I was just looking at my last post and the picture of Katy and Spence, thinking about how beautiful they are.  I realized I forgot to mention that Katy took a bunch of their friends from Middlebury on a mountain bike ride the morning of the wedding.  If you look closely at the picture, you can see on Katy'sright arm, just below her elbow, she has a large bandage.......7 stitches !!!!!

 

 

We've been having our Friday PB sessions and last Friday 4 new players showed up.  I happened to know them all from one of my conversation groups so it was great to see them.  They came with Andres, who had come once before ( I described him as looking like a Calvin Klein model...he's tall and thin)  and they had been in the weight room lifting weights.  Andres had never played as he said he just wanted to come to practice English with me.  Anyh ow, he came and brought 4 of his friends and we all played for a while.  As it was winding up, we were standing in a little group and one of the guys said something like...can you recommend how to improve ?   I assumed they were talking about pickleball so I said they should watch You Tube and study what the players were doing....they laughed....and said they were talking about improving their English, not pickleball.  That tells you where my mind was.😊

School is on vacation this week so I'm looking for things to do.  I did get us permission to come onto the campus to play pickleball so I think I'll be doing that some.  I don't feel very safe going out by myself so I'll probably just play pickleball and walk around the Queretaro historic center which is nearby.  There is plenty to see around there.  A couple of cartel leaders ended up in US custody recently so some  of my coworkers are expecting some  violence related to that.  Mexico is saying they did not have anything to do with it so I guess that means the US arranged it.  Who knows ??!!  

I am renewing my lease in my apartment for 6 months but I doubt that I'll stay here that much longer.  Its very hard to find a place that will take Gringo and also that PC will approve so I decided to just stay put.  If I leave earlier, they can just have the extra money....not worth the hassle and I really can't find anywhere else to live. 

 Starting a new post as I didn't post anything for a while.  My days have been pretty routine since the heat wave passed and the weather has returned to the weather that Queretaro is known for...cool nights and very decent days.

The biggest event is the wedding of Katy in Peoa, Utah...a close suburb of Park City. It was just wonderful and I'll add some photos right now.  

Katy and Spence

One table.  They had almost 200 guests at the wedding.

Many of their friends from Middlebury wanted to camp so they provided Glamping accommodations i                                          
The mother and father of the bride....Amanda and Jon Eric

The theme of their wedding was "Tandem" as that was their transportation around campus for their courtship.

Rich and Wren provided music and played  the song, " Follow Me" which Rich had played by himself at Amanda and Jon Eric's wedding in Honoluluu 32 years earlier

The sisters of both the bride and the groom provided some heartfelt and comic entertainment at the reception.

This is a view of the reception tent from the fire pit which was near the glamping area.  A close look will reveal the dance floor still very crowded.  They had another food truck come around midnight and apparently most of the campers were gone the next day by 10 am.  

Other than the wedding, the only reportable event was a couple of the pickleball players registering themselves as intermediates in a tournament.  They learned a lot and got to observe how such an event is handled.  

 Its almost the end of May and we are currently in the middle oft the THIRD head wave this spring...incredible...ungodly.   Its been close to 100 F. most days for the past three weeks., some days over 100.   They use Centigrade here so high 30s seemed doable at first but....NOT>   I don't have AC and really hardly anyone does....it wasn't needed before last year and this.  CLIMATE CHANGE big time.

I bought an evaporative cooler, aka swamp cooler, portable so I can roll it between my two rooms and it has helped soooo much.  The first week, I hardly slept even tho the nights were a lot cooler.  This house, and apparently most of them here except for the really old structures, absorb the heat during the day and then hold on to it all night.  The walls actually feel warm all night long.   UGH !!!

 

I want to record here the progress with Pickleball.  One student has stepped up to show a huge interest in PB and taking responsibility for getting more players.  He has suggested a Whats App group to remind players, he wants to get PB on the website as a sport offered at UTEQ and he wants to do a lot of things to get it going which is exactly what PC wants, sustainability.  Last Friday, I had asked him to take over since I was going to be on a visit to another site.  Even tho my visit got cancelled, and I could have gone, I did not as he was so excited about being in charge.  It seems all went well and his parents came to help him out and to play. When they went on a trip during the last school break, he apparently took them to play PB and they loved it and were anxious to come and play at UTEQ.  Of course, I encouraged them to come and I hope they return when I am there.   I also ordered another net system us so that we don't have to jerry rig the soccer net, although that has been helpful.  

The new quarter started so I have been having conversation groups rather than going in to other teacher's classses and I believe it has been successful.  I also have started a seminar with some admin staff and teachers to practice English but we've only met once and I hope it is successful too

I have a big problem with ants and a small problem with roaches so I'm having my place fumigated next Friday.  A co-worker does it as a side job so he's doing it for me. I'll put Gringo in the vet for one night even tho they say you can return after 40 minutes..

