So, this weekend I had not only 2 days in which to relax and have fun, but FOUR. This is what is known as a puente, or bridge, where there are public holidays so close together that the day in the middle (in this case the Monday) is also made into a holiday. There's another one in a couple of weeks, but this one has been changed so that instead there's only three days :( The day which is now going to be worked is May 15th, which is teachers' day. More about that another time, I'm sure.
So, I decided that rather than stay in Celaya on this puente, I would go somewhere else. After making a friend at the BEO competition, I decided to go to León, Gto., both to explore the city and to hang out with him. I left Celaya several hours later than I'd intended as I was waiting indoors for a visit which never came. After giving up and going, I arrived in León at about 4pm. I had a little wander about, then went to my hotel. It was nicely tucked away down a side street. Although being less than 5 minutes walk from the central square, it was silent and lovely to sleep in.
After dropping off my stuff, I went for a wander. I was going to meet up with George later that evening, so decided that I should see as much as I could in the meantime. León is renowned for its leather goods, and although I knew this before going I was not prepared for QUITE so much leather. I swear I have never seen so many shoes, bags and belts in my entire life; next time I am going to visit with a quantity of money! After a couple of hours walking I was a little peckish, I so got some tacos...delicious tacos, indeed.
More wandering, and no call from George, I decided to go back to my hotel so I could log onto wifi and see if I had any messages on Facebook. I did, rescheduling for the next day, so I decided to get an early night.
I woke up early the next day, and decided to head out and explore right away. I turned out of my hotel's street the opposite direction to the day before, and in about 3 minutes was in the city centre. Here I found so much more than I had ever expected. Beautiful architecture, shops, cafés, restaurants...everything I like in a city. Every corner I turned was a new delight, whether it was another beautiful building or a shop selling things I can't find in Celaya. I found, amongst other things, a comic book store and no less than 3 tattoo studios (I've found one tat studio in Celaya; no comic book store, although there is an awesome stuff selling anime and other random Japanese stuff). I walked, and walked, and walked. I took photos, I shopped (jewellery, mainly), and and I ate enchiladas. I decided to head back to my hotel for a FB check, and it was lucky that I did. It turned out that George was having some friends over to eat and drink beer, and I was invited. Although I had a little trouble getting in contact to confirm (my UK number wouldn't dial or text his MX phone) and I ended up going to a payphone, I eventually got a taxi to Plaza Mayora retail park where I met him, his best friend and little brother and then we drove off to the house. The afternoon passed in a stream of awesomeness. More people came; everybody was really cool. There was a great deal of beer; very refreshing and yummy in the afternoon heat. There was a BBQ, with steaks and chorizo sausages; all delicious. We all chatted, some people played guitar, we played NINJA! (which I'd seen but never played before...and suck at, but I WILL get better...), some people played piano, everybody sang at some point or another, there was more beer, we told jokes, then dirty ones, and then, unfortunately, it was time to go back to my hotel. I wasn't feeling particularly drunk, but thanks to being a little too ambitious with my sun resistance, I was a little warm and sleepy. So I went back to my hotel, before going to the nearby store for a chilled coffee and a giant bottle of water. After that, I slept like a baby.
I woke up this morning and the first thing I noticed was the redness of my arms. I am very lobster-like. It doesn't hurt, which is AWESOME, considering the shade of red to which I am currently adjusted, but it looks BAD. I decided to post pictures on Facebook, to give people some amusement; I always mock my friends when they have sunburn, so it's only fair that they get the chance to return the favour.
So, in a recap, León. I WANT TO GO BACK. It's the best place I've been to in Mexico so far. I love everything about the city, from the architecture and planning/ design to the huge array of shops. There are a lot of cool looking bars which I want to visit, and I have a strong urge to spend a day shoe shopping. I will definitely go back, probably in the next few weeks. My new favourite city!!!
30.4.12
Oh, how predictable!
It has been almost 4 months since I last posted. This is not entirely that surprising, really; lots of things have happened to me and I have been really, really busy (but then they all say that, don't they Blogger?)
