El 27 de marzo…

Hola! I’m in the land of spiders and crabs and large frogs! Oh and la cucaracha, la cucaracha tambien!!

So, check out the photos….Raul and Zorro I finally found the large insects you were hoping for! I haven’t seen the poisonous coral snake or a python yet, but many people I have met have! I never seemed to have my camera when I saw the snakes and huge toads& iguanas that were all around!! Today I saw a water snake, an iguana, 3 different and large spiders, crabs, a dead frog and mini sucker fish all in the span of about 5 minutes! Not kidding!!

Can you believe that you only have one more week until spring break! Yeah! Pues, estoy muy feliz en Yelapa. Es un pueblo muy linda, con muchos colores brillantes! Es un poco touristica, pero vivimos con una familia local entonces tenemos la abilidad de hablar en espanol todos los dias!

I am writing this blog knowing that I won’t be able to publish it until domingo when we have internet access again. There are two computers here in town that you can pay to use (40 pesos/hr) but it’s dial-up. If any of you are old enough to even know what that means – it means really S-L-O-W connection. I am not kidding when I say it took me 12 minutes to download, write a very short note and send an email to my mom! This blog entry would take hours, so decided to write it on a word doc an send it later!

Right now, JonPaul and I are waiting for Matt and Ammann to return from an early morning fishing trip. We went out yesterday and had no luck – but we did see dolphins and whales though! They are trying again today, but JonPaul didn’t want to go so I stayed with him. Fishing is the main source of life here – obviously since we are living on the ocean! The only road here takes 6 hours in a four wheel drive vehicle so 99% of travel occurs by boat. There are no roads in the village – just cobblestone or dirt walkways.
The great thing about this is that it’s completely safe to let the boys run (barefoot)
where ever they want in the village. They even do our shopping for us now! Their Spanish is good enough to take the money and go to the store and shop. Ammann even got the wrong change yesterday and made the lady pay him the 5 pesos he was owed!

This village is a true mix of locals and tourists. Ironically we are here the week of a memorial service for the first “gringa” who settled here in the late 60’s. Her name was Isabel and she is basically the reason that tourists began coming here. She created rustic, yet beautiful palapas for visitors. The first of their kind. Since then, many more gringos have settled here and have built some rustic and some quite plush places.
The word “plush” is relative here. Remember the only way to transport goods here is by boat.

So, most houses here are made with thatched roofs and wooden/stick walls and are known as palapas. If you want to build with bricks, you have to bring them in by boat. If you choose this route, then you also have to arrange for men to meet you at the dock with wheelbarrows and/or burros – the main way to transport goods throughout the village. Many times transporting means going a mile up the road and always means going up! There are very few level places here. And…the men who do this work do it barefoot! Oh – and the other thing that is almost always done barefoot….futbol! The truth is, there is no need for a tennis/work type shoe here. They are too heavy and hot and attract bugs. Most everyone only wears flip/flops or goes barefoot. I’ve actually never seen a local in anything else!

A day in the life of a local here is based upon whether you are male or female…


Boys – school in the mornings and usually goofing around in the afternoons or helping dads with fishing/hauling goods. .
Girls – school in the morning and helping care for younger siblings and/or helping the women prepare meals and clean the house.
(Note: school is about 20 minutes up the river drainage on a dirt path. Everyone walks except for just a few who come from several miles away and they ride their horses to school. Like other schools in Mexico, they go from 9 am – 1 pm)
Men – work involves fishing, construction or operating a water taxi
Women – maintain the homes and care for their children/grandchildren. (Note: remember it is common in most Latin American families for children to continue living with their parents once they are married. This is because few people can afford to live on their own and so that everyone can take care of each other.)
When everyone has their work/chores done, men can be found visiting down on the dock and the women….well, I still can’t figure out where they are – I think their work never stops!
Ironically, only the tourists really spend time just “hanging out” at the beach. And… most have a nice, burnt, red, crisp skin color from not using enough sunscreen!

