A teacher's impact on the class

I am in my ninth week of teaching. Because I teach in three-week cycles, I am coming to the end of my third cycle and my third lesson with students. As I have surely mentioned in past postings, I meet with 39 different classes. Perhaps an outsider will say "duh" to this, but it is becoming more clear to me with each class I teach that who is teaching the class really makes a significant difference.

The students have only been in class for about three months so on the one hand, I think, how much difference can their teacher make when these students are coming from all different backgrounds, have different majors, varying past experiences with the English language but I can tell you that each of my 39 classes has its own personality and that more than anything I have to say that their teacher plays a really important role in shaping this class personality or classroom culture.

I teach the same lesson to the 39 classes over the three week period. I start with a week of level 3 students, then a week of level 2 students and finally a long week with the level 1 students. The last week is long because I have the most classes - about four per day - during my week with the level 1 students. It's exhausting (but still fun)! While in general the 3's are better than the 2's and the 2's are better than the 1's, there are plenty of overlap with the students and their individual abilities. I'm not completely sure how they end up in these levels, if it's through testing or simply by taking a year of each level. Anyway, this is not the point I'm trying to make. I bring it up because I've observed that despite the level of class I'm teaching, the differences in abilities, willingness to participate and performance in activities is subtle between the three levels.

What I notice more is kind of the overall attitude of the class, I called it "personality" before. For instance, yesterday I was with a class that got into their groups quickly and quietly and worked almost in silence for the 20 minutes they had for group work. The teacher has them work in groups often, she tells me, and she herself seems to be a quiet and diligent teacher. Another teacher is controlling and is the only one who really pushes me to adjust my lesson plans to conform to what she feels is appropriate. None of the other teachers do that. She's also the one that from the beginning asked me to "follow the book," meaning the text book the students use day to day. Basically that would just make me like a once-in-awhile substitute teacher for her. Lucky for me my faculty adviser does not support this and so I can teach my own lessons. I do make adjustments for this teacher because I want to cooperate and I want her to see me as an asset in the classroom. What I have noticed in this teacher's classroom is dramatically different from other classrooms. These students struggle the most with my lessons. In the last cycle, the students weren't able to answer a question asking the students opinion - even in Spanish! What?

There are teachers who support me in my lessons and encourage the students to participate. The best teachers, in my opinion, are working with groups on one side of the room as I work with groups on the other. These classes tend be noisy (in a good way!!) and active during group work. Their presentations are interesting, fun to listen to, and show a lot of thought. There are other teachers who are more hands-off during my lessons and they stay in the room, usually grading papers or doing other work while I teach. These students work pretty well. Maybe it's that they've been taught to be independent.

There's one teacher that I like, but she kind of barks out orders to her students when they seem shy. I ask for volunteers and she yells threats that if someone doesn't volunteer she's going to start calling out names. These students are like children whose parents say, "I'm going to count to five and if you don't..." and the child doesn't do what the parent wants until they reach number 4 in their count.

If I were to have the same classes everyday I would not be able to observe this. I am really grateful to have the chance to observe how much a teacher's style affects a class of students. It makes me think a lot about what I want from my classes. I want them to be active, independent thinkers who work well with others, who aren't afraid to give wrong answers and who, most of all, aren't hesitant to ask questions. So far that is my favorite thing as a teacher: answering questions! To me it shows a level of trust and interest on the part of the students and it's far too rare for my taste. There is one night class, I think it's in my level 3 group, that asks questions. The teacher for that class is one of my favorites. She's open, relaxed, approachable and happy. No wonder her class feels comfortable asking questions. There's one student who tries to ask provoking questions like after I talked about the origins of Thanksgiving he asked if it wasn't true that the Europeans later slaughtered the American Indians and stole their lands. Great question! Seriously, I get so few questions that I'll take what I can get, even the provoking one. And it really is a good question.

This is not meant to be a criticism of the teachers I work with at the University. I admit that my experience is limited since I've only been with the classes of each teacher a handful of times. I am only aware on the surface of the conditions under which the teachers work. I only write about my impressions and I know in general teaching is a really hard job. We do what we know to do and how we teach is based on our past experiences. I truly think that the teachers are doing what they think is best for their students. My observations are leading me to look more closely at who I am as a teacher and think more deeply about who I want to become as a teacher to do the best job I possibly can to teach my students.

