Every once in a while, if I go to certain places, there are bound to be students from our school. For example, one of the shopping malls here that's considered high class. Also, one of the movie theaters here. And if you have high school students, you'd better not go to Classico, the club in their neighborhood. But, if you avoid those three places, you're in the clear. Except, in some twilight zone universe where your students start infiltrating your neighborhood... like yesterday.
So Bethany and I decided to go walking to said shopping mall to pay off our Telcel bill. Of course, if we were to go all the way in, it would be completely expected if there were some students inside (and actually, we did, and there were... but they don't count.) On the walk there, all of a sudden we hear, "Ms. Sarah, Ms. Bethany!" There is one of our students, in the car with his family, driving literally right next to us, driving slow enough so he can talk to us, but he doesn't have anything to say... so he's really just staring at us. Bless Bethany's heart, she was trying to have an awkward, through the car window conversation with this adorable little boy that really, I think, just wanted to smile and stare. So Beth and I kind of just laughed it off and ya know, it was just a small world thing.
So on the way home, we have to walk underneath a bridge that has train tracks on it (said train tracks also pass literally five feet from the back of his house). The train tracks are about a five minute walk from my house, so we were almost home. As we got closer to the train tracks, we see that there are about 15 kids jumping up and down on the bridge. Many of them were wearing the same shirt, so I thought maybe it was some kind of youth group of sorts that was doing a service project of meeting and greeting the cars that passed below. And they were SUPER energetic... screaming and yelling and jumping and waving. And then all of a sudden we hear, "MS. BETHANY!!!!" Oh... boy.... So of course we're walking right towards this bridge where all of these hooligans are, and now we learn that we know said hooligans, but we can't make out who they are. Then we hear all kinds of shouts, "Ms. Sarah, Ms. Bethany!" Yeah, turns out a bunch of our students had a soccer tournament close to our houses and went to the train tracks to throw money at the trains? I didn't really get that.... "Ms. Sarah, what phase was the moon in last night?" "Ms. Bethany, go to the other side of the bridge and we'll see you there!!!" So then we had a parting party for us as we walked away. We couldn't stop laughing... of COURSE we would know those kids :) And where were their parents? ;-)
So then, we started to think that although we are probably going to be moving on from Queretaro next year, that we kind of like, in our own little way, being celebrities here in Queretaro :) We really feel a part of the community and we love the sense of community that there is in this city. I don't want to leave it!
And then, later that night, we were driving along at like 1130, and we look to our right, and we see at least 15 prostitutes... holy cow, Queretaro! You never cease to amaze us. Obviously, they had to have existed somewhere, but we've never seen them! We couldn't believe it! hahaha. Little conservative Queretaro. The best part was that we were enjoying the beautiful renovations that QRO has done on this street to make it more eco-friendly, and the landscaping is incredible, and there are little cute lampposts along the whole walk. It was a very interesting combo of views, for sure!
Things here are going really well! I'm enjoying school, I'm enjoying my Spanish classes, as well as giving my English classes, I'm working really hard at the gym, and I'm not taking a moment for granted. It feels so good! :) When are people coming to visit me so I can show them this beautiful place?!