The first major thing that happened was that my relationship kind of...well, vanished. To be honest it hadn't exactly been amazing for a while, but we both kind of plodded along, hoping that it would improve while simultaneously getting more and more miserable. There were several factors, none of which I'm going to go into any details with. First we decided to 'dis-engage'. We took off our rings, and waited to see if that would help at all. It didn't. Eventually, after more procrastinating, we talked and decided that it was best to not be 'together' anymore. It feels better, I have to say. It is a little weird still living together, but at least there is a different bedroom, which he now lives in. He's started talking to and seeing a girl from the Internet, so it's been a good thing for him. I have nobody right now, although in all fairness until I've finished my diploma work it wouldn't be practical for me to have another relationship...not one that involved human contact. I would consider a distance relationship; that would match the schedule I currently have! However, I'm not going to actively look for anything (although if anything of that nature was to come along I would, naturally, be delighted!)
The second major thing that occurred was the BEO competition. Since September last year, I had been working with a group of 16 students from my school, preparing to enter the BEO (British English Olympics) competition. For those of you who are not familiar with the BEO, it is a competition of English prowess, including presentations and performances. There were about 70 schools (maybe more) in the competition this year, and it was held at four campuses, at prestigious public schools in England; Christ's Hospital School, St Mary's Ascot, Ardingly College (where I was the Academic Director in 2011) and Bradfield College - where we stayed this year. I won't go into too much detail, as most of my thoughts and photos can be found on my Facebook. However, what I will say is that it was an incredible experience and it was really interesting to be at a residential school as a group leader. Now I have experienced it from all points of view; teacher/activity leader, centre management, foreign group leader, and student (when I went to a French school when I was a kid). It is hard to say which point of view is the best, most interesting, most difficult or whatever; each is different. I AM looking forward to having a few weeks this summer as plain teacher/activity leader however; as much as I love management and so on, it will be nice to have a break from it, and to be able to properly interact with the kids.
SO, that's my explanation for not writing recently. I hope it's acceptable, and I promise that in future I will be more regular with my posting...
The first major thing that happened was that my relationship kind of...well, vanished. To be honest it hadn't exactly been amazing for a while, but we both kind of plodded along, hoping that it would improve while simultaneously getting more and more miserable. There were several factors, none of which I'm going to go into any details with. First we decided to 'dis-engage'. We took off our rings, and waited to see if that would help at all. It didn't. Eventually, after more procrastinating, we talked and decided that it was best to not be 'together' anymore. It feels better, I have to say. It is a little weird still living together, but at least there is a different bedroom, which he now lives in. He's started talking to and seeing a girl from the Internet, so it's been a good thing for him. I have nobody right now, although in all fairness until I've finished my diploma work it wouldn't be practical for me to have another relationship...not one that involved human contact. I would consider a distance relationship; that would match the schedule I currently have! However, I'm not going to actively look for anything (although if anything of that nature was to come along I would, naturally, be delighted!)
The second major thing that occurred was the BEO competition. Since September last year, I had been working with a group of 16 students from my school, preparing to enter the BEO (British English Olympics) competition. For those of you who are not familiar with the BEO, it is a competition of English prowess, including presentations and performances. There were about 70 schools (maybe more) in the competition this year, and it was held at four campuses, at prestigious public schools in England; Christ's Hospital School, St Mary's Ascot, Ardingly College (where I was the Academic Director in 2011) and Bradfield College - where we stayed this year. I won't go into too much detail, as most of my thoughts and photos can be found on my Facebook. However, what I will say is that it was an incredible experience and it was really interesting to be at a residential school as a group leader. Now I have experienced it from all points of view; teacher/activity leader, centre management, foreign group leader, and student (when I went to a French school when I was a kid). It is hard to say which point of view is the best, most interesting, most difficult or whatever; each is different. I AM looking forward to having a few weeks this summer as plain teacher/activity leader however; as much as I love management and so on, it will be nice to have a break from it, and to be able to properly interact with the kids.
SO, that's my explanation for not writing recently. I hope it's acceptable, and I promise that in future I will be more regular with my posting...
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