Our First Mexican Week

Crazy First Week

It all started on Sunday, August 6. Already we had bailed on another planned "foreign-hire" welcome event because we were tired of having people around us all the time.

A guy from work (who we later (much later!) found out was our boss and the vice-principal!) took us to his church. It was neat seeing a protestant Mexican church. Unfortunately, we Canadians are too fidgety to last a 3.5 hour service! We then went on an adventure to Wal-Mart to find a Swiffer. Wal-Mart here isn't the same as at home... there's not much here, but we did find a "Scotch" version of the Swiffer. We are still on the hunt for an "aspirradora al mano" (Dustbuster). We thought about trying to find a "Carpet Flick", but only found a weird version of it - basically a giant lint roller on a stick.

Even Wal-Mart looks nice with good scenery behind it.

Monday was the first day of work. We had all sorts of workshops, which were nice, but by Wednesday, the workshops seemed futile as we still didn't have
a) our curriculum
b) our books
c) any idea what our classrooms were like
d) any idea as to the start date of school.

Plus, it turned out this school was less "American", and way more "Mexican" than we had been told. There was a dress code (one example: only yellow, white, blue and green shirts allowed), and teachers could be "reported" for not wearing the appropriate attire. The higher-ups refused to acknowledge that there was a variety of abilities in our classrooms. "Oh no," they cried, "our students are a homogeneous group - no differentiation needed!" We stupidly believed them.

At school the first day, we were also asked to fill out our work permit forms. The questions included:
1) What is your body shape? Robust, Medium or Thin
2) Hair Colour
3) Eye Colour
4) Chin Shape (Oval, Round or Square)
5) Forehead Shape (High, Medium, or Low)
6) Nose Shape (Countour, Convex, Wide, Straight)
7) Religion
8) Skin Colour
and of course, the ever popular
9) Eyebrow Shape (Thin, Bushy, or Plucked)

Then came the adventures outside of school. First, getting cable & internet. We spent 1.5 hours helping our friend Robert get this. Then we continued our hunt for a gym. Apparently gyms either a) aren't very popular, therefore they have to charge exhorbitant prices, or b) are trendy and for the rich. In either case, we kept finding gyms, with prices ranging from 750 pesos ($75 USD) to 1750 pesos ($175 USD) per month! Of course, the gym that was a stone's throw away from us was the one that charged the latter price.

Robert (who'd buy us Starbucks every morning)!

These frustrations outside of school were ones we were prepared for, and are ones that we didn't really mind. However, the "within-school" dramas were a little much.

So, after much thought, one of our good friends (amazing how little time it takes to become friends with some people!) decided it was time to leave. It had been a harrowing day for me, as I don't seem to deal well with a large lack of information, mixed with a large batch of misinformation! On top of this, his leaving created a big hole in my heart - "Here we go again," I thought, "Another friendship that I can only maintain through the internet."

The Mexican kids loved Robert - and I don't think it was just for his "play money."

La derniere nuit con notre ami, Robert.

Finally, Friday rolls around, and we were finally allowed to have the morning to decorate our classrooms. We went to get supplies from the official "supply guy" (no supply room here! Everything must be done as inefficiently as possible...!). Many of us asked about a supply budget, and were told, "Don't worry about it... it's pretty much unlimited." (This would be the "foreshadowing" part of a later episode of our "Monterrey Story" to come!)

Beautiful scenery on our way to school.

Friday afternoon, we had a "company" barbecue at our HR lady's ranch. Yep, a weekend ranch. But not the Texan, sprawling kind with wooden cabins. Nope, this was more like an estate, complete with a Workers' house, sprawling green lawns sprinkled with giant trees, and a pool (complete with a poolside house). Hmm... I thought we would actually feel rich in Mexico, but again, another point on which I found myself wrong.

The weekend was spent getting ready for school. There was a whole fiasco where the government decided to push school back till August 21 (instead of August 16), so for the entire week, the school told us that. Then, at the ranch party, the *great* news was announced: School would be starting on August 16 -- a mere 5 days for us to be ready.

And we had yet to see what we would be teaching.

At least the school has a nice view!