Me Toca Escribir

Me toca escribir... aka its about time for me to write again. My life has been a whirl wind these past couple of weeks, but I am loving it! I feel like I am finally being productive here and really getting integrated into my community.


A couple of weeks ago a Rotary Club from Alabama came into Portoviejo to give out wheel chairs. Somehow we got connected with them and helped them build the chairs and then served as translators on the day that they gave them out. It was really weird but nice to interact with a group of Americans. A lot of them were really sweet business men that reminded me of my dad and didn’t try to creepily hit on me at all!!!!! It was so refreshing, but definitely made me miss my family. The translating was interesting... I had to translate the opening speech and 4 different television interviews. Talk about intimidating! The guy I was translating for apparently wanted to come across eloquent and kept talking about how they were crossing borders, joining nations, and all of these intense ideas. In English it sounded great, but he would have come off a lot better in my Spanish if he had kept it simple... what a mess. They kept asking me to translate for more people so I guess I did good enough, but it certainly made me realize that translating is a completely different skill than speaking Spanish. I got the chance to interact with a lot of special needs kids from the community through that project and in total we gave out over 70 wheel chairs!!!! It was awesome and now we are in contact with the Rotary Club here for when more groups come :)


We (Krista and I) also finally started up our free Advanced English class from English Teachers from Portoviejo. We advertised by putting up flyers around the University, Hospital, and random other places and we also put an ad in the local newspaper. The first day over 70 teachers came to the class!!!!!!! We were overwhelmed but very excited. We have class every Thursday and just finished our 3rd week. Every week we discuss a new idiom, answer any questions they have, and lead a discussion/activity. The activities are very different from my normal classes and are a lot more like activities that I did during volunteer retreats in college (KW... I am thinking our retreat business could go international). For example, last week they had to prioritize different items they would need if they were stranded in the ocean. Then at the end of class we relate it back to them and come up with ideas how they could change this activity to a lower level or to focus on different grammar points. I REALLY look forward to this class every week!

My other classes are going really well... we just had “Portoviejo Fashion Week” in my Beginner 2 class and it was hilarious! Creativity was a big part of the grade so we had some intense modeling going on haha

One of the groups after presenting a look from each season!

My foot has completely heeled (finally) so I have started playing soccer twice a week again. I also started a baileterapia class... yes, dance therapy. It is an aerobics dance class and it is a blast! One of the English teacher’s sisters runs the class and he is letting us go for free as a trade off for our free English class... ballin!

My host mom is living in the United States for 2 months so everything at home is a little different, but luckily I still get to hang out with my little brothers and my host dad and I are getting closer. I am so busy that I am not home as much, which my little brother has certainly noticed. I took him to the movies and to his swimming class last week so I think we are okay now. My host mom returns in about a month and she will be bringing back a new baby! I can’t wait but I am really interested to see how the dynamic around here will change.

On Sunday I leave for a week long trip. It is Carnaval in Ecuador/all of South America which apparently is a big party all over the country where people throw water, flour, and everything they can find. I am going with a bunch of friends to Canoa (Jennifer... I will tell everyone you say hi) and then I am going with a couple other volunteers to the north coast.. Mompiche. It is supposed to be beautiful but it is an 8 hr bus ride so we are taking advantage of this full week off to go. I can’t wait to tell you all how it goes!!!

Its already February?

Its about time I posted again... I just realized the last time I posted was in December and so much has happened. First off, NEW YEARS! I went to the beach with a couple of other volunteers and had a blast bringing in the new year. I learned all kinds of Ecuadorian traditions. For example, wearing yellow undergarments is supposed to bring good luck. My favorite tradition is the burning of "Ano viejos" which are paper mache dolls that represent the old year. They are in shapes of soccer players, cartoons, and of course... the Simpsons! One of my favorite things is a good fogata (bon fire) so burning these ano viejos on the beach was a GREAT way to start of the new year.

