Gwen's visit = an amazing and busy week!

This week has been a wonderful and packed adventure. Tim's friend from college, Gwen came to visit!! And we all had an amazing time together!!

Gwen arrived late Wednesday night. Thursday she observed Tim teaching his class in the afternoon, then after school Gwen and Tim went to downtown Merida to go out to eat and look around the downtown. They went to the free art museum and walked around the Grand Plaza. Thursday evening Tim and I had to go back to school for the back-to-school Parent's meeting. All the parents came and the school director made some remarks before all the parents went to their kids' respective classrooms. So Tim and I had 30 or so parents in each of our two classes. We had 20 mins with each group and presented on who we are, what our goals are for the school year, discipline, etc. There were time for questions and the parents were very invovled. The night was very encouraging to see how many parents are genuinely interested in their kids lives and specifically in how they are doing academically. Afterwards I was trapped for about an hour for parents wanting to specifically address their child, and I have a couple meetings set up for next week to talk about specifics too. However, I got stressed when some parents were telling me their students are completely in over their heads and lost because it is too difficult, and others were saying their kids are bored because its so easy. It is very difficult with such different levels coming into the school year. About half my students know ZERO English, and the rest vary from knowing very little, to being conversational. I am going to break them into 4 groups based on ability and do lots of group work and give them different things to do and focus on so that all can improve.

So Friday we went to school and Gwen helped Tim teach Science Day! My kids had one a class prize and we watched a movie, had popcorn and pop and had extra recess - so it was a very easy day!! Right after school Friday we headed to the beach, Progresso, which is abotu 20 mins away. We went with Jeff and were able to use the church car! It was raining when we got there so we started by going out to eat:The rain stopped, but the clouds stayed, which made for a much more pleasant day at the beach. From about 3-7 we swam, played football, collected shells, saw a beautiful rainbow, and had a wonderful day at the beach! And no sunburns!On the way home from the beach we drown on Paseo de Montejo - the main strip in Merida - where all the fancy and expensive things are. We got out and walked around a bit. We saw some henequen plants - which are responsible for making Merida what it is today. Henequen plantations are all over and were grown and processed into hemp used to make clothing and hammocks. Here is what a plant looks like:We took some pictures of the monument of the flag.This monument took one man 40 years to make and is extremely complicated. Then we stopped at Emilio and Eva's house to pick up some maps of the city and state they bought for us. We ended up staying and chatting for about an hour. It was great that Gwen was able to meet them!

Saturday we slept in, Tim made Gwen and me pancakes, and we left for Chichen Itza at noon. We went in two cars - Gwen, Tim, Kari, Jeff, Erick and her two kids Renata and Alejandra, Angelica, and Tim's student Makayla. We arrrived in the city of Chichen Itza and ate lunch at a local lunch place - delicious and traditional Yucatecan food. Then we realized we didn't really have time to go to Chichen Itza - it closed in about an hour. So we decided to go to a centoe about 3 mins away instead... and we certainly are glad we did!The water surface was about 100 feet from the ground, but the water depth was 150 feet. The water was INCREDIBLY clear! When people dove down you could clearly see them all the way down. There were lots of black blind fish that looked like mini cat fish swimming around. And there were roots from trees and plants above that had reached into the centoe for a water source. We stayed there from about 3:45 till 7. It was so much fun! We jumped off of the steps lots. Here's Gwen:

Here's Tim jumping from about 10 feet into the 150 feet deep water below!

Kari and Jeff were a bit more risky and jumped from 40 feet above, right by the sign that said Do Not Jump from Here! It was awesome - take a look! Can you find me? I look very tiny!After the cenote, we went to Chichen Itza for the light and sound show that started at 8. They projected lights onto some of the Mayan ruins, mainly the large temple, while explaining the history of the different buildings as well as the history of the Mayan people. It was interesting!

On the drive home, the bug ran out of gas, so those of us in the other car had to go ahead and get gas. We filled three 2.5L pop bottles and brought it back to the stranded car. We finally made it home at 12:30 am, before the taxi came to take Gwen to the bus station at 5:30am!!