Today, on my 29th birthday, my adventure of the Fulbright began promptly at 8:00 a.m. It's 5:30 now and I've had a half hour to relax after a VERY full day. I learned about the Mexican education system and by 10:00 a.m. couldn't believe how much we had covered. I also couldn't believe I could have 50 students in a class!!! There are 9 teachers from the U.S. (including myself) traveling to Mexico and there are 13 Mexicans coming to the U.S. Four of the Mexicans are on one-way programs and not an exchange one.
The other teachers, from Mexico and the U.S., are fantastic and fascinating. The U.S. teachers come from all over - from Virginia to Sleepy Eye, MN to L.A. and in between and the populations of our cities range from about 5 million to 3,500. The Mexican teachers also are almost each from a different state, with two from Mexico City - which means I may be able to see one of the other U.S. teachers.
The language situation is an interesting one since each of us is both fluent in English and Spanish. The program director began in English making introductions before dinner and we followed in English. Since then we are flip-flopping between the two, it just depends. Sometimes the Mexicans speak in English while the Americans speak in Spanish.
Just before breaking this afternoon, we reviewed our schedules for the next couple of days and they are jam packed with sessions. There is a lot of one-on-one time with our counterparts (and we had time today), there are sessions on administrative issues and ones on classroom management and even one on taxes for U.S. citizens. Of course, I am making time to go to the Washington Nationals game tomorrow night!
Today all of the teachers who are participating in the Fulbright program arrive here to Alexandria Virginia. There will be about 300 teachers total.
I'll be in touch once I arrive in Mexico City on Friday.
Hasta pronto - talk soon.
