Ups and downs..

 Mm, where to start. It's been a long week, been falling asleep around 7:45-8 all week. Aside from last night, because we do a group dinner every Wednesday. 

Today was a bit rough. Teaching is such a challenge here. Today especially.. It was frustrating. Plus I didn't get to bed as early as I had hoped last night. Sleeping on the bus and truck is a futile effort. So I got a bit sick today due to lack of sleep perhaps. Bleh, no fun having an aching body and kids that are talking, yelling, and having no desire to listen to anything. 

So enough of my bitching. After lunch, a couple advil, and a little soccer game.. Things got better :)

We got to make planes with the kids out of styrofoam. Similar to those wooden packs my dad used to get me from the lumber yard. I made a template last night and the kids all traced out their own and painted them all sorts of colors. Made a great big mess in the classroom but there were smiles on all their faces. And that's what it's all for I guess, so cliche.. I know. But really, after spending 2 hours on teaching north, south, east, and west and not making any progress at all... Seeing them put an airplane together, and be so excited about it. It's relieving. Haha

 

 

Coming here with zero teaching experience, I have to think about those who taught me the best and in ways that werent boring and aggravating. I think about the ways my mom worked with me when I was homeschooled. Taking me outside, instead of keeping me cooped up. Relating my lessons to things I enjoyed and wanted to learn about. Among many other techiniques and teaching methods she got her lessons across. In addition to her, I reflect on some of my teachers at mv..

Mr. Bryant: the 'cool' teacher that everybody still respected.. The ways he would discipline his students but not in a way that made you angry. But very  reasonable.. 

Mr. Watson: so excited about what he was teaching, but he too got exasperated at times when his students didnt give any regard to the things he was so passionate about. 

Mrs. Richards: always had a smile on her face.. I see now how hard that is. 8th graders are not an easy crowd, but no matter what she was always smiling. 

 

I hope by the end of this time, I can replicate some of my favorite attributes of the people who have taught me. I never wanted to be an authority figure, and I feel like I am becoming one to these kids.. But how else can you go about having someone listen to you unless you show your authority? There has got to be a better way or at least a different one. 

Well, all I can say is im definitely glad it's Friday tomorrow. I could use a few Friday brews.. 

 

Still deciding on my weekend adventure.. 

Bus travel around here is about 25-45 cents each way. Definitely need to go explore somewhere with prices like that! :) 

 

Also been reading road to titicata (thanks mom) on the way to school.. Hmm, perhaps an outline for the next adventure? Who knows..

 

So on that same subject, somehow my mom gave me so many essentials for this trip for christmas. Such as that book, a box of mckenzies chocolates for days like today.. Socks?!? Never had such awesome socks. My feet thank you mother. 

Oniell beanie: hangin out at 11,500 feet gets chilly.. Beanie is a must. Gift cert to helm: bought jacket that I wear every single day. Don't know whatd I do without it. 

Granola bars/assorted homemade candies: for those midday munchies pick me ups.. 

So, ya momma knows what's up!! Didn't realize it at the time, but best christmas ever?! :) 

 

 

Bleh, so came home after lesson planning and fell into a feverish sleep from 4-8.. Feeling a little better now, but hopefully tomorrow goes ok. Ugh, being borderline sick sucks. :/

 

 

 

 

Today, it began.

 First alarm.. 5 am. Second alarm 5:10. Sleep. Next alarm 5:15. Woke up, put on underarmour long sleeve, followed by tee, copper river fleece, then helly hansen jacket. Plus double lined alpaca gloves from the market. Goal: stay warm today in the mountains. 

Went down for breakfast of yogurt, hard boiled egg, black tea, fresh orange juice and mini empanada things. 

My host mom walked iain and I to our pick up points. 

Iain takes a public bus towards the school, then has a 45 min walk to the school itself.

I met up with Adrienne, corrie, Johan, Olga, owen, and Chris. We were all picked up by Jaime, our bus driver who was accompanied by Zoe our project coordinator. After waiting for 20 min the school teachers showed up. There is one teacher per school who usually teaches the oldest kids and oversees everything. 

We drove for about 30 min, then Adrienne, Chris, Zoe, one of the school  teachers and I hopped out and loaded into the back of a truck to get up the rest of the way. 

 

 

This part was pretty interesting because the road was a bit slippery. So after sliding around up a dirt road we crested onto a ridge where a handful of kids jumped in the back with us. We now became a school bus and  the 11 of us bumped around In the back for the remaining few miles. We finally arrived at Huayrapungo school which sits at 11,500 feet, nestled between volcanoes, which couldn't be seen due to the dense clouds that seemed to be swallowing everything, including us. 

