One Year in a Blog Post // The Wrap Up

This might be it, friends. The last foreseeable Mexico blog post. 

Here is how it ends:

Something Good: “Not perfection, but progress.” I was given that phrase during in-service week before classes started last September. I understood it then, but it gained so much weight throughout my year in the classroom. Did I expect my students to all receive “10s” (the “A+” of Latin American grading)?? Not at all. I rejoiced over Ivan’s “4” that went to a “5” as much (if not more so) than Fany’s consistent high scores. English is a hard language to learn and my students did so well.  SO. WELL. (I cry as I type this to you.) I am so proud of them. They all made progress.

Another Good Thing: The tacos. I am being entirely serious. (The Chipotle restaurant might be ruined forever as far as my stomach is concerned.) But it was more than the tacos themselves. It was more than the salsa verde and the Coca-Cola (containing REAL sugar)… It was the people I was eating the tacos with. All food was eaten in the celebration of each other’s company. Sometimes it was at 10:30 at night. Sometimes it was at a restaurant, or a food cart, or in a house. There was something so unique about that aspect of the culture and community and I loved it.
**Taco of choice: Quesadilla de bistec, sin queso (from “Tacos Compean”)
That is a beef quesadilla without cheese. You may laugh, but they knew my order. I was a regular. It was delicious. (On my last night they sent me with two extras. One for breakfast and one for lunch in the airport. : ))

Something Not-So-Good: “Culture shock” is a real thing. Living in a foreign country is hard. There were the obvious, “big differences”, like the language. Those were to be expected. It was, though, some of the little differences that were the hardest adjustments. 

For example: the trash pick-up. In the Portland the trash truck comes by early on morning X, depending on your neighborhood. You save your trash for the week and put it out the night before, etc. In Morelia, Mexico, however, you will hear a cowbell ringing in the distance. “Oh! Someone go get it!” You grab whatever trash you have and set it on the sidewalk in front of your house along with some change to pay the man who will drive by to pick it up. This might happen in the early morning, or the late morning, and on any given day of the week. Again, it was the little things...

Something I Learned/ Something GOD Taught Me: I learned a ton of Spanish! Ha! (Or, rather, “Ja!” because in Spanish the “j” makes the “h” sound. Ja ja ja!) My students and friends were excited to teach me “street phrases”. They also attempted to teach me how to roll my “r”. (Still practicing… J)
I also learned a lot of English. (What?!) There’s a difference between “speaking” and “teaching”. It is a whole different story when you have to explain “why”. (Can YOU tell me the difference between a “gerund” and an “infinitive”?) Interesting stuff!
There was learning outside of the classroom, as well. GOD taught me (very practically) that HE can work regardless of language and cultural barriers. I simply watched and was amazed. HE did some really cool things (like introducing me to my best friend Anita)!

Final FAQs: Are you going back? Someday. // What’s next? Teaching outdoor school at Hume Lake in California.

Ask me more questions! I have so much more I could tell you about, and approximately 1,096 more pictures to share : ). I am so grateful for your participation in this section of my story (in whatever form that might have been). If you sponsored me financially or prayed on my behalf or rooted for me from a distance or followed this blog… Thank you. Gracias.  --Lainie

The Intern Program

OR... you could be an intern, too : ).
Click HERE!

with Rebecca and Kristen : )

*Ability to speak Spanish encouraged, but not required!

The Angel Program

The Short Version: Sponsor one of the students! Click HERE!

The Middle-Length Version:
Friends, I am no longer in Morelia, Mexico.
I want/ suggest/ encourage/ desire YOU to continue participating, because the work at the NOE Center is continuing.
(Not only is it continuing, it is EXPANDING. They aim to open a third campus this month!)

So here's what YOU do! : ) Be an "Angel". 
This is the student-sponsorship program.

A reminder for you: for a Mexican student to enter/graduate college in Mexico, they need to speak English.
Thus enters Centro NOE's English classes.
(The are breaking the cycles and redirecting lives here, people!)
I won't even mention how the community and extra curricular activities impact the student's AND their families lives!

So, now that I don't need you to sponsor me financially, you can sponsor them instead: ).
Click the link I have conveniently duplicated HERE!

The Video Version: 

And the link one more time is right HERE! : )
(Can you tell I'm excited?!)

Thoughts from Before.

>> probably from the spring-time. <<

"Am I a missionary? I didn’t consider myself to be one. I just move to a foreign country. I got a job as a volunteer. I'm loving Jesus and loving people like I would have anywhere else. It's just a different group of people with a different expression of needs. 

So if I'm a missionary, you are, too."

photo credit: erick garcia

this panorama was taken inside the gym. i am on the left. 

it was at my last "espacio" (NOE youth gathering). i was asked to share some words with them. so i did. i thanked them for the impact they had on MY life (and i did it by myself in spanish)! 

The Time in Between

Classes at NOE finished at the end of June and I left Mexico in the beginning of July.

at the airport// 4am

Then I spent a month with this good-looking group:

we went camping : )

The NOE Center has four years of "secondary" English. Upon graduating from the fourth year, students can apply to be on "The Dream Team" as exchange students to Portland, OR. (WOO HOO!)
It was a blast and a blessing to continue hanging out with them (this time on my "home turf" : )).