Reminiscing: Mexico & ILP

As part of one of my classes at Weber State this semester (Advanced Technology in Education) we have been learning how to use the different programs on macs, one of those being iMovie ...It's amazing! I used to really like the Windows Movie maker on my laptop, I have made quite a few fun little videos on it. But now there is no going back! It is really fun software, and things that would take me hours on Windows movie maker just take one or two clicks on iMovie. LOVE it!

Anyways, our assignment was to create a video using certain features of the program, such as voiceover or transitions or the Ken Burns effect. There were no specifications on WHAT we were to make the video on, just that we make it. SO, me being my decisive self, I was having a hard time coming up and idea! So while brainstorming in class... I decided to just check my Gmail real quick.. mostly just to kill time. :) BUT, I am glad I did! Because there I found an email from ILP, announcing a video contest! So the idea started there, and here is the end product. Enjoy. :)

**pause the music player**

Una noche Méxicana!

One of my friends and I had a MÉXICAN NIGHT!! We made a lot of our favorite Mexican foods, and they turned out really well! Cocinamos tacos de carne asada, al pastor, y chorizo, sopes, y por supuesto, mole! Los postres estaban arroz con leche, flan y panetón, y horchata y jarritos para tomar! It all tasted delicious! And also made me miss all the yummy foods in Mexico. :)

HALLOWEEN!!!!

I love Halloween time, it's such a fun holiday. Dressing up in costumes, carving pumpkins, spooky decorations, and of course lots of candy. I heard on the radio the other day that during the Halloween season, candy sales in the US went up by 20 1/2 million dollars!! Crazy. They also said that the most popular candy was .... candy corn! YMMM. Alizae dressed up as a COWGIRL!! All her idea. So my mom found her some tight Wrangler jeans a button up shirt, and of course boots and a hat! She is adorable.

My mom, Alizae and I went to this Hallween carnival that they had at Dinosaur Park in Ogden, and we had a blast! Alizae really enjoyed getting candy from all of the different people, and my mom and I really liked all of the decorations and cute things they had throughout the park. Look at all of these pumpkins!

Above is my favorite picture of the entire night! Alizae and I were just taking silly pictures, and when my mom saw this character, she said "Take my picture with HIM!!"

This monkey is someone in a costume! I wish I had a costume like that... how much fun would that be. I would definitely NOT just stick it in the attic for every month except for October, I would use it all the time! Like to go to the grocery store. Or a ball game. Or the drive-thru at the bank! Ok... so the bank might not be the best place for that. But I think I could have a lot of fun with a monkey suit!

HALLOWEEN HALF MARATHON!!

I slacked off.... okay I ...REALLY slacked off on running while in Mexico!! so when I got home I started running again and training for this half marathon! It was on my birthday (the 30th) in Provo - and it turned out to be a really good race! I trained and ran with Ashley Thayne, she's a big part of the reason why I trained and actually finished the race - THANKS Ash!! Oh, I almost forgot. We wore costumes!! of course we wore costumes. I was Waldo and Ash was a devil-themed angel. :) There were over 2,500 runners, and everyone wore costumes so it was fun to see all of the CRAZY costumes! I don't think a few of them ebenthought about actually having to run in the costume though... hahah. The beginning of the race was pretty steep downhill, we dropped 2,000ft in the first 5 miles! Which made for some VERY sore muscles... I was walking like a 90 year old for the first couple of days! My legs are almost back to normal though... almost. :) My time was 2hours 27 minutes. Also, my mom and Alizae drove all the way down to Provo to support me and to cheer for me!! by far the BEST birthday present I received. It was so motivating to know that they would be waiting for me at the finish line, and cheering for me no matter how slow I was :) I love them!

We met at 6:30am for the race, and they bussed us up to the top of Alpine Loop, It was so beautiful up there! ... and extremely cold, hahah. BUT - focusing on the positive, it truly was so pretty - with the sun coming up over the snow capped mountains. They had a big heated tent that we waited in until the race start, and they even had a costume contest!


I had to take a picture of this, it was such a funny sight to me! This was at the start - bathrooms lined up one after the other, at LEAST 30!
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These are my clones! hahah there were quite a few Waldo's there, it was a fun costume. People would pass me in the race and say "Waldo, there you are! I've been looking for you for years!!" The waldo jokes never got old.

This was right at the finish line! I had probably 50 more yards to go. At the bottom of the picture is Ash's family and Nate Revo holding up a sign that said "HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESS!"



