I am in Cuenca
Tuesday October 12: After breakfast, orientation, and wandering around the resort, we headed to Gualaceo to go to the market and walk around the town. The market was huge with so many different fruits, kinds of potatoes, meats, breads, etc! We actually saw two different markets and they were both amazing. One even had full pigs with eyelashes and all that they just cut the meat off for you! It was so different than anything I’ve ever seen. We spent some time just sitting in a park people watching and that made it very clear that we are the outsiders now. So many people just stared at us as they walked by. The culture shock began setting in here.
Then we had a true Ecuadorian almuerzo at a restaurant before heading to Chordeleg where they are know for their silver jewelry. I made my first purchase here on a $10 ring. Then it was time to head to Cuenca Andes program that were standing on the balcony cheering and welcoming us. It was really neat. This was at the building where we will be taking classes but it was very different than what I was expecting. It is an old building sandwiched in between other buildings on a small street.
Our host parents were very welcoming to Aimee and me. I think they were very surprised with how much luggage we had since we each had another extra suitcase filled with school supplies for the school but we got it all to fit. Communicating with them was not as difficult as I thought it would be and I am surprised how much Spanish I am remembering and am able to pick up on. Our parents are very nice and we also have a 9-year-old sister, Maria Rosa, and a 19-year-old brother, Carlos Eduardo, that we met when we got to the house. There is also an 18-year-old girl, Cristina, that doesn’t live here but we talked to her on the phone. Our house is very big and nice. There are three floors but they are all open so you can see the basement from the top floor; very pretty. Aimee and I are sharing a room, which is a comfort, especially these first few nights. We gave the family our gifts and talked/watched TV with them. We went to bed pretty early though because we were EXHAUSTED.
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| One of the many pictures out of the van window on the way up the mountains into Cuenca! |
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| A little look at the huge market we walked around in. There were so many fruits and different foods!! |
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| My almuerzo in Gualaceo. It was a whopping $2.50 and I also got juice and soup! |
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| The view out of Aimee and my bedroom! It's beautiful! That is all Cuenca. |
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| This is a little of the school where I teach. It is all open air and only the classrooms are actually inside. Lights are rarely used because there is so much natural light, which is amazing! |
Wednesday was our first day to go to CEDEI primary school (where we will be teaching). We had to be at the bus stop at 7:15 am so it was an early morning. Our dad took us in the car and our mom walked to pick us up when we got back so that we knew the way. It’s about a 5-10 minute walk for us down a huge hill (and oh yes, we get to walk back UP that huge hill twice everyday; we are going to be in such good shape by the end of this trip!) We had a great welcome by both the national and international teachers when we arrived at the school. Then all of the students and staff gathered at the beginning of the day to welcome us to their school and the older children sang us a song; it was so sweet it almost made me get teary-eyed. At CEDEI they have national (Spanish-speaking) teachers that each have their own class/grade that they are with and then there are international (English-speaking) teachers that move from class to class teaching only in English. The children learn their math and language in both Spanish and English and it is so neat to see them grow in their second language! Even in the young grades they understand a lot of English, even if they are not able to speak a lot back to the teacher in English. We are observing classes this week so we are getting to see each grade level at least once and there is a 3K type program all the way up to what would be 6th grade in the states. It is so crazy how different the structure of the classroom is than in the U.S. U.S.
After observing we got bussed back to the bus stop by our houses and we had lunch with our families. Everyone leaves work around 1:30 to return home for lunch and resting before they return in the afternoon from 3-6. It’s neat to have everyone at home for a big lunch. Then our host mom took us on the bus (because the family only has one car) down to CEDEI where we take classes in the afternoon. We got to have a city-tour of Cuenca
Thursday was a lot like yesterday for the first half of the day. We have to be at the bus stop at 7 am each morning and we walk now so it is very early mornings. Another day of observation so it kind of drug on but the children are such sweeties! I got to see the little kids in a dance class and it was awesome!
We walked back down to class tonight and of course stopped at the ice cream shop since we walk right past it and some of the girls got cones. We had our Ecuadorian culture class with Bill tonight so he took us down to “El Mercado” where we were able to walk around to the different stands and do some shopping. That is definitely a dangerous place for us to be because we all really enjoyed the shopping and will return often I’m sure! We were all pretty impressed with our bartering skills so hopefully they’ll just continue to improve and we’ll get lots of things for little price! J Then when Bill was finally able to drag us back to class we watched a video he made of the girls’ experience from last year and that got me very excited and reminded me why I’m here!
We were all planning to Skype, email, blog, and such after class but we were having trouble with the internet so some of us were able to but not everyone. I got to Skype with my family, which was great because I miss them so much but by the time we got the internet figured out we didn’t have a lot of time to use the internet before we had to head home. We used the taxi by ourselves for the first time and it was super easy so we were very proud of ourselves. We are starting to feel like big girls as we become more and more independent!! Haha Another night of pure exhaustion, though. Maybe at some point they will give us a break so we can sleep; I only hope!
Today we had another long day at the primary school just observing. We brought two suitcases of our school supplies and it was awesome to see the teachers get so excited over it!! After school we went out to eat downtown with many of the national and international teachers so that was fun. Then we went and ordered some CEDEI clothes. It was a crazy experience driving in the taxis and walking around downtown but we had an experienced international teacher with us so that was awesome. They are all so sweet! We just got done with our first dance class that was super fun and will be a good workout!! :)
Just a few culture shock notes: First of all, the plumbing system in Ecuador
The driving down here is super crazy as well! There are speed limits and stop signs but they really don’t mean anything. There are no lanes and everyone just drives as they want to with lots of honking to communicate. It’s super crazy and I would never be able to drive here; riding is scary enough! Cars get so super close to each other you would squish your arm if you didn’t have it inside the car! Don’t worry, I am very careful, though!
Sorry this is so long but we do not get a lot of time to blog. It will be a few days before my next post because we are gone this weekend but I’m sure I’ll have many stories by the time I post again! Miss you all and take care! Ciao XOXO
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