Long Entry

Hey everyone. I hope that this finds you well.

First off, to everyone that I said that I´d get back in touch, I´m sorry that I haven´t. I wanted to start this blog a long time ago, but this is literally the first time that I´ve had to catch my breath. I´ll give you a short recap, and from now, I´ll be able to update every few days, or every time something interesting happens. Also, I apologize for lacking pictures, they are coming, I promise.

So, for the first 10 days that I´ve been here, I was in Quito doing orientation type things. Quito was fun, but I´m glad that I have left. It is super chaotic and crazy, which is really fun and exciting, however it is very loud and INCREDIBLY polluted. I´m glad to be in Ibarra now, a town of 80k to 100k, which, to use the ecua word, much more ¨tranquilo¨.

Orientation was really busy, but for the most part really fun. We were given a few treats. First, we had a tour of old colonial Quito which was really beautiful. I go to go inside the presidential palace and many churchs, including one which every square inch was goldplated. We also went to the Guayasamin Museum. Guayasamin is Ecuador´s most famous painter. He focused on painting the suffering of Latin America and else where. I really liked his work, and the museum was on top of a hill, so it had an amazing view of Quito. Also, went to the Mitad del Mundo, or equator. It is a huge tourist trap, but a very fun huge tourist trap.

After the 10 days, I headed on the bus to Ibarra where I´m going to spend the next 7 8 9? weeks. I´m going to be teaching at a city funded institute called CECAMI, which focuses on job training etc., of which English is very important. Currently, there are two year long World Teach volunteers, Ally and Marni. There is another summer volunteer with me, Alexis, too. CECAMI is a very good placement in the essence that it is really well equipped. I have my own room, a library, CD, DCD, TV, computer, printer, etc. The office is horribly disorganized, but hey, that is the Ecua way.

I teach 2 maybe 3 classes. Today, was the first day. I teach Basic II, which means that the students have had some exposure, so that know a random smattering of words, and can do present tense well. Past and Future they know the words, but have trouble putting it all together. I teach a morning (mostly 12-16 year olds) and an afternoon (most 15-25 year olds). I might be teaching a night class. Only two people signed up, and none of them showed up today. (There is always a huge discrepancy between who signs up and who shows up, becuase being city funded, the tuition is very very low). If i dont have a night class, I´´ll probably switch off with Alexis every so often with her night class, becuase she has a morning, afternoon, and night.

Anyway, teaching went really well, better than any possible way I could have imagined it. Of course it is the first day only, but the kids were really well behaved, I´ve never been in a classroom where they were so well behaved. Also, the kids are very motivated, probably becuase English is the most useful thing. I had them fill out some basic info, and I´d say abouit 70% of them wrote under ¨why do you wnat to learn english¨, they said ¨becuase I want to move to the united states¨ So, hopefully that will keep them very motivated. While it´s the first day, I´m pretty optimistic that the dreaded ¨classroom management¨ won´t be too hard.

So Ibarra, Ibarra is a really beautiful city. Very colonial, and well preserved. It is an a valley surrounded by lush, terraced moutnains, and to the south, Volcan Imbabura, which is a very inspirational sight. I live about 15 minutes walking south of Ibarra Centro, and about 20 minutes walking west of CECAMI.

My host family has been great. I live with a mom (Ligia, 53) a sister (Grace 23), and maid (Maria 35), and a brother (Erik, 21) and a puppy, Camilla. The father moved to the US a year ago, and works at a resort in Oneonta, NY. The mom is unemployed, but is studying accounting at the local university here. She likes to put on this really tough, strict veneer, but she is a softee. Grace is really sweet. She is finishing her thesis about eco tourism, and volunteers a lot the church-community center. Maria is the maid and really nice. I have to admit, I´m very spoiled. I wake up to fresh juice of some exotic fruit, amazing omlettes, and fresh otu of the oven bread and cream cheese. I finsih my run to a huge lunch (the main meal here) to soup, chicken, rice with tomatoes and avocados, and this toasted dried corn. The food is unbelievable. Erik is a roadie for a band and lives in Quito, so I´m not going to see him that much, but he as around this weekend.

So my host family has been taking me around a lot.

Friday
Friday night I went to my host cousins graduation affair at an hosteria (kind of like a hotel and a ranch). The food was good. Very sullen affair for a graduation party. Everyone just kind of sat there and whispered to their neighboor. Afterwards, I went to a bar with my host brother. My host brother played guitar there, so I hung out with his friends. I´´m not good enough to kind of just listen to informal conversations yet, but when I¨m talked to (a little slower), I can usually provide a good answer quickly. I´m learning all the phrases and quichwa (the indigneous language) words (about 15% of the nouns used here are quichwa like niño-guagua, lago-cocha, mappa-coscqui). It was fun just to kind of pick up the atomosphere. Also, a trend started that night that has not stopped, in the fact that a)everyone gets drunk here all the time, and b)I dont have to pay for any drinks nor order them. Like anytime my glass would get empty, the waiter, without me asking, would bring another and refuse payment. This has happened like everywhere I go. Althought I assume it will stop once people know me.

Saturday
This week is Inti Raymi, or the Festival of San Juan. Inti Raymi is the most important holiday in the indiginous culture. It is timed with the solstice, and worhips their god, the sun. When the Spanish came, upon fear of death, they changed the name to Festival of San Juan, but still celebrate like they would celebrate Inti Raymi.

The next part is copied from an email, and I dont have the time or desire to edit for spelling :

ok, sofestial of san juan, everyone gets drunk (off of some warm drink made withalchol frmo sugar cane that you buy from big vats on the street) anddanbces on the street around a predetermined block, but their dancing iskindof like taking tons of baby steps and lifitng ur knees, hard to describe.and there are three houses with courtyards which everyone goes into, andthen dances in circles. ion the courtyards ur form a circle putting yourhands on the hips of the person infront of u (tehre is no such thing as personal space, and everyboyd is very physically affectionate, which i like), around the musicians. and start circling the musicians doingthis baby step dance thing and then every once in a hilwe, someoneshouts ¨vuelta vuelta vuelta¨and the circles change directions. all ofthis is while a couple poepe dressed in masks whip ur knees lightly withrope. and then eveyrone drinks the hot drink, and does the dance-marchthing in the streets to the next of thethree courtyards. and repeat repeat from about 6pm to 6am for a wholeweek. although the whole town comes out only for fri and saturdya night,wnhile the hardcrore idigineous do it for the whole week.

suinday, i went to church. it was like a new age gospel evangelic churchin the states. it was only catholic in name. all the songs were iwth aband and tbe asptor stood upwitha guitar leading the congreatgion, and there was a screen with aprojector projecting the words with i amges of jesus. meanwhile, eveyrsings and dances with prechoreogeraphed arm movements to the songs. thisis interpsed throughout the service. a dance roup of jovenes from perucame and did some peruvian dances. sopme kids did a rap. the wholle thingwas fun, except for the fact that it lasted 3 hours!!!. demasiado. way toolong.monday, i orally interviewed students to plac ethem into classes. andprepared. after, io went out to dinner with twh two other yearnlong wtvolunteers and an ex-pat that lives here. it was good, and nice to speakenglihs. it is so exhausting speaking spanish all the time. but learnedsome more ropes. like eveyrwhere is 25cents a minute to teh US, except forthis hotel is 12c a minute, and good places to run, etc, stuff like that.

So anyway, that is everything in a nutshell. Let me know how all of your summers are going. I promise to put up pictures, and update regularly (and more indepth) from now on.

Hasta luego.