So I have now hit the one-week mark teaching classes. I am teaching Advanced 1, from 4 pm – 6 pm and 6 pm – 8 pm. So far, it’s been stressful because the two classes have vastly different personalities. My first class is made up of colegio (high school) students who seem like they couldn’t care less about the class. For student teaching in the States, I was able to energize my HS classes by using a lot of references they knew (pop culture, mainly). Here, though, I don’t really know that much about the pop culture. I’m working on it, but I can only do so much in a day. It also doesn’t help that I have to constantly tell them to get off their cell phones and stop using Spanish. I’m not a fan of being the bad guy. :-( My second class is made up of university students and working young adults (20s and 30s). They are fantastic; they always seem so happy to be in class.
Friday is the first exam of the cycle. CEC sets exam days and gives us the exams for students to take, so all I have to do is make sure no one cheats (constant vigilance!) and then grade the exams.
Then, next week will be awesomeeee. But before I get to that, last Saturday, I went to the giant basilica here in Quito. It’s a gothic-style building, but with a twist. Instead of gargoyles, the architect used animals from the Galapagos Islands. It looks pretty awesome. For $2, you are also allowed to climb all the way to the top and look at Quito. However, to get to the top, you have to cross a rickety wooden bridge, and then climb some steep, open, terrifying ladders. Naturally, I only made it across the rickety wooden bridge and up one terrifying ladder. (One ladder goes to a landing where you can see out, and then two more go all the way to the top.) Despite being completely incapable of conquering my fear of heights, the view of still lovely. :-)
Anyway, next week: the whole country basically goes on vacation from November 2 until November 7. Naturally, this means I do not have to teach. Instead, a large group of WT volunteers are planning on renting a beautiful villa in Montanita (a town on the coast) and chilling. I expect this will be absolutely amazing. I love Quito, but it is a tad chilly. And I am super excited to see everybody. Right now, the Quito people who are going are in the process of buying bus tickets there/plane tickets back, so hopefully everything gets worked out so we can go.
Lately, my house has been having problems with the water. Randomly, the water will stop working and will not come out of any faucet. Luckily, this has not happened at a time when I need to shower (that would be bad), but I would like to be able to wash my face at night and brush my teeth. My family is working on fixing the problem, but because they can’t figure out what the problem is exactly, this is proving difficult. So for now, I just keep hoping there’s water when I need to shower or eat.
Otherwise, everything is going well right now. Unlike last week, when I had to plan day-by-day, this week I have every day planned out so I’m less stressed. Everything’s going well with the host family; no major health issues yet. Just excited for next week!
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