I have only two classes today, both of these teachers are more of the "hands off" variety. It should be a relatively easy afternoon. Chao for now!

Riding the bus

I took the bus alone for the first time today. I rode it twice and I took a taxi by myself. Taxis in Cuenca are a piece of cake compared to buses and I've ridden in them alone before since I've been here.

My first solo bus ride. Is this a sign I'm growing up?

I am a big proponent of public transportation in the developed world. Subway and Metro systems are great and I ride them anytime I'm in a city that's lucky enough to have one. Back at home I am a regular on the bus and I would almost move back to south Minneapolis just to be able to ride the light rail around again. Buses and subways make sense to me in the United States. They run on schedules, their routes are easily viewed in schedules available on the bus, online and in conveniently located transit stores where you can buy bus passes. You know all this, right?

Like everything in Ecuador, the buses here follow unwritten rules that seem subject to change. After two months of observing buses and going on a few rides accompanied with my friends in Ecuador I have come up with a few points that help me make some sense of the bus system in Cuenca. We'll start with the easy ones first:

• The bus costs $0.25. Correct change required. You can pay more and have subsequent riders give you their fare to make change but personally I'd rather just make sure I always have a couple quarters on me.
• Bus drivers want to crush and kill you. Period. That's all. Watch out for buses when crossing on the street, even when standing on a corner fully on the sidewalk at times. They don't slow down, they don't wait for you. They probably get some kind of bonus for hitting foreigners by the way some of them drive. 
• Bus schedules are practically nonexistant. If you ask anyone they will tell you the information center on the Plaza Calderon has copies of the little booklet that has maps for the 20-some bus routes in the city. The truth is the information center has been out of schedules forever. They have one but they don't let it leave the premises. I personally know of only two bus schedule books other than the one at the information center. I have one. I am the third Fulbright grantee to possess this rare booklet and I intend on passing it down to my successor. Buses do not have schedules and there is no transit store as far as I know. 
• Even if you manage to get your hands on a bus schedule booklet, good luck to you. The maps in the book are tiny and streets aren't labeled. Like most things in Ecuador, it is meant for someone who is already familiar with the city. Hand the book to someone who's never been to Cuenca and it'll be useless. I guess now that I've been here for two months I might know my way around enough to get a some use out of it. 
• To Cuenca's credit they do have a transit website that has been the most useful tool for me. The maps are decent. They show the routes if not the stops. Yes, the bus stops only at certain places but you have to either look for the blue bus sign on the street or just look to see where people are standing around flagging down buses. Good luck. 
• I have found that the bus route maps don't fully capture the subtleties of the actual routes the buses follow. Sometimes the line on the map goes straight but the bus makes several turns. Also, I find a map for route 1 online and in my booklet but today the bus I caught was a "1B". What does the B mean? Where does the "A" go? Is there a "1A"? Are there more iterations of the 1 route? So many questions and so few answers. 
• Buses don't run all that late - only until about 7:00 on weekends and not much later during the week. The bus route booklet has the start and end times but I don't believe the website does. How do people know this? There is no schedule, so you can't go down to the corner and pick up the 4:13 bus that'll take you to where you need to go. However, most buses run every 5 - 10 minutes. That information is also in the bus booklet but not on the website. Again, good luck.
• During peak hours buses are packed and the drivers drive more like maniacs than they usually do. Hold on tight and be prepared to get tossed around with the rest of the riders. 
• Getting off the bus takes determination and skill. If the bus is busy, start squeezing yourself towards the back of the bus early. Stand close to the back door, you always enter at the front and exit through the rear door. When the bus is nearing a stop the driver will open the door. He doesn't slow down, mind you, and he doesn't take any more care when careening around corners so keep holding on tight. When the bus does finally come to a stop you have about half a second to alight before it takes off again.

If you have survived the bus ride, congratulations. It's not easy.