 

 

After serving the kids a type of porridge concoction, Chris took me into a large room where the 5th and 6th graders had one half and the 4th grade had the other half. Chris introduced me to the 5 kids, minus Diego who was absent today. 

 

After making a small poster with basic classroom etiquette for the kids we began the math lesson. Finally it was lunch time, where one of the children's mom has prepared a meal for the kids with food that we provide for them to cook with. After each of the kids has eaten we snuck away to munch on the food our host parents have packed for us. I finished mine up quickly and went outside to go kick the soccer ball around with some of the boys. 

 

The bell rang to get back to class and we returned to our 'classes.' We worked for a bit more, then I got to read Where The Wild Things Are in spanish to the kids. Then the teacher took all of the kids to work on Quechua, their native tongue. During this time I went to see how Adrienne was getting on with the 2nd graders. 

 

A couple of the kids were absent today, so she and Zoe only had 2 kids. At 1pm, the school day ends and all the kids get a piece of fruit to eat or take home with them. Our truck pulled up and almost all the kids loaded in this time, it was pretty right quarters but after about 15 min of bumping around the truck came to a stop. The kids all jumped out waved adios and ran off down the road. Leaving a moment of surrealism. 

 

 

Did that all really just happen? It's really hard to explain an experience like this one, but perhaps through pictures and documenting it as I go along, I'll be able to remember it in its entirety when I'm older and the details have been forgotten. 

I have already gained such respect and appreciation for these kids. This is as authentic and real as it gets, but they make it happen. They work hard and are so intelligent.  

 

The other part of this program that I like, is that it is not just teaching kids. There are so many other aspects to consider. For example: nourishment. Part of what GVI does with the money they get is provide food for the children on a daily basis.

 

 As volunteers, we are responsible for going out into the market to find the best deals and gather the necessary amounts to feed the kids. Today was one of the shopping days, so I went with Chris and pairs of volunteers for the other schools as well. Its fun because you get to go interact with the merchants and see all the sights of a daily market. 

 

Well! That's today! Do it all over again tomorrow! :)

 

Las Cascadas and more!

It's been a very full weekend with so much to tell, but I have to get up at 5 tomorrow to go meet my 5 kids: Sisa, Andrea, Jhana, Nelson, and Diego! 

So super short little synopsis. 

Friday: went swimming in these waterfalls just outside of town. So amazing. Spectacular.

 

Saturday: drove to mindo and went zipling. Felt like a bird getting to fly over the rainforest. :) 

 

Sunday: went tubing down a gnarly river with sweet rapids. Pretty much like white water rafting but you are in a tube.  

 

And tomorrow, heading up to my school. About an hour and a half drive up there. Apparently, the road is pretty washed out and muddy so it could be a pretty intense journey getting there. We'll see how it goes! 

 

¿Más?

 It has been an interesting week here in Otavalo.. Feels like I've already been here for months, weird to think it hasn't even been a full week. Wow, thinking about that is mind blowing.. Haha, kind of hard to explain. I really enjoy this town though, it's surrounded by volcanoes and beautiful scenery. The weather is pretty weird, it rains everyday. Starts out sunny in the morning, then around 3 starts to rain for a bit.. Then it stops for the rest of the evening, then usually rains over night.  My Spanish teacher said the rain is like the emotions of a woman.. Completely unpredictable, and changes very often. 

 

Today we took a trip out to lago san Pablo. Simply spectacular. Huge volcanoes (inactive) rising up on either sides of it, with farm fields going up the sides. Corn is very common and they have many types that they grow. For $1.50 each, a guy took us out on his boat around the lake. 

After our little excursion, we stopped by a market where I bought an amazingly delicious avocado and a couple lemons. 75 cents later, I was the most satisfied and content boy this side of the equator. :) 

 

Tonight, I went with a couple other volunteers from holland and England to play soccer against some of the locals. We tried to play on the astroturf field, but there was some confusion with the reservation.. So we went down the street a ways, where there was just a street court set up. Not ideal, but much better than nothing! It felt so good to run around and play soccer again. I don't think I've played a proper game since Spain? I miss playing.. Its a bit more challenging here, because of the altitude.. But I'm sure I'll get used to it. Either that or I'm just really out of shape. Haha but ya, it was cool the gringos vs the ecuadorians! Even more cool is that we won :D 

 

Tomorrow I think we are going up to this place called las cascadas, basically waterfalls and such. Definitely bringing the camera! So I'll put some pics up tomorrow night hopefully. 

Then! Saturday we are going to a city called Mindo for the weekend! Very very very excited for this, itinerary includes tubing down a river, zip lining through the rainforest, hiking through a 'cloud forest' and of course relaxing in hammocks. What more could you want? 

 

So thats about it! Onward and upward! Learning something new everyday and meeting spectacular people.

