A Final Reflection

Well, I made it back to the USA. I've been home for about three days now and I've had some time to think about how this whole experience has really affected me in the long run. At first coming back to the US was definitely a reverse culture shock. Being back at home almost made me feel like my ten weeks in Ecuador was merely a dream of giant proportions. However, getting to show all of my pictures to my family and friends and explain my different experiences to everyone has helped put everything into perspective. I have never been so appreciative of what I have at home and the conveniences that living in the United States brings. Being able to flush the toilet paper, use the internet whenever I want to, and speak freely in a language that I know everyone understands are just the tip of the iceberg.

I always knew that I had a strong support system at home, but I never fully realized the immensity of it until I got ready to go to Ecuador. I was constantly amazed at how much everyone supported me and how interested everyone was in what I was doing there. Throughout the two and a half months that I was abroad, I saw the effects of my support system on a daily basis. Without my supportive family and friends at home there is no way that I could have lasted through the first week. I was so overwhelmed when I first became fully immersed in the culture and began to learn Spanish. Even though I was halfway around the world I still felt all of the support and encouragement from the States. I cannot thank everyone enough for that. It really made my experience so much more special to me.

I had a wonderful experience with my students, family, and fellow volunteers. I learned a new language, and made friends from all over the world. I cannot wait to keep in touch with all of the people from Ecuador and use my experience to make other connections. The feeling of being back in the US is like nothing else I have ever felt before, and being able to share my experiences with other people will keep the memories alive for me and it is a continual reminder of the work I did in Ecuador, the friends I made, the students I taught, and most importantly... the people that supported me back home. Thank you to everyone!

I have included pictures above of my school, students, and some other last tid-bits of my time in Ecuador!

Some Sad Goodbyes

Today is my last day in Riobamba. Yesterday was my last day of classes at UNIDEC, and it could not have been a better send-off. We had a party in both of my classes, and all of the students were extremely generous. There was so much food! Everything from pizza to cake to bologna (it´s like a delicacy here). I took tons of pictures of my students to put on here as soon as I can. However, my camera and flash drive are not cooperating, so I need to use someone else´s computer to put everything up. That´s why it´s been taking so long with the other pictures of the school and whatnot. Anyways, during my second class the guys brought in a guitar and sang a bunch of songs for me (in Spanish, plus some Titanic so they could hear my not-so-lovely singing voice) as a small Despidida (going away party). It was amazing and they actually have great voices. I recorded them on my camera so that I could have it later. After the parties, Sarah and I were whisked downstairs to this board room full of UNIDEC administrators. That was definitely one of the most intimidating experiences of my life. However, the Director of the university gave a little speech and presented Sarah and I with certificates and gifts to show their appreciation for us working at the school. It was really sweet and I definitely started to cry towards to end of it, which is of course when the newspaper man decided to take pictures of me. Oh well. But then I saw my students again outside and definitely had a little breakdown. They were really sweet and told me that they were very sad that I was leaving and some of them even started to cry too. It was extremely humbling and it made me realize that I really did make a difference while I was here in Riobamba. I will take the gifts that the school and students gave me back to the US with pride knowing that it was such a good experience. (And no one will second guess where I´ve been when I walk into the airport with two Ecuadorian duffel bags, one given to me last night).

It is definitely sad knowing that today is my last day in the city where I´ve spent my whole summer. My host family is making my favorite foods for lunch today (pan-cooked fish, rice, lentil soup) and I am gathering up the last of my things here, trying to figure out how to stay under the weight limit for two different airlines in two different measuring systems... all without a scale. Haha we´ll see how this goes. Thankfully I´m able to leave a lot of stuff here that took up a lot of weight coming down to Ecuador. Yet I have also fully taken advantage of the cheap prices in this country and the markets in every city, hence my needing to buy another duffel bag to use as a carry-on.

I have one more week in Ecuador before I head back to the States. Saying goodbye to everyone here is really hard, but I´ll agree with my mom who said that that just means it was a really successful trip. Despite the goodbyes, I am definitely ready for a hot shower, moist baked goods, a meal without potatoes, and being able to communicate freely in a language that I´m fluent in. And I know that I´m going home to a lot as well. I can´t wait to see all of my family and friends and show everyone all of the pictures from this amazing summer. This trip has been the experience of a lifetime, and I would not have been able to do it without all of the support from back home!

