From Winter Break all the way to Spring Break(s)

How often are you supposed to update a blog anyway? Probably more often than I have recently. Please keep in mind I’m still new to this whole blog thing and will have it all figured out some day. Until then, let me fill you in on what’s been happening with me since the last installment of Ryan in Oaxaca.

Here are the highlights:

-> The city has remained much calmer since my first few months here.

-> Alder’s mother and grandmother came down for a nice visit in January.

-> A bunch of friends and I went to the beach for a great four-day weekend in February to celebrate my birthday.

-> We went to Mexico City for a long weekend and I bought a mountain bike.

-> My parents came down for a great visit on my first (paid) spring break in March.

-> Had another two weeks of (paid) vacation for Semana Santa (Easter Week) earlier this month.

-> Traveled all over this beautiful state of Oaxaca, took the “new” out of my bike, and recharged my teaching batteries.

-> Recently started teaching an afternoon class at URSE (a private local university).

-> Riding weekly with a serious group of local cyclists at 7am on Sundays.

-> My health has been great and I’m getting back into decent riding shape.

Here are the lowlights:

-> Temperatures are now soaring up into the mid 90’s during our hottest time of the year here.

-> Recently started teaching an afternoon class at URSE (on the opposite side of town) in addition to teaching my existing six classes at Blaise Pascale.

-> May is just around the corner and that’s when public school teachers here go on strike (and was when the major conflict all began last year).

So overall, things are working out pretty well for me here. No news has been good news, so to speak. The most exciting thing that’s happened to me recently is my parents coming down to visit. We took them to our favourite beach for a few days and did some hardcore relaxing there. Then we spent a couple days kickin around back in the city before renting a car taking a big road trip across the state through incredible cloud forests (full of birds, of course) all the way to Tuxtepec. Stayed there for a couple days and came back to Oaxaca again for a few more days of shopping and eating well before they had to leave. They had a much different experience from their last trip to Mexico when they stayed at a private resort in Mazatlán. They’re even talking about coming back next year!

So I’d actually prefer not to be teaching at URSE at the moment, but they really needed a teacher for this quarter and it’s a good time for me to get my foot in the door. The hiring process was long and complicated (as you might expect from a Mexican university/immigration), and they couldn’t hold my offer open any longer without me working there. It’s an advanced conversational class with only eight students and besides the long hot bus ride across town, it’s a pretty good gig. The course I’m teaching there is on a monthly evaluation schedule requiring only a monthly teaching commitment from me. So I’m planning on teaching two months there and be finished before Blaise Pascal is out by the time I head up the States for a visit in late June and possible pick back up that class (and another at URSE, Cambridge, or a private class) after returning to Oaxaca in early July. That is unless I stumble across a two-month summer job stateside. If you hear about a mountain bike guiding position open somewhere in the NW (ya, right!) or something like that, let me know. Seriously though, I would consider spending the summer in the States if I was working there.

One reason I haven’t posted sooner is because I wanted to do so at the same time I post pictures, and I finally did. You can see a short slideshow of them at http://community.webshots.com/slideshow/558737663qoJLob

Now you’re up to date with Ryan in Oaxaca. You know if I’m not up to date with you. If so, fill me in and we can make plans to hook up in a couple months.

¡Hasta la proxima!