Business, business, business.... I am running late with the matters of The Little Workshop. In the crunch of the fall registrations, with some schedule tweeking to prepare for Tim's absence. Kevin Braun, our guitar and bass teacher, will take over most of Tim's students while we're away. It works out very well, he is a great guy.
The training schedules are done for my two new Petit Atelier teachers, and looking forward to being in the classroom with them. One is booked for the entire school year, and the other one will be covering the shorter contracts in smaller daycares for this year. All good stuff, very exciting.
The kitchen is finished at last - I mean really really finished. It looks great, still feels a bit awkward while getting used to it. The house is almost in sublet condition... only have to do a big paint job pretty much all over the rest of the house, and a new floor in the bathroom. Oh yeah, and change all the runners in the back entrance of The Little Workshop. We will get there!
While in Quebec city a couple of weeks ago I went to the big weekly flea market in Ste-Foy. I found many small instruments for a ridiculous price, and my mom had found some too a couple of weeks before. So now I have a nice bag of various percussive instruments that I can donate to the Majahual school. I will complete the collection with a set of rhythm sticks and maybe some bells and small maracas. I just hope that the teachers and children will keep having fun with the songs and games I will teach them long after I leave town.
I'm getting busier and I have less time to day dream but when I do, I admit that the prospect of spending three months in Mexico is scary at times. It is a long time considering that our longest trip so far was for only three weeks. I see it as a fun challenge to be out of our comfort zone, although we're not exactly going to live in misery... but certainly modestly and away from the big money machine of our crazy branded world. It will require interesting adjustments from each of us, not always easy of course. I once read that 'life is a balancing act of holding on and letting go', I think it's a very good way to look at it.
Somewhere between Izamal and Sudzal, Yucatan.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
3 months to departure...
Summer vacation is almost over, and I brace myself for a very busy few weeks. Le Petit Atelier is set for the fall with my main daycare clients confirmed, and it is now time to make a round of registrations for The Little Workshop.
In terms of personal organisation, we are all going to the dentist next week. I also decided to look for a first aid course for Dylan and I, and I will also have to look into vaccinations and malaria prevention. We will arrive in Quintana Roo just at the end of the rain season, and our first destination is on a thin slice of land between the Caribbean and a long mangrove. Better look into that!
Still traveling with the roof top bag, still haven't filled it to full capacity - still very happy with it.
We will soon go back home after spending about 10 days in the beautiful Rimouski County, I love it here. We enjoy the amazing Appalachian scenery - we see a lot of birds. Can't help to wonder if the loons, the ducks, the hummingbirds, and all creatures flying South to the Gulf of Mexico will come back to the North next summer. Hoping they will, just like us.
In terms of personal organisation, we are all going to the dentist next week. I also decided to look for a first aid course for Dylan and I, and I will also have to look into vaccinations and malaria prevention. We will arrive in Quintana Roo just at the end of the rain season, and our first destination is on a thin slice of land between the Caribbean and a long mangrove. Better look into that!
Still traveling with the roof top bag, still haven't filled it to full capacity - still very happy with it.
We will soon go back home after spending about 10 days in the beautiful Rimouski County, I love it here. We enjoy the amazing Appalachian scenery - we see a lot of birds. Can't help to wonder if the loons, the ducks, the hummingbirds, and all creatures flying South to the Gulf of Mexico will come back to the North next summer. Hoping they will, just like us.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Active Tourism 101
I have been thinking about finding some type of active involvement with the communities that we will be visiting. Teaching music in Majahual is definitely along those lines, and I will also look into collecting used instruments to fill a box for the school. But this is more my own project, and the school is 65km from our little beach home on a little sandy road, which makes it more of a weekly commitment.
While trying to learn more about the area in general, I came upon a Facebook page about the sightings of the first lion fish along the Costa Maya. It is a fairly alarming situation, and I think this is a cause that we can embrace as a family.
The lion fish is a fierce coral reef predator. It has no known natural enemies (except humans), it can wipe a reef of its fish population by 80% in about five weeks, and they reproduce at a rate of up to 30,000 eggs per cycle with a few cycles per year. Here is a very informative piece on the subject : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar0CX8dj948
Our little house is located inside the Xcalak National Reef Park, and this puts us literally in the heart of the matter. For a prime diving destination like the Costa Maya, the local economy relies on the preservation of that section of the reef barrier, as well as the Chinchorro banks located a couple of hours off shore from Majahual. Chinchorro is known as one of the last coral reef garden in the caribbean, take a look at this arial photo : http://www.locogringo.com/maps/tour/P1010093a-t.html . I really want us to go out there, it would be amazing.
So... a lion fish safari? Hey why not! After all that's what they do in the Bahamas, and they end it with a feast of fried lion fish on the beach. Now we're talking !
