I Have A Home!!!!

YAYYYY!! I am typing this from my precious host family's house! It feels soooo good to finally settle down after being on the move for a few days! My family is so sweet, and I love them. I even get to play with a little baby for a month : )

Anyways, I haven't been able to really post a lot simply because I have been so exhausted. So I will try to summarize what has happened recently. So on Monday, we visited a local school, which was a lot of fun. It was all ages and it was a Catholic school, so it definitely brought back memories from my schools. The kids were so sweet. We listened to what the director of the school had to say, and then we got to watch a class for a little bit. It was crazy how different it was from my schooling experiences. I literally thought it was chaos. Kids would constantly be running around and the teacher just didn't stop teaching. It was crazy! They kids were so sweet though. As soon as my classmate and I entered the room, the kids all ran over and gave us hugs. It was adorable and I loved them. We also got to play with them during recess outside for a little bit. Overall, it was so much fun and none of us wanted to leave. Also, the bathrooms were an experience...the pictures I added don't really show how gross they were, but yuck!!! Thank goodness for travel toilet paper!

The school we visted

The classroom

Teacher teaching

The yucky bathroom

More yucky bathroom

After this we headed to Mitad del Mundo, which is the equator!! This was definitely a tourist spot, but it was a lot of fun to take pictures! We did a little shopping and ate lunch there as well. Food is so cheap here! It literally cost $11.50 to have lunch for three people, with sodas and dessert. I wish I could bring back these prices to the United States!!!! They also had llamas there (I'm not really sure why) but we went over and looked at them. It was a really cute place to visit, because they had a lot of things to do that we just didn't have time for.

Mitad del Mundo

Me in two hemispheres in the center of the world!! (where I belong)

View from the top of Mitad del Mundo

View from the top of Mitad del Mundo

Llama!

Mitad del Mundo

Finally, yesterday we were able to go to this spa resort place. It was absolutely breathtaking. We were so high up in the mountains that we were in a cloud basically. They had thermal baths that we got to relax in and I also got a massage this morning. It was wonderful! It was a great way to relax before beginning all of our hard work! 

Day 2 - Sunday 6/16

Literally so much has been packed into these last two days that I just don't know where to start. I've been completely exhausted at night and sleeping like an absolute rock.

Our first full day in Ecuador was Sunday, and we started our day bright and early with breakfast at 8AM. The breakfast at the hotel is really nice and yummy. They always serve scrambled eggs, which I love. There's also always granola and yogurt, coffee, toast and lots of fruit. At 9:00AM, we went to the Mindalae Museum, which is right down the street from our hotel. We got a little tour of the museum, which had all sorts of stuff related to the indigenous people of Ecuador. There were lots of neat little things and facts.

Mindalae Museum

At 10:00 am we had our Ecuador orientation. Marylene is our orientation leader and she will be with us until we reach Otavalo. We talked about different stereotypes that the USA has of Ecuador and vice versa. We also discussed our hopes and fears for this stay. Finally, we talked about staying safe and healthy. 

The room where we had our orientation

We had lunch in the museum and then we were allowed a little free time back in the hotel to rest. I took a nap because I was so exhausted. At 3:30pm we took a bus tour of Quito. Our first stop was this park with what they call their "crystal palace." It basically is just a community center where they host different events. What's cool is that it was actually designed by Mr. Eiffel (aka who designed the Eiffel Tower in Paris). 

The Crystal Palace

The park was so pretty and it had a great view of the volcanoes and city that was below. It was great for photo opportunities. I know I ended up in a lot of other people's pictures - I just don't have them yet hahaha. The park was packed, because a lot of Ecuadorian families head to the park on Sundays to spend time together. 

Me and Tara in front of the city and volcanoes

The view

The park

Our next stop was what is called the Virgin of Quito, and despite the wings, it is not an angel. Marylene told us that it is the only virgin of the world with wings. There is a snake around her at the base, but to the indigenous people here, the snake does not represent evil. Rather, it represents wisdom. 

The virgin of Quito

View of the city and volcanoes from the statue

Me and a fellow classmate, Brayden 

There were also a lot of families here, and we were basically on a big hill. It was really funny, because as we were getting back on the bus, there were these kids playing on this hill, though it looked more like a cliff to me. The would hold onto each others' legs and slide down head first! We all panicked because we thought they were going to die!! But they were just having a fun time, I guess haha.

