Hanging with the Locals

I've been here now for 2 months! Time is so strange here- the days are so long but the weeks just fly by. This past week was one in which I really seemed to find myself in interesting Ecua-situations with the locals. And after it all, I must say I feel a bit more Ecua myself:)

My students had a unit on food this past week, so I figured we should celebrate by having food in class on Thursday. Little did I know how seriously Ecuadorians take the word "party!" My initial idea was that each student would bring something from home, so that we could eat and practice vocab at the same time. Well, they decided that they would rather order food from a restaurant and bring it to class. Both classes had oral quizzes for the first hour of class, in which they had to have a mock restaurant conversation between a waiter and the people ordering. They did such a great job. I loved to see their creativity- especially when one student asked for the "waitress's" number during the conversation! My first class had a pizza party, catered by the uncle of the 10-year old student in my class. They were so serious about it that they had him come on Wednesday with a sample pizza so that the whole class could decide if they liked it. Then my night class came with 30 Styrofoam platters of chicken, fries, and salad! I have never seen so much chicken in my life. They broke out the CD player and salsa music, and my classroom turned into a dance club for the last 30 minutes of class. So much for practicing vocabulary! But they definitely deserved the fun.

Then on Friday I went to my Madre's school for a festival. She is the Sub-Inspector General at a pretty prestigious all-girls school in town. (I'm still not quite clear on what she really does as the SIG). The school is celebrating its anniversary, though I'm not sure which one, so they are having many celebrations over the next few weeks. She told me that Friday would be a fun day to visit because all the girls would be dressing up in costumes and presenting various dances. I was expecting to show up and see choreographed dances, maybe with a sampling of some traditional or indigenous dances. That's not at all what I got though! Basically I was at a middle school dance. We were all in the gymnasium at 4pm with the lights on, all the teachers were standing around, and most of the girls seemed to be wearing costumes with either high heels or their tummies showing! Boys from other schools showed up too, some in costumes, and everyone was dancing to the DJ's current hit music. Talk about feeling like I went back in time about 8 years. I had this sudden itch to go hide in the girls’ bathroom with friends;) But it was definitely a fun experience to see what a middle school dance is like here in Ecuador- and besides the music and the time of day, it really wasn't all that different from back home. The best part, though, was that one of my students was there and he came up and asked me to dance! After I got over the awkwardness of the situation, it was really fun dancing with him and his friends- I kinda felt like the cool girl in school. And my Madre could not have been more thrilled about the fact that I got up and danced- she wanted to go find me more guys to dance with, but I told her that wasn't really necessary.

Friday night I met up with Eden and Aubrey and some of their students for the first meeting of our English Club. Eden had the idea of giving our students the opportunity of getting together in a more casual setting to practice their English, so we all met at the well-known pizza place in town. Only one of my students showed up (again the 10-year old) because I think they were intimidated that Eden and Aubrey's students are all in the advanced level. Hopefully I can get more to come out next time! It was fun getting to talk to the girls' students, though, and the pizza certainly lived up to its reputation. I also got two scoops of their famous ice cream for 50 cents! Incredible. After dinner we all went dancing at a Halloween-themed party, which was quite interesting. Salsa dancing next to Dracula is a strange experience I assure you. Eden and I called it a night a bit early, and left Aubrey to entertain her students on the dance floor.

On Saturday morning we three ladies met up with 6 of Aubrey's students in a park downtown. We hopped in a student's pickup and headed about 15 miles outside of town to a place called Aguaján, which is this gorgeous park set in a valley in the mountains. We went scaling up this crazy-steep mountain, grabbing onto plants and rocks or anything  else that would prevent us from sliding down. The view was fabulous when we got to the top, though. And getting down was no small task either. Eden had the best policy and just slid down on her rear the whole way! Once we had all rested a bit, we played our very first fútbol game in Ecuador. It was amazing to be playing soccer with such a breathtaking backdrop. I even scored a goal! The students had brought tons of food for a picnic, and they were so sweet to treat the three teachers to everything. The entrance to the park only cost $2, but there were pools, saunas, basketball and volleyball courts, and playground, and BBQ area, a creek with llamas hanging out by it, and more! Some of the students went swimming a bit while we just relaxed with our feet in the water.

