First Day of School

I've got my lunch pack packed, my boots tied tight, I hope I don't get in a fight. Ohhhhh back to school

Name that movie!

Greetings everyone from my humble room, which looks like this...

Soccer posters of our brother Alonzo's adorn our walls. This is technically his room but he goes to a private LDS school in Mexico City and is away most weeks.

Our closet space and end of the bunk beds.

That's right. BUNK BEDS!

So fun.

Mine is the top bunk (the nicely made one, eh em Carly) and of course our Office calendar currently featuring Dwight K. Schrute.

No better way to feel at home then have Dwight stare at you while you're sleeping...

Lesson planning.

First Day of School!

Today was the first day of meeting our kids and introducing ourselves to what we are going to be spending most of our time doing here. The kids were absolutely adorable, albeit a little shy with a fresh batch of new teachers, but they were so well behaved, it was wonderful! This is Carly and I before school started, in our awesome teaching polos.

And after school ended and we had cleaned up. I said it was great, I didn't say it wasn't tiring..

This is Carly's classroom on the top floor of the school. She teaches the youngest batch of kids, mostly trying to get them used to speaking English, not as much comprehension as it is practicing the muscle movements and memorization.

My classroom is downstairs in the kitchen area. Our school is quite small, and doubles as a living space for our local coordinator Moroni (pronounced Moronee here) so we work with the space that we have. I will put up more pictures tomorrow of my school and the past few days we have been here.

My class roll:

Aylen

Cesar

Constanza

Luciana

Diana 

Gerrardo

Aranza

Gerlinda

My job is teaching the kids to read and practicing their functional fluency. The better they speak, the better they read so we go back and forth between word skill practice (consonants, digraphs, phonograms and prefix/suffixes) and activities that require extensive discussion.

Lesson planning is turning out to be a little bit more challenging than I expected, but its honestly a blast. I love teaching the kids, but its just so hard not to be friends with the little munchkins! Seriously, they're adorable. I would put pictures up, but I don't want to get sued or anything..

Fun fact: Saying goodbye to a group of people takes about 20-30 minutes because you kiss and hug each individual before you go. It is very endearing.

Fun fact: You ever head the "If it's yellow let it mellow.." phrase? That applies here.

Fun fact: I am going to get fat from all the scrumptious-ness that is served in this home.

Zumba, anyone?

On the Spicier Side of Life

I have arrived in Puebla.

And even though I have been here for two days, it already feels like a week.

We've mostly been organizing the discombobulation that is our school which means:

- Organizing the school supply closet
- Cleaning the desks, chairs, and walls. Thats right WALLS
- Making all of the necessary charts and posters needed for opening exercises
- Deciding who is teaching what levels
- Walking around like chickens with our heads cut off every once in a while
- Taking short breaks to chill on the patio because the weather here has been absolutely phenomenal!

My first meal in Mexico.

It's thick corn chips sitting in a type of salsa verde sauce (way spicy) drizzled with what I think is the Mexican equivalent of sour cream.

It wasn't so bad! I couldn't eat all of it because it was really spicy!

Carly: Whimp

Thank you, dear friend.

I apologize for the awkward expression. My face doesn't always look like this, I was just a little bit scared...

Anyway, there is much more to tell you and I have much more pictures, but I am currently a little bit swamped with having to practically outline an entire semester for my class and pioneer the curriculum because no one in my program seems to have a clear idea of how my class is to be organize. Fun, right? I

I'm actually REALMENTE excited. 

Monday we get to meet the kids and start class!!

Nervous?

Why yes. Yes, I am.

The One Where She Tells You the Real Reason Behind the Blog

Hi Friends!

Just so we all know, I am completely psyched about having started up this blog!

You: Why, McKenna?

I will tell you why..... Because up until now I felt that I had absolutely no good/ worthy reason to write about my life. I frankly thought it was simply too boring for me to get on maybe every week purely for the purpose of telling you about the goings on in my average life. I'm sure you all have dozens of familial blogs that you have obligations to read therefore very little time to pay attention to my incessant, pointless banter. It would become like a journal or something, and in my journals, lemme tell you- homegirl is whiiiiiiinneeeyy.

It is not at all pleasant. I strongly dislike re-reading my journals. Although it does remind me that I have made progress in my life. Thank goodness....

