Michelle: Since packing up our lives and getting out of a stale situation in Victoria and waving goodbye to the Navy life, there have been zero regrets, except perhaps not doing this sooner. We absolutely love that we can have a "normal" marriage where we see each other every day and each night be together. After 3 long years in the Navy, we began our married life- not in the conventional way of slaving away at jobs that you don't like and striving to scrape together some money for a mortgage, with responsibilities piling up and enjoyment decreasing.... instead we began a world adventure, taking off in faith that things would open up- having no job lined up and no real action plan, leaving many details to be decided at a later date and going in hope that we could find enough work to keep us afloat finacially... Certainly not your average beginning to a marriage, but for us, it works well. We have basically been breathing the same air 24/7 since we left, we trained together, we worked together, we prepared together, we lived together, we socialized together - we were/ are in the entire journey together, and the best part is that we are loving it!
It is by no means a relaxing holiday, we have had a day here or there to chill and do nothing, but being on the go constantly is extremely exhausting. To go to new destinations, to see new things, to meet new people, to learn the ways of a land, culture and language on an ever-changing basis, it can be hard work. Not the same way as back breaking work building a railway line or building roads before modern inventions, and not in the same way as sitting in a cubicle in an office doing a mundane job that you hate, that pays badly and causes you to be more stressed than a one legged man doing riverdance. No. But it all takes effort, lots of planning and research, a variety of different beds, schedules, time zones, languages, many hours of standing in lines, waiting at airports, changing trains, catching buses, reading maps and tons and tons of walking.
It's worth while and one thing that has definitely come out of this is the certainty that we don't want to return to that life where we were apart and alone for long stretches of time - that's not a life, it's an existance. I want a life, I want my husband, I want what is rightfully mine to have. And so, we will fight against the fatigue and see where our journey takes us. We will continue to explore and experience new destinations, we will continue to put our feelers out for new possibilities and continue to have a blast!!
Monday, August 9, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Eurotrip Part 1 -- London, Oslo and Genova
Jonathan: So after Iceland, we flew into London for about a 21 hour stopover before heading up to Oslo. Whirlwind European travel can be rather tiring, but Norway is such a beautiful country. We really only had 3 days there in Oslo, but if Oslo is a representation of the rest of the country, Norway must be so incredible. We even stumbled across the King of the Netherlands and the Queen of Norway driving by. We figure there is some sort of Royal Scandal taking palce there :).
We had an awesome couchsurfing host, who didn't mind that we arrived at close to midnight, thanks RyanAir for your awesome travel schedule, and airports so close the major cities ... not!! But anyway, wanrdering through Oslo seeing the sights, the parks, the architecture, very interesting. The long nights were quite nice as well, sunrise at 3am was quite handy for our very early departure to get to our 6am flight.
So flying from Oslo to Parma, then it was time to catch a train in Italy. Trains in Italy are an experience in themselves. Fortunately, someone on the public bus we took knew how to get to the train station, and we found an operator who knew 5 or 6 words of English, so we managed to get the right train ticket. Then our train sat around at the station for an extra 20 minutes while the conductors laughed, drank coffee and smoked cigarettes. We sat there fuming because we had a connecting train to catch and only a 6 minute stopover to switch trains. I guess they made up time by skipping a station or two. We made our connection with 2 minutes to spare.
Getting to Genova, (or Genoa in English) we were greeted by our couchsurfing host who graciously met us at the train station, we walked back to his apartment, made us dinner while we showered, then took us on a night walking tour of Genova. Genova is a city of two faces. It can look quite pleasant and beautiful on the seaside, as you would expect from an Italian city, but get into the little side streets and find the heart of the city to be quite different. We were glad to have a guide who knew his way around. We enjoyed walking through the city and seeing a ridiculously pompous Catholic procession involving the Cardinal of Genova, who is apparently next in line to be Pope. We also found the most incredible Granite (graneetay) shop, which is like ice cream with out the cream. We enjoyed our granite while up on a hillside overlooking Genova and the Mediterranean Sea. What an afternoon. After 4 great days in Genova, it was time to head off to San Remo, right on the Border with France.
We had an awesome couchsurfing host, who didn't mind that we arrived at close to midnight, thanks RyanAir for your awesome travel schedule, and airports so close the major cities ... not!! But anyway, wanrdering through Oslo seeing the sights, the parks, the architecture, very interesting. The long nights were quite nice as well, sunrise at 3am was quite handy for our very early departure to get to our 6am flight.
So flying from Oslo to Parma, then it was time to catch a train in Italy. Trains in Italy are an experience in themselves. Fortunately, someone on the public bus we took knew how to get to the train station, and we found an operator who knew 5 or 6 words of English, so we managed to get the right train ticket. Then our train sat around at the station for an extra 20 minutes while the conductors laughed, drank coffee and smoked cigarettes. We sat there fuming because we had a connecting train to catch and only a 6 minute stopover to switch trains. I guess they made up time by skipping a station or two. We made our connection with 2 minutes to spare.
Getting to Genova, (or Genoa in English) we were greeted by our couchsurfing host who graciously met us at the train station, we walked back to his apartment, made us dinner while we showered, then took us on a night walking tour of Genova. Genova is a city of two faces. It can look quite pleasant and beautiful on the seaside, as you would expect from an Italian city, but get into the little side streets and find the heart of the city to be quite different. We were glad to have a guide who knew his way around. We enjoyed walking through the city and seeing a ridiculously pompous Catholic procession involving the Cardinal of Genova, who is apparently next in line to be Pope. We also found the most incredible Granite (graneetay) shop, which is like ice cream with out the cream. We enjoyed our granite while up on a hillside overlooking Genova and the Mediterranean Sea. What an afternoon. After 4 great days in Genova, it was time to head off to San Remo, right on the Border with France.
