boston

A couple of days after Mexico, I spent a long weekend in Philadelphia and Boston with a few friends. Laurin, Hayley, and I flew to Philly and met up with Kara. We then drove to Boston and spent the weekend there visiting Emily. All five of us at one point were in the DR together working. Pictured above is me and Laurin and below is Kara and Hayley.

I loved Boston so much, I had never been there before and we picked the absolute perfect time to go. All the trees were changing, so we saw these vibrant colors of red, orange, and yellow.
This weekend was also that of Texas-OU game, so I had to sport my colors walking around Boston. We actually went to a pub to watch the game, oh so exciting!! For two years I have been removed from Texas football, though I haven't been to a game since college, it is so good to be back!
We saw these Obama and McCain assortments at a chocolate shop. They even had a tally going of how many of each one had been sold.

I had originally planned to stay the whole week, but had to cut the trip short for a job interview in Houston.

last view

Here are my dreads at two months, right before I cut them out. Sadly, I couldn't keep them tame enough to pull off having them in the states. Who knows, they might come back for a second go around though!

mexico

The first week in October, I traveled from Houston to Mexico City to meet up with current Makarios staff in both the Dominican Republic and Austin. I cannot stress enough how great it was seeing my friends in the DR, to be able to see how things are currently in the in both daily life and at the school and to encourage them the best I know how. After catching up some, familiarizing ourselves a bit with the city, and eating some delicious tacos, we spent time volunteering with Passion. Though meeting Mexican and American volunteers alike and working the event together was good, the highlight of my time in Mexico was the next two days.

After 2 hours of public transportation, we met with Mexican men and women interested in improving the education of children in the surrounding area. They shared about the struggles they face teaching children who come from backgrounds of extreme poverty and for some, many types of abuse. I was able to share with them the struggles I had teaching children with similar backgrounds. They were able to see that they were not alone, and that others could relate to them. After establishing the connection that we had, we were able to effectively communicate with each other and share ideas of how to teach and methods to use. We saw their program, and I was very impressed with how well and effectively they taught and how well behaved their students were.

The following day we continued to meet with them, and gave them ideas they can use in the classroom. With the ideas we gave them along with some materials to use in the classroom, I am completely confident that their already well established program will continue to flourish.

Overall it was a great week. In addition to real quality time with these teachers, I was able to spend great quality time with friends. It was SO wonderful seeing and spending time with them. The day before we flew out we had the opportunity to hike the pyramids of Teotihuacan, lots of steps but well worth the view from up top!