Then, right before we left, we all took a turn on a zipline that started from this amazingly cool treehouse. I had to laugh to myself that of course there were no warning signs, liability waivers, or even a seatbelt on the zipline chair! Some things here are just so different from back home in the States. But as I was telling Aubrey, I really admire something about the fact that everything here in Ecuador isn't about rules and liabilities. Life is just more laid back here and people are held responsible for their own actions. I wish the States could adapt a bit more of that mentality- maybe we wouldn't have such high stress levels if people just learned to relax a bit, go with the flow, and take things as they come. We sure got another taste of that on the ride home too...I think it was my favorite part of the day! We rode home in the back of the pickup truck in the true Ecua-fashion, about 6 of us piled back there (I know what you're thinking Mom and Dad, but just remember George Allen said it should be legal in Virginia too! haha). But we had the most amazing views on the drive home and the weather was just perfect. When in Ecuador, do as the Ecuadorians, right?

I did get my fair share of gringo time this week as well. Last night Eden, Dan, and I went to Becca's (the Peace Corps volunteer) apartment for dinner. Becca had made spaghetti with an incredible sauce of garlic, eggplant, tomatoes, and squash all from scratch. It was fantastic! Dan had never seen the movie Mean Girls, so we all watched that- and I mean, how much more American can you get?! And though he was a bit skeptical at first, he loved the movie in the end. Speaking of Peace Corps, today is Daniel Cullop's birthday and I actually got a call through to him in Africa! It was so great to finally talk to him after 5 weeks and to hear about how happy he is with his Peace Corps experience there so far. We were joking saying it was probably the very first call ever made from Ecuador to Togo, and that might not actually be that far from the truth. It's amazing to think of that call leaving South America, traveling across the Atlantic, and reaching him in his hut in an African village- well, in theory at least. Technology is working to my favor again right now because I am watching the World Series on TV...but in Spanish of course. And though I have no idea what the announcers are saying (I'm obviously not up to par on my Spanish baseball terminology), they certainly do sound cool with their deep voices and all their rolling Rs. This is game four and Boston is up 3-0 in the series, so hopefully they can pull through tonight and sweep the Rockies! I have to cheer for the American league team of course (though it is fun thinking that I was at a Rockies game this past August). I really think I might be the only person in Ambato watching the game right now because literally no once plays baseball here. But if I can play fútbol and not make a complete fool of myself, maybe there is some hope for baseball one day in Ecuador as well.

This week I have Halloween and Día de los Difuntos (Nov.2) festivities to look forward to with my students, so I am excited to see how that turns out. Then on Friday the Ambato gals are heading to Cuenca to reunite with all our other WT volunteers for the Cuenca Independence Day festivities! So I should have much to report next week. Until then, just know that I am thinking of you all often! I can't tell you the number of times I pull out my photo album when I miss my family and friends. I wish you could all be here with me! You are certainly all in my thoughts, and please keep those emails coming so that I know what you all are up to. Have a frightfully fantastic (sorry couldn't help myself) Halloween and please please eat some Reese's for me because they don't exist here! xoxo

Beach Bum

Sitting down to write an entry is always such a task because so much happens here in a week (and a half this time)! But I do love an excuse to think back upon it all. My second week of teaching went pretty well, though every day is a mixture of trials and errors, successes and failures. But I really do enjoy myself during class, and I love getting to know my students. Last week we learned about time, weather, the verb "to have"...so not the most exciting material in the world, but it went OK overall. The class didn't do all that great on their first exam, so that was a bit discouraging, but I just have to remember starting a new language is very hard, especially in those first few weeks. So hopefully they'll just get better!

I went to an aerobics class twice last week and it was incredible! I have never stood out so much in my life, though, because not only do I look totally different than everyone else in the class, but I'm also a half second behind in every move because I have no idea what the instructor is saying. But I've really enjoyed it and it's a great way to start the day. It was really funny- on my first day the woman at the front desk said that she had seen my friends there the day before, assuming that the only other "gringas," or non-Ecuadorian-looking people, obviously had to be my friends (which of course they had been!). And the gym employees are really intense- they always pushing us to work harder, run longer, use more weights, etc. I think pobrecita Aubrey is still sore from her abs workout last week (any non-Hulk Hogan would be!).

