor that would have probably left us alone if people hadn't given it attention. I don't hate animals... in fact I think I'm quite the opposite. I loved working at the pet store and I think animals are beautiful and fun but I do not like dirty stray dogs that like to jump up on me and the kids I'm with and nip at our hands. I wanted that dog as far away as possible so that we didn't get any of the germs that it was infested with all over us. However some people felt sorry for it and so it stuck with us for most of the day.

This cactus probably wasn't even the biggest one we saw but it was convenient to take a picture in front of it

They had a look out that we all climbed up on to see the entire Cactus Garden and the towns in the distance... Santi ran ahead of us so that we could take some cool pictures

Some of the cathedrals in the neighboring town

The stairs were pretty steep and the wind was super cold up there

Santi is a Mexican version of my friend Taylor Melnyk. He even has the same pigeon-toed walk. Let me just explain to you why I think he is exactly how Taylor would have been when he was 10 years old. He is one of those boys who is super cute and all the girls like him so when the girls are around he has to act super cool and make sure that the guys know that he is cool. But he is one of the sweetest boys ever and always does sweet things for the people that mean a lot to him in his life and the girls he likes. He is so cute. He doesn't really look like Taylor but his mannerisms remind me a lot of him.

All the cactus that were close to the path they had taken the needles off the bottom half of them for safety

This is what Santi gets when he doesn't listen to his big sister I guess

Who can see Santi??? I promise he is in this picture!

This was a pretty sweet tree and Caro took some awesome pictures!

Haha... Santi is the bomb!

Pablo rockin' the Canada shirt

My two favorite girls

Adri's Mexico family

Oh and he is hilarious... we were walking down these stairs and Santi runs ahead "Take a picture Adri!" All of us came around the corner and beheld him standing there like this. What a goof ball

The grandpa cactus is covered in white hair... there were a lot of different kinds but we didn't translate all of them

Caro and Pablo bought a cactus for themselves and Santi just got some cool necklaces, one had a chili on it and it was pretty sweet!

After we finished up with looking at more cacti than you can shake a stick at we did some shopping at the cactus garden and then decided we were ready to catch the bus home. While we were waiting on the road for the bus we saw an onyx shop just down from us and we decided to take a look. Everything in the store was handmade and it was so cheap. It was so cute, Caro, Pablo and Santi only had 15 pesos left and so they chose one thing to buy. Well the people that owned the store probably gave them 150 pesos worth of free stuff because they were so grateful that they had brought all of us to this store. It was so sweet and the kids were so excited. I got a whole bunch of neat stuff which I will not explain because some of them are gifts for people.

What a cool shop

Crazy Classes

2009-12-02T14:42:00.000-08:00

It has been a fun week of classes to say the least. ILP has been a blast and Discovery has had its moments too. On Tuesday in Discovery class Anaisabel was complaining that she had to go the bathroom. We had only been in class for five minutes and she always seems to have to go after class starts. The worst part is that Discovery has a very strict rule about letting kids go to the bathroom and get a drink during class. As a teacher I'm not allowed to do it unless it's an absolute emergency. I knew that Anaisabel didn't really need to go that bad but she becomes so disruptive that I would rather let her go than sit and listen to her groan and complain from the back row. We get more accomplished if I just let her go. Well today I was already frustrated because she had been disruptive in Opening and so I told her that she wasn't allowed to go. "Uhhhh, I have to go so bad Teacher Sarah!!" Was all I kept hearing.... finally she turns to me and says "Seriously my vajiga (VA-HEE-GA) is going to explode!" I was so shocked that she has even attempted to say the word that I wasn't able to respond for a moment. Then Pepe piped it and said "Yes you know when you have to go the bathroom so bad that you feel like your vajiga is going to break?" Haha I started to laugh and in my head was thinking "Ummm Pepe you don't have a vajiga!!" I was laughing so hard at this point that I just let Anaisabel go. AnaEsperanza turned to everyone and says "I don't think its called vajiga... its like bladder or something." Then I started laughing even harder because then I realized that they have just been saying the Spanish word for bladder and that I had totally misunderstood everything. In the end everyone was happy including Anaisabel because I let her go to the bathroom. Oh man I love kids. They are so good at making me laugh.

ILP classes this week have been nuts. They have been super fun too but its been pretty exhausting. On Monday when all the girls were in class I gave them the gifts Mom and Dad had brought from home. They were so excited. We took pictures with all of them and laughed together. Vanilka came into our class because she always wants to hang out with the cool girls. It was a lot of fun. We took model pictures in our huge shirts and then just joked around. All the girls always want to have a turn taking pictures so there are always lots to look at after class.

Our Canadian Next Top Model Shot

Our cute Canadian socks.... I stole one of Zaloa's because I didn't have a pair

Zaloa modeling her socks, her shirt and her pen.... ooh sexy

It takes a lot of tries to get a good picture where all of the girls are smiling or at least looking at the camera...

