May 27, 28, 29

5-27-12

We started our day soaking in hot springs 10 minutes outside of San Miguel.  It was very relaxing and a great change of pace for us all.  

No offense to anyone who has taken a photo like this, but I have always thought they were extremely cheesy.  I took this photo since it was my 17 year wedding anniversary.  Soaking in hot springs was a nice way to celebrate - if only my handsome hubby were there!

After a few hours, we headed to San Miguel.  San Miguel is the most American Mexican town we have visited.  Many people from America live there.  There is even an American/English newspaper in the town.  It even has a Louisiana pub with a bourbon street sign and a picture of a naked lady in a shot glass on the wall.  Very interesting.  We liked the town.  There is a lot of shopping, many restaurants and tons of bars.  But by far the very best thing about this town was the ice cream.  I would go back many times over for the ice cream and I am not an ice cream junky.  Best ice cream I have ever eaten.  I had vanilla and mango.  The vainilla (Spanish spelling) was made from fresh, flavorful vanilla the likes of which you could not buy back home.  The mango tasted like whipped fresh mangos.  And to brag about the prices here again, it was less than $2.  I bought it right before leaving the plaza.  Had I bought it any earlier in the day, I would have gone back and had another serving.

It looks like a fairy tale.
 

I thought of Ryan - there was a race going on.

 Their mercado.

This dress and the purse behind it were made from coke tabs.

 What a beautiful restaurant!

San Miguel has a Starbucks.  So pretty.

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Random parade on the street.

We thought we were going to load on the autobus and head back to Querétaro.  We had a special surprise instead.  Dr. McCormick’s cousin is a very accomplished artist that lives only a couple of blocks from the plaza in San Miguel.  We were able to have a tour of her studio.  It used to be a chicken coup.  She has artwork in New York City at the MoMa - Museum of Modern Art.  She travels around the world with her art.  It was such a treat to get to meet her and see her work. 

glass that she works with in bulk

 Her house looks like an art gallery.

For sale at MoMa...

When we got back, we had a late work night.  These girls were having too much fun making stress balls with balloons and flour and rice.  Too bad none of the kids liked them.

5-28-12

Woke up.  Had an amazing tamale with cheese and jalepeno.  So good.   

We had a lot of progress with our students at the special education school on this morning.  One student that had refuses to enter the cafeteria, not only entered the cafeteria, but ate his entire lunch.  A little positive reinforcement goes a long way.  We brought plastic bugs :)  The other student drew vertical lines and learned to communicate with pictures.  This was his first time to engage in academic/preacademic tasks.  

We had the night off.  I wanted to spend time with my host mom.  I offered to get her ice cream once her store closed – she said no.  Later I asked her where I could buy a beverage.  She said the closest place was on our street but you have to walk in dark areas.  She offered to close the store early and walk with me.  I told her there was no need but she insisted and said she it would be good exercise.  On the walk we spoke in Spanish with her filling in words for me as needed.  I told her the other girls and myself have seen many couples kissing in public, laying on top of each other, in plazas, in front of churches, etc.  I said I saw tongues and made a disgusted noise.  She couldn’t stop laughing at my story (I’m sure it has something to do with the way it sounded in broken Spanish).  We had a great time walking and talking.  Once we got back, I ate all of the leftovers from lunch and enjoyed a glass of wine while she sat and visited with me.  It was a great evening doing exactly what I wanted to do – spend an evening with my senora.

5-29-12

I went downstairs quite a bit earlier this morning.  I had time to sit with my senora behind the store counter and drink coffee.  I found out she used to be a bilingual secretary for Gerber and Kellogs.  I didn’t realize those companies had offices in Querétaro.  She also used to have a woman live with her to clean the house and take care of her son when he was young.  Having a live in nanny/housekeeper used to be very common because it was much cheaper.  Only Brenda’s host family has a live in nanny/housekeeper right now. 

I went back to the special education school with Brenda today.  Brenda and I are definitely paired with reinforcement with the older child.  He got out of his desk and sat in my lap at one point.  Unfortunately, our novelty wore off fast and it was VERY difficult to get him back in the cafeteria.  After observing him for a couple of hours it became clear to me that this child was misdiagnosed.  Granted, I am NOT at all an assessment person, but this child could not be more classically on the autism spectrum.  Dr. McCormick completely agreed and explained our thoughts to the teacher.  This teacher is really good.  Dr. McCormick explained to the teacher what she was doing extremely well and the behavioral reasons behind why it was working and she explained why some of the things she was trying were not working and validated her frustrations.

Special education assessments are often done with very outdated assessment materials.  Many of those assessments do not test for autism.  When children see psychologists here, we are finding that the teachers in the schools rarely find out what the psychologist suggests. 

Before we left the school, we were able to watch a therapy session.  There is a therapy room in the school.  A therapist guides moms in massaging/providing deep pressure to their child.  They used baby oil.  All of the children layed on a big table with mats on top and all of the moms were on one side giving their child a therapeutic massage.  This is added to the very long list of things I have only seen in Mexico. 

There is no research that practices such as this have any impact on the functioning of students with disabilities, but the children sure seemed to enjoy it.  Nothing at all wrong with a good massage!

 After Spanish class we toured the mercado in Queretaro.  These boots are worn for a special kind of dance.  They look crazy!

We were told that people in Mexico expect their chickens to be yellow like chicks.  Look at how unnatural the color of these chickens is.  They dye their chickens yellow!

Today I was able to taste the mole for the first time.  HOLY Mole is what I thought!

My senora used some of the mole and served it over chicken with rice, beans, and tortillas.  Garnishes were onion slices that had soaked in lemon juice and sesame seeds.  So so so so so good! After my HUGE meal, I took a 45 minute siesta. 

We finally had dance class today.  It was a lot of fun.  
 

After dance class, Andrea, Catharina, and I went to Andrea’s house for pesto.  Her senora, Sara, had a guest over, Roberto.  He used to live at Sara’s house for three years while attending the university.  We had such a great time.  After we ate, Roberto asked us to dance so we could practice the moves we had learned in class.  He leads well.  I thought I would be horrible at it, but quite a few of the moves were similar to jitterbugging and country dancing and I am better at following a good dance partner than I remembered.  Why don’t I dance more often!?  We all had a great time and can’t wait for our second and final dance lesson tomorrow.