I got to see CANDACE!!!! Possibly the highlight of the entire race. She is one of the girls that I taught with in Mexico, and she lives in Provo going to BYU! So she came to cheer me on - it was so so good to see her! It made me realize how much I miss her and everyone and just Mexico in general. Thanks Candace! Below is me and Ash at the finish! with our sweet medals :)



"TRUNK-OR-TREAT"

In years passed, I have always been passively against this LAZY way of trick-or-treating referred to as TRUNK-OR-TREAT. Trunk or treating is where people have their cars all lined up, and you just walk from trunk to trunk, while the nice people just drop handfuls of candy into your bag. It looks smething like this: (Thanks to Google Images for this lovely photo)


Seriously, if kids expect to get a pillowcase full of candy - I think that they should be willing to work for it! I don't know if you can even call walking door to door WORK. Just saying.
But due to less than perfect weather conditions this Halloween... we gave in. My mom, Alizae and I went to a Trunk-or-Treat. AND... I enjoyed it. It was great!! So much fun, we loved it. My brother Jake and his girlfriend Kinzie were handing out candy - and as you can see from the following pictures, their costumes were AMAZING! Jake was an old man and Kinz was Wonder Woman.

Work and other aspects of my life :)

At work we all dressed up as Waldo also! A lot of people who came in thought it was really clever... others were just really confused! And.. wanna hear something ironic?? Check out this link. Apparently this man tried to rob a bank, dressed as Waldo! hmmm.

My birthday was last week! My day of birth. I am officially 21. I had a really good birthday - full of family, friends and way too much running haha.

AND... Guess who called me for my birthday??? (...drumroll please.....) MY HOST FAMILY!!! Mi familia Mexicana. I was SO happy to talk to them, I miss them a lot! It was Sandra who called, and I got to talk to Christian and Emilio as well. I am SO grateful that I was able to meet them, and share 4 months of their lives with them. Memories that will last a life time, relationships that I will cherish forever, and an experience I will NEVER forget. A mi familia que estan en México, te extraño MUCHIIIISIMO! :)

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Well, October is OVER! It is officially November, which marks the end of the wonderful Fall season as far as I'm concerned. It's crazy how fast time is flying by - I have been home from Mexico for 3 months already! and have almost completed a full semester of school. I only have about one more month left in this semester, I am so excited to reach the end.... NEVER again will I burden myself with 17 credits!! Lesson learned.

Lately.

Missing Mexico.

I really miss Mexico! I love being home, but it was really hard to let go of my life and familia there. Some nights I just sit in bed for hours going through all of my pictures and just remembering how AMAZING this last summer was... If I could rewind time and relive this last summer I would do it in a second. Before Mexico, I never thought that it was possible to grow to love so many people so much, and so deeply, in such a small amount of time- only 3 short months. But it happened. And it was the BEST summer of my life! I made so many memories that I will never forget, became BEST friends with some amazing girls - all of which I look up to very much, AND (as if the things I've listed already wasn't enough) I was lucky enough to have had the opportunity to be a part of the most caring, generous, giving, and truly loving family. My family is what I miss the MOST. I am SO blessed! Here are a few pictures of my very favorite people, I love them all so much!

"There's no place like HOME, and there's nothing else like FAMILY."

I am finally back home, and it has been so good to be back with my family! I really missed them... SO much! Here are just a few pictures from what I have been up to lately, and adventures with friends and family since I've been home.

A bit of free time + collective creativity genius + a mac = this video. Enjoy :)

This is one of my best friends, ASHLEY THAYNE! She was there waiting at the airport when my plane came in, along with my wonderful mom, my niece Alizae, my brother Jake and his girlfriend Kinzie, Megan Jones, Kayla Orton Postak and her husband Jesse! It was so good to see everyone, and to have so many of the most important people in my life there at the airport waiting for me. It's so good to be home!

The Saturday after I got back, my niece Alizae and I went up on the overpass (our very favorite spot!!) and had lunch. It was so much fun, I love that girl so much. Our favorite part of the overpass is trying to get the cars and semi's to honk at us, by waving our arms and dancing, and I must say, we were pretty successful this time! :)








While in Mexico, I unconsciously made mental notes of things that I missed about home, things that I wanted to be sure to do when I got back home. The list is SO random! and fairly extensive, and full of simple things that I just LOVE to do. Lunch on the overpass: Check. Feeding the ducks: Check.

Driving around Ogden with 2 of my very best friends with .....an airhorn.... CHECK! Contrary to popular belief, a simple airhorn can be the source of hours and hours of fun and so many memories. :) Just ask Meg or Marz!