Try 1

Zaloa's feet were stinky

This was officially the best one... isn't that pathetic??

I could fit her in my suitcase and take her home with me if I wanted to

We are SUPERSTARS!

Zaloa kissing her future husband... or at least that's what she thinks

Sarah falling in love with my boyfriend she thinks that taylor likes her! poor girl he is mine sarah i dont like your comment when i was kissing my future husband you now is true he cant take his eyes off of me

- Zaloa Fernandez

Wednesday we had a date night..... the girls came and we gave them all makeovers and then they had a skype date with Tyson. They all looked beautiful and it was fun to just hang out. Teacher Ashley and Teacher Adri came to help us out which made if even more fun. It was just a great class! We just have fun all the time!

The BEFORE shot

Idalia's hair is so long, it took me forever to straighten it.. she has beautiful hair though

Idalia AFTER

Maryfer AFTER

Me and my girls

Zaira AFTER

The girls and their hot date.... Tyson talked to them on skype and answered their questions and then asked them questions. They all got so excited it was hard to even hear anyone talk over all the shouting and embarrassed giggling

The girls like to tease and make fun of me so of course the first thing they say to Tyson when he comes on Skype is "You know that Sarah thinks Moroni is hot right??" Then Zaloa pipes up and says "No, she has eyes for only you Tyson!!" Then Noelia says "She just doesn't think that Moroni is ugly, don't worry she still likes you the most!" Then they kept asking Tyson if he liked any other girls, he never admitted to it which frustrated to them. They just kept teasing me when he would say "Nope I only love Sarah!" They were so funny that night... I sometimes forget they aren't teenagers because they all act like they are 16.

I just love this picture because you can see Zaira's hair and all the girl's makeup

Like I said... there was a lot of giggling

Ashley did Zaira's hair... it looked so good!

Me, Andie and Ashley

Ash also did Andie's hair

Marity and Me

Me, Idalia and Andie

Ash is the best head teacher ever!!

Taxco

2009-12-01T09:36:00.000-08:00

November 28th and 29th Adri, Ryan, Kathy, Brooke and I went to the beautiful city Taxco. I cannot say enough about this place, it is most definitely in my top five favorite cities that I have visited in the world. (it's up there with Prague and Rome) The weather is beautiful the city is quaint and the buildings are beautiful. The people were so kind and the silver from that city is just amazing. I loved it and would encourage anyone who has ever wanted to travel around Mexico to visit that city. I loved it. It was most definitely my most favorite place we have gone since I've been down here in Mexico. We left early Saturday morning at about 5 am to catch the 5:30 bus out of Tehuacan. I actually didn't sleep at all that night I just stayed up and watched a movie with A-Rod (AKA Adri) and talked on Skype before that so I was totally exhausted when we finally got on the bus. It was a great plan I slept the entire way to Taxco practically.

When we arrived in Puebla we went to the Estrella Balnca ticket counter to buy our ticket to Taxco. Well to our surprise the bus was full and they had no available tickets and the next bus wouldn't be leaving until the following morning. Well that's just great. I had asked if we should purchase our tickets before hand but we had been informed that they most definitely wouldn't be sold out. Well everyone else in our team kinda threw up their hands in defeat and decided that we would be staying in Puebla for the weekend. I just walked over to another ticket counter and asked them when the next bus to Cuernavaca would be and then how often the buses from Cuernavaca left for Taxco. It took us more time but cost us 30 pesos less to go that way so it wasn't the end of the world. We got on the bus fifteen minutes later and we were on our way to the city of Cuernavaca. When we got there we had to take a taxi to another bus station where we learned that the next bus wasn't leaving for a couple of hours. They told us about another bus station was just up the road that had a bus leaving much sooner than that. So we grabbed our bags and started the hike up the road to the Estrella de Oro. It was a nice walk and we were able to enjoy seeing some of Cuernavaca. I did see a few things I had never seen before one of which was blue tortillas. This lady had a stand on the street and was making them on her big grill (I don't know what else to call it) it was pretty sweet. When we got to the station we bought our bus tickets then went and bought ourselves some tortas so that we didn't starve to death and then we just chilled until our bus left at 12:30.

Ryan thoughfully took Adri's bag too, it ended up being a lot further of a walk than anticipated and to our delight it was all uphill!

The road to Taxco is very windy and would for sure have made me car sick if I hadn't slept the entire way. I woke up just as we were getting there and was immediately amazed at how beautiful the city was. I was so excited to get off the bus and walk through the streets and see everything that I had read about. One of the best parts about going to Taxco this weekend was that there was a huge Silver Festival... there were tons of things going on in the Zocalo (city center) and all around the city the whole weekend. It was great! When we arrived we walked to our hostel and dropped off our bags and everything else. Our hostel was even better than any of the Puebla girls had said. Joan Sebastian's Hostel is where anyone who goes to Taxco and doesn't want to spend a lot of money should stay. It was beautiful and just so great. The owner of the hostel is a surgeon and has turned his home into a hostel. He loves hosting people and telling people all about the city he loves so much. All they kept saying to us was "Esta es tu casa" They were so thoughtful! And it was in a perfect location, right by the Zocalo and it had a beautiful view from the rooftop.

