My dream Job!

God is AMAZING! I have had the calling and passion to work in Mexico since the 8^th grade. I never knew how that would look especially with having A LOT of student loans. I am still praying about when all those payments come due at the end of the year but I am trusting God! I can’t even explain all the details of how God’s plan has unfolded for my life.  As many of you know I was in Pachuca, Mexico last summer working with missionaries and built some amazing relationships. I fell in love with the people here and even the city. I am not a city girl at all but I felt a peace when I was here.  So after I returned to Ohio to finish my one year of school, I started applying to schools all over Mexico. I applied from the border all the way down to Cancun in November and December. Pachuca was the first school who called me and interviewed me twice over Skype in February. I was hired before I even graduated college which is AMAZING and it was my dream job! Now I am here in Pachuca and still trying to get fully settled in but I know this is where I should be! I would like to get a VERY cheap car sometime in the near future but still praying about it.

My big classroom is a work in progress!! I do have one of the biggest classrooms!

I am on my second week of orientation and the students arrive on Monday the 20^th. I am excited, nervous, overwhelmed, not ready but ready at the same time. J I am so excited to meet my students on Monday. As of right now, I have 14 students in each class. I am very thankful for student teaching in a half day kindergarten because it was preparing me for this year. My classes are classified as verde (green) and rojo (red).  My students will have schooling in English for half the day and then Spanish class for the other half of the day. That gives me a very short amount of time with my students and they are all English Language Learners. Some of them have been exposed to English before and others not very much at all. I have high expectations for my students but I would like prayer for how to handle students who are struggling with learning English. I know how frustrating it can be to learn another language as I am learning Spanish very slowly. I hope this allows me to connect with my students though! I also have a teacher’s aide who is bilingual. I have met her and she seems really great. She has already started organizing my classroom and asking me what I would like her to do. I have been a teacher’s aide so I want to make sure my students know she is to be considered a teacher with as much respect as me. I would love to utilize her in the best possible way like tutoring or working with students in groups. It is so awesome because she can give me a different perspective than mine because she has lived here her whole life. I have also heard from other teachers that she is very creative which is so good since I am not. I can find the idea but I can’t do it. Haha I pray that I can build an awesome relationship with her.

Ok about life here. I have been walking to school which is about a 35 to 40 minute walk. This walk each day has been very interesting. I have been whistled out by many different guys, stared out, honked out, and attacked by dogs. I get stared out EVERYWHERE I go because I am a young white female and that is not very common here. Today I had three guys yell at me saying with total respect you are beautiful. It was quite flattering but I have to say I don’t like all the attention. I love my apartment still. I have walked to the grocery a couple different times because you can’t get everything in one trip when you are walking. I am such a country girl because I am not use to buses and taxis. I have been on a lot of different buses here and they really don’t bother me like they bother some of the other foreign staff that is here. They are very crowded, dirty, bumpy, and the drives don’t slow down. I have stood so many times because there are no seats. I already have friends here from the church I worked out before in Pachuca. I love going to church and then going to my boyfriend’s family’s house and eating good Mexican food that doesn’t compare to the USA at all. I really love being able to connect with Mexicans and not just hanging out with the other foreign staff. I love people and kids! I am excited because I have already babysat for a women’s breakfast at the church. God’s plan is far better than what I have ever expected. I am glad I waited on His timing and not my own. More to come soon once school starts J

Thank you for the support in prayer and encouragement I receive from so many of you!