Hey 8th graders want to know what has happened with the second batch of the books you made? If you remember, I gave ½ of the books to the orphanage in San Miguel and I planned to give the others to the school here in Yelapa. However, the school here is actually doing OK in terms of resources, and so when I became acquainted with a woman who teaches English to a very, very small village (Pizota) about a 20 minute boat ride from here I asked her all sorts of questions about the school. She informed me that there are only 200 people in the village and many of the adults are addicted to cocaine so the children have a really hard time getting the resources they need. The school is one room (outdoor) with little and at times, no supplies. So, guess who got your books?! I couldn’t take them there personally as it cost too much for me to take the boat there, but I have the woman’s email and she is going to send us photos of the kids with your books! Cool huh? Your books ended up in a tiny village along the Pacific ocean 2000 miles from Columbia Falls!

I am learning so much also about waste and garbage! A strange thing to learn about in Mexico, but it’s true! The only way to take waste away from here is by boat. There are no garbage trucks or people who come and pick up your garbage, so you must figure out how to dispose of it yourself. For many that simply means throwing it into the jungle, the river or the ocean. Malo! Malo! Malo!
There is a big effort going on here to educate people on proper disposal. I actually didn’t know what to do with our garbage, so our landlords, who are very conscientious, taught us what to do. Basically all our dishwater/bathwater goes right into the ocean, any paper products are burnt, plastic & glass is collected and taken into Puerto Vallarta to be recycled, fruit & veggie scraps go into compost and any edible food leftovers go to the many homeless dogs wandering around. It takes a lot of extra time to make sure waste ends up where it should here, but it’s crucial it happens or else this place will be covered with garbage in no time at all, as it’s only about the size of Apgar in West Glacier.

We are off to Mexico City before we return to see the Museum of Anthropology, the Friday Kahlo Museum, the museum of history and possibly some more. Will fill you in with details when I get there!

Que tengan un buen dia! Hasta MUY PRONTO!!! (el viernes, el 3 de abril!)

Sra. Koch

p.s. Oh – by the way all you penny, nickel, dime, dollar donators!!! I found the perfect family in which to give the rest of your money. I still had about $50 - as we gave about a dollar a day up until I met this family. They are a really hard working family who started a business that failed and so they have begun a new one which is showing promise. In the meantime, they can’t make their rent payments, they eat only tortillas, tamales y arroz pretty much ever day and they live so simply. They are a family of 4 – two boys ages 4 & 7. We befriended them in Bucerias and when they told us they couldn’t buy groceries that week, your money did it for them! They were so amazed that people they didn’t even know would help them out! So bravo to you and muchas gracias!

Bienvenido a Pablo/Ryan - el estudiante nuevo a CFHS periodo uno!! A
Also, check the comments section from the last blog entry if you had questions/interesting commnets(Eva!) as I have answered them there!



It's a beautiful sunny day here - again! It has been a completely different Mexico being on the coast. There is not as much visable history here. The town we are leaving today - Bucerias - was the capital of the kingdom of Hueytlaltonazgo de Xalisco (trying saying that 3 times in a row!). It's original name was Temichoque meaning town next to the sea. Aztec emperors sent missions to this area to collect the Burgado sea snail, which produced a purple dye that was used exclusively for the emperor's clothing and his high priest's robes. Anyone else who used it risked the penalty of death! And from what I know of the Aztecs, I don't think I'd want to be put to death by them!



You don't even want to look at the photos this week. As I mentioned we spent the week around the Bucerias area exploring the small fishing villages. One cool thing that happened relates to Mrs. Nelson (art teacher at the H.S.) Last year she returned to a small fishing villaged named Chacala. I say returned because she had been there 20 years before for a quarter abroad program at her university. Well, when she went back 20 years later, she met a woman named Aurora and stayed at her hospedaje (lodging). After visiting again, Mrs. Nelson made one of her awesome letreros (signs) for Aurora to hang in front of her hotelito. I had no intention of going to this village, but we ended up there this week and I got to see Mrs. Nelson's work hanging here in Mexico! I also got to meet Aurora who spent the whole time talking about how awesome Mrs. Nelson is! I had to agree! It makes the world seem smaller when things like this happen!