The next big event was my best friend visiting!!!!! I went to pick Jennifer up from the airport at midnight on the the second and we traveled to Portoviejo the next morning. I was so excited to see her that I decided to jump in the cab instead of step and fell. I ended up spraining my ankle on the first day of Jennifer's trip... she can definitely say that she got to see more than just the tourist side of Ecuador, because we spent hours at a clinic. That is, once we found one where a doctor was present (that would be the 3rd one). I got a $20 x-ray which was a pretty sweet deal, but then was told basically nothing. He gave me a prescription and I clearly said that I wanted pills- pastillas- and not a shot -inyecion-. I DO know these words in spanish and they sound nothing alike. However, my host mom went into the pharmacy and preceded to get the take home shot which our maid had to give me in my behind. This sparked the comment, "eres muy blanca" (you are very white) as if she hadn't noticed before haha. My little brothers (not so secretly) loved this injury. One of them nicknamed me "kangrujo" for hopping around so much and the other stole my crutches every time I walked in the door so that he could attempt to use them.

Jennifer and I didn't let this little injury get us down... I went out and bought crutches and we set off on the beach trip that we had planned.

The first day we went to Crucita with a friend and Jennifer went paragliding. I was jealous, but I have plenty of time to go back again. Unfortunately, we had another little snag in our trip. I was "watching" my friends bag while she went running on the beach and 2 guys on a motorcycle managed to come by and steal it. We were engrossed in our books and not paying attention and of course the sprained ankle kind of limited me from doing anything. It was very unfortunate... Ecuador did not hold back at all for Jennifer. The rest of our trip was pretty smooth... except for my face plant. That was at the beginning of my time with the crutches and eventually my skills improved. We spent a lot of our time relaxing on the beach, reading books, and drinking fruity drinks. Jennifer got really good at ordering drinks in Spanish for us... such a good little waitress! haha One night we went to Manta where I have some other volunteer friends and Ecua friends. We went out to a discoteca and I rocked the crutches look. As if 5 giant gringas didn't call enough attention, here I was hobbling around. We had a great time- Jennifer got to learn all of the top latino songs and I got to do a lot of "mom chair dancing." I have to say, I got pretty good at it. The next day my friend David took us to one of his favorite surfing spot. It is a small beach with lots of fisherman and no tourists- it was a pretty cool local experience for Jennifer to have.

Unfortunately she had to leave me and I had to get back to teaching... on crutches. Luckily, my classroom has rolling chairs which I took full advantage of. One of my students even said, "teacher, it is your car." Despite the foot injury, teaching has been great this cycle. I have a lot more confidence as a teacher, but I have some new challenges. One of my classes is tiny- 4 students! Luckily, it is high intermediate so I can do a lot of spontaneous conversation activities if necessary. Another class has 10 students and they are so quiet! I had to have a conversation with them about how English is a SPOKEN language so they have to speak. Some days that class is super boring, but I am finding more and more activities that really work for that class dynamic. My most difficult challenge is my Beginner 2 class of 31 students! My biggest class last cycle was 17 so this was a huge jump for me. I have had to adjust a lot of my activities to work with a larger class, but I had a great week with them and am feeling good about my new strategies. Unfortunately, I have had to be much stricter in a class that size, but I am surprised at how well they behave now. I am giving myself a pat on the back for my new found classroom management.

In January we had our Mid-service conference with all of the volunteers which was really motivational. It game me lots of good ideas which I took back to my classroom and it really kicked me into gear getting some community projects started. These 6 months have gone by so fast and I only have 6 more. In the works are: an advanced class for English professors in Portoviejo, translating for medical mission trips for groups from the US (random connection we just made!), and possibly horse therapy for kids with special needs (if my host mom follows through- fingers crossed). Hopefully I will have an update on those soon.

Right after mid-service I had a site visit from my directors. I was nervous, but it was actually super helpful. They came and observed my classes and gave me great feedback and constructive criticism that I have really put to use. We also got some time to just hang out and talk through our project ideas, etc with them.

Other highlights:
1.superbowl "party" planned for this weekend. Treating ourselves with American snack food! yay
2.Went to a huge music festival - Nawi- my friend won a t-shirt in a dance competition!
3.Carnival is coming up... BIGGEST CELEBRATION OF THE YEAR FOR ECUADOR!

Mom and Dad come to Ecuador!!!!!!!!

