[ONE] Month Left!

I can't believe it, but we only have 1 month left. When you put it into terms of weekends left, we only have 3 weekends left after this one! Britta and I both leave the day after we are finished teaching here. I feel like we have so much left to do before we leave! Both in school and out of school. We have only gone out at night once since we have got here and we have only gone out on the water once! We still want to go snorkeling and go with our "family" in the RZR to San Jose. And with all the people that are going to be here in these final weeks, they will just fly by!

This last week we got to meet up with a great friend of mine from work. He was here with his wife and their neighbors from home. It was so great seeing someone from home and it made me miss it a little more. We were able to go out to eat with them on Sunday this week and we just spent the night eating and catching up. We showed them around the town a little bit and made suggestions about where to go and what to do while they were here. The couple that they were with was actually the aunt and uncle of one of Britta and mine really good friends from school who came down to Cabo the last time that we were here. It was nice that we had so much in common and so much to talk about even though no one else had really met besides Doug and myself. They left today to go back to cold Minnesota, but I hope they enjoyed their time here.

Britta's aunt and uncle are also here and we will be meeting up with them soon sometime this week. Britta just had to get her new shoes that she ordered online so they were sent down with her aunt and uncle. She will be one happy camper when she gets those :)

I can't wait for the week after next when my sister and Jordan come. I've already been making a list of things for them to do and try while they are here and the cheapest places that they can go to try and find everything they want. Hopefully they have a lot of fun and have a relaxing vacation! It will be so good to see the two of them and hopefully I will get to see them a lot after school since they aren't really here on the weekend at all.

My puppy is still cute as ever and getting bigger every day.

The sunsets are also still gorgeous! It has been feeling a bit like spring/fall in the morning with the cooler temps, but I enjoy them since most the time I am so hot when everyone else is so cold. I think we have grown to used to the weather here and will have quite a shock when I get home!

Thursday my students had sports day/track and field day. It was only for kindergarten and the older students (the rest of the school) have theirs next Friday. It was so cute to see the students all dressed in their red and blue and compete in all the activities. I think what was even better was how excited the parents got for their children. They just take so much pride in their children and they show how much love they have for them. All the students did such a great job and had such a fun day! Our day finished at 12:45, but since Britta was still at the school I went back and spent the afternoon with her. After just 45 minutes of being with her kids I wanted to go running back to kinder. It was just a different kind of crazy than what I deal with, but it was fun to see what another classroom in this school looked like.

Speaking of loving one another, that is one thing that I like about Mexico. People are so nice and friendly, at least what I have experienced. In the morning they greet each other with a kiss on the cheek and it's not just one person, it is every person you see on the way to where you are going. Minnesota nice is one thing, but Mexico nice is another. It's just a different kind of nice, kind of a hard concept to explain until you are immersed in their culture for as long and longer than we are. I like it in some aspects, but don't in others. It's just so different than anything that we are used it in the states.

Our grass heads are growing like crazy!

This week on Wednesday the government informed the schools of Mexico that they were not allowed to use their teacher in service days to use for make up days from the hurricane. The schools of Mexico use the last Friday of every month as an inservice day so we found out Wednesday night that we were not having school on Friday for the students. Britta and I both attended the inservice, but spent most our day doing other things since the entire day was in Spanish. We were able to partake in some of the activities, but most of them we did not understand and a lot of the day was discussion and the IB coordinator talking to them able to program.

Hopefully this weekend we think of something fun to do and it looks like it is supposed to be nice on Saturday and cloudy on Sunday, but we normally make the best of all our days here, especially our weekends that we have off from school.

Sending warm thoughts everyone's way back in MN! See you in a month cold weather!

Whales!

Today Britta and I took a whale watching cruise with Cabo Escape today and it was awesome! We got on the boat and were offered drinks and shortly after breakfast. The food was amazing and the whales were awesome! For the most part we followed the same two whales the whole time. It was a mother and her baby whale. We got to see them interact as the mother taught the baby how to communicate, dive, and eat before the mother leaves the baby six months after birth. 

We got some pretty cool shots from today and were able to take some more bursts to make into a video. 

After our tour we spent the rest of the day on Madono beach since the entrance to the beach was right where we got off out boat. Soaked up some more sun and swam around in the ocean since it was on the Sea of Cortez side and the waves are not nearly as big. 