I saw some firsts this week. One was this HUGE green fruit known as the Yaca. It has green spikes all around it. If you can actually cut it open it's bright yellow inside. The flavor? Well, a mix between a pineapple and a melon. I didn't get a picture of one yet, but I will!

Also, saw a dulce vendor on the beach. He uses a wheelbarrow and walkes around and for $40 pesos you can get which ever of the 30 something dulces he has in his wheelbarrow. Check out the photo.

I've had a couple of people wonder if we were totally safe as there is a Travel Warning for US citizens going to Mexico right now. I will be honest that many of the towns we have been in have had several murders in the time that we were there. However, we are making good choices to stay in visible places and traveling only be day. In fact we were to take an overnight bus to Mexico City next week, but we decided to get a short flight instead as there have been some problems with the night time buses here getting stopped and robbed. However, each day we feel no fear, the people here are amazing, kind and generous and we would stay longer if I didn't have 150 incredible students to get back to!!

So, I will try and write one more time from the fishing village. They just got electricity there 2 years ago and have just got one (apparently very slow) internet cafe set up. I'll find it and send you some more messages before I go!

My new spanish words of the week:
Hot Cakes - guess what it means? But that's the work used here for pancakes!
Cruise Chips - Not a miss spelling! The "sh" sound is very difficult to pronounce for native Spanish speakers so they refer to ships as "chips". So guess what shorts are called? - yep, chorts!
acompanado:the word to used to order food on the side
nieve - we all know that it's snow, but also is used as ice cream here!
playera:t-shirt - camisa is more like a shirt with collar here.

muy bien - entonces mis estudiantes fantasticas - que tengan una buena semana!
Hasta Luego!
Sra. Koch

Hola!

Did you wonder if I was still alive? Well, after a VERY long bus ride around many, many, many curves up, over and through the mountains - we made it to the coast. Ammann and I stumbled off the bus holding our stomachs and barely holding in our food!

It took us a week of 4 hours a day travel to go from our last place to this one. We are currently in Bucerias (north of Puerto Vallarta) and will be going to Yelapa next week. There is a more direct route here, but I wanted to see some other parts of Mexico that were different from where we had been living. Also, I wanted to head to the Monarch Butterfly reserve.

We made many stops getting here. Our first was Guanajuato and the next was Morelia. It was here that we learn about helado de pasta! - muy interesante! You probably think we eat a lot of ice cream - we do! It's an afternoon treat a few times a week. I use it as a bribe for my kids so I can drag them to one more museum or cultural event! Morelia is a city of 600.000 and full of history and modern emenities. I think I may have seen the largest fireworks display of my life! It was all done for the weekly lighting of the church. Yes, every Saturday, a massive firework's
display occurs to light up the two 70 meter steeples of the church in the plaza. Apparantly fireworks are really cheap here and used for every occasion. In fact I tend to hear fireworks on a daily basis - they are used as a celebratory item for birthdays, weddings, fiestas, etc.

Aside from the amazing fireworks, we also made a 7 hour car journey and 1 hour hike to see the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary. It is here that 200 million Monarch Butterflies return each year from their epic 4500 mile journey from the Great Lakes region of the U.S! The quick story is this. The butterflies come here in November. They hang out (literally "hang out" in groups of thousands on limbs of the pine trees - sometimes there are so many butterflies on the branches that the branches snap right off the trees!) So they hang out until the middle or end of March when they mate. Now here's the interesting part. This mating ritual and event all takes place in the air. The male carries the female and gives her all his nutrients and energy. Then he immediately dies. She, feeling rejuvenated and lively flies north to Texas and lays her eggs in the milkweed plants. When these eggs mature to butterflies they then fly to the Great Lakes and lay more eggs. So, at this point it takes 3 generations to get to the northern US from the middle of Mexico. Now, guess what these 4th generation butterflies do? Yep, they fly direct (a few stops I am sure) from the Great Lakes all the way down to central Mexico. How do they know where to go? It's still an mystery. Scientists still don't know how 4 generations later, the butterflies know to return to the same spot. It was magical to be walking around and having thousands of butterflies flying around you. photos don't do it justice - but check them out.