This is election season so PC has required us to standfast in our communities until the election is over and for a few days afterwards.  I have gotten permission to travel out to Juraquilla to look at the pb place out there There is a competition out there next weekend and apparently they are desperate for female players so I might.....might....play but I'll have to watch today to see how the play looks. 

Things are really hopping around here in the PC office.....Our country director left about a month ago, our Asst. Country Director went home for a month and also has recently had a cancer removed from her face, a new Country Director has arrived and the Program Manager for TEFL either quit or resigned.  Of Course we don't know.  There's lots of action n What's App but I don't know what actually went down.

The new country director seems to be a good person but he has never served in the Peace Corps so his experience, or lack thereof, is limited and I fear it might affect his ability to really understand many of the situations the volunteers are encountering in their sites.  We'll see.  We don't get together again until next January for our Mid-service conference.  

Pickleball stalled a while during a break at school and then we had some really hot weather and I had to cancel one  Friday due to problems in my apt that I had to be present for but yesterday it got back on track . 

.  In fact we had some students from UTEQ come to play and there were 4 folks I had not seen before and come to find out, they are high school kids who live around the Uteq area.  I don't know why they were on campus but they fit right in and were really nice kids.  I hope they come back...we added them to the Whats' App Pickle ball list to remind them to come to play.

Another thing happened today that I wanted to make sure I didn't forget.  I did an activity with the higher English groups called "Please, interrupt me."  It turned into a huge success.   Each student had to tell a little story, just describe a day or anything similar, and the other students had the obligation of interrupting to get more details from the story teller.  One group was well behaved and did a fine job, all in English, of course.  But , as the day went on, the stories seemed to get a little crazier until finally our last group was crazy.  The first two kids told their story of working as waiters at a private event where everyone in the room was white and some were rude.  The two kids told some hilarious stories and had us all in stitches.  It was a huge success.  Then the next kid, Roman, told how he went to a "off limits" club just for the experience and ended up getting "pepper sprayed."  It too was hilarious.  Finally, I spent the last hour with a kid named Oscar who told of how he was selected for a scholarship at the age of 12  and has been receiving it through high school and thru college.  Its from a local bank. He is the kid who said the most interesting thing about  the Mexican culture is how good Mexicans are to each other...long story but that is the jist of it. 

I'm going to stop this and publish since its been quite a while since I updated.  I'll start a new post.

 

 

Some vignettes and report on trip to CDMX..ciudad de Mexico

 Our cohort recently completed three days ( actually one day there and two days traveling) but they called it three days of a counterpart workshop in Mexico City  I traveled with two of my colleagues from UTEQ who I like very much so I enjoyed the whole time.  I'll include some photos of Chelo and Mayela and some of me in various places in CDMX  Ciudad de Mexico)

This is an apartment complex we could see from the sidewalk near our hotel.  Its very charming but that doesn't show up in this photo.  The buildings are very old....colonial times.

In back is Arturo, Asst. Program Manager and a really bright charismatic fellow,,  In white is Melissa, asst. Country Director. In blue is Chelo and with me is Mayela from UTEQ

Chelo and Mayela on a cool bench in downtown Mexico City.

A view of a main avenue in CDMX called La Reforma...its wide and beautiful with a green space between the lanes.

One night before the dinner at the hotel we indulged in some street food...Chilangas...yummmmm

,

Our team won Trivia game.  The guy with the beard is Seth , a volunteer, who turned out to be a huge Star Trek fan.  The Green jacket and red jacket women are with me....in green is a volunteer , Rachel, and Chelo. from UTEQ,   The other two are Mexican English teachers at Rachel's school.

 

One of the really great teachers at UTEQ retired last week.  She and her husband threw a party for her and some pictures follow.

Carrie, Bere, Esthela and Eduardo ( nickname Lalo) at one of the tables for guests.

Juan Luis, the retiree's husband is also an English teacher who plans to retire in 2 years.  But meanwhile he plays in a rock band in his free time and they played for the party.

Esthela and Deyanira who is the retiring teacher.  They have been long time friends and are both great teachers.

This is my table starting with Ricardo, Julio, me Fernanda and Chelo.

They provided some delicious food....tacos with some amazing fillings.  The location is a party place that is available for rental for this type of event.  The chef is standing to the side.  She appeared to do it all by herself as I watched her closing down and carrying the containers to the car.
 

The group photo...Deya in front in the white blouse and other teachers and related staff.  I am the glowing white one....I had not realized how very WHITE I am. 