While trying to learn more about the area in general, I came upon a Facebook page about the sightings of the first lion fish along the Costa Maya. It is a fairly alarming situation, and I think this is a cause that we can embrace as a family.
The lion fish is a fierce coral reef predator. It has no known natural enemies (except humans), it can wipe a reef of its fish population by 80% in about five weeks, and they reproduce at a rate of up to 30,000 eggs per cycle with a few cycles per year. Here is a very informative piece on the subject : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar0CX8dj948
Our little house is located inside the Xcalak National Reef Park, and this puts us literally in the heart of the matter. For a prime diving destination like the Costa Maya, the local economy relies on the preservation of that section of the reef barrier, as well as the Chinchorro banks located a couple of hours off shore from Majahual. Chinchorro is known as one of the last coral reef garden in the caribbean, take a look at this arial photo : http://www.locogringo.com/maps/tour/P1010093a-t.html . I really want us to go out there, it would be amazing.
So... a lion fish safari? Hey why not! After all that's what they do in the Bahamas, and they end it with a feast of fried lion fish on the beach. Now we're talking !
Saturday, July 17, 2010
We shall have some visitors!
A couple of good friends have confirmed that they will be visiting us at the ranch - yé! They will arrive on Boxing day - family of four - so we will be in very good company to celebrate the new year. Looking forward to it!
On the practical front, I have received the 'Roof Bag' for the car and we had the opportunity to try it last week when we went to the cottage. It's very easy to install, it's very sturdy, and it will be absolutely perfect for our Mexican adventure. It was not even filled to half it's capacity, and it allowed us to use the car trunk for instruments. So for the first time ever, we were able to bring a guitar, banjo, mandolin and violin to the cottage - and best of all, the kids had the back seat to themselves for a change!
While at the cottage I studied a great big book of French early childhood repertoire that I purchased last month and found a lot of new songs and activities to add to my program. Many of them can be easily adapted to Spanish, and I also found some traditional South American material - very inspiring. It makes me feel better about teaching in Spanish, I'll be just fine.
This coming week will be busy, I will settle a lot of business details for the fall. All I need is a good 'to do' list, my computer, a phone, and a few days. Voilà!
On the practical front, I have received the 'Roof Bag' for the car and we had the opportunity to try it last week when we went to the cottage. It's very easy to install, it's very sturdy, and it will be absolutely perfect for our Mexican adventure. It was not even filled to half it's capacity, and it allowed us to use the car trunk for instruments. So for the first time ever, we were able to bring a guitar, banjo, mandolin and violin to the cottage - and best of all, the kids had the back seat to themselves for a change!
While at the cottage I studied a great big book of French early childhood repertoire that I purchased last month and found a lot of new songs and activities to add to my program. Many of them can be easily adapted to Spanish, and I also found some traditional South American material - very inspiring. It makes me feel better about teaching in Spanish, I'll be just fine.
This coming week will be busy, I will settle a lot of business details for the fall. All I need is a good 'to do' list, my computer, a phone, and a few days. Voilà!
Monday, July 5, 2010
Majahual and Xcalak - aka the Costa Maya
This is what the Costa Maya looks like, with it's main town : Majahual. We will be there from November 16 to December 12 - 27 days. That first month will be very much about the pristine Caribbean water, the coral reef barrier and the creatures that live in and around it. It will also be about living on the ocean in a remote location, with limited commodities and lots of time to explore the coast. We have rented a one bedroom apartment on the second floor of a beach house, about 65km down the coastal road from Majahual. Xcalak is the most southern town on the Caribbean coast of Mexico, and it is a jewel of a place on earth. This the view from the dining room. Looking forward to having breakfast there!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Good news!
I was thrilled to get confirmation on my first Mexican teaching gig today - a series of 6 to 8 classes in the elementary school of Majahual (Costa Maya). I will be running an after school program in Spanish and English from mid-November to mid-December, and the school is only 20 minutes down the sandy coast road from the beach house we rented in Xcalak. This is a dream come true for me (hell yeah!). I am hoping to develop a teaching circuit in the states of Quintana Roo and Yucatan, and pursue a long time project that will be the object of another blog when the time comes.
So this will be a very steep Spanish immersion about one week after arriving in Mexico, pero asi le apprendi ! (that's how I learned it) and there's nothing like a little brain gymnastics for us - people of a certain age...
So this will be a very steep Spanish immersion about one week after arriving in Mexico, pero asi le apprendi ! (that's how I learned it) and there's nothing like a little brain gymnastics for us - people of a certain age...
Friday, July 2, 2010
Memories of Cancun
I have gone back and back again to the beautiful Yucatan peninsula, and along the past year I tried to identify what exactly is pulling me to that part of the world. It has fulfilled many things over the years, and now I think I go for the sheer simplicity. I love that my main concerns become to get the bread at the bakery in the morning, do some laundry and hang it on the line, get food and prepare the next meal. Get up with the sun after a cool, quiet, and dark night. That's what I seek there, but it was not always this way...
