Category: Post

Sigh of relief, it was about time

It was fantastically great to get back on real rock this weekend. With the group from the local climbing gym, I went bouldering in Aculco, basically here: [mappress mapid=”4″] The rock was nice and I did a variety of problems. I wasn’t working on anything too hard, but I sent everything I tried in a […]

First day on the job

I’m sitting in my new office with a few minutes to breathe. I always forget how much paperwork can be involved when starting a new job, especially when the approach to this new endeavor isn’t like any other job or even really a job. As a good friend said about training “this isn’t a professional […]

Wine and cheese in Tequis

For the first weekend free from training and the last weekend with some friends before they move to their sites, we spent the day in Tequisquiapan at the wine and cheese festival. Underwhelming in terms of wine and cheese, but we did find a decent sparkling white and manchego to snack on. Tequis is a charming town, […]

Sworn-in and now presenting the volunteers of PCMexico-10

We were officially sworn-in yesterday in a very nice ceremony held at the PC headquarters office here in Mexico. The ceremony and apero afterwards were a satisfying way to end the stressful training time, and then we, the new volunteers, basically just celebrated for the rest of the day. So today is moving day, for […]

Swearing-in Day

Headed to the office soon for our swearing-in ceremony. Actually turning out to be rather exciting. Had a nice run this morning, and still plenty of time to iron my shirt and write a quick post. Not a bad way to start any day – not that I’m ever going to start ironing on a […]

Last week of training

I’m sitting in my last “Program and week-end processing” session still not knowing where I’m moving to in 3 days, but trying desperately to get information. The last few days of training contain lots of reviews, evaluations, and feedback sessions. At least my talent show presentation is done – except for the one part I […]

My (first) award-winning photographs

I’m happy that I overcame my procrastination and entered the PC Mexico 50th Anniversary Photo Contest celebrating 50 years of Peace Corps. I won the “Faces of Mexico” category with the first photo below, taken during the silent procession during Semana Santa. The second photo, ¡Lucha Libre!, garnered an honorable mention in the same category.

Tech Transfer in Mexico, or my visiting professorship after PST

We started out the week with the Counterpart Workshop, and then I spent the day yesterday at my new workplace, where I will be starting in June. Another trainee (very soon-to-be volunteer) and I are going to the same site, and we are the first volunteers to be at this center. There are a lot […]

Week 8, for the win!

Because we are all “primeros respondientes” now after our day of first aid training, of course. Or, because we got our site assignments, and I didn’t end up on the floor as in the above picture. We may have been able to skip the balloons-and-darts portion of the presentation, but we still had a bit […]

Hogar del Joven/Día del Niño

I backed into the perfect activity for Children’s Day this past weekend. A current volunteer brought to our attention a sort of a halfway house for children in one of the northern colonias of the city that desperately needs repairs. She organized a group of current volunteers and trainees to go out and start making […]

Nortec Collective – great show

The annual Festival de Santiago started in Querétaro on Wednesday. There are simultaneous performances on-going during the evenings in many of the gardens around town. We went to see the Nortec Collective show at the recommendation of our Spanish teachers, who were excited all day. To introduce us to the music before the show, we […]