Feliz Navidad!

Photos from Paracho, Michoacan. A locally famous town for buying hand-made classical guitars. Bought a new hand-made steel string for my b-day/Christmas present.





































Finally it's Christmas break! A mere four days prior to the big holiday. Because it is going to be such a short time (I have to be back teaching on the 3rd of January) I decided it would make the most sense to stay in Mexico. I have been to about 13 of the 32 Mexican states and decided it's about time I knew something about Mexico City (or D.F. as everyone calls it here). So tomorrow I leave for the metropolis of over 20 million people. I've heard people in Mexico City drive with less regard for human life than they do here in Guadalajara, which I'm still not convinced is possible.

The kids have been wild for the past couple weeks and it was a relief for everyone when the final school bell rang today. I have enough chocolates, cookies, and junk food from the students to last me the next ten years (or at least for the D.F. road trip) and it was great to see how much they get into the season. There has been a posada (a Christmas party) during or after school nearly everyday for the past week! It's hard for me to get into the Christmas spirit when I can still ride my bike around at night in shorts and a T-shirt. It's so hot here! Last weekend I was at the beach surfing in some 7-foot break in Ticla and Maruata, Michoacan.


One project we started at school was the mummification of a fish pharaoh. The social studies teacher and I got together to dissect and properly mummify a fish. A few weeks ago I had all 105 6th graders file through the lab to dissect a 'Lisa' fish and remove all the organs except the heart. Then in social studies they're creating sarcophagi and names for the pharaohs while learning about ancient Egypt. So now there's two crates of fish bodies buried in salt in the classroom waiting for all the water to be sucked out of them. Hopefully we don't return to a classroom that smells like a fish market mixed with a sewage plant.

Feliz Navidad and Feliz Ano Nuevo!

To the Top of Mexico

Summited the highest point in Mexico on November 23rd, 2011. At 18,491 feet Pico de Orizaba lies on the border of Puebla and Veracruz. Orizaba (or Citlaltepetl) is the third highest mountian in North America, registering just below Denali (Alaska) and Mt. Logan (Yukon).

Two teachers from ASFG attempted the mountain with me and made it most of the way up the mountain. Scott, a second grade teacher, will most likely never climb another mountain. Too much bad food, altitude and cold and not enough sleep for him. Chris, a sixth grade social studies teacher, enjoyed the experience and pushed through a bad cold that he wasn't able to shake.

Click here to watch the video for the full story of the climb.

On the drive back we stopped off in Pachuca, the capital of Hidalgo. We did our best to celebrate Thanksgiving, but somehow fajitas de pollo don't quite give the right feeling even though they were delicious. We all agreed Pachuca was incredibly beautiful city full of monuments, street signs and modern buildings.

During the 12 hour drive back we needed one more stop to break up the time spent in a cramped VW Beetle. We pulled off in Morelia, the capital of Michuacan and had a late lunch and wandered around the colonial streets and massive cathedrals.


We got back into Guadalajara late Friday night and I've been doing laundry since...

The Long Drive South

Picture of me and my new surf kayak (Fluid Element) in San Carlos, Sonora.

Picture of Mom on the Colorado National Monument at home.

Driving some nearly 2,000 miles in the American Southwest and down Western Mexico all in the name of having the freedom of a car, bike and a kayak. Lot's of military checkpoints and roadside tacos. I also learned I have no desire to return to Mazatlan even though I broke in my new surf kayak at Playa Brujas there- a day I will never forget. There were about 30 or 40 surfers out there. I was nervous knowing that surfers guard their waves jealously and have bad tempers. But upon thinking about I realized I have a paddle and am sitting up. Even if they had something to say about it there wouldn't be much they could do. So I headed out into the olas and mostly I just got confused looks. Then looks of astonishment as I caught wave and began gliding down the face throwing spins left and right.

Back to school today after a two week break for the PanAmerican games. It was great to see the kids and friends at school. Feels like the first day of school; nervous and exciting all over again. And in a couple weeks it will be Thanksgiving week and I'm headed off to climb Orizaba near Puebla. At 18,500 ft tall it's the third tallest mountain in N. America and it's in Mexico! Can't wait!

