I'm not a frequent poster anymore

Sorry guys, looks like I'm not posting too much these days. I keep forgetting and I'm not sure why. I'll try to be better about it.

Last weekend wasn't too exciting because I was at UTA all day Saturday making up class time and grading. But on Sunday I did go on a trip to Banos with some students. We ended up taking a chiva to the waterfalls and I hiked up Machay AGAIN. That is a hike. I liken it to about 30 flights of stairs at one time. But they had tons of fun and the waterfall is really pretty. It's always nice to see the Ecuas tired as well. Then after the waterfalls we went to the zoo in Banos. It's not so much a zoo as a monkey and bird area. There are lots of different kinds of monkeys and birds in small cages. It was actually pretty sad. But the zoo talked about how they were trying to rescue animals and save endangered animals. I don't know how well their doing because they had a puma in a 20ft x 20ft cage. And the zoo had a million stairs because it was located on a mountain (strange). So I hiked more stairs. All in all it was a fun day with some students but a terrible day for my foot. I really hope the doctor can fix my foot when I'm back in the states.

Then on Monday I gave more exams and graded non-stop for a while. On Tuesday I actually got to have class again and teach. It was fun and it felt like forever since I had taught. I came up with a cool listening exercise using a clip from the book "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" and the students created skits predicting what would happen at the end of the story. Hopefully they liked it. The problem was, at the end of my second class I got a letter saying classes were canceled for Thursday because we had a meeting. So I told my students no class Wednesday or Thursday. On Wednesday I had to do the oral tests for the expertise test that I was helping with. On Wednesday morning I found out I didn't have to go to the meeting and could have class on Thursday but I had already told my students we didn't have class and I wasn't going to see them to tell them otherwise. So basically I had to cancel class for nothing. It was so dumb. They really need to work on their communication at UTA. Maybe next year I'll try and help them with that...

So Wednesday I was helping with the oral tests and it was a neat experience. However, that teacher that I don't like was also there and he teaches most of them. And so he would grade them differently and with tons of bias. It was super unprofessional and I'll have to introduce them to the idea that the judges for a professional test should never have taught the students taking the test. You don't know the person who grades your SAT, do you?

On Friday it was a holiday to celebrate some famous battle in Quito, so I didn't have class again. I'm really running out of days to finish all of my units. I hope I'll be able to finish.

Cheryl, my friend from San Miguel, came to visit me Friday-Sunday. We did some touristy walking around Ambato and found really neat stores for jewelry and such. We also made some delicious dinners and baked chocolate chip cookies. But Ecua ovens don't have temperature scales so they burned. I still think they were good though.

On Sunday I went with Cheryl to get her hair dyed because she wanted to get it red. I had been thinking about getting my hair cut lately because it was starting to fall weirdly. So as I'm in the salon I start to feel comfortable with the place and the staff and it looks professional enough. I even find a picture of exactly what I want. I give it to the stylist and she starts cutting. I noticed that she was cutting my hair diagonally from back to front and I thought it's weird but I wasn't sure what she was doing. Then it became apparent she was not giving me the cut I wanted. When I stopped her and asked her why the back was shorter she said she thought I would look good with a longer front that comes to a point and then a really short back. I looked at her like she was nuts and said, but that's not the picture. She said she thought this would look better. Wow. That is all I have to say. So at that point I just asked her to cut it all as evenly as possible and I left. I only paid $10 and the hair is fixable so it wasn't horribly traumatic. But it is a pretty bad haircut. I can make it look fine if I straighten it but it almost looks like she cut it with dull scissors and a machete. It is longer on one side and still shorter in the back. I guess I learned my lesson about Ecua-hair cuts...

Next week I have an end of service conference in Quito which should be fun and bittersweet. It's the last time I'll see a lot of these people. But it also means less time I have to get through all of my units because I leave in 6 weeks. I have no idea how I'll finish it all. But I have to so the students will just have to study much harder because we will be moving very quickly.

On a side note, my friend showed me this website called Lan South America Pass where you buy one way flights in South America for really cheap prices. I'm thinking about taking next February to travel around South America since I'll have a pretty long break. And I'll be making more money next year so I should be able to afford the trip. I'll keep you posted as I make plans!

Long time no post...