But now to cut to the chase- THE BEACH! So there's a WT volunteer who lives in the tiny coastal town of Montañita who has been lucky enough to house-sit for an American couple's hostel while they are out of town for 3 weeks. Lisa totally deserves it though, she usually lives in a one room apartment with no kitchen or anything (affectionately called the "hot box"). So all the Ambato volunteers headed to the beach- Dan and I after our classes on Thursday and the girls came to meet us when they finished classes Friday. The weekend was just a blast. The hostel we were in was huge- so we each got our own bed with beds to spare. On Friday I swam in the Pacific (not too cold), ate the traditional coastal food of ceviche (mix of fish, shrimp, and some veggies in like a vinegary broth), and then we had a huge BBQ/dance party on the patio while looking out at the ocean. Needless to say, it was well-worth the 12 hour trip to get there. Then on Saturday we went surfing! Lisa is friends with some surfers on the Ecuadorian national team that were kind enough to give us some lessons. Montañita has a prominent surfer community because it is known to have the best waves in Ecuador. Surfing was a lot of fun, and I actually pseudo-stood up on the board! Then again, I was in pretty shallow water and I looked ridiculous trying, but it was fun just to feel like a surfer chick for an hour or so. Then Saturday just kept getting better. Lisa's friend who owns a surf shop took us to this restaurant on the beach about 30 minutes north in the town of Las Tunas. We were the only ones in the outdoor restaurant and it had the most incredible view! The photo above is of me sitting in the hammock right outside the restaurant's entrance. Mark from Santa Elena came to meet us there as well, and it was so great to see him again! Then we all piled back in the van and drove north on the coast to the well-known town of Puerto Lopez. Along the way we stopped at a gorgeous overlook, and you can see the whole WT gang there in the photo- BobbiLe, Aubrey, Mark, Eden, Dan, Lisa, and me. This picture cracks me up! We finally got back to Montañita and got ready for a night on the town. The highlight of the night was definitely the wedding that we crashed (!!!). Since the town is so small, and since Lisa is a celebrity (I'll get to that in a minute), we all got to go to the wedding, and what an experience that was! We salsa danced, toasted the bride and groom, and hung in there with the best of them until the wee hours of the morning.

Montañita itself is an incredible place to visit- it embodies such extremes. On the bus ride there I could not get over the vast poverty- dirt roads, cinder block homes, barefooted children. Though I know there is a lot of poverty in Ambato, it certainly doesn't manifest itself like it does in a small coastal town. Lisa's living conditions are SO different than mine, and I almost envy how she can live with so little. But what a silly thing to envy when so many people in her town would do anything to sleep in my house in Ambato for a night. There are a few streets in the center of Montañita that cater to the tourists, and the joke of the whole weekend was that we felt like we were on a movie set. Thatched roofs, surf boards, fruit and jewelry vendors, palm trees...I felt like I walked into another world. And it's so fun walking around with Lisa as well, because literally EVERYONE knows her. It's impossible to walk with her for more than 10 steps without the old men on the bench, or children running down the street, or surfers walking by with their boards, or someone (anyone!), saying "Hi Teacher!" And that is what she is known by in the town- "La Teacher." She teaches 8 different English classes in the town, so she has a ton of students. And those who aren't her students know her just because she has such an well-known role in the town. I felt pretty cool just being associated with her for the weekend:)

So eventually the Ambato crew headed back onto a bus together at 2pm Sunday and made it back home around 2am. What a crazy trip it was! Our bus had some sort of engine trouble at one point- all we saw was one worker opening a huge trap door in the floor of the bus to look down onto the street while the bus was still driving. Then we watched this movie on the bus called Los Colombianos, which had a scene where everyone was on a bus and guerilla soldiers came on the bus and forced them off. Sure enough, after the movie was over, the police came on OUR bus, told us all to get off, and the bus was then searched for any illegal substances (apparently this is a common practice, especially on buses from Guayaquil to the Sierra). And then to cap it off, for the last few hours of our bus drive, while we were trying to sleep, two guys were standing next to us (they still sell tickets when they run out of seats) singing duets together. What could we do but just laugh at how riduculous the night had become? But that is what Ecuador is all about- never knowing what to expect, being up for anything, and in the end being very pleasantly surprised at fun new adventures and shared experiences.