Click here to see a 1 minute time travel video of a little of the scenery from the drive.

Pan Ams

The Pan American Games are coming up, and Guadalajara is sprucing up it's streets. I've heard the city has extra police and federales from Mexico City to make sure there's no trouble from the cartels during the next couple weeks. All around the city streets have been repaved, outdoor artwork has gone up and advertisements like this one are everywhere.

The rumor is as soon as the games are over the zetas (a split off from the Gulf cartel) may try to take Guadalajara as their territory. We'll see. School is out for the next two weeks mostly because traffic will be so bad the kids won't be able to get to school. The Pan Am's will have all sorts of events, much like the Olympics but only for the Americas. To bad it's also a great time to travel, so I won't get a chance to see any of the events.

Field Trip Chaos

I thought I was getting pretty good at taking students on trips. Taking a group of 10 to 20 college aged students into the wild outdoors is like going on an all-inclusive cruise compared to taking 106 sixth graders on a field trip. Field trips with that many middle schoolers is like hiking into present-day Iran and narrowly escaping with your life. This last Friday myself and my fellow 6th grade educators took our class to Hacienda El Carmen about an hour west of Guadalajara. I had organized the trip about 3 weeks ago when a generous parent invited us to see greenhouses where they grow bell peppers for export and then have lunch and play.

The greenhouses were great- the hacienda employees took control of the kids and took them around and discussed nutrients, plant life cycles, disease and how they care for the plants. The kids loved it and asked all kinds of questions. The best part was the caps and face masks we all had to wear to go into the greenhouses. It looks more like a group of 12-year old doctors. I had no idea it would take 30 minutes to get 106 kids off the bus, 30 minutes to get them back on the bus, 30 minutes to separate them into groups, etc. Trips with that many kids take a lot of time!

Next month we are headed to Guanajuato to stay at the Vicente Fox center for a week. This trip was kind of a test-run for the students. During that week we should get to go to a science center in Monterrey (with an IMAX on surfing) and then hopefully we will meet the ex-president Vicente Fox. I think I'm more excited than the students!

A couple of weekends ago I tried my feet at surfing in Ticla, Michuacan. Here's a couple photos of one of the best beaches I've been to so far:

Running...

Why do people run marathons? I've always thought people who ran just for the sake of running without a ball to chase were crazy. But you can't say you don't like something until you've tried it. That's why I decided to sign up for the 22 degree Atlas (one of Guadalajara's soccer teams) half marathon (13 miles or 21 km).
I was convinced to sign up by a fellow teacher and started running short 5k to 16k loops at Colomos park. Bosque los Colomos is a 92 hectare park in the north-eastern section of Guadalajara. Miles of concrete and dirt paths wind their way up and down hills through pine forests and manicured gardens. I immediately fell in love with the park and running seemed like a good excuse to go.
I'm painting the picture that I trained a lot for this race. In fact, I only ran 16k the weekend before and then trained through soccer, climbing at Ameyalli (a rock-climbing gym), playing volleyball and surfing at San Blas. Not exactly the recommended marathon runner's training program.
Most of running marathons is mental from what I've been told, so I decided not to be to worried about being in proper shape.
The race began at 7 in the morning with hundreds of people crowded around Avenida Patria for the start. Music blared and crowds cheered as we passed through the starting gate. We passed huge blow-up Corona and Coca-Cola bottles on our way to 2 hours of non-stop running. The energy of the crowds actually made the experience more enjoyable and fun. I ran with a fellow middle school teacher up to kilometer 16 and then decided I could finish in less than 2 hours. 2 hours is the magical half marathon number to beat. Once I hit kilometer 19 I knew I could run 2 km as fast as I could so I went for it. I sprinted with everything I had left and crossed the finish line at 3 minutes over the 2 hour mark. Darn, well I guess I'll have to run another half marathon before I leave Mexico!

Hollywood Middle School Debut!

The debut has been shown and the official Hollywood Middle School video is up on you tube. The kids went nuts cheering during it's initial release on Friday in the auditorium. Our middle school tech guy, John, envisioned, filmed and created it. I only have a small part near the end during the 'Let's Celebrate' continuous shot. The video is awesome and I am so proud to be working with such a great group of teachers/ up-and-coming actors. Middle school does a video every year for the theme that the students choose from the year before. This year the theme is Hollywood.