Getting ice cream at my very favorite place: CHECK!! x3. I think I might have had withdrawls from this place, I L-O-V-E it. Zeppe's, I'm glad we've been reunited.

I got to go to the Raptor's game with Ash, it was a fun night! Ya gotta love the good 'ol American pasttime, baseball. When they sang The National Anthem at the beginning of the game, I almost started tearing up, it was beautiful. I am more grateful now than I EVER have been to have been born and raised in the U.S. of A.

Below, the OGDEN TEMPLE! I am so lucky to live so close to such a wonderful place, literally a piece of heaven on earth. I love how beautiful the temple looks against the stormy dark sky, I think you could find a lot of symbolism in that! No matter how dark and stormy the world and our lives may get at times, the temple is always there as a shining example of everything good, and everything that I am working towards.



MY BROTHER BOUGHT A HOUSE!!
Yes, he BOUGHT a house. Crazy huh, considering that he is 19. He has worked SO hard on it for the last few months, and it is really coming along, it looks GREAT. He is such a hard-worker and I look up to him a lot. Here are a few pictures of the kitchen and stairs that he just finished building.

This is all of the Barker side of my family, and the first time in a little while that we have been able to get everyone together! So many people in this picture mean so much to me, and I am so blessed to have such wonderful people to call family.



The OVERPASS! again. I love that place. I went with Matthew Ralphs, my cousin Marian set us up on a date. It was really fun, though I think Matt might have thought my choice of location a little CRAZY. Ha.

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This is ASHLEY! For her protection, I won't put her last name in case someone in the profession of law enforcement sees this picture, because I'm fairly positive that it is NOT legal. Ha but it was fun! Look how happy she is, she is having the time of her life on that horse.


I got my picture taken with the RAPTOR himself! Hahah how lucky am I. :) This is Matt Ralphs, he came down from Logan to go to the game with me, so nice.



And, last but not least.... STAR VALLEY!!!

Over Labor Day weekend I went to Starvalley with my mom and my niece to see my Grandma Barker. I have been to Star Valley every summer since before I can remember, but I was in Mexico when my family went this time! It was such a fun weekend, and so fun to spend time with my grandma at her place up there. SO many memories.

[pictures to come, I've had a few technical problems. But they're coming! Don't you worry. ]

My Alarm Clock!

The GAS Man...

I did it! I have been trying to catch this on camera for a while, and I finally got it. This man drives by my window several times a day, he drives around all of Tehuacan actually. But his rounds in my neighborhood begin at 7am!! He passes my window every morning during the 7 o'clock hour and wakes me up, I haven't needed to set my alarm clock even once thanks to him. I remember the first few days I was here and I heard it, I was like "What the...." Then it moved from the weird stage to the annoying stage, and now I love it! I love that gas man and his lovely musical truck, I'm going to miss hearing it every morning.

WOW. I can't believe that I only have a few more days here! I only have two more days of classes, then two days later I fly away from Mexico and my life here. I'll be back to visit though.






This is really random, but I think it's SO funny! A perfect depiction of how my kinder class goes on most days. I love this class though, one of my favorites.

LAST Saturday in Tehuacan


Some of the other teachers and I spent our last Saturday in Tehuacan together, it was a really fun day! We just walked around the streets of Tehuacan, going to places we had been wanting to go to, getting pictures of places we go all the time, and visiting little stores and shops! We found this store that sells leather sandals, a store with really cute shirts for just 50 pesos, and even a little icee vendor, ymmm. Oh and you can't forget the wonderful PANADERIAS that are everywhere here, I LOVE them. We stopped at one and all got pastries (above), SO good. I think I might have withdrawls from them when I'm back in Utah. Seriously.
The picture below, NO, we're not flashing a gang sign or wishing the world peace. :) We went to the TWO PESO store!! Everything, and I mean everything, in the entire store is yours for just 2 pesos. That's less than 20 cents... and I thought the dollar stores at home were cool.






I hope you aren't eating while you are reading this, because these two pictures might have just ruined your appetite... sorry! We saw a man wheeling this into the market, to do who knows what with. They make tacos with them, BRAIN tacos. I found out this week that I have been eating them the whole time I've been here, and my host mom just hasn't ever told me. I've learned not to ask what I'm eating... :) Most Saturdays, I go with my host mom to the Saturday Market, and at the place we buy chicharron at, we always get tacos. They are such good tacos too, I loved them from the first day we went - some days I'd eat 3 or 4 because they were so good! Never thought to ask what they were made of. Well I found out this week! BRAIN. Made from cows like you see on this man's cart. YUMMM!! :)


Fiesta with the fam

I went to a party with my host family, it was a luncheon type deal for the baptism of one of their friends little girl. It was a huge party, tons of people, even more food, and lots of dancing! Someone gave me this hat and orange shaker thing to dance with, so funny. It was really fun though, and fun to hang out with my host family!