Sorry blog readers, I have been slacking on my posting. But in this case no news is good news. Everything is good here.

Last week my students in both classes threw parties for me. They were so cute! My first class took me out to eat at a restaurant in Ambato. I felt weird signing into the system and then leaving campus when it's not allowed, but it was worth it. Then I came back to campus and my other students had thrown me a surprise party. They got a huuuuge cake and as is traditional here, they shoved my face in it. I ended up showing them classic party games from the States like chubby bunny and pin the tail on the donkey. It was a lot of fun.

Then that night I rushed to Quito to pick my dad up from the airport. It was great to see him! We went to Cuenca the next morning and walked around looking at churches and parks and the river. We also went to a cool museum with shrunken heads and awesome representations of all the indigenous cultures in Ecuador. Then there was some Incan ruins out back that were fun to walk around. That night we went up to a viewpoint to watch the sunset, but there was no sunset because of the clouds.

The next day we took a tour to Ingapirca, Incan and Canari ruins about 2 hours from Cuenca. It was an awesome trip. The guide was truly bilingual and did a great job. We got to hear about how they built the area and why they built it. We also took a short hike down to see a face carved in a mountain. My dad said it was a bit like Mount Rushmore, but I disagree. I also got to explain to my dad that the ecua-tradition is to not ask permission, this way no one can tell you no. And it came in handy when we ran off from our group so I could get a picture with a llama. After that we had a nice lunch at a posada (guest house) and traveled to a church that was built in a mountain. It was up an intense amount of steps.

Then that night we flew back to Quito and had a delicious dinner. The next day in Quito we explored the old town, the Panecillo (statue on a hill) and a market. We also got lunch with two of my friends. We were supposed to take a taxi service to Ambato but the taxi service forgot about us. Awesome. So instead we took a bus and I'm not sure my dad appreciated the ecua-bus experience of bad movies, loud noises, and annoying people. When we finally got to Ambato we had a nice dinner and I got a free birthday dessert.

The next day we headed to Banos and Puyo. In Puyo we went to a monkey reservation and hung out with a bunch of monkeys. It was so cool! They just came up to you and jumped on you and ran around and swung from things. But the experience was dampened because my dad lost his camera when one of the monkeys stole it and smashed it against a tree.

Next we took a bus back towards Banos and stopped off at a waterfall with a tarabita. Surprisingly my dad was not scared at all. We walked around the waterfall and then took the tarabita back up. Since no buses wanted to stop and pick us up on the side of the road we were thankful a nice woman picked us up.

After that we came back to Banos and rested while drinking some locally brewed beer at our awesome hotel. We also had dinner at this great French/Mediterranean fusion place. It even had an awesome $20 bottle of wine. So much better than the sweet boxed crap they sell all over the place here.

The next day we walked around Banos and came back to Ambato to have lunch with my roommate. Then my dad went back to Quito and I went to go teach my classes. It was way too fast of a turn-around. I was still on vacation mode and trying to teach. Not cool.

On Tuesday I was supposed to give a test to a group of "expert" students from the university. However, someone in the testing department switched the tests and so we couldn't give it. This caused a lot of people a lot of frustration and so they moved the test to Thursday. But that meant I had to cancel my class again for Thursday even though my class was scheduled to take their exam then. So now I have to give part of my exams Monday (because most of them have a field trip with school Friday) and have to grade everything in one night. Oh the joys of being a teacher.

There is also one teacher that I really can't stand here at UTA. He is about 80 years old and so unprofessional. If someone asks him to do something he just flat out says no. And he never follows the rules and always thinks he knows best. I take offense to this because I know what it takes to be a team player in an education setting. Yes, you might think you know what is best for the students but sometimes you have to follow other peoples' rules to keep your job. So today he came in to help give the "expert" exam and he told the students they had 2 hours before the listening. After an hour and 15 minutes he told the students they had 15 minutes left and then they would start the listening. I tried to point out that he told the students they had 2 hours and now he is taking 30 minutes away from them and he kept saying "no it's 2 hours for the whole test." Well, I believe you that it's 2 hours for the whole test but you told them they had 2 hours before the listening. Argh, he just didn't listen. So most of the students didn't finish and it was just so unfair to them. But there wasn't anything I could do.