Next, we were dropped off in the old city of Quito. We started off at this square (I forget the name) and we went into this church. They are very very very Catholic here in Ecuador. They were just finishing up mass as we went in, and the church is absolutely gorgeous and breathtaking. 

Outside of the church

The gorgeous inside

After this, we walked down to another square that is a big part of Ecuador. Here, the president's palace is on one side, the basilica is on another, and the archbishop's mansion is on another. This square is where a lot of protests are held, because basically all the important people of Ecuador are located here.  We had dinner at this place called "Hasta La Vuelta, Señor" in a little shopping area right next to the archbishop's mansion. I had a grilled cheese : ) I am very thankful I have been able to eat mostly American food hahaha. After dinner, I went back to the hotel and showered and slept like a little rock! 

The top of the Basilica

The archbishop's mansion

IM HERE!!!

I am writing this as I am on the bus taking us to our hotel in Quito. The flight wasn't bad at all, but four hours was tough for me by the end because I was getting so antsy! It was actually really funny, because on both my flights today, when I got up the nerve to use the airplane potties, I would go in and immediately it would be time to prepare for landing. So when I was getting completely over the flight to Quito, I went to the bathroom knowing that as soon as I went in there, we would be done soon! It worked! 

Thankfully there were 12 other classmates on the flight with me and I actually got to sit next to Tara, one of the girls in my teaching group. We had a lot of fun goofing off and stuff during the plane ride. When we started to fly into Ecuador, the views were amazing. It was absolutely gorgeous to see all the mountains and volcanoes. I actually was able to use my Spanish a little bit! There was a man on the other side of me who spoke no English, and Tara and I were trying to remember the names of the volcanoes. He was obviously Ecuadorian, so I asked  him the names of the mountains! He started to ask me other questions too - about where we were going and how long we would be there. He said my Spanish was "perfecto" hahahaha, I'm sure he was just being nice. It was fun trying to communicate with him! When we landed, before he left, he said "Bienvenidos a Ecuador" (Welcome to Ecuador). It was really sweet and got me so excited that my Spanish is somewhat comprehensible! 

Getting off the plane was a process - all of us were absolutely sweating. The workers at immigration were so nice - much nicer than the US workers hahahaha. I was very excited to get another stamp in my passport! It took a while for all of us to get our bags, and then some of us had to have our bags scanned. It was random who was picked and who wasn't. Of course I was picked, and since I have the heaviest bags ever, it was a struggle. Once we went through that, we were able to leave and we had our coordinators waiting for us! I completely forgot about the whole "kissing on the cheek" as a greeting, but I got used to it!!!

Now we are on a 90 minute bus ride to get to the city of Quito. We are driving through two suburbs that are polar opposites. Tumbaca was the first, and it was very rough. Kumvaya has a lot of rich people that have moved there and it is much more developed. I definitely saw McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Papa Johns and Baskin Robbins. They had a huge shopping mall as well. It is so interesting how quickly the we go from a nice area to a dilapidated building.

We will be at the hotel soon where it is all set up for us. I will definitely sleep like a rock tonight. We start orientation tomorrow morning at 9am. The fun begins!!!

The view as we arrive in Quito

Our first hotel - SO cute!

My room!

My bed with Pooh Bear

Hanging out in Miami!!

After a fairly stressful morning, I completed my flight from Richmond to Miami and I'm now hanging out in the airport with other members of my group! Got some starbucks to tide me over! Our flight to Quito doesn't leave till 3:30pm - not much else to say right now!

Just a Few More Days....

So my mother said that I should write a post describing how I'm getting ready to leave for Ecuador, because "people" would be interested in that....though I assure you, it is not that exciting. Mostly it entails preparing myself for the culture shock that is about to come. For example, the water is so dirty that even the Ecuadorians don't drink it... therefore, I'm bound to get sick even though I won't be drinking the water. At least it's an excuse not to eat lettuce!! Also, the elevation is so much higher, so I'll probably suffer from some headaches from that. So I'll basically be ill the first two weeks!!

Something else interesting is that the plumbing system in Ecuador is very different. You can't flush toilet paper... instead, most homes have a little waste basket next to the toilet where you will throw the toilet paper away when you are finished with it. HOWEVER some public places DON'T EVEN SUPPLY TOILET PAPER. I'm not excited to experience that, because knowing me, I'll forget to bring some with me. Also, they don't sell feminine products in Otavalo, so I seriously stocked up. It'll be my whole suitcase.

