August 2006 – I am Pablo

We are family

We met my great-uncle Meyer on Monday of last week! He lives in New Orleans and came in to meet much of his family that he never had. It was fascinating to hear his stories about my great-grandparents and how their family accepted the fact that a Jewish woman wanted to marry a catholic priest – very open-minded for the era! My great-uncle Meyer is 96 years old, and still smart as a whip! Thankfully I got some of those genes! It was really fascinating meeting him and learning more about the family history!

As you can see in the picture as well, Teresa has come home from her 6 months abroad in Spain! It was so great to see her and I look forward to the time we get to spend together before she heads back to NYC! Welcome back Teresa!

YTC Mexico 2006 trip pictures

YTC Mexico 2006

Aug 25, 2006 – 283 Photos

Finally got the album up for the pictures that I took in Mexico! Click on the image above to view the album – over 300 pictures! I’ll get captions on them when I have some more time. Comments are welcome here or in the album!

Where have you been?

You have visted 27 countries (12%)

Saw this on my buddy Ron’s blog and thought it was neat! (click on the image to do your own map) He was one of the other teachers that was on the YTC trip to Mexico with me and he has quite a few entries on his blog about it. (he also has a ton of pics!) I’ll hopefully get to write about the Mexico trip this weekend!

Having a bad day?

Taken from Jackson Blvd. in Chicago

As I was walking to a meeting on the west side of the loop, I saw a bit of a commotion on Adams just west of State. Lots of police cars, ambulance, fire-trucks, you name it! Didn’t think much of it, until I looked up! About 30 floors up I see a window cleaning platform dangling by one side! It looked like there were at least 2 people on it (perhaps 3)!! I took a “high-res” picture with my MDA so that I could crop out the platform (below).

So whenever you think you are having a bad day at work – remember, there are probably others out there that have it worse! Upon my return to the office, the platform had made it to the ground floor, and from what I could discern from the scene – nobody was hurt. Maybe just a few stained pairs of underwear!

Returning on cloud 9

Taken over Mexico

I can’t even begin to describe the high that I come back with from our trip to Mexico. The entire experience exceeded any expectations that I could possibly have had! From the personal growth and development that I experienced to the new relationships that I made – this trip has made an imprint on me for life! Seeing the high-school kids work together – and seeing first hand as well as through their eyes everything that they experienced… the bond that we all shared… after some time to decompress (and rest!) I’ll write an entry with more details about the trip. For now, I am back and on cloud 9!

Our welcoming party!

First day of classes for the Santiago students as well as the first day for us! We had quite the welcoming party at the school, every student was there! Of course, we had to introduce ourslves to the entire group one by one! You should have heard how some of the students were whistling! It was hilarious! The rest of the day flew by as we hooked up computers, signed people up for online collaboration, translated for both officials and the newspaper… suffice it to say, I’m beat! But its a great feeling and the people here really appreciate what we are doing. Tomorrow its off to Mezquital to meet with the governor of the state! Hope my spanish is up to snuff!

Santiago Papasquiero

A view of the city as we make our way down the mountain! We are now staying with a family here who have opened their doors to us, quite literally! They waited for us to go into the house first! After a quick bite the handed me the keys to their Explorer so that we could go for a ride around the city! I refused, but they insisted I drive! Its quite a different culture here! Its been quite the experience!