I also had a meeting with my boss today about doing some extra work for more money. She is going to give me $280 more a month to work 1.5 hours a day in the mornings trying to set up a professor exchange program. She wants to send 2-3 teachers to the states to teach Spanish and bring 2-3 teachers here to teach English. This way everyone would get a chance to experience a new culture and learn more language. I think it sounds like a great program and if any of you know a university that would like this, please let me know.

I'm also going to ask her if I can help with the testing next semester because it is just ridiculous. There are no rules here and it's driving me insane. When I walked into the "expert" test there should have been a set of guidelines for the test and they gave me nothing. They also have no rules on cheating and leave it up to the professors. They need rules. I caught a student texting during her exam and so I took it and called that cheating and the university doesn't necessarily want to back me up on that. So annoying.

This weekend I have to make-up the class time that I missed last week for my birthday, so I'm going to be sitting in a classroom for 6 hours grading exams. I'm not going to ask my students to come because I told them they could take a field trip and we planned it and last week the university told me we couldn't do that. So to me, they made up their time and I'll just have to sit there and make-up the time according to the university guidelines. Boring, but I can use the time to grade.

Nothing exciting is coming up. So hopefully no news will mean good news again.

New apartment

Last Saturday I moved into my new apartment. I really like it! Moving day was hectic though. My roommate and I met at the university at 9am and picked up our truck and driver and headed over to my old house. Getting my things into the truck was easy because there weren't any stairs involved. It was just a hassle because my host mom wasn't there so I had to go back a few days later to give her the last of the rent money. Then we went to my roommates old apartment. She lived up 4 flights of stairs and had a TON of stuff. That was fun. Next, we headed to our new place and started to bring everything up the new 4 flights of stairs. That was even more fun.

Finally all of our stuff was at the top of the stairs and on our little landing. The only problem was we couldn't get in because we didn't have keys. Turns out the woman from the university who had the keys forgot she had to take an exam that day and didn't end up giving us the keys until 6pm. So did we sit outside and wait with all of our stuff? Of course not. We found a window to climb through and open the door :). Then we had the enormous task of cleaning the place because it was pretty gross. We bought a ton of bleach, mops, brooms, sponges, and other necessities and got to work. Cleaning took about 3 hours but we had some great help from friends. After that we just decided to have everyone stay over and bought a few packs of beer and relaxed.

I really like my new apartment. I have a nice sized bedroom with a desk and vanity. However, there is no dresser so all of my clothes are piled on the desk. It's not ideal but hopefully the university will buy me a dresser sometime soon. The only problem is I don't have too much room for it. All I need is like a bar and a set of hanging shelves and it will be perfect. But no one thinks that sensibly in Ecuador.

My classes have been going pretty well. I finished the units I need to for the exam in my level 3 and in my level 8 we did writing workshops. Now we have a few days of review and then I'm off on vacation. The Monday my vacation ends is when exams start (I think...). They keep wanting to change the date. I wish they'd just give us a firm calendar.

Other than that I've just been settling into my new apartment. I enjoy cooking for myself and haven't eaten rice in about a week. It's crazy. I also live right next to a market that sells fresh fruits and veggies so I go there a lot.

This week should be fun! My dad comes in on Wednesday and we're going to Cuenca, Quito, Banos, and Ambato. I hope he likes Ecuador! And my birthday is Sunday!

Moving.... again

My sister asked me the other day if I was having a really crappy experience here because this is now the second time in a year that I'm going to be moving. Surprisingly, I'm not the one who has had it the worst in this country. There have been several others with problems and I'd say almost everyone has had to deal with at least something. But, again surprisingly, we all handle it really well. We understand we're in a country that is new to us and we can't always choose how things turn out. So here is my story:

When I moved in with my host mom she told me that she had a son in London and she might go visit him this year with her daughter. I thought that was pretty cool since I lived in London for 4 months a few years ago. She then booked her ticket for the middle of July. When she told me when she was leaving I told her I wouldn't be done at my school until after that date and she said it was no problem because her daughter would still be here because she wasn't going to join them until August. I asked her several times to make sure it was okay and every time she said yes.