And though I had a fabulous weekend at the beach, I should also say that living here isn't always easy- far from it! I do really miss family and friends sometimes, and it hits me at weird moments. Yesterday morning, for example, I was a pretty miserable person. The city had turned the water in my house off so I couldn't shower (after travelling from the beach for 12 hours), a woman at the bank was incredibly rude because I am an "extrañjera," and all I wanted to do was call family or friends back home who would just listen. But of course I couldn't get any calls to go through. Oh the fun of living in a developing country. But in those tough moments here, away from home, I know I have the other volunteers, my host family, and my students to cheer me up. Which they all did!

And today was such an incredible morning that it 150% made up for yesterday. I went with one of my students, Marco, to the town of Pillaro about 30 minutes away from Ambato. He is a director at a private bilingual school for kids from the town and from the campo nearby. It costs $24 for a student to go to school there each month, which many cannot afford, so obviously they are really hurting for money and resources. I agreed to go to the school and practice English with the children, since they so rarely come face-to-face with a native English speaker. Little did I know what I was getting myself into! I had a "Lisa-like" experience, and felt like I was back in Montañita, because by the end of the afternoon all the kids said "Hi Teacher!" or "Good morning Katie!" everywhere I went. I went into every classroom, all 13, and met with children from pre-school (sooo cute) up until the 8th grade. I went over colors, numbers, body parts, and such with the youngest kids, and the older kids played "hot-seat" with me. They got to ask me any questions in English and I then answered them back. My favorites were "Are you single?" and "Are you in love?" from children who could not have been more than 10 years old!! And yet again, everyone could not have been more generous. The teachers gave me roses and treated me to a lunch of soup at the school and then fritada in town. I'm going to try to rope Eden, Dan, and Aubrey into coming back to the school with me at some point, because they asked me to come back regularly if I can. And after such a splendid morning, how can I say no?

We are doing a lesson on food this week, so both of my classes are having pizza parties this week to celebrate, well...food! They have both also planned paseos, or field trips, for us all to take together in the coming weeks, so it's nice to have those trips to look forward to. But now it's time for me to lesson plan and head to bed. And I know I have been promising photos for I think over a month now, but in all honesty I have planned time into my schedule tomorrow to go to a fast internet cafe where I can apparently upload them (all the ones I have tried so far haven't worked!). So hopefully they will be up by tomorrow. And speaking of tomorrow, I wish you the HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS MOM!!! I love you and I wish I could be there to celebrate with you!! And I love the rest of you too...please send emails my way when you get a chance, letting me know what you've been up to...and all the nitty-gritty gossip as well.

Lastly, if you would like to send anything my way, I finally know my address. I can assure you anything would be much appreciated (and of course you'll get something in return). You can send things to:

Katie Appel
Casilla 18-01-1164
Ambato, ECUADOR

xoxo

¡Soy Profesora!

My first week of teaching has come and gone. Overall, I really enjoyed the week! I took it a bit easy and haven’t started going to the gym or anything yet- I wanted to get planning and teaching down first. So, this past week I usually woke up around 8am, had breakfast, and then did most of my lesson planning in my room. After a large Ecuadorian lunch with my family around 12:15, I would then go downtown to make photo copies. The first few days I went to Aubrey’s family’s tienda to make copies, and I loved seeing Aubrey’s little niece Emily who always yells “Kati, Kati!” when I come in the store. Aubrey’s family is really sweet and I like talking with them as they make copies for me. (There are no Kinko’s-like stores where you can make your own copies.) After making sure I have all my supplies ready for class, I usually catch my bus to SECAP and arrive there around 2:30pm. I have to get my classroom key from the security guards, and then I head up the 5 flights of stairs to my classroom. I have the entire 5th floor to myself! And by far the greatest aspect of my classroom is the amazing view I have of the smoking Volcano Tungurahua outside my window (check out the photo above…and no, that isn’t fire, it’s just the sun’s reflection in the smoke).

So, my first class begins at 3:45pm. There are about 25 people in the class, the youngest being a 10-year old girl and the oldest probably in her 50s. I have an indigenous woman in this class too, and she comes to class in her full traditional dress. I usually have a break for them around 4:45 and then we get out of class at 6:15pm. Then I usually take a break with Dan and go down to the “cantina” in the basement to get my 20-cent Coke Zero in a bottle (can you believe it?!), before heading up for my next class at 6:30pm. This class is a lot larger and the first day I had 40 students! Thankfully, it has settled a bit since then and I think now I have about 33 students in the class. This class has a bit of a different dynamic, with most of the students arriving after their daytime jobs, so they have a bit more of a professional vibe to them. We usually take a break around 7:30, and then the class gets out at 8:45 so everyone has time to make the 9pm bus. So I gather my things, lock up the classroom, return the key, and then jump on the bus myself to return home. I walk in my door usually around 9:20pm, have some tea with my host mom, and then head upstairs to relax and get to bed.

