Change of Scenery

A couple of weeks ago, I got to attend a conference in Quito for the IB diploma program for international schools. The change of scenery was really great for me! And the change in weather put a smile on my face as well! :o) Quito is in the middle part of the country and has a very high altitude. Therefore, it's much cooler and there really isn't any humidity at all. My hair looked great for a couple of days finally!!! At night actually, it was soo cold! I wore a sweater and still wished I had gloves and a hat. It was about 40 degrees!!! And the city itself is much cleaner and seemingly calmer. Wilson and I might go together some time in the next few months and see if that might be a better city for us. Who knows! (Although if we did decide that, it'd still be another year or 2 before we'd actually move or anything.)

But, as for the conference, I had a great time! It felt so good to be around educators from all over South America who are genuinely excited about teaching! I learned so much about the IB program which was helpful seeing as how I had no idea what it actually involved, but I also came away with so many great teaching ideas that I can use here or when I return to the States. Because everything has been so overwhelming here, I've struggled with a desire to work hard in an effort to be a "great" teacher while in Ecuador. It's just different, and I hit road blocks from so many different directions--the lack of resources, the lack of administrative support, the entire Ecuadorian philosophy about what constitutes a "good" education, the students' behavior, etc. But, the conference did make me a little more excited and willing to push through some of the difficulties. And, next year, the conference may be in either Miami or Buenos Aires! How cool!!! A free trip to a cool place and an opportunity to gain some more PLU's while I'm living overseas! Yay! :o)

My First Week of Classes

After substituting in the 7th grade class when I first arrived, I was terrified of teaching here. I had no idea how bad these students were going to be and how in the world I was going to discipline them. I love teaching so much, but I was scared that I wasn't going to be able to actually teach these kids. However, thank the Lord, my classes and my schedule are GREAT!!!

I'm teaching 4 classes of 10th grade students and I team-teach one 11th grade class. So, I have 2 planning periods each day, and I actually have 3 planning periods on Monday (the 11th grade class only meets 4 days a week--not sure why). And, the kids are by no means perfect, but they're normal kids. There are a few talkative or arrogant kids, but that would be the same in any 10th grade class in the States. The English levels vary, so it's tough to challenge the top kids without losing the lower kids, but I'm learning. The class sizes are pretty large with around 32 in each class, but I'm adjusting to that, too.

The hardest part for me is simply the lack of resources and technology. I was so spoiled to spend my first 7 years of teaching in such a great school, so I actually don't know how to teach without the resources I'm so used to! There's no internet access in my room. (There's also no printer for teachers to use and definitely no paper!!!) To watch a film, we have to take the students across campus to an audio-visual room that's set up like a theatre, not a classroom. The classrooms are too bright because of all the windows (needed since there's no air conditioning), so I can't use an LCD projector for powerpoints very well. And, the copies are VERY limited. But, I'm adjusting. I created my own webpage, and I have students go there and print out articles or handouts on their own. I can also upload some of the powerpoints for the students to study at home instead of during class. That has worked well so far. So, we'll see...

But, all in all, I'm pleased with the teaching part of my job. Now, if I can just learn their names!!!

Relaxing at the Beach

So, we did go to the beach two weekends ago with some of Wilson's family. The beach we went to is actually called Playas (which means beach in Spanish). I kept asking Wilson which beach and couldn't understand why he wouldn't tell me any specifics. Ha! Anyway, we took a 2 hour bus ride to the beach which was not too bad. (There were only a few chickens who rode the bus with us--but they were well-behaved, trained cock fighters. And, no, I'm not kidding!) It only cost $10 total for the two of us both ways. (Of course, the bus stations charge you for toilet paper in the bathrooms, so I guess it cost us a little more! Ha!)

But, the beach was great! The house was right on the beach and was so peaceful! It had about 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and kitchen and living room areas. We sang karaoke on Saturday night (remember their weird obsession at the wedding?) up on the roof with the ocean in the background. They had also fixed lasagna for me, and it was actually pretty good. (Of course, when Wilson's sister-in-law served it to me for breakfast, I wasn't quite as impressed. But I ate it anyway to be polite.) On Sunday, Wilson and I went walking on the beach for a while. Then, we rented chairs and an umbrella for $3 and just enjoyed the time to relax. (They also had horse rides you could take, so we plan to do that next time!) And sadly, I did get burned from our walk. I need like SPF 200 down here! :o)

But, how cool to take a weekend trip to the beach and not spend more than $20!!! And the owner of the house said he'd give us the keys any weekend we'd like. Yay! That might be a monthly habit for me and Wilson now. So, if anyone wants to visit, we have the perfect place to take you!