The 127 Hours spoof is my favorite!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6gA3S3psIM

One week down!

On the first day of school the students showed up with
mountains of school supplies and were excited to see their friends and their new teachers. Many of them immediately asked, “Hey meester, are you a new teacher? Where are you from? What did you do this summer?” Others flopped down in their chairs displaying their disappointment in being forced to return to school. The first day’s classes were short. 25 minutes each. That’s how it should be in The States. Kids come in from summer not ready to be in school and only have to stay from 8am to 1pm. It makes more sense than throwing them into the deep end right away. I’m currently attempting to read all the ‘About Me’ papers I had them fill out and memorize all their names. Getting to know 105 new students’ names in a few days is no easy task; especially when there are 8 Juan Pablo’s, 7 Ana Maria's and 10 Jorge's.

The evening following the first day I played my first night of soccer. I showed up at 7 when I was told we would be starting. I should have known better as I waited 30 minutes for people to start showing up. The teams ended up being gringo teachers against local Mexican community members. I played on the Mexicans team and after 3 hours of running my out of shape body ragged my team won 6-5. It was a nice way to wind down from my first day of teaching my own class.

The second day was another short day. We barely had time to talk about the procedures of science class and mention the science notebook. “The science notebook,” I told them, “is the primary tool we will use to conduct science this year. The goal of this class is not to memorize a bunch of facts, but to learn how to think about science and think critically and creatively.” On the second day of school students are still in the ‘honeymoon’ phase of behavior. No ones trying to push the teacher’s buttons too hard yet.

Wednesday was the first day we dug into science. I had the first two of my five 95-minute blocks. I led the students down to the science lab next to the elementary cafeteria (noisy!). We started out with observing different photos. The students recorded qualitative and quantitative observations while differentiating between inferences. I showed them an optical illusion elephant that appears to have 4, 5 or 8 legs depending on how you look at it. A few of the quick ones shouted out “Meester, you tricked us!”

Somewhere along the line all the students at ASFG learned how to address all gringo teacher as ‘meester’ and ‘miess.’ “Meester, what are we doing next? Meester, I infer that they are in France. Meester, can I go to the bathroom?” I decided not to dilly-dally around too much and got them observing slides with microscopes right away. Some of the sketches they produced are priceless. The written observations were equally entertaining: hairy, holey, reptilish, staring, ugly, etc. (describing slides of fly heads, frog skin, and the like). Thursday was the same lesson three more times, each lesson getting consecutively better than the last… now if I could just teach 6^th grade science again next year I’d be a pro.

One week down and who knows how many to go!

La Charreada

Every Sunday the city of Guadalajara explodes with exciting things to do—one of which is going to la charrería. There are multiple charrerías found throughout the city, but there’s one that takes place every Sunday from 12 to 2:30pm. It’s located on the southeastern side of Parque Agua Azul at the Lienzo Charro de Jalisco.

La charrería in Mexico is more than a simple rodeo. It is a symbol of the ranching lifestyle in Mexico and a place for the charros (cowboys) to show their skills. The sport developed out of the vaqueros necessity to learn how to rope, ride untamed mares and herd cattle. As it moved from the countryside into the city it took on a new set of regulations and rules that have made it into the formalized event it is today.

The competition is divided into nine categories that reflect the tradition of being a charro. It strarts out slow. Charros prance around the ring in full traditional wear (including the wide-brimmed felt sombreros) and get warmed up. Chalk lines are drawn into the ring where charros take turns rideding full gallop and then skid gracefully to a stop near the line. Judges score the maneuver and then call out the next competitor.

Finally it starts to get more interesting. The charros retreat into the long track area of the arena where they take turns roping wild mares and chasing down bulls by pulling on their tails. The announcer excitedly reports the standings to the crowd as they cheer on the most elegant and masterful performances.