From Morelia we journeyed to Guadalajara. This was supposed to just be a quick stop over on our way to the coast, but it turned out to be so much more. It is a city of 3 million and full of culture, beautiful plazas, really expensive shopping (it's where all the local rich people come to get home decorations) and sadly, some pretty significant poverty. People here were quite kind considering we were in a big city. As in Morelia, there were almost no Americans, so it was a great place to practice our Spanish. In fact there was a payaso (clown) in the plaza doing games in front of about 300 people and he asked for volunteers. Ammann, my son, jumped right up and kept up with the games even though his Spanish isn't perfect - he went for it! More courage than I would have had at 8 years old!

I also got to watch the Danza de los Viejitos (a very traditional dance I'll try to demonstrate when I come back if you all don't laugh at me too much!!), some "tranquilo" native Purechupe Indian dancing and lively, colorful dancing from the coastal area.
Here, each region in each different state has it's own culture and customs within the larger culture of Mexico.
It makes me realize how much we lost in the US by creating reservations, instead of honoring the cultural traditions of the Native Americans. Here the traditions of the Indian culture are honored and presented with pride throughout the country and throughout the year. Not just at Pow=Wows.

Here's my interesting custom to share with you this week. It's about bakerys! When you go to a bakery here - small or very large, you grab a large silver/tin tray and a pair of tongs as you enter. You then walk around and, using the tongs, place what breads you want on your tray. When you've got what you want, you take your tray up to a counter where women individually wrap your goods, price them and then give them to you in several bags. From there, you go to another place in the store to pay for them! Donuts are not common. The bakerys have things
like sweet breads, chile & pollos stuffed tortas, large sprinkle cookies, bolillos and jello desserts.

Another quick thing here. I am staying with a family who is bi-cultural. The husband is from Spain and the wife from China. They taught me today about the time zone here. In Bucerias, we are on the same time as you. However, just 10 minutes from here in Puerto Vallarta - they are in Central time. So each day,we gain and lose an hour when we go to town!

One other thing they told me today of the school here. In the middle of January, the teachers decided it was too cold to start school at 9:30 in the morning, so they just told all the parents and students that starting the next day school would start an hour later so that the school could be warmer for the kids when they got there. (remember there is no heating in schools and all the walls are concrete) However, guess how cold it was? A freezing 65 degrees!!! Bet you wish it were that easy to change the school schedule in CFalls?!! Didn't I hear too that you have been having a really cold week?! Here's the other funny part. You'd think if you started an hour later you'd go an hour longer - nope! They only have to go until 1:30 just like always! Sounds good to you all I bet!


Words of the week:
Que esta padre! - That's so cool!
Que childo! - Cool (used by younger kids like yourself - considered not a very educated way of expressing yourself - but used a ton here anyway!)
panchado - flat (as in the tire of the car we rented for one day!!)

Thinking of you all and sending warm weather your way! I have much more to tell you, but it's late at night and I must sleep!
hasta luego..
Sra. Koch

p.s. I have lots more pictures to post. but need to download them!

3 de marzo...

HOLA!!!!



Pues, tuve muchos problemas con la conneccion del internet con mi computadora, entonces no les he escrito por un rato. Lo siento! Tengo una conneccion esta noche, pero despues no tendra la abilidad de communicar por una semana!!