I´ll write again before I go home, but I will see everyone in a week! :)

Winding Down Classes

I only have six days of teaching left here, and next Friday is a class party and Thursday is their final exam, which is a speaking test with me. So basically I only have four more real days of teaching. It is an interesting feeling... I have formed really good friendships with some of my students, and so I am very sad that I will be leaving them. They have all asked about emailing me, and so I can´t wait to inprove my Spanglish with them. There are other students who will probably not pass my class because of how little they actually speak English in my class. That definitely gets frustrating at times, but for the ones that really do make an effort, it really makes everything worth it. When the students speak in their broken English to me it just makes me smile. It completely makes all of the planning and frustrating times worth it.

I am also making some of my last rounds of places in Riobamba that I want to see before I leave. I am taking pictures of everything and all of the people that I see everyday so that everyone at home can see how I spent my days here in Ecuador. I am also headed to the south of Ecuador this weekend to Cuenca to visit another volunteer. It should be a great visit and then I have less than a week in Riobamba before I head to the beach and then to Quito before I fly back to Chicago in 16 days!

Sorry this one was so short, but I promise there will be more to update on after this weekend and after classes wind down some more next week. :)

The Weekend of Riobamba

This week was full of teaching, reviewing, and lots of exploring Riobamba. The swine flu test was negative, so I went back to teaching on Tuesday. However, my students have told me that there is another student in my class that is getting tested for swine flu, so I don´t know what´s going to happen with that. Otherwise, my students have a test tomorrow so we reviewed on Thursday and Friday for the test. My second class is slacking on attendance, so both of those days we did some review, then talked in a mix of English and Spanish for the rest of class. It´s really nice to be able to get to know my students, since they are almost all my age. I really like being able to talk to them a little bit in Spanish now, too. They are all learning more English and it´s interesting to hear them use their new vocabularies.

Our friends came to Riobamba this weekend and it has been awesome getting to show them around. Yesterday we explored a lot of the city, got A LOT of food, and just enjoyed each other´s company. Today was a slightly more adventurous day. We had tried to get tickets for La Nariz del Diablo, which is the train service that is supposed to have incredible views and leaves from Riobambe three days each week. We were unable to get tickets, and so we took a bus out to Volcan Chimborazo instead. It is the closest point to the sun and less than an hour away from Riobamba. It was so incredibly windy and cold, and we had a very interesting time of getting back into town, but the views were amazing. I never thought that I would be that close to a volcano in my life, let alone that close to the closest point to the sun on Earth. It was very humbling.

I only have two more weeks left in Riobamba. I absolutely LOVE my family and so it is going to be really hard to leave them all. However, I also can´t wait to get back to the States to see everyone. There is still a lot that I want to do while I am in Ecuador, and it will certainly be an eventful three weeks. I have a trip planned to the coast with a few friends before we leave, and it will be a great opportunity to decompress from teaching and the busy summer that we have had so far. I can´t wait to put more pictures up here! But it is really hard to upload pictures on the computers here, so if anyone has Facebook, I have a lot of pictures up there that I was able to upload last weekend on someone´s laptop. Otherwise I promise to put more pictures up. I have pictures of my school as well as a few pictures of my classes and trips. There is so much to show everyone!

I can´t wait to see everyone so soon!

Mid-Service, Mindo, Quito

I know I haven´t updated in a while, but I have been traveling for most of the past week. There is a lot to update on, so I apologize in advance...

Classes:
I only taught for two days last week because I left for my Mid-Service conference on Wednesday, but those two days were jam packed with vocab and grammar. Students were not happy that I told them I wanted to give another test this week sometime, but they lost that battle. However, they all really seem to be learning, and the new activities that I have been using seem to be effective. I can´t wait to see all of the long-term results at the end of the summer. Also, the student that had the huge Gringa-crush on me finally got a new girlfriend. It is hilarious to watch that unfold, but it has also lessened the awkwardness in class. However, my second class seems to be picking up the slack where the first one left off. It´s a strange situation, but it makes me laugh all the time and it hasn´t gotten awkward with the second class so that´s always good. In addition to all of that, I actually don´t have classes today because there is a chance that one of the dentistry students at the university has swine flu. Ecuador is nuts about swine flu and super paranoid, so any confirmed case means that the school doesn´t have classes for a week. Right now the girl is getting tested, so I won´t know anything for sure until later tonight.

