“Teacher your so injustice!”

“Teacher your so injustice” just so happens to be one of my kid’s favorite sayings here in Mexico. It cracks me up. Whenever my dear children at discovery think something is unfair they yell this at me. Teaching has been quite a bit of an adventure. I knew from the start that I have never been a huge kid person. Anyone that knows me well knows that kids are not my forte. You may ask why on earth I decided to go to Mexico in the first place. To be honest, it was not teaching kids that attracted me, but the experiences I would be able to have here. Surprisingly though, I have gained a love for my kids that I was not expecting. Not only are they some of the most adorable human beings on the planet, but they are eager to learn. It’s amazing what these kids have learned from ILP teachers. Although I know many of them don’t appreciate the skills and knowledge they have gained now, I am sure it will greatly improve their future. I wish I would have learned Spanish as child. Now as an adult, I am attempting to learn Spanish and it has been a roller coaster of emotions. It’s so hard to learn a second language, and I commend these kids for doing so well. As for now, I am just that injustice teacher making it one day at a time.

Mexico, oh Mexico! Where do I even start? This past week has been full of adventures!

First off, getting past my first week of classes was a huge step! The kids the first day were crazy! They were expecting new teachers and wanted to walk all over us! We all limped out of our classrooms exhausted and quite over whelmed! The rest of the week was better as we were able to get more control of our kids and obtain some classroom management! I am personally still working on finding a balance between discipline and fun! I have this crazy awesome kid named Juan Pablo who loves to make a mess! I have a feeling that we are going to be great bud’s this summer!

Luckily, we had our first vacation almost right away! We were able to head to Oaxaca and Huatulco this past weekend! It was a great get away from a stressful first week of teaching! We stayed in Oaxaca only a few hours and were able to see the ruins of Monte Alban! They were beautiful and full of so much history! The ruins were covered with the biggest bugs I have ever seen! There were hundreds of nests and they all made the loudest sounds!

After Oaxaca we headed for Huatulco! The view during the drive was spectacular! Most of the drive consisted of a scenic foggy mountain pass. Villages lined the streets of the busy windy roads and small black haired children frequently crossed in front of our speeding car. Sadly, the drive may have been some of my worst hours here in Mexico. The road although beautiful, was ridiculous. I easily get car sick and was placed on the windiest road I have ever been on in my life! It was three hours of up and down and up and down! Needless to say, I threw up twice! It was not my best moment! When we finally arrived, we were able to find some great places for ten dollars a person a night! We spent all day Friday at the beach! We found a great guy to take us snorkeling with all the gear included for five dollars! Although the fish were somewhat spare, the water was warm and it felt great to swim around. On Saturday we were able to find a deserted beach. A group of us rented boogie boards for only a few dollars a piece, and then we were handed three free boogie boards from a few local boys. The waves were huge! I must admit that I wiped out on several occasions and had a stomach full of salt water by the end of the day. Kelly, Brian, Corey, and I were in for the long haul and were the last people to leave the beach in our group! We walked away having had a successful mud fight and multiple sunburns.

Yesterday may have been the best day yet in Mexico! It was crazy busy, but so wonderful! I started the day off by preparing for lessons. At eleven I had Spanish class. I was happy to find out how much I actually knew as far as conjugations and what not. What I learned was that I can understand what is written on the board, but I have no idea how to put a sentence together. I am hoping that having Spanish class a few hours a week will greatly improve my lack of skills. I am still ridiculously scared to practice with locals. My mind usually goes blank. After Spanish class was dance class. Teo (One of the owners of the school.) CAN dance! I was able to pick up on the dance steps pretty easily and had a blast letting Teo throw me all over the dance floor! By the end of the hour I was sweating like crazy! It was one of the best hours in Mexico so far! My classes went really well and I was able to team teach with for both sets of lessons. After lessons, I got my game face on for Soccer. Mother’s day was celebrated yesterday here in Mexico so most of the teachers spent the night with their host families. Since I am without host family, Brian and I strutted our stuff to the stake center for soccer with the locals and Teo. Boy, do I suck at soccer compared to the locals! Sadly, it started to rain so I was never allowed to score that game winning goal! Hopefully next week will allow for a longer and much more coed soccer game!

The Start of Picture Fun!