Iceland -- Land of the Vikings and Midnight Sun!!
Jonathan: wow Iceland, a place we wanted to visit but thought we'd never get there. We unfortunately only had one week, but to fully appreciate Iceland, a month and a rental car would be great. Reykjavik is a very cool city, although we couldn't get used to it being light as day at 11:30pm! Sorry to all you animal lovers, but we ate both whale and shark meat while we were there. Whale meat, delicious, very tender, similar to beef. Iceland's national delicacy: Rotten (fermented) shark meat. Quite possible the most disgusting, horrible tasting thing on earth. The flesh of this particular shark is toxic, so they press out some of the ammonia, smoke and ferment the meat, to make it ... cough--choke ... edible.
But the best feature of Iceland is the incredible natural scenery that graces the landscape. Formed by volcanic eruptions, Iceland is a giant lava Island, where North America and Europe's continental plates meet. So technically a part of both continents :).
Our whirlwind tour took us to the amazing National Park of Thingvellir (Tingvektler -- Icelandic is a very difficult language!!) Here there is a giant rift valley formed by the separating of the European and North American continental plates, and also the site of the world's oldest parliament, so they say. We also had the opportunity to snorke between the continental plates, incredible! The clarity of the water was up to 100m visibility, though the 2 degree temperature was quite literally mind numbing. But you could definitely drink it :). Cool and refreshing! We also jumped into the "toilet bowl" about a 20 foot drop into a little tidal pool whose swirling current could "flush" you through a little rock cave into the area where we went snorkelling. I liked it so much, I jumped in 4 times :).
We also had a visit to the south eastern part of iceland, and visited the area where that troublesome little volcano caused a few hiccups earlier this year. It is funny that people would refer to it as The Volcano, as though Iceland only has one. Heh, Iceland has a lot of volcanoes, and in relative terms this one was a little baby. Ayahfyetlayokult is about the closest I can come to phonetically spelling the word. I was determined to know one word in Icelandic before leaving, and I decided on the name of that volcano :). E-15 is the designation many gave to it. But to see the damage it caused in Iceland was almost surreal. When monster glaciers are melted by volcanic activity, and they cause a river to swell to more than 10 times its normal size, and the government was forced to destroy some sections of the highway to channel the floodwater to try and save the bridges. Everything was an eerie sort of gray/black and white color covered in ash, and ash clouds so thick that you couldn't see in front of your face, but fortunately our driver had been driving these roads for 20 years.
So Iceland was an amazing experience, and if you get the opportunity to see it, I highly recommend visiting, you will not be disappointed!
But the best feature of Iceland is the incredible natural scenery that graces the landscape. Formed by volcanic eruptions, Iceland is a giant lava Island, where North America and Europe's continental plates meet. So technically a part of both continents :).
Our whirlwind tour took us to the amazing National Park of Thingvellir (Tingvektler -- Icelandic is a very difficult language!!) Here there is a giant rift valley formed by the separating of the European and North American continental plates, and also the site of the world's oldest parliament, so they say. We also had the opportunity to snorke between the continental plates, incredible! The clarity of the water was up to 100m visibility, though the 2 degree temperature was quite literally mind numbing. But you could definitely drink it :). Cool and refreshing! We also jumped into the "toilet bowl" about a 20 foot drop into a little tidal pool whose swirling current could "flush" you through a little rock cave into the area where we went snorkelling. I liked it so much, I jumped in 4 times :).
We also had a visit to the south eastern part of iceland, and visited the area where that troublesome little volcano caused a few hiccups earlier this year. It is funny that people would refer to it as The Volcano, as though Iceland only has one. Heh, Iceland has a lot of volcanoes, and in relative terms this one was a little baby. Ayahfyetlayokult is about the closest I can come to phonetically spelling the word. I was determined to know one word in Icelandic before leaving, and I decided on the name of that volcano :). E-15 is the designation many gave to it. But to see the damage it caused in Iceland was almost surreal. When monster glaciers are melted by volcanic activity, and they cause a river to swell to more than 10 times its normal size, and the government was forced to destroy some sections of the highway to channel the floodwater to try and save the bridges. Everything was an eerie sort of gray/black and white color covered in ash, and ash clouds so thick that you couldn't see in front of your face, but fortunately our driver had been driving these roads for 20 years.
So Iceland was an amazing experience, and if you get the opportunity to see it, I highly recommend visiting, you will not be disappointed!
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Time to Catch Up on our Blog!! -- Cancun and New York
Jonathan: Wow, it has been way too long since we've last wrote but when things are hectic and you cover 7 countries in 6 weeks, sometimes it feels almost impossible to find time for blogging :). So I don't know if we mentioned Cancun or not but here's the skinny :)
Michelle: Cancun, the land of powdery white sandy, azul beaches, sunshine, all inclusive resorts, american tourists, 2% mexican culture and hundredes of expensive tourist traps! Mmm paradise... almost. If it weren't for the lack of anything to do with Mexico, it would be wonderful! The beach is stunning, no arguments, but the rest is up for debate. We flew from Guadalajara to Puebla, gathered up our belongings, got off the tiny little plane, collected our luggage and turned around to load up on the exact same plane for our connection to Cancun- the hostess was rather amused. So while the budget only allowed for a basic hotel room with no view in an average hotel, it was a great reward when we were upgraded to a 1 bedroom mini suite on the 9th floor with perfect views of the ocean and overlooking the pool. We enjoyed 2 glorious days of weather (though of course those were the days we caught up on alot of missed sleep and we could barely face the humidity so we spent most of the time in our air conditioned room). So once we were reved and ready to explore, we got 1 afternoon in the sun (turns out that was more than enough for the two of us) and then the grey clouds came and rained heavily on our parade and turned "paradise" into soggy wetlands.
