¡Viva México!

ESL teaching in Tuxtla Gutierrez 

                                                         "And if we go to Mexico,
                                                            Will it be a new leaf?"

                                                                     - Mundy

I decided I was due a new adventure, and what a whirlwind it's been! A new language, a tropical disease, an earthquake, and 24 new little brains to educate. Pull up a chair; this is going to be a good one!

After four wonderful months getting reacquainted with my mother country, and all the reverse culture shocks it threw at me (wearing shoes indoors, WTF?!), I took flight again for pastures new. I relocated to Tuxtla Gutierrez, in the lush green state of Chiapas, in Mexico. Why? Why not!

I landed in the city's tiny airport and was escorted to my new home, a little apartment in a neighbourhood called 'Jardines de Tuxtla', where the streets are named after flowers. It's picturesque and friendly and I think this will be a good base for me. After my long flight, I hit the hay and dreamed of guacamole mountains.

My first day at school whizzed by in a jetlagged blur and, jetlag aside, this is pretty much how the next six weeks has been. I arrived late due to visa issues so my four week orientation got condensed into two days, which were spent furiously making classroom resources and decorations. I'll be happy if I never have to see a hot glue gun again til my dying day. But it was all worth it when the students showed up and excitedly explored their home from home.

Whilst researching my new adopted city I came across news of earthquakes that had occurred here and this sparked a bout of paranoia, what the hell am I supposed to do in the event of an earthquake??  Everywhere you go there are safety notices on ‘sismos’ explaining, with stickmen illustrations, the steps to take but, in true Sinead Nua style, I had many questions.  I hoped for an earthquake drill at school to educate me and open a forum for my many queries.  They say you should be careful what you wish for, and ‘they’ would be right.  One week into teaching a colleague came running to my classroom and announced we needed to go downstairs, and in the urgency all I heard was “earthquake”.  I leapt to my feet and guided the students out of the room, down the stairs, and across the school grounds to the safe zone, all the while cheerily chatting and reassuring the munchkins that it was only pretend.  It wasn’t.  And I didn’t even notice.  Earthquake: check, I’ve so got this (as long as it doesn’t happen while I am snoring in my flat that is…)

Mid September marks Independence Day in Mexico, when everywhere gets festooned with Christmassy looking decorations (the colours of the Mexican flag are red, white, and green), and the locals treat themselves to a day of partying on the streets.  I took the opportunity to travel to San Cristobal De Las Casas with some of my new teacher friends.  San Cris is just an hour from Tuxtla and, due to its elevation, is far cooler in temperature.  It’s a small town that has a European village feel, with great little bars and restaurants, and a terrific market selling all sorts of Mexican clobber, the shopaholic inside began doing somersaults.  I popped my mezcal cherry and spent the following day nursing a brutal hangover.  My rookie mistake was thinking it was a shot, it’s supposed to be sipped and enjoyed slowly.  Typical bleedin’ Paddy.

Since day one in Tuxtla people have warned me of two things to be cautious of, Chikungunya and stomach upsets.  Foolishly I did not take heed and found myself flattened for a whole week with symptoms of both.  I contracted Chikungunya from a wily mosquito, one of the several million that bit me over the past few weeks, and was reduced to a creaky, sorry state.  Chikungunya is similar to Dengue in that it cannot be prevented with medication or vaccination; you just have to avoid meeting that infected and thirsty mosquito and smother yourself with repellent that smells so potent it makes me worry for my safety around naked flames.  The stomach issue, called Proteus, was a surprise for me, having spent two years happily eating street food in Nakhon Sawan, one of which had a rodent visitor the size of a badger.  However, as explained by my doctor, there is bacteria present here that my system has not become accustomed to yet, so it’s important to take caution at first.  Noted, I now eat my own cooked food rather than play taco roulette at the local cantinas, well borin’.

Despite my shattered immune system, living in Tuxtla has been an easy transition so far.  The language barrier is less limiting than what I experienced in Thailand, aided by my (admittedly weak) knowledge of French, which is kind of the cousin of Spanish. The people here are as friendly and tolerant of my inexperience as the locals in Nakhon Sawan were, and I am again reminded of the importance of treating 'the other' with respect and compassion, something yet to be learned in other areas of the world, my own country included.  So, I look forward to exploring the countryside and learning more about the Mexican culture.  The Day of the Dead festival is looming, and it’s promising to be a humdinger.  I shall keep you updated!

PS, Between frantically scrambling to prepare for school and lying in a heap on my sofa I have not yet explored with my camera, but photos are promised as soon as I get my arse in gear!