Monday, October 4, 2010

I survived my first coup

Hola,

So last week was surprisingly very boring. I had Tuesday off and went to a parade. However, I have no realized that parades in Ibarra are all about students and government employees. The students and employees just march down a street for 2 hours. Sometimes the schools have marching bands but mostly it is just walking.

Monday and Wednesday I just taught. Nothing special.

Then on Thursday I was in Spanish class and I got a call from my field director saying I had to stay where I was because something was happening with the government. I made it back to my house in a taxi and started to watch the news. I was really worried about what was going on but it seemed like everyone else didn´t care. I asked my host family and they simply said, ¨this happens all the time.¨ So here I am watching the news and having no idea what is going on. I´m seeing pictures of Guyaquil and Quito and people stealing things. Then I get a call from another WorldTeach person and she explains what is going on.

Correa had a talk with some police officers and explained new laws that were starting. The police took it as meaning they were going to lose money so they started rioting. Correa got hurt in the process and was taken to the nearest hospital (the police hospital). So all the police in the country decided to go on strike. After that Correa was talking to them from his hospital room and trying to explain that he wasn´t taking money from them. People in the cities decided to take advantage of the police-free time and started stealing and robbing banks. It wasn´t until the shoot-out started at the hospital that people in Ecuador started to worry. Then everyone watched the TV. Usuaully strikes and protests in Ecuador are not violent (no more violent than tear gas) so actual gunfire was new. The military ended up getting Correa out of the hospital and two police officers died and many others were injured. At the end Correa talked from the Ecua-white house and said he would repremand the people who tried to ¨overthrow¨ him.

I personally don´t think it was so much of an attempted coup because no one supported the police. Every other government and the military and most of the Ecuadorian people support Correa. I know in the news they made it sound like a big deal, but here it was just a 12 hour mess where the police went on strike and unfortunately some people died.

By Saturday everything was mostly back to normal. Ibarra stayed completely safe the whole time because Ibarra is a very safe city.

Saturday night I went to a club called tSunami and danced with some friends. Clubs are supposed to close at 2am but because of all the problems in Ecuador with the police they decided to push the limits and stay open until 4am. Crazy.

Other than that it was a very boring weekend. I wasn´t supposed to leave my house much and so I stayed indoors a lot. I have now realized Ibarra is pretty boring on the weekends. Oh well, it´s good to get some reading in.

This next week should be good. I have to give my classes tests (oral and written) so my workload won´t be too hard (except for grading). I don´t think I like my conversation class though. CECAMI asks each teacher to hold a conversation class so that students can practice English in an informal setting. CECAMI made my class at 8am and I only have one student. It makes it a little awkward because I know English well and she is struggling. It would be much better if we had more students that she could talk with in English and see that they are struggling too. And she seems to never want to ask for help and never lets me know if she doesn´t understand something. So I find I´m guessing a lot with her. But we´ll see how it works. Hopefully I can have more people in my class next module. The nice thing is that we don´t have to have class in the school. So tomorrow I think we are going to take a hike up a small mountain for class.

That´s all for now. Love you!

3 comments:

  1. I'm glad you are alright Mini Mommy. they did not want me to come down there. I would of caused a riot with my yipping. Auntie Mommy just red your latest blog to me. I'm glad things are better because I was a little scared to travel so far from home. Who knows when I would have eaten!!!!
    I am taking a nap right next to Auntie Mommy. Ralphie and Georgie are playing hide and seek with Corbin. They are in the night stand looking out at Corbin's big eyes. Pow Wow is outside in the sun. All is well in Richmond VA.
    Eveyone here sends loads of yips,purrs,licks and peeps.

    Love ya Minnie Mommy!!!

    Your proud son Brady

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  2. wow, what chaos! and boring-ness! glad you're ok, congrats on this important milestone of surviving your first coup.

    I just saw this article and thought you'd be interested: 10,000 May Die in Ecuador Due to Chevron's Pollution. Stupid Chevron!

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  3. Life's experiences ~ you sure are racking them up baby doll !!!
    Stay well <3

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