Carole in Durango

2008-10-26T21:02:00.000-07:00

2008-10-25T18:35:00.000-07:00

Celebrations

2008-10-25T17:02:00.000-07:00

Another month has already passed and despite the fact that I am constantly on email and other internet activities, I haven't written for this blog. So here goes. I think about what I want to include here all the time – does that count?

Some thoughts about the Mexican culture – they certainly do love celebrations. Any excuse for decorating, music, fireworks, they’re on it. In mid-September they celebrated Mexican Independence Day. All over town were decorations, fireworks, vendors selling red, white, and green stuff (colors of the flag) and signs declaring “Viva Mexico.” At school we had a day when classes were not held, but the kids came to school and spent the day decorating a classroom, wearing traditional costumes, and sharing their wonderful Mexican foods. My room was decorated by 9th graders, who came in and just went to town decorating. We had some Mexican music playing and lots of Mexican food, from gorditas to frijoles to many kinds of tamales, to homemade mole. My students won second prize for the best traditional decorations. I’ve included a photo of them here.

Now we’re preparing for Halloween, which seems as though it will be even more of a big celebration. Apparently the students decorate “floats” which are actually trucks all festooned with stuff, and then conduct a parade all around town. The next day (Nov.1) they hold a Kermesse (I still don’t know what that word means; someone said it’s an acronym) at school, making a haunted house, having booths where they sell food and other items. I’m going to be supervising a booth where we will sell elotes, steamed ears of corn. I guess this isn’t as much of a religious celebration as I expected for Dia de los Muertos. There are pumpkins, ghosts, zombies, all of the things we have for Halloween in the states.

In my advanced state of aging, I am rather irritated with the noise level around here. Being so close to downtown, I am constantly bombarded with fireworks, which are mostly just really loud explosive sounds. It seems as though fireworks are popular for whatever anyone feels like celebrating. Many shops downtown have loud music blaring from them, and some trucks drive around with loud music. Then there are numerous church bells that chime at all times of the day and night. Sadly, they’re not beautiful musical tones, but clanging chimes. I was walking by the cathedral that’s closest to my apartment recently and the clanging started, and I actually was able to observe a guy on the ground with a really long rope attached to the bells making them chime. I do appreciate the sound a little more after seeing him jumping up and down attached to the rope.

So, my friends (oh no, I’m sounding like John McCain!) I am already formulating my next entry to this blog and it’s going to be about how distance gives me a slightly different perspective on things, from politics to life in the U.S. to how incredibly important my loved ones are. By the way, I do have an answering machine on my phone, so feel free to give me a jingle anytime. I love you all and miss you!

Connected

2008-09-28T13:57:00.000-07:00

Woo Hoo! I'm finally connected with both a phone and the internet. I feel so much better! I rearranged some furniture in my apartment so I have a work space and am feeling more at home here. I don't have an answering system (yet), but I'm usually home in the evenings during the week, and afternoons and evenings on Sundays, so feel free to call whenever you get a chance. Keep in mind that we're 2 hours later here than in California. The number is 52-618-825-7407.

My life here is settling into something of a pattern. We are required to do a lot of work during the week, with lots of meetings (2:30-4:30 every Wednesday!) and mindless paperwork. But there's a brand-new movie theatre in town that has very inexpensive movies every Wednesday, and this past week I saw "Mama Mia!" in English, which was quite entertaining. We American teachers are bonding over the problems at the school. Saturdays I've been going for walks in the beautiful Parque Guadiana and having breakfast afterwards at a great little local outdoor Mexican restaurant -- delicious Huevos Rancheros!

There is a group of musicians that are from the university, not professionals, but many of them teach music and other things at the UJED (University Juarez del Estado de Durango) and they have monthly concerts at different venues. It's a full orchestra, with a very lively conductor. I just went to the second concert and it's one of the few times I see other folks here who are close to my age. This concert was free, in a beautiful building, and very good! There is going to be a cultural festival starting in a couple of weeks with lots of musicians and performers from all around coming to perform in Durango.

I am going to work on getting more photos, but for now I'll post some that I took around town when I first arrived. Stay tuned for more and keep in touch!

The School

2008-09-15T08:17:00.000-07:00

We’ve completed four weeks of school now . . . in a way the time has gone by quickly, but in another sense, it seems longer.. First, I will say that the students are generally much more respectful of teachers than they are in the U.S. They refer to me as “Mees Schmeet” as in the Spanish accent trying to say “Miss Schmidt.” Most of the time, even when I pass them outside the classroom, they say “Hi Mees.” There is still the adolescent factor, though. Kids are basically the same everywhere. However, this school is the most expensive private school in Durango and it turns out that it’s a big prestige factor to have your kids attending the school. So not all of them are all that serious about school. Plus, the parents have to work a lot in order to afford the tuition, so they don’t have a lot of time for their kids as supported by this story: A seventh-grade girl’s cell phone rang in class one day (a big no-no) so I took it away from her and told her that her parents would have to retrieve it from me. After class, she asked me about it, so I asked her if her mom or dad would be picking her up after school. She replied no, that a chauffeur picks her up. I took pity on her and told her that she could have the phone back this time, but if it ever happens again . . . having sufficiently scared her. There is a big traffic jam in front of the school every day when cars pull up to pick up the kids. The guard at the front gate stands there with a microphone and calls the kids waiting for parents to come. He knows who all of them are!

As far as the school itself, I’m afraid it’s just as dysfunctional as the schools at home, if not more so. I’m teaching three different subject matters (preps as we call them), so it takes a lot of planning. Well, come to find out that for some reason, there are no textbooks for the students, possibly until December. Meantime, they’re copying them one chapter at a time. This totally sucks because the copies are not good, plus I don’t have all the teacher resources that usually accompany the texts. I do have one teacher’s book for each subject. I’ve always said that you can’t be a teacher if you’re not flexible, but come on! It’s almost a deal-breaker for me because that’s one thing I asked about before I accepted the job, textbooks. I was assured that oh yes, we use American textbooks and we’re getting new ones this year. If I were a parent paying the kind of money they pay for this education, I would be pretty upset.

Thanks for all your support and what communication we can manage!

First impressions of the city

2008-08-22T13:13:00.000-07:00

The city is wonderful! Beautiful walkways with grass and flowers, right across the street from my place. Plazas, cathedrals, all very ancient and beautiful, lots of statues and artwork and dancing and music. People are super friendly, even the taxi drivers (which cost very little, average about $2.00 to get just about anywhere.) There are 3 Walmarts here,Sears, a huge store called Soriana's which has groceries and everything else you can imagine (sort of like Walmart). I am starting to investigate some of the smaller local stores where you can get some wonderful food and fruits and vegetables, tortillas, etc. As you can see from the pix posted on this blog, thanks to Adam, my apartment is well set up and quite nice. There's an extra bedroom, so please come visit! The first post on this blog shows exactly where Durango is located and also the address of the school where I'm teaching, thanks to Max. Soon I will write about the school, the students, and our first week of school.

My Apartment!

2008-08-18T20:47:00.000-07:00

Durango, Durango, Mexico

2008-07-29T20:39:00.000-07:00

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