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.