I am officially done with more than one week of classes! It feels really good, but I definitely have obstacles to overcome in both classes. In my second class of the day, there are way too many kids that want to only speak Spanish and talk to each other the whole time. There were girls putting on makeup during class yesterday and it´s a constant battle to get some of their attention. Granted, not all of the students are like that, and I do enjoy doing fun activities with them. However, I am just having to be more creative when it comes to partnering them up and doing group work. Almost all of them are friends, so it makes it slightly more difficult. But I´m getting the hang of it and all should be well soon. My first class has some of the same problems (which I know you find in every classroom across the world), but for the most part they want to learn and are willing to participate in the activities that I assign. However, in my first class I have encountered my first bit of "Crush on Gringa Teacher Syndrome." It is very interesting, and he´s a nice guy, but I am constantly having to be on my guard and make sure that he is aware of the line that is drawn. All of my students know that I have a boyfriend, so hopefully he´ll get the hint that I´m not interested eventually.
This weekend some of the volunteers went to Baños (a small town not too far away from Riobamba). It was so much fun! There were nine of us and we got there early Saturday morning because we all have Friday night classes (the one flaw with our travel plans). On Saturday we had lunch, got checked into our hostal, and wandered the city. We made reservations for a Monkey tour on Sunday as well. We didn´t want to pay half of the amount ahead of time, so Tyler told her that his ITIC (International Teacher Identification Card) was extremely important and she could use that as a deposit. Little did she know that our ITIC cards are not widely needed unless you want discounts at some places. Some people went to get massages and spa treatments that afternoon and we had a great day of food, taffy (HUGE in Baños), and talking.
Sunday we were going to go to the thermal baths early, but it was raining so we skipped on that for the time being. We went to the tour place at 9:00 and got into our shuttle bus to go to see the monkeys. On the way there we stopped at a lot of waterfalls and rode a little cable car thing across the cliffs and a waterfall. It was incredible! We finally got to the monkey refuge site, where they help get abandoned monkeys back into the wild. It was not very touristy, but the monkeys climbed ALL over us! It has always been one of my lifelong dreams to play with monkeys, so I was completely in heaven. They are some incredibly smart animals, too. They knew how to open zippers and take things out of bags, so we had to watch our stuff all the time. However, they were adorable and would also lead us by the hand to show us things of theirs. They absolutely loved playing with my hair, too. Anyone who had long hair got their hair messed with. The monkeys loved trying to find things in the hair, and thankfully, were unsuccessful. I have TONS of pictures of them playing with us, and will put them up asap, but this computer is being a pain in terms of getting my pictures off the camera, so I´ll try to do it tomorrow.
After the monkeys we got a little lunch and did end up going to the thermal baths. The water comes out of the volcano at 136 degrees Fareinheight, and was not much cooler when we got in. It was a lot of fun and definitely worth the experience. We had a great dinner at Casa Hood and I actually ended up getting Pad Thai (just for you, Joanna). It was phenomenal and great to get away from rice and potatoes for a nice.
All in all, things are going well here and I can´t wait for my next weekend adventure! It will dfinitely be an interesting experience spending 4th of July in Ecuador, but we will make it truly American. I will put pictures up as soon as I can!!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
First Weekend and First Day of Class
Well we all knew that it would happen eventually... yes... I ate guinea pig, one of the national dishes here. It was for Father´s Day and surprisingly, wasn´t bad. It kind of tasted like a really salty rabbit, and I don´t know if I´m going to have to eat it again while I´m here, but I wouldn´t mind in a smaller portion. I apologize to all of those people who had guinea pigs as pets... I meant no harm. Then yesterday before class I actually ate a whole crab, one that I had to rip off the legs and all. It was an interesting experience, but it was delicious! I would totally have some more crab while I´m here. However, I did see the crabs crawling around in a box before I ate them, yet that didn´t change my opinion about eating them at all.
My first weekend was full of emotions. It was really overwhelming being in a house where they really only spoke Spanish to me and I didn´t understand them at all. I was finally alone for the first time on the trip, and that definitely scared me. However, my host family has been great and they have done everything they can to make me feel welcome. My Spanish is improving every day (pero papi, no quiero escritar in espagnol ahora), and I even had an hour long conversation with my host mom last night IN SPANISH! It was amazing!
However, my first day of classes did not go exactly as planned. I have beginners in both of my classes (I thought I was going to be teaching intermediate and advance classes), and so all of the lesson planning that I did completely went down the toilet. I am going to have to be very creative in getting them to participate and understand what I´m saying, because they speak about as much English as I speak Spanish. They all also want to learn irregular verbs... and much to my dismay I did not quite know what an irregular verb was in English. That´s just one thing that I never exactly had to know when I was growing up. However, I now have a list of several irregular verbs, and am confident that I can tell the difference. It will be a definite learning experience for everyone involved, and I ready to face another day. I was actually kind of bummed after yesterday, but after talking to my mom and getting some more teaching tips, I am much more ready and have a few ideas up my sleeve. We´ll see how it all goes, but seriously... nothing can be how uprepared I was yesterday. I had so many cool activities planned and all of them ended up being too advanced for them. But I will say, we went over colors in both of my classes, and by far purple is one of the hardest words in English for them to say. They all got a kick out of it, which made it more fun for me.