Sadly while in Cancun, I received the news that my Grandmother had passed away. It was not unexpected news but it was very difficult to deal with and heartbreaking as it felt like the distance between Mexico and Australia had increased x100. I felt sooo far away from my family and completely helpless, the worst part was not even being able to give my Dad a hug. I'm never very good with death but it does serve as a reminder of how fickle and fragile this life really is. So the thoughts played on my mind that I was 'lucky' I had the chance to say my goodbyes to Grandma, and she is better off now, but I'm sure glad I had Jon around to lean on and give my hug-o-meter a boost! Keep your loved ones close, tell them you love them, that you appreciate them and that you're thankful that they are in your life. Don't wait until their funeral and it's too late for them to hear your words and feel your love!! The time is now, grasp it with 2 hands and don't let go! Don't let the mundane cares of life drag you down and spoil the joy you could have, or cause you to fight with your loved ones. The worst nightmare I could have would be #1 something happening to Jonathan or my family and friends and #2 if the parting had been bitter and there was conflict in the air and all the love was left unsaid, could I forgive myself or live forever with regrets?. Forgive. Love freely.
Jonathan: I got the worst sunburn I have ever had in my entire life in Cancun. 4 months in Guadalajara ... no sunburn. Day 3 in Cancun, I got roasted beyond belief, and I was only out for 2 hours. My skin turned a shade of purple before my entire upper back blistered. I have never felt so horrible and gross in my entire life, not to mention the insane pain. Then my entire torso peeled and it was like having cornflakes under my shirt. After that, once the skin healed and the nerve endings were recovering, the itching was so intense that I wanted to claw my skin off my back with a fork!
After Cancun was New York. We spent a couple of days in Manhattan. New York is an interesting city to visit I guess, loads of high rises. If you want to look at buildings, New York is the place to be, although central park was pretty nice. But everything in NY is pretty expensive, so after a couple of days, that was enough for me.
Michelle: New York was a slight shock to the system, after living with the Mexican Peso, it was hard to adjust back to most things costing an arm and a leg in dollars and the first day we walked around with eyebrows raised at the cost of everything. We generally don't like cities much because the pace of life is so busy. However, as far as cities go, it is beautiful and there's lots to see. We did a mad dash around Manhatten trying to see all the major features in only 2 days, I think we walked for at least 10 hours each day. We couldn't make ourselves stand in line for 3 hours just to see the Statue of Liberty, so we looked at her across the water, she was just a speck in the distance. We were staying at a hostel right near the heart of Manhatten and there was a really awesome group of travellers that we had a good time with. The Korean's took us to enjoy our first genuine Korean cuisine, which was delicious (yes even for Miss Picky-Eater-Me). Times Square was pretty cool and I got a hug from Elmo and we saw 2 stand up comedy performances, they were really funny. I even crossed the no-go barrier that keeps me from being just another dumb tourist to being a traveller, and became one of the millions to buy an I LOVE NY t.shirt. Not because I like to buy tacky tourist t.shirts but because it would make a comfy travel top, for all those hours upon hours we spend on planes, trains and buses. Of course we also rode in a yellow taxi, made so famous through movies, ate New York style pizza and we got some amusement walking around Central Park and noting the ridiculous amount of money spent on dog clothes and baby strollers
After the jostle of the city, we had a visit to the country, hosted by our friend Jess and her family. It was a welcome refuge before the craziness of the following weeks. We had a lovely time, we went to some waterfalls, enjoyed some jazz with the best local burgers you can get, gorged on chocolates and icecream (all the kind you can't get in Mexico that we had cravings for) and had a great BBQ accompaned by plenty of story telling and laughing. The bed we slept in was absolute luxury, it was like a heavenly cloud. I wanted to take it with me, but I thought it might be a little tricky getting a queen size mattress through security. Drat, it was the best sleep I'd had since vacating my very cosy, delightfully comfy memory foam topper and bed in Victoria, Canada 6 months previous.
The first major moment of forgetfulness kicked in when I left my backpack on the train in New York. The one bag with everything really important inside, the most inconvenient one to lose. So then began a flurry of calling lost and found, cancelling credit cards, and getting frustrated every time I thought of another useful thing that was in the backpack, wallet, camera charger, all our memory cards etc. Thankfully the day before Jon had taken my passport and drivers licence to use for ID and had kept them with him or else the inconvenience factor and frustration would have grown by 200%. They have since found my bag and eventually I will see the contents again, thanks to Jess. Phew!
Michelle: Cancun, the land of powdery white sandy, azul beaches, sunshine, all inclusive resorts, american tourists, 2% mexican culture and hundredes of expensive tourist traps! Mmm paradise... almost. If it weren't for the lack of anything to do with Mexico, it would be wonderful! The beach is stunning, no arguments, but the rest is up for debate. We flew from Guadalajara to Puebla, gathered up our belongings, got off the tiny little plane, collected our luggage and turned around to load up on the exact same plane for our connection to Cancun- the hostess was rather amused. So while the budget only allowed for a basic hotel room with no view in an average hotel, it was a great reward when we were upgraded to a 1 bedroom mini suite on the 9th floor with perfect views of the ocean and overlooking the pool. We enjoyed 2 glorious days of weather (though of course those were the days we caught up on alot of missed sleep and we could barely face the humidity so we spent most of the time in our air conditioned room). So once we were reved and ready to explore, we got 1 afternoon in the sun (turns out that was more than enough for the two of us) and then the grey clouds came and rained heavily on our parade and turned "paradise" into soggy wetlands.