I love Taxco

This is the first view I saw and this isn't even that great

Broke and Kathy waited while we were looking around on the roof

One of my favorite pictures from Taxco

One of the many cathedrals... this one is in the Zocalo

After we got settled we walked up to the Zocalo and started looking around a bunch of shops. The silver there is beautiful and really is inexpensive. It was sometimes overwhelming to walk into a shop that was just covered in silver from wall to wall, it is hard to pick out beautiful rings and bracelets and other jewelry when there was that much to look at. But it was fun!

Ever shop we went into had these small silver studs for sale... my favorite ones were the sperm and egg ones. I don't know who would buy them or why they thought they were cool but I just couldn't help but laugh and take a photo

We went to a small cafe for lunch in the Zocalo which was great and had a nice view from the window seats

Ryan, Adri and I bought desert for 3 pesos.... I love Mexico!

This is the street up to the Zocalo... Taxco is built into a mountain and surrounded by seven hills. Everything is either uphill or downhill and some of the roads are really steep. It was a good work out for my butt and legs and though I complained I thought it made the city so much neater.

After lunch and going back to the hostel for a break we walked down to where we thought the market would be. We had been told that they would be open until 9 pm so we headed down there around 6 pm. We arrived just in time to find all of the stands closing up. Thankfully some of them were still open and I was able to find some beautiful gifts that I was looking for.

After we were finished down there Adri and I ended up getting separated from Ryan, Brooke and Kathy. We walked a little further up the road and we found a market area that was still open. I think I finished all of my shopping in the next hour while I was in there. It was great!! The silver here is so beautiful... I can't even do it justice and I can't show you pictures or it will spoil a lot of people's gifts. It was a fun evening. There was one man who had a stand in the market who spoke English pretty well. He had lived in the US for quite some time and so we were able to have a nice visit with him. He kept telling me that in order for me to learn Spanish I needed to practice. He spoke slowly for me and so I was able to understand most of what he said to us in Spanish and I was able to say a few things back to him. He then told us about how his son is learning English and he was just very nice and it was nice to visit with people. That is one thing I have been sad about. Because I don't speak the language I haven't had the opportunity to get to know the amazing people that live here. After we were finished with our shopping we took a different route back to the Zocalo and we walked through a lot of the stands that were set up for the festival. We decided to buy this pineapple smoothie that had this powder called 'chamuay' on the inside of the cup and on top of it. Just before they finished up our order they let us each try a spoonful of the chamuay which was possibly the most disgusting thing I have ever put in my mouth. I could hardly swallow it. The pineapple smoothie part of it was delicious but that didn't make up for all the rest of the grossness in that cup. Neither of us liked it... how could we?

Vomit in a cup... ok well it was what caused us to vomit

Some of the beautiful sliver

I don't know who this is or what he has to do with anything... I might if I would speak and read Spanish but I just wanted to take a picture

There were fireworks on Saturday night... the first one went off and just about made me wet my pants because it scared me so bad

We did a bunch more shopping at the market around the carnival before we went back to the hostel... there were rides set up and everything. It was a party and if Mexican's are good at one thing it is throwing parties. When we got back to the hostel we met up with Ryan, Brooke and Kathy and decided we were going to go out for dinner. We had some delicious pizza up on the rooftop and enjoyed the beautiful view of the city. It was freezing cold but the pizza warmed us up. Ryan kept quoting Brian Regan and I thought I was going die from laughing so hard. Adri and I couldn't stop laughing, I was crying and them Brooke and Kathy just sat there and hardly laughed at all. Everyone else in the restaurant kept staring at us and probably thought we were the weirdest white people they had ever seen. I couldn't even care because my stomach hurt so bad from laughing. It was so funny!

My view while I was reading my scriptures on Sunday morning

It was so beautiful.... and the sun was shining

It was a great weekend off

I could feel my legs getting a sunburn

After we finished reading our scriptures Adri and I went to walk around and enjoy the beautiful city. We looked in shops and took pictures in the streets. It was such a nice day.

Some of the cool statues in the city

It was just a great weekend with my best friend!

We were saying that we felt like some of the pictures we were taking could be taken out of a storybook. It was just such a neat city to visit. Just as we said that we saw this poster.... "This picture explains my feelings perfectly" Oh Adri makes me laugh!!

Just a cool silver shop we saw

Our walk to the arches took much longer than we originally anticipated. We stopped at everything we thought was cool. We met this one man who spoke perfect English, he said he learned just from working with the tourists since he was a young boy. He was so helpful and so nice. He showed us where this cool silver mine was and had a young boy take us on a tour of the mine. It was really neat. It used to be a working mine... we weren't allowed to take photos which was too bad but it was fun.

