In The Beginning……..(Sept 20)

I am writing this sitting in my own little personal balcony with my room in the Hostel Pasado el Maple where I stayed last night and will stay tonight.  Tomorrow I will go to my host family -my home for the next year.   The hostel is quite nice.. and thankfully had coffee this morning.  The coffee wasn’t that great but the caffeine was awesome! (being amongst the 20 year olds I am hearing the word “awesome” a lot)

Yesterday went surprisingly well… all flights on time.. all things good.  It was a long day but really not so bad.  I did arrive last night extremely tired due to the short night preceding as I finished up packing quite late.  I am not quite sure how this all began and I am shocked that I actually got on the plane and got here

And more Beginnings ( Sept 24 -4 days later)

It is now Sunday, four days later , and this is my first free day.  I have had some time in the evenings but due to lots of things (moving twice, altitude, being a deer in the headlights when it comes to language and transportation, and spending a lot of time in a very high level of noise in the orientation classroom)  when I get home at night I just crash – but really I just slither down as I don’t really have the wherewithal for a full level crash. The word crash just sounds SOOOOO energetic.

This is so much like being a high school freshman again.  I have all new shoes.  I have all new technology-though as a high school freshman new technology meant a new straight edge, compass, and slide rule. And on my first day of orientation my Host “Mom” walked me to school.  Something I will be eternally grateful for.

So much has happened but I will give short summary of things.  I suspect I may get some of the details wrong as I don’t understand Spanish at all – and when am in altitude spacyness there is not a language anywhere I understand.

My Host Family. All of us are required to stay with a host family for the first half of the year.  I am really happy with my placement.  I am living with a woman, Sandra, who is (or was) an economist and her 19 year daughter (as of Friday) Camille..  With me are two other World Teach volunteers – a married couple and the only other volunteers over 30 (perhaps over 25).  What I had wished for in my home was wifi, showers with at least warm water, accommodating family food wise, a place to work/read outside and a park nearby (though in Quito it seems there is always a park nearby).  I got all of this and so much more.  I just flat out like Sandra…and Camille is such a unique combination of brains, maturity and child-like ebullience I just enjoy watching her even when I can’t understand a thing going on. Sandra sadly tells me that she loves to cook too much and her happy times are those in a kitchen.  I am not quite sure why this makes her sad but as I told her it certainly works for me!  And another happy happening is that Sandra is from the coast of Ecuador -where the culture and the food is quite different. She loves cooking the coastal dishes so I am getting an opportunity to learn about two types of Ecuadorian types of food.  So far there have been a lot of dishes with mashed green plantains.  The only real problem is that I want to try everything I see that is new and so find myself breaking my own rules about food.

Last night was Camille’s 19^th birthday party.    Sandra cooked and cooked and cooked. There was guacamole, snacks, birthday cake, pork roast, mashed potatoes, etc.  All the family came.   All the furniture was out of the living room except chairs along the walls and it is a fairly small living room by American standards.  There were balloons, food, etc. In the center of the living room the young danced. There was some dancing but not much by older folk.  In the chairs were the kids, the grandmothers, aunts, uncles watching the dancing and talking.  People also gathered in the kitchen.  I tried to take some pictures as I was so struck by the comfort of the teenagers in dancing in front of their mothers, aunts and the comfort of the young kids in running around the dance circle. It was a very easy flow between ages and generations. It is my understanding that this is part of Ecuadorian culture – family is supreme and people live with their parents until they marry regardless of profession and income.

To demonstrate my fatigue – 12 -15 19 yrs+ people dancing to loud music 12 feet from my room did nothing to keep me awake.

                                                               Quito.

  Having loved Quito in 2014 – I was assuming this would happen again.  However, 3 years is a long time in technology, development, etc.  and I had two fears. The first was that  the majority of people walking down the street would be  staring at cell phones (which I feel has really altered the experience of walking NYC) , and secondly -that there would be a significant number  of box stores, fast food chains, etc.  But my fears were unrealized.  While of course there are cell phones around and you will always be seeing people using them -it seems to be on a “I need to do this” as opposed to interrupting or preventing  face-to face interactions because perhaps one  got a text in the last 10 minutes. So generally, on the bus and on the street people are engaged with their surroundings as opposed to the cloud.  (I recognize there is a bit of hypocrisy on my part as I am clinging to my phone not being able to imagine a world without whatsapp, podcasts, and google maps at my 24/7 fingertips).   While I have seen a KFC and a Macdonald’s- and I am sure I will see  more - for  the most part Quito is a collection of small stores and shops. While there are some big shops, plazas, big grocery stores – they appear local in nature.  One of the really lovely aspects of life here is that every neighborhood has an assortment of small shops, cafes, etc.  And I have spent most, if not all, of my time in what is referred to as Gringolandia so I am assuming I am in the most American like shopping district.  So it appears I have finally escaped the Walmart, Walgreens, Costco, Applebees, so forth and so on –dominated  world.  The real question is whether I will continue to see being limited to small shops as wonderful a few months from now as  I am quick to embrace  luxuries and the easy life.

My placement/teaching here.  Right now I am going through a 2.5 week orientation.  I am finding it difficult as I always find sitting in a class room for a day difficult. However, I am grateful that it is a room with windows that open.  I always find it almost impossible to go through a day of presentations in a room with no windows. Soon we will be learning about lesson planning, etc.  There are 38 of us, and I think only three of us are not in our 20’s.  The topics for orientation are generally those I have had at least annually  in my academic career – diversity, engaged learning, critical thinking etc.   So while all of these experience is about me learning new things… the first few weeks of work are quite familiar to me. But all then we will have a task to do that leaves me baffled and I am scrambling.  I still am confused about cell phones and international lines. 

Sometime in October I will begin teaching at CEC (https://www.cec-epn.edu.ec/).

  We do not yet know our teaching schedule.  What is striking fear in my heart right now is that one or some of us will have 7 a.m. classes.  I guess I have survived worse.  I do know that I will have about two classes of 20 and that it is college level.  However, depending on the time of the class some high school students may attend. But it will be adults, and we can assume people who are taking the class because they want to. The college has our resumes and is matching people to classes right now.

SO I am ending this first blog post.  It is close to 2 on my first full day off since I got here so I am eager to do nothing. I was worried as I only brought one book to read but I am finding it challenging to get through 3-4 pages a night…. And I am really engaged in the book. (A re-read of The Dispossed).  The main character is adjusting to a new PLANET ..so perhaps the idea of that just knocks me out as  I am only dealing with a new country.