My Safe Haven

So, our apartment is definitely my happy place here in Ecuador. It’s so beautiful and so safe, and I just feel comfortable here! After looking at several other apartments first that were old and dirty and had bugs everywhere, this place is really a little slice of heaven. It’s hard to explain if you can’t see how the people here live, but we feel very blessed to have found this place. Each day our landlord lady, Elizabeth, adds something else to the place. Just yesterday, she brought us two more chairs for the “living room” and is still bringing us 4 new chairs for our kitchen table. She even gave Wilson a power strip when he asked. And she’s such a nice lady. Her husband is an admiral in the navy here or something and is fairly important. But he spends most of his time in Quito. He has these bodyguard/personal assistant type guys who stay here with Elizabeth, her mother, and their 3 boys. The main guy is Kleber, and he’s my buddy now! And, her youngest son, Alexander, who is about 8, will just talk to me forever! We bonded because he saw my teddybear in the apartment and brought his over to show me he still sleeps with one, too. Ha! And when I mentioned to Elizabeth’s mother that I liked her house shoes and was trying to find a similar pair, she wrote down my size and said she’d find them for me. So, it feels so nice to know that there’s someone next door looking out for us! And, of course, it helps me practice my Spanish, too! :o)

Classics Never Get Old

So, I mentioned before that adjusting to the food here has been difficult. I have branched out a little and now eat shawarmas (It’s basically just a chicken wrap, but it sounds like I’m eating something exotic, right?). And this morning, I tried the box milk with my cereal. (It really creeped me out that the milk was sold in a box on the shelf, warm!) Wilson also buys a lot of fresh fruit because it’s so cheap. We got 10 peaches for $1!!! So, I’ve been eating grapes, strawberries, and peaches as well. And, now that our stove is fixed in our new place, I can start cooking for myself. The first thing I bought to cook was Kraft Macaroni and Cheese!!! I can’t wait! :o) But, I just can’t part from my favorite classic—peanut butter and jelly. I eat a pb&j sandwich every day! And actually, it’s better here! The jelly I use is a blend of strawberry and blackberry, and it’s delicious! And the best part? I can buy bread with the crust already taken off!! As those of you who know me know, I still take the crust off my bread when I eat a sandwich, so it’s been so wonderful to buy crustless bread!!! Yay! And, thanks to my mother insisting that she throw several packs of Kool-aid into my suitcase, I can drink grape Kool-aid with my sandwich! (Of course, I have to buy the water to make the Kool-aid with, but it’s totally worth it!) :o)

The Wedding Singer

The wedding was nice, and I certainly enjoyed getting dressed up. But it was also quite interesting (Kristin, you should take notes!) First of all, it wasn’t an actual wedding ceremony. They just did a civil service and had a reception/party later which is what we actually attended. (That’s not really the norm here, but it’s fairly common.) In the beginning, it seemed pretty typical—we mingled, we danced, we ate wedding cookies. Then, I realized there were a lot of differences from what I was used to. A mariachi band showed up and sang, inviting the groom to come up and sing with them, and they were actually quite good. Dinner was served around midnight (which is normal here). Anyone other than me would have loved the food. :o) Wilson’s brother Hans gave a speech and recited 2 poems (I seriously thought this was hilarious! He was so over-the-top dramatic, but everyone else seemed to take it seriously. I felt like I was in the middle of a Saturday Night Live skit! Everyone would have died laughing if one of my brothers had recited a poem at my wedding!!). Wilson’s brother Xavier (pronounced Javier) started singing karaoke after the bride herself had already done 2 songs. (Note: no one was drunk either. Maybe a glass or two of wine, but this was just their normal selves!) And, the worst part of the night was that there was no cake! What kind of a wedding doesn’t serve cake? But it gets worse. Actually, there was a cake there (which helped me to endure the poetry reading and bad karaoke), but it turned out that it was just there for decoration!!!! It was a fake cake!!! Ha! But, overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it. And, the bride’s sister has a huge house on the beach and they’ve invited us to go this weekend for another party they’re all having. So, I’m practicing my karaoke so I’ll be ready! :o)

I Am Who I Am

So, when I first came here, I worried so much about not ever being able to fit in. I completely related to Elizabeth Gilbert in her book Eat Pray Love when she is talking about not having the right qualities to be a great traveler. She says, “First off, I don’t blend. Tall and blond and pink-complexioned, I am less a chameleon than a flamingo. Everywhere I go but Dusseldorf, I stand out garishly….I also have a shortage of personal coolness, which can be a liability in travel. I have never learned how to arrange my face into that blank expression of competent invisibility that is so useful when traveling in dangerous, foreign places. You know—that super-relaxed, totally-in-charge expression which makes you look like you belong there, anywhere, everywhere, even in the middle of a riot in Jakarta. Oh, no. When I don’t know what I’m doing, I look like I don’t know what I’m doing. When I’m excited or nervous, I look excited or nervous. And when I am lost, which is frequently, I look lost. My face is a transparent transmitter of my every thought.” That is soo me!!!! But, ironically, after so many years of my own insecurity and self consciousness, I have finally realized that I like who I am. I don’t want to change to fit in here. Even though people in my new neighborhood think I’m a complete weirdo because I smile and wave when I walk by, I’m going to keep smiling and waving. It’s just who I am. No matter what I do here, I won’t ever completely fit in—I mean, I’m tall, pale, and redheaded!!—but I’ve now realized that I’m okay with that. I’m just going to keep doing what I do, even with my world’s worst poker face, because I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me! :o)