Saturday, September 15, 2012


I feel like my life right now is totally revolving around work and school! Whew, it’s exhausting getting back into the work/school routine. I’m really, really enjoying it though! I’ve been at this teaching thing for several years now, so I need to work to keep things fresh and new! I never want to be the type of teacher that just pulls out a lesson of the file cabinet that she’s been using year after year…the kids’ excitement, curiosity and love of learning make my job both challenging and fun. One thing I’m doing to keep my practices fresh and new is using my SMART board much more this year. I try to use it for everything! It’s a whole world out there because I can create my own lessons plus there’s a teacher exchange where teachers from around the world can post lessons and we can all use each others ideas. The kids LOVE to manipulate it and it immediately ups the “coolness” of whatever content I’m teaching…you think place value in math is boring?? Think again when you use a SMART board to manipulate numbers. It’s actually really fun (well, if you are 7 years old, it is J) I’ve also been doing lots of hands on science experiments-our science unit right now is weather, so the kids built their own weather stations in order to record the weather each day (rain gauge, wind gauge and thermometers) They made wind wheels and had a blast experimenting with placement of the wheels, wind directions and running, skipping, jumping with them. Ahhhh to be a kid…

But of course, school/work isn’t the only thing going on! I’m enjoying my yoga classes again and running with friends and meeting new folks. I think I wrote about the weather last week…but the skies have been just gorgeous! Bright blue skies all day long. I’m taking advantage of all the outside time I can while it lasts…I also remember all too clearly the cold rainy days of winter in Quito. Summer can last as long as possible, as far as I’m concerned!

I hope you all are well!

Love, Rachel

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Back to School and Forest Fires


Hi Blog Readers

Whew! First week of school-DONE! The kids are great, but as always, out of the school routines after being away from school for a few months. The first few weeks of school are all about getting to know each other, establishing routines, etc. I’ve got 13 students from all over the world! We have representation from the USA, Argentina, Italy, Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Mexico and Colombia. Quite a little U.N. So school is going well…

In other news…

The weather here has been so dry! There are forest fires burning up in the mountains around Quito. You can see the towers of smoke, helicopters flying over to put out the fires. I don’t think they were intentionally set, I think it’s just that there has been zero rain for months and months and the earth is parched (as is my skin!!!-if there was ever a place for Lubriderm lotion marketing, Quito in August and September would be the place!)

Que mas…life is good, I’m enjoying teaching and hanging out with friends and going for some good runs.

Let me know what you’re up to!

Love, Rachelita (as my uncle Catfish has grown fond of calling me J)

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Happy New School Year!


Happy New Year! (For teachers, September is a NEW YEAR) After a break…I’m back to weekly blogging. You guys hold me accountable, please! Sometimes I feel that the ordinary details of my life aren’t really very interesting…however, I know that these ordinary details aren’t so ordinary to you guys in the big US of A (hopefully you understand).

For example, I’ve written that I live in a fairly affluent part of Quito. I don’t have a problem with this, I love it! It’s safe and there are restaurants and clean streets, etc. However, because there is wealth, there are also beggars on the streets, a lot more lately! I hope it does NOT become ordinary for me to walk past them and not notice, although I’m afraid that it is becoming ordinary. I try and give leftover food to the beggars, so that nothing goes to waste, but obviously this is not going to lift them out of poverty…

Tomorrow is the first day of school! Even though I’ve been teaching now for several years, there is still so much anticipation, can I really do this again? Will they like me? What if I get a child who is totally uncontrollable? (That’s never happened…but) And then there’s the anxiety dreams. Last night I dreamt that my second grade class was made up of 15 year old lacrosse boys, you know the types, too cool for school… I had planned my 7 year old songs and games and stories. They were TOTALLY unimpressed with me!

I did meet a few students on Friday…they were all so sweet and cute and eager to meet their new teacher. The families were very nice as well. I’m sure it will be fine! It’s just the what ifs!

SO far, I’ve got 13 students which is a GREAT class size…I’ll write more about the class once I actually get to know them!

In other news…but dear aunt and uncle, Chris and Janaki have been here in Ecuador for several months, traveling and getting to know the country. Janaki returns home, but Chris will be here for a while, volunteering in a village near Otavalo. I’d like to visit him on weekends I have free…life at my school is NOT the real Ecuador, so I need to get back into the rural villages. J I might help with some medical translation too, we’ll see how that pans out.

The weather here has been beautiful! We are definitely into summer…bright blue skies, exquisite views of the volcanos.

Hope everyone is doing well! I love you, Rachel

Monday, June 18, 2012


Yes, we are STILL in school! The funny thing about there being no significant weather changes is that the kids’ behavior is not so raucous as I’m used to at the end of the year. Sure, kids are still anxious to be on break, but I feel that with the noticeable shift from Winter to Spring to Summer, bad behavior is through the roof (at least in my experiences!) So I have 9 and a half days (but who’s counting) with my little munchkins. When I lose my patience (as all of us do, some days especially at the end of the year) I remind myself that I want my kiddos to remember Ms. Rachel in a good way, right? No, certainly they will, I’m only joking J We’ve got some fun projects to keep them hooked till the bitter end. Meanwhile, I’m expected to pack up my classroom, while keeping the kids in their routines. I anticipate lots of movies those last few days as I have to return all the library books and pack up all the centers and manipulatives…as well as donate all the old school supplies.

In other news, I’m counting down the days for my parents and aunt and uncle to see my favorite spots. SO very excited for that.

I’m blogging from El Monte (one of the places we’ll hit in a few weeks) with a bunch of teachers from Cotopaxi. We all do yoga after school on Thursdays, so we’re doing an intense weekend of yoga, hiking, hot tubbing. Not a bad way to end the school year, huh?

And to all the daddies…happy father’s day! Especially to mine J Love, Rach

Sunday, June 3, 2012

An Afternoon Lunch

Hi! Just a quick update from me. Last weekend I was invited to the country home of one of my students. It’s about an hour outside of Quito…lots of families have their country homes, a place to escape the city on the weekends. This family, from Lebanon has a beautiful (palace is one way to describe it!) home- way over the top-a pool, sauna, outdoor grill, pizza oven, outdoor seating all overlooking the Andes.