I am currently trying to upload pictures and will have them up as soon as possible. I am also trying to multitask and plan my lessons for today, so hopefully everything will work.
Chao!
My first weekend was full of emotions. It was really overwhelming being in a house where they really only spoke Spanish to me and I didn´t understand them at all. I was finally alone for the first time on the trip, and that definitely scared me. However, my host family has been great and they have done everything they can to make me feel welcome. My Spanish is improving every day (pero papi, no quiero escritar in espagnol ahora), and I even had an hour long conversation with my host mom last night IN SPANISH! It was amazing!
However, my first day of classes did not go exactly as planned. I have beginners in both of my classes (I thought I was going to be teaching intermediate and advance classes), and so all of the lesson planning that I did completely went down the toilet. I am going to have to be very creative in getting them to participate and understand what I´m saying, because they speak about as much English as I speak Spanish. They all also want to learn irregular verbs... and much to my dismay I did not quite know what an irregular verb was in English. That´s just one thing that I never exactly had to know when I was growing up. However, I now have a list of several irregular verbs, and am confident that I can tell the difference. It will be a definite learning experience for everyone involved, and I ready to face another day. I was actually kind of bummed after yesterday, but after talking to my mom and getting some more teaching tips, I am much more ready and have a few ideas up my sleeve. We´ll see how it all goes, but seriously... nothing can be how uprepared I was yesterday. I had so many cool activities planned and all of them ended up being too advanced for them. But I will say, we went over colors in both of my classes, and by far purple is one of the hardest words in English for them to say. They all got a kick out of it, which made it more fun for me.
I am currently trying to upload pictures and will have them up as soon as possible. I am also trying to multitask and plan my lessons for today, so hopefully everything will work.
Chao!
Friday, June 19, 2009
Riobamba at Last
I arrived in Riobamba last night and was greeted my one of my host sisters, Elisa, and her boyfriend Tyler. After getting to the house, I met my host mother, Paquita, and my other host sister, Anahi. They were very warm and welcoming! Paquita does not speak any English at all, but Elisa, Anahi, and Tyler all do (Tyler is actually from Iowa and just visiting for the summer). My house has a wonderful view of the city, including Chimborazo, the volcano that is located very near to the town. I have my own space, which is wonderful. They family even has a golden retriever named Timo-Teo, which is wonderful because I definitely miss my dogs back home. So far the food is fabulous! This morning the maid had bread, eggs, and jugo (juice) ready when we came up for breakfast. And Paquita made some incredible Ecuadorian lasagna for lunch today. I am definitely getting my fair share of jugo while I´m here. I think I´ve had over 10 kinds since I got to Ecuador, and my favorite thus far is jugo mora (blackberry juice). It´s absolutely amazing.
This morning I had a meeting with my director from my school and it went really well. There was someone there who spoke English, so I was able to ask all of the questions I needed. I start teaching on Monday and it should work out really well. Everyone at the school is really nice and incredibly willing to help us with whatever we need along the way. It should certainly be a completely different experience from anything that I am used to, and I´m very nervous, but excited to start teaching.
After the meeting I went to this very indigenous open-air market with Paquita, Elisa, and Tyler. There were tons of fruits, vegetables, and meat. Everyone was flying around and negotiating prices. It was extremely interesting and I asked Elisa and Paquita every 5 seconds to tell me what the name of the fruits were in Spanish. There were plenty that I have seen, but many that are indigenous to Ecuador. We took a "taxi" home which was a pick-up truck, and I got to ride in the back of it with Elisa and Tyler. Getting to see the city like that was something that I don´t think I will forget anytime soon.
I will definitely let you all know how my first day of teaching goes!
Chao! (the correct spelling this time)
This morning I had a meeting with my director from my school and it went really well. There was someone there who spoke English, so I was able to ask all of the questions I needed. I start teaching on Monday and it should work out really well. Everyone at the school is really nice and incredibly willing to help us with whatever we need along the way. It should certainly be a completely different experience from anything that I am used to, and I´m very nervous, but excited to start teaching.
After the meeting I went to this very indigenous open-air market with Paquita, Elisa, and Tyler. There were tons of fruits, vegetables, and meat. Everyone was flying around and negotiating prices. It was extremely interesting and I asked Elisa and Paquita every 5 seconds to tell me what the name of the fruits were in Spanish. There were plenty that I have seen, but many that are indigenous to Ecuador. We took a "taxi" home which was a pick-up truck, and I got to ride in the back of it with Elisa and Tyler. Getting to see the city like that was something that I don´t think I will forget anytime soon.
