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.