Claudine, the wife, loves to cook and entertain, so she went all out to prepare the best foods of her country. We started with a salad course, hummus, handmade pita, empanadas, fresh fruit. Then was the meat course-marinated chicken and lamb on the grill with a lemon and garlic. The seasonings were perfect…Then a huge platter of rice with almonds, lamb, pistachios. When we thought that was enough…she brings out three desserts. Layers of crepes with fresh peaches and cream, pistachio flan and chocolate cookies and finally Arabic coffee! A feast indeed…

 Along with me, was the director of our school and his wife, another Lebanese couple and an Ecuadorian couple. I think there were about 10 of us in all. It was an interesting mix of Spanish, English, and Arabic (Spanish being the unifying language…although not really the mother tongue of any of us!). The conversation didn’t get too deep. I asked about the violence in their part of the world, with Syria being in the news so much and Lebanon being so close. According to the family, Lebanon is peaceful and they are planning to spend the summer months there. Of course, it’s their country and they speak of it as a paradise. I believe the man is a cloth merchant…he’s been here for years and years, but like immigrants everywhere longs for his country and maintains his traditions. They did speak about the times during the war when they had run through the streets to avoid getting shot. That’s when he decided to leave and come to Ecuador to sell his cloth. Actually, I learned that there is a small population of Lebanese here…mostly merchants, business people and that Ecuador has had two presidents of Lebanese descent. All this was to illustrate that “Lebanese are the most successful people where ever in the world they go.”

I felt blessed to have been invited by this wonderful family for a great afternoon of conversation and delicious food.

Monday, May 28, 2012


I guess it’s officially the start of summer in the US with Memorial Day and all. It’s feeling very summer like here in Quito too! Although we don’t have marked seasons like countries in the Northern Hemisphere, the weather does change…now we’re entering into “verano” where we have bright blue Quito skies, cool nights, intense sun. You don’t really sweat because the air is cool and dry, but the sun beating down on you can get intense. Quitenos always wear hats (a habit I’ve gotten into) when they’re outside in the summer. I did a long run over the weekend, I started when it was still a cool morning, but by the time I finished the sun was so strong and just relentlessly beating down on me! The juice stand at the end of the run was perfect! Fresh squeezed orange juice with carrot juice too.

We had Friday off due to the Batalla de Pichincha holiday, so I went to my favorite little town of Banos. Ecuadorians really take advantage of long weekends, the bus terminal was full! Normally you can just show up, hop on the bus and go. This time, I had to wait and hour and a half for the next empty bus. But once I got there it was well worth it. Good hikes, good weather, nice people watching, great massage, good conversations with new friends.

PARQUE CAROLINA-I’ve written about this place many times…part of living in a concrete jungle is having green space. I am very fortunate to live just blocks from a HUGE public park. It’s my refuge when I need to lie in the grass, listen to the birds, stare up at the trees, go for a run without worrying about traffic. During the work week, the park’s a great place to go, but the weekend is THE place for people watching (one of my favorite pastimes). Just a few highlights:

-AEROBICS-So most Ecuadorians are not big exercisers, taking the tranquilo route most times. Weekends there’s aerobics in the park. Mostly “Jane Fonda” type moves, although lately they’ve been adding in Zumba. I’m not much of an aerobics person, I find it kind of boring, but I love to watch! Young women doing the moves, old men doing the moves, little kids doing the moves. The man leading the moves dressed in a  skintight bright turquoise unitard. It reminds me of a bad comedy movie.

-FOOD STANDS-All this exercise is sure to work up an appetite…and the park’s the best place to get good, cheap, food. Really anything you could ever want is there! Healthy stuff like fresh fruit stands, watermelon, mango, papaya, pineapple, fresh squeezed fruit juices, whole coconuts for coconut water. Then there’s the fried meat, mixed with lupine beans, plantains, and potatoes that’s another favorite. There are also ice creams, cotton candy, even giant hot dogs. Really, if you search for a food at the park, you can find it.

-STREET DANCING-If you are a foreigner, it’s easy to stereotype Ecuadorians, but just like in any country, there are so many sub-cultures. One of them is this small street-dancing street culture. It’s mostly 13-14 year old boys doing these incredible moves, I can’t even describe. Some are robotic, but then they flow. They meet up in the park with their boom box and have these informal competition with other street crews. It’s quite amazing to watch them.
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-FAMILY SOCCER GAMES-Soccer is by far the most popular sport here. Although there are tennis, basketball, volleyball courts, the grassy areas are just flooded with families playing pick-up games of soccer. (Then there are the more organized teams with jerseys). I love that everyone plays the game. For folks that by just looking at them seem very non-athletic, they’ve got the moves! I love watching the indigenous women in their sandals and straight skirts making goals J

Saturday, May 19, 2012

planting trees

It’s mid-May…this school year has flown by, although I still have 6 weeks left. We don’t end till the very end of June. I will be ready when it comes, but for now, just trying to finish off the school year strong!

I took my 2nd graders on a tree planting field trip last week. It was awesome!!! My students are wonderful, I love, them, I really do! But they live such different lives than what I’m used to. It’s so fun to expose them to different ideas, the natural world and to tell them that, “No, Ms. Rachel didn’t have a nanny, driver, body guard or maid and somehow she still survived!” Anyway…our tree planting field trip came out of some great discussions with the kids. Our last unit of inquiry was how we can be local contributors to our world. The kids researched famous world changers…then we made some applications to their lives…anyway. We had a bake sale to raise money for a charity. Then we had to decide what to do with the funds. Some said, “lets give it to the poor kids” OK, well so we give them money, they eat for a month…then what? Then we talked about saving the earth and making a sustainable change…planting trees benefits everyone. They kind of got it, I think! Even if they didn’t, I’m planting some seeds of ideas that they will think about and remember!

On our trip, we traveled about an hour outside of Quito to a deforested area that is being re-forested with native species plants. The holes were already dug for us, (thank goodness!) but the kids got to put in the fertilizer, dirt, mix it all around, put in the seedlings, dump dirt and fill the hole. A city kids’ dream come true!!! I heard all sorts of comments like…there’s so many bugs here, oooh cool, look at this plant, wow, we’re on the top of the world here! that pig stinks! It really was the first time that some of these kids had been out of the city! We will return next year and see the progress of the trees. Great day with the kids.

Love you all! Rachel

Sunday, May 6, 2012

I must be pretty well settled in because I’m having a hard time thinking of new topics to write about on this blog! Not much seems “new” to me anymore and thus worth writing about…but in case you’re interested in the minutia of my daily life, here goes a quick post!

-I’m reading a really fascinating book called “Before You Know Kindness.” It’s an actual book, versus a Kindle version, I picked it up at a hostel on one of my weekends away.

-Marathon training is going steady. I have to remind myself to sloooooooooooow down. It’s not about going fast, it’s about going looooooong. I’m up to 16 miles, next weekend is 18. I’m fortunate to have found a core group of 4 women who are also training for marathons around the time of mine. Good conversation on long runs.

