Tomorrow, half of the TEFL group is going to the coast for our very first tech trip. The bus ride is around 13 hours from here to there. Pray that I dont get horrendous diarrhea and am passed out for most of it. My host mom says that it is so hot there that she never wants to eat anything, only to drink water. And she told me to beware of the moscas, or mosquitoes, that live there. I have enough problems not scratching my mosquito bites here in the Sierra. I´m tempted to sleep with my bottle of insect repellent and to wear long clothes for the whole week to avoid them. They truly are the worst thing about the country, and they love my gringa blood.
This week has been quite duro, or long. We gave our first talk, called a charla, to a group of sixth graders this week about gender roles in the media. We cut out pictures of Justin Biebs and Katy Perry and asked them what they thought of them, and then had them cut out pictures in magazines of people who were sexy, macho, successful, and modest. Then, they got up in front of their classmates and talked about what all of these concepts meant. I was astounded that these prepubescent, sixth grade boys picked photos of scantily clad girls and said that ¨sexy meant wearing only a little clothing,¨ but that ¨modesty meant dressing nicely and having people respect you.¨ Then they started asking each other questions and picking apart each concept. They high fived us on the way out and cheered as we left. It was a promising first charla.
The sessions this last week felt like they dragged on, and on, and on. My Spanish does not seem to be getting better, and I apparently insert ¨like¨ into my sentences. In Spain, and after Spain, I knew I could speak Spanish. I knew it because I dreamed in Spanish. I knew it because I would talk to Cristobal for hours in Spanish on the phone, since he did not speak English. It feels like all of the Spanish has oozed out of my brain, and I am now an incoherent valley girl who is trying to make herself understood. I tried to tell my host dad about the Ecuador vs. Mexico game last night, but he thought I said ¨medico¨ and was talking about my host mom´s headache. I just wish I could be completely immersed in Spanish instead of being surrounded by gringas all day and night. That is the only way it will get better. We are reading this pesado, pesado book, ¨The country of little Manuel¨, that makes me sleepy whenever I open it. I don´t care about Manuelito´s adventures, I can´t understand them since half of the words in the book are not in my Spanish dictionary. Thankfully, my host mom and brother are awesome. My host mom always asks me about my day, my family, my boyfriend. She is my one tie to authentically speaking the language. Without her, most of my words would be in English.
I have gotten to disfrutarme, or enjoy myself, too. We went to a friendly match of Ecuador versus Mexico yesterday. It started raining, so everyone bought pastel colored ponchos. The whole crowd looked like a giant box of Easter eggs. Giant, screaming, whistling Easter eggs. It was my first experience eating fried pork, which probably gave me a few parasites, but was extremely delicious. When Mexico got a goal, instead of booing the Ecuadorian goalie, the crowd started shouting ¨Fuera Ruega, Fuera Ruega¨! Ruega is the Ecuadorian coach, and is apparently a Colombian, so the Ecuadorians don´t like him much. I love how whenever a team in Latin America plays badly, it is the coach, not the players, who get blamed and then sacked. I wish that Redskins fans could somehow get rid of Dan Snyder using a similar tactic.
My new favorite Ecuadorian word is ¨Chuta!¨ which means ¨shoot!¨ You can apply it to so many things. When my exuberant host dog Oso follows me on the bus, I can yell ¨Chuta Oso!¨ and shoo him off. When I spill something on my clothes as I´m about to head outside, I can yell CHUUTA and immediately feel better. It is the PG version of ¨shit¨, and works for any distressing situation. Thank you, chuta, for easing my transition into Ecuador.
Until next week, if the moscas haven´t eaten me alive.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
19 days in Ecuador
HOLA fam. I´m writing to you from my host brother´s room in Tumbaco, the city I am training in for the next two months. So much happened since my last Stateside post, so I´ll try and sum it up quickly before bed. Yes, staying up ¨late¨ here means going to sleep at 1030. ¨Sleeping in¨ means waking up at 830 on a weekend. But I digress. Here is the scoop on Ecuador so far.
WEEK ONE started out with a hectic last week of packing. I thought I was completely packed but forgot about a few crucial mementoes. I went to sleep at 230 am and drove with mom and Justin to Philly, where we ate three tear soaked pizza slices before bidding farewell. Walking away from them into a room full of 62 new Trainees was one of the hardest things I´ve ever had to do.
Luckily, they kept us busy. We spent the whole day in staging, got bank cards with $120 in them to cover our day in the US, and then took a 2am bus from Philly to JFK Airport in New York. From New York, we took a 10am flight to Miami, and then a 2pm flight to Quito. We got into Quito right at dusk. It is a huge city for Ecuadorian standards, because over 1 million people live there. The sun was setting over the buildings and the mountains, and the city felt hot with smoke and lights. We got into the training center in Tumbaco, the suburb where we train, at 7pm. We ate a huge dinner of chicken and rice and then passed out at 9.
The first week was so new. We spent 40 hours a week in training, learning about security, opening up bank accounts, getting tested for our language classes, and exploring the city. I got placed into a great host family. They are an elderly couple who live with their 14 grandson, Andres. He is a rockero, meaning that listens to rock music. Apparently the rockeros clash with the Jonas Brother and Justin Bieber crew, as well as with the reggaeton crew. He also said the punkeros, or punks, scare him a bit, though that could just be him. The couple are extremely nurturing and generous. Soya, the ¨mom¨, makes the best food, including fruit juices I´ve never tried before, like tomato juice that actually tastes sweet, and passionfruit. The dad walks for two hours a day, and always asks me about life in America. Their Golden Retriever Oso lives outside and follows me around town. Yesterday, he followed me into a restaurant, jumped up on the chair I sat at, and tried to eat the food. The restaurant owner had to close the door to get him out. Even then, he sat staring at us intently for a good five minutes.