Los Arcos

Then Adri and I took the gondola to the top of the mountain where they have this huge resort. There wasn't shopping up there or anything we just wanted to see the view. It was worth the walk and all the time it took us to get there. It was beautiful!

When we got to the top of the mountain the view was amazing and the resort up there was really neat too.

When we got back we got some ice cream... Adri definitely ordered better than I did and I was so disappointed once I saw hers compared to mine but it was still really good.

We had time to visit for a bit and read the scriptures and then we had a nice visit with the owner of the hostel before we left. I asked him to play the guitar for us and it was a nice treat to hear some traditional Mexican music. It was great! It took a while and then we had to book it to the bus station to make our bus back to Puebla but all was well and we made it home in one piece.

We took a bunch of pictures before we left... I was sad to go!

We did go to Church!! This counts right??

We got some awesome pizza for the ride home

What an awesome weekend. I wouldn't have changed any of it... the people we went with were super fun and the things we got were great and the whole weekend was just great. Most definitely a highlight of my trip so far!

Night on the Town

2009-11-30T20:39:00.000-08:00

My Discovery kids are so darn cute if only they were all just as sweet. In class today (Friday) I showed the kids pictures of all my different haircuts. I curled my hair today so I think they wanted to talk about hair. Just as we were finishing up Frida raised her hand to tell me that I was ugly. I just told her I loved her too and then moved on. The joys of teaching are countless!

Friday, Anaisabel and Ivanna

Ruly (His name is actually Raul but everyone calls him Ruly) and Pepe

I think these two are such little studs... I just love them!

Cristobal and AnaEsperanza... they always remind me that they are the best two kids in my class.

We had a dance party in Opening today and AnaEsperanza and Dani copied my every move. I made sure to be extra crazy!!

... like I said!

Then we played Lover's Leap... Javier, Pablo and Cristobal were my helpers and they called out the actions with me. Pablo is one of the most loving kids I know. I'm always jealous of his teachers because he always gives them hugs but today he came over and sat on my lap and then gave me a hug before he left. It was so sweet!

Ken and Me

I have terrible eye wrinkles.... but I still love this picture!

We made brownies.... always so delicious!

We went to the movie "Couple's Retreat" which I would not suggest going to see. I didn't think it was a good movie at all... however it was still a very fun night and we had a blast.

Adri and I love to cuddle.... we have to make do since we are away from boys for 4 months

I was really debating about going out... but I only have three weeks left of going out with Adri and Ashley. I'm going to make the most of it!

Thanksgiving Futbol

2009-11-27T22:16:00.000-08:00

Happy American Thanksgiving!! Since all of the teachers down here with the exception of a few of us are American we made sure to celebrate the holiday as best we could. We went out for a delicious breakfast in the morning with Sandy. Adri and I shared a delicious breakfast... I'm going to miss the food down here that is for sure. I can't even remember what it was called. I will do my best to figure it out so that I can have it again in the future. We actually went for breakfast right after I dropped Mom and Dad off at the bus station. It was a good way to cheer me up after saying goodbye to my parents.

Me and Adri

Ash and Ken

The Discovery kids are always cute as ever and we are trying to do better and bring our cameras along so that we can take pictures of them whenever.

We had Thanksgiving Lunch.... we had potatoes and stuffing and then turkey (actually chicken) sandwiches. It was great!! Happy Thanksgiving!! I am thankful for a lot of things this year but the things that I am most grateful for are Tyson and my family!! And then for the opportunity that I had to come to Mexico so that I could do the growing up I needed to. I love and miss everyone from back home, I can't wait to be home in just a few weeks.

Oh and I am thankful for Manzana Lift

ILP class was funny. The girls were making fun of me with my computer. We always listen to music at the end of class and so I always have my computer with me. Maryfer, Marity and Idalia started mocking me. Its so hard not to love these girls!!

Typical Maryfer...

Then we got silly and started taking funny pictures!!

I'm so thankful for my girls... they have become some of my best friends in the whole world!

How could Thanksgiving be complete without futbol?? Well Adri and I went and there weren't a ton of guys there but my favorite boys Daniel and Nestor were there oh plus Omar (I think that is is his name at least, we usually just call him goalie!! He is the one sticking his head out in this picture.

Adri, Sefi, Nestor, Me and Coco in the front (he is our little translator)

The futbol gang... Daniel and Sefi and Nestor are there every week without fail. They are the best!

Nestor and Sefi

Omar, Me, Salvador, Nestor

Omar has a tendency to just sit down in the middle of the game if he is bored, he makes me laugh so hard every week!

My arms are pathetic....

Best Friends!!

Daniel is very similar to Moroni in that he can never take a serious picture. It was almost a good one until he stuck out his tongue. PS. Girls this guy is a catch, not only is he super cute and good at soccer he has a testimony and is super funny too!!