Right before Christmas my parents made it down to visit me in Ecuador! My last day of classes was December 15th and I hopped right on a bus after class to go meet them in Guayaquil. They got in late so we stayed at a hotel and then got right back on a bus first thing in the morning to bring them to Portoviejo. Yes, my dad rode in Ecuadorian buses. I am pretty sure that they would have failed his safety inspection miserably but they got us to where we needed to be. My family fixed us a huge Ecuadorian lunch with shrimp as a treat. They were somehow shocked when my parents got here and they really didn't speak any Spanish... they looked at me and said "you weren't lying...not one word." My host mom was really cute and tried to use her limited English to communicate. My favorite was when she said "you English, me Spanish, big problem." Even though there was a lot of translating involved I thought the conversation moved along pretty well. That afternoon I took my parents to my University so they could see my classroom and office and also because there is nothing else to show them in Portoviejo... we got back to the house and had dinner with my host family and then my friend Krista came over to meet my parents. We all sat around and talked and then my little brother insisted that we play both playstation soccer and soccer on the patio to "show my parents how we play." My host family took off work and school for my parents visit so they decided to take us on one of their epic beach trips... this always beens hours in the car and limited time at the beach. On this particular day they decided to invite our housekeeper to come along for the first time which meant we were packing 8 people in a 5 person truck. It also happened to rain for the first time in 4 months so we couldn't ride in the back. There is nothing like sitting on top of each other for 4 hours to bond some families... We made it back to Portoviejo in time to catch our bus to Guayaquil but on our way there with about 15 minutes to spare I remembered that I had left my passport in my room. AHHHH We somehow made it back to the house and to the bus before it left-- it was the first time I was happy that everything runs behind schedule.




In the morning we left from Guayaquil to the GALAPAGOS!!!!! We stayed on Santa Cruz island where we got to see a bunch of giant turtles up close at the Charles Darwin Station. They were surprisingly active but every time I tried to get close for a picture they had this creepy deep throat sound... it freaked me out. Santa Cruz is also home to Tortuga Bay... a beautiful white sand beach. We had to walk 30 minutes from the entrance of the park to even reach the beach but it was beautiful. We planned two day trips and the first trip was to Bartolome Island. We took a two hour boat ride to get there and then hiked up the volcanic comb to an amazing view where we could see the Penacle Rock- it is the most photographed view in Galapagos. We went snorkling around the Penacle rock and got to see some Sea Lions swimming and active on the beach. We even saw a penguin but it looked surprisingly like a duck when it was swimming. The next day we went to Isabela island where we saw Flamingos, a white tipped shark, penguins fishing :), and TONS of iguanas. We even saw a giant turtle on the beach that our tour guides helped back to sea. We went snorkling again and then headed back to Santa Cruz for dinner and drinks.

We flew back to Guayaquil the next morning and had all day to explore the city. We walked along the river and people watched for awhile and then walked up 444 stairs to a nice view of the city. Guayaquil is one hectic city! That night we took advantage of the hotel and mom and I spent some time in the hot tub and pool. We had a nice breakfast the next day and then mom and dad headed off to the airport. I took advantage of that hot shower one more time and then went to the terminal to catch a bus to Portoviejo.

We had a great time and it was definitely the best Christmas gift I could have asked for!

New Years is coming up and I am looking forward to the fun Ecuadorian traditions... then my best friend is visiting for a week! I am feeling lucky these days... anyone else want to book a plane flight?

Many small steps, one giant leap towards REAL LIFE!

So I have been here 3 months... what?!?! Time has really flown by... I can’t believe it is already December. These past few weeks have been key to me feeling like my life here is real. I was lucky to have a lot of breaks in the beginning and get to travel, but staying in Portoviejo makes me realize that I am not just a tourist passing through, I live here and I have finally made some steps to being Portovejense.

Step 1:
I am now a discount card owner at the local grocery store. (Yes, I know you are proud of my money saving ways Megan Holt). I often get asked by Ecuadorians to let them use my card... those are very proud moments.

Step 2:
I now am getting paid regularly and know how the system works at the bank. I can officially deposit and withdraw money without a big scene. yay

Step 3:
This is probably the biggest step... Krista and I found a group of girls to play soccer with twice a week! It was such a nerve racking experience getting it started... we went to this soccer complex where we were told girls play every Wednesday at 7. We got there super early of course (I have not converted to Ecua time yet...aka being at least 30 minutes late to everything) and at 6:50 there was still not a single girl in sight. Finally, right at 7 a few girls come up. We were nervously discussing different ways to approach them and ask if we could play when one of the girls came over and asked if we were here to play with them. YESSSSS we were so excited. Now they know our names (that took a bit) and we play with them twice a week. They aren’t particularly good, but it is a lot of fun. They are actually scared of Krista and I... they duck or get out of the way when we shoot. Off the field though we are really hopeful that this can be a route to some girlfriends (which are almost impossible to find here). They actually asked us to stay after the game and have a beer with them! Progress!!!!