Then, this Tuesday at lunch, she sat down and said that starting in June I had to find a new place to live. I was pretty shocked and didn't understand. She told me that her daughter was going to move into the apartment after they got back from London and she had to get it ready. She kept saying it was no big deal and that I should just move in with a friend or a boyfriend like all her other volunteers did. I told her that wasn't an option for me and reminded her that she had signed a contract. Eventually she decided to say that I could stay until July 10th. I absolutely had to be out by then because her daughter was now leaving for London with her and she didn't trust me with the house. So that still left me 8 days with no place to live before heading back. And those would also be 8 intense days of exams and grading. So I was not very happy.

I called my director (Kate) and she tried to talk to my host mom. She asked her if I could just stay in my apartment and not enter the house for those 8 days and then leave the keys with a family member. My host mom said absolutely not and then started being rude to Kate. (Older Ecuadorian women don't like when things don't go their way. They are VERY passive aggressive and mean when people don't follow their orders). So when she called me back she told me that she thought I should move out right away because my host mom was going a little crazy. She also said that moving out is moving out and it doesn't matter if I do it now or with 8 days left. And since I'm staying another year it wouldn't be a bad idea to get an apartment that I could stay in next year too.

I talked to my director (Sara) at UTA and asked her about apartments because she had been saying she wanted to give the foreign teachers apartments next year. And luckily enough, one was actually available now because a teacher had left. So I went to go check it out and it was really nice. Another girl, Lucy, a British teacher, went with me. She currently lives in a really crappy apartment so we decided to move into the new place together.

I told my host mom this and it was like she didn't even care. She also stopped talking to me and looking at me. I guess people really do have their crazy moments. Because I'm still not exactly sure what I did wrong. We were getting along just fine before Tuesday.

So I am moving out today. I am going to live on the 4th floor in a tiny apartment with a nice girl. We should have internet starting next week so hopefully I can keep blogging.

Other than that, my kids still don't study for their tests. And teaching inferencing to ESL students is really hard! But it's part of the TOEFL test so they have to learn it.

Hopefully next week is less crazy...

Volcano!

I got to watch this!!

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/04/26/ecuador.volcano/index.html?hpt=T2

Except the ash really does make you cough. My kids and I had to stop our class for "coughing and sneezing breaks" because of ash. Luckily the wind is pushing the ash away from Ambato.

Another update is coming soon about a hectic issue that has come up. Life is never dull...

A surprisingly sad Easter week

So my Easter week started off with the whole package fiasco. I did eventually get my package but unfortunately I wasn't in a good mood and couldn't enjoy it.

On Wednesday my dad told me that Lily was sick and in the hospital (Lily was my little cat). She died late Friday night from heart problems. Who knew a 3 year old cat could have heart problems? So dealing with Lily in the hospital and tests and things took up most of my week. I hope she's happy hanging out with my mom in heaven. I think my mom would have liked her.

Classes were more fun this week. My advanced kids worked on pronunciation with tongue twisters, Shakespeare, and karaoke. And my intermediates learned about expectations and describing problems.

On Friday we had no class so on Thursday night I went to Quito because I had been told there was an awesome Good Friday procession. Websites described it as the second best procession in the world (second to Seville). Well, I wasn't exactly a fan. It was cool to see people so devout and all that. But they were attaching cacti to their backs and barbed wire around their chests and carrying huge crosses strapped to their arms so they couldn't lower their arms for hours. There were even people flogging themselves with tree branches and getting little cuts all over themselves. It was really gross and sad. I ended up almost passing out and had to leave after about 20 minutes. But I think my friends had seen enough too.

It's really interesting how this country doesn't celebrate Easter, they celebrate "holy week." There is a big difference apparently. It is so somber and sad. Everyone is crying and holding crosses and saying the rosary. I remember Easter being happy (and not just because of the candy). To me it's a time to rejoice and be happy, not sad. I wanted to tell the people "stop hurting yourself, Jesus did that for you so you DON'T HAVE TO." But it makes them feel closer to God. And today, on actual Easter, no one cares. It's just like any other day. Strange Catholic country...

Next week looks like it is going to be normal. Just teaching and grading.

Another lesson in Ecua-inefficiency

So my dad sent me a package with some medicine in it about 20 days ago. USPS said it would take 10-15 days to get here but they have no tracking once it gets to Ecuador. So it hadn't arrived as of this weekend but it should have. My host mom explained to me that mailmen tried to deliver a package once and then if no one was home they took it back to the post office. On Monday I headed over the post office and met the laziest guy in the world. He said my package hadn't come. I asked him if i could check out the packages or if he could look a little harder and he said no.