WEEK OFF. Because of the change to summer semester, we had to remake the schedules, and because of the decreased number of students enrolled in our summer program, we don't need as many teachers everyday! So each girl got a week off, we could either choose to take our days one by one throughout the 2 months, or to take the whole week at once. I took mine all at once! It was fun to be able to be with my family more, and be able to see more of what their lives are like during the day. And I was so lucky, I got to go to 4 or so new cities and places, and got to meet a lot of Sandra's family in the town they grew up in.


Puebla. We went to Puebla one of the days, to the mall there! HUGE. Sandra and Christian did a lot of shopping for the family, and then Emilio got to go to a store called Bear Mountain (I think) which is SO similar to Build-A-Bear Workshop like we have at home! He LOVED it. He made a black and white tiger, and dressed it in a superman outfit.

Baptism Lunch. One of the cousins child had their baptism, so they had a big party and lunch for everyone. Their house and yard were really pretty, it was a lot of fun! They ate mole and barbacoa and chivo, which are very traditional dishes. The first time I tried Mole... I thought it was disgusting! But it has grown on me, I love it now. It's such a distinct and unique flavor, I really enjoy it. After we ate I hung out by the pool and watched the kids swim.



This picture (above) is one of my favorites from ALL of Mexico, I love it, and Emilio. Below is miss Luciana, the daugter of mi tia! She's so cute and so much fun! She's one of my best friends here in Tehuacan. :) I love how she says my name, "...Jes-KA!" I am going to miss her and her family - Ana, Juan, and Rodrigo - so much when I go.



Above - here's all of the kids playing in the pool! Emilio, Rodrigo in the back, Arturito, and Luciana. Below is cute Rodrigo! He is seriously thee sweetest, most caring little guy that you'll ever meet, love him.


Huautla. I'm SO happy that I had the opportunity to go to this city, it was such a neat experience. It is about 3 hours away from Tehuacan, and is really high in the mountains. A lot of Sandra's family live there, and it's the town that Sandra and her family grew up in! It's a pretty small town, and SO beautiful.






COOLEST bread store that I've EVER been to! It was more of a bread factory. That dome-looking thing in the back is a huge oven, heated by two big fires on each side, and they put the dough right onto the cement inside, then pull it out with the long spatula he's holding in your hand. All of the walls were lined with shelves, ALL full of freshly baked bread, it smelled delicious in there. We brought some bread home with us, and ate it for days after.


Above is an example of a type of the traditional dress! They are all handmade, and are so intricate and beautiful. Below is one of Sandra's aunties I believe, Susana. She was really nice, and kept calling me Güera. :) In my hands is a cup of Atole agria, it was really tasty! I've tried a lot of different kinds of atole while I've been here, and there's so many different tastes and flavors of it, I love that stuff.


Cholula. This city was near Puebla, so only about 2 hours outside of Tehuacan. There are ruins there, some of the coolest ruins that I've seen here in Mexico! It's a very large ancient pyramid, most of which is still covered. But on the top of the huge covered pyramid, they've built a church, it's really pretty! In the picture below, the guide said it was some kind of stadium, and when you stand in the middle of it and clap your hands, it echos so loudly right back to the center. It's amazing how they built back then - even with out the technology of today they still managed to have perfect acoustics.



Family. I can't believe that I only have a few more days left with my familia. This summer has flown by so fast, like someone hit fast forward. If it were up to me, I'd hit the rewind button and live this whole summer over again. So many amazing experiences and so many wonderful people.


Above is Yola who works at the house, and sweet little Valentina! The thing she has tied around her shoulders is called a reboso, they are really popular here to carry children in. Below is Abuela Martha, Sandra's mom, holding Valentina. Just a couple of the MANY many people that I have grown to LOVE. So much!



Of ALL of the pictures that I have so far from here in Mexico, I think this next one is one of my absolute FAVORITES. I have grown to love these kids so much in the last three months. Before this experience, I wouldn't have thought that it was possible to grow to love someone SO much in only 3 short months, but I have definitely proved myself wrong there. I love these kids and my host family and all of my students SO much, I am sure going to miss them.

From left to right is Emilio, Arturito, Rodrigo, and Luci.