Hola, soy yo

Howdy everyone,

So it´s been about two months. But, really, who´s surprised? We all know I´m bad at keeping up to date with these things. So let me try to fill you in on a few things.

This cycle has been the best so far. I have a great schedule (2-8). I designed and tought a writing course to students at the highest level at this institution, which is nearly fluent. I´m going to be spending some time over the break tweaking and improving the course, and I´ll be teaching it again next cycle. It was great because the subject matter was much more interesting to me; the students weren´t, in general, as frustrating as usual; and I had the freedom to do whatever I wanted, including taking my students to a cafe in order for them to read work that they had worked on over the last few months. It was right up my alley, and I had a great time. I´m already excited to get back to it in January.

I don´t have a very exciting social life. Most of my day is spent working on a few things, preparing for class, and then teaching, and by the end I´m pretty tired. When things work out, I try to hang out with a few friends. Here are some highlights:

I went to a huge, beautifully green lagoon in the mountains. It was a good time except for the fact that we traveled ten or twelve hours in order to stay there for three hours. Then, on the way back, traffic was horrible, and at the bus station there was a line of hundreds of people waiting to get back to Quito. It was so bad that as buses drove into the bus station people would rush the bus, all of them trying to cram themselves on before everyone else. It got the the point that people were passing children up through the windows and climbing onto the roof of the bus, and the police had to be called to come and create some sort of order. It was really quite entertaining to watch, and I´ll try to post a pic or two of people half hanging out of the bus windows.

I went on a chiva, which is a something of a mix of a flatbed truck and a bus, where people get in back, and then drink and dance while the chiva drives around the city blaring music. This is one of those things that you just have to experience when you are here becasue it is such a part of the culture here. This is a common thing to do for birthday parties and other celebrations, especially during Fiestas de Quito, which is a celebration of the founding of Quito and includes a number of free events, including concerts, cultural events, etc., and culminates in a weekend of rampant alcohol abuse.

There is no thanksgiving here, so a bunch of us teachers got together for a potluck that evening and had a nice, relaxed time.

Last Thursday I inadvertently watched the end of a fashion show as I waited for my friend´s band to begin playing at a concert I went to. That was a good time (the concert more than the fashion show).

My classes finish on Wednesday, at which point my ¨winter¨ vacation begins (and will last over 3 weeks. I don´t have anything huge planned. Probably just a few little things. I´ll be having a Christmas dinner with friends, and I´ll be spending New Year´s Eve at a party beach called Montanita. I´m considering a tour of the jungle too, but I can´t spend too much money. Other than that, maybe just some day trips to nearby places and some museum trips and free events, etc.

Well, that´s all I really have to report. Keep checking back for the next update, which will likely be in another two months. ;)

Chao.

My Return

Hola a todos,

It´s been a long time. That´s mostly because, for the last few months, I was working and taking an intensive course on teaching English as a foreign language. So I was pretty much swamped the whole time and ended up doing almost nothing interesting.

The class was intriguing for the most part, and had some useful information. We´ll see if I can apply it this cycle. I also met a bunch of people and was able to make some friends, which was nice.

I spent a lot of my two-week break being lazy, and a little bit preparing for my classes this cycle. I´m teaching two writing classes. I´m pretty excited since I think this class will be right up my alley and I was able to design the entire ciriculum to match my whim, muahaha!

I also have a much better schedule now, so I´ll be able to do a lot of the things that I´ve been wanting to do for a long time now, including hiking Cotopaxi, the snow-peaked volcano.

So stand by for more frequent posts and pictures over the next few months, as I plan to be a more interesting person than I have been recently.

Hasta luego.

Ugh

So it was a really long week for me. In addition to a few personal issues, I had trouble getting a good night´s sleep each night for one reason or another, I had problems and frustrations with my students, was the victim of one robbery attempt and one successful robbery, was punched in the face, had to buy a new phone, and was told by my bank that I have to figure out a way to call them from Ecuador before they can cancel the debit card I had stolen.

The last seven days have felt like a month or so. I´ve been pretty stressed and cranky for a while now and I doubt it´s going to get much better. My schedule has not been great, so I haven´t been able to do as much as I want. And I´m starting the TEFL course next Monday, which means I will have no life for about 3 weeks. Hopefully after that, things will settle down a bit, and hopefully by next cycle things will be much better.