The next day my host sister headed over to the post office to talk to them. She said she had some friends there. They told her my package had arrived but they couldn't give it to her for some reason. She came back and told me that the package was in Ambato and would probably be delivered tomorrow. I'm not sure why they are going to try to deliver it again...

My host mom told me that my best bet was to wait by the window today and hope it came. So I've been waiting here for several hours just staring out the window. I asked her when she thought the guy would come and she said she had no idea and he might not even come today. Then I started to get confused and asked "um, what?" She explained the carriers decide where they are going on certain days. So they keep all the packages with them and go to certain places. If the guy for some reason doesn't come here today he keeps the packages and possibly comes by another day. So now I'm just continuing to wait for a package that IS IN AMBATO but I just can't get it.

Who thinks of this system???

Canoa and parties

(Happy late birthday, Megan!) (Happy early birthday, Kaytee!!)

So it turns out I really am bad at Ecuadorian parties. I had been told by some teachers and my family that my students would throw me parties and give me presents for "teacher's day" on April 13th. Unfortunately (or fortunately), I had the 13th, 14th, and 15th for vacation. So I guessed that maybe my students wouldthrow me a party on the 12th but I wasn't sure. My first class showed up and they didn't have anything planned. They said they wanted to have a party because lots of classes were. I said "sorry guys, parties come with planning and presents, try again another day." I wasn't going to waste class time so they could talk in Spanish with each other for an hour and a half.

Then my next class came in and they were going to have a re-test that day because they did pretty poorly on thereal test. I said if they made over an 80 on the first one they didn't have to come. I was a little confused why everyone showed up but no one said anything. Some of the students did their warmer and then left while the others took the test. About 5 minutes into the test one girl looks up at me and raises her hand and said "but teacher, we planned you a surprise party..." with the saddest look on her face. I felt really bad. Here they planned a party they just didn't think they could have it because I made them start taking the test. I still made them finishthe test but after everyone finished we got to hang out and have a party. It was a lot of fun. They gave me a very ugly scarf and a very sweet card :).

The next day some friends and I got on a bus and headed for Manta, a beach on the coast of Ecuador. In Manta we picked up a few more friends and went to Canoa, a really pretty beach in the north of Ecuador. We basically spent 3 days just relaxing on the beach and doing nothing. I got a pretty decent tan! We also ate some amazing food. There is a guy who lives in Canoa who moved there on his honeymoon with his wife. They just saw a bar and decided to buy it. So now he makes classic American food (like veggie burgers!) and all of the gringos eat there. It was great. The seafood at Canoa was also really good. I think we all needed 3 days of doing nothing. However, since we did nothing, we all came back to a TON of work.

Getting to and from Canoa was quite a hassel though. It turns out the bus drivers like to lie to you on the coast. We wanted a bus straight from Manta to Bahia (a town near Canoa) and the bus driver said "yea, we go to Bahia." After about a 2 hour bus ride we stop and he says it's the end of the route. We're super confused and not sure what to do. He says to wait on the side of the road until another bus comes and hope they go to Bahia. So we wait and luckily one comes. The on our way back we are told that a bus is going to Manta. Halfway through the bus ride the bus driver tells us to get off the bus and wait for another bus on thecorner that will go to Manta. I guess they just want the gringos on the bus or just want our money. Either way it was super frustrating. Because there is no way to tell if they are lying or not.

Then we took a very long bus ride back to Ambato on Sunday. On Monday my other class threw a party for me and gave me very pretty flowers. We're working on pronunciation this week, so that should be fun. They are having a karaoke contest and reciting Shakespeare. We don't have classes Friday because of Easter so I'm going to go to Quito to see a really cool parade. Apparently it is the second best Good Friday parade in the world, second only to Seville, Spain. I'm excited!
New Ecua-ism:
Ecuadorians are the crazy people who actually choose the rooster or cowbell for a ring tone. It is very rare to find an Ecua with a normal ring tone. The other day I heard Alvin and the Chipmunks and Donald Duck as ring tones. I've stopped finding it weird when a rooster randomly starts crowing on a bus...

