Mexico Day 11 - Something to do again

After everyone had breakfast with their leftovers, packed their suitcases, and cleared the apartments, we had to say goodbye to the Pacific with heavy hearts. After two days of rest, it's time for the second round. And that starts in Guadalajara. However, a six-hour bus ride separated us from this station for the time being.

Guadalajara is the second largest city and has about 6 million inhabitants. It is also known as 'Perla del Occidente', which means 'Pearl of the West' in English.
When we got off at the German School of Guadalajara around 3:30 pm, we were 'overwhelmed' by the scorching heat that prevailed there. Even the Mexicans, who had been wearing long pants and sometimes even sweaters everywhere we had been so far, wore shorts and t-shirts here. We were therefore very grateful when we were able to take refuge under the covered sports field. The chairs for the concert that would take place there in the evening had already been set up. The music teacher Sara Gruenwedel, who has only been working at the school in Mexico since August, warmly welcomed us and explained the schedule for the evening. Shortly afterwards, the school principal Mr. Quennet and his wife joined us and greeted us as well.

He told us a little bit about the German private school, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary next year.
The school grounds cover an unimaginable area of 11 hectares and also have a kindergarten in addition to the school buildings. At the moment, about 1150 students attend the school, of which 260 still go to kindergarten. About 95% of the student body are Mexicans. The parents pay a monthly school fee of 350 €. After the students have completed six external exams at the end of their school years, they graduate from here with an internationally recognized diploma.

Shortly before 6 p.m., the first host families arrived, so we soon started our little concert. Once again, we offered a colorful cross-section of our repertoire, from folk songs like 'Ich weiß nicht was soll es bedeuten' to contemporary music like Daniel Elder's 'Lullaby' and 'Va pensiero' from the opera 'Nabuco'. When an 'Otra', an 'encore', was demanded, we performed the South African piece 'Kwela Kwela', 'Ti Mama' from Namibia, and of course 'Rock Mi' as the finale.

Afterwards, we were all divided into our host families, who welcomed us warmly and individually spent the evening with us.