Sadly while in Cancun, I received the news that my Grandmother had passed away. It was not unexpected news but it was very difficult to deal with and heartbreaking as it felt like the distance between Mexico and Australia had increased x100. I felt sooo far away from my family and completely helpless, the worst part was not even being able to give my Dad a hug. I'm never very good with death but it does serve as a reminder of how fickle and fragile this life really is. So the thoughts played on my mind that I was 'lucky' I had the chance to say my goodbyes to Grandma, and she is better off now, but I'm sure glad I had Jon around to lean on and give my hug-o-meter a boost! Keep your loved ones close, tell them you love them, that you appreciate them and that you're thankful that they are in your life. Don't wait until their funeral and it's too late for them to hear your words and feel your love!! The time is now, grasp it with 2 hands and don't let go! Don't let the mundane cares of life drag you down and spoil the joy you could have, or cause you to fight with your loved ones. The worst nightmare I could have would be #1 something happening to Jonathan or my family and friends and #2 if the parting had been bitter and there was conflict in the air and all the love was left unsaid, could I forgive myself or live forever with regrets?. Forgive. Love freely.
Jonathan: I got the worst sunburn I have ever had in my entire life in Cancun. 4 months in Guadalajara ... no sunburn. Day 3 in Cancun, I got roasted beyond belief, and I was only out for 2 hours. My skin turned a shade of purple before my entire upper back blistered. I have never felt so horrible and gross in my entire life, not to mention the insane pain. Then my entire torso peeled and it was like having cornflakes under my shirt. After that, once the skin healed and the nerve endings were recovering, the itching was so intense that I wanted to claw my skin off my back with a fork!
After Cancun was New York. We spent a couple of days in Manhattan. New York is an interesting city to visit I guess, loads of high rises. If you want to look at buildings, New York is the place to be, although central park was pretty nice. But everything in NY is pretty expensive, so after a couple of days, that was enough for me.
Michelle: New York was a slight shock to the system, after living with the Mexican Peso, it was hard to adjust back to most things costing an arm and a leg in dollars and the first day we walked around with eyebrows raised at the cost of everything. We generally don't like cities much because the pace of life is so busy. However, as far as cities go, it is beautiful and there's lots to see. We did a mad dash around Manhatten trying to see all the major features in only 2 days, I think we walked for at least 10 hours each day. We couldn't make ourselves stand in line for 3 hours just to see the Statue of Liberty, so we looked at her across the water, she was just a speck in the distance. We were staying at a hostel right near the heart of Manhatten and there was a really awesome group of travellers that we had a good time with. The Korean's took us to enjoy our first genuine Korean cuisine, which was delicious (yes even for Miss Picky-Eater-Me). Times Square was pretty cool and I got a hug from Elmo and we saw 2 stand up comedy performances, they were really funny. I even crossed the no-go barrier that keeps me from being just another dumb tourist to being a traveller, and became one of the millions to buy an I LOVE NY t.shirt. Not because I like to buy tacky tourist t.shirts but because it would make a comfy travel top, for all those hours upon hours we spend on planes, trains and buses. Of course we also rode in a yellow taxi, made so famous through movies, ate New York style pizza and we got some amusement walking around Central Park and noting the ridiculous amount of money spent on dog clothes and baby strollers
After the jostle of the city, we had a visit to the country, hosted by our friend Jess and her family. It was a welcome refuge before the craziness of the following weeks. We had a lovely time, we went to some waterfalls, enjoyed some jazz with the best local burgers you can get, gorged on chocolates and icecream (all the kind you can't get in Mexico that we had cravings for) and had a great BBQ accompaned by plenty of story telling and laughing. The bed we slept in was absolute luxury, it was like a heavenly cloud. I wanted to take it with me, but I thought it might be a little tricky getting a queen size mattress through security. Drat, it was the best sleep I'd had since vacating my very cosy, delightfully comfy memory foam topper and bed in Victoria, Canada 6 months previous.
The first major moment of forgetfulness kicked in when I left my backpack on the train in New York. The one bag with everything really important inside, the most inconvenient one to lose. So then began a flurry of calling lost and found, cancelling credit cards, and getting frustrated every time I thought of another useful thing that was in the backpack, wallet, camera charger, all our memory cards etc. Thankfully the day before Jon had taken my passport and drivers licence to use for ID and had kept them with him or else the inconvenience factor and frustration would have grown by 200%. They have since found my bag and eventually I will see the contents again, thanks to Jess. Phew!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Belated Last days in Guadalajara
Michelle: Our final week in class was one of gladness (that we were finishing up at Imac and having a couple of days off), dread (packing is absolutely the ultimate worst part about traveling, especially after living in a place and making it your home for 4 months and accumulating all kinds of extra odds n ends), sadness (we hate goodbyes), and professional disinterest (when your classes are going to be handed over to a teacher that the school wont even tell you who but still expect you to lesson plan for, and the kids don't want you to leave- who really cares about sticking to the text book, why not have some fun)!
