Calm week with a very good ending

Hi everyone,

Here is an update for this week. It started out as a very calm week with not much going on. I spent a lot of time walking around, taking new bus routes, and writing essays for my grad school application to Portland State for the MSW program.

Then on Wednesday, one of my friends took me to a suburb of Puebla called Atlixco and we had the opportunity to tour around there for a while. It turns out that Atlixco is known for Christmas lights and decorations. So, we began taking pictures by all of the decorations including numerous red flowers, pinatas, and skeletons with Christmas necklaces and hats on. I love these new experiences!

The week continued to be pretty calm. However, each day, I had the opportunity to teach English to two little boys, a 5 year-old and 8 year-old. This week I bought 1 book that has English-Spanish translations of different types of animals, and then got 2 coloring books with Disney themes in Spanish. I decided we could use the coloring books to keep the boys occupied and then translate the objects that they were coloring. This is definitely a learning process for me, but it's a good experience.

Then on Saturday, I had a FANTASTIC day! At 9:00, our epilepsy support group had a meeting and Christmas party. However, the doctor wasn't able to come, so that meant I was in charge. That made me kind of nervous, which is never good because when I'm nervous, I have to speak Spanglish instead of real Spanish. But it turned out really well. In fact, our group has some new ideas. We are thinking about adding:

1.) Art Night ---- art is healthy and useful for people with epilepsy. One of the girls from the group will lead session on painting, sculpting, and drawing once a month

2.) Yoga Classes -----yoga is very helpful for people with epilepsy because it is a way to relax and de-stress. Juan Carlos of our group is a yoga instructor and will lead classes once a month for those with epilepsy.

It is starting to feel like people are more attracted to our group. I always say this, but one step at a time. During the week I got nervous because I wasn't being that productive but then yesterday, everything changed. We can't have everything happen at once, right? :-)

After that, I met up with a college student named Jonathan who happens to be from Phoenix, AZ and studies at Boston College. He is studying abroad here in Puebla and is returning home on Tuesday. Then in January, he's going to Cuba for his next study abroad experience. Before coming to Mexico, he studied for a bit in Bolivia. Amazing, right? I'm thankful for having made a new friend.

Then on Saturday night, I met up with my wonderful friends. We all started talking about our Christmas plans. I'm excited to experience Christmas here. I don't know if I've said this already, but I'm planning on going to Tres Valles, Veracruz with my friend Mauro to celebrate Christmas and learn about the traditions here. I'm always up for new experiences.


Thanks for reading this. Keep enjoying your weekend everyone!!!!