Como estan? I am in the city of Guanajuato tonight. This last week has been like a college seminar class. I have been learning in detail about the Mexican Revolution.


The reason I have learned so much about this is because San Miguel de Allende is where the first peasants gathered to fight for freedom and the city I am in now, Guanajuato, was the sight of the first battle of the Mexican revolution. Hence, I am surrounded by history and can't help but learn new things! That means that I have all sorts of stories to share with you about what lead up to the revolution - like horrific work conditions, slavery, illiteracy, and extreme poverty (all the silver and money was kept to the Spanish born people only). I'll share with you stories about crazy battles, men climbing with rocks on their backs carrying torches of fire, heads being cut off and hung in cages, women being locked up in rooms only to pass secrets of the revolution through key holes - and oh, so much more!!!


Let's see, I often think of fun details to tell you. Did I already tell you how our garbage gets picked up? We never know when it's going to be, but we listen for a bell chiming on our street and that's our signal to quick run and take out the garbage. We have to walk it up to the truck that is parked in the center of the block. Men personally take the garbage from us and stack it as high as possible before taking it to the dump.

Also, if we want clean water to drink we definitely don't take it from the tap. We had to walk about 2 blocks and buy 5 gallon jugs of it and then use it until the jug empties, take back the empty jug and then buy a new one. We only use tap water for showering, watering plants and washing dishes. While traveling, we have to buy bottled water.


If we want to eat fruit of veggies, we have to soak them for 15 minutes with some special antibacterial drops and then they are not harmful to us. We don't eat out much, but if we do, we don't eat lettuce or other leafy veggies as we never know if they have been treated. Ice, is also always out of the question.

And public bathrooms... Guess what? I have probably spent as much on using bathrooms as I have on taxi cabs! Here, if you want to use a bathroom, you have to pay $3 pesos per person. There is no such thing as free public bathrooms. You can imagine with two small boys, we spend a lot of pesos using los sanitarios.

5 de marzo...

I have the opportunity to wrap up this blog entry. I thought I would share with you some of the amazing sites I saw today. We are still in Guanajuato and so we are in museum heaven! Today, the boys and I visited the Mummy Museum, a silver mine, hiked to the historical monument of Pipila, visited the revolutionary museum and the house of Diego Rivera.

El Museo de las Momias: In 1865, when it was necessary to remove some bodies from the cemetery to make room for more, authorities uncovered mummified bodies with grotesque forms and facial expressions. The mineral content of the soil here and the extremely dry atmosphere has preserved the bodies. I can't explain exactly what they look like, so check out the photos. Some of the bodies still had their clothes. It only takes five or six years for a body to become mummifeed here. - Weird, huh?!!

La Mina de Valenciana: Before the MExican revolution, 20% of the worlds silver came from this mine. It was closed after the revolution, but reopened in 1968 and no yields gold, silver, nickel and lead. We couldn't go into the current mine, but we did go into an old mine shaft known as the Bocamina Valenciana. We were able to head 100 meters deep into a shaft. We were down there with lights the whole way, but I can't imagine what it must have been like for the miners in the 1700 and 1800's.

Monumento a el Pipila: This monument honors the hero who torched the gates of a granary on Sept. 28, 1810 enabling Hidalgo's forces (the main leader of the revolution) to win the first victory of the independence movement. This is a huge statue that overlooks the city that you can climb up to or take a tram. (You can guess with the kids, we took the tram up and hiked down!)

Casa de Diego Rivera: Check online for some of Diego Rivera's work. Those of you who have had me before know about Friday Kahlo and Diego was her husband. I've always loved both his and Frida's work, so I got to see more of it first hand! They wouldn't let me take any photos though, so I'll have to show you is the front of the museum!

Museo de Alhondiga: This is the museum that walks you through a couple hundred years of Mexican history. I'll fill you in on all the VERY interesting details when I see you!!! I took lots of photos! (Alhondiga means granary - this museum is the site where the first battle of the revolution took place).