We also had a training on "inclusion."  This was an activity we did to demonstrate the feeling of being blind.   With me is Veronica and above us are Sergio and Ricardo.  They are just now introducing the concept of inclusion and have several trainings planned for the entire campus.  I am not sure whether the lower schools have been more aware of inclusion or not.  

 I also want to record the conversation I had with a bank customer service person today..   It was sort of amazing.  She and her boyfriend moved  fairly recently to Queretaro from Vera Cruz because it is safer here.  Their parents and siblings are still in Vera Cruz even tho they don't feel safe but their businesses are there and they don't feel they can leave.  She and her family all lived in North Carolina for 10 years but were not documented so came back to Mexico a few years ago and have been living in Vera Cruz where they don't feel safe but also feel unable to leave.  She said they visit back and forth about twice a year.  They also came back to Mexico because the grandparents in Vera Cruz were aging and wanted to be closer to them.  Travel back and forth from the US  was not possible since they were not documented in the US.  She said all this so easily, just takes it for granted and did not show any remorse or fear over the safety differences between Vera Cruz and Querataro.  Also, she speaks English very very well so I contacted the PC office and encouraged them to try to recruit her to work for PC...she is a very bright young lady....also speaks French, btw.  

I am currently in the last few days of the current break between quatrimestres ( they have three terms of 4 months each) in an academic year.  During the last 4 weeks of each term they administer a lot of tests so I am told that I don't need to be there as students don't come to campus unless they need to do make up tests so there is nothing for me to do....so I stay home with Gringo and find little projects to keep me busy. I hated it at first but now  I kinda like it and I've actually gotten a lot done. 

Today was Labor Day here so no school for anyone and many small shops were closed.  The shopping malls were packed.  I thought it would be a great day to go to the center and look for a wedding gift for Katy and Spence.  The one Jardin where I was told the artesanal things were featured is Jardin Guerreo.  When I got there....it was empty...all the artesans were celebrating Labor day....as well they should.  Anyhow I got some other things done and saw a lot of new places in the historical center.  I'll go back on a Saturday when they'll all be there.  

Now its May 12 and I go back to school tomorrow.  I am not sure what my schedule will be but I'll know more tomorrow.  Earlier last week, I tripped over an uneven part of a sidewalk and ended up with a small scratch but a HUGE black eye and bruised side of my face.  Looks awful..but three very lovely ladies helped me to my feet.  I called PEace Corps and went there in a DiDi.  The doc on duty took me to a very fancy hospital where they did an MRI of my head and an xray of my knee and both passed....no real injuries.  When I go back to school, I'm sure the students will notice and hopefully question.

Photo from Ukraine

 

This is Katy.  Her mother is my on line English student from Ukraine.  They fled to Poland a few months ago but kept their flat in Ukraine.  She and Katy went back there early last week to visit family and pick up a few things.  On Sunday when we had our class she was so happy to be back in her country even tho they have to run to the underground parking garage when they hear alarms.  Her husband has kept his job and works remotely from Poland.  My client did have a job on line but was let go and she is still looking for another.   If you're interested is chatting with a person from Ukraine go to ENGin. com and sign up.

Pickleball and English classes

I want to post an update on my activities here in Ole Mexico....or to use a term I just learned,..... Flexico.  

 As I mentioned in an earlier post, we have gotten Pickleball started and last Friday was our 4th gathering and it was a big success.  I had bought a whole net set up, not just the net, thru Amazon and it made a big difference.  We also lined off a regulation sized court ( mas o menus....we used some basketball lines so our "kitchen" and service boxes are not quite exact but its a lot better than before.  I also got 4 better paddles thru Amazon....such a love hate relationship I have with Amazon....and they have made a difference too. Anyhow, last week a young man, who I have described as looking like a Ralph Lauren model ( my son asked me to describe what that meant to me and I responded....tall, painfully thin and awful posture) came to stand next to me as I watched and shouted coaching tips from time to time.  After a few minutes, I asked him if he wanted to play.  He said, No, I just came to practice my English with you.  Now that made my day because I got this whole pickleball venture approved by my program manager at Peace Corps by claiming that it is a vehicle to teach English and US culture.So anyhow, Andre asked for a couple flyers to put up in his building ( his major is Nanotechnology) which I gave him.   So, earlier this week, I was in that building for a class and noticed one of our pickleball posters posted with something written on it.  It is hard to see but in the bottom right corner, he has written," You now know friend, so come and improve your English.

 

 

This next picture is a couple helping assemble the real net we now have and based on last Friday's showing, I have ordered yet another and a couple more better paddles.