Adri and the boys

Sefi blames me for everthing.... I hear the words "tu culpa" more often than anything else when I'm playing soccer. Oh that and "Nada Sarah!!"

We are so cool....

I think this is as good as it gets... I don't think I will ever get a serious picture with Daniel

.... or his brother Nestor

I got made fun of a lot this week because I made some stupid mistakes while I was trying to speak Spanish. We were splitting onto teams and I said "Daniel, Sefi y me" I forgot that me in Spanish is YO. Everyone started laughing and the rest of the night everyone kept poking fun. "Yo goal!!" or "Yo culpa" or "Sarah y ME" You know what I speak English.... they kept getting me to say bad words and then they tried to get me to say Spanish tongue twisters. Then Adri ad I got them to say some tongue twisters. I wouldn't really try if I didn't think I could say it close enough but they would just ramble off words if they couldn't remember the words. It was so funny!! We quit playing early and just kept joking around and taking pictures. Oh man I'm going to miss these guys!!

Vacation Time!!

2009-11-27T18:19:00.000-08:00

This week was great. I'm a bit behind on my blog posts because I've been so busy and so I don't think there will be as much journaling on this one but I'll do my best to mention all of the important parts. Sunday was a great day, the sun was shining and church was great. Ashley and I actually slept in and so we missed our Sacrament meeting so we went to the 11:00 meeting. I learned once I got there that it was Daniel and Nestor's ward (my soccer friends). They are some of the few YM in their ward and so they passed the sacrament and then to my great surprise Daniel gave a talk. It was great!! After we were finished with that meeting Adri, Ashley and I went back to the apartment and we sat up on the roof for a few hours. It is what we are going to do from now on when we read our scriptures in the morning... go and lay out in the sun and hopefully get a bit of color before we come home.

Well Sunday started off the week well but it just kept getting better. Monday night Mom and Dad came down for a visit. It was awesome. I was supposed to meet them at the bus station between 9:00 and 9:30 on Monday night but when I showed up at 9:30 I learned that they had been waiting since 8:20. I guess I'm beginning to function like most Mexicans... it's not Mormon Standard time it is Mexican Standard time. Everyone is late for everything. We got a taxi to the hotel and were able to get settled there and then just to make the night ever better Teo and Moroni graced us with their presence and went out for tacos with us. Moroni was back from San Luis and was leaving the next morning for Puebla so it was awesome to be able to see him again. Teo and Moroni had been telling me earlier that they couldn't believe that I would call my own father a redneck. I had used that term to explain what Dad was like. I guess it was interpreted as quite disrespectful. After they had a conversation with Dad and he explained it to them I think that they understand that it wasn't meant as a bad term. We went to El ta Canon... such a delicious restaurant, some nights I can say that I love it more than Teo's Tacos.

Our favorite Moroni!!

I think I look pregnant in this picture.... other than that its a good one.

Yes we watched TV for the first time in a long time... it was a great vacation! We were officially on vacation from 8:00 until 10:00 Tuesday morning. Mom and Dad took Ashley and I out for breakfast and it was just the best!!

Tuesday Mom and Dad spent the day with me and came to classes. The kids love them and I think Mom and Dad enjoyed it too. All of the kids at Discovery had so many questions for them about Canada. Most of them were just asking if the stories I had told were really true. They are so funny. They all wanted to introduce themselves and then ask questions and then we played games. They were so well behaved. I am not even a little bit biased, I have the best class ever!! At both Discovery and ILP... everyone is jealous of me and I don't blame them!

Anaisabel and Frida

Ivanna

Dad played futbol with the kids and I... it was fun! The kids were so impressed with Dad's skills... its amazing what being 3 feet taller than someone can do... apparently it can fool them to think that you are good at a sport.

Mom and Dad with my kids

The tree behind us is a mandarine tree... every day we eat mandarines during break or after class... they are so delicious. There is an orange tree out in this garden too and a poinsettia tree. It is so beautiful.

My ILP girls were nuts for my parents which was nice. They danced and joked around... I think Mom was crying most of the class because she was laughing so hard. I love hanging out with my girls!! They did the Jai Ho dance for Mom and Dad and then they also wanted to do a few other dances... I spent almost all of the class laughing too! These videos are from class... doesn't even do justice to just how crazy these girls are!

Tuesday night Ashley decided to stay home and so I invited Adri to come on vacation with me. It was super fun!! I talked on Skype and then Adri and I had a great sleep... its the best when you can cuddle!! Then we went out for breakfast again and took some pictures of the hotel. It was a really nice hotel and probably somewhere I will stay when I come back to visit.

The courtyard right outside our room.... I love that the buildings down here have both indoor and outdoor rooms. The weather is so nice.. but it did kind of suck when it started to rain on Wednesday morning.

