Teaching English in beautiful and colourful Mexico

I was teaching English in a small town, called Temixco, in the state of Morelos, Mexico for four weeks during which I enriched with lots of new experiences that will last for a lifetime.
I had previous knowledge about Mexico as one of my majors at the university was Spanish but learning about a country and being actually there are two completely different things.
Unfortunately what Europeans know or hear about Mexico is mostly the dark side of things, the negative news that spreads across the media, little known about the other side of Mexico that I was fortunate enough to get acquainted with.
The school I volunteered at was a private school, the owner and headmaster lives next door with his family. Maybe this is why the whole atmosphere was so friendly and inviting. There were three preschool classes and six primary classes. I was mainly helping out the teacher of the primary students as I could help more there with my pronunciation. Every day I had lunch with the students at the canteen, I tried all kinds of traditional Mexican dishes. The children were very interested in me and my country, my British pronunciation, the weather there. I joined in the preparation of the performances for the Mexican Revolution Day and also did some pre-Christmas preparation, such as decorating the school. The children are very active here as I noticed, they needed to exercise a bit, so we often took them out in the schoolyard for some fun activities and games to practice pronunciation for example. After these games they could concentrate more on their learning.
During my voluntary work, I stayed at a local woman's resort, named Estela. She is a real Mexican woman, knows a lot about her country and cooks delicious, mostly vegetarian food. In her home, I got to know some members of her family, her sisters, brothers and mother as they have a very close relationship. A few years ago Estela invited the local children in need in her home, cooked them healthy food, taught them English. Although nowadays she's focusing on other projects, she still cares about the community she lives in, helps the local women and children, educates them and organizes interesting activities or outings.
Temixco is a little town, there is not much to do there but Cuernavaca, the capital of the state is just half an hour away. I used both the local buses and taxis without any problem. Although I tried to get back to my accommodation before sunset as it is not safe for a single woman to be on the street late night.
Whoever is thinking about going to Mexico should consider the fact that there are not many volunteers here. My goal was to make friend with local people and stuff at the school. This is why I chose to come here in the first place, to polish my Spanish knowledge and to get to know the Mexican people.
With the accommodation do not expect too much, Estela's house is a bit chaotic but welcoming. There are constantly some kids of work on it. Not all the windows are glazed for example, And when the temperature goes below 15 at night, it can be chilly inside so bring some warm trousers and jumpers. She has two big dogs that are mostly outside in the garden and several cats that come and go in the house. I like pets so I had no problems with this situations, I just want to warn future volunteers who might have allergies.
On the weekends I was free so I tried to explore and see as much as possible. Estela organized trips to some famous places and sights, such as pyramids, natural springs, caves. She very keen to show me how much treasure this country has. I was impressed by the richness of this land.
To put it in a nutshell, Mexico is a very colourful and fascinating country with diverse landscape and amazing culture. I found wonderful friends here, visited many places but one should always has to be cautious, especially in big cities.
Just one more thing to finish, I have to go back there!