WE GOT A CAR!!!!!! While I was in Orlando, Wilson finally got us our car. We'd been looking and talking with dealerships and banks for a while, and now we finally have a car! It's a brand new, sand-colored Nissan Almera (I don't think they make those in the States), and it's an automatic! Wilson has been in heaven now that we can take our laundry or run to the grocery store so much more easily!!! Wilson bought several salsa and bachata CD's to play, and I made a CD of the Glee songs I have on my computer. We feel like 16 year olds all over again!!!!
Of course, I have no intention of driving any time soon. As Wilson said the other day, if you don't drive like a maniac and cut people off all the time, you're considered the bad driver. (Right after he said this, his statement was confirmed as a driver cut us off and then stared us down like we were idiots for staying inbetween the lines painted on the road!) Ha! But we'll see. I'm sure I'll get the desire to drive soon enough.
But, for now, I'm just happy to no longer have to dress according to which outfit was most comfortable for walking in the heat and least likely to target me on the bus as being a rich gringa. Ha! I even wore heels with my sundress last Saturday as Wilson took me to lunch!! :o)
Sunday, May 9, 2010
2nd and 3rd Jobs
So, I now have a 2nd job, and actually a 3rd job as well. :o) I have started tutoring English in the afternoons. Both of these tutoring jobs just kind of fell into my lap, but I'm really enjoying them.
On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, I tutor a 5 year old little girl named Priscilla, and she is the cutest thing in the world!!! Her mother is marrying an American guy and moving to Texas with him in August, so they want to get her as prepared as possible so she won't be too far behind when she starts school there. Mostly we just sing songs and play games. She's pretty hyper and her attention span is like 5 seconds long, but it's fun!
And then, my landlady asked me to tutor her 3 sons as well. So now on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, I walk over to their house and tutor. Her sons are ages 10, 11, and 15. They already know a good bit of English and they're excellent students, so we're able to do a lot of neat things. The youngest one, Alexander, is my little buddy. He walked me back to my apartment last Wednesday (our apartment is literally connected to their house, but he still wanted to walk me back). He shook Wilson's hand and checked out some of the new furniture his mom had recently given us. Ha!
It's actually really nice. Sometimes it's a bit overwhelming with school and tutoring, but it keeps me busy. Wilson starts back to school soon, and I need something to keep me from getting too lonely here at the house every afternoon. And, it's a nice little bit of extra money for us. Yay!
On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, I tutor a 5 year old little girl named Priscilla, and she is the cutest thing in the world!!! Her mother is marrying an American guy and moving to Texas with him in August, so they want to get her as prepared as possible so she won't be too far behind when she starts school there. Mostly we just sing songs and play games. She's pretty hyper and her attention span is like 5 seconds long, but it's fun!
And then, my landlady asked me to tutor her 3 sons as well. So now on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, I walk over to their house and tutor. Her sons are ages 10, 11, and 15. They already know a good bit of English and they're excellent students, so we're able to do a lot of neat things. The youngest one, Alexander, is my little buddy. He walked me back to my apartment last Wednesday (our apartment is literally connected to their house, but he still wanted to walk me back). He shook Wilson's hand and checked out some of the new furniture his mom had recently given us. Ha!
It's actually really nice. Sometimes it's a bit overwhelming with school and tutoring, but it keeps me busy. Wilson starts back to school soon, and I need something to keep me from getting too lonely here at the house every afternoon. And, it's a nice little bit of extra money for us. Yay!
Cheerleading Worlds! Go Ecuador!
So, at the end of April, I got to go with the cheerleaders from Colegio Americano to the Cheerleading Worlds competition in Orlando (at Disney World!!). It was actually two different competitions--one on Friday that was more "international" and then the one on Saturday/Sunday that was mostly American teams with a few international teams thrown in.On Friday, they had a parade of nations to start the competition. I felt like I was in the Olympics! Ha! I marched in proudly with my Ecuador jacket and blended right in. (Yeh right, I stuck out like a sore thumb, but I thought it was lots of fun!!!) :o) There were teams from all over--Chile, Guatamala, Scotland, Germ
any, Jamaica, Thailand, Japan, etc. It was really cool to see how cheerleading has spread all over. My parents were able to come down, and they seemed to enjoy it, too. They sat with a few parents from Sweden and enjoyed talking with them.
any, Jamaica, Thailand, Japan, etc. It was really cool to see how cheerleading has spread all over. My parents were able to come down, and they seemed to enjoy it, too. They sat with a few parents from Sweden and enjoyed talking with them.On Saturday, the competition was more a showcase of the US's top teams, and there were definitely some great squads there!!! In our division, we placed 10th as a team and 5th as a country. The top 3 teams were American, the next couple were Canadian, and a country like Ecuador just can't compete with those teams at this point. But, we were very proud of the girls because they did a GREAT job on Sunday!!!
And then, on Monday, we just enjoyed Disney. I went with most of the girls to several of the parks and road the rides/roller coasters. Definitely not my thing, but they had fun laughing at how scared I'd get. Ha!
It was really neat to go and see cheerleading from a different persective. As part of an international team, coming from a South American country, it was interesting to see how much fun cheerleading still is down here versus the insane competitive nature it's taken on in the States. Don't get me wrong, I do miss the level of competition I had from Georgia, but it's kind of refreshing to see how sweet and excited these girls are about the whole experience! Less pressur
e and more fun!
e and more fun!But boy was it hard to return! After missing 5 days of school, I had all kinds of work to do when I got back. I'm still getting caught up! Not to mention just the jolt back into reality after spending a week at Disney World! :o) But I'm so glad I went!
(This last picture is of me and the head coach, Pamela. I'm definitely squatting! Ha!)
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