I first went to Cancun for a 2 week vacation with a group of students of Laval Univertity in May 1986. I moved there in late September of the same year. Living in Mexico had an important impact in my life when I was 21. The city of Cancun was only 18 years old then, and everyone working there were from somewhere else. A great mix of Mayan, Mexican and young adults from everywhere in the Americas and Europe. It was before the cell phone, and actually not many people had a land line either. Life was very simple, and friends visited each other... how about that !
Three weeks after I arrived I got hired as Public Relations for a Spanish company based in Madrid. They owned hotels in Majorka and the Canary Islands, and they had just purchased their first hotel on Mexican land : The Green Sixteen (on the golf course). They cut deals with canadian travel agencies and so all our arrivals were from either Toronto or Montréal. My job was to host a happy hour and briefing every Saturday, set-up on site entertainment and events along the week, manage the shuttle to the beach, and assist guests in getting around town. A heck of a job!
Money was not super but eventually I had my own room at the Green Sixteen, and because I was constantly referring tourists to my favorite local businesses, I had many free bees. I was able to do pretty much every excursions and cruises, had access to free water sports including scuba diving, and many restaurants did not charge me a cent. Great life for a 21 year old !
After the sixth month I came to Canada for 6 weeks, and when I returned to Cancun I was hired as PR by the Paradise Beach Club (a popular joint) to promote their condo development, and I also got hired by the Hard Rock Café to train their team of waiters (past life in restaurants...). If you ever go the the Hard Rock Café in Cancun, you must know that I drove the pink Cadillac to it's final destination before it got mounted on its post.
Life was moving at a faster pace, and I felt right at home. I was spending more time with my good friend Luis, who was also good friends with the federal minister of tourism and the sub-minister for the state of Quintana Roo. We had some great times, they liked to party big and were treated like royalty everywhere they went. We had access to the best Cancun could offer. Too much.
About 2 months after my return, I got offered the Public Relations position for the Cancun International airport - a fantastic job opportunity. I felt the decision was not only about the job, but also about settling in Mexico for the long run. It was a government position, and required for me to become a Mexican resident. I was not ready to commit, so I declined the offer and I moved back to Oh Canada ! It was like ripping me in half.
And so I will soon go back once more, and maybe I will finally get a piece of land... not far fetched!
I first went to Cancun for a 2 week vacation with a group of students of Laval Univertity in May 1986. I moved there in late September of the same year. Living in Mexico had an important impact in my life when I was 21. The city of Cancun was only 18 years old then, and everyone working there were from somewhere else. A great mix of Mayan, Mexican and young adults from everywhere in the Americas and Europe. It was before the cell phone, and actually not many people had a land line either. Life was very simple, and friends visited each other... how about that !
Three weeks after I arrived I got hired as Public Relations for a Spanish company based in Madrid. They owned hotels in Majorka and the Canary Islands, and they had just purchased their first hotel on Mexican land : The Green Sixteen (on the golf course). They cut deals with canadian travel agencies and so all our arrivals were from either Toronto or Montréal. My job was to host a happy hour and briefing every Saturday, set-up on site entertainment and events along the week, manage the shuttle to the beach, and assist guests in getting around town. A heck of a job!
Money was not super but eventually I had my own room at the Green Sixteen, and because I was constantly referring tourists to my favorite local businesses, I had many free bees. I was able to do pretty much every excursions and cruises, had access to free water sports including scuba diving, and many restaurants did not charge me a cent. Great life for a 21 year old !
After the sixth month I came to Canada for 6 weeks, and when I returned to Cancun I was hired as PR by the Paradise Beach Club (a popular joint) to promote their condo development, and I also got hired by the Hard Rock Café to train their team of waiters (past life in restaurants...). If you ever go the the Hard Rock Café in Cancun, you must know that I drove the pink Cadillac to it's final destination before it got mounted on its post.
Life was moving at a faster pace, and I felt right at home. I was spending more time with my good friend Luis, who was also good friends with the federal minister of tourism and the sub-minister for the state of Quintana Roo. We had some great times, they liked to party big and were treated like royalty everywhere they went. We had access to the best Cancun could offer. Too much.
About 2 months after my return, I got offered the Public Relations position for the Cancun International airport - a fantastic job opportunity. I felt the decision was not only about the job, but also about settling in Mexico for the long run. It was a government position, and required for me to become a Mexican resident. I was not ready to commit, so I declined the offer and I moved back to Oh Canada ! It was like ripping me in half.
And so I will soon go back once more, and maybe I will finally get a piece of land... not far fetched!
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