-“summer” is finally here in Quito. We’ve got the bright blue skies, beautiful views of the mountains and snow-capped volcanoes. We’re still getting tremendous afternoon downpours,  but at least it’s sunny during the day and not cloudy, gray and cold! Improves my mood greatly J

-My students are great! We just finished our global contributors unit…the kids chose a famous person to research, write a brief report then write a speech in the first person. Then they made costumes and props and we did a wax museum for parents and other students. Great learning going on!

-Hope you all are well and enjoying Spring!

Love,
Rachel

Monday, April 30, 2012

It's May!

Wow, I can't believe it's May. The year has gone by really quickly. I have just two more months of school, then my family comes to visit for a few weeks. I'm going to show them the gems I've discovered throughout my travels here in Ecuador...and I then return home for a few weeks of R&R in July and August.

May 1 is May Day or Labor Day throughout most of the world. So, we've got a random Tuesday off of school. (I wish it were a Monday, but oh well!)

Why do I love Banos? I come here at least every 6 weeks. It's perfect for me! A tiny little hamlet nestled in the green rolling hills. Full of art, really good restaurants catoring to gringos (hey that's me!), but also a mix of Ecuadorians. Many mestizos and indigenous folk come to Banos for the healing of the baths. You can always hear Quichua being spoken on the streets as well as English, Italian, French and of course Espanol. It's a cool international mix of folks. The people watching is amazing. (Also, I'm always a sucker for a great massage, which Banos has plenty of affordable options). Hammocks are plenty, hiking is great. A wonderful place to unwind for a few days.

What else can I update you on...school is going well! I'm trying not to get to used to having just 11 students (I know, other teachers, please don't hate me!) Our current Unit of Inquiry is all about Global and Local Contributers. The students are researching a famous person who contributed to the world and are going to be doing a Wax Museum for other students and their parents. Also, we organized a Bake Sale to raise funds for a local contributors project. We're going to be reforesting a farm a little bit outside of Quito in a desert area. I figured this would be the most sustainable thing to do with just $130. We had a good conversation with the kids about waht to do with the money. I thought it was great that many of my students offered "Let's give it to the poor kids". OK, so we go out on the streets and give them money. And they buy rice and beans. And they eat for a few weeks. Then what? The kids didn't know...
When I offered the tree planting option that would last for 40-50 years, clean the air and help everyone, they were convinced that perhaps my option was better. I still want to figure out a way for them to connect to "the poor kids" as they call them. But now it not the best time. I'll keep thinking and welcome your ideas too!
We've also got Student-Led conferences this week which I think is a nice change from the typical teacher-led conferences. Students have been collecting work samples, art and other projects in a portfolio to present and showcase to their parents. Even the kids who struggle have a chance to be proud of work they've done.
Happy Spring!
Love,
Rachel

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Not a whole lot new going on here...just want to keep writing to keep you all informed and to keep myself in the routine of writing!

In the world of work...
International Festival was a great success yesterday. We had booths from all over the world including: Jordan, Israel, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, China, USA, Canada, Russia, Chile, Spain. At the booths were foods prepared from the country, parents dressed in typical dress, music, dancing. It was a great celebration of the diversity of the school.

Zoo Trip-I also took my class to the Quito Zoo on Thursday. Although I'm probably ruined forever for zoos because I lived so close to the National Zoo, it was OK for a developing country. There were lots of monkeys and tropical birds. Also a deer exhibit which I thought was really weird. And a random Kangaroo. But my city kids were loving seeing all the animals and any learning outside the classroom is a great day!

Labor Day May 1-That's the next Holiday we have. It's a really big deal here, probably because most people work so hard, so it's nice when the government recognizes them with a rare day off.

Planning the Quito Marathon on July 8. I love running, but it's tough in altitude. I've got a great group of women to run long with so that helps. Also the iPod helps too! It won't be a PR by any means, it wll be a challenge to finish 26.2 miles at altitude...that's the goal right now.

Rain rain go away! I miss the bright blue Quito skies! It's been gray and cloudy for months now. We do get the occasional glimpse of the Andean sky, for about 20 minutes each day...please summer, come soon!

Two more months of school...then summer break :-) I'm excited to plan a great trip for my parents and aunt and uncle. Then I'll spend a few weeks at home and in Colorado. Till then, must finish the school year strong!!!

Love you all!
Rachel

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Spring Break in the Amazon

Spring Break in the Amazon



While others are relaxing on the beach, I’m here in the Amazon for Semana Santa break (Holy Week). I’m at Yachana Lodge, one of the jungle lodges that is accessible by flying (or driving) to Coca, then taking a motorized canoe down the Napo River (a main tributary to the Amazon River) for 2-3 hours, depending on how high the river is. Yachana means “teaching” in Quichua and the main focus of this lodge is on education, both for the tourists as well as for the local community. You might recall, I spent the November holiday at the Amazon Sani Lodge, but that was a completely different experience (primary forest, a lot more isolated, camping in tents). This place, Yachana, is like jungle lodge Hilton. I’ve got a very comfortable room, hot shower, first class bed and pillows, ceiling fan, electricity, even wireless! Beautiful bathroom with views overlooking the Napo River, a hammock on my back porch. So, it turns out to be a relaxing place after all!



Anyway…Yachana was founded by Douglas McMeekin, a businessman from Kentucky who went bankrupt in the 1980’s, became depressed and disillusioned, came to the Amazon to visit friends, met Juan, a native guide and founded Yachana. The foundation he started has many parts. The most important for income generation is the tourism (which I’m a part of). It’s not for profit, so all the money from the tours goes to support Yachana Technical High School, a boarding school for jungle kids. The school is top quality, teaching eco-tourism, English, among other subjects. I believe many of the teachers are from the US and UK. The kids who graduate from Yachana High School go onto work in tourism around the Amazon and all over Ecuador. Some of them have also won scholarships to do a semester abroad in the US or Europe, almost unheard of for students in the Amazon, where schools are the worst in the country. So, Douglas has done amazing things for the community. The funds also support the medical clinic in the neighboring community. I’m glad all the money I’m paying for this trip is going to a good cause.



So, let me give you an overview of my tour. Day 1-I took a short flight from Quito to Coca. Coca is an oil boom city in the Amazon. Hot, humid, dirty, mostly oil workers live there (in other words, not a place a tourist wants to visit!) Getting out of Coca is a relief when you board the motorized canoe. Even though it’s hot, the canoe is going at such a speed that the breeze feels great! I was even able to take a short snooze…anyway once you arrive at Yachana Lodge, you are greeted with hot towels and passion fruit juice and little snacks (in our case, fried plantains with avocado and cheese). Then we were shown our rooms and given the chance to unpack and rest. After that was a short hike to the Mirador or overlook where you could see the forest and the huge Napo River. Then was a delicious three course dinner and time for conversation after dinner. It’s usually an early bed and early wake up in order to beat the sun on the excursions.