I will definitely let you all know how my first day of teaching goes!
Chao! (the correct spelling this time)
Monday, June 15, 2009
First Set of Pictures!
Hey everyone! I finally got some of the first pictures up. There are tons more, but these are just a sample of what I´ve done so far. There are pictures from Quito and Mitad del Mundo (the equator). Enjoy!
Friday, June 12, 2009
Discovering Quito
Orientation has been absolutely crazy so far! We are in Spanish class from 7:30-9:30am every day and after that we really don't stop until about 5-6pm. However, during the last four days I feel like I have really gotten to know some of the great parts of this beautiful city as well as learn a lot about all of these different people that I am volunteering with from all over the country.
After taking a recommendation from our field directors, there were a few of us that decided to try this tiny place for lunch that doesn't have a name... all we know it as is La Garaje (the garage). We got served a huge plate of beans, rice, beef or chicken, and fried bananas, all for $2. Seriously, eating in this country is ridiculously cheap. I saw a filet mignon last night for $9 if that puts things into perspective. But back to La Garaje... it was so good that we decided to go to it again the next day. Don't worry though, we have branched out and found several other places around La Mariscal (a famous part of the city and where our hotel is located) that we really like. Lunch is cheap everywhere and dinner is not much more expensive, unless you go to a really big gringo place, then it can get a little more pricey.
Tonight after an extremely long day of orientation I went to dinner with six other volunteers. We were following a recommendation from a volunteer's friend and I had absolutely no idea of what to expect when we got there. We took a cab into Old Town and when we finally got to the restaurant, we were greeted with the most BEAUTIFUL scenery I think I have ever seen! It was a rooftop place located right in the middle of the city, so we were able to see everything from the nearby basilica to the bicentenial light display and tons of old churches, plazas, and buildings in between. Dinner was phenomenal (and cheap), and it was just an amazing way to spend an evening. It really struck me at dinner how much we have all bonded in the past four days. There I was, in a local restaurant in Quito, with six people that I didn't know four days ago talking about life as though we've known each other for so much longer than that. Our group comes from all over the place... there are four people from Harvard, two people from North Carolina, one from Columbia, two from Notre Dame, and many other schools including a guy originally from Senegal and one from Canada. It is truly incredible and I am actually a little sad about leaving for Riobamba next weekend because I know that I won't be able to see all of these people until we meet up again in Mindo, a cloud forest, for Mid-Service conference.
However, I am extremely excited to go to Riobamba. During orientation we have had countless sessions on our safety and how to become less vulnerable in this country. It's a lot to think about, but a lot of it is common sense and we have all been looking out for each other. I have learned to carry only essentials on me, along with the minimal amount of money possible. It has actually been kind of liberating, because I used to carry my life with me in my purse, but now I just wear my money belt with my passport copy, emergency numbers, and $15. It's awesome. Too bad I probably won't be able to keep that up once I get back to the States. Regardless, I have learned everything I could possibly know about keeping myself safe while here, which makes me feel much better. These sessions have covered everything from the Swine flu (which is now a "pandemic" here and a few people walk around the streets with masks... a little over dramatic according to the nurse that talked to us) to natural disasters including volcano erruptions. Personally, I can't wait to get to Riobamba and hopefully see a mini-erruption from Mt. Chimborazo, the volcano nearby. Apparently every few weeks it spits out some ash and there is a little bit of ash-rain that covers the ground. I think that it would be incredible to see. No worries everyone, it hasn't actually errupted with lava in hundreds of years.
Ok, well there is so much more to tell about Quito that I have learned, but I think I will save it for next time. We are headed to the Mitad del Mundo, or the equator, on Sunday during our free day. It should be a great experience with a definite photo opportunity! By the way, I am going to try and put some of my pictures from Quito up on here eventually, but it's just taking me a while to figure out how to do it.
Ciao! (Yes, they use that here as a basic form of goodbye)
After taking a recommendation from our field directors, there were a few of us that decided to try this tiny place for lunch that doesn't have a name... all we know it as is La Garaje (the garage). We got served a huge plate of beans, rice, beef or chicken, and fried bananas, all for $2. Seriously, eating in this country is ridiculously cheap. I saw a filet mignon last night for $9 if that puts things into perspective. But back to La Garaje... it was so good that we decided to go to it again the next day. Don't worry though, we have branched out and found several other places around La Mariscal (a famous part of the city and where our hotel is located) that we really like. Lunch is cheap everywhere and dinner is not much more expensive, unless you go to a really big gringo place, then it can get a little more pricey.