Step 4:
Friends... I have some. I only have one girl-friend who I met through my host family, but she came over the other day and we watched Mean Girls. As you girls know, that pretty much solidifies a friendship. My guy friends are really great and a lot of fun. We had a fun movie night last night where we all got together and watched Get Him to the Greek. They are really sweet and always looking out for me. It is really convenient to have them around when we go out because if a creepy guy is hitting on me... this happens way to often...I just make one of them pretend to be my boyfriend. This is the only thing that seems to work with the guys here because no one gets a hint when I am trying to ignore them and they don’t seem to believe me when I outright say “I don’t want to talk to you.” Thank goodness for friends.

Step 5:
Teaching... I feel like a REAL teacher now. I have really gotten the hang of teaching and lesson planning appropriately for their different levels (well, almost... I am still struggling with my Beginner 2 class, but I can see the light). I can’t express how exciting it is to here them speak. My Beginner 1 class is the most exciting because I know that I taught them EVERYTHING that they know. The first week they could say the alphabet and count, now they say sentences like “My cousin is tall and has brown eyes and long, brown hair” or “English class is at 4:30 in the afternoon on Monday.” We are spending a lot of time working on questions, but that will always be a struggle.

My students and I have a lot of fun in class and while I still have problems with cellphones, talking, cheating, and coming late, they know the rules and don’t fight with me when I enforce them. Most of them willingly hand over their cellphones... I actually had mine taken in class the other day when it rang :) Rules are rules. We have final exams in 2 weeks so I am trying to plan a helpful review week. Now I really understand what teachers meant when they said “I don’t want to trick you, I really want you to do well.” I know that all of my students can pass if they study and participate in review this week... I think I might be more nervous than they are. My Beginner 1 students are really excited about moving up to the next level and keep asking me if I am going to be their teacher still. August is so far off but they always approach me really worried and ask about what will happen after I leave in August... I explained that new volunteers would come, but it does feel good that they seem to enjoy my class.

Step 6:
Volunteering... okay unfortunately there is not much progress on this step, but efforts are being made so it is bound to happen eventually. We went to this meeting for an organization called JCI that is an international non-profit. It was probably the most uncomfortable experience of my life... we got there at 9:30 (even though the meeting was scheduled for 8) and then it actually started at 10. This meeting lasted until midnight... why, you might ask. Well because we had to each stand up one at a time and introduce ourselves. This of course does not mean simply “Hi, my name is ___ and I work ___.” No, we had to spend at least 5 minutes on each person while they described in depth the impact that JCI has had on their lives or why they are interested in working with JCI. My introduction was about 15 seconds long and I don’t even remember what I said... afterwards, of course the other volunteers had to answer a few questions about ourselves in front of the group. Then, why not, we were in the group photo that will be used on websites etc. They are very into posing and taking photos so that was a long process. There was time to stay and talk at the end and we actually met some really nice young people then, but the organization overall doesn’t seem to do much. It seems like it is a leadership development program for the members and they go to a lot of seminars and on trips, but they don’t seem to do much hands on service.

Since that didn’t work out I talked to my host family about different opportunities. My host brother has autism so I asked about any programs that he has been involved with here and there is a foundation for kids with special needs. She promised to take me and introduce me to the organization after Christmas! I am really excited about his possibility so we will see where that goes...


Time to go do some lesson planning...

Full Adventure!

I have decided that “Full” is my favorite word in the Spanish language... even though it is really English. Full is used to mean “a lot of” or “many.” For example, “hay full gente aqui” means “there are a lot of people here.” It is wildly over used and cracks me up... when I was on a trip recently to Banos there were signs everywhere that said “Full motos” or “Full music.” This will most likely be a large part of my vernacular now... even in English.