Since my classes are both Basic 1, we’ve had to start at square one. Because I never allow Spanish in my classroom, it can often be quite a challenge to get my point across. And throughout class I am continually surprised by the intricacies of the English language that jump out and surprise me. For example, together we call a mother and a father “parents,” but why don’t we have a plural term for an aunt an uncle together? My students wanted to know and I certainly didn’t know the reasoning behind it. That’s when I just smile and say, “that’s just how English is” and leave it at that. I do have this fear, though, that I am going to forget to teach them something vital, and their foundation of the English language will forever be unstable. But as Dan told me, you can always go back to teach something because language isn't linear. In orientation we learned the conceptualization of teaching language as a spiral instead of as a ladder- language constantly builds on itself and repeats itself, though getting a deeper and complex as the study progresses. So hopefully I won’t leave any permanent damage on my students’ understanding of English, and we can all just go through the learning process together. This week we covered such topics such as introductions, greetings, classroom vocabulary, the present of “to be”, the family, and basic plural and possession constructions. In four days they seemed to have learned a lot! And I must admit that my heart still warms every time I hear “teacher, teacher” from across the room when a student tries to get my attention.

I can already tell that the most rewarding aspect of teaching will be the connections I make with my students- they have me laughing through much of the class! I definitely do have some funny anecdotes from the first week of classes. First of all, I have a woman in my night class that brings her baby to class. Since the class is long and the baby apparently gets hungry, she has been known to breastfeed her son during the class. Now, seeing someone breastfeed can be awkward on its own, but it becomes even more awkward when one has to decide whether or not to call on a student while she is breastfeeding. Do I just ignore her? Do I pretend like nothing is different and treat her just like the other students? Oh the decisions a teacher has to make! We also had class elections in both of my classes on Thursday to elect a president and a treasurer. The president is in charge of planning class parties and class trips, and the treasurer manages the funds for such activities. The newly elected president in my night class, though, totally took over my class for a good 20 minutes to already start planning the November 2nd festivities for El Dia de los Difuntos, or the Day of the Dead. I guess it’s good the president is taking his job seriously! Lastly, I made a new best friend on my bus ride home. A woman who takes a computer class at SECAP is the last person on the bus with me when the driver drops me at home…and she has sort of taken me under her wing. On Wednesday she saved a piece of cake for me because she wanted to make sure I felt “home in Ambato.” I guess it’s nice to be spoiled sometimes. I am looking forward to more funny experiences with students and others in the many days to come!

So with my first week under my belt, I was definitely ready for the weekend. To celebrate the end of the week, Dan introduced me to a great shwarma place on Thursday night. A shwarma just says celebration, doesn’t it? And on that note, food always seems to be on my mind here…and not because I am hungry. Quite the opposite actually. Probably my main frustration with my host family is that they try to feed me way too much! For example, today I had soup, lasagna, salad, juice, and half a peach for lunch, and my host mom kept saying that I eat like a bird because I didn’t have second helpings or the huge mountain of rice that everyone else had! Every lunch is like a battle in the kitchen- I try to stay strong and stop eating when I am stuffed, and my family tries to convince me to keep eating. I think they are starting to get the picture, though. I was so proud of myself yesterday because I left a good half of the meal on my plate and I didn’t feel too guilty (which I usually do). But then the whole family took me on an outing to the nearby town of Pelileo and I didn’t realize until we arrived that the whole point of going was to introduce me to fritada, a “plato tipical” of Ecuador. So I got this huge heaping bowl of moté (a cousin of corn), fritada, which is fried pork cooked in a huge pot, and a fried plantain as well. So much for not eating a lot for lunch! But I actually LOVED the fritada, and it is definitely one of my favorite Ecuadorian dishes (though I don’t like to think about the fact that fritada is known for containing ALL parts of the pig…eek!). And I should say that the reason lunch so big here is that it is essentially the only meal of the day. In the morning I just have a piece of bread with coffee, and then tea when I get home at night from class. So lunch has to last all day long!