Mindo:
Our mid-service conference was held in Mindo this year, and in general it was a lot of fun. It was awesome to see all of the other volunteers! I have seen some of them several times, but others are too far away to see on the weekends, so this conference was a perfect opportunity to swap stories with everyone. It is absolutely hilarious to hear everyone´s stories... so many people have similar stories, but they are all different at the same time. Everyone has done lots of traveling and has great teaching stories. I don´t think I´ve laughed so hard the whole time I´ve been here. During the actual conference there was lots of group bonding time where we were able to share experiences, and then there were also plenty of sessions that dealt with teaching and the different struggles that we are all facing at our sites. We had some free time during the day on Friday and so there were a few of us that went zip-lining between the mountains in Mindo. It was absolutely gorgeous! I have definitely become more adventurous since coming here, and that certainly helped me when I was zip-lining. The views were incredible and it was a great way to spend some time with other volunteers. We also went to the butterfly farm that Mindo is famous for on Saturday before we left. All of the butterflies were beautiful and it was something that I really wanted to see while I was in Mindo.

Quito:
On Wednesday we went to Quito for the day before leaving for Mindo. We got to spend some time with some of the other volunteers that came in early climbing the Basilica and wandering around Quito. Some volunteers who don´t have access to internet or phones took the opportunity to call family and friends back in the States. We had some good meals and on Saturday night we went to see "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." We tried to see it on Wednesday, but even the English version was sold out all night. Ecuadorians love Harry Potter just as much as Americans. Thankfully on Saturday we were able to get tickets in English. I actually ran into my host brother and his wife at the theater too. It was such a weird coincidence. Other than that, it was just a great relaxing time with everyone.

It feels great to be back in Riobamba and spending time with my family here. I definitely miss everyone back home too, but I know the next four weeks will go by even faster than the previous six. Some of our friends are coming to Riobamba this weekend and it will be great to show them around and let them see where we spend our days.

Again, sorry for the length, I will try and update more than once a week!

Chao!

Quito:

The Joys of Teaching

So, this week of classes has been interesting to say the least. One of my classes has regular good attendance, but the other one only has about half of the students show up on any given day. It´s a little ridiculous, and it´s making my life a little harder in terms of teaching new material. However, I have figured out a plan, and now our "warmer" for the day is an exercise that goes over ALL of the material that we worked on the day before, and makes the students talk and work in groups. It seems to be working out fine for now.

I also gave a test last week, which went actually better than I had planned. I mean, there were certainly still some students that didn´t do very well, but in general they at least got the main concepts. Grammar will come with time, so they just need to keep practicing. Some of them just get so nervous when speaking English that they don´t talk very often, making it harder for them to learn. This is the one instance when I am actually glad that I don´t know much Spanish. The students will babble off in Spanish asking me questions, and I just give them the same blank stare of not understanding that they give me when I talk too fast in class. It forces them to use the English that they know to communicate with me. Granted, it´s also fun to sometimes have them help teach me Spanish. They all get a kick out of the fact that I don´t know very much, and I especially enjoy when I´m teaching vocabulary and the students translate the words into Spanish and look at me to see if it´s right... I usually just look at them and say, "Sure, why not?" But then we always have someone double check with a dictionary to make sure if we really don´t know the word in Spanish. Teaching the vocab is helping inprove my Spanish and their English, so it´s a win-win situation all around.

Behavior-wise, I have found that enstilling the fear of God into them usually works well. Whenever the "Native-Speaker" (me) gets really angry and starts raising her voice in a language that the students don´t understand, they all seem to understand somehow. I never yell or anything like that, but a stern English talk has been very effective. The students are all finally getting to know who I am and know how to behave in the classroom. Of course I´m not going to be able to please everyone all the time, and some students don´t always like all the activities that we are doing, but that´s ok. As long as they´re practicing their English, I have come to the conclusion that there´s always a different activity that they will like the next day. Teaching has definitely been an adjustment, but it has also been really rewarding. Learning a new language is always difficult, but when they ask me questions and get the right answers it makes everything worth it. I´m also able to show my sense of humor in the classroom as well, even if sometimes it means making a fool of myself. The students love when Teacher is funny and does crazy things in the classroom.

I will try and take some pictures of my school and classes soon and get them up here as well. The school is actually really nice, although under construction, and my students are lots of fun!

Chao!