The first day of school: take 2!

So yesterday was my first day of school with the sixth graders. And they are ADORABLE. I just wanna squeeze all their cute little cheeks and give them little kisses! haha. The boys are TINY and all have the cutest smiles! I don't want them to grow up, haha.

Yesterday was such an easy day for me. I had 3 classes and the kids were great in all three. One girl came running up to me in the morning and said, "OMG, ARE YOU MISS SARAH???" and was jumping up and down wildly and I said, "Yes...." and she continued to jump up and down and yelled, "YOU LOVE DR. WHO!???!??!" and I said, "Um... no." And she stopped jumping, got really depressed, and just said, "oh..." and walked away. And I don't even know who she was!?

I had the kids make "Extended Name Tags" yesterday in class and I love them! It's such a great way to learn about them. I also had them take a multiple intelligences test so that I could learn what their strongest ones are... and so that they know what each other's are. They did such a great job on everything and I just hope that they stay this sweet! Today, if we have time, we're going to play Fact Bingo where they have to find certain people wearing certain things and then we'll play Bingo with it. And I've got prizes, baby! I just have to go over all of my rules and procedures with them today. Whoohoo.

So a few nights ago, Sandra did my nails quite beautifully, and last night I already bit one of them off. I went to the gym yesterday afternoon for the first time in about a week and a half, and in the middle of the night, I couldn't take the pain in my legs anymore and had to take some meds. Holy cow, did that workout kick my butt! Then Beth and I went to see "Crazy Stupid Love"... and I'm not gunna lie, I cried. And I'd totally see it again!

In other news, I've almost killed my cat on multiple occasions because he insists on being SO close to me when I walk that I almost step on him. But he's so cute.. I can't be mad at him, haha. He keeps eating the dying plant in my apt, so I think I'm going to have to finally give up and throw it out ;-).

Overall, life in QRO is pretty dang sweet! I love the weather, I LOVE my coworkers, and most of all, I LOVE my kids. I wish I could post some pictures of them! I could just eat them up.... for real.

What a week.

Time is flying by so fast..... I can't believe that I'm going to meet my students in a few short hours! Last week was filled with spending time with some new teachers, getting some planning done, playing with my handsome and cuddly new kitty, and getting into a routine again!

The weekend was great... Friday, we went bowling for the middle school and a coworker and I started up a round of crazy bowling (thank you, high school girlfriends! haha) We had so much fun, I laughed so hard! I left from there to get my new phone (I LOVE IT!) and hung out at Mel's for a bit with a bunch of the new teachers. Then, I headed downtown to watch some performing arts festival performances with Bethany. My favorite was the erotic dancers ;-). I left from there and went to dinner with a few of them and then we went out dancing again! I had such a blast... and learned that flip flops aren't the best salsa dancing shoes.

I'm still hanging around waiting for internet, so yesterday I went to Mikey's for the day to swim in his pool! I was searching in town for a rug and some kind of cabinet something to put in my living room, but didn't have much luck and was sent on a wild goose chase for their other store (who knew it existed?) and ended up smack dab in the middle of the old fashioned center, where there is most definitely not going to be a Home Depot. So I abandoned the mission, drove an hour, and before even really saying hi to Esme or Mike, jumped in the pool. And boy, did it feel good!

Today I've been getting a lot of things done (I feel like I didn't do this much last year and last year was my first year... what's with that?!), but the day isn't even close to over. I'm going to be here with the sixth graders for their orientation evening. I'm super excited! We're going to play games, help them open up their lockers, and have ice cream! I hope they all feel more relaxed after today.

I'm hoping to get internet soon and then I'll be putting some pics up! If you're reading this, I hope you'll send me a FB message updating me with what's going on with you!

School has started!

I can't believe the second year is already here! I have been having such a blast getting settled in to my second year... I'm so happy to be back.

Saturday, I went out dancing, but ended up getting pretty sick and came home early. BUT, Dave and I danced for a long time and not gunna lie, he's learned a lot since I went to salsa classes with him! The birthday boy hadn't even showed up by the time I left (at 1:30), so that was a bit unfortunate, but I got to meet some of the new teachers and it was a lot of fun. Of course, I was super sore from having played ultimate frisbee earlier (yeah... we got roped into playing otherwise they wouldn't have had enough players!). Dave and I only played one of the three games, but I realized that I hadn't run outside since my half marathon, alm

ost a year and a half ago, so my lungs were put to the test. And my sprinting ability... haha.

Sunday, I ended up getting a text from Bethany, who got into town, so we went to Walmart to get some basics, and ran into Mel there (and another teacher). We caught up for a good hour :), then headed back by way of Telcel where Bethany got a new plan and phone and convinced me to do the same (I should be hearing from them soon to get my new phone!) I didn't have any ID with me, so I ran home while Bethany was doing all of her work, and ran back as fast as I could. I put Bethany's groceries in my fridge so that they didn't get all creepy warm sitting in the car. When Beth and I got back to my apartment, my door wouldn't open. Turns out, I had this wonderful (not) lock on my door that had a chain and then above it, a little pole that goes across. That little pole doesn't lock in place and just slides from one side to another. So, the

re was no way I was getting in there. So, I called up the locksmith, good ol' Jose Luis, who has me as a contact in his phone, that's how often I call him (and every time I see him, he says something like: "Oh, Sarah, you're more beautiful every time I see you, haha). He wasn't even working, came from home to try to help me, but there was just no way. So Dave, my Superman, ended up having to scale the wall, get up onto a ledge of a window that I had luckily left open, cut up the screen, and came in through the window to let me in. Yeah, that would happen to me. Thanks, Dave!