Telling our students that we were leaving was tough, the reaction was complimentary to us but a little upsetting to see their faces fall as the reality of the situation sinks in- away they go again on the whirlwind of instability and uncertainty that is the face of Imac, losing teachers that they like, having classes and schedules changed without warning, squeezing 10 hours of lessons into 5 to make up for public holidays, getting pushed through even when they are flailing and going back to non-native english speaking teachers and therefore learning mistakes and bad habits. There were even some tears, lots of begging for us to stay, gifts given, meals together, photos taken and facebook details exchanged. We asked our students if they were interested in giving us some honest student testimonials and they all eagerly jumped on board and gave glowing reviews. It's uplifting for us to know that we will be missed, it makes everything worthwhile to know that we have made a positive impact and it gives us a confidence boost that reassures us we have made the right decision in becoming teachers.
To our friends outside the world of Imac, it was hard to say goodbye but each with promises of a return oneday, or a catch up somewhere around the globe. If we hadn't already booked the flights to Europe before leaving Canada, we would have for sure stayed longer in Guadalajara. Although we had to laugh when Imac was handing over our reference letters and they asked us when we would be returning, there was a very awkward silence as we looked sideways at each other and um-ed and uh-ed for the best way to politely tell them there wasn't a chance in all heck we would come back to work for them... From the day we were hired the school knew we were leaving and not returning, but even though we were the rebellious ones, not always sticking to the rigid rules, it was obvious that we had fun and our students really enjoyed class. As evidence, on my last class of conversation on Friday, there were 39 people packed into a tiny room, about 10 of them standing as there was no room for any more chairs, it was about 35 degrees with no window or air conditioning and we were all sweating like crazy but having a blast (of course we were not sticking to the given topic, but that's beside the point). To put this into perspective, the average conversation class size is about 3-6 people, my average class size was about 15, this was by far the biggest conversation class ever! As a little nose rub, Jon discreetly brought it to the attention of a few key staff members and had them take a look through the classroom door at the class...They were rather impressed...
It sounds like we are ungrateful to Imac, not true at all. We are very thankful we were given the opportunity for experience fresh out of school, most schools before they take you on want you to have at least 1-2 years of experience, which is understandable from a business perspective. And so we really needed to get whatever we could so we have something to put on our resumes. However the truth of the matter is that we now know what we don't want in a school, what it is we do want out of teaching, and that is the true essence, to help people and have an impact on their learning and their lives and for ourselves to come out of it having a sense of accomplishment, to strive with our students to learn and have personal growth. We loved our classes, our students and so, mission accomplished! Thankyou Mexico!
Telling our students that we were leaving was tough, the reaction was complimentary to us but a little upsetting to see their faces fall as the reality of the situation sinks in- away they go again on the whirlwind of instability and uncertainty that is the face of Imac, losing teachers that they like, having classes and schedules changed without warning, squeezing 10 hours of lessons into 5 to make up for public holidays, getting pushed through even when they are flailing and going back to non-native english speaking teachers and therefore learning mistakes and bad habits. There were even some tears, lots of begging for us to stay, gifts given, meals together, photos taken and facebook details exchanged. We asked our students if they were interested in giving us some honest student testimonials and they all eagerly jumped on board and gave glowing reviews. It's uplifting for us to know that we will be missed, it makes everything worthwhile to know that we have made a positive impact and it gives us a confidence boost that reassures us we have made the right decision in becoming teachers.
To our friends outside the world of Imac, it was hard to say goodbye but each with promises of a return oneday, or a catch up somewhere around the globe. If we hadn't already booked the flights to Europe before leaving Canada, we would have for sure stayed longer in Guadalajara. Although we had to laugh when Imac was handing over our reference letters and they asked us when we would be returning, there was a very awkward silence as we looked sideways at each other and um-ed and uh-ed for the best way to politely tell them there wasn't a chance in all heck we would come back to work for them... From the day we were hired the school knew we were leaving and not returning, but even though we were the rebellious ones, not always sticking to the rigid rules, it was obvious that we had fun and our students really enjoyed class. As evidence, on my last class of conversation on Friday, there were 39 people packed into a tiny room, about 10 of them standing as there was no room for any more chairs, it was about 35 degrees with no window or air conditioning and we were all sweating like crazy but having a blast (of course we were not sticking to the given topic, but that's beside the point). To put this into perspective, the average conversation class size is about 3-6 people, my average class size was about 15, this was by far the biggest conversation class ever! As a little nose rub, Jon discreetly brought it to the attention of a few key staff members and had them take a look through the classroom door at the class...They were rather impressed...
It sounds like we are ungrateful to Imac, not true at all. We are very thankful we were given the opportunity for experience fresh out of school, most schools before they take you on want you to have at least 1-2 years of experience, which is understandable from a business perspective. And so we really needed to get whatever we could so we have something to put on our resumes. However the truth of the matter is that we now know what we don't want in a school, what it is we do want out of teaching, and that is the true essence, to help people and have an impact on their learning and their lives and for ourselves to come out of it having a sense of accomplishment, to strive with our students to learn and have personal growth. We loved our classes, our students and so, mission accomplished! Thankyou Mexico!
Monday, April 26, 2010
Oaxaca 1 - Ruins and Ruins
Jon: Off to Oaxaca (photos), we keep hearing about how beautiful it is, and most likely a pleasant departure from the humidity of Veracruz. Our bus left late from Veracruz, and took longer to arrive in Oaxaca, where our friends were meeting us, but once again, ever so gracious, they were not bothered by the fact that we were an hour later than planned. What an interesting trip through the mountains, we crossed some very high mountains, with long drops to the valley below. Fortunately the buses have controlled velocity, so the drivers can only drive so fast. Coming into Oaxaca, there is a great view of historic downtown, which not surprisingly, centres around a church. 