OK - I'm off to sleep! We have to wake at 5:00 a.m. to catch a bus in the morning! Check out all the gross and interesting photos. I won't have internet again until March 11th - so stay warm and behave! Hang in there as I know it's the longer part of the school year!

Here are some of the interesting words of the week:


esposas: you may or may not know the word as spouse/wife - it is also the word for handcuffs.
azulejo - painted ceramic tile - found everywhere here!
damas - ladies, caballeros - men (words used on the bathroom doors)



Here's my schedule for the next week. Google some of these sites to check out the places and photos!

Guanajuato, Guanajuato
Patzcuaro, Michoacan
Morelia, Michoacan
Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l42ca94m-bE ; http://www.study-mexico.com/English/4/monarch-butterflies.cfm
Guadalajara, Jalisco
Bucerias Jalisco

ABRAZOS!! Sra. Koch

HOLA!!!!
So right now there is this guy walking by our home like he does everyday around five and it sounds like he's saying "yargainyup". It's taken me 3 weeks, but I finally realize he's saying "Yerba, atun" - which means "herbs, cactus". It's common for people to just walk the streets selling their goods. Yesterday a truck drove by with a fridge, bike, bed frame, fruits and veggies and various other odds & ends in the back. The driver used a loud speaker to advertize these goods as he drove around the neighborhood. A few people came out of their houses to look over the items. I needed 2 aguacates (avocados) so I even bought something from him.

Again, wish you all could just be here! Lots to tell you this week. Matt and I have been having a great time working at the orphanage this last week. The kids there really want to communicate with all of you when I return. Their names are Uriel, Ari, Sergio, Esly, Alison, Reina, Ryan, y Daniel. They are awesome, funny kids just like you guys. They play soccer way better than any of us though! The girls are part of a prehispanic instruments class where they play instruments such as conchas (seashells - which they taught me how to play), turtle shells, gourds, animal shaped whistles, maracas and tambores (drums).
** See photos**

This week is Carnival! It a big fiesta before the Catholic custom of Lent starts. (When Jesus went for 40 days and nights into the desert). It's the same idea as Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but on a much smaller scale. Here, people run around and break cascarones (hollowed out & dyed eggs filled with confetti) This custom of cascarones comes from years ago when people picked flowers and threw them at each other in the plaza to celebrate Carnival. As industrialization occurred, flowers were hard to find, so they made paper flowers with hollow eggs as the center of the flower. Someone at some point put confetti into the eggs on the flowers. Then, they got rid of the flowers all together and just kept the confetti/glitter filled eggs. So for 5 days before lent, kids and adults buy cascarones (30 eggs=$1.00) and they run around the plaza and break them on each others heads. It's crazy and you do it to whomever you want. Needless to say, we came home Sunday covered in confetti and glitter!

I traditionally make these with all of you before Easter, so you'll get a first hand experience of the tradition the week after springbreak! ***See photos***


On Friday night we finally took advantage of the local circus. For three weeks we have seen these cars driving around town shouting through a microphone..."solamente diez, diez, diez pesos por una noche de talento y animales de todo tipos" (ten, ten, ten Pesos for a night of extreme talent and animals from all over the world). We finally paid the 10 pesos to see what a Mexican Circus would be like. (10 pesos=80 cents). Well, it was worth the price and my kids are still talking about it. To us, it would be a little hokey, but for kids it was awesome. They got to go up and feed the zebra, ride on a pony, be entertained by the clowns and the highlight, for my boys, was that the elefante pooped while performing his stunts!

words of the week:
changa/o: monkey
papalote: kite
totopos:tortilla chips


This is our last week in San Miguel. I can't believe it's already been a month! Can you? We are all half way until our lives return to normal. How are the studies going?



For those of you who wrote on the comments, here are you answers. The rest of you only have to read this if you want to:

PERIODO UNO: Hablan todo el tiempo en espanol con Sr. Lehman? Favor de dar un abrazo a Sr. Sharr y Sra. Nelson para mi!

