Simulacro

This week the people from proteccion civil came. Part of their job is to make sure we know how to handle such emergencies as fires, earthquakes, and bomb threats. They stop by unexpectedly every few months to conduct drills.

We take courses about once a month to prepare ourselves for the drills and for real emergencies. Most of us have been in the courses for more than a year, but it is still a little bit nerve racking when proteccion civil comes!

The drill this week was for a bomb threat. If it were a real threat called in by phone, we would have to pay special attention to the caller´s voice and take mental note about background noise and things like that. All of this is reported to proteccion civil when they come to the scene. They use the details as clues to figure out who the caller may be.

Then we sound a special alarm and the teachers know to evacuate their classes. In case of a bomb threat, we are not allowed to re-enter the school once we exit, so on my way out of the office I take the first aid kit and a fire extinguisher. Miguel takes the backboard.

Once everyone is evacuated we designated special places for our triaje unit and center of operations. During the drill, proteccion civil evaluates us on all of these points!

After it was over they gave us a report letting us know how we did. We passed!!!! They did mark us on one point. We didn´t put the signs out to designate the different areas. Oops!!!!! The drills are a great learning experience and each one helps us better prepare to protect our students and ourselves if ever there were a real emergency!

Return Students

Hola a todos! Things are getting busier every day here and in town as we all get ready for the summer season. This week we have two return students studying with us, and next week we will be welcoming four more return students! One of the most rewarding things about working in Chac-Mool is the opportunity to grow as a team and work each week to offer a better experience to our students. Return students are especially fun for us because they can give us special insight into the things that we have changed successfully and the things that we can still work on! Thank you for being a part of our community!

¡Ayuda!

Interested in practicing your Spanish? I find this website very helpful for those tricky things that are really hard to remember...I just read the forum on ir vs. venir y llevar vs. traer. In English it is very common to interchange the words bring and take, and go and come, but in Spanish it is very uncommon to misuse the words. This can be frustrating and sometimes confusing for English speakers. The word reference forum has so many explanations, that one is bound to make things clear for you! Check it out!

More good news!

Our Teacher´s Day lunch was great and the weekend was filled with some really great rainstorms! We have more students this week, and I can tell already that they are going to be a fun group! Over the weekend Sherry sent me this link, and it is really great news...lifted travel alert . I´m sure many people will be just as happy as we were to read that!

Dia del Maestro!

In Mexico on May 15th we celebrate Dia del Maestro. Traditionally, students give small gifts to their teachers, and schools hold special celebratory events and festivals. Many schools even give teachers the day off!

Speaking with a friend who teaches at a local private school, I learned that her school (and I imagine others) is postponing the celebration because the swine flu has interrupted their schedule. Since they had to postpone the Mother´s Day celebration, they thought it only fair to postpone the teachers´ celebration as well.

Regina, one of our favorite students(!!!!!) is a teacher in Portland, Oregon. She told us yesterday that in her district they celebrate the teachers with several days of festivities! Among the activities are teacher sporting events. It sounds like a lot of fun!

In Chac-Mool our students are very appreciative of our teachers, and never hesitate to give us wonderful feedback! Julio and Deana are also very gracious with the teachers and staff that help Chac-Mool learn and grow. Today Julio will show his appreciation by taking us out to lunch after school! Can´t wait!

Getting back to normal...

This week has been extremely refreshing for us here at Chac-Mool. It is the first week we have operated on a full schedule after the government order to close all educational institutions. The influenza scare was a big bump in the road for us, but luckily our team has been strong enough to survive and move forward.

In a way, the difficulties that we have seen because of the flu have been a blessing in disguise. They have given us an opportunity to slow down, reevaluate and implement plans that we have had for several months now---all with the objective of offering the ultimate language and culture experience! After spending a couple of days at home, we were also able to come back to school with a more critical eye and do some "spring cleaning."

We are very thankful that the influenza did not affect any of our students, our staff, their families directly. Several students have asked us about the earthquake near Acapulco a couple weeks ago as well. Although it was a serious earthquake, it was not felt here in Cuernavaca.

Great news!

We just received an envelope in the mail from Ricky Durbin with a very generous donation for the orphanage! Thank you so much Ricky! This week has been a bit difficult for everyone in Mexico so Ricky´s donation will go a very long way!

Instituto Chac-Mool on YouTube

We've started on YouTube with a few photo montages, check them out at http://www.youtube.com/ChacMoolMexico

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