After seeing a bit of downtown Oaxaca, we took a taxi back to Mitla. These taxi drivers believe all road markings and signs are suggestions and only apply to taxis when traffic is so heavy that they can't break them. So screaming along at 140km/h making a third lane where there is only two lanes, crossing double solid yellow lines, we zoomed off to Mitla. The next day, our friends decided they wanted to accompany us to Monte Alban (photos). This is one of the most important historical sites in the state of Oaxaca, and very interesting ruins to see. We spent our morning exploring pyramids and strolling through the site. We were glad we arrived early, as the tour buses start arriving around 11 or 12, around the time we were ready to leave.
The next day, we spent our mornig strolling through the ruins of Mitla (photos). Very interesting. Not big, but interesting, very intricate stonework. Those nasty spanish tore down a lot of the structures to erect Catholic churches. But from what is left, it is quite interesting. Especially going into the tombs! The Zapotec people were obviously not very tall.
After our time at the ruins, we took a trip to a place called Hierve El Agua. Driving through 18km of high, windy, dusty mountain roads in the back of a truck, we wondered if this place existed. Through dusty little towns with ramshackle houses, seeing these little towns, I was realizing just how rich Canada is. There are a few pictures of these places. Some funny experiences, such as a runaway burro (donkey) in front of our truck! For some strange reason, I find these donkeys kind of cute and endearing, in their stubborn sometimes disobedient ways. They sure work hard when they are forced to. They can carry huge loads! And then there's the villagers who are akin to bandits, setting up a roadblock and deciding they will charge to drive through their town to get to Hierve El Agua (photos).
Anyway, we finally arrived in this high mountain Oasis, overlooking the valley, and the view is incredible. I can only imagine what it would have been like to discover this place for the first time. These incredible amazing petrified waterfalls hanging off cliffs, with bubbling pools of mineral water for swimming in. I have to admit, I felt a little nervous standing on the edge of one of these cliffs, it was a long way down and no safety barricades, and rather windy. I was definitely out of my comfort zone. But this gem is incredible and definitely worth visiting!
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Veracruz
Jon: Well arriving in Veracruz, our ever gracious host picked us up at the bus station at 11:45pm, with a huge grin, no complaining about our late arrival, and proceeded to take us to a late night taco stand! Woohoo, tacos con carne y queso (tacos with meat and cheese) ad salsa and hot peppers and a touch of guacamole, and I am smiling huge :). Our friend brought us to his ranch out in the country, near Veracruz, and what a cute little Pueblo. Almost all the surrounding houses are relatives of some description, and they all do something to contribute to the family. One raises cattle for milk and beef, another uses the milk to make delicious cheese, another has a tiny little corner store, another raises chickens for eggs and meat ... and yet another grows beans and other vegetables ... if they chose, they could be almost entirely self sufficient, except for purified water ... anyway, so we were awakened to a delicious breakfast of juevos, papas, y frijoles, con tortillas y pan tostada, and for me, some pickled jalapenos :). The house doesn't have hot water, it is too hot to use hot water in the shower, so with a bucket of water and a yogurt container, I showered myself in pleasant cold water, a great escape from the balmy morning.
We enjoyed an escape to the old Spanish jail in Veracruz. Veracruz is the city where the Spanish first settled, and established a fort/jail to protect ther colony. Apparently they used to execute prisoners by having water drip on their heads, drop by drop until a hole was bored into their skull. What a horrible way to die. The spanish were rather cruel to the indigenous people. Sunday night we returned to the country to another ranch, for an early start monday morning. We started the day off with the farmers to go and milk the cows! Not as easy as it looks, milking a cow! You develop very strong hands! I was rather proud when I managed to get two streams of milk going! .. but you have to be careful, because the cows can start peeing without any warning!! And when a cow pees ... well, lets just say that it is a lot! I have finally drunk fresh milk straight out of the cow! Hmm, interesting, possibly a bit rich, and no refrigerator on the cow! Then our friends made us a drink called ponche, which is essentially a bit of rum mixed in with milk and sugar. The alcohol purifies the milk. The milk is also very frothy, as it sprays out of the teat into the bucket! So kind of like a lukewarm latte with a hint of rum.
After a very chill day, we had a bit of an adventure getting back to our host house for the night, its a bit difficult when you leave the addresses and phone numbers back at the house where your stuff is ... but anyway, we finished up with a delicious meal of bistec and chorizo tacos! Off to Oaxaca next!
Michelle: Another genuine Mexican experience. Life on a ranch, so peaceful, so simple - what a sweet little community. We were welcomed like royalty, everyone wants to meet us and talk with us and have us for a meal, but there are only so many hours in the day and only so much room in our stomachs- even Jon has been filled to the brim and unable to eat any more- and that's a rare thing! :) A breakfast made entirely from farm produce of one brother or another- absolutely delicious. A sombrero and one borrowed skirt later, time for a ride on Senor Caballo (the ranch horse, but I nicknamed him Volvo- coz he wasn't very fast, poor guy carrying me uphill in the heat, I don't blame him for plodding along). We visited the cows and donkeys and met half the town. It's a very unusual experience to have people soo excited to meet you and have your company- in today's world in the western countries, it's so impersonal, so self centered that to have people genuinely reach out and just about trip over themselves in graciousness to give you something or to help you; it's very bizarre. Today I feel very removed from the western culture- and it's a great feeling. There's no insincerity, no selfish means of greed, no political correctness or beating around the bush- I love it!