The gorge-fest had also been alive and well on Friday night, when Aubrey, Eden, and I treated ourselves to a girls’ night. I don't know what I would do without those girls- we seem to be each other's constant sounding boards and our own little Ambato support network. We went to Supermaxi and got some fabulous junk food to enjoy with the chick flick we watched at Aubrey’s house. It was definitely a much-needed night off. To justify it a bit, though, the three of us had a pretty intense private salsa lesson that afternoon, so we didn’t feel too bad. The salsa lesson was so much fun that we are trying to organize a private lesson maybe 3 or 4 times a month so we can maintain some pride when dancing out on the town. And since we are volunteers the owner of the studio is giving us lessons at half price, only $5 an hour!

I was a bit nostalgic and down in the dumps yesterday thinking of all my Wahoos together in Cville for UVa’s Homecomings festivities. The rest of Ecuador, though, was preoccupied by a huge World Cup-qualifying soccer game between Venezuela and Ecuador that took place in Quito (and I used to pass the stadium every day on the bus during training). It was “super chevere,” or super cool, walking through Ambato yesterday because literally every other person was proudly wearing Ecuador’s jersey. Tragically, though, Ecuador lost the game. So, I think I was the only happy sports fan in Ecuador last night because my Wahoos pulled through and won our football game. Go Hoos!

Also, last night all four of the Ambato WT volunteers went to a Peace Corp get-together at a PC volunteer’s apartment in town. It was so great meeting other volunteers and hearing all their stories. To be honest, I was a bit overwhelmed by all the “gringos” at first, because I hadn’t been with so many non-Ecuadorians in a few weeks! But they were all really friendly and provided great insight into life in Ecuador and the many challenges it can present. And if I thought I had it rough sometimes, it really compares nothing to what some of them have experienced. So I definitely know that I’ll stay in touch with a few of them during my stay here.

And now I just have a bit more planning to do before getting to bed and waking up early for my first aerobics class in the morning. I’m going to post pictures tomorrow morning, so make sure to check those out. Have a great week everyone…te extraño mucho!

Ambato and Beyond

So I guess now I’m an Ambateña…well, getting there at least. I’ve been in Ambato for over a week now, and it’s beginning to feel a bit more like home. I have photos up in my room, I have become somewhat of a regular at a few cafés, and I am finally figuring out the bus routes, which I assure you is no small task. But it has been so nice having this past week off so that I could plan my semester, hang out with my family, and get to explore a bit more of Ambato and the towns around it. I realize, though, that I haven’t really painted a good picture of Ambato for you all yet, so I will try to do my best! Here it goes…

So the guidebooks aren’t very forgiving with Ambato, but I definitely found it to be a lot cozier and comforting than expected. Though it is a small modern city, it definitely has its fair share of charm as well. From anywhere you find yourself in Ambato you will see hills and mountains around you on all sides. The Volcán Tungurahua can be seen sometimes as well, puffing out gray clouds of smoke. The center of the city is your basic city grid, with a few really pretty parks scattered throughout. The amount of stores in Ambato is almost unreal…I don’t know how they all stay in business! Walking down your typical Ambato street will put you face to face with DVD stores ($1 each), pharmacies, clothing stores, little food shops, tons of chicken restaurants, bakeries that small like heaven (Ambato is famous for its bread), street vendors, indigenous men and women selling things on the sidewalk, and tons of stray dogs running around. One never knows what to expect!

One thing that I just cannot get used to, though, are the little children selling things in the street. Often times they have worn clothing and no shoes, and do cartwheels in the streets to make money. It breaks my heart every time. And this situation presents me with one of the moral dilemmas I've been faced with here so far- I just don't know how best to react. So much of me wants to pour out my pockets into these kids' hands, or at least to give them a little something. At the same time, though, the parents supposedly often rely mainly on their children to make the family's money, and giving money to the child then enforces this child labor. What is the right thing to do? And even if one does decide to give money, there are just too many kids or other beggers on the street to possibly be able to help them all (especially on a volunteer's budget). But something in me really thinks that at least giving a little bit of money to someone acknowledges them and their suffering, and then puts the choice of what to do with the money in their own hands. Not everything is ours to decide I guess. So I'll have to think on it and decide what I think is the best thing for me to do for the rest of my year here.