Day 2 you visit a Shaman or traditional medicine man/healer. I’ve gotten “cleansed” before so it wasn’t really anything new for me, but for the others in the group, they were very into it. He chants and brushes you with leaves. I don’t really feel like I’ve got any ailments (a good thing!), so I didn’t feel anything different after words, but one elderly man in the group with back problems reported later that his back felt so much better after the shaman worked his magic. Let’s see what else…we took some more hikes through the jungle our guide told us the medicinal properties of all the plants. We saw a pack of tamarins (small “pocket monkeys”) scurrying through the trees, playing with each other. So cute! Also some prehistoric birds, parrots, toucans. Pretty amazing stuff.



Day 3-It was an early wake up (they blew through a conch shell as our alarm clock) for breakfast and hiking. We hiked through the Yachana reserve which Douglas bought up. His plan is to keep buying it, in order to preserve more of the jungle. Although it is not primary forest, you still see an amazing variety of plants and animals, insects, reptiles, etc. They say that the Yasuni National Park is one of the most bio-diverse area in the entire world. After our long, hot sweaty hike, we got the traditional meal. Fish steamed in banana leaves, yuca cooked over the fire, hearts of palm. Delicious and fresh.



It’s pretty common for a nap in the hammock after lunch. Then we did tubing down the Napo River. They tied up a bunch of inter tubes and we went floating down the current. It wasn’t very strong current so very relaxing. Our last meal together was spaghetti with bolognese sauce. Surprisingly good!



We again had an early morning wake up, a shorter canoe ride down the Napo, a taxi ride to the airport and a 20 minute flight back to Quito.



It was a great trip, I feel very relaxed, recharged and ready to tackle the last few months of school! J Check out my photos on Facebook.

Monday, April 2, 2012

the BEACH

For Spring Break, I’m here at Hosteria Alandaluz in the province of Manabi. It’s best described as an eco-lodge right on the beach. I’m here with a few friends…we’ve got the whole wild, deserted beach to ourselves! It kind of reminds me of the California Pacific Coast in the US, with huge waves, rocky shoreline.

Working Ecuadorians get Thursday and Friday off work, so only lucky folks like teachers are off the whole week! In a bit I’ll post some photos on my facebook page. Anyway…the beach is about a 3 mile stretch of beautiful sand, pebbles and on either side of the three mile stretch the waves crash against the rocks. It’s increbilly beautiful.

The Hosteria itself is not in its hay day. I got recommendations from a friend to come here. It’s fine, but not the best place I’ve stayed. Seems they’ve come under new management recently. The electricity was on and off, the food was mediocre at best (meat and rice and bread), no hot water the first day, the swimming pools were dirty. But the positives…The layout itself is gorgeous. There are cabanas tucked away in the forest, there’s a beautifully constructed main room with wireless access, comfy couches, hammocks, the landscaping is beautiful with coastal tropical plants and flowers, bridges, lots of butterflies and tropical birds.


I’m heading back to Quito tomorrow to repack then it’s off to the Amazon for another jungle adventure. I won’t have internet access (obviously!) but will be blogging about my trip and will post that plus photos when I return.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Just some Random Tidbits...

Blogging about life in Ecuador and other stuff…please these are just random tidbits from my life…

Talent Show at Academia Cotopaxi is tonight. It will mostly be high school kids doing goofy acts, but some are actually good! Reminds me of playing the piano in the Montreat Talent Show J

Protests-We didn’t have school yesterday because the city of Quito shut down all private and public schools. The reason? Indigenous marches in the city. Some groups have been walking to Quito since March 8. A two week journey to the capital. They all descended to the Centro Historico to demand something…not sure what. Anyway it was totally peaceful, kind of a party atmosphere, people sharing food, stories, etc. So thankful to live in a peaceful country. I guess the city of Quito wanted to be safe rather than sorry, so I understand. And hey, I’m not complaining about an unexpected day off of work! In the US we have snow days, here we have potential coups days! I was able to do all these small little tasks that require businesses to be open (challenging when they all close at 4pm and I work until at least 5pm every day!)

Let’s see, these are all just small little tidbits…if you’re bored, you can stop reading J

Easter eggs…yes, we are allowed to say THE WORD here at my school! We’re even allowed to have (gasp) an EASTER EGG HUNT!!! So, instead of buying the kit to dye the eggs, we’re going to use the plants from our class garden and make natural dyes for the eggs. Fun, especially for 7 year olds. We’ll do dyes made from beets, carrots, blackberries and onion skins. I’ll take photos.

Animal Presentations-I’m such a proud teacher! My kids have written their own plays explaining how to save endangered animals. They’ll be performing in front of the entire elementary school next Friday. It’s been a really fun unit to teach. The kids are so into it and there are endless possibilities to teaching-reading, writing, measurement, other math concepts…

Weather-Spring started to come (at least Spring, Quito style), now we’re back to downpours every afternoon…boo!!! I’m ready for the bright blue skies. Come quickly, please!

Kichwa Class-I’m excited to start (Quichua) Kichwa lessons. It will be every Saturday morning for 3 months. A big commitment, however I’ve mastered Spanish and for me, Quichua is the next most practical language to learn. I got a good base during Peace Corps, however, I’ve lost a lot of it. It’s a pretty simple language in its grammatical structure, I just need folks to practice with! I’ll keep you posted…

Happy Spring! Love Rachel J

Sunday, March 18, 2012


So, just got done with 3 days of workshops. Wow, it was great! I’m definitely a lifelong learner, which I suppose is a great attribute to have in the teaching profession. So many cool ideas and great networking opportunities. We had workshops given by teachers working in International/American schools all over S. America. Venezuela, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina. Great diversity of views too which is refreshing. I was really proud of my school (even though I just got here) that we hosted the entire thing. (Next year is in Buenos Aires-maybe I can go J), so it was a pretty big deal. I’m invigorated by all the great ideas I was exposed to. It’s a great feeling.

Saint Patrick’s Day came and went here…no surprise as you could probably count the Irish descendents on one hand. ALthough with my students we did make green Swiss Chard omelets using the swiss chard that we grew in our class garden. It’s been really neat teaching through gardening, writing, scientific observations, measurement, using senses, the possibilities are endless!

Hmmm…what else? We’re continuing! Spring break is approaching J. The zoo trip got canceled…there’s lots of protests that have shut down major roads. Boo! Hopefully in April we’ll get to reschedule.

I think that’s about it. Love you all!

Sunday, March 11, 2012

On teaching the elite...