Eva - will see if I can find Vaselina - should be quite entertaining!

Rosalia - libros - Si!!! But they are in espanol. But the one I am reading right now is also in English - Like Water for Chocolate. Have you read it? If not, it's a great book to give some persepective on the relationship hispanics have with food and family.

Enrique - I've got your recipes!!!

Reina - the kids your age also love Basketball here. But there is NO sign of futbol americano expect from my family as we go out and toss the football in the street. I think it bewilders the people!

Viviana - I do indeed have a regular toilet - but note to all.... In almost all of Latin America you NEVER throw the toilet paper in the toilet. You put it in the garbage can next to the toilet. The septic systems can't handle the paper!!!

PERIODO DOS:

Julio - There are drugs here as there are in all parts of the world. Here, the worst abused substance is alcohol as it's cheaper than drugs and easily accessable. In fact this morning as I walked the boys to school, the police were physically holding up/supporting a man as he couldn't stand, nor walk he was so intoxicated. I am not sure what they did for him, but it's not unusual to see a very poor, intoxicated and obviously homeless person. These people, in particular will use what little money they have to drink, rather than to eat.

Jorge - Do I still pay the american price? In some places si, in others, no! Now that they know me in the market near our home, I get the local price, but in other big markets, they give me the American price (which is still very fair by our standards!).

Roberto - Bullfight? We are hoping to go to one before we leave. Unfortunately there were none scheduled in this town while we were here. I am still wondering if I'll have the stomach for it!

A5/6: Catalina y Esmeralda...FELIZ CUMPLEANOS!!!! Tried a new helado today... Guayanabana....Delicioso! Not exactly sure what it is...Maybe guava?

A7/8: Lolita...Was Mexico awesome? Where were you exactly. We are just 10 hours from the Pacific Coast, why didn't you come see us?! :)

Carmen and Margarita....FELIZ CUMPLEANOS!!!! Ahora son muy viejas!

Hasta luego...Les extrano mucho....Sra. Koch

Estudiantes - I love getting your comments - again I answered all the questions in the comments section.

Also - as I am sitting here writing - just wanted you to know one other reality -
I am smelling the mix of fresh bread and burning plastic right next door. We have been buying our bread everyday fresh from our neighbors. Today I realized that when they run out of propane, they burn plastic bottles as fuel!! Do you realize the toxic fumes that I am breathing right now? If I come home with "dain bramage" you'll know why! Do you think I should still eat the bread?

adios...Sra. Koch

Hola!
Espero que todos tuvieran un buen fin de semana! Hope you all had a great three day weekend!
Como estan? Estoy muy feliz, pero les extrano mucho!

Lo siento...I haven't written for about a week. Last week we really dove into our lives here. We have finally made a connection with the orphanage, JonPaul has found an animal shelter where he walks the dogs 2 days a week, Ammann started taking an art class and Matt has started a playing soccer with the kids at the orphanage and in our neighborhood. Since we have to walk or take a bus everywhere, just going to school in the morning and working a little in the afternoon along with all the walking, takes up most of our day. We are all very exhausted by the end of the day since our brains are taking in a second language and culture.

Here are some of the highlights of the week! We tried shrimp, avocado and papaya ice cream. (not all three mixed together!) The shrimp was actually the best one. Its sweet and tart at the same time. Not sure I would make it at home, but it was fun to try here.

We also made a trek to the local botantical gardens. It is the home of some 250 cactus species and has a huge resevoir for birds. They told us that most of the birds here are ones that come from the Pacific Northwest. So, basically we were seeing the same birds we see in Montana in the summer time. Unlike the U.S. where we are super worried about danger, the botanical garden had built a 30 foot and then a 40 foot ladder into a rock wall so that if you were crazy enough you could climb down into a beautiful gorge below. (Note: they did post signs above the ladders that said "peligro/danger", but it didn't mean that you couldn't go, it just meant climb at your own risk!) This would be completely forbidden at home because we'd be too worried about lawsuits from someone falling. Now, you all know that I love to hike and climb in Glacier - but I wasn't too excited to climb down a ladder cemented into the rocks! But, the three boys in my family were already half way down by the time I felt brave enough to go for it! It was spectacular, but my heart was beating like a drum by the time I reached the bottom! (photos on the right!)