 

 

 

Spanish class

Learning about the local fruits first hand.

Otavalo

 Quick little update before I head off to sleep. 

Tonight I met my host mom and was introduced to the house. They have 3 guard dogs that are vicious looking creatures and bark very loudly anytime someone enters the gate, I guess that means they are doing a good job. 

Tomorrow I have 6 hour Spanish class, and that will continue for the rest of the week. Starts at 8am, so I have to adjust my sleeping patterns a bit. Once I start working in the school, I will have to be up before sunrise everyday which I look forward to in a way.. being so close to the equator every day is the same length and apparently they see the elusive 'green flash' quite often. 

OH! Andddd, my host mom said that they do a lot of wakeboarding on the lake that is close by, so that is definitely on my to do list!! 

Overall, I am very pleased with the whole GVI experience. It's very well organized and layed out. From talking to the other volunteers this seems to be a common feeling towards the experience. Hopefully it keeps going up from here! 

 

 

¡Bienvenidos!

 

I have finally made it to Ecuador in one piece. The flights down were pretty painless and on my final flight from miami to quito i sat next to a lady named J. She was an older woman, but reminded me of the boss of sabre from the office. Even down to the fact she had dogs that slept with her in her bed. It was some intersting conversation at least! After arriving in Quito I was picked up by a british man named Allan. He was a volunteer a couple years ago and fell in love with Ecuador, so now he works for gvi. He took me back to the hostel where I was introduced to Johan from Sweden and Julian from Australia. Allan left us to go make another run to the airport, and came back with Adriana and olga from Belgium, Cornelius from Sweden. We all piled into taxis and went out for an Italian dinner.  We returned to the hostel and sat and talked to some travelers from Germany and France. Hostels are always a good hub of international diversity. 

 

Today, we all gathered around a wonderful buffet of fresh fruit set up for us by the hostel and Allan briefed us on the safety aspect of the trip. After breakfast we piled into a large van and headed for the equator. This little excursion turned out to be a very interesting and informative venture. We were led through a little museum type thing by an Ecuadorean man with an awful accent. I learned so much in that hour tour, and being able to experience things first hand rather than reading about it, is such a better way to learn how something works. For example, our guide explained the coriolos effect with a pool of water in a tub. Directly on the equator, the water drained directly down, whereas when he brought the tub to either side of the equator, the water (and leaves in the water) would spiral down either clockwise or counter clockwise. The gravity directly on the equator was very interesting as well, apparently you weigh 2 pounds less on the equator. Anyways, I'll quit rambling about equator lines.. 

 

Today I get to meet my host family and move into my house. I also found out this guy from Scotland is going to be living with the same host family. (I have forgotten his name though.. Blah, so many new people and names to remember. 

 

Oookie, that's about it so far :) 

 

 

Summary

 Alright, I've got a bit more time now to explain what I am doing. A little preface for this whole blog thing I guess. 

Here is what GVI says about it, 

Travel to the beautiful and picturesque Andean town of Otavalo in Ecuador and teach basic education and literacy to indigenous children.

You will plan and teach classes in Spanish, working primarily with young children from the age of 4. Focusing on broad topic areas such as maths, sports, art and games, you will

This project is operated by our in-country partners, Phoenix, who have been working in Ecuador since 2005 providing educational reinforcement to indigenous communities around Otavalo.

That's the gist of it.. I will start in Ecuador, then on to Peru to do the same program there as well. In both of these places I will live with host families and get to eat authentic foods, living the Ecuadorean dream? :) 

This is the info I was given on my host family, 'Following on from my email yesterday I can now confirm that you will be living with Monica and Juan Carlos Escobar. Their address is Calle Miguel de Jijon y Leon 231, Imbaya. They have 2 sons, Alex (20) who is married to Mariu (20) and Andres (25) who is married to Gabriella (17). '

So if you have read anything from my past blog about my old host families in spain.. You may know why i am a bit nervous, but this is a different city, different country, different culture, different situation all together. This has the possibility to be really good. 

I think I've summed everything up so far. I will arrive tomorrow evening around 6pm into Quito, and will give an update of South America then! 

This will be the first time since my grandpa that someone in my family has gone to south America.. So many mysteries to uncover (and geocaches to find!) :)

Please comment with any questions! 

I'm off!

Alright, off to the airport! I think ive got everything.. I hope. 

SFO-houston-maimi-quito.

Onward!

Test, test?

Hello blog world! It has been quite a while. I am still in the midst of packing, but I wanted to make sure this all works ok. I am using an app called blogsy, because I plan on leaving my laptop here.. I also picked up an iPad camera connection kit so I can clear out my sd card along the way. First extended period of time away from my laptop, but I think my iPad is up for the task!   Ugh, apple whore.