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.