Rosita's house (AKA home) is located about 10 minutes from downtown and an easy 25 minute walk to the University. I haven't had to take the bus. Walking is much more pleasant, I get a little exercise and as long as I make time for it, I prefer walking. From now until the end of the month I am house sitting for a family that is visiting relatives in the States. Their house is located too far away for me to walk - at least on a regular basis. I think it would probably take me an hour or so, maybe more to even reach Rosita's house from here. There are two buses whose routes more or less make sense to me and pass by the places I need to go: the university, Rosita's house, and the coffee shop where the knitters meet on Fridays that has the really good chocolate cake. There are many other buses close to this neighborhood but for now I don't care to explore them. I know people who are brave and just jump on any bus to see where it goes. That's direct but not my style. I like to know where I'm going before I embark on my journey. That's why my brother and I have so many problems travelling together. He's more of the "hop on any bus" type. I'm the older one, it makes sense, doesn't it?

I feel I have wasted enough of your time writing about buses. If you come to Cuenca, ride the bus but be on your toes.

Afloat

How long have I sat in front of this screen trying to decide how to start?

We have reached the end of a week that has had periods of fun, sleeplessness, happiness, exhaustion, surprise, sadness, worry, regret, searching, restlessness and finally a little peace.

It was all a bit too much for me to take and while I'm happy to be over it, life goes on and I can only imagine what the future holds.

Last weekend was the Fiestas de Cuenca celebrating Cuenca's independence. I'm unclear on the history and what exactly Cuenca gained its independence from. What I do know is that Cuencanos party like it's 1999 for a good four days straight. Four friends visited me for the celebration. I should say that three are other Fulbright ETAs whom I met when we arrived and the fourth is a new friend that they brought along for the festivities. We spent out days walking from one end of town to the other visiting cathedrals, listening to music and shopping in extensive international markets featuring artisans throughout South America. At night the others went out and danced and I declined invitations to join. I still stayed up far past my normal bedtime although I was waking up at my normal time each morning. On Saturday night the city partied with loud music within a half block of my house until 2:15 in the morning. In my top floor bedroom it sounded like the band was performing on the roof.

My friends returned to their home cities and life began returning to normal. My body revolted against the weekend's change in schedule and I got sick again for a few days. It was miserable. I'm feeling better now that I'm back on a regular schedule. I taught classes to my level one students. They did pretty well and I finally wrapped up the lessons on elections in the United States and Ecuador. I have explained the electoral college system more than a dozen times and know it better than I ever have.

Two days ago without anything tangible changing, I was overcome by an unexpected change. I hope to spare this poor blog and its readers drama and proceed with dignity. I have been released from what has helped ground me for the last four years. The funny thing is that wandering down here around the equator for the past two months, my relationship was held together by infrequent video chats and phone calls. Everyday I thought about the connection I had to the one I love only to be made aware that while I wasn't looking the connection has been severed. It feels like I'm in a little lifeboat tethered to shore on a long rope. I'm bobbing along, looking at the waves, the sun, the clouds, drifting off to nap and then all of a sudden I find the frayed end of the rope floating alongside the boat and I'm in the middle of the sea, no shore in sight.

Oops, too much drama. Sorry about that.

I went for a swim for the first time this week. Between having guests, getting sick and recovering my strength, I haven't been able to go to the pool since last Thursday. In the pool I found my peace and I realize that nothing has changed in the moment and I have no control. All I can do is teach, eat, sleep, talk to friends, write, walk, swim, accept or reject invitations as I see fit, read and live my life here in Ecuador. Time continues to pass and in December I'll see my family and all the people I miss so much. That's only six weeks away and the time will pass quickly, I have no doubt.

For the next three weeks I'll be teaching a lesson on holidays and traditions in Ecuador. Or I should say, I'll be leading a lesson in which my Ecuadorian students will be teaching me about holidays and traditions in this country. I'm looking forward to learning a lot - I learned a lot about elections in Ecuador during the past three weeks.

Lesson 2: Elections

As of last Thursday I made it through my first cycle of classes. Yesterday I started the cycle again, returning to the level three students I met with my first week.

