April Showers Bring May Flowers

It’s May! That means quite a few things actually. First it means that I somehow only have two months left in Ecuador. I confirmed my plane ticket this past week and I will be home the evening of Thursday, July 3rd. You better believe I’ll be in my red, white, and blue the next day! And of course more importantly, the coming of May means my birthday is approaching. I sure do love birthday celebrations, and I’m planning get-togethers with both my students and my co-volunteers. But I’m mostly excited it’s May because I’ve had a rough few weeks and I am ready for a new month. It’s so funny here how a funk can just strike, for no reason, yet it’s so hard to shake. I think I’ve been a bit down because I can now see the end of this experience in sight, and I don’t quite know what to do with it. Do I feel sad that I will have to say goodbye to my students and my life here? Do I start to countdown my days and get excited about going home? I know I should be somewhere between the two, but instead I don’t want either. I don’t want to say goodbye to everything here, but I also don’t want to wait 2 months to see friends and family. What’s a girl to do? I guess the best policy is to just make the most out of my time here, of course, and know that home will be waiting for me when I return. So with that mentality, we embark upon May.

And how can I feel down when my godfather welcomed his second beautiful daughter into the world on Friday?! Jameson Delaney Mahoney was born on April 25th, and mom Janet, dad Mark, and big sis Adair are all healthy and happy. Congrats to the whole family! So of course hearing that news put a big smile on my face for the rest of the day. Then that night at English club I was pleasantly surprised because my students dominated. Usually Aubrey’s students hold the majority, but I had about 6 students from my night class, and then of course Aubrey and Kat, show up. It was so nice to see my students being so motivated- taking time out of their weekends to come practice conversation…and eat ice cream too of course.

That night Aubrey and I went out dancing with a few of her really great female students. They have always welcomed me with open arms and they are just a lot of fun to hang out with. Though the club was pretty empty (just us and a private party), by the end of the night we had all joined forces and turned it into a party! I found a really great dance partner who let me practice my salsa, which I always love to do. And I was just having so much fun. I remember thinking to myself that I was so glad I had gone out instead of staying in and having a pity party- I could feel that funk starting to shake off.

I had planned on going to the town of Riobamba on Saturday night to celebrate my good friend Annie’s birthday, but unfortunately she got really sick with a terrible throat infection, and had to cancel the dinner and party plans she had made. It’s hard enough to be away from friends and family on your birthday, but being really sick too? Certainly not the way a birthday should be spent. Since many of us had planned to go to Riobamba, we instead just redirected the get-together to Ambato. We had a makeshift girls’ night and Ava from Quito and Hilary from Riobamba came to visit me. We made a fabulous dinner of quesadillas with mango salsa and guacamole and a fruit crisp for dessert. And if you guys think quesadillas are what I eat every day down here...my host family didn’t even know what they were! Ecuadorian food is about as far as you can get from Mexican- bland with every carb imaginable. So it was fun to share the meal with my host mom and Maria as well. Then we met Carla and Dan downtown for a few hours before all cramming into my bedroom for the night.

I spent most of the day on Sunday lesson planning at Aubrey’s house, mostly because I wanted to help her get ready for her big interview coming up. I am so excited for her! Aubrey has been having all sorts of phone interviews with a private school in Memphis to teach biology next year…and they bought her a plane ticket to interview on site! So needless to say she had a lot of preparation to do, and I was happy to do my part. At one point Aubrey said, “Katie, I hope you don’t take this personally, but I think you’re a good example of what a freshman biology student might be like.” I couldn’t stop laughing, especially because it was so true (just don’t have that science mind)! So Aubrey gave me her full-out 85-minute lesson, complete with power point, activities, and asking questions to the class (aka me). I even learned some new formulas (and was pretty impressed with myself I must say). But it was really fun to act like the student and have sincere questions, and then be able to turn around and see the lesson from a teacher’s point of view. I was able to give Aubrey come constructive suggestions and help her to brainstorm different points in her lesson. But she did a fabulous job and I wish her all the best in Memphis!