It was hard for me to sleep. The family sleeps with their windows open, and they live across from a karoake bar. At night, the sounds of people crooning Kurt Cobain and the All American Rejects combines with the sounds of unleashed dogs barking at each other in their nocturnal conversations. Roosters often crow in the early morning, adding to the strange music of the Tumbacan street. I started listening to Bobby D. before bed, so ¨Girl From North Country¨ is muting out the sounds.
WEEK TWO was better than week one. Things that bugged me in week one, like the noisiness of the street, became easier to deal with. I have a hilarious language teacher, and began to really like the people in the program. Almost every person in our Omnibus is awesome, with a few exceptions, but you´ll get that anywhere. We played soccer against the Ecuadorians and lost 2 to 5, but it was an intense game. I get winded after running for 5 minutes up here because of the altitude! I started walking to and from school on the bike path, which has lovely views of the mountains and agave plants. I routinely pass women walking their cow(s) and men with bullhorns driving in potato trucks who shout ¨CINCO DOLARES POR PAPAS CINCO DOLARES¨.
We´ve been here for almost three weeks now. I think that we are going on a tech trip in a few weeks to practice teaching. We get our site assignments in a month. I wonder where I´ll be! We know that we will be in the south of the country, in Zone 7, but do not have a clue as to where specifically. I can´t wait to know.
The worst thing so far about Ecuador is the mosquitoes. The bites here ITCH like crazy, and hydrocortisone cream doesn´t help. They tore up my ankles this last week and I´ve been addicted to Calagel ever since. They are by far my least favorite thing about the country. The best things so far are the fruit drinks, the lush green scenery and rolling hills filled with plants that look like they come from a Dr. Seuss book, and the Ecuadorian people, who love to make chistes, or jokes, whenever possible.
Will update when I can. It is 1020 now (late! scandalous!) so I must sleep.
RUV,
Drea
WEEK ONE started out with a hectic last week of packing. I thought I was completely packed but forgot about a few crucial mementoes. I went to sleep at 230 am and drove with mom and Justin to Philly, where we ate three tear soaked pizza slices before bidding farewell. Walking away from them into a room full of 62 new Trainees was one of the hardest things I´ve ever had to do.
Luckily, they kept us busy. We spent the whole day in staging, got bank cards with $120 in them to cover our day in the US, and then took a 2am bus from Philly to JFK Airport in New York. From New York, we took a 10am flight to Miami, and then a 2pm flight to Quito. We got into Quito right at dusk. It is a huge city for Ecuadorian standards, because over 1 million people live there. The sun was setting over the buildings and the mountains, and the city felt hot with smoke and lights. We got into the training center in Tumbaco, the suburb where we train, at 7pm. We ate a huge dinner of chicken and rice and then passed out at 9.
The first week was so new. We spent 40 hours a week in training, learning about security, opening up bank accounts, getting tested for our language classes, and exploring the city. I got placed into a great host family. They are an elderly couple who live with their 14 grandson, Andres. He is a rockero, meaning that listens to rock music. Apparently the rockeros clash with the Jonas Brother and Justin Bieber crew, as well as with the reggaeton crew. He also said the punkeros, or punks, scare him a bit, though that could just be him. The couple are extremely nurturing and generous. Soya, the ¨mom¨, makes the best food, including fruit juices I´ve never tried before, like tomato juice that actually tastes sweet, and passionfruit. The dad walks for two hours a day, and always asks me about life in America. Their Golden Retriever Oso lives outside and follows me around town. Yesterday, he followed me into a restaurant, jumped up on the chair I sat at, and tried to eat the food. The restaurant owner had to close the door to get him out. Even then, he sat staring at us intently for a good five minutes.
It was hard for me to sleep. The family sleeps with their windows open, and they live across from a karoake bar. At night, the sounds of people crooning Kurt Cobain and the All American Rejects combines with the sounds of unleashed dogs barking at each other in their nocturnal conversations. Roosters often crow in the early morning, adding to the strange music of the Tumbacan street. I started listening to Bobby D. before bed, so ¨Girl From North Country¨ is muting out the sounds.
WEEK TWO was better than week one. Things that bugged me in week one, like the noisiness of the street, became easier to deal with. I have a hilarious language teacher, and began to really like the people in the program. Almost every person in our Omnibus is awesome, with a few exceptions, but you´ll get that anywhere. We played soccer against the Ecuadorians and lost 2 to 5, but it was an intense game. I get winded after running for 5 minutes up here because of the altitude! I started walking to and from school on the bike path, which has lovely views of the mountains and agave plants. I routinely pass women walking their cow(s) and men with bullhorns driving in potato trucks who shout ¨CINCO DOLARES POR PAPAS CINCO DOLARES¨.
We´ve been here for almost three weeks now. I think that we are going on a tech trip in a few weeks to practice teaching. We get our site assignments in a month. I wonder where I´ll be! We know that we will be in the south of the country, in Zone 7, but do not have a clue as to where specifically. I can´t wait to know.
The worst thing so far about Ecuador is the mosquitoes. The bites here ITCH like crazy, and hydrocortisone cream doesn´t help. They tore up my ankles this last week and I´ve been addicted to Calagel ever since. They are by far my least favorite thing about the country. The best things so far are the fruit drinks, the lush green scenery and rolling hills filled with plants that look like they come from a Dr. Seuss book, and the Ecuadorian people, who love to make chistes, or jokes, whenever possible.
Will update when I can. It is 1020 now (late! scandalous!) so I must sleep.
RUV,
Drea
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