You: Ok McKenna. Gettin a little off-track here, soooo why did you start a blog then?

Ah! Glad you asked. Well folks....

I am leaving for Mexico in 5 days. 
 

So for those of you who were so confuzzled by my choice of blog title "What fiesta?! WHO'S HAVING A FIESTA???" I'm sure you were all wondering. BUT, you can all be put out of your misery now- there is a method to my madness.

And I will be there for 4 months, teaching English to adorable little ninos!

• Donde esta el bano? = Where is the bathroom?

• Lo siento, no hable ingles. = I'm sorry, I don't speak Spanish.

• ¿Sabe usted dónde encontrar un Nordstrom? = Do you know where to find a Nordstrom? 

That last one, key.

I will be here.

 And here.

 Aaaand here.

 Eating this. Mmmmmm

And playing, what is hopefully, a lot of this.

And it's all because of this program riiiight here 

A few months ago I was accepted to the International Language Program to be a "student teacher" for a group of kids in either Mexico, Russia, Ukraine or China. I was initially assigned to Tehuacan, Mexico then transferred to Puebla, Mexico a few weeks ago.

I can not tell you how excited I am to be a part of this program! English is a huge commodity in foreign countries, and being able to learn English at an early age will be a doorway for the kids to better educations, jobs, opportunities and general improvement of their lives and their families lives. Mexico is obviously in a bit of a rut right now (no worries! I am completely safe and my family has done well in scaring me into an acute sense of awareness and slight paranoia that will aid me in not being stupid whilst I'm there. Hopefully. Plus we have lots of rules that prevent us from getting in dangerous situations. Mk pumpkins?) so I feel greatly motivated to be part of an effort which is leading towards a better future for the country's children.

And hey hey hey....

Guess who's coming with me????

THIS GIRL!!!!

My wonderful roommate since first semester (pictured with my other goofy faced roommate since first semester) Carly K Berg will be traveling with me from LAX to Mexico City and joining me in spending the next 4 months eating mountains of Mexican food, visiting the Mayan Temples, becoming acquainted with locals, getting incredibly good at soccer ( watch yo back Mia Hamm! Even though you're like, 40-something now), avoiding the 15 lbs which is rumored to be gained by EVERYONE who goes to Mexico (losing 5, right Carly?), teaching kids a language which we occasionally struggle with ourselves, weekly Office episodes on Hulu to try and keep up with our tradition at college, and every so often breaking down and crying, wondering why we ever left our American comforts in the first place.

So let me tell you a little bit about this girl, and why I am SO stoked that she's going to be my closest compadre on this expedition.

Carly Kay Berg

Roommate Extraordinaire

Her stats:

- She is the youngest in a family of five older brothers. So yeah, she's witnessed all sorts of horrors and gained tough skin through her traumas.

- She loves her Ducks. (Oregon)

- There is no one nicer than Carly. NO ONE! You're probably thinking to yourself "Well I have this one friend and he/she is actually really..." I'm stopping you right there! Because I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but you are wrong.

- She has the best bursting, loud laugh. I'm serious, you didn't know a noise like that could come out of a girl of that size.

- She's the one who told me about the program in the first place.Thanks doll!!!

- It's hilarious when she gets excited. Which is often.She giggles uncontrollably. And starts bouncing.

- She is the reason for about 80% of our apartments inside jokes. Not because they're about her or anything, she's just that funny.

-She is a peace maker. A common phrase for Carly is "Whatever is good for everyone else!" which is a precious commodity in our apartment of stubborn personalities.
- Her parents, Pat and Stacey (spelling?) seem to be very grateful that I am going to be there with her, when actually I should think it definitely the other way around- Homegirl's gonna be needing some definite comforting.
- I just lover her to pieces. End of story

Now that you're all up to date on where I'll be, who it will be with, and what I'll be doing for the next little chapter of my life, I just want to say one thing:

I have gotten several different responses about going on this trip. Both negative and positive. People telling me I'm a silly goose to spend money on going to teach English in a foreign country when people do that for free, or paid in other situations.

But I would just like to give a quick, little, itty-bitty, cutie patootie, shout out to all of my friends and family who have supported me through this whole process.