In class this past week we have been reviewing commands and learning about count and noncount nouns. So confusing! For example, in English we can say “2 letters” but only “some mail,” and “3 necklaces,” but only “ some jewelry.” And then try to mix in the differences between much and many and a few and a little, and you’ve got yourself a royal mess. But I tried to make it more applicable, and of course more fun, by having my students translate recipes. Recipes of course use commands (instructions) and food is probably the biggest clearinghouse of noncount nouns- cheese, fruit, bread, coffee, sugar, salt, meat, you name it! The best part about the whole exercise was that they each made me a copy of their recipe, and I have complied them into a book to bring back to the States. I told them all that I would think about them when I make their recipes…so if you guys back home want a free meal (though no guarantees on my cooking skills), make sure to hold me to that.

So yesterday in class we turned our recipes into realities and we had a “food celebration” in class. My afternoon students each prepared the dish that they had translated, and they had to present it, basic ingredients and preparation, to the class. And I loved it because I got to try all the recipes that I had just collected from my book! Everything from tiramisu and coconut cake, to more traditional Ecuadorian dishes like quimbolitos (like tamales but sweet and with raisins), morocho (a delicious corn and milk based hot drink), espumilla (kind of like icing, but whipped out of a fruit called guanabana), and homemade pineapple wine. And talk about feeling pressured to eat! Everyone wanted me to try his or her dish, and of course I couldn’t leave anyone out, so needless to say it wasn’t the best calorie-count day (see the photo of my students enjoying all their goodies). Thank goodness I only had soup for lunch.

But no, it doesn’t end. My night class, since most of the students work until class time, decided that they instead wanted to go out to eat. So we met for an hour and a half for class, and then we went to a seafood restaurant (see the photo of my student Cristina and the crab she ordered). After all the sugar I had had that afternoon, I was craving some protein. I had the most delicious seafood kabob with shrimp, fish, and squid! But I loved just spending time with my students in a more informal setting, just talking with them and laughing with them. Again, I realized how much I have to be thankful for here in Ecuador and how silly it is to less myself feel down.

And one last reason why I should be feeling nothing but glee on this first day of May is that today is International Labor Day! I thought it was just an Ecuadorian thing, but Daniel in Togo said that all the Togolese are celebrating today as well. I guess the US just likes to have their own special day? Anyway, all schools and offices are closed today, and President Correa gave the whole country tomorrow of as well. The only problem with this, though, is that everyone has to make this Friday up next Saturday (which seems a bit crazy to me), but I guess the point is that everyone can have a long weekend to travel. And I am going to do just that.

It actually seems like everyone is traveling right now. Aubrey flew to the US yesterday, for the first time in 8 months I should add, and she flies back from her interviews Saturday afternoon. Quite the whirlwind trip! I can’t wait to here how everything went for her, and to read the list of culture shock moments she promised to keep. Then Dan’s brother and sister-in-law arrive tonight, and plan to stay for a few weeks as their belated honeymoon of sorts. Dan has been here for over a year, so I’m sure his brother is anxious to see what his life here is like. And after the difficult few weeks they have recently been though, it will be so nice for them to explore the sights together. Finally, Amanda, my friend back in the States, is flying today to visit Daniel in Togo today! I’m sure they’ll have some great stories to share.

So with everyone else traveling I decided that I should do the same. I am heading tomorrow morning to Riobamba to have lunch with Hilary (though it’s only an hour away I have never been), and then we are going together to Guayaquil. Shelby, one of the Guayaquil volunteers, is having birthday celebrations, so we are going to go join in on the fun. And after the cold and chilly weather in Ambato, I am ready for the heat and humidity of the coast!

The April chapter is closed and May is now here. And with that, good luck to all you students taking exams right now. It’s weird how I sometimes miss those late nights in the library with friends. I hope you all have a wonderful first weekend in May…something tells me things are looking up.