ILP Graduation

It's the last day of school! I can't believe the semester is already over. It has been a crazy adventure, but I've learned lots and taught lots. There were many days that I felt what I was doing was pointless and the Spanish teachers hated us and so did the kids. But other days I had so much fun and made great memories in class. Overall it has been a great experience, but it has definitely been a little rough. The days that were rough, it was definitely the little things that got me through. Like after a crazy class where the students kept speaking Spanish and wouldn't listen, that one student runs up to me and gives me a leaf they just picked and a big hug. I will definitely miss the kids.... some of them. :)

Since it's been the summer, we have had way less students, so only about 1/3 of our students showed up. 

 Ten minutes before our program was supposed to start, we had 2 students and 1 parent, so we started 20 minutes late, and we finally ended up with 15 students.

I taught the dances. They danced to a few Beach Boys songs and requested Waka Waka.

Hannah taught them "You are my Sunshine"

Jorge read a poem about summer.

We performed as teachers, lip syncing to Lion Sleeps Tonight, and the kids were absolutely cracking up. 

Then we gave them certificates at the end. After we took a picture with them and all of the students came running up to give us hugs. There were definitely a lot of days I questioned if the kids even liked me, but when the kids ran straight up to me and hugged me, it made me so happy to know that they actually did like me! I always loved the kids outside of class because they were loving and so nice, but in class they could be mean little devils. Then we had some food and talked with the parents and took some pictures for the last time.

Adios Colegio Galileo Galilei!

Cristo Rey

For Rashel's last day in Pachuca, we took a hike up the mountains to Cristo Rey (Christ King). It was a good uphill hike. It started raining on us on our way down, but Rashel had to experience all of Mexico, and that includes our torrential afternoon rainstorms!

He's huge! It happens to be the largest Christ statue in Central America. Pachuca has a few cool things.

My favorite Pachuca! I'm gonna miss this place.

Parquee Nacional El Chico

We headed to El Chico, a gorgeous national park in the mountains not far from Pachuca, for some fun adventures. After some major confusion trying to figure out which company to on our adventure with (gotta love the language barrier) we picked one and were on our way!

Our path through the trees.

Via ferrating

Beautiful view from the treetops.

Our friend Francisco

ziplining

These logs were so freakin difficult to walk on! Rashel fell and scraped her leg. I'm really proud of myself for not falling, especially while taking the picture. Rashel said the guide dudes were making fun of me while I was trying to take the picture. It was really hard to balance!

Rappelling

Veracruz

For the weekend, Rashel and I went to Veracruz. We took an overnight bus, so we got there right before the sun rose. So we headed straight to the beach to watch it rise over the Ocean.

Then we headed to the temple.

 After that we went to the Wax Museum and the aquarium. Got some awesome pictures with the statues, and of the animals.

 The sea otters were my favorite. They looked like they were having lots of fun swimming and spinning around in the water. They were super fast too, so it was hard to get a good picture...

Dory!

Lionfish, super stylish.

They had a bunch of sharks, and you could go down in a cage and feed them. Super fun, right?

The Dolphin Show! I didn't take many pictures, because first thing I got splashed big time. So I wanted to protect my camera.

The wax museum just had a bunch of famous people statues and we entertained ourselves by making some awesome poses with them.
(pictures to come)

Our freakin sweet sandcastle!

More fun statues along the harbor.

Veracruz is still a major port city, so there were lots of cargo ships and stuff roamin around.

Strange upside down heads...

The most amazing horchata I have ever had in my life! Probably the best part of the vacation. Nothing like an ice cold drink after a super hot day.

Classic jumping pictures!