Including my roommates who listened to me through ALL of my going back and forth like a ping pong ball in indecision.

To all of you awesome, wonderful, loving, generous people: 

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

VIVA LA MEXICO!!

That One Where She Tells You About Herself

My name is McKenna.

 

I just finished my 3rd semester at BYU-Idaho.
And lemme tell you- it was a blast. There is nothing like the combination of bitter, bitter cold, long nights in the library studying French- a language which I have never taken, occasional parties in stairwells, the Harry Potter premiere which I totally dressed up for AND made butter beer, pumpkin juice, pumpkin pasties, and chocolate frogs for, Macaroni and Cheese food storage, more long nights spent in the gym to work off the mac n' cheese, a roommate breaking her coccyx sledding, less-than-desirable quality of washer and dryer which make for disappearing socks and un-dried jeans, constant belting of the lyrics to Etta James "At Last" in our kitchen (eh em, Erika Larsson), slight Justin Bieber obsessions, learning about the cultural, social, economic, and political complexities of the country Pakistan, trying to figure out what my career calling is, and all in all surviving another semester in the city I like to call my winter wonderland- Rexburg, Idaho.              

  I have these girls to call my roommates

Yes, they are as wonderful as they look.

 

 

 

Three of these beauties have been with me since my first semester in the dorms. From the top row going left they are Karla, Erika, Stephanie, Me, Carly and Brindisi (pronounced Brin-da-cee. Get it right and give yourself a pat on the back, because sometimes people struuuuuugle)

Karla, Erika, Carly, and I started out at Kerr Hall together and have been super close ever since. They are pretty much my thick and thin. The cold winters of Rexburg does well in bonding people together.

 

I absolutely love my school. The classes are invigorating, the teachers are phenomenal people who have, for the majority, gone out and done incredible things then decided to come back and share their wisdom when they financially didn't necessarily need to, the campus is beautiful, inspiring and ever-growing. The construction on this pretty little building has just finished after 4 years of planning and adjustments:

Inside the BYU-I Center

It's the biggest building in Madison County (ok so that might not be saying much) and seats 15,000 people

 

 Yes we have no idea what it's doing in Rexburg, but we welcome it with open arms!

 This man came for a visit when the building was dedicated.

He is just lovely.

 Do you see the sliver of a man on the right? Uh-huh, him. And do you see a blurry image of a girl with long brown hair right above him with the microphone cutting right along her jaw.? Uh-huh, her.

Well guess what folks....

That blur would be me.

I had the opportunity of singing in the choir at the dedication, and I know that that blur is myself because the girl behind me was wearing that black dress with the red tank-top.

Cool, huh??

Well... you guys might not think so. But I believe it is awesome to be pictured with the 1st counselor of the Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Blur or no blur.(if you're currently asking yourself, church of holiday hoobie whattie? Edify your mind here ---> www.mormon.org)

ANYWAY

Back to me lovin my school.

All of that is fantastic and makes me really excited that I'm there at this awesome time with such amazing leaders and counselors to help usher me into my ever-nearing future. But the thing that I love absolutely the most about BYU-Idaho is the people. They come from all countries, all financial situations, all up-bringings, from plenty of different language barriers all seeking spiritual and educational knowledge at THIS PLACE. Which I consider to be a pretty big deal. I mean, it's Idaho were talking about here people!! It's a big deal that people choose to live here at all.

For the record, I have never been happier with any decisions in my life as I have been with the following: 

 

1. Choosing this campus to attend school

2. And dating this person right here

This is Matthew Grow. He is kind of wonderful, and I like him very much.
He hails from the East Coast and likes the Beatles, foreign languages, steak, and Argentina.
He never yells except out of joy or jest. I like that in a man.
He is currently studying International Relations and was just accepted to the Fast Grad program at BYU-I which means he will be going to school ALL YEAR ROUND. What a nut, huh?

But I like him anyway.

I'll post later about how his cool purple Nike swoop shoes attracted me to him and what has happened since, but for now just be content with the fact that all is swell with us :)

I would end my post with a cheesy "Hopefully you'll enjoy my words, life, blog etc. and yada-yada-yada..." But I'd rather not.

Hopefully I don't bore you all to death :)

Stay in school, and take as many pictures of your life as possible.