When we showed up at the school in the morning I walked around the corner and looked through the window to find a huge surprise. "No freakin' way" was all I could say when I saw Ashley's boyfriend Ken sitting in our apartment. I guess he had been plotting with Kelsey and Teo for quite some time to come down for Thanksgiving. It was pretty lucky that Ashley had decided to stay home that night. I was super excited for Ashley... I ran into the kitchen where she was standing to give her a huge hug. We all went to dance that morning with Teo. We pretty much had to drag Ken there. I learned that dancing is not one of the talents my dad has been blessed with. However stubbornness is and so he refused to stop trying. It wasn't all bad, he had a good time and Mom learned quite a bit. It was fun!! Then Mom came to classes with me and Teo took Dad to get a haircut. I was pretty sure that all of my kids were going to be on a field trip to Mexico city (to go see where the President lives) but it ended up that Ruly was there. The other teachers volunteered to just combine him in their classes so that I could go hang out with Mom and Dad but it didn't turn out that way. I presented Ruly with the option to either play games with the younger kids or to read with me for an hour and half. He chose to read with me. I made sure to try again but he just kept telling me that he wanted to spend the time with me... I couldn't help but be flattered so Mom and I hung out with Ruly all day. He is so smart and I got so much language out of him. He is very quiet when the rest of the kids are there and so it was good to hear him practice and to see how good his English really is. What a stud... I love that kid!! We read a story, we played an alphabet game and then we played HORSE and then we played another game with a soccer ball and words. It was a good day of classes! After classes were done Teo and Rachel took Dad, Mom, Adri and I to one of their favorite restaurants. It was some of the best food I have had the entire time I have been down here. Even better... it was a four course meal for 50 pesos. It was so delicious.

Rachel and her girls and Adri

Me and my awesome parents

Helena and Me

Madison, Helena and Me

My beautiful girls

While I taught at ILP Teo and Rachel took Mom and Dad to a really neat cactus garden and marble market. It is supposed to be a really cool place... I haven't been there before. I guess I will have to see it before I go home. That night Mom, Dad and I went back to the hotel and watched the hockey game. It was great and something I really really really miss from home. I talked on Skype and then went to bed early. The next morning I had to get Mom and Dad to the bus station early so that they could catch the bus to Puebla and then get a taxi to the airport. I didn't cry but I did have to get out of there quickly so that I didn't. I really have great parents. Teo thinks the world of Dad and I think Mom and Dad grew to love Rachel and Teo a lot too. It was super nice that they were able to get to know Rachel and Teo so well... now I don't have to convince them to come and visit with me. I know now that I will get to see the people I love so much down here again which makes me so happy!! It was a great week, I'm very blessed to have the parents I do. Mom went around and gave everyone a mother's hug. It was sweet and I think that a lot of the girls really appreciated it. I couldn't have possibly asked for better for parents. Teo told me I was a perfect mix of my mom and dad which I think is pretty awesome... I have the best of both of them!! Kelsey told me that I was the spitting image of my dad, I guess I can handle that!!

New Moon... again!

2009-11-21T15:30:00.000-08:00

So we went to New Moon again on Friday with Teo and Rachel. It was just as good the second time as it was the first! It was a super fun evening. Adri and I ordered food and pretty much everything we ordered was wrong. We got a hotdog instead of M&M's.... we mixed up combo numbers and then we got the wrong kind of drink and then the wrong kind of M&M's when we ordered them. It was ridiculous. We were having a good laugh when we went back into the theatre. Watching the movie for a second time was great... we just made comments the whole time. I think Teo got sick of it pretty quick. He hated the movie and pretty much spent most of the time surfing the web on his phone. It was great!

Honestly... who would be on Team Edward after this??

My favorite roommate!

I think Teo was kind of embarrassed when I got down on the floor to take a picture by Jacob

The Gang (Ryan took the picture!)

The cute girls!

Teo wasn't that impressed!!

When we left the theatre Ryan started running around doing flips off of hand railings and stuff like that. He is a bit nuts with the whole par-core thing. I was like "Ryan you can't do that when you're with a group of people, its embarrassing!" Then Rachel turns to me and says "Right Sarah, because laying on the floor pretending to kiss a poster is so much better!" Haha es verdad! Then we got a ride home and I went straight to bed. That is enough late nights for me in one week. This week I better get more sleep considering I'm going out of town again next weekend. Oh and Mom and Dad are coming in like 2 days so I need to have lots of energy so that I can show them around Tehuacan.

New Moon

2009-11-19T18:28:00.000-08:00

Well last night we went to New Moon and it was awesome! We bought tickets to the midnight showing three weeks ago and have been counting down the days since then. Ashley, Adri and I made these sweet shirts that told the world what team we were on. If I had to choose between Jacob and Edward my choice would obviously be Jacob Black but if I could have my pick I would be on Team Tyson!!! The movie was fun, we met a lady by the name of Nancy from Texas. She heard us speaking in English and so she came over to talk. She was very nice but she was an Edward fan. Too bad, we could have been great friends! As soon as the movie started everyone started to scream and after that every time Jacob or Edward were on the screen everyone would scream again. The loudest scream was the first time you see Jacob Black half naked with his hair cut.... that was a pretty awesome part of the movie! After the movie Alfredo told us that he should have just taken his shirt off, then we really would have reason to clap and cheer. It was a fun night. We got home around 3:00 and then we slept in. I'm going to the movie again this weekend with Rachel and Teo for sure!