Time will tell.

Vacation

Ok, so it´s been a long time. First, I went on vacation for about two weeks. I´ve been back for two weeks, but have been pretty busy with the start of classes, so I kinda dropped off the radar. So let me catch you up.

Robin came to visit for my two-week break. We spent most of the first week in Quito, seeing sites like the historical district of the city, El Centro, and taking the TeleferiQo up the mountain to enjoy a nice view of the city. We also spent some time with some friends and took some Salsa classes together. We were planning on going to nearby Papallata to enjoy the natural hot springs, but the trip kept getting delayed until it just didn´t happen.

After a week things picked up a bit. We went with a bunch of friends to Atacames, a busy little beach town. It was pretty touristy, but cool in that we were staying basically right on the beach, and there was a long series of open bars/clubs on the sand that you could wander in and out of at night. We only stayed for two or three days, but it was a good time. The only problem is that everyone serves the exact same dish for breakfast, lunch and dinner. There was no variety and after a few days I thought I would never want to eat rice again. (Rice is a staple of Ecuadorian cuisine, to the point that Ecuadorians cannot wrap their heads around the idea of a meal that doesn´t include rice.)

After a short break of a day or two back in Quito, Robin and I went to Baños. It is another touristy town, but a little more chill than Atacames. It is in the mountains and is known more for it´s cool adventure sports. We went whitewater rafting, which was a great time, and also took a tour of a series of waterfalls in the area.

All in all, I had a nice vacation. I´ll definitely be going back to Baños, and I´m going to be on the coast near Atacames again this weekend.

It was back to work for me, however, about two weeks ago. But I don´t mind too much. I´m enjoying teaching for the most part. It´s probably the best job I´ve ever had. And it´s only another six weeks before I get another vacation. Haha! I love it!

Anyway. Oddly enough I ended up taking almost no pictures at all during my vacation. Sorry guys. But I assure you that I still look basically the same. Maybe I´ll take a few at the beach this weekend. No promises though. It´s a pain--and a bit dangerous--to wander around with anything valuable, like a cammera.

Hasta la proxima vez.

Two Peaks!

This past Sunday I went on my second mountain climbing excursion. Man, I´m loving these. It´s a lot of fun hanging out with friends, doing something a little crazy, and enjoying the crazy vistas.

We drove most of the way up the first mountain, and climbed the last 30 minutes to an hour to the peak. Then we went down and across to another mountain, and climbed that to the top. In between we lost an hour or so by taking the wrong path, and then Herb, Tom, and I spent some time dangling ourselves over ledges trying to find a way down from the cliff we had stumbled upon. No luck though. After spending enough time fearing for our lives, we decided to just back track. It was good fun though.

Can´t wait till the next mountain this coming Sunday! Woo hoo!

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The Mystery of the Disappearing Backpack

Ok. So I was standing on a corner chatting with a student of mine and I put my backpack down, just a few inches from my leg against the half wall we were leaning on. And when I went to leave it was just . . . gone. Vanished into thin air.

It was really an impressive trick. I didn´t have anything terribly valuable in there. Mostly my school supplies which is a pain, since I lost the book I use to teach my students and all of the tests that they had just taken.

But overall it was a pretty painless lesson. But never again will I be letting go of my belongings here.

Music!

So here´s some irony for you. I come to Ecuador and discover the band My Chemical Romance.

Ok, so I knew about them before, and I really only discovered one CD entited The Black Parade. But I have decided to add it to my list of perfect albums. There are certain albums in which I love every song, or at least every song fits just right in the context of the album. So here is my list, in no particular order, and probably incomplete.

The Black Parade - My Chemical Romance
Llanto de un Heroe - Avalanch
The Wall - Pink Floyd
The Number of the Beast - Iron Maiden
...And Justice for All - Metallica
Rust in Peace - Megadeth
Scenes from a Memory - Dream Theater
American Idiot - Greenday
Revolutions Per Minute - Rise Against
Taking Over - Overkill

El Corazón

So yesterday I hiked up El Corazón, a mountain in the area about 4800 meters high. It was about a four-and-a-half hour ascent, and the altitude at the end really kicked my ass. But it was great fun, and I´ll be doing another mountain next Sunday. Here are some beautiful pics that I took.

