Time for a bit of closure, though I am quickly finding that there is no such thing as complete closure while one is still alive. There is no way to truly “wrap up all the loose ends” when a chapter of life is closing, but I will try my best right now, so that you can all hear about the end of my time in Ecuador and about my graduation from college, since that time definitely ran together for me.
Early in my last week in Guayaquil, Kiko’s sister Elvia took me to a huge display about Leonardo da Vinci’s work, and after we had wandered around and looked at the paintings, the inventions, and a movie about da Vinci’s life, we went with a bunch of her girlfriends from high school to have humitas and coffee at the house of one of the ladies. Elvia kept asking me if I was alright with the “old ladies,” but I really had a lovely time, and I found out that one of her friends was the grandmother of one of my students!
My last week with my kids went pretty well, even though I still had moments of frustration. I tried to appeal to the fact that it was my last week when working with North Carolina once, and only once. I don’t really understand the logic of twelve-year-olds; all I know is that all the advice I’ve ever heard is true—just don’t try to argue with them, because you will never win. I reminded them that it was my last week, so they should be nice and listen to me, but that started them all sobbing and being more disruptive than ever. It seemed as though they thought the more obnoxious they were, the more I would want to stay. Oh, well, it was my fault, and just a bad idea in general. Some of the kids were counting down the days, and would ask me often when I was leaving. The ecuatoriano teachers all asked me often as well, and at hearing the answer would say “Que pena, que pena,” which I found out means “What sorrow.” It made me really look forward to being able to be at the same school for a year or more and actually be able to form relationships with my fellow teachers and students. I still never got very many pictures with the other teachers, but there are a few that I will keep in touch with, and a few students as well, since we exchanged e-mail addresses.
During my last week my onsite supervisor, the director general Dr. Miller, came into the classroom to observe me three times. He is a bit gruff and thinks quite highly of himself, I think, but I did get some useful feedback from him. One thing that he emphasized is that I need to make my class more student-centered, which I want to do, but I don’t know how. He repeated some of what I have heard from other teachers, such as finding ways to use inductive teaching strategies, putting the students into cooperative learning groups so that they can help each other and not need as much assistance from me, and even having kids correct each other’s work when possible. He also said that this is going to take a lot of time on my part. I guess I knew that developing into a good teacher took time. Oh well.
On my last day, I knew there was some fun planned, though I didn’t know what, because Philip just said he had the lesson for each class covered. It was true—New Jersey and New York had a party for me as a reward for how well they had been doing speaking English in class. Things got a little crazy, but it was so fun, and I got so many hugs from all my students that day! They are all so sweet, even the naughty ones. Unfortunately, sometimes the naughty ones were my favorites, though I did pretty well never being too obvious about my hidden favoritism. I also got a lot of cards and gifts from my students. Domenica gave me lip gloss, Ernesto gave me a little leather coin purse, New York made at least three cards for me, and I got a lovely, very decorative card from Maria Carolina. I also was able to read Maria Paula’s short story before I left, which was about me! She wrote about how much she would miss me and about what I had taught her. I definitely did start crying a bit when I read that. I also indulged my love for encouragement and affirmation, and my need for feedback, by giving students an evaluation to fill out on my teaching. I asked them to tell me some things they had learned in my class, to tell me what their favorite activities were, to give me suggestions of what I could do better, and to write me a note to help me remember them. I still have not read all of them, because I have been pushing to get my senior seminar done, but I know I’ll get at least a little bit weepy! I love my kids, and hope that someday I’ll be able to go back and visit them!
Here is New Jersey. They were quite a rowdy class, but they were also very fun and very high achievers. They made the biggest gain of any section when I gave all the students a pre-assessment of literary terms and a post-assessment after we had studied the same terms and discussed them in light of the first short story we read. I was so proud of them, and hope that they will continue to respect Mr. Dixon so that they can have fun without driving him crazy. I love New Jersey!
Here is North Carolina. Oh, North Carolina. These students were very crazy and talkative some days, and most of them were not very good listeners. There were also a lot of them, and many of them did not know English well. The ones who did work hard and listen well often got frustrated with the rest of the class, which was hard. But I loved North Carolina because they were so quick to volunteer for anything in class, and they loved helping me. They also were all very sweet outside of class. I love North Carolina!
Here is New York. The kids in New York are very good friends, and they are very smart. Some of them grew up speaking both English and Spanish, which makes Colegio Americano a lot easier for them. They really liked playing games, like when we created a story about a galaxy of planets made out of candy and junk food. They were hard workers, and very patient with me when I was disorganized once in a while. I love New York!
Here is New Mexico. This was my class that knew the least English, and at least a few of them really do not speak any English at all. Since First Course is the first year of secundaria, many of the students in this class were new students whose parents had decided to move them for high school. All of the students who did not speak English smiled at me all the time, which was the same thing I did when people all around me were speaking Spanish, so we got along well. They were all such hard workers, and I saw some of them learn a lot in just a month! I love New Mexico!
So, as I said, I had a lovely last day at Colegio Americano, and then I went to visit Miss Patricia, the principal of the secundaria section, to say goodbye and thank you, though we had not really worked together very much. She was so sweet, and told me I couldn’t leave Colegio Americano without a piece of the chocolate cake she had and a gift from the bookstore that she called in for me. The two of us got a picture with Miss Marialaura, the director of Colegio Americano’s International Baccalaureate program, and Miss Sofia, the vice-principal and chemistry professor. We also had a fun time visiting about the friends that Miss Patricia has who are from Cottage Grove, Minnesota, and the bag with a Colegio Americano mug, keychain, and pen got to me just in time for me to run and catch the bus for the last time!