It’s March! I hear the weather back home is getting to be Spring-like! This is surely good news, although I also hear you all didn’t get much of a winter…

Weather here on the equator doesn’t change too much…also the time change doesn’t change either! Always a bit chilly at night in the mountains, warm, dry sun during the day. Sunrise at 6:30AM, sunset at 6:30PM. I like it though. I always tell the story of time change when I told my indigenous friends a few years ago that in the US, we have time changes. And their response was, “What? I don’t get it. The president gets on the radio and tells everyone just to change the clock? WOW! Now that is power! The power to change the time!

Let’s see, not a whole lot of news here…just some blabber

AASSA conference-Our school is hosting the annual conference of American International Schools in South America Administrators and Educators conference. We’ve now been preparing for this for over 2 years and it’s finally happening at the end of the week. We’ve got over 600 administrators and educators coming to Quito. They’ll stay at the Swiss Hotel and then come to Academia Cotopaxi during the 3 day conference for workshops, exhibitions, vendors, breaks, etc. As with all conferences, there are SO many logistics. I’m glad I’m not in charge! I’m excited to network with others around the continent and am proud that our school is hosting such a big event.

Teaching the elite-You all are well aware, because I’ve written about it now several times. I teach very wealthy children. Some of their tendencies are very difficult for me to deal with, but I’m learning lots of patience! For example, I overheard one of kids tell another, “My mom told me that girls just have to be pretty and boys just have to be smart and make a lot of money.” Hmmm…where does that leave me as their teacher?

I’ve recently had a realization. Although I think it feels much more “rewarding” teaching impoverished children like I had in Mo Co, I CAN make an impact among the future leaders of South America (as I am coming to think of my 2nd graders!) Academically, they are fine! They are MORE than fine! That’s not the challenge. Socially, behaviorally, emotionally is perhaps where I should be focusing more. Sharing, collaborating with others, LISTENING to what people have to say, cleaning up YOUR own mess, filling other’s buckets, being KIND, no exceptions. These are life lessons that although they seem basic, I think will go a long way in helping my students be kind, compassionate future government leaders, business leaders and just healthy global citizens. Whew. It actually feels really good to have found a new calling…and to think of my teaching in that sense. They GET the math, they GET the reading and the writing and the social studies. It’s the other stuff that I can teach them and hopefully make an impact on them.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Salinas de Guaranda

I hope you don’t think it’s all play and no work for me! Believe me, I work HARD during the week. However, I’m at a place in my life and in my teaching that I can get it all done in the week and have my weekends to do stuff I enjoy…namely traveling throughout this beautiful country! Who knows how long I’ll be here so I need to take advantage, right? (At least, that’s what I tell myself J)

Salinas de Guaranda is the place I’m visiting this weekend with a few girlfriends from work.

To get to this artisan village is no easy feat. You’ve got to go from Quito to Ambato to Guaranda, winding around the base of Chimborazo Volcano (the highest volcano on earth, if you measure from the center of the earth, since we’re on the equator). The road climbs over 12,000 feet into the high, desolate Andean paramo. You can see vicunas, llamas, alpacas, grazing on the brown grasses. Unfortunately for us, it was a cloudy day and we couldn’t see Chimborazo in all its snowy glory, but just being in a totally different landscape was breathtaking.

So, we finally arrived to Salinas after about a 6 hour journey. Salinas is best described as a hamlet nestled in the green rolling hills. And when I say hills, that’s ALL there is! No flat places, you’re either going up up up or down down down (as my students would say!) Now, the unique thing about Salinas is that even though it’s located in the rural country side and mostly indigenous people live here, you’d think it was poor. But no. In the 1970’s an Italian Priest came to Salinas to help the folks organize themselves into cooperatives. Now the entire town is a cooperative of factories that make high quality artisan products both for national and international export. As a visitor, you can see each of the factories and see the folks hard at work making their crafts. Among the factories are: chocolates (truffles, aji, dark, light, you name it!), cheese (good European-style quality cheeses), weavings (sweaters, gloves, hats made of both wool and alpaca), dried mushrooms, soy products, soccer balls, ceramics, beauty products like natural soaps and shampoos made from the herbs of the area, etc. Even though we came on the weekend, the factories were still open, as it’s a tourist town. Small scale production was amazing to see. I especially liked going into the cheese storage rooms to see the aging cheeses some had been there 6 months or more. Also, seeing the women making their artisan chocolates with such care was a neat thing to see.

It’s quite amazing how successful Salinas has become and how well known among Ecuadorians. In fact, in my upper class neighborhood in Quito, there is a gourmet grocery store that sells all products from Salinas. So, it’s fun to see the people manufacturing these things. Now apart from the factories….

There is HIKING and lots of it. Not really trails, but rather winding roads that go up into the hills. I went on a couple of hikes with my friends. It was kind of like reliving some of my long walks as a Peace Corps Volunteer. The villagers were so friendly, greeting us with a buenas tardes. I was also thinking how lucky I am to live in a safe country, where Americans, as of yet are still welcomed. (Especially in light of the dangers of living in Central America-specifically Honduras and El Salvador). Ecuador is NOTHING like these countries. I have never ever ever felt anywhere near danger-probably the opposite of the spectrum. Folks in small towns are always so curious about where I’m from, what I’m doing here, what my country is like, etc.

My friends and I are staying at HOSTERIA EL REFUGIO, also run by the youth group in the town of Salinas. Because they are a cooperative, the youth take turns doing the cleaning, cooking, intake, etc in the hotel. It’s a simple place, but with huge rooms, windows on all the walls to look at the breathtaking Andean views, space heaters in all the rooms (thank goodness, because we’re at such high altitude, over 12,000 feet I think, it’s COLD at night! And a beautiful common room with a fire place, TV, books, etc. And delicious home cooked meals, served family style. Last night was cream of mushroom soup (local mushrooms), steamed trout, rice (of course) a nice salad and chamomile tea.

The trip back was pretty tranquilo, again winding around volcano Chimborazo, stopping along the way for photos. All in all, a great trip in a small little hamlet.

PS-I’ll post photos on my facebook page…it’s much easier.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Rio Muchacho for Carnaval

RIO MUCHACHO-Carnaval Holiday

For those of you who know me well, you’ll realize I’m NOT a party person! My perfect day is to go to bed early, get up early, go for a run or hike, read a book, eat some great meals, spend time with friends. But Carnaval is just the opposite, party all night, sleep all day, drink till you pass out. Sorry, but not my style. So, I’m trying something new. I’m here at Rio Muchacho Organic Farm. A real, working farm that invites both tourists (me) and volunteers (from weeks, to months) to experience coastal farming life. Pretty cool as an alternative to the beach parties of Carnaval, huh?