Lack of common sense

So here in Ecuador we use gas for most things like kitchens and showers. For the most part it's cool because you can regulate the heat and replace it easily if it goes out. In Ibarra I completely took it for granted because the gas was always changed for me. So now, after 2 months in Ambato, I realized I needed to change the gas tank. I asked my host sister for help because she had done it before. So we lug the big thing up the stairs and start hooking it up. After a few unsuccessful attempts of turning the stove on we realize it isn't working. We go out to give it one last try and then as she is messing with it I turn on the gas to see if it's working. BAD IDEA. Apparently, when you have been trying to light the gas for a while the room starts to fill with the gas. Yea, POOF. Luckily nothing was burned and I still have my eyebrows. But, wow, that was an intense moment when you see everything in front of your face go up in flames. I guess I should have figured that.

My students were pretty dumb this week. They just don't realize they need to study. I was pretty harsh on them and made them do a practice test before the real test. Their main problem is that they just don't ask questions when they need help. I think they are scared to look bad in front of their friends. But, seriously, I'm there to answer questions, so ask! I haven't graded their actual tests yet... so we'll see.

Yesterday I went to Banos with my friend and her English class. It was a lot of fun. Before I got there they went to a monkey reserve in Puyo and from their pictures it looks like I'll have to go someday! Maybe I can talk my dad into going. The monkeys like climb all over you. So cool! Then we went to a waterfall called "Pailon Del Diablo." I think that mean's devil's cauldron or something like that. It's a decent hike to get down to it and then you are at about the middle of the waterfall. You can go down some more steps and get sprayed with the water or you can go up a very cave like thing. I was freaking out in the cave and had to back out. It was so small and dark and I don't get claustrophobia much but I definitely got it. My friends who did go up said it was really cool and you basically got soaked by the waterfall. I want to go back and do it. But maybe I'll bring a flashlight, poncho, extra clothes, and a waterproof bag for my camera. Maybe I can talk my dad into that? We'll see.

That night we went dancing in Banos and it was a lot of fun. Her students are all different ages so it was fun to hang out with a really diverse group. We went to this one club where they have break dancers on staff and when people aren't into the music they just start dancing and pulling everyone else in. There were still some major creepers who make any dancing experience not as exciting, but overall it was a really fun time.

We got back at about 3am and then at 5am I had a panic attack because I left my window open and my computer by the window and it had been raining for about 24 hours solid. So I rushed on a bus and made it back to Ambato. Thankfully my computer was safe. But then the power was out so I went back to bed. After that I wanted to go see the Justin Bieber movie but they switched the times and so we missed the movie. Oh well.

Now for some intense grading...

And I am heading to the beach on Wednesday!

Silly Basketball

So, these past few weeks, I have been waiting and waiting to watch real basketball. I watched it over my computer, I watched it through skype, and I watched it on mute in a restaurant. Finally on Monday ESPN was going to show the game on cable. We have cable at my house so I was so excited. And... the game was terrible. I want to thank you Butler for having 19% shooting in the only game I could watch this season.

I have moved classrooms again. Last week I was in the library and now I'm in a classroom the size of a shoebox. I haven't figured out what the problem is with all of the room changing but it's really disruptive. It means I have to start my class late everyday because I have to find my students and tell them where to go. But hopefully I can finally keep this classroom. Even if it's so tiny it barely fits my students and I don't have any space to walk around. Next year I'll petition for a bigger room. It's just silly to waste the big rooms on teachers who have their students sit the whole class. My students are always up and moving and now they can't. I guess I'll just have to be creative with my sitting activities.

This weekend was fun because my friend Claire from Quito came to visit. We went to see a movie and graded lots of papers together. I like when people come and visit me! And it saves me money since I'm not the one always visiting people like I did in Ibarra.

My dad bought a ticket for Ecuador! He is going to come over my birthday! Now he just has to learn spanish in a month and a half :).

I think I'm going on vacation to the beach in a week. We have a few days off and I've wanted to go to this beach. Some other friends are going to a beach close by so I'll probably travel with them and then take a day trip up to the other beach. Hopefully it's fun!

I found out I have to switch banks because the account I made on Thursday doesn't work for some reason. So now it will be another 3 weeks until I get paid. This is not cool. But at least I can keep the money in my Ecua-account and use it next year.