It’s day five, and the sun is finally shining brightly on my Ecuador experience. The first few days were tough; I was sitting in my host family’s home, basically alone, with no one I knew within thousands of miles of me, and nothing to occupy my time. It wasn’t all rain clouds and depressing music, but I definitely wasn’t feeling in cahoots with Quito. The transportation system here is intimidating, to say the least. Public busses are very cheap – costing only $.25, and you can even get a taxi for less than three dollars (and being the safer option), but I didn’t want to tackle it myself, especially being an obvious gringa. With a look of uncertainty about myself, I would be an easy target for pick-pocket-ers and the like. So, the only option was to wait it out until I met some friends to explore with; and I definitely did.
But first, more about my host family. I finally met my host padre, Hugo, and have seen him probably 3 times since then. He works quite often and is usually in his office where he eats breakfast that Gina brings him. I’ve only seen him with my younger host brother once, and he was a bit looser than the last time I met him; he seems like a good dad. That brings me to Santi, the youngest. He arrived from vacation at the beach in Las Esmeraldas on Monday. He reminds me of Ian – definitely the baby boy of the family, and he’s clearly adored by his mother and older sister. He’s going to be a senior at a high school in Quito. Santi coming home warmed up Pamela a bit. She’s 24, living at home, working on her masters in nutrition. My relationship with her is better than anticipated, but we’re nowhere near painting our toenails together and gossiping about boys. She doesn’t really talk to me much; even when we were at the mall with her mom, she had her ipod in one ear, and rarely commented on conversation. It doesn’t really bother me since I’m just starting to get into my student teaching and getting excited about my time here, but it was kind of a bummer in the first couple days when I was very new to the city. They’ve hosted many students before, so I think it’s pretty apparent this isn’t something new and exciting for her, like it is for me. Hugo Alexis is 30 and the oldest sibling. He lives at home and has a room on the top floor across the hall from mine. We’re kind of roommates, I would say, though we don’t share anything because I have my own bathroom. I’ve only seen him twice because again, he works a lot. He has a girlfriend whom I’ve never seen or met, but she’s in pictures around the house.
This is Lili. She's 3 months old and adorable. Her mom, Nena, is 3, and around the house as well. They are curious about me and have just started to come visit me upstairs. They bark sometimes, but it's okay - they're cute.
They’re all very nice, welcoming, and I honestly have it made. Betty is the housekeeper and she’s here 5 days a week to help out Gina. She makes my bed everyday, even though I do it before I leave for school; it’s always a little different when I come back. I’m not sure on the laundry situation still – I told Gina I can do it myself, but she insisted on putting my few things from the last couple days in with the load she was doing. Every morning she has breakfast ready for me at my spot at the kitchen table. Usually it’s some fresh fruit, eggs or a bocadillo (a small toasted sandwich), freshly squeezed or blended juice, and coffee. I catch the bus for school, come back, and there’s a plate of whatever she made for lunch waiting there for me. I don't think Santi, Pamela, and Hugo have been there recently for lunch either because there have been other plates waiting at the table by mine as well. The most family members I’ve been at the table with at once has been Gina, Santi, Hugo Sr, and myself. It’s an interesting family dynamic, but it seems to work, and it’s clear they all care about each other very much.
Wednesday started my New Teacher Orientation at Colegio Menor de Universidad San Fransisco! This school is fantastic. It’s a private school founded 16 years ago by an Ecuadorian man named Carlos, who, after attending colleges and universities in the US, came to Ecuador with a vision of what education could be for this community. A liberal arts education isn’t found very often in the public schools in this country, and he wanted to inspire the youth to think critically about their community, their country, and their world. CM’s three founding beliefs are goodness, beauty, and truth. Everything so far that I’ve heard has been really supportive and great; the teachers are there for the students and to help out each other. I know I’ll get a lot of help if/when I ask for it.
(This is La Rotunda where there are meetings, parent nights, and so on. More pictures will be coming of the school; it was raining today so the ones I took this afternoon don't show the true beauty of this place.)
My first day included the welcome presentation, a tour of the campus, taking school ID photos, and some more preliminary things. Today was focused on grade level and I went around with three other (actual) teachers and learned about the Code of Conduct, student handbook, grading system, academic support services, and more educational jargon goodness. Some of the meetings were in Spanish, so I had to keep up with mostly key word cues and questions. There was even a presentation by representatives from the US Embassy on how to stay safe while traveling around the city and the country. Very good tips I'll be filing away and using on a daily basis. It all went very well though! I actually met my cooperating teacher, Angela, today as well! She stopped in to see if she needed to be at the orientation with me as well, and I ran into her in one of the courtyards. She is very down-to-earth, nice, and excited to have me. She's had quite a few student teachers before and they've all been positive experiences. Apparently our seniors this year are an impeccable bunch, so they have a high standards to live up to already. Angela will be back on Monday and I'll be there to help her get situated for the start of the year when students come back on the 30th.
I learned today that I'll be able to take Spanish classes after school two or three days a week at the high school! This is very exciting since goal #2 of being in Ecua (goal #1 of course is to have the most productive student teaching experience EVER.) is to improve my Spanish skills and become fluent. This will be great along with my host family semi-immersion situation at home. I also learned today that I can provide private tutoring services for quite a surprising hourly fee. I think I’ll be doing that as much as possible when school starts and try to get a trip to the Galapagos planned. I’ve heard from everyone that it’s essential to go – ousting my previous thoughts of skipping it. Blast.
Lastly, I must note my first nightclub outing in Ecuador. Wednesday is "ladies night" at El Bungalow. From 8-10 it is strictly women in the bar, with free beverages, and they play good dancing music. Last night they even had some entertainment - a Michael Jackson dancer/impersonator who rocked it to a few Michael remixes. I went with four other teachers from the high school, one of them being a friend from Northern. Athena did her student teaching at CM this past winter, and ended up accepting a position to teach 4th grade for this coming year. Que suerte! Anyways, it was a good night overall, though I found out today from my host mom that I completely over-paid for my taxi home. She said I shouldn't pay more than $5. This silly gringa paid $10! Oh well, I'll be more savvy the next time.
Sorry for this novel-esque post! So much has happened in a few short days... it's all just beginning!
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