So after a little while, I headed over to Dave's for some burgers with some friends. They were DELICIOUS, and one of them is a chef, so he helped Dave prepare some mushroom/onion concoction which was probs the first time I've had mushrooms and liked it!

Yesterday was the first day back and it was filled with meetings. I fortunate

ly did not have to sit through a 3 hour meeting in the morning and spent most of the time helping out the new teachers to get acclimated and such. After school, Beth, Dave, and I were driving home, and I really wanted to go check out a kitty at the shelter, and it was pretty close to our chef friend's DELICIOUS restaurant, which is 60 pesos (about 5 bucks) for a 3 course meal, and it's all presented in a way you've never seen it before. For example, they brought us our soup yesterday, and in the bowl was only my zucchini and some cheese on top of it. Then they brought over the broth and poured it in on top. And it was AMAZING!

Then we went to the animal shelter, which was probably one of the saddest things I've ever seen. First of all, it was in the back of some junk yard type of thing, where they keep 35 dogs and 21 cats. Second of all, it took us a good 5 minutes of walking past it multiple times to figure out exactly where it was. I had gotten an email about a certain kitty that was the cat of the week, and he looked cute in the pic, but I wanted to see what my options were. After walking past rows of poor puppies barking away, I met Midnight and I just had to love him. He

was rubbing his body against my legs and just seemed to be the perfect fit. And he ended up being the kitty that they had recommended to me. So today after school, I get to go pick him up and bring him home! Isn't he cute? And he's got the greenest eyes I think I've ever seen :)

Today, I got a call from Dave around 7:05 (we were supposed to leave at 7). I have gotten sick since being here, so I didn't sleep well at all last night... so when I fell back asleep, I messed up the alarm on my phone. So, I show up to school, with all of my cosmetics in a bag, no shower (oh, which by the way has yet to be hot because I can't figure out my water heater... so maybe it wasn't so bad that I didn't get to shower!). Still waiting on my phone, my internet, my cable, and my new kitty!!!

Check, check, and check!

So I know that school hasn't started yet, and maybe I'm biting off more than I can chew, but I'm finding that it's been pretty easy for me to get things checked off my list, even if I've only been here for 30 hours!

I've already emailed a shelter asking about a cute little kitty that they have and I'm going to watch/maybe play in an ultimate frisbee tournament today! Today I will also be emailing El Puente to put myself down for a conversation partner on weekends instead of the English classes because I feel that that might be too much for me... and I have no friggin' clue how to teach English. You poor souls that have to learn it... I went yesterday to get my internet up and running and it will be soon, and until then, I'm sitting outside my friend Dave's apartment stealing his internet!

Last night, Manuel and I went for a coffee just to clear the air. It was really nice to see him and talk and ask some questions that have been bothering me this summer. As good a guy he is and as good a friend he was to me last year, I've realized through some pretty blunt words from a friend of mine, that there are just too many things that I was settling on with him that I really want in my life. So, it just felt good to talk and realize that he really isn't the one I want forever and ever. Heartbreak is never easy and I think that there will be times that I'll still miss him, but I've discovered that I've missed his friendship more than anything else. So, folks, Sarah is back on the market... watch out, Querétaro! ;-)

As nervous as I was to come back (especially with the whole Manuel situation), I'm really happy to be home. I love my apartment, I got a yoga mat, today or tomorrow I'm going to go pay for my membership, I've already had my 2 for 1 sushi, and I'm going out tonight for a friend's birthday! Lots of good things :)

Two days until school starts... I'm excited, optimistic, but still nervous because of my inquiry-based learning technique that I want to implement (thanks for making me so nervous about it, ROB! ;-)). I think it'll be a great school year and I'm excited to meet all of my little sixth graders, but also the new teachers at the school. I have a feeling that we're going to have tons of fun! And, as nerdy as it sounds, I can't wait to see my 8th graders, all grown up and in high school, around campus so I can give them big hugs and tell them how much I miss them :-).

Back to Mexico

This summer I've had a lot of time to think about what I want to do this year when I go back to Mexico. I've also realized that after being home for a few weeks, I don't know what I want to do at the end of the coming school year. I've missed it! Things I'll miss most about living in Wisconsin:

• swimming whenever I feel like it
• riding my bike!
• hanging out with my family
• air conditioning
• waking up when the sun is already shining!

However, there are also some things that I really want to dedicate myself to doing when I get back to Mexico, which are as follows:

• volunteer with El Puente three times a week
• join an ultimate frisbee team!!
• save a kitty from the shelter and spoil her
• teach with project-based learning/inquiry-based learning
• keep up with my blog, for goodness sake
• find ways to meet other people in QRO
• swim every Sunday at Mike's house (ok, Mikey? haha)
• keep up with the gym
• find a yoga center

I hope this will keep me accountable... I have a lot that I want to do and am really excited that the day is here that I get to change some things that I didn't like about how I lived last year! Queretaro, here I come! (again!)