She's so high

September 7th, 2010

A good ten days have gone by and my whole life scenario in Mexico has changed entirely and is better than I could have ever expected or hoped for. I am currently living with the fantastic Carranza family in the beautiful town of Valle de Bravo and the list of things that I have done in the last few days is endless. I have met a great bunch of people, eaten a variety of

home cooked traditional mexican dishes, visited the neighboring towns of Colorines and St Thomas de los Platanos; two town that have their own very unique history. According to the locals, electricity was invented in Colorines and at the beginning of last century the old town of St Thomas and all of its fruitful vegetation and crops were flooded by the government and moved to the cliff top where the government provided them with construction and engineering training in the new hydro electricity plant.

Going back to my list of activities; I have been to a great photography exhibition; I am soon to be involved with a Voluntary group that sets up a variety of artistic, cultural and environmental schemes in Valle; I have climbed mountains and

been offered a free paragliding session which I accepted with open arms and have penciled in for a few days time; I have

successfully obtained my Mexican “Non Immigrant Identity Card” which I’m very proud of after hearing the nightmarish six attempts of some assistants last year; I have had incredibly warm welcomes from the schools that I am teaching at and managed to fix my timetable so that I only work Monday-Wednesdays, leaving a long weekend to travel and get involved with more activities. I have also done some good house hunting and despite finding the little house of my Mexican dreams and laying down a small part of the deposit I have been convinced otherwise by the Carranza family who weren't convinced due to it’s poor location, lack of privacy and possibly security. However there’s still hope to find my own place and there’s no rush at all, I am quite happy where I am. I already anticipate that it’s going to be very difficult to leave Valle behind in 10 months time.

According to the British Council and the SEP this is all due to the euphoric stage of the "Culture Shock Theory"...we’ll see about that.

Travellin' Light

August 27th, 2010

After three reasonably heavy days of teaching tactics with the British Council in Mexico City and one day of paper work with the SEP, all 37 ELAs are ready to head in their own directions. Mexico City has left a damp impression. To start off with, Air France lost my luggage for three whole days, but, luckily I had packed enough kit in my hand luggage for five days, so the waiting and hoping for a 24kg package to arrive at the hostel failed to phased me. Secondly, I had completely underestimated the power of jet lag and the effects of the high altitude and spent a good three days in a dizzy daze and out of breath. And finally, I had quickly grown tired of being inside an English Bubble in a foreign country: surrounded by english people in the hostel, in the bus, in the British Council, in the cafes, in the bars etc. I am ready to be let loose and discover Mexico for myself.

And so it is...

August 23rd, 2010

Sat alone in Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris, the enormity of the adventure I’m about to embark on dawns upon me. Tonight i’ll be landing in Mexico, after a week of administration with SEP (Secretaría de Educación Pública) in the capital I’ll head to Valle de Bravo, a town 156km south west of Mexico City where I’ll work as an ELA (English Language Assistant) for the British Council until July 2011. Having said this, I feel it necessary to state that this is what I have pieced together from the information that has been thrown at me from various directions, however, worry you not, after a similar experience in Argentina I am very prepared to witness some major changes in the itinerary.

This time last year, I was traveling home from Argentina for the final year of my bachelors degree and I never would have thought that I’d be off again. Last November I quickly and frantically applied to be an ELA in Mexico hours before the application deadline. Back then it provided me with a “Plan B” if the job hunting didn’t work out...luckily it didn’t and so, “Plan B” turned into “Plan A”! Everything always happens for a reason, and I can’t wait to live what this experience is going to throw at me!