I received a very warm welcome from Tec de Monterrey. For every new English class I went to, I received cards and posters and gifts from the students. It was a sweet way to get to know their names and faces. The staff were very friendly and they were more than happy to have us at their school. They gave me their phone number and gave us rides when we needed. My SA told me that I could call her at any time if I needed a ride somewhere. She also asked if I wanted to go to church with her family since I was looking for a church to go to on Sunday. It was a very nice offer and I ended up going. My SA also drove me to the university campus nearby where I had access to the school gym. She gave me a short tour of the workout areas and all the equipment I could use. It was a great place to introduce me to, especially since I felt like my days were very sedentary at school. I was glad to know that I could stay active and have access to weights for powerlifting and equipment for Taekwondo to continue my weekly routines!

In front of the university there was a small Taekwondo dojang where I walked in hoping to volunteer and to join classes during my stay here in Zacatecas. The master there spoke no English but we were somehow able to communicate with gestures and with the help of other people’s broken English. The TKD school seemed to be delighted to have a Korean-Canadian female black belt student to walk in randomly wanting to experience the martial arts class. I was treated like a celebrity and I was asked to sign their equipment and uniforms in Korean since no one there was able to write it. I wrote their names and “Mexico” in Korean to their delight. After class we took a group picture and the master asked for me to come the following week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.