Team Tyson, Team Tayler, and Team Ken!!

I worked super hard on the writing... it turned out really good I think!

Ashley and her Asian

Ashley made us a chain to count down till the day we go home!! Pretty awesome! Now we have a ceremony every night where we rip off one more piece. I'm always so excited afterwards!

This is my happy face... one day closer to being home!

Maryfer's First Sleepover!!

2009-11-19T14:24:00.000-08:00

This week at ILP we had a sleepover... yes that is considered English class. We all brought blankets, pillows and wore our pajamas! All the girls brought their favorite treats to have at a sleepover. We had brownies, popcorn, oreos, rice and milk and muffins. It was totally awesome! We had a great time and played games and sang songs. I don' think the sleepover could have gotten any better unless it was actually a sleepover and not just a two hour English class. I love these girls!

Noelia, Zaloa, Maryfer and Katya enjoying their brownies!!

Marity, Andie, Me and Idalia

Andie brought Rice and milk which was so delicious! We just had a great time!

These are my favorite girls!!! Marity, Katya, Noelia, Andie, Maryfer, Idalia and Zaloa!

We're kinda crazy!

These three are so much fun.... Andie, Zaloa and Noelia!

We always have so much fun!!

We made smores.... the girls went a bit crazy! I don't think we ate anything that was good for us in that class. Oh well, I teach English not nutrition!

Vanilka was jealous... she came and joined our class!

Everyone brought their teddy bears... Vanilka could hardly lift Andie's caterpillar. It was fun!

Noelia... she's a nut! Love her to death!

Puebla FC vs. Toluca

2009-11-14T21:11:00.001-08:00

So Saturday morning we rented a bus to take us to Puebla... we were driving around the center and to our surprise we saw Lauren and Emily walking down the street. We had been trying to get in touch with them all morning and it was just great luck to run into them. Adri and I ditched out and went shopping with them for the morning while everyone else went to look for a hostel. Adri and I had been planning on going to Taxco but because it was just the two of us we weren't allowed to go because we are supposed to travel in no less than groups of three. Adri and I changed our plans and decided to got to Puebla and hang out with our favorite girls from there. As soon as we got out of the bus we headed off to go shopping. At the first store we went to I bought most of the gifts I was planning on getting in Puebla. It was awesome. We wandered around for a while longer and were able to find a cool jersey for me and a few other odds and ends. It was just a nice afternoon in the sun with some friends. We went back to the park where we needed to catch a bus back to the school to meet everyone at 3 to go to the futbol game that night and got some lunch. While we were sitting on a park bench eating there were a few kids that came up to us and were trying to sell us things. We didn't buy anything from them and so they went back to playing on the fountain in the middle of the park. There was three of them a little boy around the age of 9 maybe 10 and a little girl probably 7 and then another little boy who was probably 5. We were sitting there and the little girl and the younger boy started to fight. They started hitting each other which then turned into kicking and pushing and got ugly really fast. The little girl pushed the 5 year old over and booted him really hard in the back. He started to scream and obviously in a lot of pain. When she had pushed him over his pants had fallen down and he had no underwear so this poor little boy is laying in the middle of the park with his bare bum hanging out and screaming because he just got booted in the back. Lauren jumped into action and ran over to comfort him and help him pull his pants up. She scolded the little girl and then ended up laughing and playing with the little boy for a bit. When she came back to sit on the bench with us the little girl went and pretended to kick the little boy again, he just started fake crying hoping that Lauren would come back. I sat there in total shock that the kids were there to fend for themselves. It was like a scene from a movie.

Adri and I jumped on the bus and went back to the school. When we got back to the school we looked at our watches and realized that Emily's watch was an hour fast. It was only 1:30 and we were supposed to meet everyone at 3:00. So we went into good old Suprema Salsa and there we sat for a long time. Neither of us were hungry because we had just gotten tacos from a stand in the park and so we ordered Horchata and waited. We played hang man, boxes, X's and O's and looked at pictures. Oh and we made lists of the gifts we still had to buy. I'm sure the waiters were sitting in there thinking "Stupid Gringas... they are just gonna sit there and drink Horchata, what a waste... they better give me a good tip" Oh well it ended up being a nice break. Adri needs to work on her 'sacrament meeting' game skills.... she beats me in everything else but I won every time. She came up with a pretty good hangman "Sponge Bob Square Pants" was pretty clever and took me quite a while to guess.

Waiting in Suprema Salsa with my delicious Horchata

On our way to the game

Wahoo!! LJ and I in front of the stadium

My ticket... Puebla FC vs. Toluca

Bethany with her annoying noise maker... we got into it!