Some background about Rio Muchacho…the name is because the river is like a muchacho (a boy that just does what he wants). During the rainy season (NOW!!!) the river overtakes the road in many places. Building bridges is impossible because they will just get washed out. The river’s still passable in SUV’s 4X4 with tire chains, but most people who live in the community don’t have that luxury. They just wade through the river or go by horse. Luckily, since I’m the tourist and paid the big bucks, I got to ride in the SUV. The road was in such bad condition though! They get heavy, heavy downpours in the PM, then the sun comes out and just bakes all the gullies. I at first was a little bit angry because I had to wait an hour and a half at the main road for the truck to come get me. I was baking in the sun, then the rain came and no one told me what was going on. When the truck finally go there, I gave them my two cents. Then Dario, the owner and founder of Rio Muchacho, calmly looked at me and said, “Rachel, vivimos en circumstancias muy dificiles. We live in very difficult circumstances.” So, I calmed down, got in the truck and was so glad to finally be here!

So, the Rio Muchacho farm…It was founded by an Ecuadorian/Kiwi couple. Dario, the Ecuadorian was raised in Quito the son of upper middle class folks. He went to university to study agriculture. Then bought up the land that the farm is on. Before Dario, it was just pastureland for cattle, not a lot of plants or anything, really. The soil was destroyed there were no animals just waste land. But Dario saw so much potential in this land. He met his wife, Nichole a New Zealander working in a nearby town, also an agronomist. Together they formed a vision for Rio Muchacho Farm. They have really creative farming practices and have been very successful. The farm, of course has its crops, but a large part of their vision is education. They support a community school and bring in groups to teach about permaculture, organic farming, etc. Also, the tourism part of it. They offer 3 day tours (which I’m doing) kind of an overview of the farm, get to make chocolate and roast coffee beans, horseback riding into the forest to see the monkeys, make jewelry from Tagua (vegetable ivory) plus relax in the hammock, read, bird watch, etc. The third option is to do both short and long term volunteering. I’m here now as a tourist and there are about 6 long term volunteers, mostly Europeans and American college aged working the farm, hanging out. I think they pay their own room and board, but it seems like a pretty nice deal to me!

It’s quite amazing what they’ve done. They have 10 hectors of land and yesterday, I got to tour it with some of the volunteers who are working here. They have planted so many varieties of fruits and veggies. Just to name a few…peanuts, papaya, mangos, passion fruit, ocra, squash, tomatoes, bananas, watermelon, pineapple. They also have pigs (chanchos) and piglets, chickens, guinea pigs, rabbits, goats. Although none of the animals are for consumption. Oh my gosh, there are so many creative people working as volunteers they have passing through they get great ideas. So this is kind of gross but it works….for example, with the pig poop (which releases a lot of methane) they put it in big black bags. They get baked by the sun, the methane gets released and all this gas is able to pump the water! They also have their coffee grinder, blender and another water pump attached to stationary bicycles as a way to generate energy without using electricity.

Of course, they have composting toilets. Now, I’m not the crunchiest person around (although I can be, if put in the right circumstances) but here I’m surrounded by them! So, I arrive with my suitcase and stuff and the tall German girl who’s the guest volunteer welcomer greets me. How long are you staying? As she eyes my suitcase. Oh, just till Monday (truth be told, it’s mostly curriculum guides and books I need to catch up on for school!) Oh, great! Then when she served me lunch, I asked for a fork. Oh no, we don’t have forks here, we use all organic materials. So, I ate my lunch in a carved out coconut bowl with a utensil that mimics a Korean spoon. Kind of cool for a few days. There are signs all over that say, “Trash? We don’t have trash. Anything you bring in, you pack out.” And it’s true. They’ve done an amazing job of generating hardly zero waste, if that makes sense. All the food, which was delicious came from the garden. For lunch the first day, we had great lentils with rice, avocado, radish and sprouts salad, fish from the river and passion fruit/oat drink. Dinner was this great Spanish tortilla (egg omelet with lots of veggies) another lentil dish and stir fried veggies. I just feel healthy talking about all this organic food! (I hope I’m not sounding too cynical. It’s fine for a few days, but I can’t imagine living this way for the long term! But that’s OK, I don’t have to, right?)

I have a cute little cabana overlooking the river. There’s a hammock, a comfy bed. Last night, sleeping was amazing, as there are so many plants, the bugs and frogs and everything else was so soothing. I certainly don’t get those noises in Quito!

Day 2:

I was up early, no surprise, since I slept so well and had an early night to bed. Lots of morning noises-bird plus roosters, chanchos. Everyone was hungry! It’s hard to sleep in here. Breakfast was delicious. There’s just something so delicious about food straight from garden to table. Freshly ground coffee and brewed without a machine. Also fruit salad with fruits harvested from the garden-watermelon, papaya, pineapple and other tropical fruits that I don’t even know the English translation for! Also, there’s this dish that this province, Manabi is +known for called Sal Prieta. It is crushed up peanuts, ground cornmeal, salt, pepper and cumin. Kind of ground into a peanut butter paste. You eat it with grilled plantains. And of course, the crunchiest place on earth has to have their own variety of homemade granola. Delicious! Yum!

After breakfast was time for reading in the hammock, listening to the river and the birds. Then we hiked to Arbol Gigante, the common name for this humongous strangler fig tree. Basically, the strangler fig took over another tree and now the tree is immense! I climbed it becaue the vines and branches coming down make for a perfect ladder. Oh yes, getting to arbol gigante was quite the adventure too! We had to cross the river three times, so it was on again, off again with the rubber boots, socks, etc. I’m starting to get an appreciation for Dario’s words when he first greeted me, “Rachel, we live in very difficult circumstances here.” After our hike to and from Arbol Gigante plus the climb up and down, we had worked up quite an appetite. Lunch again was simple, but delicious. Beet and turnip salad with ginger and some other herbs from the garden, rice (of course!), stewed white beans, quinoa soup, fish.

After lunch, again was siesta time…I’ve gotten caught up on all these books I’ve downloaded on my kindle!

Then we went to the kitchen to light the fire for cacao bean roasting. Here at Rio Muchacho, they plant the cacao tree and use it mostly for internal consumption. So, I got to go through the whole process of making chocolate. First the beans are dried for a week. Then we roast them in a pan over pretty high heat. They start to pop and the shells pop off-that’s how you know they’re ready. Then you peel the shells off the beans that didn’t quite pop. Next you take the hot beans and grind them to a fine, fine paste and add the quantity of sugar to taste. (that’s how we get the percent of pure chocolate to sugar). Then we took our cacao/sugar paste, and added some milk, heated it in the pan and waah-laah, a dark, dark, decadent, delicious chocolate sauce. I don’t know if it tasted so good because I made it with fresh ingredients or what, but it was delicious!

