Mexican Revolution Celebration

Lucas acted as one of the soldiers who fought during the Mexican Revolution. He had to dress up in the traditional costume. At first, he did not want to have anything to do with it, but Jorge told him that it was going to be like Halloween where every boy was going to be dressed up the same.






Here he is with our neighbor Candy, who lent us the costume and helped Charlotte find ideas on how to make it.















How about that! He looks pretty scary, ah? :)















Here is Lucas waiting for his turn to have a Mexican moustache....!





















One of the mothers helped him have a moustache...At first, he didn't want to....but he did it anyways...!

Lucas had to play the drums during the inactment of the Mexican Revolution. He was very excited to do it and did it amazingly well...

















A real horse was brought to the school for pictures, so when Lucas saw it, he was very excited and said, "Look, mom! A horse!"

The Best Veteran's Day Ever!!!!!

Today I went to school and taught English to my Tourism students. The theme was Veterans Day. I shared my many experiences in the military, what American families do during this celebration, how homes are decorated with white, blue, and red as well as flags, and how different towns honor the veterans in so many wonderful ways. I mentioned how proud I was of having worn the military uniform and my pesonal feelings about the flag, my country, as well as my boot camp experience in Fort Jackson, NC.

At one point, my students were distracted collecting money from each other. I was concerned that they were not paying attention. When asked what they were doing, they told me that they needed to make copies for a class immediately before the copy machine place closed. Little I knew that at the end of the class period right before I left, one of them would show up with a huge cake and two bottles of soda pop. One student had asked two other from another class to go to town and purchase them to surprise me.

I was in shock when I saw the cake and my students clapped their hands wishing me a Happy Veteran's Day! I was thrilled and shed a few tears of joy. Nobody had ever done something so special for me on this special day. How grateful I am for these fantastic students whom I will never forget for the rest of my life.

Of course, traditions still exist. I had to take the first bite not knowing that it meant to literally take it from the cake. I hesitated it a little bit and when I placed my mouth in this delicious cake of tres leches, the student who was holding it moved it towards my face...

...and my face was completely dirty....

....It took a while to clean it all...

...Here they are...What an amazing surprise!!!

As you already know, Mexicans love to show their love and gratitude with hugs and kisses. Each one of them approached me and hugged me so sincerely.

It was good luck that I cut the cake.....

....So that's exactly what I did...with a....spoon...!

XIII Anniversary Presentation

In conjuction with the many events that took place this week, the university academic secretary requested that I give the same presentation I gave a few months ago during our Language Festival. The theme was "An American Breakfast." The audience: All of the Department's deans. I was a little bit nervous, but it went wonderful. They asked great questions and at the end we didn't quite eat an American breakfast, but delicious tamales with salsa....Yummy!

UPCH XIII Anniversary

The UPCH had a great celebration at the square

The mascot was there....

The UPCH president showed an award
and a medal received in Colombia.

The orchestra played the new UPCH song



ART FESTIVAL

Chiapas (Oct. 30 - Nov. 2, 2011)

On October 30, we embarked in a beautiful trip right after we attended our church meeting. We went to Palenque, Chiapas. From Cardenas we took a bus to Villahermosa, the capital of Tabasco; and from there, we took this beautiful bus to Palenque, land of the Mayan, which was a 2-hour ride.

As You can see, Lucas absolutely enjoyed the trip, especially because Ashlie lent him her Ipod and he could watch a movie for about 5 minutes. Later on, he took a nice nap until we arrived to Palenque.

We stayed at the Best Western Maya Hotel near the center of the town. It was a beautiful hotel with nice swimming pools so the children were in heaven.

On October 31, we took a public van from our hotel to the beautiful Mayan Ruins of Palenque. This archaelogical site was so beautiful and mystic. What you see here is impressive, yet to date, only 2% of this 25 square mile site has been excavated.

THE PEOPLE

They were so friendly and very respectful.

This cute grandma was selling traditional shirts


CULTURE


We spent three days during one of the most popular Mexican celebrations: the Day of the Dead. The main square was full of high school students who were having a competition to see which school would have the best altar built. It was amazing to see how engaged these young people were and how dedicated they were in building the altars. The adornment of the altars is usually done with marigolds starting October 31st. They also place food on them. From this day on, nobody is allowed to touch the food because the guest of honor is the dead. It's only when the dead decides to go to the underworld, that the living can partake of the food.

Dancing was part of the festivities in the main square

The famous waterfalls: Misol-Ha

Misol-Ha is a spectacular 115 ft. waterfall that is a must see for any visitors. The name means "waterfall" in Cho'l. We hired a tour company to take us to this waterfall and getting there was quite an adventure. The fact that we are alive is a true miracle because the driver was a maniac. You see...the roads are extremely curvy and he would not slow down at all, so our children were getting sick to their stomach and so were we. Wow!!! I often wonder where these people get their driver's license or if they do have one....

AGUA AZUL

An hour from Misol-Ha, you can find the most amazing place we have ever seen. This was breathtaking!!! Agua Azul (Blue Water) cascades are located in the heart of the Lacandon Jungle. They cascade down a series of falls and rapids, ending with a stunning short but wide drop into shallow lagoons, where you can swim...

.....which is exactly what the kids and Jorge did....