So now to continue on our Ambato tour: The main park, Parque Montalvo, is surrounded by the big, gorgeous (and relatively new) cathedral, the post office, the library, and our friend Daniela’s book store. From there I usually walk down Calle Cevallos to Parque Cevallos, which is close to my bank, some of my favorite cafes, Aubrey’s family’s tienda, and my bus stop to catch the buses back to my neighborhood or to SECAP (my school). The neighborhoods surrounding the city center are great as well, and they have a lot of character. Ficoa is known for selling cooked cuy, or guinea pig (tastes like chicken but a bit chewier), and Atoche is known for some the traditional drink of colada morada (tastes like apple butter…so good!) and the farm houses of a few famous authors from Ambato. My neighborhood, Ciudadella España, is about a 7 minute drive from el Centro, though obviously a bit longer by bus. SECAP is also located a bit out from the center of Ambato, on a busy highway (and not a very attractive one at that), but the road certainly leads to some pretty incredible places. I actually headed out on buses that way a few times this past week to explore Ecuador beyond Ambato’s city limits.

To begin with, this past Friday Dan and I headed to the tiny town of Patate, about an hour outside of Ambato. We went hiking a bit with some of the most spectacular mountain views in the distance, together with donkey in the foreground and all. Then we had a big lunch of soup, chicken, and rice for $1.50 before I tried the traditional Patate spicecake, arepa. We also went to the little craft town of Salsaca where I picked up a few little (very-Ecua) knick-knacks. Looks like I'll be heading back there to do some Christmas shopping! Then yesterday Aubrey and I went to the famous little town of Baños, a little over an hour away, for the afternoon. Baños is in the shadow of Volcán Tungurahua and is known not only for its many thermal baths, but it's also a great place to go hiking, cycling, rafting, horse-back riding, and of course shopping. Again, I was surrounded by breath-taking landscapes and waterfalls. I just hope the grandeur of the mountains never becomes commonplace for me during my year-long stay here. The town of Baños itself is so friendly and picturesque as well. We had some great food, explored the church and jewelry shops, peeked over the walls into the thermal baths, and had some of the town’s famous taffy (and watched people make it as well!). One of the highlights of the afternoon (for me at least), was when Aubrey was looking at some taffy and a little old woman came over to her and spanked her repeatedly for no apparent reason! Oh dear, it was one of those times we could not stop laughing…Ecuador and all her surprises.

Speaking about surprises, Eden’s boyfriend came to surprise her Friday night from Michigan! I had been emailing with him and Eden’s mom for over two weeks, and now I can finally talk about it in the open. Eden thought he was coming on the 18th, so the 2-week advance arrival was definitely a shock. David came and met us all at a bar when he got into town, and you can’t imagine the look on Eden’s face….it was priceless! So it was definitely fun being a co-conspirator in that little mission.

Today I went to yet another little town outside of Ambato called Quisapincha. This town is known for leather, and there is just store after store of leather shoes, jackets, purses, etc. I told my host mom that I needed some new shoes before classes began, so she told me she would take me shopping on Sunday. Little did I know it would be such a family affair! Mom, Dad, two brothers, and one brother’s girlfriend all came along to help me find the perfect pairs…and what a parade we were. I ended up getting two new pairs of shoes, and my host mom bartered down the prices for me! Then I also tried my very first street food together with the rest of the family, something I must say I am quite proud of. Though I haven’t worked my way up to trying mystery meat yet, today I did get a bunch of nuts and seeds in a little baggie with tomatoes and onions on top. It was quite tasty! I’ll tackle the mystery meat another day.

Aubrey and I met to lesson plan some more in a little café today. I can’t believe my classes begin tomorrow! Cross your fingers for me- I’ll take all the help I can get. I still have to finalize my syllabus and get things in order in the morning, but I hope the classes themselves will go as smoothly as first classes can be expected to go. Then hopefully this week I will settle a bit more into a routine with planning and teaching, and maybe beginning Spanish classes, salsa lessons, or going to the gym as well. Thanks for all your love and support and I will write again soon with an update on my English classes. Chao chao!

