THE JOB ...

I'm sorry this is a long one ... I feel really bad that I didn't even let most of you know where I'm working and what I'm doing, so this is details ...

In my second month in Guadalajara, on my second visit to church, I met a lady, Esther, I spoke to her for approximately 2 minutes after the service, I told her I just finished a TEFL course to teach English and was about to start the job search. She handed me a piece of paper with the details of the English coordinator at the University where she works. I had just finished a very intensive TEFL course and all I really wanted was a vacation so I didn't bother emailing for at least 3 weeks after. Of course, in the meantime I prayed about it and God reminded me that I really have been praying about working at a University ... but in SA.

So I sent in my application, and received an almost immediate response, I went for an interview a few days later (29th June), and then got invited to teach a demo class on Tues 06th July with her, the coordinator observing me. It went very well and I got offered the JOB on the very same day. That was the 1st time I ever had to teach a class, so I was so nervous but once again with lots of praying, God totally came through. He gave me an awesome idea in the middle of the night one night - I created a comic strip with the grammar point. They loved it!

So on Monday 16th August 2010 I officially started to work at the prestigious ITESO University, it's a private University and apparently one of the best in Mexico. It's also really beautiful - green, green nature everywhere and also home to hundreds of plant and animal species.  I was really excited to hear that we don't teach more than 16 hours a week, and with double the pay than most other institutions. I got given 2 bimester classes level 5 and 6 and my schedule was Mon 1-3pm, Tues 7-9am & 1-3pm, Wed Off, Thurs 1-3pm, Fri 7-9am &1-3pm and Sat 9-1pm. Oh, each class is 2 hours long, which I find awesome, as it gives lots of time to reinforce material with fun games, or really just dig deep into a topic or discussion. I was in heaven when I heard I start at 1pm twice a week. Unfortunately it didn't quite turn out the way I thought ...

The English department started a new curriculum and it was super intense, a bimester course is 7 weeks long, so in that 7 weeks, we had to give the students 4 written assignments, a big project (written), 4 tests, 2 exams and daily plan 2 hour lessons. So as a result of this every week I had approx 34 papers (18 students in level 6 & 16 students in level 5)  to mark for each assignment, test, project, exam. I barely had time to breath, OMW it was unbelievably intense! All the other older teachers were just as swamped and they said if I survived this I definitely will make it. They were really amazing though, I learnt so much from them, how to work smarter. Anyways, THIS IS THE REASON I'VE BEEN SOOOOOO QUIET! PLEASE FORGIVE ME GUYS, I STILL LOVE & MISS YOU ALL!!

Besides all the hard work, I LOVE TEACHING!! The students are so amazing and interesting. I guess English is great subject to teach as you can discuss every topic under the sun, and they University level so they are pretty imaginative, which I love! Also it was absolutely rewarding at the end to hear students say they really enjoyed my class and wanted to know if they could continue the course in my class :):) That feeling was priceless!

The fall (autumn) bimester classes ended last week Tues, and the next starts tomorrow. So I was really fortunate to have a few days off. I was also really fortunate to have received another 2 classes for the next bimester - apparently you can never be sure you going to get the max number of hours depending on the level of enrollment. Oh I think I forgot to mention, it's compulsory to have English at an upper-intermediate level (level 8) before they can graduate in any course. So even better news was that I have the same level, level 6 for both classes this time around, and since I've already prepared most of the classes, I'll have so much more time - although those classes needs lots of refinement. I'm also going to set up much more focused assignments thats easier to mark too. I'm going to work better, faster and smarter :)

The second highlight is that my very good friend that I met at school and have lunch with daily is .... South African. Well, half, she was born in SA and moved to Canada when she was 13 years old. She loves to reminisce about things South Africans do and say and to hear stories about what's happened and going on. Still very SA at heart. Her name is Mystik and hopefully some of you might meet her as she & her boyfriend are coming home for vacation in Dec to visit friends & family she hasn't seen in years.

Some more differences compared to back home is that classes start at 7am and ends at 10pm at night and each class 2 hours long for every single subject - imagine a 2 hour Math class, OMW I feel really sorry for these students. They also treat the students like they still in school, they have to sign attendance register, they can't be late, if they have more than 6 absences they fail. Anyway Mexican students are very respectful and sweet. The custom here is that everyone greets each other with a kiss on the cheek. So occasionally when I meet them outside class, some of them would greet me with a kiss - that was weird! I'm used to it now.  

That's my story about the Job so far ... I'm really so grateful to God for this job, as this is the 1st time in my life that I'm doing something that I love! Thank you all for your prayers and love! I'll keep you posted on the next bimester ...

Check out the website www.iteso.mx you'll have to click translator as it's all in Spanish.

Adios Amigos!

TAPALPA 09-10-10

This past Saturday, a few friends organized a trip to take the "extranjeros " to a little town called Tapalpa. It's a beautiful little colonial town approximately 2 hours drive from Guadalajara. It's know as "Pueblos Magicos" - Magical Town .. I think :) First we had to join our friend Samuel in a 2 hour seminary lecture on "Apocalipisis" - The book of Revelations (English) at 8am ... all in Spanish and freezing through it all! Someone brought "Arroz con leche" Rice with milk, cinnamon & sugar for breakfast - was "muy rico".

I have no clue how to dress these days ... winter is arriving soon, so it's freezing in the morning and evening but hot summer days in the afternoons. So weird! It rains in the summer but not in the winter. I love the weather here though, the sun is out most days!

To see the pics go to my facebook page-
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=235739&id=649066268

If anyone has any idea how to upload pics in a slideshow format on here ... please holler!

Well, I was nominated "shopper of the day" and the Tapalpa welcomes me back anytime :) The town is super-clean and really pretty. Lots of home-made stuff to buy. The absolute highlight of my day was the horse-riding. Daniel & I went hors-riding, it was only my second time (the first with Trilinear in Monkey Valley :)) but this time was sooo different. They give you the horse and you free to go, in the beginning my horse started galloping really fast and I had no idea what to do, and so I screamed :) Then they realized I need to know the rules - A pull to the left to go left, a pull to the right to go right, a sharp pull up to stop or slow down, and a kick to go faster. Couldn't believe I got the hang of it soooo quickly. I used to be so afraid - I guess the Lord has delivered me from all of my fears :) It was awesome, we went really fast and at times thought I was going to fall off but just held on tight and often pulled the rope to slow down. Awesome! It only cost us like 50 pesos for nearly an hour - not even R30. In SA perhaps R300 for 1 hour.  This was the highlight of my day!

On our back, at a stall along the side of the road, I bought some cheese, the best I 've ever eaten- Freshly made! Rasberry jam made from the rasberries growing right there :) Jam, cheese, honey and cajeta (similar to caramel). This guy was so nice, he dished out spoons and spoons of tastings.

My Mexican amigos are so similar to my SA amigos - they love taking pics too :)

I'm really so blessed over here. My new friends absolutely goes out of their way to give me a good time.

As you'll notice .. these days I speak lots of Spanglish.

This was my first post :) Kinda cool, me gusta!