During the third week of teaching it occurred to me that I'd have to start planning the second lesson. As I explained in a previous post, I meet with a total of 39 classes (one was just added yesterday) on a rotating three week cycle. So I teach the same lesson for three weeks and then I change it and teach a new lesson for three weeks. I meet with third level students the first week, then second level students and finally in the third week of the cycle I meet with the first level students. I modify the lesson as needed based on the level of the student. We focus on conversation so it's flexible. One teacher asked me to follow the book more closely but the rest of the teachers have been amenable to letting me plan my own lessons. I agreed to email the teacher who wants me to follow the book a few days before her class to find out if there is specific verb tenses or vocabulary she wants me to work into the lesson. I can do that and she seemed satisfied.

I began planning a lesson on the fifty states. I was flipping through a book the Fulbright Commission provided called, "About the US." It has a lot of worksheets but none that fit the lesson I was working on. I found a list of questions about US elections and it dawned on me that the next few weeks is the best time to talk about elections in the United States. Ecuador has their own elections coming up in February. The night before class I changed all my plans and formulated a new lesson. The worksheet has nine questions ranging from the timing of the election to questions about the electoral college. I came up with nine questions about elections and politics in Ecuador like, "What are advantages and disadvantages of mandatory voting in Ecuador?" and "How can students become involved and influence politics in Ecuador?"

I've taught the lesson twice and I've been making a few tweaks here and there but so far I'm really happy with how it's going. I divide the class into nine groups and give them two questions - one about US elections and one about Ecuadorian elections. I make sure each group understands both the questions. I tell the group the answer to the question about US elections and describe it a little more in depth as needed. I then ask them to discuss the question about Ecuador and come up with an response to present to the group.

We work on this for about 20 minutes then it's presentation time! I call the groups up one by one. They read the US election question and answer. I provide additional background as needed, especially about the electoral college since they use a system based solely on popular votes. Then the students read their question about elections and politics in Ecuador and they give their group's answer. I was really impressed with the thought the students put into their responses yesterday! It worked so much better than just asking the students to participate in open discussion with their peers as I did in the first lesson. Now they are required to produce something to present to me and the rest of the class so they stayed on task a lot better than before.

I have class from 3:00 to 8:00 tonight. I have a minor adjustment to make but I'm basically going to repeat what I did yesterday. I'm not expecting any miracles. Every class is different and I could do the exact same thing in two classes and find it incredibly successful with one group and falling utterly flat with the next.

Teaching is hard work but I'm finding it rewarding. I know this will sound cheesy, but now that I've met all the students it's so fun to see them the second time around, smile at them and see them smile back! A few of them, the engineering students in particular, still seem a little nervous around me but I'm working to let them know they can relax around me, be themselves and have fun - as long as they're doing it in English!

Room for rent, foreigner wanted

Do you remember the foreign exchange students in your school? They were a little on the strange side, dressed differently, maybe they had a weird haircut, smelled a little funny, perhaps walked around quietly with a wide-eyed look on their face looking slightly confused?

Well, that's me. Here I am. At 5'9", or 175 cm, I tower over the people around me. My giant head, covered with my thick "blond" hair floats above crowds like a flag that shouts, "giant foreign woman here!" Sounds like fun? Not always.

In the house the young students have accepted me as their friend the gentle giant. However, I'm at least 10 years older than the rest; I could have children of my own who are the age of several of them if I were into teen pregnancy. I leave parties early (1:15 am is about as much as I can handle), I don't eat meat and I'm clumsily learning the local slang.

The kids took me to visit a nearby town on Sunday; we had a good time. I enjoy trying new things and I think they like being the ones introducing me to different foods, explaining what words on menu mean (trust me, every unfamiliar word on a menu is just another word for a form of meat). I don't have any close Ecuadorian friends yet and don't worry, I'm not feeling sorry for myself. I accept this. However, I'm open to being pleasantly surprised.

Yesterday as I walked home a man struck up a friendly conversation. He was the typical Ecuadorian man who feels it's appropriate to talk to me on the street: middle aged, short and chunky. I made the mistake of politely responding to his questions of where I'm from and what am I doing here. I got extremely uncomfortable when he followed me to the door of my house and asked for my phone number. I explained that I don't give out my phone number and he insisted he only wanted "English lessons." He persisted and I squirmed and tried to tell him that I only teach at the university and that I'm very busy with classes. Suddenly the door opened to my house as one of the students was exiting. That provided the perfect distraction as I warmly greeted the student and ran inside. It wasn't exactly graceful but it was effective.

