The school that looks like a hotel

I finally remembered to bring my camera to school so here are a bunch of photos I took last  week. 

B-P Institute encompasses 2 buildings and includes a bookstore, a cafe-type restaurant, a computer lab, outdoor conversation areas, about 24 classrooms ( most hold about 8-10 students comfortably) and around 16 teachers. BP stands for  Baden Powell but there were some legal issues with the name last year. The owners were boy scouts in their youth (Scouting is very big in Mexico.) and wanted their school to be inspired by the same ideals as Lord Baden-Powell. 

So far I've taught in the main building and have had some classes on the upper floor which is wonderfully sunny, but was chilly at 8 am on Feb. mornings. The lower floors are quaint too and a bit warmer.....probably cooler too in May which everyone says is the least bearable month as it is so hot and dry. ....but there are 5 legal holidays in May! Last week I conducted some of my students' individual oral exams outdoors on the upper patio. One of the pictures is a view over to the other building where you can see another teacher conducting an oral as well. The view to the north of the school is of a small church called the Chapel of the Columns. I've been over to check it out and it's set on a lovely small plazuela, but never seems to be open, not even on Sunday. 

The main patio in the school is decorated with small statues. I asked if they were a particular saint of scholars or anything, but no one knows ....so I assume they're just for effect. 

I've met quite a few of the Spanish students. Mostly they seem to be retirees from North American who come down for a a few months and sign up for the 3 weeks of conversation and courses. The school provides home-stay accommodation and also offer cooking courses and small day tours. So far I've met people from San Franciso, Washington DC, Montreal and Nebraska in the US. They all seem very pleased with their courses and love the city of Morelia. There also seems to be a group of high school students from the US who arrived this week. The flags on the building across the street are changed to sychronize with the countries of the current students.