I have been very bad at updating this lately. I realize it's been weeks since I added anything for those of you using this a way to keep up with my life in Ecuador. Sorry about that. The past few weeks have been busy and, sometimes, pretty difficult.
A few short weeks ago, the end of July, was an emotionally confusing time. While I was getting ready to visit home for 10 days, a lot of my friends were preparing to leave Ecuador for good. In particular, the last 2 weeks of July were really bad. Tons of despedidas (going away parties, basically) and goodbyes. I can't lie and say I was close to everyone who was leaving, but that doesn't mean I was happy to see fellow Americans that I knew and whose presences I had become accustomed to leave. Living in Ecuador for the next year without them would be a totally different experience from my first year. Now I understand why some of my fellow teachers at CEC don't bother making friends with all the new teachers - they're just going to leave soon anyway. That's not to say CEC teachers are uncivil; more what I mean is they are friendly without forming too many close friendships.
Anyway, I survived those few weeks and spent 10 hours traveling home to see my family for the first time in 11 months. Getting home was actually not as bad as I feared, but it was certainly exhausting. I was up at 1:45 am to get ready. My old host dad picked me up and brought me to the airport at 3 a.m. Apparently leaving Ecuador is harder than getting in - at least in my experience. First there was a line to have a guy glance at my passport for 20 seconds. Then there was a really long wait to check in for my flight. Everyone and their grandma was leaving the country apparently. And they were all bringing 7 oversized suitcases swaddled in saran wrap (for protection, because saran wrap is safer than a luggage lock). After that, another line where another guy checked my passport and ticket. Then a wait to go through migration (not immigration, migration) to swear that I wasn't bringing any cultural heritage products protected by law out of the country illegally. Finally it was on to the security line which, thankfully, was quite short because everyone was waiting in the previous lines. Bogota was not the nightmare I had worried about, although we did have to go through security after getting off the airplane. While this wasn't a hassle or anything, it was simply strange. Immigration and customs in Miami wasn't bad either. I think it took about 45 minutes total.
Being at home was nice, but it also felt very hectic. With only 10 days at home, I felt like I had to get everything into every minute of every day because I'd been gone so long and would be gone again for awhile. I'm very grateful to my parents for financing so much of this running around. I got to spend a weekend in Austin with Ally where we went tubing with Tamara and Daria, had some delicious tex mex food, visited some of my old kids at CCY, and saw Josephine, among other things. What made me sad is how much I felt like a tourist. I haven't lived in Austin for a year, and while I love the city so much, it still didn't feel quite like home anymore. I'm sure a big part of this was my hectic running around and my lack of adjustment to U.S. culture.
That second part may seem strange to people who have not lived overseas, but let me tell you, even when you are returning to your native culture, readjustment has to happen. I've been living in a culture where certain actions and attitudes are normal and I've come to view them as such. When coming to the U.S., even though I know how the culture works, I'm not in that mindset. So maybe adjustment to my home culture would be quicker than adjusting to a brand new culture, but it still has to happen nevertheless. So while I was trying to spend time with everyone, eat all the tasty food I could, and finally acquire clothes that fit me, I was also dealing with adjustment issues.
However, I don't think I even noticed how much stress that put on me until I returned to Ecuador. When I finally arrived in the airport after a 2.5 hour delay in Miami due to lightning, while I was exhausted and not feeling well physically, I aso felt relieved and happy to be home. (Luckily, it took me 45 minutes from the time the plane landed to the time I walked out of customs to find Israel waiting for me.) Now, before anyone gets upset reading that last statement, this doesn't mean I wasn't also happy when I was home with my friends and family. But I consider both countries home at the moment. I have people who love me and who I love living in both places. It might take me a few days to adjust after switching from one to the other, but I feel comfortable living in each culture. The reasons I'm staying in this home for now are 1) the people I love here and 2) I'm not happy with some of the cultural things happening in the U.S. right now. It also doesn't help that it'd be extremely stressful returning and trying to find a job at the moment. So while I thoroughly enjoyed my time at home, and I do miss my family, I plan to stay here for awhile.
Let's move on. I'm now in my first cycle as a non-World Teach volunteer. What does this mean? It means I have 3 classes now. It also means I am (or rather, I will be) on a different visa with different health insurance. A quick explanation of the different visa: the one I'm on now is a 12 - III (diplomatic visa) under WT's sponsorship. It expires this friday, September 1. I attempted the new visa process this week, along with Elizabeth (another former WT volunteer and roommate) and 2 other CEC teachers, but there was a slight problem. Apparently the rules about the necessary paperwork had changed again and we were lacking a specific letter. However, CEC is helping us and, hopefully, everything will be taken care of by the end of this week.
Having 3 classes has not been as draining as I feared. While it was a slight adjustment to less free hours before classes, I actually having 3 instead of 2. Yes it means more money, but it also keeps me busier. I may regret that statement come Monday, though. Monday is the first exam, and I may regret having so many to grade. So we'll see if I change my mind about that. Other than that, the other big change is living with new roommates. Robert, another former WT volunteer who was placed at SECAP in Quito, returned after living at home for a couple months with his girlfriend Vivian. They now live in the room Robin lived in. It may seem like having 4 people living in one apartment would be a completely horrible experience, but our schedules are very different in the morning and align nicely at night so it really hasn't been bad at all. Robert and Vivian are nice, chill people who cook a lot so it's been a good experience so far.
I think that about covers the major points of the last few weeks. Because this post is already so long, I'll make a separate post for pictures. Hopefully this has served as a sufficient update for my lack of attention and blog posts. :-)
