Estress...Ecuadorian style

As proven by the fact that I haven`t posted in over a week, it has been a rocky few days. Last week, I bumbled through my first test in Ecuador. Two, actually. Both on Wednesday, back to back and both in literature. Speaking of baptism by fire… Oh well, they weren’t nearly as bad as they could have been. But no rest for the weary, on to teaching on Thursday!

Ended up teaching weather which, for as boring as it sounds, went rather well. A great deal of singing to be had but I had all the kids drawing on the board which they loved. Of course, my second class decided that instead of learning, they would rather just beg me for autographs and throw desks at each other. So after three quarters of my lesson, I just took them all outside to play fùtbol. Is it a cop out? Yes. Did I preserve my sanity for one day more? Absolutely.

The weekend was a very welcomed respite. Bruce, Summers and I piled in a pickup with two of his sisters, Giovanna and Sofia, and his cousin, Juan, and headed to a beach called Atacames. It`s a four hour drive through very windey mountain passes. Maybe if we all had hips like Giovanna and Sofia the whole four girls in the back seat thing might have worked a little better. But like everything else here, chalk it up to an adventure. In Atacames, we stayed at this great little mini-resort/hostel right on the beach with the Lions’ Club that Giovanna and Sofia are in. Spent Friday and Saturday swimming, hiking to another beach around a cliff that may or may not have been safe, tubing, boogie boarding and milling around the little town in search of pizza. Friday night, we tried to go out dancing but there was some political rally in the middle of town that we opted to avoid so we ended up watching a marimba show back at the hotel and swimming in the ocean at night.

Saturday night, there was a bizarre fashion show/Lions’ Club queen election thingie that we hit solely to support Giovanna. The three of us definitely did not get the memo that everyone wears suits and prom dresses to this thing. (Not that I would have. I don’t think I’ve even donned a skirt since I got here.) So Summers showed us all up but appearing in khakis while I settled with jeans and Bruce was the daring one in bear feet. We did get to dance for a bit afterwards, followed by laying in hammocks on the beach until 5am. Ahh, I do so love weekends sans wrist watch.

After sleeping late and eating more pizza on Sunday, we headed home to Quito. Halfway through the mountains though, we hit an incredibly dense fog. SO dense that Bruce was leaning out the window alerting Juan (in Spanish, mind you) when there was a curve, turn or sheer drop off coming up. All in all, another fantastic weekend – even the fog.

This week has been same old thus far. Exam in my education class on Monday, teaching about family members and making family trees Tuesday. The concept of teacher approval is unbelievable here. They come up to show me every time they copy a vocabulary list just to hear a “Good work.” I tried to draw an example of a family tree on the board with two aunts and uncles but they just could not fathom it when I told them they could draw however many there are in their families. Trying to get them to be creative and draw their own rather than copying mine exactly was the biggest struggle of the day. Maybe that should be my focus in my classes for the semester. Last night, I got tipped off around 10ish that I had an essay due today in my 10am class. None of us knew so we were probably in the Galapagos for that one. Awesome. Oh well, it´s done, I´m tired and all is well.

Monday night, I watched “The Passion of the Christ.” Eventually, there might be a reflection on it appearing here but right now there just are no words. It was quite possibly one of the most incredible films I have seen in my life.