While we were supposed to be planning lessons for Monday, Corey and I decided to step outside and take a few shots. Here is literally a five minute shoot. This should be the start of many picture posts of Mexico. I love it here! I love how everything is so colorful and bright! The past three days really has been a great start to what I know is going to be an amazing trip

The Start of Mexico


Words cannot describe how I feel right now. Currently I am sweating, yet rejoicing in front of three fans in the reception area of ILP’s Help school. I have fallen utterly in love with Mexico and feel completely at home and totally out of my element all at the same time.

Yesterday was a huge adventure. I arrived at the SLC airport at eight in the morning and met up with six other teachers. We all flew to Mexico City together where we met up with four of our other fellow teachers. We then loaded the bus and took a bus to Puebla to then load another bus to Tehuacan. We finally all arrived at the Help school around nine thirty. It was a long day but a great start to the trip. Let me just say that ten white girls with two giant suitcases each can make for a pretty funny sight. I think the kitchen staff was laughing at us immensely when we attempted to order Tortas for the first time for lunch.

When we finally all arrived, the director of the school, Rachel, interviewed us all to decide which host family would fit each person best. My roommate Audrey, the one who inspired me to come on this trip told me that instead of living with a host family I should try and live in the school’s local apartment. Although I have yet to move into the apartment, I am to live there with my head teacher and other teachers from another English school. Apparently my roommate is from New Zealand and loves to longboard. Sounds like a perfect fit to me.

Slowly we all dispersed one by one as host families came to make their awkward entrance to their new American guests. There are still a few teachers left from last semester living in some of our future homes so five of us were given mattresses and spent the night at the school.

With only five of us not at a host family, the directors Teo and Rachel took us out to taco’s for dinner. Can I just say that they were the best taco’s of my life! I have yet to remember what they were called, but I can assure you they were fabulous!

Although today was long and full of training, it has been full of beautiful moments. We all decided to take a walk around the city to discover our new home. I was blown away by the many colors and beautiful people that surrounded us. I can’t wait to photograph Tehuacan! Today I walked around with a simple point and shoot and only snapped a few pictures since I wanted to more see the city and become familiar with it. Someday soon I plan on taking my SLR out and discovering the city through my lens.

I have always been one to adjust well to change and new atmospheres, but I feel like Mexico is officially home. I can’t wait to become familiar with the area and the people and to pick up some Spanish. I must admit I have been scared out of mind to practice the few Spanish words I know. I am working on that. Until then, I am loving this simple yet dramatic change that is taking over my life. I must admit though that I am very much missing Logan and all of the fabulous people in my life there. I am so grateful for not only this opportunity to be in Mexico, but for all of the people that have brought me to where I am today and that I get to return home to in four months.

It Passes My Understanding

People make me laugh. We do the funniest things. It’s fascinating to me that with a world so big, it can seem so small because of connections we have with people.

One of my dream dates is to take someone that I really get along with to the airport and people watch. I want to make up stories for why the tall handsome blonde man is so excited to see the short stubby brunette girl. Are they lovers? Best friends? Why are they getting together? Perhaps a friend is getting married, or maybe the brunette is coming home to visit her family. Who really knows?

I find it hard to believe sometimes that there are over six billion different people on this world living their own individual lives. Whenever I drive on long empty roads on the freeway, I like to glance at those who pass me along my journey. Some make eye contact and continue on a steady pace forward whiles others simply ignore and don’t notice. It’s strange to me that to them I am just one of many persons that they are passing never to be thought of again and to me, they are just another person passing me. Yet, we live totally and completely separate full lives. I find that I have a child’s sense of egocentrism running through my bloodstream from time to time. It’s strange to think that others live their own lives and are not simply characters in the play of my own autobiography.

In this life, there are no extras! The blonde man greeting the brunette girl are not placed in the airport simply to make my experience at the airport more colorful. They are there by coincidence living their own individual lives and creating their own experiences.

It’s fun to watch people. We do the craziest of things just because we can. I love that no one you meet will ever be just like you. We are all individuals living our own daily lives and it’s a blessing and a gift that no one can take that away from you.

About a month ago I had the opportunity to go to Oregon to shoot pictures for a friend's wedding. While I was there I had the chance to go on a nice nature walk. Here are a few pictures from that walk. Enjoy!

Pizza Pie Cafe!

These are a few pictures I took of the Logan store! Enjoy!