Away from the ranch, the city is bustling, the holiday week here is a crazy time, the beaches are crammed beyond capacity with people partying. A stage every few hundred meters on the boulevard with music blasting and girls in yellow bikinis dancing. It didn't make it very appealing for a peaceful day at the beach so we only took a drive and avoided the hoards of people. We had come to Veracruz to spend quaility time with our friends so doing the tourist trail was not on our list. Seeing the fort was kinda neat but it was definitely the 2 nights at the ranch with the tranquility and the loving community that was the highlight for me. Milking cows was great, but hard work! What Jon didn't mention was that on the first attempt with the first cow, he got one measly little spray and that and a whole lot of frustrated mutterings, a furrowed brow in concentration and some attempts at sweet talking the cow was all the action there was. It was pretty funny, the pros make it look so easy but in actual fact you need quite a lot of strength in your fingers to get the right kind of squeeze. I'm not sure that I could make a living out of it, sure was a slow process to fill one bucket....
It's hot and muggy here and the mosquitoes are persistant, I think we'd almost keel over if we didn't sleep with a fan on full blast through the night... Unfortunately this Aussie has been softened a little from 3 years in Canada- I still love the warmth and hate the cold but the humidity is still something I'd need to get used to. Without acclimatizing it just wipes me and I feel rather lathargic 24/7. We've met some wonderful people and managed to communicate sparingly with my virtually non-existant Spanish and Jon's limited Spanish. Lots of hand gestures and fill the gap Spanish and (thankfully) some who speak a little English. This is the kind of exposure we need to the language where it would force us try to communicate, and eventually little by little you learn. Instead we normally spend almost every waking hour forced to speak English and so no time to learn any Spanish. I understand a fair bit of what I hear when they speak slowly, but have no reply or response that I can give. I know a word here and there and absolutely no connecting words, so that's where Jon acts as my interpreter and gives my answer, he did really well and I'm sure glad he was around.
A couple of cafes, lots of friends, many different types of tortillas, some awkward language moments, a few genuine mexican experiences, a job offer, an interesting ordeal being lost, cold showers and many mozzie bites later, it's time to wave goodbye to all our new friends promising to one day visit Veracruz again!
Photos from Veracruz
It's hot and muggy here and the mosquitoes are persistant, I think we'd almost keel over if we didn't sleep with a fan on full blast through the night... Unfortunately this Aussie has been softened a little from 3 years in Canada- I still love the warmth and hate the cold but the humidity is still something I'd need to get used to. Without acclimatizing it just wipes me and I feel rather lathargic 24/7. We've met some wonderful people and managed to communicate sparingly with my virtually non-existant Spanish and Jon's limited Spanish. Lots of hand gestures and fill the gap Spanish and (thankfully) some who speak a little English. This is the kind of exposure we need to the language where it would force us try to communicate, and eventually little by little you learn. Instead we normally spend almost every waking hour forced to speak English and so no time to learn any Spanish. I understand a fair bit of what I hear when they speak slowly, but have no reply or response that I can give. I know a word here and there and absolutely no connecting words, so that's where Jon acts as my interpreter and gives my answer, he did really well and I'm sure glad he was around.
A couple of cafes, lots of friends, many different types of tortillas, some awkward language moments, a few genuine mexican experiences, a job offer, an interesting ordeal being lost, cold showers and many mozzie bites later, it's time to wave goodbye to all our new friends promising to one day visit Veracruz again!
Photos from Veracruz
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Mexico City and Chalco
no-one even tried to pick our pockets, even pickpockets like to sleep ... anyway, after about 10transfers, we eventually arrived somewhere in the east of Mexico City, from where we hopped on a collective taxi, which is essentially a volkswagon van with benches in a circle in the back of it ... this managed to take us to Chalco, and we made it to our friends house ... every house in around mexico city seems to be made of grey brick ... and Mexico city is ridiculously huge.
tacos at 1 am, surrounded by crazy mexicans singing and juggling knives ... how healthy these tacos are ... usually a taco stand consists of a grill or a vat of oil where the meat is "cooked" and the tortillas are dipped in the grease before being warmed on the grill ...
So then it came time to head off to Veracruz. Well, this day was running on Mexican Time which is similar to Island time, except even slower ... Arriving at the Mexico Central bus terminal ... what a mass of craziness that is ... well things didn't exactly go according to plan when we went to buy a ticket and the next bus was at 11;30 PM ... I didn't exactly relish the idea of hanging out in the bus terminal for 10 hours and then arriving in Veracruz at 5 am!! Well, after buying our tickets and sitting aorund for 2 hours, I decided to see if there were any cancellations or standby seats on an earlier bus ... well for only an arm and a leg we managed to upgrade to platinum class, and leave at 6:30pm and so here I am writing this on a first class bus, with a smelly man snoring rather loudly, and his breath smells slightly worse than rotting onions!