OK - on to the orphanage!!! I took 1/2 of the money that you all donated to an orphange called Casa Ayuda. (the other half I am taking to a school in a small island town called Yelapa in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Puerto Vallarta - this town just got electricity 2 years ago and has only one phone for the whole town! When we go there in March, I'll give you more details)
Anyway, the orphanage here was thrilled!!! They said that they were going to use it to buy some new shirts, pants and shoes for the young boys who were growing like weeds! The orphanage only has 9 kids who live there full time. Their philosophy is that they want to help keep families together, so they try and support families financially and educationally without removing the kids from the home and then if there is no other option, they invite the kids to live at the orphanage. They have it set up just like a home with a nice living room, kitchen and 2 big bedrooms. One for the boys and one for the girls.
Aside from the actual orphanage, Casa Ayuda also provides nutritional foods and programs to the neighborhood children and a preschool-Kindergarten program for 90 kids! This orphanage is a 10 minute walk from our home and in a poorer area of San Miguel. (check photos) My job has been to teach them English. They are very excited about this opportunity so I've been teaching them the reverse of what I teach you.

Last weekend the orphanage had a fund-raiser/community open house. It was set up as a Valentine fiesta. Part of the the fiesta was the performance of the musical "Vaselina". Can you guess what it is in English? (**See below for answer). It was quite fun to hear songs that we knew by heart in English sung and acted out in Spanish. The other part of the fundraiser was purchasing foods such as licuados (milk & fruit shakes), malteados (chocolate malt drinks) and naranjadas (fresh squeezed orange juice with mineral water). - Todos son muy deliciosos!!

Yesterday, I took some of the books that the 8th graders had made to the orphanage. I wanted desperately to take a picture, but felt awkward doing so at that moment, so I'll try and explain how happy the kids were. The older girls thought the art work was awesome and the younger boys giggled and giggled and giggled! (Zelda - imparticularly they laughed at the orange cat!)
When I told them that they could keep the books, you would have thought that I had given them each a piece of gold! They were so proud to own something and couldn't believe that people who didn't even know them would make something for them and allow them to keep it. These nine kids have VERY little if anything of their own. So MUCHAS GRACIAS 8th graders for your last minute hard work and for pushing yourselves to finish those books! The older girls at the orphanage really want our email and want us to write to them when I return home. Sounds like a great way for you all to connect, no?

One more custom I keep meaning to tell you about is the dress code. Have I mentioned it yet? I knew before we left what the customs were, but not sure if I shared them with you. Imagine that the temperature here ranges from 30 degrees to 85 degrees. A sweater is often needed in the mornings and evenings. However, in the middle of the day I want to put on shorts and a tank top, but women here don't wear shorts, short skirts, capri pants or tank tops. I don't know how they do it without dying of heat! Kids and men don't wear shorts either. So, Matt and I walk around in our pants, but we have been letting the boys wear shorts after school. (We still make them wear pants to school).

I've found some unusual candies for you all, some interesting type milk jello and I continue to search out more items that will be fun for you.
I think about you when I see a bowl full of chicken feet for sale, a Tortilleria, all the garbage in the rivers and streets, the amazing colors of all the buildings and wish you all could see it too and experience the sights, sounds and smells first hand! (That sounded funny - I think of you when I see all the garbage, because it's so sad and so different from how we protect our water resources - I'd like you all to see what it looks like when water's not taken care of!)

Tengan un buen semana... Hasta luego....

(** Vaselina = the movie Grease!)