The beach and the margaritas are what Alicia remembers best about living in Guaymas
Whatever became of Alicia, the Prague Blogger, who was all set to come to Guaymas and teach English? I was looking forward to meeting her, but I suffered a housekeeping lapse and lost her blog address. Today I found it on Brenda's blog, and learned that Alicia was here for two months last year teaching English to four-year-olds and is now back in Prague. From reading her archives of last year I get the impression she appreciates more than ever what that beautiful, historic city has to offer. (Maybe I even get just a twinge of envy.)
Aside from the vast difference in our ages, Alicia and I have a lot in common. She's a singer and writer, too, and has dreams of doing some acting (normal for an LA girl). She has tried since 2004 to finish the NaNoWriMo month-long novel-writing challenge... so have I. She even likes Tom Waits!
Mexico was not a good fit for Alicia, and I'm sorry I missed meeting her but I have an inkling of what her job in Guaymas was like, based on what I've heard from other teachers. The private schools here do not treat their teachers well. I know of at least three who only lasted half the year, and left for various reasons. The students, mostly privileged "baby Juniors," i.e. offspring of the town's wealthiest citizens, appear spoiled and unmotivated. She made no disparaging remarks about the school itself, just that the climate, the town and the students were disappointing… But of course, Prague must be a hard act to follow!
Here's what she said last August (whew! the worst time of year here) when she had been teaching for a couple of weeks:
Now that I am here in Mexico I am realizing a few things. Things like – Mexican people are not eager to learn English, not like the Czech people. No one speaks English here, and if they do they do so reluctantly. Even at my school there are not a lot of people, even in the administration offices, that speak English. I was kind of shocked that a school that promoted a bi-lingual education had no English speaking staff to speak of.It's true. My maestra in Guaymas taught English for 30 years; one daughter and one granddaughter teach English, too. And yet the rest of the family speak only Spanish, as far as I can tell, or are "reluctant" to use what English they know.
English is hard to learn, eccentric and confusing. Norteamericanos, even when they're guests here in Mexico, enjoy mocking and embarrassing non-English speakers who get tangled up in our grammar and pronunciation quirks. And yet, Mexicans who aren't too thin-skinned to muddle through and learn even basic English have an edge finding work in this gringo-centric community. Which I suppose is not a big concern of the Juniors here. Los papás probably have cushy jobs already lined up for them.
Teaching English is one of the few job opportunities for a gringo in Mexico without the right papers. The owner of the same school Alicia taught at offered me a job at the doctor's office one day, and gave me a handful of business cards to pass out to my friends. Of course, she didn't mention that the high turnover at her school was the reason she was so anxious to hire someone. I told her thanks but no thanks. I'm too busy learning Spanish!
P.S. I have the Prague Blogger back on my blogroll, so I can follow her exploits. She went back to work teaching English but now she's working four part-time jobs. I remember doing that, I called it my "patchwork life."