Tomorrow we have another day to relax and hopefully I will meet up with a friend from work that is down here on vacation. It will be nice to see a familiar face! 

To bed early tonight!

 

The Best Beach Day EVER and Week 7 in the Books

Last week on Sunday, Britta and I headed down to our favorite spot on the Pedregal Beach. We were all by ourselves and only a few people walking and around on the beach. It was amazing and to top it all off, the waves were absolutely spectacular! We decided that we would just have a little fun and take some super cool pictures and videos. With my new iPhone I am in love with the slo-mo video and the burst feature on the camera.

For those that don't know how to use burst, I suggest you learn! It's awesome! When you are on your photo setting on your iPhone, instead of just hitting the circle once to take one picture, hold it down and you will be able to take many many pictures in a short period of time. Just point and hold that circle down! Then you can go through and pick your favorite picture of the bunch or you can do what I did and downloaded the flipgram app for iPhone and you can put as many pictures as you want and it will flip through them very fast. You can determine your length of video to fit Instagram or other social media sites. You can even add music to it! It was the perfect app for this situation and then amount of pictures I have.

Just be prepared that this post will be a lot of pictures, but mostly videos. I will eventually get to what we've been doing in school, but for now I had to share these hilarious and awesome moments!

Let's start with this gem of a video. Britta was clearly not prepared for that wave and apparently I didn't see it fit to warn her. So of course, she fell. It was great and provided us with a good laugh! At least she was ok and fell in the right direction instead of into the ocean! :) 

And then there is this beautiful video of me filming Britta, or so I thought. Apparently I didn't hit the screen in the right place to turn the camera back around and all I got was a bunch of picture of me getting really excited for whatever was happening to Britta. We will never know how cool that wave looked behind her, but clearly, by me face, it was great! If I can get a good laugh from it, I'm sure you all will too! :)

Now I'm just going to start adding a bunch because they were super cool and we had a lot of fun running around in the waves and on the rocks trying to get these pictures and videos that we will have to enjoy for the rest of our lives! Hope you enjoy! :)

Myself on top of the rocks.

Britta on top of the rocks.

Running from some waves. The look on my face says it all. We were just so happy to be here and playing in the waves! 

Slo-Mo waves crashing on the rocks. They were just so big that day!

Britta's cartwheel on the beach to finish off the afternoon.

Now time for some photos!

I did warn you that a lot of it would be pictures! That day I almost took 500 pictures and videos with all the different bursts that I did taking up to 50 photos in just a few seconds. It came in very handy that day and will come in handy again in the near future. Like tomorrow when Britta and I go whale watching in the morning!

So time to talk a little about school. Lately a lot of students have been in and out with different sicknesses. One is particular that is going around the kinder classes is chicken pox. There were 3 students that were out for 2 weeks because of those buggers. Others have had just colds and fevers, but get sent to school anyways. 

The students are learning about the earth and living things and how they grow. So this week the K2 students got to make grass heads, which turned out so cute and on Monday when we go back, they are just going to be crazy full of grass! The K3 students planted tomato plants in eggshells and a few of those are starting to sprout as well. The garden that we planted a few weeks ago is still growing! Hopefully I will be here to see it produce, but I'm afraid I will be gone by then. 

All this planting is getting me excited to get back home and be able to plan and plant my own garden since I will finally have one of my own!

I can't believe that we only have 5 more weeks here. I'm very excited for Allison and Jordan to get here for Spring Break! I'm sure they will have so much fun and it will be nice to see some familiar faces! :)

We headed down to the beach tonight to watch the sunset and the view was pretty amazing! Pictures are just better to look at than me just explaining how awesome the sunset looked!

Tomorrow Britta and I are getting up and going out on a Whale Watching cruise from 9-11. They are serving us breakfast and supposedly the best mimosas and bloody's in Cabo. I think we will be the judge of that! After that we plan to just spend the day at the beach or Marina relaxing and hanging out, enjoying our weekend in the sun!

Hope you enjoyed all the pictures and the updates! Everyone enjoy your weekend! :)

{6 & 6}

Yesterday marked exactly 6 weeks since we left and exactly 6 weeks until I fly back home. 41 days to be exact. I'm pretty excited to be counting down from this halfway point, but will still be sure to make the best of every second that I'm here!