I truly apologize if you did not want to read that sort of stuff about bodily systems, but this is the kind of stuff I am thinking about before my trip there!! It makes me so thankful for the United States, where you can buy tampons anywhere and where you can flush your toilet paper down the toilet. And where you can drink the water!!! So PLEASE appreciate your clean toilet habits while I'm gone, because I'll seriously be missing them!

As for "normal" ways of getting ready - I had to get three vaccines: typhoid, hep A, and tetanus. No malaria, because the mosquitos that carry malaria don't live in the high elevation areas, which is where I'll be. Those mosquitos only survive in the lower elevations...like the coastal areas and the rainforest areas/Galapagos. I'll only be in Quito and Otavalo, which is 9000 ft elevation, or something like that.

I'm also trying to figure out how I'll pack everything without my suitcase being too heavy. I always overpack, because I have big dreams about the clothes I'll wear...even though I know I'll probably wear the same outfit everyday..... the remnants of attending a private school my whole life - really wish I still had a uniform haha! It's inappropriate to wear shorts down there, and the weather will be on the chillier side anyways, so I won't be packing that. But I have to bring clothes that are professional to teach in, everyday wear AKA cozy, hiking, a bathing suit, going-out clothes for the discotheques, etc.! It's a lot, plus all the necessary things (contacts, glasses, etc) AND of course, I want to spoil my students with gifts. I also need to make sure that I will have room to bring my all my souvenirs! Otavalo is known for its HUGE market, and I LOVE TO SHOP AND HAGGLE, so I will be buying a lot. I just need to make sure I can get it all back home to the USA afterwards hahahah.

Hopefully my mom approves this "preparation" post lol. Here's a picture of Otavalo's market for your enjoyment:

Taken from: http://gilliansheppard.blogspot.com/

MY ROOMMATE

I WILL MISS MY ROOMMATE STEFANIE!!!!! I WILL "RENEMBER"YOU!!!!!! 

Lots of Preparing!

Before we leave for Ecuador in June, our group has weekend meetings every so often where we review content (since this program is 15 credits) and prepare for traveling. I decided to stay in State College for the month of May so it would be easier to attend these mandatory meetings, instead of traveling back and forth between PA and VA. Penn State is offering "Maymester" classes, so I am taking one of those as well (basic statistics for educators). Last weekend, we had our first weekend session since the semester ended. It was a lot of info crammed into two days! We met from 9am-5pm on Saturday and from 9am-1pm on Sunday. I was exhausted by the end of it. Thankfully, I think this stuff is interesting, so it wasn't completely miserable! We discussed policies and legislation for English as a Second Language students and the different types of ESL programs and ELL (English Language Learner) students. It is mostly stuff required for the certification, and it is good to get it done before we leave so we don't have to learn it in Ecuador when we will be busy with our classes.

Next session (May 31 - June 2), we will FINALLY be discussing packing and the logistics of traveling to Ecuador. We will fly into Quito and stay there for a few days while we get settled/review information. Then we will move onto Otavalo, where we will stay with our host families. The classes we teach will be held at the university there. Also next weekend, we will get to meet with our mentor teachers and talk about what our class will be about.

My teacher already emailed me, and I found out that I will be teaching 9-10 year olds with three other women. My particular class will meet from 3:30-5:45 Tuesdays through Thursdays, and I will be co-teaching with one other girl. There should be about 12 students in the class, and they will all have limited English. We will be teaching English through specific content and our class will be based on that. It won't be a class where the kids come in and sit through a grammar lesson, but rather we will teach content and encourage English through that. The mini-school classes will be in English, because not all of the people in our traveling group know Spanish. Thankfully, I am fairly familiar with the language, but we will not be teaching in Spanish. 

Our class will revolve around the comparison of geography and culture between Ecuador and Burkina Faso. It will be based on a true story of an exchange student from Burkina Faso to the US and his favorite folk tale from his country. I have absolutely NO knowledge about anything related to Burkina Faso, so this will be an experience. My co-teachers and I are in communication so that we can share resources and ideas with one another before we arrive in Ecuador. We all want to be prepared to teach this subject, so a lot of research will be taking place before I leave! 

On another note, I was able to celebrate my birthday Friday with some of my friends from school. Two of them are staying at Penn State for the summer, so we all drove to Hershey Park where we met up with my little sister from my sorority. I had a lot of fun, and it was a great day! 

My little sister, Lauren, and me

Me and my friend, Lori, in our matching Vineyard Vines shorts!