The next day I was working on reading and grading short stories, and that evening I celebrated my last big night in Guayaquil by going to church with my friend Darwin and going to a party at Philip’s apartment. I talked about Darwin a bit in an earlier entry—he was the friend who took me to a movie at the mall and to an anniversary party at another church. His church is Belem, which is the Spanish name for Bethlehem, and it is very small, but they had a good crowd out for their young adult service. Darwin spoke, and he was very nervous, but he did a good job. He spoke from Ecclesiastes, which I am reading for devotions now. It seems to be appropriate to read right at the end of a great achievement (graduating from college), because I need to keep my life in proper perspective and remember that nothing is worth more than a “chasing after the wind” without God. My life, my teaching, and my passion would be nothing without Him. Darwin was particularly talking about riches, among other things, which made me sit up and listen, since Pastor Paccha in Cuenca had preached about riches just the past Sunday at Cristo Vive. I always perk up my ears a bit when it seems that I’m getting the same message twice, and since I am a bit overly concerned about money right now (college loans and no job yet), I’m sure that He was just trying to remind me that all the wealth is His. Praise God that He is taking care of me, though I’m a bit anxious to be a tiny bit more secure!
After the service I chatted with Darwin’s friends for quite a while during praise team practice, and then Jessica and her boyfriend, a taxi driver, brought us over to Philip’s apartment, where Darwin and I said good bye and I went in to enjoy my coworkers from Colegio Americano one more time. Many of the teachers were there, though not quite everyone that I had hoped to say goodbye to, and significant others and friends as well. I had a really fun talk with Mikie, who teaches mid-level science and was almost my cooperating teacher, until they realized that I needed a cooperating teacher in my discipline. I also talked with some of the girls about where I was looking for jobs, and listened to Cat and Hannah dream about the vacation they want to take during vacation next year. I had my last chance to be totally immersed in Spanish, since Philip and I sat at the ecuatoriano table with his girlfriend Lorena and other friends, but we actually ended up speaking more Spanglish, which is still one of my favorite languages. I stayed ridiculously late, as usual, especially considering how early I needed to get up for my plane, but I was waiting to get all of my evaluations from Dr. Miller, which he had dropped off at Liam and Cat’s place. Once I got those, I let Philip call me a taxi, since it was about 12:30 AM.
I woke up at about 4:00 AM, and Kiko and I drove to the airport, where we checked in and then had breakfast at the little restaurant outside the security checkpoint. I was so blessed to have such wonderful hosts as Mariana and Kiko! I’m thankful for them, and sad that I did not get to say a better goodbye to Mariana, since she left for the States about a week before I did and returned the day after I returned to Minnesota. The flight home was alright, though it was long and I got really dehydrated on the plane. I had a lovely talk with an older gentleman named Richard on the way to Panama from Guayaquil, and not only was he a Christian, but his wife was a teacher, so we found plenty to talk about. My flight from Houston to Minneapolis was not very comfortable, since I was in the front of the mini-jet in a single seat facing a wall, but the flight attendant was very friendly, so that helped. I was so excited to come home, though, and I had a wonderful night with my family as we went to TGI Friday’s and then I told them stories as I repacked my suitcase for the trip to Morris the next day.
I spent a wonderful last week in Morris going to senior presentations, showing friends pictures, and revisiting old haunts. Elizabeth and I even visited the Prairie Renaissance Cultural Center, which is a sweet art gallery that I have always planned to check out. I definitely have to go back again, though the art is a little expensive for my empty wallet! I also got together with all my wonderful fellow English teachers, who have been such wonderful cohorts, especially this year. I was able to spend time with lots of fantastic people, and then I went home on Friday night for Michael’s spring choir concert at AFLBS, after deliberating a lot on whether or not I had the energy, since I was sick and had totally lost my voice.
I was shocked to find out that all of my fellow former Ambassadors from 2005 were there, and we had an impromptu reunion in the chapel basement to celebrate our first time all together in three years! Oh, happy tear! What a God-thing that we would all find each other. Of course I saw many other friends that I had really missed, but then we headed to the ancestral home to sleep for a bit before taking off for UMM commencement. I graduated with my Bachelor’s Degree in English on Saturday, and I said many goodbyes, way too many, but that seems to be what my life is about right now. At least God’s sticking with me no matter where I end up this fall!
Uff da! As of this week, I have completed my senior seminar, and now I’m in the middle of applying for teaching jobs for the fall and just trying to trust God to lead me and continue to use me to fulfill His plan. I thank God for my family. They really are fantastic, and have always encouraged me in my pursuit to follow Him. I thank God for Colegio Americano, especially for my students and for Philip, whom I loved working with and getting to know! I thank God for Mariana and Kiko, who really blessed me as my host parents and who added so much to my experience. I thank God for UMM, for the painful and beautiful place that it was to me at times as I struggled to live out my faith in a way that I would stand out. I thank God for all the people He has placed in my life to protect me, to bring me joy, and to love me. And I just thank Him for His love to me, that when I am faithless, He is faithful, that when I am cold, He gives me passion, that when I am weak, He gives me strength, and that when I was a sinner, He gave His Son for me (Romans 5:8). Jesus, thank you for taking me on an adventure with You! Let’s keep adventuring together. I’m up for whatever. I’d just love to know where we’re going next! But I’ll wait!
Love to all! Thanks for reading this. And thank you for giving and praying for me! I hope that I will use all that has been given to me for God’s glory, and that you would all know the depth of God’s love for you! Chao, Christina