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Observations 2

So it´s been a long time since I´ve posted anything here. This has been mostly because teaching has taken up much more of my life than I expected. And also because I was out for the count for a few weeks with a cold. But, here I am, and I´m doing really well. Enjoying myself and everything that I´m doing.

I think that I may have some new adventures and pictures to post soon, but for now, here are a few more observations about Quito.

There don´t seem to be any emissions laws, since the buses here spew large clouds of black fumes out behind them.

There is no such thing as a no-smoking establishment, and people smoke inside pretty much anywhere.

You can get any movie, TV show, or CD you want for incredibly cheap. And they are all bootleg. There is a store on every corner full of pirate booty, and you have to go out of your way to find and buy a legitimate copy of anything. I have, however, acumulated a significant movie library for next to nothing. (Two new favorites: The Watchmen, and Fanboys.)

There are (as one might expect) some real cultural differences here. For example, my students, when asked to write about their ideal teacher on a test, almost unanimously wanted a fun and friendly teacher. Almost no one mentioned knowledge of the subject matter as being important.

Also, whining is very common here. For children, for adults, men, and women. It´s considered normal, and somewhat polite. But it´s very disconcerting to have grown men and women whining and whimpering at you. This is something very strange for most of the teachers here and ironically, when our students whine at us, it has the opposite effect to what they intend.

Public urination is also common. And not just from drunks and homeless, but you will see men in business suits in broad daylight peeing on a wall. I don´t know, maybe bathrooms are hard to find around here.

It difficult to get rid of the pedestrian mentality of New York. Here drivers are not nearly so careful about pedestrians, and unlike in New York, those of us who walk aren´t really considered to have the right of way. Also, it can be difficult to judge the speed of cars at times. I´m not sure why.

Anyway, that´s all for now.

Chao chao a todos.

Observations

The first advertisement I saw when I got off the plane in Quito was for a T.G.I.Fridays. As one would expect you can also find McDonald´s (the drive through is called Auto-Mac), Burger King, Pizza Hut, etc. And, from what I´ve been told, KFC is very popular down here. I have promised myself I won´t eat at any of these places, however. There is just way too much stuff to try to be eating Big Macs and bad pizza.

Food is really cheap here, though. Lunch is the big meal of the day, and there are countless restaurants that serve the almuerzo, a set lunch special usually consisting of soup, a plate with meat, rice, a vegetable, and a glass of juice or soda, for about $2.

But not everything is cheap. Books and electronics are often twice the price they are in the States. And there are malls that sell the same sort of stuff malls sell in the States for around the same prices.

There are no automatic transmission here. Everyone drives standard.

There are lots of stray dogs here. Some are cute, but they are all dirty.

This is generally a friendly city. In fact, there is a sense that everyone knows everyone here. It´s partly because people say hi to everyone they come in contact with: a store owner, someone on the street, friends of friends of friends. In fact, there is no such thing as a collective greeting here. If you join a group of people you can´t just say, ¨Hi everyone.¨ You need to greet each person individually, with handshake for guys, and a cheek-kiss for girls. And saying goodbye is the same thing. It really creates a warm and inviting feeling, but is a little strange for someone coming from a city where people avoided human interaction at all costs.

Update

Hello,

It´s been a while since my last post, mostly because I´ve been pretty busy. Within the last four days I have moved into an apartment, found out what classes I was teaching, and began teaching them (with almost no preparation time). Most of the last few days have been spent preparing lesson plans and then actually teaching.

I need to work on my technique, since I feel that I may be a bit boring. That being said, I feel more comfortable up in front of the class than I expected I would. Also, I feel more comfortable in the city now that I have a place of residence and a purpose for being here.

Perhaps I´ll post some pics of my apartment. Anyway, I have little else to say at this point, except that I plan to start Spanish lessons within the next few days. The first step on the way to becoming fluent.

Have a good one.
Peace.

