"No Español"
Trip Start
Sep 20, 2006
1
20
30
Trip End
Nov 10, 2007
Metepec,
Mexico
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Metepec, my current home, is a town about an hour west of Mexico city. I live with two other English teachers, one from Denmark and one from Canada, and from my experience of the last two weeks in Metepec, we are the only cacausian people in town, and part of a very small minority that can speak English to some degree. I get looks from most people while walking in town, but they are also very friendly and excuse my ignorance for not speaking Spanish.
The school that i'm currently teaching at is very 'old school' looking but beautiful and simple with a big fountain in the centre. My first two days of school were chaos, as I was continually thrown into classes of students with very limited English ability alone, with no lesson plan and no idea what I was supposed to do. I got by, but was very stressed by the end of my second day and was almost ready to leave. I spoke to one of the only English speaking Mexican teachers here, and immediately my hours were changed and I was given a much clearer idea of what I was supposed to do. The school is unorganised but very accommodating.
Right now, i'm teaching many different age groups, from 6 to 17 year olds, all with a very different grasp on English. The primary students are great fun, and although they are noisey, they are always very eager to be involved in the activities. Today I couldn't leave one of my classes as I was swarmed by a large group of primary students who refused to stop hugging me.
The secondary students are not so fun. They don't like to hug me. I can barely get them into the classroom, and when I do they are rarely motivated to work. I'm trying not to let this get to me, and sometimes just conduct the class regardless of who (if anyone) is listening. Other time we just play games. I always pray that these classes will go quickly.
The school is located in a strange place. It is about a 10 minute walk from our house and the shopping centres (x3) that are across the road in two direction from our gated community. The road to the school isn't paved, making it a very dusty walk on dry days. Next to the school are some corn fields, which seem to be scattered all around the place. It's a very strange mix of rural and westernisation. Sometimes I question whether it is a good thing to be teaching English here. I figure if I can teach the students some good things too then it isn't so bad. Also, i'm not really doing a whole lot of 'teaching' right now, they mostly just want native English speakers to spend time in the classes, so most of the classes I run are with games and activities that don't involve grammar.
Life outside the school is good. A family in our local gated community neighbourhood has kind of adopted the English teachers as part of their family. Last weekend, the drove us to a town 3 hours away in the mountains called Taxco. A very amazing city that has a European feel with its paved and narrow streets. Taxco is famous for it's silver, and I was dragged into many jewellery store after jewellery store to look at earrings and necklaces.
On Sunday our family drove us to the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. This was one of the places that I really wanted to visit while in Mexico and it exceeded my expectations. Thousands of artifacts from pre-hispanic Mexico. I tried to read all the English descriptions of everything, but 6 hours later my legs were very weary and I could tell that everybody else was ready to leave. Hopefully i'll get to go back again soon.
People seem very confused by the idea of not eating meat, and several times I have been asked questions like "but you eat hotdogs/ham/sausages, right?" I'm getting by though.
I'm off to play basketball with the kids in our street.
Yours sincerly,
Clint
Comments
No meat!
Just few comments on your entry. I hope they help you. When you say that you 'dont eat meat', for some people it can be confusing as they believe that you might eat turkey, fish or chicken, but not red meat. I'd dare to say that almost everybody would understand if you tell them that you're vegetarian (Vegetariana). Another interesting thing that I have just learnt is about 'being caucasian'. I always thought that caucausian people were just white people, but this is not the case. For instance, people from the middle-east and southern Italy are caucasian as well. Depending on their heritage (Spanish-European-lebanese, etc), many Mexican people are caucasian as well. And finally, I'd rather use the term Modern(ised?),Urban-Rural instead of Western-Rural, as the Western countries are those derived from the Western culture, this is case of the Latinoamerican states. Enjoy metepec.
Re: No meat!
Hey thanks for reading the blog and for the interesting comments. Vegetariana was actually one of the first words I added to my Spanish vocab, but i'm finding it still requires further explanation. I don't think it's lack of comprehension though; maybe more of a concern or just trying to encourage meat eating.
Your other comments are welcomed though, especially about the word 'caucasian'. I'm curious, have you spent some time in Metepec?
Cheers!
Clinton