In 2009, I began volunteering in a two-room Mexican school in the coastal village of Chacala on the Riviera Nayarit, north of Puerto Vallarta. Three years later, I appointed myself curriculum advisor of a joyous and chaotic school in the nearby town of Las Varas. I started volunteering because I wanted to learn Spanish, and I’ve ended up learning about hardship, pride, resilience, innovation, happiness and a surprising amount about my own cultural assumptions.