While I realize that it's been about a year since I wrote my last post, I've been inspired to start writing again. If you know me at all, or keep in touch with me you'll realize that this is my currently my second year in Mexico teaching fifth grade. I more than survived my first year, and felt directly called by God to return for a second school year. Last year was an incredible year of change for me, as I was living and teaching in a new country.
Last year was a year of firsts...first airplane trip alone, first year not just visiting another country but living there, first year teaching at another school other than King's, first year teaching at a bilingual school, first year living in a country where English is not the native tongue. I experienced many things for the first time last year as well...first live mariachi band, first taco other than from Taco Bell (my life is forever changed), first fresh mango, first time swimming in the Pacific Ocean, first time choreographing a dance number for my class to perform in front of the entire school, first time putting on a sleepover for the girls in my class, first time going to a water park with fifth graders (not to mention first time allowing my students see me in a bathing suit).
Because of these various 'first time' experiences, I have changed incredibly. Mexican culture has taken it's toll on me, and I'm different for life! Instead of being five or ten minutes early for appointments or lunch with friends, I'm five, ten, fifteen or twenty minutes late! Instead of staying at school until 7 or 8 in the evening, I leave at 3:30 everyday. I leave with a small pile of grading to do and some planning in a small tote bag instead of using the rolling box with wheels to drag as many teacher's manuals as I can home for the evening. I change my bulletin boards three times a year. Honestly. I eat lunch at 11, comida at 4 and cena at 8. While I was home I at McDonald's only once, and after the meal I felt like I was going to die. I can't eat cucumbers without lime and chili. No tortilla in the U.S. will ever, EVER compare to fresh in Mexico. I won't ever turn on a tap of clean water in the U.S. without being grateful. I've learned how to ignore whistles, catcalls and various English words thrown out by Mexican men standing on the street because I'm white. I've learned what it feels like to stick out like a sore thumb, to be stared at by everyone around you, and how not to get upset by it. I can survive without watching TV for months at a time, shopping for new clothes for almost a year at a time and driving a car for the same amount of time. Things that were central to my life are now trivial, things that were trivial are now what my life centers on.
This past year of firsts has been indeed life changing. What about the second year?
Time will only tell.
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