Michelle: A day in the life of a genuine hard working Mexican family.... 7 hours on the bus to Mexico City with very little sleep, 4 hours of public transit transfers. Arrive home exhausted but stay only long enough to put down our bags, change our shoes, and load the truck. Squeezed in amongst the fruit we head off for a breakfast of delicious tacos (probably some of the best we've tried yet). We get to the Tienges and lucky for Jon & I, we were on the breakfast run and missed the set up and carting of the goods through the market- the others are well under way by the time we arrive. Being new in town we are given the luxury of exploring the market, we came back to a very busy scene. 2 people being run off their feet in serving, so feebly at first we do what we can to help. With limited Spanish and me not knowing all the numbers in Spanish, one person with all the change and a major language barrier between us as she didn't speak English- made for some interesting times. The plan had been for us to go and see the market and return home to shower and sleep by lunchtime while the others stayed to work.... We should never bother to make plans because we never do them anyway. Turns out we were one man down as he left to help attend the other Tienges across town, taking the truck with him and leaving us stranded. We were super busy that sleep simply wasn't going to be an option. I became the expert pineapple cutter and Jon the expert watermelon wrapper and of course it was viewing time at the zoo- people would often look at us like we had 2 heads, it was pretty funny. By 2 o'clock it was evident that I'd had 2 very sleepless nights, that a cold was taking over and I was starting to weary. But with nowhere to go, the only option was to keep working. People would spring from nowhere to feed us, and we'd had our fair share of fruit, we were bursting full. At 3, a clap of thunder being the only warning and suddenly it was pouring, wet and heavy, torrential force rain- everyone was diving for shelter and grabbing pieces of plastic to cover their wares. We were madly scrambling to secure our tarps and pull in boxes, rescue signs and shield ourselves from the rain. Hoping it would pass just as quickly as it came we huddled together under the drips and continued maintaining the flooding tarps. Some people packed up and left but market doesn't end until 5 pm, we're not packing up until then so we continued to serve the brave and determined customers. By now I'm not only tired and sniffly, I'm also cold and shivering, I'm exhausted and my feet are sore, the phone has no service and so we are stuck. Eventually the rain stopped, the sun shone again and we began the tedious task of pack up- over 1.5 hours later everything was piled up ready and the rain came again, quickly this time. Leaving the stock under the supervision of a fellow stall operator we catch a taxi to the centro, only to now man the downtown fruit shop until 10:00pm... I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer so I was taken home to sleep off my cold. The others arrived home at midnight ready to do it all again tomorrow!! Yikes and I thought I worked long hours, All this in a days work all seems like too much effort in my eyes. And this is the holidays when the kids are able to help- I can't imagine when there are 3 less teenagers who have known nothing else their entire lives and 2 less (not as helpful) "Gringos" to share the load of 2 markets and a store....
Friday, April 2, 2010
Pyramids, Hitchiking and the Mexican Experience
Michelle: Finally a bit of an adventure worth sharing! We had two whole days in a row off of work and we took advantage of it by going to Tehuchitlan and Guachimontones. Tehuchitlan is a cute little Peublo of about 4000 people and is nearby the archaeological site of Guachimontones, known for its round pyramids that predate all the other pyramids in Mexico! More than 2000 years old, we thought it'd be a fun adventure to go and see these. And what an adventure it was!
Monday, March 15, 2010
Teaching English in GDL
Jon: Well its been ages since we wrote a proper blog post, or at least it feels like it. We are starting to settle into the routine of teaching. My first week was a 43 hour week, a good way to get initiated I guess. Teaching is very enjoyable, especially when you have a good class. I have good classes for now, unlike Michelle, who unfortunately got handed a class full of little terrors! I commend her for trying to teach "young learners" I think I'd be more inclined to throw them out on their ear, based on the stories I've heard. We really haven't had time to explore GDL much, though we are conveniently located in historic downtown. Hopefully when our two weeks vacation comes around we'll have a chance to see more of Mexico. My Spanish remains terrible, since I am constantly speaking English here. I am still at a beginner level. But you can easily get by with basic Spanish and hand gestures here, and all the amenities we could ever need are not very far away in this big city. I wish we had more photos or something, but really, we have no lives. A 48 hour workweek is standard here, working Saturdays is expected. A little different to home, labor standards aren' quite the same :).
Michelle: Yes, life here is hectic! We're not joking when we say we don't have a life. I almost feel ashamed of the fact that we have been here almost 6 weeks and still only know the 3 surrounding blocks, it's rather sad really. We knew teaching would be busy and being a teacher always requires outside hours. But what we weren't prepared for was the amount of excess work we need to do that has zero to do with our classes. They have some twisted rules here and it can be very frustrating. Especially in terms of learning, passing and discipline. Along with a few adult and late teen classes, I have a different class of young learners everyday, each class is 3 hours long- that's a heck of a drag for any 10 - 15 year old!!! Let alone going to school all day and (generally) being forced by your parents to learn English for 3 hours after school! For the most part the kids are pretty good, but my wednesday and friday night classes are enough to send anyone to the loony bin!! They are like no species of human I have ever come across before! By the time I finish with either of those classes, my usual pleasant and happy nature has well and truely fled and I'm left with the grumbles- I hate that!
Michelle: Yes, life here is hectic! We're not joking when we say we don't have a life. I almost feel ashamed of the fact that we have been here almost 6 weeks and still only know the 3 surrounding blocks, it's rather sad really. We knew teaching would be busy and being a teacher always requires outside hours. But what we weren't prepared for was the amount of excess work we need to do that has zero to do with our classes. They have some twisted rules here and it can be very frustrating. Especially in terms of learning, passing and discipline. Along with a few adult and late teen classes, I have a different class of young learners everyday, each class is 3 hours long- that's a heck of a drag for any 10 - 15 year old!!! Let alone going to school all day and (generally) being forced by your parents to learn English for 3 hours after school! For the most part the kids are pretty good, but my wednesday and friday night classes are enough to send anyone to the loony bin!! They are like no species of human I have ever come across before! By the time I finish with either of those classes, my usual pleasant and happy nature has well and truely fled and I'm left with the grumbles- I hate that!
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