After chocolate making, I went to the workshop to make a bowl from the mate tree (I’m not even sure how to say it in English, it’s a tropical tree like a palm tree, and the mate fruit looks like a coconut, although you can’t eat the fruit inside, it’s poisonous).  You cut open the mate fruit, scrape out the pulp with a metal spoon and the shell is quite hard. Then we used the electric sander to make it uniform all the way around. I also got to use some carving tools to scrape a design on the outside, although mine looked very rudimentary compared to the ones they had for sale at their little shop. But a fun experience, none the less. Then it was an afternoon walk through the village, a shower before night fall and dinner over candlelight. Some folks that are staying here are so interesting. I met an artist from Holland, in her mid-70’s, just travling up and down the coast. Also, a young French girl, just out of high school, figuring out what to do next in life. Then there’s a man who’s a career changer…working at a non-profit in Philadelphia for 5 years, burnt out, coming here to recharge and decide what path to take next.

Everyone here is so kind and happy. How can you not be, it’s such a beautiful place to spend time in (although I couldn’t be here for much longer than I am…the heat is oppressive, my clothes are stinky and damp, the mosquitos are everywhere, I can’t keep my hands and nails clean! But alas, these are tiny inconveniences I can deal with for a few days). Mostly I’m so glad to have spent a short while in this beautiful, peaceful place.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Some images from the weekend

Some images from a weekend in Quito. Normally I travel, but this weekend I stayed home. It was nice to explore Quito. I went for a long run (thinking of doing the Quito marathon at the end of June). I ran from my apartment in the North of Quito down to Quito Centro Historico. Beautiful early in the morning with the cobblestone streets, beautifully preserved Spanish architecture, balconies, flowers…I felt like this before, but it was like running through a postcard. Then it was brunch at Mr. Bagel, a gringo place with wonderful bagel flavors, natural fruit juices, coffee drinks. (plus used books and magazines and wi-fi)

Also, on the weekends, Quito city government closes the main road to car traffic so it’s all bikes, runners, walkers, roller bladers, etc. Frequently, when I’m home on the weekends, I’ll rent a bike and ride Quito. It’s pretty hilly but I love the variety of sights. Here’s some things I saw…

·        In Quito’s Centro Historico (which was named the Cultural Center of the Americas) there are always street performers, jugglers, painters, dancers, musicians). One that I saw this weekend was a puppeteer. He did some traditiaonl stuff-his encore was hilarious! Michael Jackson doing Beat It. Pretty random.

·        Also, an indigenous man playing Andean flutes. One zamponia (Andean pan pipe) that he was playing was taller than he was and he had to stand on a ladder!

·        A Carnaval band playing traditional carnaval music. Then the audience began to dance. A man who must have been in his 90’s was just having the time of his life. Wow, he was reliving some intense moment of his youth, you could see it in his ecstatic face. Although his movements were slow, they were precise and he was enjoying himself so much.

·        At the park, Carolina there is all day aerobics on the weekends. Now, I’ve done Zumba in the US, but would not even attempt it here! The Ecuadorian women have hips made of rubber bands. It was so fun for me just to take a break and watch them dance! Although Zumba was choreographed, these women made it look like there were on Dancing with the Stars or even better, enjoying a night out at the Salsotecha. Merenge, Salsa, Bachata, Reggeton…they made it all look so beautiful. I think you have to be born in the culture to be able to move like that! No matter how many classes I take, I won’t be able to do that, that’s for sure!

Feeling relaxed and refreshed for a busy week ahead. Love you! Rachel

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Looking forward to Carnaval!

One more week before Carnaval Holiday. I plan to write lots and take lots of photos (with my new camera!) at Rio Muchacho. (www.riomuchacho.com) That's where I'll spend 3 days-escaping the cold water that most throw during Carnaval! It's a working sustainable farm plus there's other outings like horse riding, coffee production, tagua (vegetable ivory) carving, cacao production. It will be kind of touristy I'm sure, but hey, it's a new experience in a beautiful place :-)

Not much else is new here! Love you and miss you.

Love,
Rachel

Monday, February 6, 2012

Just a Quick Update

Just a quick update!

Report cards are due soon…always a bit stressful writing personal comments for each and every student. But I got it done, so I feel good J

Visited my friends in Puyo this past weekend. I realize that I’m getting just a little bit older because it was Hector’s birthday. The party didn’t start till like 8:30PM. The music was SO LOUD, there was so much alcohol and I just wanted to go to sleep! The problem is…my little room in this tiny wooden house offers zero buffering from the noise of the party. I was so exhausted, though from a long week of teaching  my little 2nd graders that I slept, even through the drunkenness, the loud music, the party. I’m just content to visit with folks during the day and sleep at night! (just realizing things about myself that I’ve known for a while. The nighttime is not my most energetic state!) So, Puyo was fine, the family is good, it was nice to see them. But, I love my own space, my own routines, etc. So, I’m now in Banos, getting some planning for the next semester done, going for some beautiful hikes (I may even indulge in a massage, we’ll see!)

In other news…Carnaval is coming! This is like the last hurrah before Lent. Ecuadorians play “Carnaval” with water. Luckily it hasn’t started yet. I’m going to travel to the coast because we get 2 days off of school. Haven’t been there yet this time around, so that will be fun.

I’m really happy and life is good J Love you all!

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Quilotoa-There and Back!

Yesterday, I took a school field trip (just staff, not kids!) to Quilotoa…next time I”ll know to go and spend the night because it was way too long on the bus. 5 hours there, 5 hours back. So we left early in the morning and were making good time. Then we hit a huge traffic jam. The entire Pan American highway shut down a little bit south of Quito. My friend and I got out and just started walking to see what was keeping us from moving. Better than just sitting in the bus, right? So we walked, and walked and walked along with other folks. We passed jam packed cars (like 6 people in the backseat of a tiny tin-can car). Lot of folks in the pack of trucks, animals loaded up for market. The walk actually made me feel better about the situation. Cool fresh air, a little exercise, seeing the sights. When we got to the beginning of the jam (after about 2 miles) we discovered that the cause of the jam was construction…but that was 5 miles up ahead! The police were letting one lane at a time pass by in order to not “overwhelm” the construction site. OK, we got the answer…then it was walking back to the bus. On the way back almost every driver asked, “What’s going on? What’s causing the jam?” It felt good to be the expert for once and be able to tell them what was going on! So, we finally got going again and it was time for an ice cream stop on the way to the Laguna. We stopped at La Avelina where they made rich, creamy vanilla ice cream bars covered with dark chocolate. Homemade ice cream bars on a stick. Yum! (Definitely work the traffic jam!)
Then we turned onto a dirt road for our windy drive up and around and up and around to the volcanic crater lake. Passing by patchwork quilts of mountain crops, thatched roof shacks, beautiful blue mountain sky…we definitely weren’t in Quito anymore! When we finally arrived to Quilotoa we had just enough time to hike down to the shore of the lake then up up up again. Some of my companeros went by mule up, but I learned my lesson last time! It’s much better to have a sore butt because of walking than because of riding a mule J. I’ve been to Quilotoa plenty of times, so for me being there for just one hour wasn’t a big deal…I just feel bad for my teacher friends who traveled such a long way not to be able to enjoy it longer…I told them next time stay in one of the beautiful cabanas around the lake to really enjoy all the hiking in the area.
        Then it was time for the long journey back to Quito. (5 hours more!) Good thing I had good company in the bus. I really do enjoy all my teacher friends…such neat people, so we passed the time chatting.
We stopped for dinner at La Cienega an old Spanish style hacienda dating back to the 1700’s. Apparently a lot of important Ecuadorian government documents were drafted and signed there. Also, according to local legend, the entire Hacienda is haunted by ghosts because there were some murders there way back when. The grounds were gorgeous-huge trees, beautiful gardens and old structures on the property. The food was pretty mediocre, disappointing after hiking all day and sitting on the bus, we were all ravenous. Veggie soup, steak (yuck), French fries (who serves French fries at a high class restaurant?) this yucky gelatinous strawberry hot pink dessert. The highlight was the musicians (folklore music with quenas, zamponias, charangos playing Andean music). We got home late to Quito. Over all the trip was worth all the time on the bus, however, I think we should have stayed overnight to break up the travel! Oh well, live and learn, right?