Traditional Mexican music continues to blare through the stadium as the team bull roping, bull riding and wild mare riding competitions play out. At first I questioned the brutality of these competitions; the bull roping competition especially. One charro would rope the bull’s head while another the bull’s hind legs. They would then pull and lay the bull down on his stomach. There was always someone nearby to immediately help free the bull and give him a break. Sometimes traditions are not up to speed with today’s demands of eliminating animal cruelty, but they seemed to do the best they could.

The most exiting parts of the show were undoubtedly the manganas a caballo and the paso de la muerte. In the manganas a caballo (roping wild mares from horseback) a team of three mounted charros chase a wild mare around the arena trying to rope only the animal’s rear legs as not to hurt it. This must require an enormous amount of skill. One charro gracefully lassoed a mare while facing away from the horse as it sped by at top speed. The finale for the charrería is the paso de la muerte in which a young charro jumps from the back of one speeding wild mare to another.

Besides the action-packed charrería there was plenty of entertainment from watching the spectators. A group of older men in jeans and cowboy hats polished off a half a gallon bottle of tequila in about an hour. A 12 year-old concession boy ran around the stadium serving Indio (a cheap Mexican beer) to thirsty vaqueros. Couples lounged in the shade of the covered bleachers occasionally watching the competition.

La charrería embodies the traditional Mexico we think of when Pancho Villa and vast deserts come to mind. The competition is not only exciting, but aesthetic and full of pride and tradition as well. I would highly recommend checking out a charreada when visiting Mexico (there are over 900 charrería associations in Mexico).

Mi Apartamento Nuevo

Yesterday I moved into my humble studio apartment. The apartment sits above my landladies’ house a located only two blocks from the school I’ll be working at. Her name is Ana Maria and she has worked in several countries around the world in Mexican consulates. She has been warm and welcoming since the day I came to look at her apartment. I'm sure she has lots of stories from her expat life.

Although it's a small apartment it has everything I need and I'm not spending my entire housing allowance. The main room (TV, kitchenette, computer) opens up onto the main houses roof where I'm thinking about setting up a few chairs and a table.

There's also my bedroom, but it still needs some rearranging, so I didn't post any photos.

Plans

Things don’t always turn out as we’ve planned them. Plans for travel, plans for apartments, and plans for the future can all be turned upside down in a matter of hours. A plan that was over a year in the making—earn a teaching degree, interview, get a international teaching job, and to move to Guadalajara to be with a beautiful woman and begin a life of working and traveling around the world -- didn’t happen.

The only plan that did stay the same was the job at the American School Foundation of Guadalajara. I just moved here on Sunday by myself to teach 6^th grade science. The path to move here was full of detours and surprises.

I originally set out from Grand Junction, CO to meet up with Caitlin in Oregon and then sea kayak all over Vancouver Island. At least that was the plan... After a short hang up with some white water rift-raft (including my brother) in northern Idaho I was late getting to Oregon. This was the final blow to the ultimate plan of being a traveling teaching couple.

What was I to do? The only thing I could do. Go kayaking. The next three weeks were filled with hundreds of bald eagles, deserted island camping, paddling into wild sunsets, orca whales a few feet from my boat, and sight-seeing in Victoria and Tofino. Although these distractions helped, they didn’t completely relieve the fact that my whole world had turned upside down.

Finally I had to say good-bye to my fellow paddlers and board multiple buses and ferries while lugging around 180 pounds of my material existence on a red dolly.

It feels good to be back in Guadalajara. The second largest city in Mexico (around 4.3 million) it serves as the capital for quintessential Mexican estado of Jalisco. The birth place of the mariachis, sombreros, pinatas and tequila, Jalisco claims fame to much of stereotypical Mexican culture. The Spanish founded the city in 1542 when they found the altitude and climate much more appealing than the lowlands near Puerto Vallarta and the coast (as is the case in much of Latin America).

Even with over four million inhabitants the people maintain their closeness to humanity. Nearly every restaurant, shop and business someone will go out of their way to make conversation. At least if you're not going to Starbucks all the time (where I'm at right now).

So the plan now is to forget long-term plans, be open to meeting new people, new places and work hard at my new school in Guadalajara.

Denali summit reached! May 30th, 2011.

(This shot isn't at the summit, it's from a spot called 'The Edge of the World')