This week in school was mostly spent preparing for the Valentine's Day program at school on Friday. A LOT of work went into preparing all the songs, poems, dances, and preparing the decorations. I wish I was able to show you all the performances because they did so well and the parents loved them! Friday was the craziest day that I think I've had yet. Even crazier than crazy week! There was just so much to get done and so little time to do it. Right away in the morning we had to prepare our K2 students with ladybug headbands. Then there was just so much other running around and making sure the music was ready. The parents started showing up around 8:30 and the program started at 9. The principal did some introductions in Spanish and then I translated them to English. Luckily the principal told me what she was going to say because I would not have been able to translate what she said! Then I had to introduce myself to the parents and just tell them a little bit about myself and what I'm doing here.

The Nursery class performed, then the K1, K2, and finally K3 classes. The K2 and K3 class did a performance in both English and Spanish, but the Nursery only did one in English and the Nursery only did one in Spanish. After the performance the parents stuck around for about 20 minutes to take pictures with their kids and with the teachers. The students were so cute in their red and pink and white. They didn't have to wear their uniform on Friday so that they could dress up for Valentine's day.

Valentine's day in Mexico is a little different. They call it El Día del Amor y la Amistad (The day of love and friendship) They emphasize the friendship side of things more than the love. In school instead of bringing treats for the whole class, each student brings one treat or gift for a secret friend and they draw names during their party. One person starts and draws a name they give their gift to the person they draw and then the person that received the gift draws the next name to give their gift to and so on. I believe that is how they do it throughout the whole school, but I know all the kinder grades do it that way. Throughout the week, the student council was selling different items like brownies, balloons, treats, serenades, and kisses on the cheek. In the afternoon they came around and delivered the gifts to the parents and students that bought gifts for others. 

After Friday, I was much ready for the weekend, luckily the forecast was wrong and it didn't rain yesterday and so far it doesn't look like it will rain today. Yesterday Jenn took us to San José to explore a little bit. We had been there 2 years ago the last time we came to Cabo and it was nice to see some familiar places from last time! She took us to Tropicana to eat lunch and Britta and I split the chicken sandwich and tortilla soup. It was delicious. We also asked the waiter what their best drink is and he recommended the blueberry mojito so we both went with that. It was so fresh and delicious, just so Mexico! After lunch we explored around the square a little bit and reenacted a photo from 2 years ago, just missing our other main 3 girls! We were sure to send them a photo and let them know we were there and were thinking of them. When we got back to the house, we lounged around the pool, listening to music. It was a beautiful sunny day! There were some clouds in sight, but none that blocked our sun. 

San José

2 Years ago and Today!

Last night Britta and I planned on going to another soccer game at the school, but when we got in sight of the school there were no cars, no lights, and the gate was locked so we decided to drive down to the beach instead. Something about being on the beach at sunset with the waves crashing and the sky lighting up with stars made us so happy and made us want to dance, so we did. Jamming to music, dancing around in the sand, running away from waves crashing on shore, was probably the best way we could have spent Valentine's day! There were chairs that were set up for a wedding, looks like we were just a little late for the ceremony, couples were down there sitting on blankets, watching the waves, and eating takeout. Britta, "relationship goals." So romantic! We came back to the house and watched some movies and I finally got my HGTV fix with a little Property Brothers! I couldn't think of a better way to spend my night. 

Today is another sunny day so far and it looks like it will be that way most the day so I think a day like this calls for the beach again. I don't think that will ever get old. I won't be ready to go back to the cold of Minnesota. 

More cute puppy pictures from home! Another reason I can't wait to get home. :)

Halfway!!

1|3

Well this past week was the 1/3 mark for our time being here. 1 month down, 2 to go!