Emotional Rollercoaster

Life is full of ups and downs, and I guess living in a developing country isn't an exception. This past week I experienced some of my favorite moments here in Ecuador so far, and by far my worst as well. The important thing, though, it to just keep on going and to enjoy the ride as much as possible, right? So another week has come and gone and I hope I have grown a bit from it all.

Tuesday was our last day of classes with our students and they showed us the true heart and spirit of Ecuador. Their generosity was incredible! Though we knew our students were planning something, we had no idea all that it would entail. We played a few games in the beginning of class and taught them some English slang before we had a little graduation ceremony for them all. We had made certificates and then called each student up to the front of the class to receive it. Then, they quickly set up a huge table full of food- cake, candy, mini hot dogs, cheese, cookies, you name it! Then they presented all three of us with Ecuadorian t-shirts, each one a color from the Ecuadorian flag. Edith, the matronly student of the group, gave us the sweetest toast and then they all joined in song to thank us! I got all choked up and everything. My favorite gift, though, was a handmade bracelet from Jocelyn, the 11 year old. Then we must have spent a good 20 minutes at least taking pictures with all the different students- high school prom all over again! A sheet was passed out with everyone's emails and phone numbers, so hopefully I will be able to stay in touch with at least a few of them! But it definitely could not have been a happier or more rewarding last class.

Wednesday was our last day of Orientation...man, how that month flew! We spent most of the day filling out paperwork and going over logistics, but it really was sad walking out of that room for the last time. I spent the afternoon hunting down a present for our director on behalf of the group. You ladies reading this, guess how much a manicure, pedicure, and hair washing and styling costs? Only $11!! So we were able to get Therese all of that together with a massage, a necklace, and some chocolates. For Kane, a few vols went to the grocery store and bought him a ton of groceries since he never has time to go himself, and they snuck into his apartment (with Therese's help) and set it all up for him as a surprise. So the whole group then met at 7:30 that night at a Cuban restaurant for our farewell dinner. Shelby and I got all dolled up! The dinner was a ton of fun, together with some dancing of course, and Therese and Kane seemed to really enjoy their gifts as well. Though it was really sad to say goodbye to the other volunteers that night, I really did just feel so excited for getting to Ambato and getting the year rolling. And hopefully we will all stay in touch and travel each other as much as possible.

Then came Thursday, a day I won't soon forget. I went up to Ruca Pichincha, the mountain overlooking Quito, with 4 friends of mine. We had the most glorious morning! The views were absolutely breathtaking and we had such a good time hiking together. Unfortunately, though, and without getting into details, we were confronted by a man who gave us quite a scare. Luckily God was watching out for us and nothing was taken from us and we are all ok. I debated whether or not to even mention the incident here, but I figured it is better to stay honest while trying to stay positive as well. And from the whole incident I realize what an incredibly supportive program I am involved in- I have the utmost respect for and confidence in my directors because they certainly went above and beyond anything I could have ever imagined. My fellow volunteers are unbelievable as well- people that I know I can really rely on for love and support. My host families in both Quito and Ambato could not have been more concerned either, so it is very comforting to know that I have so many wonderful people looking out for me here. I know that crazy things out of our control can happen anywhere at anytime, so I am going to try my best to move on from this and to get excited about all the good that I have to look forward here in Ecuador this year. And there is just so much!

One exciting thing is the election. Yesterday all Ecuadorians voted for the members of the newly formed constitutional assembly (voting is mandatory here). No Ecuadorian citizens are allowed to drink alcohol from Friday through Sunday, nor are they able to discuss politics in public, in order to minimize political persuasion before the vote. The ballot for this election is borderline comical! There are about 3,500 people on the total ballot, for somewhere around 120 spots in the assembly. Can you imagine making those decisions?! It seems, though, from the exit polls, that President Correa's list of people have gained the majority, which many are hoping will help provide a smoother creation of the new constitution. Vamos a ver! It certainly will be interesting to keep tabs on all the progress of the assembly over the course of the next year.

So I am again in Ambato, this time for good. I had a meeting with one of my directors this morning and I found out that I will have about 60 students! There are so many students this term that Dan and I have to split the auditorium and make it into two classrooms. Should be interesting. I am glad I have another full week to make lessons plans and get ready, though. Eden and Aubrey both had their first classes today, so I can't wait to hear how they went! So until next time, I will continue trying to be safe and happy here, and I hope the same for all of you! Mucho amor y besos siempre.

More pics to come in the next few days!