What the heck are you doing in Mexico

I will tell you.

I am in Puebla, Mexico. I ♥ it.It is a big city about 2 hours south of Mexico City. I have been here since January 5th through a program called ILP.

I teach English to adorable little kids at a preschool/elementary school from 12-2 each day. It's a private school that invited us to come and teach. My homeroom class is 3 & 4 year olds. They are the sweetest EVER. In the evenings I teach from 5-7, only these kids vary in age since it is just an ILP program and not through a pre-existing school.

I live with a host family. I love them!! I have 3 host sisters, and 1 host brother. My host family is LDS and I share a room with the head teacher, Nicki. We all live with host familys except Garret who lives with Moroni and Hannah 2 at the "apartment". Hannah and Steph live together with the relatives of our host family, and Iron lives next door with more relatives.

People I refer to:

Garret: Also known as Brother Bedford or Gareoso, 23ish, attends BYU-I, teaches our English institute class, lives with Moroni.. very spirited.. is the word I will use. Eats with my family, my family possibley loves him more. Garret can be found playing the harmonica to any song in existence or wearing a wolf shirt that says call me wild and shakin his booty to cumbia music like it aint no thang.

Moroni: Our manager.. we call him our nanny. He does basically everything including drive us to school and help plan our vacations. He is 21 and recently served a mission. We luv our Moro he is the sweetest. He makes sure we are alive and don't get shived. I will never forget the way he says, "Do you want to die?" or "Take is easy" to us teachers on a regular basis.

Hannah 2: A member of the Puebla Cross country team, founded by Steph and I. Lives with Garret and Moroni. She is an Ihelp teacher, which is seperate from ILP. Very smart, fluent in Spanish.

Steph: Steph is a fellow ILP teacher of essential importance. She is hilarious and is a co-founder of the Puebla xc team. Nicki and Garret love to hide around the school and jump out and scare the crap out of her. Steph has a quiet confidence and a subtle yet hilarious sense of humour and I look up to this girl she is a good example to me.

Hannah: Commonly referred to as Hannah Bee, she lives with Steph on top of a Papeleria not far from nuestra casa. Hannah hilarious, and 19, a few months older than me. Hannah made the phrase "esta bien" our motto here in Puebla. It means no worries. For the rest of your days. It's our problem free, philosophy... Ok that is from Lion King but you get the idea. She likes photography like me.

Iron Rod: joined us a few weeks after we got here due to a desperate need for other teachers. Iron is 17 making him the baby of us all. His bathroom is in our backyard so sometimes when are window is open and he is going pee we have conversations or he serenades us usually with some form of disney song. Sometimes he tells us stories that leave me peeing my pants laughing for days.. like the one about the leaping over the fence and the tragic death of a rabbit.. Ask me sometime.

Nicki: My roomie, my partner in crime, our headteacher. What would I do without this girl!! Keep putting my T.P in the toilet that is for sure. Nicki is a seasoned world traveler.

Tehuacan Girls: ILP teachers in a neighboring city who wish they taught in Puebla ehhhh!!


All of us are LDS except Hannah 2. All of us ILP teachers go to BYU-I and never met each other prior to Puebla.

Puebla is absolutely beautiful. Fact. I will never get over it. Should you vacation here someday and go all the places I tell you to go? Duh.