I have had FULL adventures recently! A couple of other volunteers and I traveled to Banos which is a town about 2 hours from Quito that is known for outdoor adventure activities. It was BEAUTIFUL! It was basically the picture of Ecuador that I had before visiting... green everywhere with beautiful waterfalls. We decided to take advantage of our time there and do everything we could.

Our first day we went white water rafting. My family and I really enjoy rafting so I have been quite a few times, but this surpassed them all! They definitely had the most intense rapids that I have seen so far... our guide said that it is usually more intense when the water is higher. That night we went on a chiva ride which is basically an open air bus. We were supposed to be able to see the volcano when we got to the top, but there was too much fog :( We still had a great time standing around a bonfire and chatting with random people... aka little kids that wanted to take pictures with us. By the way, I learned the word for bonfire (fogata) one of my first weeks here and I never realized it would come in so handy. There are full fogatas here!

The next morning we went canyoning... basically repelling and sliding down waterfalls. It was so much fun! We repelled down 5 waterfalls and we were really lucky to have a guide just between the 3 of us rather than going with a big group. That afternoon we went mountain biking... it turned out to be quite a long “trail” but it was a great, cheap way to see the beauty of Banos.

PS. each of these adventures included a nice uphill climb that they failed to advertise... we had to carry the raft up the first one. Our guide later told us that we were “mujeres super fuertes”... very strong women. We later tried to take cute pictures in our wetsuits which we discovered was impossible and our guide told us to just stick to being fuerte... hmmm This fuerza came in handy later when secret hikes were part of canyoning and mountain biking as well.

That night we were EXHAUSTED to say the least. We got some sleep and then headed to Ambato the next day. Ambato is a city that is 45 minutes from Banos. There are 5 volunteers stationed in Ambato so we got to hang out with them for the night!

It was a great trip... definitely worth the 11 hour bus ride each way. (ahhh) Full bus!

I made it back just in time for my next adventure... going to a Quinceanera (15th birthday party) with my host parents. It was some cousin of a cousin’s birthday and it was a blast!!!!! EVERYONE dances at these events... there were maybe 2 people left in their chairs. My host dad told me that I don’t dance “too gringa”... I am taking that as improvement on my dance skills haha At midnight we experienced "hora loca" where girls in costumes showed up and passed our boas/glasses/hats/balloons/etc and everyone went CRAZY for an hour. It was hilarious.

Definitely some great adventures! Hopefully I will have pictures up soon :)

Top 10 things that Ecuadorians Love

So I have been here for awhile now and I have noticed that there are a few things that Ecuadorians just freaking LOVE!!! Here they are....

#10. The Simpsons
Seriously... the Simpsons are everywhere! There is a bar here with Homer on the sign, the Simpsons are always on TV during lunch hour, and it there are ALWAYS reruns on TV. I don't know what it is... but its true.

#9. Wafers
Yes, wafers. Almost every single piece of Ecuadorian candy includes a wafer. I am already over wafers.

#8. Yelling things in English
Okay, maybe not everyone things this should be in the top 10 list, but I sure do here a lot of people yelling in English. Mainly I here "hello" "beautiful" "how are you". Some people get a little ambitious and say "see you later." Occasionally, there are complete sentences and when I hear those I am not annoyed, just impressed.

#7. Speed walking - "marchar"
Yes, Ecuador has sent somebody to the olympics in this sport and they brought home a medal! Of this they are very proud. At the local track there is a big statue in his honor. At first this was funny to me, then, while I was jogging at the track I got lapped by a speed walker. It is not so funny anymore...

#6. Soup
Oh my gosh...they LOVE soup! Some parts of Ecuador are cold, however, on the coast, where I live, it is VERY hot. The heat does not deter this love of soup. We have soup every single day for lunch. The soups are delicious, homemade soups, but I often break quite the sweat during lunch hour.

#5. Honking their horns
This is sometimes aimed in my direction, but mostly they just like honking their horns. There aren't a whole lot of traffic laws, well at least that people follow, so people use this as a sign that they are coming through the intersection. I guess it is a safety thing, but good lord I can't go five minutes without hearing a car horn!