Guayasamin

So we went to two musems of work by a very famous Ecuadorian painter named Guayasamin. It was very moving, and he immediately became one of my favorite painters. The pictures below don´t do justice to the originals, but it´s the best I could do.

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El Centro

Hola a todos,

Yesterday I went to El Centro Historical and walked around a bit. I took some pictures of an old church that we visited and whose tower we climbed. Here are the pics:

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Pictures!

Howdy!

Yesterday I went to El Parque Metropolitano. It´s a huge forest full of paths and random fields. Here are some photos.

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Anoche fue una noche de musica

Hey everyone,

Last night was pretty busy for me, but very cool.

First I went with Lori to a dance studio where they teach bellydancing, and maybe other types of arabic dance. She was going to be playing a type of arabic drum with her former teacher and another friend. So I was able to watch them put on a show of complex and entertwined rythms for the small class that was going on. The two drummers were professional musicians and were quite impressive in their improv and soloing. Lori also impressed me not only with her ability, but with her understanding of what they were talking about. It was definitely entertaining.

Then we went to a restaurant to watch a live faminco performace, with dancers and all. The singer sang in a high-pitched, nasally whine, which I´m told is the standard for the style of music. The guitars used complicated, and oft-changing chords, and a very interesting style of right hand strumming/picking. The percussionist (a friend of Lori´s, which is why we were there) played a Peruvian instrument, I believe, which was basically a wooden box that he sat on and drummed with his hands and fingers, changing the pitch by where he hit it, or by shifting his body on the thing, moving his leg up and down, etc. The dancers wore long flowing skirts that swished and twirled, and thick heels that they stomped to the beat. One of the dancers was confident and forceful, and obviously put her entirety into the dance. The other was a little hesitant, and it seemed like it might have been her first public performance.

After this we met up with some other people and went to a discotequa. They played a mix of music, but primarily salsa and merengue. This is when I realized that, whereas in the States no one can dance, here everyone can dance. I learned quickly that dance lessons will be about as important as Spanish lessons. But apparently there is always some Ecuadorian willing to try to teach a gringo a few steps. As a student, I´m pretty sure I failed miserably, but I was a few drinks in, so it didn´t bother me too much. Plus, I met some cool people, so I enjoyed myself overall.

If I had known how the night would turn out, I would have brought my cammera. But I´m always hesitant to carry it around with me, as robberies seem to be the norm around here at night. But perhaps I´ll start taking it anyway because I don´t want to miss some of this stuff.

Alright, that´s all for now.

Hasta luego.

The Trip

Hola a todos,

The trip went quite smoothly. There were no hiccups, although it was a long and exhausting journey. I was impressed with Avianca airlines. I had never heard of them and for some reason expected the service to be subpar. They were, however, the nicest airplanes I´ve been on, and the service was much friendlier than US airlines I´ve flown with.

I´m staying in a hostel for a few weeks, until I can move into my apartment. Perhaps I´ll take some pictures, but it isn´t that exciting.

Fortunately, Lori and Laura are both here, and they have taken me under their wings. I already spent most of my first day walking around the city, being introduced to a lot of people, and eating new (and rather tasty: I´m looking at you tomate de arbol) foods. It was a little overwhelming and I must admit I had a breif moment of panic where I wondered what the hell I´d gotten myself into. Luckily that has passed. Everyone has been friendly and helpful, and I´m looking forward to the rest of my year here, although I have a feeling that it might be a hectic one.

But the time is ripe for it.

That´s all for now.

Chao.

La Primera

Hello all,

I'm about to start getting ready to head to the airport to catch my flight to Quito, Ecuador. This will be my blog documenting my experience there. Hopefully my future posts will be more interesting than this one. You can keep in touch with me via email, facebook, or this blog.

Also, I will be "monetizing" this blog, which means there will be advertisements on it. If you are seeing ads right now, then please click on them. In fact click on them as many times as you can. You see, I get a little bit of money every time someone visits this blog or clicks on the ads. That means that you can help me finance this adventure of mine. And since I'm poor, I see no reason why I should be above begging, or using Google ads.

Feel free to contact me or to share my blog with others.

Cheers, everyone. Next time we speak, I'll be in Ecuador!