Ohh, Mexico

What to do...

After feeling pretty trapped with my present situation here in Mexico, i.e. my original host family falling through, the other family I stayed with temporarily not working out because they lived too far away from the school, and now staying with Carlos (my boss) and his family.. I find myself with a few options opening up and not knowing exactly what to do.

I'm interviewing for a job tomorrow at another school where I would be guaranteed a minimum of 40 hours of classes a week and a place to live with the other English-speaking teachers. I definitely need to work more than I am right now because 14 hours a week is just not cutting it. I've never done well with too much idle time.. I just get anxious and feel like I should be being more productive. I like the sound of a house to live in where I would have very little expenses, but do I really want to live with other Native English speakers? A big reason for me coming down here was to improve my Spanish, and I worry that if I'm going to be teaching English all day and then going home to English-speaking roommates, my time here in Mexico will do nothing for my Spanish. But I figure I'll at least check this out tomorrow and hopefully get a lot of things cleared up in the interview and see if I even get a job offer and if I should be worrying about all of this in the first place.

I'm also considering the possibility of getting an apartment with another teacher who works at Carlos' school because she's been living here alone and is looking for a new place to live, and I think she told Carlos that she liked the sound of having a roommate. I've only met her once but for very briefly. Her name is Anna Sofia, and she's actually French. She's here teaching French classes at Carlos' language institute. Living with her would definitely be interesting because I don't speak a word of French and I don't know how her English is, so we would probably end up trying our best to communicate in Spanish. But who knows... I'm supposed to meet with her today to talk about all this, so hopefully I'll get some questions answered.

I feel like I'm getting more accustomed to being here after a very difficult first couple of weeks. There are a lot of charming things about Mexico, most of all being how nice the people are here. I feel like I'm this strange foreigner that so many people have been willing to welcome into their home, no questions asked. I've talked with Carlos and he knows that I'm going to be interviewing with this other school tomorrow, so it's good that everything is out in the open between us. He knows that my time down here has not been what I've expected, so I think he's understanding. He and Mariela keep insisting that I'm welcome to stay with them, though I think they understand that living with roommates, not a family, is what I'm accustomed too. It's a lot different here than it is in the states where Mexicans value family so much that it's normal for a 23-year-old to still be living with their parents, but like I keep saying, I need my independence.

Time to run to get a lesson plan together before my even classes.. I'm trying to to stress out so much about lesson plans because I am still a little terrified by them, but honestly, I only have 2 students per class! Nothing to worry about, but still, I want to do the best job I possibly can and teach these kids something.

I promise I'll have more interesting things to write about once things get a little more settled down here, to whoever's reading this! Nos vemos..

posted by Rachel @ 11:58 AM