Hello, dear readers! Well, I failed to get even one picture at our teacher get-together last week. I had my camera and everyone looked cute, but I just wasn’t feeling pictures. It was fun, though; we went to Tijuana, a Mexican restaurant on Victor Emilio Estrada, the main drag near my house. I was excited about that because I could walk, though I actually took a taxi home because of how late it was. It was pretty nice, even though we were all pretty tired from our first week. I had Aztec tortilla soup, which is very different from the tortilla soup that I’ve had before, but it was pretty good. My drink was jamaica, a yummy hibiscus tea that I had while I was in Mexico. I brought some home with me, but it doesn’t taste the same when I make it. I probably don’t put in enough sugar; Mexicans make it rather syrupy. I really do enjoy my coworkers, and wish I had longer to get to know them.
We had a large crowd there that night. Here’s the short list: Willa: English and ecology, Richard: business, Alicia: elementary, Kat: elementary, Hannah: elementary, Liam: history, Carla: economics, Philip: English, and Brad: philosophy. Besides that there were various significant others and friends present. I promise I will get pictures of these people soon. Next time we go out I’ll be a nerd and drive everyone crazy, but this time I just wanted to relax and visit. I also got to meet Philip’s girlfriend, an ecuatoriana named Lorena who is very pretty and very sweet. She works at one of the city museums, and it sounds really need. She says that she could get me in for free. I haven’t yet heard if the museum is normally free! We were having this conversation in Spanish, so it might not have been entirely clear to me. But I’m totally up for a museum.
I’m sure people are starting to recognize the gringa who wanders their streets every day, which has its good and bad points. The security guards are really friendly, and I’m starting to recognize some of them. Then my group of middle-aged men that live right around the corner from me are in the same spot every day at like 5:30, and they whistle and call out to me in English and Spanish every time. I’m starting to enjoy them, though—it really is better to find the humor in everything. Plus, it’s my fault that I keep forgetting to avoid that spot when I go on my walks. Anyway, one of my friends pointed out that from my pictures it looks like I’ve been lounging on the beach since I got here, which is not quite true, so I decided to put of pictures of my neighborhood this week. I never bring anything with me when I walk, so today I felt like I was living very dangerously when I brought my camera with me, but I didn’t get too many funny looks.
I can’t remember if I did anything on Saturday besides the usual walking, eating, and school work, but on Sunday I finally made it to Gaby’s church, which meets at La Parrilla del Ñato, but not the one close to me. I found out that morning that there are many Parrilla del Ñato’s in Guayaquil, and that they are all owned by the same guy, and Ñato is his nickname (it means “pig nosed,” so I guess my family has a new nickname for me…) I paid five dollars for the taxi there, which hurts for a cheap person like me, but on the way back Gaby’s dad drove me, which was so wonderful! I also understood a good part of the sermon, and it was all law and gospel, which some of you will particularly appreciate. The pastor talked about how life is full of problems, and that the problems start with us. That was a big part of the sermon, but then he explained why we need to understand that before we can receive God’s gift of forgiveness and cleansing. I’m just so glad that the problem is about us and the remedy is about God. A lot of my time with God has been kind of blah since I got down here, but He’s reminding me again that it doesn’t matter how I feel. Even more than that, He’s reminding me that my walk is not about how good of a follower I am, but it’s about how amazing of a leader and a lover He is! Praise God. It was really fun to talk with Gaby, too, and I got another surprise: the mission team that was down to help the church with a camp that they do for disabled kids is from Minnesota! I love seeing little bits of home, even though I can still honestly say that I’m not super homesick. I went over to visit with them for a little bit. Most of them were from St. Cloud. After that was the weekly Mai Jong game, and I had ice cream for the first time since the beach on my first day here. It was pretty amazing!
The first three days of the week were full of more procedures and tests, and lots of learning of names! I have probably one hundred thirty students, and I can match ninety names to faces already, so I think I’m doing pretty well. That’s actually pretty amazing. I’ve been worried that I would never learn that many names, but God must be answering my prayers. I really like them a lot. I’m sure that we will have some troublemakers, but I’m trying not to decide which ones! I just graded two sections of pre-assessments, and I’m going to be taking some time for the rest of this week to analyze that data, which could be nerdily exciting! We had almost every section for a double period on Tuesday, which was awesome because they were sitting taking their tests and I just got to wander and answer questions, all the while memorizing the names that were on their desks. Did I mention that we don’t have a class list yet? Colegio Americano really is not the most organized place in the world. But everything really is great. I am probably going to start my unit on Tuesday, though that is still a tiny bit up in the air. I made some pretty sweet posters for the classroom, too, for which Philip was very grateful, since he does not really like his own handwriting much. I should have taken pictures of them. Oh, well. I’ve got time to do that!
