Yea-yah to my mom for completing the Chicago Marathon! She didn’t tell us (me and the cats) until she completed it but I hear Chauntee was quite excited, too. My entire family has been into running except for a certain brown sheep. Anything more than a couple of miles doesn’t interest me. I’ll stay at home, read the news all day long, and dip brownies into Snak Packs thank you very much. My really long cold is finally over. I guess those penicillan injections in my ass really helped. After feeling like I was three again, some Mexicans told me that [View Full Entry]

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I haven't traveled since Zacatecas but I thought I'd post an ordinary blog anyway. My photos are of whatever I could scrape up. I've been taking more with my film camera, sorry. These are just little stories, so sorry if it is repetitive to some of you. I started teaching English on September 30th. I definitely enjoy playing teacher. The students are Mexicans who need to take this English course in order to be certified Mexican grade school teachers. The class is for two hours a week and there are 17 students ages 19-22. There is one pregnant womyn, a married [View Full Entry]

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My pal Linda and I escaped from our industrial city and took an overnight 9 hour bus ride to the city of Zacatecas. It was cool travelling with Linda because we got to know each other, she's adventurous and into tasting and sharing food too. It was a good weekend that I needed to just see a beautiful place, have fun, and experience being in a less corporate Mexico. We arrived at 8 AM saturday and took the public bumpy bus to our hostal. We decided to stop for Mexican breakfast. I had tamales, eggs, fresh OJ, tea, and Mexican swe [View Full Entry]

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School is going a-OK. I've finished a second round of group projects. I'm rockin' my women's studies class and I'm learning more about how to print my own photos in the lab tomorrow. If all goes well, I will begin teaching English to some of Mexico's future teachers this weekend. The title is the Arabic pronunciation for "River Running Between Rocks" which describes the city of Guadalajara, Jalisco. This is where I spent this past weekend celebrating the "Grito" or Mexican Independence. Mexicans celebrate Independence Day on the anniversary of the initiation which was started by Hildalgo i [View Full Entry]

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I don't have much to say about this past school week because it was just full of studying, attempting to motivate my groups for projects, and doing poorly on exams in Spanish. Also, apparently my body hates Mexico- more specifically- my bowels. A liquid diet for a few days helped that out, in case you were curious. I have had two official days of working at the Consulate. So far I have been editing their database and working with Collin to research the exports and imports of pipes and valves in Mexico. Right. Before I get too far- this is an [View Full Entry]

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I started off last week with finally completing the first and most complicated stage to obtain my visa. Other than that, I've had more group projects in the past few weeks than I would have in a year at U of I. Everything is very group orientated and it was explained that you aren't an individual here, you are your family, you are the group you work with. Also, I have learned that they are really into titles. Even if a person has earned their bachelors you still have to call them "Licensado" (I don't know if that is how it [View Full Entry]

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I held off on writing another blog for two reasons: a lot of things were still in process and subject to change so I wanted to wait until I had some solid material to write about before I excited anyone. Also, I haven't had access to my camera charger until this afternoon and I didn't want to leave you without photos! And don't worry, I have seen more than just the campus it was just easier to take these photos this afternoon. More city stuff later. My second week of Mexico was rough. My third, was consumed with recovering from the [View Full Entry]

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Bueno todos! I´ve had a very busy first week. Right away I was swept off to and international students´dinner at a local delicious buffet. I had a confrontation with a bartender because after ordering a beer- I just walked away. I was later hunted down. Apparently, the buffet fee didn´t include liquids. Then I got lost at night on my way back because first I was trying to get back to Tec (the nickname for my school). I needed to pick up my bags and get cash from the ATM at the 711 by school. I left my bags at school [View Full Entry]

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Muchisimas gracias, Alejandro Maya y Antje Muntendam, para los recomendaciones! Por favor, dame tus numeros de correos porque quiero mandate tarjetas postales. ---- Monterrey, Mexico. That is where I will be living for the semester starting monday. I'm excited that I get to study in Mexico, especially because my family has history there. This first blog is mainly to introduce you to what I will be doing. The interesting thing is, I hardly know the answer to that myself! I have already had one study abroad experience (Fall '05 Granada, Sp [View Full Entry]

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