Viajando a México!

After my wonderful experience in Antigua, Guatemala, I've been anticipating a return to Latin America, which I have now decided will commence on September 22nd. At the suggestion of a friend, I'm heading down to a relatively small colonial city called Guanajuato, birthlplace of famed artist Diego Rivera and to critical struggles in the fight for Mexican independence. I will be living with a local family and participating in some group language classes in the mornings. During the afternoons and evenings, I will be attending all sorts of events at the huge multicultural Cervantes International Festival for the first few weeks in October.

At some point before mid-November, I will take the 4-hour bus ride over to Guadalajara, the second-largest city in Mexico and birthplace of the mariachi, tequila, the sombrero, rodeos, and the Mexican Hat Dance. I may head over in late October to catch the end of their annual, month-long cultural festival as well. This will also give me time to explore Guadalajara more before I begin a month-long, intensive TEFL certification course there beginning in mid-November.

During the course I will be communicating with a potential employer at a university in Cali, Colombia for a position beginning in January. If not, I will probably look for work in Mexico or South America. I hope to teach part time to leave time for volunteering and immersing myself in the culture and language. In addition to gaining a heightened awareness of myself, various aspects of Latin Cultures, and the world, I hope to become conversational at a relatively high level of Spanish to aid in my social work in the future.

For those of you who are interested, I have some ideas about possible volunteer projects in various parts of Latin America in the future, ranging from environmental sustainability to working with orphans. If you're interested in joining me for a project or have an idea of your own, or if you just want to meet up with me somewhere sometime, let me know and we'll work something out! :)

As for the US, I'll be back for the winter holidays and will take it from there! :)