Tonight after an extremely long day of orientation I went to dinner with six other volunteers. We were following a recommendation from a volunteer's friend and I had absolutely no idea of what to expect when we got there. We took a cab into Old Town and when we finally got to the restaurant, we were greeted with the most BEAUTIFUL scenery I think I have ever seen! It was a rooftop place located right in the middle of the city, so we were able to see everything from the nearby basilica to the bicentenial light display and tons of old churches, plazas, and buildings in between. Dinner was phenomenal (and cheap), and it was just an amazing way to spend an evening. It really struck me at dinner how much we have all bonded in the past four days. There I was, in a local restaurant in Quito, with six people that I didn't know four days ago talking about life as though we've known each other for so much longer than that. Our group comes from all over the place... there are four people from Harvard, two people from North Carolina, one from Columbia, two from Notre Dame, and many other schools including a guy originally from Senegal and one from Canada. It is truly incredible and I am actually a little sad about leaving for Riobamba next weekend because I know that I won't be able to see all of these people until we meet up again in Mindo, a cloud forest, for Mid-Service conference.
However, I am extremely excited to go to Riobamba. During orientation we have had countless sessions on our safety and how to become less vulnerable in this country. It's a lot to think about, but a lot of it is common sense and we have all been looking out for each other. I have learned to carry only essentials on me, along with the minimal amount of money possible. It has actually been kind of liberating, because I used to carry my life with me in my purse, but now I just wear my money belt with my passport copy, emergency numbers, and $15. It's awesome. Too bad I probably won't be able to keep that up once I get back to the States. Regardless, I have learned everything I could possibly know about keeping myself safe while here, which makes me feel much better. These sessions have covered everything from the Swine flu (which is now a "pandemic" here and a few people walk around the streets with masks... a little over dramatic according to the nurse that talked to us) to natural disasters including volcano erruptions. Personally, I can't wait to get to Riobamba and hopefully see a mini-erruption from Mt. Chimborazo, the volcano nearby. Apparently every few weeks it spits out some ash and there is a little bit of ash-rain that covers the ground. I think that it would be incredible to see. No worries everyone, it hasn't actually errupted with lava in hundreds of years.
Ok, well there is so much more to tell about Quito that I have learned, but I think I will save it for next time. We are headed to the Mitad del Mundo, or the equator, on Sunday during our free day. It should be a great experience with a definite photo opportunity! By the way, I am going to try and put some of my pictures from Quito up on here eventually, but it's just taking me a while to figure out how to do it.
Ciao! (Yes, they use that here as a basic form of goodbye)
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Arrived in Quito!
I have officially arrived in Ecuador! It was pretty crazy leading up to leaving, with Spencer´s graduation the day before I left, but after eighteen hours of traveling I am finally here! The country is beautiful and the people are great. It is great being with a group, and the field directors have been extremely helpful in terms of getting everything organized and ready for us. We got in really late last night and everyone was exhausted, so we all just went to bed, but today has been packed full of orientation events, ice breakers, a small safety talk (before the bigger one tomorrow), and even a scavenger hunt where we were in groups and had to find different things around the Mariscal area of Quito. So far everyone is getting along extremely well and it looks like we will all be able to do a little bit of traveling to different cities while we are here.
I haven´t learned much else about my site placement, other than that it is officially university students and not adults. I am very excited to teach! I will start living with my host family next Thursday when I travel to Riobamba. I can´t wait to meet them! It will be a totally different living experience going from being one of two children in the house, to suddenly being one of five, but I am very optimistic and interested to get a taste of what a big family is like.
Since I found this internet cafe that is dirt cheap, I have thankfully already been able to call my parents (for only $.05 per minute!!!!!), and hopefully I´ll be able to make a few more calls soon. Hopefully when I get to Riobamba I will be able to have the same sort of experience with internet cafe phones, otherwise most of the computers here have Skype. Oh and to anyone who was randomly wondering, Ecuador is on central time, so there has been no time change for me which is REALLY nice.
I will post soon with more updates from orientation, but for now, Adios!
I haven´t learned much else about my site placement, other than that it is officially university students and not adults. I am very excited to teach! I will start living with my host family next Thursday when I travel to Riobamba. I can´t wait to meet them! It will be a totally different living experience going from being one of two children in the house, to suddenly being one of five, but I am very optimistic and interested to get a taste of what a big family is like.
Since I found this internet cafe that is dirt cheap, I have thankfully already been able to call my parents (for only $.05 per minute!!!!!), and hopefully I´ll be able to make a few more calls soon. Hopefully when I get to Riobamba I will be able to have the same sort of experience with internet cafe phones, otherwise most of the computers here have Skype. Oh and to anyone who was randomly wondering, Ecuador is on central time, so there has been no time change for me which is REALLY nice.
I will post soon with more updates from orientation, but for now, Adios!
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