¿Qué Onda Güera?

Hello all!

I interrupt these normal blog entries to bring you a chance to win me some money!

For the first time EVER, I have 3 photos entered in this month's Travellerspoint photo competition.

Go here.

If you are already a member of the website (which you need to be), choose my three photos.

The first one is:

and

Vote! It's your duty!

Greetings from Portland!

And as this title suggests, I'm fresh off the train ride of 36 hours, almost to the minute! Opting to stay away from the ridiculously overpriced flights of America, I decided to ride the train instead, an option nearly forgotten until now. The airlines in America are making it more difficult than ever to get anywhere by plane; same small seats, but now more expensive! No food served on the plane! You'll have to pay for that! And on some flights, you're charged extra for choosing an aisle or window seat! And you only get one piece of luggage! No thanks, Delta. I'm a new big fan of Amtrak.

The train is an option in America that is rarely considered. Trains are much slower and if you are in any sort of hurry, the train is not the best option for you. But if you have some time to get to your destination, this is my new favorite form of transportation. Train travel is great in other countries, nearly every other country, but is sort of undeveloped in America. I was fortunate to have enough time to take the train from San Diego to Los Angeles to Portland, OR on the Coast Starlight.

And a beautiful (though long) trip it was!

I was given a ride from Ensenada through Tijuana to San Ysidro, CA. Then a quick one-hour trolley ride later, I arrived to stay with a friend in San Diego for one day and two nights.

The road to Tijuana.

This poor donkey was painted as a zebra.

Some sort of sunsphere, Tijuana.

Lunch with Evangelina.

Conquistador statue, Balboa Park in San Diego.

Building in Balboa Park.

The fence on the overpass.

Then, after visiting my friend, I got on the train from San Diego with a quick stop in LA.

Union Station in LA.

My meal for the next 36 hours...trail mix! This is about all I ate the whole way up.

The train on the coast.

Vacationers parked for the 4th of July weekend.

When I woke up the next morning, we were in Northern California, near Mt. Shasta. We quickly (well...not quickly...) crossed over into Oregon.

Mt. Shasta.

Mt. Shasta / clouds

All in all, it was a really relaxing, very long train ride up the Pacific Coast. There was lots to see. And it was the perfect way to spend most of my 4th of July!

Hope you all had a great Holiday weekend!

The school year is over, classes are done, and everything is packed up and ready to go to the new campus. With the departure of Alena, our past English coordinator, I am starting to panic that I'M going to be in charge of 3 new teachers who have (I think) more experience and qualifications to teach than I.

Eek!

It's time to grow up and move on. I guess.

Anyway...our school had a big end-of-the-year production celebrating the end of classes and a chance to show off the wealth they have accumulated. Our kids have been practicing for about a month and fortunately, unlike those very stressful productions at my last school, the English teachers had very little to do with any of it.
This year's production for the babies (preschool and kindergarten) was a series of Mexican songs telling stories, like the Russian soldiers and ants and water drops. They were precious.

Little girls with castanets!

Princesas and Principes.

Little cowgirls with pink shiny boots.

La negrita cuckoo...I have no idea what this was about.

The tiny ones were little animals. Being a turtle is tiring.

Little elephant.

This baby was a rain drop. Unfortunately, the excitement made him fall asleep before the production even started!

Little shark.

Little cat and monkey.

Our job as teachers was to be kid-catchers. We stood at the sides to make sure no babies went careening off the stage. The little cat made a run for it, but she stopped herself.

The elementary kids did a tribute to Hollywood blockbusters. 1st grade did The Lion King, 2nd did Star Wars, 3rd did Titanic, 4th did Pirates of the Caribbean, and 5th did Indiana Jones.

Omar as Luke Skywalker, Juan Pablo as a Jedi, and Jorge as Darth Vader.

Maru as Princess Leia.

3rd grade boys dressed in Titanic-era clothes.

And of course, Rose (Ana Sofia).

5th graders from Indiana Jones.

My 2nd graders and I.

Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker duke it out.

Two of my 3rd graders, Maria Alejandra and Rodrigo, presented the 1st graders.

I was very proud of these kids! I'm sad I won't be their teacher next year, but I'll at least get to see them!

Tune in next time, where I will most likely be posting from Portland, OR!

Sculpture made from melon.

From the "Festival de las Hongas", or mushroom festival.

Outside of CafeTomas.