 

 As to other efforts, we are working with a virtual English teacher, sort of a pilot project.   Its been interesting, to say the least.  My role, as I currently believe it to be , is to observe and make recommendations in the hopes of improving the process for  similar situations in the future.  He is an older ( 80) guy in Kansas with a lot of education and experience and his expectations of what he can do with our students is a bit unrealistic.   Distance learning is hard in the best of situations and he is trying to teach them the finer points of phonics so they can be better teachers when they get into the classroom themselves. His efforts and goals are high...the students are not showing the level of interest he was hoping for.

As to what  else I'm doing in the English classes.  UTEQ is organized by quatrimestres....something we've not heard of.   They are 4 month terms and they run continuously.  There is no summer break, just a break of a week or so each term.  I am definitely going to have a more settled schedule for the rest of my time here.  I want to pull small groups out of a few classes and work with them on their oral communication.  Many of them know a lot of words but there is no time to practice within their classes.  So, I see this as something that could make a difference.

A class that I am coteaching  with Deyanira is a beginner class for UTEQ employees.  Its great fun.  We've started with pronuncing the alphabet in English and short vowels and on and on.  The other thing we are doing is Readers Theater.  Its a very low difficulty play for young native English speakers but it is challenging for  beginner English learners and we 've had a lot of fun with it.  I am serving as director and I had never realized how physically exhausting that role could be...but, its great fun.

The other class/workshop I'm involved with is with the Drama teacher, Rodrigo.  We haven't really done anything much but I hope to be able to contribute as time goes on.  This quarter is almost over so hopefully I'll get involved earlier next quarter and be able to play a bigger role. 

 I've introduced myself to about 25 classes of students and I am sick to death of doing that but I have to continue thru the beginning of April when this term ends.  There will  a new one starting at the beginning of May.  I'm going back to MD for 4 days at the end of March, during Semana Santa here and spring break, and hopefully will get to see John and Hanna ....Sue and I are planning to drive up to Juniata County and as of now, Hanna and John are planning to drive down and visit with us for a day or two.  We are planning to spend the night so we'll have a little time together, for sure.  We're hoping some Peacheys drive over for a  visit and the Gilsons are in Florida still so there won't be many folks to see outside of our immediate family.  We Hertzlers and Beavers have all but disappeared from Juniata County.

I also want to memorialize a comment of one of the students....there are several which are memorable but his was amazing.   When I introduce myself, I often play a little game where a student guesses what my answer will be to a question posed by one of their classmates.    The question was...what do you like most about the Mexican culture ?   This student guessed that I would say,   " that we are so kind to each other:, it shocked me...in other classes a student has said something like, the food, the music, the language, etc.  This student went in such a different direction....I loved it and let him know.  

Now some random photos:

This is a photo from our first pickleball attempt.  We were using soccer nets that they had in the athletic department and lines that were put down for basketball.  Not a good situation but it was a start and we have come a long way.   Its a covered court that is usually used for volleyball and basketball so we have to compete for time and space.

The previous three show how the students rigged up the new regulation  net that I ordered but we still did not have the right posts to hold it up....so they improvised using the posts from the soccer nets we had phased out.  It kept blowing over so they figured that out too.

Birthday, pickleball, local places and street views

 

This is Adelayda Sotello from Malpaisillo and her son Carlos Mario, in Nicaragua.  Very very good people. 

The lighter dog is the guards dog at UREQ and she decided to share her house with this new fellow and now they seem to be inseparable.  I hate that big bowl of food which does not seem to get eaten, probably rancid,  but I don't say anything.  I just found out that the darker dog belongs to one of the teachers and she brings him to hang out on campus while she teaches. 

We got pickleball started at UTEQ and the response has been very very good.  It's hard to take good photos with my old phone but this will give you an idea.  We had two meet ups using a net that  the soccer coach had for soccer drills.  But, then I ordered an official net on Amazon and that is what you see in these photos.  We had to use the posts from the soccer nets and the students made it work and then they took a rest. 

Two other January birthdays in the office.  Esperanza and Bernice with me.

This is a pretty awful shot of our first pickleball effort at UTEQ.  I have an old camera without a wide angle lens so this is the best I cold do. 

Just a couple of charming streets near where I live....actually on the way to the lab where I was going to get my blood checked after having trouble shaking a bad cold.

I live near the bottom this street, 5 de Mayo,.  It shows the mixture of vintage electric wiring and fancy condos just one hill away.

The local post office is in the white building next to the orangeish one.  The first opening is where they park the motorcycles on which they deliver the mail and the second opening is the actual post office where you can mail things.  It works.

A yummy breakfast at Veg Co, a local vegan restaurant owned and run by two sisters.

Some roof art, its steel mostly, which I noticed on my walk one day.  Earlier I posted a painting of an automatic weapon which was on a wall of a house...I noticed recently that it had been painted over so someone objected...other than me.