The end of the week went by pretty fast and Friday was the first of our 6 observations. The lesson I did with my K3 class went great and I don't think I could have asked for the lesson to go any better. Last Friday we had talked briefly about organic and inorganic garbage and then on Wednesday this week we got another garbage can so the students were able to throw their organic and inorganic garbage away separately. We talked about the different trash cans and reviewed what we had talked about last Friday and then at lunch we put the cans in the front of the room. When they wanted to throw their trash away from lunch they had to decide if what they were throwing away was organic or inorganic and throw it in the right can. They REALLY liked the idea and caught on super fast! It was great. Friday we reviewed a little bit about different things that can go in the different cans. After we did a little reteaching and reviewing, we went outside with flashcards of different objects on them and  the different garbage cans. Each student got a card and had to come up to the front and put it in the correct bin depending on what was on their flashcard. After everyone had got a chance to do it, they all got a card, but weren't supposed to show it to anyone and then the garbage cans were on the other side of the space that we working in. When I said go they were to run to the other side and put their card in the right bin. We took them out and looked to see if they were in the right bin, if they weren't then they normally told me which bin it was supposed to go in and I didn't even have to ask! We played a few rounds of that and on the last one they got them all right! It was great and I'm glad they understand the concept. Thursday we had talked a little bit about trash and how it affects the animal population. A lot of students bring up these awesome topics and we can talk about it with them for a long time and they will just keep talking and asking questions. That's what we like to see is interest for learning, but sometimes with all the book work that we do, we don't always have time to get to it. After our lesson I met with our supervisor and gave me some tips on what I could have done different and told me what I did well. I really like her and I think that she will be a great help and resource to go to during my teaching career.

Friday was another rainy day right after school of course. BUT Saturday was FINALLY sunny (somewhat)! Britta and I could not have been happier. It was sunny but there was a period of hard mist (there is some weird weather and patterns that go on down here). Saturday we went into town and went to the beach. There is a place called Mango Deck right on the beach that is really fun and touristy, but Britta and I like to feel like we are touristy on the weekends :) It is a really fun place to hang out, have a beer and sit in the lounge chairs looking out at the ocean. On Saturday there were 2 cruise ships that were docked. They look huge from up by the house, but even bigger when you are down by them at the beach. Saturday night Britta and I decided that we should see what the night life is all about again. We had done it the last time we were here, but there were some new places and old places that we had not been to before. It was a fun night of dancing and meeting new people and tourists! Especially when we found people from MN or had a connection there. A lot of bachelor and bachelorette parties were encountered!

Had the beach to ourselves on Sunday! 

These are some of my favorite pictures from the beach this week/weekend! All these were taken at the Pedregal Beach, which is the beach just down from our neighborhood on the Pacific side. 

Sunday was another gorgeous day, even more so than Saturday. Britta and I went down to Pedregal beach to be alone and not have so many people bothering and trying to sell us things. It was very relaxing! We both got our first burns since we had been here, but I'd say that's pretty good if this was our first time. I've certainly had worse burns before so nothing that we can't handle. Sunday afternoon we went back into town and watched the Super Bowl through half time. I think Britta and I just wanted to see Katy perform at half time and she did not disappoint. #leftshark was pretty entertaining according to the rest of the social media world. He's trending on multiple media sites!

1. Our very impressive Fitbit stats from Sunday!

2. View from Mango Deck on Medano Beach, cruise ship off in the bay

3. FRESH guac made right in front of us. Holy Moly it was great! 

4. Classroom Aquarium

Today we didn't have school so it was nice to have an extra day to just chill and relax! We met up with another teacher from school who is about the same age as us and this is her first year down here as well. It was nice to talk to someone who could relate with what we felt and are going through being here. We ate at an awesome place in town that we will definitely be going back to! This afternoon we just sat by the pool and did some laundry. It is Clara's 3rd Birthday today and I'm so glad that I was able to face time with those cuties and wish her a Happy Birthday! I'm so thankful for modern technology, especially with all my family so far away.

1. Hard to believe that was already 3 years ago! Last birthday as the baby!

2. FaceTime session with the munchkins :)

This week at school is called Crazy Week. I would compare it to Red Ribbon Week at my school back at home. Wednesday is Pajama day, Tuesday is storybook character day, and Friday is Crazy day! It sounds like the kids LOVE it, especially the ones that I have. It sounds like I will be dressing up with the rest of the Kinder teachers, so I better start getting my outfits ready! I think it will be fun to see the students outside of their typical uniform that they wear to school every day and I'm sure they enjoy getting to wear something different too!

The puppy is still cute as ever and sounds like training is still progressing slowly, but better than nothing! Alli and Jordan got to puppy sit this weekend so I got lots of cute snapchats!