Ashley

A new Adventure

I arrived to Pachuca on Sunday after a long travel experience. My parents and I went through customs and found my vice principal. He got us a SUV taxi (because of all of my luggage) and we were on our way to Pachuca like that. They took us straight to my new apartment. Well, we got a little lost first and then got to my apartment. My apartment is in a very nice neighborhood and was so much more than I expected. You open a gate and walk up the stairs where there are two doors. My door is on the right and another young Mexican girl lives next to me. My apartment is all white even the couches! If you know me I need color so I will be adding color somehow. It is a two bedroom apartment with a nice big closet. All this space for just me but I am sure all of my friends here will enjoy coming over. The vice principal told me my address, his phone number, what time to be at work on Monday, how to light my water heater, and to follow the railroad tracks south to my school. Then he left! What now??!! I have no phone, no money exchanged, no food, and no idea exactly where I am! WOW! I used my mom’s USA phone to call my friend Gerzahin who came and got us. I feel bad for the teachers who come in and have never been here. We went to the mall and I got money and we ate at Taco Inn (ten times better than taco bell). Then we went to Wal-Mart and the adventure began. I had to get things like food, shampoo, hangers, trash can, and more. My friends from last summer, Gerzahin and Lalo, drove us there and were helping me get everything. After buying everything we went back to my apartment and started organizing. My friends left and I still didn’t have phone or internet. My parents and I were very tired so we got ready for bed and were almost asleep when my mom heard something. She jumped out of bed to look out the window and see Gerzahin, Sandi (his sister), and Gerza (His dad) at my door. This is the family I stayed with a year ago when I was here. I hurried and changed clothes and ran downstairs to let them in. I opened the gate and greeted everybody. Sandi gave me her phone and charger to use so I could be in contact with them until I got my phone. I invited them in to see my apartment. They were so nice and helpful. Gerza told me I could use their car tomorrow and Sandi would be our navigator. WOW!! I felt so blessed to have people watching out for me and my family.

The next day on Monday, I called the missionaries I know here in Pachuca and Vicki said she was coming to pick me up. Vicki took us to her house and fed us breakfast and talked with my parents. It really helped my parents know that people are watching over me here. God has placed amazing people in my life. After breakfast we went to get me a phone, internet, see my new school and back to Wal-Mart. My school is so nice. I got to see my classroom. It was very big and I even get a smartboard. J I was told that I will have 15 to 16 kids per class. I will be teaching 1^st grade to two classes. The way the school works is kids go to English or Spanish schooling and then after lunch they switch to the next. I found out I will be using Harcourt curriculum which I am familiar with so I was excited. I start orientation on Monday at 8 in the morning. I am excited to begin. I got a prepaid phone and the internet said it would be here in two days. That is incredible because some people it took a month to get internet. After all our shopping we went to Gerza and Reyna’s house for lunch. Reyna made a wonderful meal that was so good. My family got to meet the family that I lived with last year and see where I stayed. Then we went back to my apartment to relax for a little bit. Another missionary I know her lives very close to me almost on the same street. She invited us over so my parents could meet her. We went over there for about an hour. Then Gerzahin called me and said his sister and him were coming over to my apartment and then we could eat. We couldn’t decide whether to eat at my apartment or go out. I was trying to explain that I needed a cookie sheet to make food in the oven. Well, Gerzahin can speak very good English but didn’t know cookie sheet. It is not something they use down here. I could tell he didn’t understand and thought he might bring me a skillet or pan. They get here and I go open the gate. We decide to go out to eat. Gerzahin says, we will need to take the microwave out so everyone can fit. I said microwave???? He brought me his mom’s microwave instead of cookie sheet. We laughed for ALONG time about that one. Oh language barriers! After my dad moved the microwave we went to get Taquitos. They were delicious!  

It is now Tuesday and my parents have to leave. It was a very emotional day filled with tears. Vicki picked us up and we took a bus to the airport. I watched my parents walk through the security after hugs and tears. I knew this is exactly where I should be but it was still hard to say goodbye to my parents. Then Vicki and I got back on the bus to Pachuca. Once I got back to my apartment I was very drained from the emotions. I found on my bed a journal that my mom and I used to write to each other when I was younger. My mom had left me a message J I also found little notes in the bathroom and refrigerator. I would not be who I am today without my amazing family!!!!

Wednesday, the missionaries came over with another Mexican couple and we ate breakfast. The internet guys were coming today but nobody knew when. The missionaries already had a marriage counseling meeting set up so they had it in my apartment. I just watched movies in my room. The internet guys came and I got fiber optic internet J That night I talked to my family! I got to show my little brother my apartment. I am so thankful for things like skype and facetime. Then Thursday was filled with movies and talking to family. Gerzahin came to my apartment around 7:00 to show me which bus I will take to school since my vice principal gave me no information. It took a while to figure it out and we weren’t sure if we took the easiest way either. Then we went to Aro which is a young adult cell group here that Gerzahin’s oldest sister and husband do. It was nice to see people that I haven’t seen in a year. Then we went to Gerzahin’s house to get a car. Then he took me home. Today is Friday August 3, 2012 which is exactly one year since I had left Pachuca last year. I am so happy to be back! I am ready to see where this adventure takes me. There will be more updates coming!