Here are picture of the city I went to over the long weekend. Enjoy!!


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So I have been really horrible about posting!! Well it has been a few weeks since independence day when I went to Guanajuato. It was such a beautiful city. It was really colorful and picturesque. One day we went to a bakery that we happend to pass and a friend and I shared 3 pastries that cost around $1.20! We walked around a lot and found some really beautiful pottery!

As far as school goes everything is going well. A few weeks ago we had a fundraiser for an organization called Teleton. It helps children with disabilities and the class that raised the most money won a trip to go to Teleton. My class came in first place! So we are going next week and I am super pumped about it.

Today I went to my first first communion. My student invited me to go and I was really excited because I had never been to a Catholic service before. I was an interesting experience. After the ceremony we went to this kind of country club for the reception. It was the NICEST party I have ever been too. All I could think of was the MTV show Super Sweet 16...it was that kind of party. There was a 3 course meal and there were waiters that were constantly refilling your drink and bringing food. Throughout the meal there was a live mariachi band and then a dance act for entertainment. There were those blowup obstacle courses for the kids and we even got these kinds of party favor bags. It was such a unique experience!

Oh and I am officially a resident of Mexico! Lincoln hires a man to take all the gringos to get all their paperwork together. We had to go down to the center of Guadalajara to a government building (no idea what it was called) and I waited 2 hours to sign a couple papers. After I got my FM3 card I went and stood in another line for 2 hours to set up my insurance. The final stop of the day was to get my bank account set up. But when we got there the system was down so I ended up going another day. But I must say I am relieved that I finally have my card!

We have two more weeks left in the bimester and then a 2 week break for the PanAmerican Games. That's all I can think of to post now but I'll try to stay more on top of it!

I cannot believe I have already been here a month. Sometimes it feels like I've been here a year and others just a few days. Tomorrow I start my fourth week of school and I'm starting to get into the groove of things. I'm really enjoying my kids and just the general atmosphere at Lincoln. Yesterday I got to see a little more of Mexico when I went to Tlaquepaque with my roomates. It was a really cool artsy town with lost of crafty things. We spent the afternoon there and today all I have done is go to church, work on school stuff, and do laundry. In a few weeks I get a long weekend because of Mexico's Independence Day (September 16) and I am going on a trip. Hopefully I will remember to take pictures and post! That's all for now :).

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Also the most important thing that happened this week! My nephew Dane David Watson was born Wednesday night around 9 weighing 5 lbs 11 oz and 20 inches. Thanks to technology and my Dad holding the phone I was able to see him over Skype Thursday afternoon. I can't wait to meet him at Christmas!

Well I have officially finished my first week as a teacher. Monday was the first day of school and after a long week of planning and preparing my room it was finally here! It was intimidating at first but once the kids came in it was right into teacher mode! It has definitely been an interesting week. We did a lot of get to know you activities and team building the first few days. They loved playing the name game and yesterday I taught them math card games (another thanks to Lesley Doherty! They love those games! They kept asking me today if we were going to play multiplication war.) One of the best things about Lincoln and Mexico is that we can just go right out the door and do our activities at picnic tables that line the outside walls of the school. The weather has been perfect and it is so nice to go outside instead of staying in the classroom! (It is also nice to take my teacher manuals and computer outside and plan.) Another amazing thing is that it takes about 2 minutes to walk from my house to the school. One of my favorite things about this week was that the first day of school all the elementary teachers and the elementary coordinator or principal prayed together before classes started. How sweet to be around other teachers and administrators that are constantly encouraging you with Scripture! My coordinator/principal is the sweetest woman ever and is super supportive.

As far as food goes this week I had some real Mexican tacos and I don't think I can ever go back. They were amazing! Every other taco will never compare. Tomorrow I am going on a tour of the city (I've basically only seen Walmart and the school so far). Also hopefully tomorrow I will post pictures of my classroom (I forgot my camera at school). The kids have done some drawings already and one of them drew a picture of Dwight from the Office because I have his bobble head on my desk. Anyways that's all for now! More stories to come!

Oh and someone did eventually come to the house and let us out :).

So as it stands right now I am locked into the Casa Grande. A key is stuck in the lock to the front gate and no one can get in and no one can get out. So I figured I would post since I haven't done that in a while. Maybe by the time I have finished writing this someone will have saved us :). I have officially finished my classroom and tomorrow is the first day of school. I have 18 students and we start at 8 in the morning. First thing in the morning we have a general assembly and then we are going to do a lot of get to know you and team building activities. After a year with a mentor it will be weird to be in there by myself but I'm excited! This morning I went to church, Factor Fe, and afterwards I went to the market for fruit and veggies. I got two green peppers, two mangos, two big carrots, four gala apples, a tomato, two peach looking things and it all cost around $7. That's all I can think to write and no one has saved us yet. Oh well........ til next time.