#4. Dancing
Yes they DO love dancing and I am so glad! I have not gone one weekend without participating in a dance party... this happens at random peoples houses, at bars, at discotecs, at festivals, outside of the school, etc. They are ALWAYS ready to dance. Proud moment: my ipod was actually used for the salsa/bachata portion of a dance party. My ipod is NEVER used for parties in the US... my music is finally appreciated :)

#3. Beauty Queens
This is no lie... they LOVE beauty queens. There is a beauty queen for each festival, each city, each fire department, the list goes on and on. I even went to a non-profit conference and there was a beauty pageant segment. They do not joke around about beauty queens either- just a word of advice if you ever visit.

#2. Karaoke
Wow... they love their Karaoke. Apparently this is a new phenomenon in the past few years, but whenever I meet new people they always want to take me to a karaoke bar. They love it. However, people do not get up and dance, sing, and have a big performance. No, they sit calmly in their chairs and sing their hearts out.

#1. Rice
Was their really a question about what would be #1... I have consumed more rice here in these 2 months than I have ever consumed in my life. I am not completely sick of rice yet which is good...I just kindly dont eat the giant portion they give me each time. However, they do know how to cook some good rice. I need to get lessons while I am here.



That is my list! I love this country :)

Traveling out of the dust

This past week I had vacations to celebrate "PortoViejo day." The other PortoViejo volunteer (Krista) and I decided to travel out of our dust cloud for the weekend and took a bus up to Cuenca. Cuenca is a beautiful, historical town in the mountains of Ecuador. We were able to see a lot of beautiful churches and check out a few museums. The museums didn't have very extensive collections, but they were free and fun to look through. Our favorite was the modern art museum... there were only three rooms, but in one there was a "googly-eye" piece. Basically it was a bunch of googly eyes glued to rocks and placed on metal rods... but we had a nice picture shoot there. As Krista said, "I don't understand... thats how I know its modern."

After our day of exploring the museums and churches we decided to take a day trip to Guallaceo where there was supposed to be a nice market. Fail... the market is only on Sundays. We ended up just walking around the city for a little bit, but we did find some delicious mangos! (There was a large fruit and meat market) We went back to Cuenca and found a market there where we did a little touristy shopping. That night, we met up with the Cuenca WorldTeach volunteers... unfortunately they had to work during the day. One of them brought their host cousin and her friends and we went to a salsa club where we proceeded to make fools of ourselves :) Her cousin wanted to stop by a law school graduation party of one of her friends and somehow we got invited to come along. One of my favorite things about Ecuador can also be a little awkward... every time you enter a room you better greet every singly person by kissing them on the cheek. Everyone was sitting in a large circle at the party so the 6 of us lined up and took on the circle... luckily no one asked for my name this time because that can really slow up the process. Hele...Jeda... Heder...yep thats it.

That volunteer has quite a large extended host family and another one of her cousins invited us to his country house on Saturday. We spent the night out there with a bunch of new friends, played a little soccer (US vs Ecuador... the US held its own), and made a Fogata (campfire). Of course there was someone playing the guitar as we sat around the fire and made "smores." I put that in quotes because smores here turned out to be roasted marshmallows with a little chocolate syrup on them. I would not recommend it... chocolate syrup somehow ended up on EVERYTHING.

Sunday morning we took our 8 hour bus ride back to PortoViejo... a little rough but we made it. Luckily we planned to come back with a day to spare before teaching so we could rest and lesson plan. We also were able to attend the last night of the "Feria de PortoViejo." It was a legit fair! One of my students and his friends showed us around and took us on some rides... The Terminator, The Pirate, and the Ferris Wheel. The Ferris Wheel by the way is not just for the view... that thing moves fast here. I explained to my friend that it is much slower in the US and he said thats because you like to relax in the US and people in Ecuador like to have fun :) haha

Random Updates:
--I FINALLY OPENED MY BANK ACCOUNT!!!!!! I have never felt so successful
--My students did well on their test and I am pretty sure no one cheated... there were 2 forms of the test, they were sitting every other seat, and their bags/materials were at the front of the room... I tried all of the teacher tricks. One of the students tried to copy his notes on a little piece of paper before the test and when I asked him what he was doing he simply said, "Teacher it is notes for test." You think he would at least try to hide it...
--Last but not least.... for all of you who haven't heard, my little brother made the UNC-CH Varsity Basketball team!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had to throw that in there- I am so proud :)