Now we are on a break for semana santa, and we kicked off our break with yet another cangrejo party! The preschool teachers were having a send-off for Denise, one of the doctors from the school who is now moving to Chile. I felt a bit out of place with all the preschool teachers, but they are all really sweet. I sat in the kitchen at the little table, which I later found out Mariana worked out on purpose so that I would be with a smaller group of people and would be able to participate in the conversation more easily! I sat with Maria Antoinetta, Paty, and Daniela. Again, I needed to directly ask for all of the names I learned, but I’m used to that now! I also got to chat with Miriam, Rosa, Anita, and Lili again, which was nice! I hope I can do something with some of them soon! It’s fun to have a connection to the preschool teachers through living with Mariana.
Today I did the usual walking and reading and some grading, and chatted with a few friends on the internet. And now I am closing out my day by journaling, at least if Waikeng doesn’t make me lose my entry with his pounding on the keys! He and I have finally become friends, I think. He said “Chao” to me when his family left!
Please continue to pray for all of my students. According to the results we’re getting from tests, I have some big challenges ahead of me. It’s frustrating to me because the majority of these kids have been in Colegio Americano for at least five years, but I don’t think they ever practice their English outside of the classroom. Mariana told me that one of their requirements to graduate is that they have to pass the SLEP test with one hundred per cent, which seems incredible to me. Getting most of the ex-alumnos that I’ve met to speak English is like pulling teeth. Since I’m only going to be here for a month, I know I can’t do that much, but one thing I want to impress upon them is the wonderful gift that it is to be bilingual (though I hardly know from personal experience yet!) As a teacher of “communication arts and literature,” my passion is to give students instruction and opportunities to improve their spoken and written communication. Everything that they are learning in school has a purpose of some kind, but I think it’s really hard to beat communication as far as practical skills go. Being able to communicate proficiently or fluently in more than one language is an extra gift. Many of the English-speaking teachers have systems put in place to encourage the kids to use only English in their classrooms, and Philip is implementing a system called “Spanish strikes”: each section is rewarded with a sticker if everyone in the class speaks Spanish less than three times, and at certain intervals we will give them rewards. Right now the tentative plan is that every nine stickers they can pick a reward from a list of options, such as having two minutes of free time at the end of class or doing a special activity. We’ll see how that goes. Anyway, pray that I would have the wisdom to know the modifications that must be made in my lesson plans, and that I would be able to explain things clearly and remember to talk slowly enough. Most of all, pray that I would be a blessing to my students and that I would be able to point them and my coworkers to Jesus in whatever crazy way He wants to use.
Let’s see about updates: Philip’s pink eye is pretty much cleared up, I think, which means he doesn’t need to wear sunglasses while he’s teaching! I just heard from my friend Amy that Nancy’s most recent tests have looked great, as well. And Ian, my friend that I asked you to pray for quite a while ago, has the go ahead to be admitted into the hospital at the U of M to prepare for a stem cell transplant. That will all be starting April 15, apparently. So there are a lot of praises, though more prayer goes with all of those things, as well.
Pray for wisdom as I continue to apply to schools. I still have no direction on where I am supposed to go, which is fine, but I’m just wondering… I’ve applied to three schools so far, and have heard back from one. They just hired someone. I’m kind of out of the loop, being out of the country and all. But I’m sure God has a spot for me somewhere.
I love you all! Thanks for reading about my life in Ecuador, and thanks for caring about me! I hope you've enjoyed seeing a little bit of Urdesa. Let me know if you ever want some captions! I have stories I could tell about many of the pictures I've posted! Praise God that we serve a risen and living Savior! I know I didn't talk about Easter in my post, but what an awesome celebration! I pray that you all know Him! He's a wonderful God! The wonderful God!
Chao, Christina
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