The Best Laid Plans of Allison and Wilson

So, nothing here in Ecuador is as expected. I guess the Lord is teaching me patience and flexibility. The director of the school told me that they only hired American teachers—not true. My first faculty meeting was completely in Spanish! Yikes! So far I’ve met only about 6 American teachers and they’re all guys! The director of the school told me that there was a place where all the American teachers live and that he’d take me there himself when I arrived—not true again. He handed me and Wilson the classifieds of the newspaper and told us we should spend at least a month or two looking for a good apartment. I had to work hard not to cry on the spot! But, the athletic director (a much more helpful man) gave us the name and number of a realtor. So, after 2 weeks of being “homeless” we finally moved in this past weekend to our new apartment. The director of the school also told me that the students were pretty good—you guessed it, not true! I substituted for the first week in a 7th grade class and thought I was in hell. Absolutely no respect! I’m going to have to be more of a disciplinarian than ever before, although I’ve heard that the 10th graders won’t be so bad. Wish me luck!