giggles and facts

My life in the past 2 weeks has been not stop action - part of the reason I have not blogged in so long (the other being laziness on my part). Now that I'm finally feeling settled, I only have 3 weeks left before I once again uproot myself and finish up my time at Houghton. But until then, I'm here in the present. So I will tell you a funny story.

I have been running up here, and yesterday I headed out for a pre-Thanksgiving run. The park I like to go running at is right by a super-market, so I figured that after I ran my loop at the park, I would pop in to the store and pick up the last part of my contribution to the Thanksgiving meal. I had put my money in my bra while I ran, to keep it safe and secure, not thinking that running=hot=sweat. So I get to the check out line, and whip out my dollar bill, and it is sopping wet with sweat. And the woman checking me out CLEARLY saw me pull it out of my bosom. She said "It's wet." And sometimes I lie compulsively. This was one of those times. "Um. It's water." She had a look of utter disgust on her face. She knew I was lying. I knew I was lying. Then I got the giggles, right there on the spot. And she stared. And I laughed, feeling like a jerk, but thoroughly enjoying the awkwardness of the moment. :)

I've been spending a lot of time socializing with friends - both American and Ecuadorian (maybe too much time). Last weekend I went to Ambato to my friend Carlos' house. We made a day trip to Banos (I don't know how to make an enyay). You can see pictures of this on facebook. This past week at school was a 3 day week, for Thanksgiving. Yesterday I spent the holiday with some wonderful people I work with at school, and today I am going to another Thanksgiving gathering hosted by the school director and his wife (the Wells).

Perhaps the biggest piece of news is that my cooperative teacher's father passed away this past Wednesday. So he has gone to the states for the funeral and such, and I will be left with the classes to teach alone for the coming week. This will be great practice and experience for me - a challenge, but a good one.

That's all I've got. I will try to do better with this. Love.

I'm sort of the cat's Meow.

Hola amigos mios! Much has happened since my last entry - both good things and bad. I'll start with the bad, because then you will leave thinking I am a Hannah Happy rather than a Debby Downer. Last week, I got sick. I'd like to call it traveler's sickness, because that is what it felt like, but really I don't think it qualifies because it was my own fault for eating jam that had been open and not stored in the refrigerator. So turns out if the label says refrigerate after opening, you should probably do that. Or vomit all night. Either way. But within 48 hours and a weekend diet of rice and Gatorade, I was better :)

This week I started teaching 3 of my 4 classes: History and Literature of Theatre, AP English Literature, and AP English Language. I'm really enjoying teaching these students. I think that students at this school are more motivated, more polite, nicer, and maybe even more mature than students I might encounter at a public school in the USA. Maybe not, but they are quality kids, regardless. Plus, I have decided that I much prefer high school to junior high, because they are more responsive, more thoughtful, and I don't have to be their organization. They can do that themselves. (Although I am not opposed to junior high, I just think that so far I like this better.) I am currently teaching "Oedipus the King", Alan Paton's Cry the Beloved Country, and a series of hand-picked essays for AP Lang. Next week I will take on the fourth class - Reading the Bible as Literature - and I will begin teaching Ruth and Esther.

Now I will tell you why (besides the obvious reasons) I am the cat's meow. I have been meaning to go the super market for over a week now. But I had a predicament because I did not know where it was. I thought that perhaps it would be good to ask someone to go with me, but who? One of the students that lives in the dorm with me - one of my own students?... potentially awkward. Or my teacher?... but he's already so busy with the school play and his home life. So I'd sort of been putting it off, but today I was feeling adventurous. So I asked for directions to the SuperMaxi (this is the name of the grocery store, not a new kind of maxi-pad...tehe). But I'm not very good at directions, so I looked at Google maps and made myself a map. And then I started walking, and arrived there with no problems at all. It was so exhilarating. I felt like a bird being let out of a cage, because really after a while being stuck on campus all day every day when there is a whole big city/different culture/country to be explored right outside the walls, makes me feel like a prisoner, even though I like it here. So basically I went hog wild. I walked into the centro comercial (a shopping mall) and I felt like I was riding a two-wheeler for the first time ever. Or like I was cruising down main street in my mini-van for the first time as a licensed driver. haha... Oh man, I guess I need to get out more. This was also a very special outing for me because I had inexpensive, delicious coffee(70 cents for an americano) for the first time since October 21. That is a very long time to go without my favorite beverage. So now that I have had my adventure for the day and bought tea, coffee, nutella, and bread, I am quite the happy camper.

Que Vacan!

I just returned from my most epic Ecuadorian adventure yet (I realize I've only been here 2 weeks, but it was just so much awesome packed into one 5 day weekend). My friends Francesca and Maite from Yellowstone invited me to their home in Santo Domingo for the weekend, and I jumped at the chance to explore and see things with nice friends. They live on their uncle's farm (chickens and produce) outside of Santo Domingo, so it was very peaceful and beautiful. Their family welcomed me with warm hospitality, and I am very blessed to have been able to spend time with and learn from such a beautiful family. I felt like I was a part of their family, even though I barely knew them. Remember that special drink "colada morada" that I blogged about last time? Well they taught me how to make it AND I helped decorate for Christmas.

Now, I did a lot of awesome things this weekend, and so let me get to the juicy stuf (in order of occurrence, not in order of awesomeness). Interesting and fun things I did include: going out with more Yellowstone friends for emapanadas in Santo Domingo, Colada Morada making/learning, lots of sleeping (10 hours a night on average) and waking up to birds singing outside my window, swimming in an outdoor pool (I love the weather here!), eating lots of delicious home-made food, going out to my friend Felipe's family's discoteca - "clubbling", if you will. tehe. I was kind of nervous to go out, because, quite frankly, I have no rhythm and I cannot dance. BUT I explained this to my friends ahead of time, and they were super nice about it. They taught me a few things and encouraged me and it was actually really fun. We also went to a farm one day where we saw cute little piggies, ugly ducks, rode a horse, and ate sugar cane. I could feel my teeth rotting with every bite, but it was just so nommy. Yesterday I went with Maite, Felipe, and his family to a magical place called Mindo. We rode in a cable cart across a canyon forest thingy to arrive at some trail-heads that lead to waterfalls galore. We hiked and swam, and played in the waterfalls. And for those of you who know me well, and/or read my Yelllowstone blog - rest assured that I kept the tradition alive - I did in fact pee in these water falls. The one in particular was called "Cascada Madre" hehe... how fiitting. I also met some Argentinian gypsy people at Mindo that are driving in a van from Argentina to Alaska, which was pretty cool. At Mindo we also rode on Zip lines and I met a precious 9 year-old who spotted me as a foreigner and was quick to befriend me - a little burst of sunshine. And today, before we left to return to Quito, Wandember (another Yellowstone friend) took Francesca, Maite, and me to see some indigenous people "Tsachila Tolon Pele" that wear colorful skirts and paint their skins. It was pretty sick.

The whole trip was just loaded with awesome, and I learned a lot and rested a lot. Tomorrow classes start up again, and I will begin teaching! forward ho, I spose :)