Sunday, October 31, 2010

More Ecuador-ness

On Wednesday I wrote my tests for my classes and then gave them their oral tests. They did very well and I was proud of them. Then on Thursday they had their written tests and most did really well. There were two students who hadn't paid attention the whole module so they failed miserably but only one other girl didn't try hard enough and failed. So in a basic one class I passed 15 our of 18 students, I'd say that's pretty good :).

On Thursday I also had lunch with Shari, Natasha, and one of Shari's students and friends. We decided to grill him about the myth we heard that all boys lose their virginity at a brothel. He said that's not true because it's about $50 at a brothel. I was shocked that it was so much! In a way I'm happy it costs so much but I'm still shocked. He said it's just part of the culture here to go to them and that we can assume every boy (father, brother, etc) has gone and goes regularly. (Side note: there is a big difference between going to the brothel "for the shows" and having sex. Most guys just go for the $5 show).

Then on Friday I had class and we watched Kung Fu Panda. I didn't realize that the DVD was only in Spanish so the students got to watch a movie in their native language. Oh well, it was more of a lesson for me than them I guess. But that is one of the risks you take buying $1.50 movies here. You have to buy them from a place that lets you watch them first to make sure they are in English.

Then that night a couple of us went out to get some Shawarma and hookah. I you have never had Shawarma, you need to! It is the best Indian food ever!

On Saturday was the Casaria del Zorro. It's supposed to be a parade and a race to see who will be "zorro" for next year. We couldn't figure out from anyone when the parade was starting and so we guessed based on the other parades we've been to. We got to the bleachers at 9 and ended up waiting until 11:30 for it to begin! After 2.5 hours of waiting the parade ended up only being about 20 minutes long. It was just the contestants and some other guys on horses. We all decided that no matter what we do, everything turns out to have ecua-ness to it. Who waits 2.5 hours for a 20 minute parade? Then we went to lunch with a whole bunch of people and watched a concert. It was a lot of fun. After, we were walking down the street and some guy was laughing at us. We figured he was laughing because he could understand us but he wouldn't admit to it. Later that night we went to a dance club called Acropolis to celebrate the Casaria and the guy ended up being there. He came over and confessed that he understood our entire conversation. He was super nice and I think if we are in Quito we might try and hang out with him.

It's interesting how easy it is to make friends with anyone who speaks English here. I think this is because the people who seriously learn English have a modern idea of life. They want to learn English because it will help them with business and connect to the rest of the world. This means that they are usually between 20-30 and have some interesting job I've noticed. And they are usually dying to speak English so they are really friendly.

Today I'm taking the day off. I'm sad because it's Halloween and I like to celebrate Halloween. But it's Sunday and no one here celebrates it. I also have a break Monday-Wednesday this week because of more holidays. I have no idea what I'm going to do for those days because I'm kinda broke because I spent a lot of money yesterday. Maybe I'll go to some hot springs. Or maybe I'll just relax. Then Thursday is my last day of teaching and Friday we're headed to Banos to see some of our other WorldTeach friends for the break.

Love you and miss you!

2 comments:

  1. Happy Halloween!!! I would have sent you some candy, but I have never gotten your address from you. Maybe you could e-mail it to me when you get a chance. I am hoping to send a "care" package to you before you get home next year!!!
    Keep having fun. Love reading your blogs.
    Love ya'muchly!!
    Aunt Ginny

    ReplyDelete
  2. 1. shawarma isn't indian. it's middle eastern! and yes, its delicious.
    2. kung fu panda. woo!
    3. you are having so many fun adventures. i'm so jealous!

    ReplyDelete