At half time a whole bunch of men came up to us and wanted to take pictures with the gringas. If we didn't already have enough attention because we were white with light hair... we weren't sure what to say but then it just kinda happened, everyone started taking pictures. After like ten minutes other fans started getting mad at the guys so they started throwing things in our direction. It wasn't good! Finally people calmed down and the game started up again. I thought it would be a good plan to get up and leave the game early so we didn't have to fight with the crowds or deal with all the drunk men. We got up with a few minutes left in the game and I felt like the entire stadium started whistling at us. Shouting and cat calls came after all the whistles. It was nuts! Adri and I were in the back and kinda got separated from the group when we caught up all the girls were laughing but like us totally relieved to be out of the situation. It was a good thing there were 9 of us.

Well I thought that the game sucked, Puebla played awful and ended up losing 2-0. Toluca scored in the first 5 minutes of the game. I felt like I was watching a bunch of high school boys play against professionals. Toluca rocked them and I learned later that night that Toluca is rated #1 and Puebla is #7 or something. I was embarrassed to be wearing their jersey. Cruz Azul is my favorite team... I should have just sported that jersey. Oh well! It was fun to be part of the crowd, the fans are nuts and it was an adventure.

Sunday we spent the day at El Ranchito, Emily and Lauren's host family's restaurant. It was a nice relaxing day up in the mountains with the sun shining. It was nice, we had a really good lunch and enjoyed spending the day together. That evening while we were getting ready to go we were sitting with grandma and grandpa. Grandpa just recently got out of the hospital and he he had, had a fall and they thought he may have broken his hip. They had tried to make him comfortable on the couch and he was obviously still in pain but I think it was the best situation they could get him in. At one point grandma started to cry, she had been watching him shake and sit there in pain and it was hard for her. It broke my heart to see her watching the man she loved so much in so much pain. It was also a learning experience for me because she was still more concerned about me than her own needs simply because I was coughing and had a really bad headache. It was amazing to me how charitable and sweet she was.

Monday we spent the day shopping. It was great! We went out for breakfast and had delicious fruit and pancakes, and orange pineapple juice. Then we had some delicious orange carrot juice for lunch after shopping at El Parion for four or five hours and then we went for Applebee's for dinner. It was a totally awesome day. Teo came and picked us up and took us home and it was just a great weekend. Adri taught me a whole bunch of sexy spanish and I thought I had to give the family prayer in Spanish. I was terrified.... Adri wrote it out for me and I practiced and practiced. I think I picked up more Spanish this weekend than I have the whole time I've been down here in Mexico... it was wonderful. Lauren and Emily's family were so sweet and it was so nice to feel the spirit that was in their home.

Puebla Center

Cookie Monsters!

2009-11-14T20:55:00.001-08:00

Friday night before we all left for the long weekend I stayed at Adri's host family's house. Before we went over there I got a phone call asking me to call the mother of one of the girls in Puebla to get a her cards canceled that had been stolen. It was slightly uncomfortable for both of us I think and it didn't help that the only name I had was the first name of the girl in Puebla. But thankfully we were able to figure things out and hopefully I didn't stress her mother out to much. I can't imagine getting a phone call from a stranger about my daughter when she was in a foreign country, even if it was for something as small as her 'credit cards' being misplaced. We kept the fact that they had been stolen on the DL, at least until the girl from Puebla can tell her mom herself. The whole situation is a bit stressful. So like I was saying we spent the evening with Adri's host brothers Santi and Pablo and it was so much fun. What better activity than baking cookies so that we could enjoy them right after we were done. It was a blast! I wanted to take pictures and so Santi insisted that we all wear aprons. Not sure why but Adri got the one that wouldn't untie so we had to squeeze it over her hoodie. It took a lot of work but we finally got it! To be honest getting it off was more difficult... but we didn't have little hands helping (more hindering) so it took less time!

A bit too small I think

Pablo was so excited!! He loves cookies!

Pablo, Santi and Me.... I love these boys! Santi was my favorite student until he was switched out of my Discovery class.

We let them lick the spoon and the bowl after we put the cookies on the baking sheet... they were so happy! If Adri wasn't their favorite before she most definitely is now!

Pablo wanted t roll the cookies but the dough was so sticky it just got all over his hands... not much was left of the cookie

Then he ruined the egg timer... Santi was ready to kill him!

The cookies were so delicious!!

It was a super fun night!!

After we finished baking cookies I burned a whole bunch of CD's for Moroni. After Moroni and Teo got back from making sure things were okay in Puebla (their school was broken into again and a whole bunch of things were stolen) we met up with them for a few minutes so I could get Moro all the music he wanted from me. I had leant him my iPod all week so basically I just looked at all the recently played music and gave it to him. He told me he only wanted my favorites... yes okay I admit it there are a lot of things that claim favorite status in my life but that is because I love a lot of things not because I can't decide! He ended up with 5 CD's of only my favorites!