On Saturday, the host mothers all organized (again!) to take the students to nearby Motúl, just outside Mérida, for breakfast and a bit of exploring. Motúl is known for their huevos motuleños, a special dish prepared by layering tostadas, eggs, and beans and covering it all in salsa. After breakfast, some students went back to rest (they've had a busy summer, we truly aren't sure how the host moms can keep this pace up!), and the rest stayed to explore Motúl!
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| There's probably a version of this photo that actually has all of the students looking at the same camera, but we aren't sure who has it. |
Afterwards, the students explored the town and had a photoshoot with the wonderful host moms.
After Motul, the students got a chance to cool off in a pool (We aren't sure whose pool, but they sure look happy!).
On Sunday, the students and families went to Mérida en Domingo. It's an open air market where a lot of venders set up shops, along with activities and food stands.
While there, they also got a chance to check out some yucatecan folkdancing, captured by one of the host moms!
They also bought... well, we aren't sure what they were, but they loved these things. We brought them to Mexico to learn Spanish, but apparently they found their true love--dolphin.
During the week, it was business as usual. We noticed the students were really worn down (the host moms are keeping them busy), so on Monday we had a movie day--We put on Brave and let them have an afternoon to kind of chill. They were excited by the concept of Disney in Spanish.
Afterwards, we did an activity that Diana had suggested--last week when we met individually with the students to discuss their progress, we gave them the homework to have an individual conversation with each team member and to learn something new about them. On Monday, every student put their name at the top of a sheet of paper and then they took turns passing the papers, writing down 2-3 unique, positive attributes of each team member. At the end, they wrote one negative thing that bothered them about the group (in general). Then they all read 2-3 of the positive things that surprised them or made them feel the best. Afterwards, we talked about how oftentimes, negative things we notice in others are actually negative things we have in ourselves (for example, if we get annoyed with impatient people, we're probably impatient), and how if there are things we don't like in the group dynamic (gossip, exclusion), every one of us has the responsability to change that. They reacted really positively, and somehow, the group dynamic has become even more close knit--both of the instuctors thought previously that this was one of the best groups we've had, but somehow it got even better!
In the afternoon activities, students were suprised to learn that the Farewell show is just two short weeks away! They attacked choir and theatre with renewed motivation (part excitement, part fear).
For choir, that meant finishing the choreographing for the different songs they're working on in groups to be ready to teach Odalys and the rest of the choir crew next week.
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| Ainsley, Niara and Jaigh, responsible for Quimbara (Cecilia Cruz) |
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| Claire, Devin, and Olivia, responsible for Puebla (Álvaro Soler) |
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| Cassidy, Katie, Kaleigh, and Piper, responsible for Robarte un beso (Carlos Vives). |
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| Emma, writing out her lines, |
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| Aaron and Spencer, running lines in the professor office. |
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| Ceci, Malachi and Ariel, working out the first scene. |
On Wednesday we had our sports time again--students were excited to play soccer again!
Unfortunately, shortly after this video, a bystander got hit in the head (we apologized profusely and they insisted they were fine), but the students kind of lost their appetite for soccer afterwards. Instead, we dusted off some old play ground games different students remembered (and could explain in Spanish), and we were joined by two local kids (Luis and Vivi), whose grandparents own a small store in front of the park.
Sharks and Sardines--One student was a shark and had the job of tagging other students, who joined them in the middle, while everyone else was a sardine and had to run across the field without being tagged. It took us a few times to get the right rules down, but they had a blast!
Duck, duck, goose is always a hit. Poor Ceci had such a hard time with her turn! She's so nice, she goes way out of her way to avoid the other person, and it ends up costing her the race!
On Thursday, we had the final trip to CECUNY. The students got a tour of the rest of the center, and then we got to see a final recital of the intro to contemporary dance class and an acrobatics show. Once again, no pictures because of the age of the students who use the center, but the students had a blast!
On Friday, we had our third excursion, to Celestún. Celestún is a bioreserve, famous for the Flamingos there!
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| All set! |
Below are various pictures and videos from the boat tour we took around the reserve. Its hard to really capture the beauty and the excitement, but we did our best!
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| Behind the scenes: Making sure we all put on sunscreen and insect repellent. |
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| Behind the scenes, part 2. |
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The crowd favorite, however, was definitely the spring where the students got to swim.
After the bioreserve, we headed into the town of Celestún for some beach time. After some home made food, and some french fries from the restaurant, students spent about two hours in the ocean. They were so exhausted on the way home--its probably the quietest they've ever been as a group.
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| Ceci, Emma, Niara, Piper, and Ainsley! |
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| Cassidy, Kaleigh, Katie, Ariel and Malachi! |
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| Spencer, Aaron, Olivia, Devin, Emma, and Jaigh |
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| View from the tables |
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| Who's that?? |
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| Playing something. |
And that wraps up our week! This weekend the students had individual plans with their host families on Saturday, but on Sunday the host mom's organized to rent a beach house in Progreso (a more local beach, around 30 minutes from Mérida), and the students are planning on spending all day there with them (they're going to be sick of the beach!). This coming week marks our last full week in Mérida!! We can't believe time has flown by so fast! It's truly a testament to how great of a group of students we have this summer--while both of us instructors love doing the program, usually around the middle things start dragging. Even with the increased teaching load (3 classes each), this has been one of the most memorable summers for both of us, and we are still so grateful to all of you for sending each of the students to Mexico with us this summer!