Sunday, January 22, 2012

On the Challenges of...

On the challenges of working with privileged children…

When I started my teaching career in MCPS I was working in Gaithersburg, a school with many immigrant children from all over. For the most part, they were living below the federal poverty line. In most instances, parents were working several jobs and then barely scraping by. But I noticed that kids seemed to love being in school! For them, school was a place to “escape” the harsh realities of poverty (sleeping in an apartment with 12 other people, not eating at home simply because there is no food, taking care of little brothers/sisters, no structure and routine). For these children, teachers and school was something regular they could count on.

Now, the reason I’m writing this is because I’ve been thinking about my new situation. It could not be further from my job in Gaithersburg!

Although I don’t have much experience in other parts of the world, I’ve heard that the following is true all over. In developing countries there are extremes…wealth beyond belief (several BMWs and Mercedes, nannies for the kids, drivers, several palatial homes) and then you have folks just barely scraping by (begging on the streets, living in slums). I’d say Ecuador is somewhere in the middle. While there is extreme poverty, it affects a small percentage of the population. And there is also extreme wealth, also a very small percent of the population (namely the kids I teach!) Most Ecuadorians are lower class or middle class.

I’ve never been around this kind of wealth before. I’ve been doing a lot of listening to my students and carefully formulating how I want to respond so that it is out of kindness and not anger.

Two examples:

-After we returned from the Christmas break, a lot of my students were talking about the places they went. For these children, breaks from school are fun and exciting! (Not like my students in Giathersburg, where many just sit in front of the TV) Disney, Argentina, Spain, Grandma and Grandpa’s farm away from the city. After all these experiences, school is kind of boring!

And the presents they got: It’s normal for 7 year olds to exaggerate, but I’m not sure who was exaggerating and who was telling the truth! Then it became a competition to say who got the most “stuff.” At first it was funny, then it just became annoying and then excessive. “Well, I got 4 iPads. One for the office, one for my TV shows, one for the Internet and one for…). Yeah, well I have blah, blah, blah. (I really DO think they were exaggerating, but again, it’s this mindset of…I have so much stuff and my parents do to and we’re so much better than you!) I proudly tell my students that no, I don’t have a car or a driver and that yes, I do walk in Quito almost every day! (no they don’t rob me and yes, I like being around everyone else walking in the streets-it makes me feel connected)

-In another case, one of my students told a story of how he and his dad were getting out of their car (of course driven by the chofer) and some begging street children came up to them saying, “Give me candies, give me money, please sir, please sir.” My student said indignantly, “My dad reached into his pocket to give him the candies and the street kid robbed him. I HATE THOSE KIDS, they bother me so much.” During this rant, I was working with another group of kids, but had one ear to that conversation between two boys. My first response was to tell them quite “teacher-like” something like “HATE is a very strong word. Did you really mean this? How can you hate these kids if you don’t even know them? How would you feel if you had no shoes, no mom and did not know where your next meal was coming from.” They kind of just stared back at me I think because that is so far from their reality that it’s impossible for them to imagine. My own tirade just kind of went in one ear and out the other.They both kind of just brushed me off and went back to their work. Not a big impact on my part. So I’ve been thinking, I would love for them to meet my friends in Puyo or my indigenous Quichua families I worked with in Pulucate. Just to get some perspective. The upper class here is SO isolated. They run in their own circles, play with their own friends, live in their own enclaves. I’m not saying I want my students and the begger kids to be best friends, I would just like to give both an opportunity for conversation and playing. Thinking about how I can do this…

For now, I’m going to show my kids slide shows of some of my experiences in the Peace Corps. When kids know someone (me) who has lived surrounded by so much poverty and survived (!) it doesn’t seem so scary. But I also want to be careful not to reinforce the stereotype of “oh those poor indian kids, no money, no shoes, it’s our obligation to send $50 a month so we feel better about ourselves.”

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am happy teaching these children! And not ALL my students are like this, just about half! (Just doing some thinking out loud…)

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Talkin about the weather

Everything’s going well here! School is rolling along, I’m settled in after Christmas break!

Some people say that when you don’t have anything to talk about, you talk about the weather…so that’s what I’m going to do!

It’s actually pretty much perfect weather here in Quito. The nights are chilly (mid 40’s) the days are warm (high 60’s, low 70’s). The air is very dry because we’re at such high altitude. The only problem I’ve been having with the weather is the rain! When I first got here, we had bright blue skies almost every day. But now that we’re in the rainy season, it’s been cloudy and rainy almost every day. This is a problem because I don’t have a car, so anywhere I want to go, I have to walk or take public transportation. Walking gets complicated in the rain! SO, I’ve decided that I can’t change the weather…I need to change my perspective. I’ve started bringing my mini umbrella everywhere, as well as my raincoat. Also, dry-wick pants and Keens. I just anticipate that I will get wet and deal with it! I’ve been walking in the rain for about a week now, and now it’s just something I do. Good change of perspective.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Just a quick post

Just a quick post to let you all know I’m still here! I spent Christmas break at home in MD, it was wonderful to be with my family. Now it’s back to work and play in Ecuador! Last week at school was sort of a down week-I only had half my class the entire week, so it make teaching hard because I will have to reteach all the concepts again…oh well. Let me know how you all are doing! Once I have more exciting news to report, I”ll post again. Keep following J