I told Rosita about the encounter just in case he comes around looking for me. She told me about persistent men who asked her about Emilie and she informed them that if Emilie were interested she would have given them her phone number and that she wasn't going to share any of Emilie's personal information. Whew!

Rosita has two vacant rooms now that Emilie has returned to the US and another resident moved out earlier this month. I asked her if other girls were moving in and she told me she is hoping to find foreign people like me to move in. I don't know any who are looking for a place to stay I was sorry to tell her. It made me feel appreciated. I really like Rosita, she uses terms of endearment like "mi reina" or "mi cielo" (my queen or my sky/heaven), she prepares special vegetarian dishes for me, she tells me my room needs dusting, she lets me use the washing machine for free while she charges the other residents (ssh, don't tell anyone!) and she lets me hang out with her in the warm kitchen while she's cooking dinner when it's cold at night.

For my part I pay rent on time, I stay out of her way when she's busy, I clear my dishes, I keep my things in my room and my room is tidy (if not dusted) and I chat with her now and then. I feel at home here and Rosita is more of a host mother than a landlady.

So, if any of you foreigners out there need a room to rent, Rosita has a couple available. :)

First weeks of teaching

I started teaching last week! I was so excited and nervous about my first class. I had all sorts of thoughts about how the class would go, I planned out a lesson and went over it in my head dozens of times.

The first day of classes didn't go as well as I'd hoped. I felt discouraged, the students seemed confused about what I was doing and I wasn't getting the level of participation that I wanted. I talked to the other ETA and she said she had a similar experience with the students when they first met her and started working with her. For the second day of classes I simplified a few things and lowered my expectations. The second day was much better.

This is what I have learned in my first two weeks of teaching:

• Speak slowly and emphasize words that I know are cognates to help the students understand.
• Ask the teacher to encourage student participation. Some teachers sit in the back of the room and work on their lessons, some leave the room when I'm teaching and others participate in my activities or push their students to join in. The latter group are my favorites. 
• Maintain a positive attitude and smile as much as possible - even if my face starts to hurt after four hours of class.
• Students often have the same schedules as other students in their major. For example, juniors studying Economics might be part of a small group of students who they have the exact same classes all day everyday. They sit together in class and are usually extremely reticent to move around and talk to other students. I have to be creative to get classes to mix more.
• Students will revert to Spanish if not under my or their teacher's direct supervision. 
• The people around here really like eating guinea pigs and potatoes.

I have been teaching the same lesson for two weeks now and will be modifying it slightly next week for the first year English students. I think the only modification I'll do is to deliver my introduction and instructions for each section in both English and Spanish. This is what I do in my lesson:

1. Introduce myself. I talk about the Minnesota and Minneapolis. I tell them about the current weather and explain that because of the often changing weather, Minnesotans are obsessed with the weather. I tell them about similarities between Minneapolis and Cuenca: rivers traverse both cities, they both are home to many beautiful parks and interesting museums. I talk about my education, my background with Spanish to explain that practice is the best way to learn a language, and a little bit about the Fulbright Program. 
2. Three questions for Rose. I allow the students to ask me any three questions. I first experienced this at a school in Minneapolis with middle school students. They all wanted to know what my favorite Justin Bieber song is. The Ecuadorian students asked me the same three questions in the first week - how old are you, are you married and do you like Cuenca? So this week I told them the answers to the top three questions right off the bat and asked them to come up with new questions. I was really happy I did this, now many of the questions are more interesting. Students have asked me about geography, politics, and why I like teaching. 
3. Question of the day: What do you like about Cuenca? Next I ask each student individually to tell me what they like about Cuenca. This helps me connect briefly with each of the students. I hope it also helps the students relax and not find me to be such a scary giant. I'm still a giant but maybe a friendly one. Cuencanos are proud of their parks, the rivers and the history and architecture of the city. This is how I learned that they also really like eating guinea pigs with potatoes. One man told me, "I like to eat the guinea pigs and I like the womans in Cuenca." Since then a few other male students have told me they like the girls around here. This morning for the first time a woman told me she likes the boys. I like the honesty! In two weeks and after asking this question to over 400 students, only two have told me they don't like Cuenca. One was a young man sitting at the back of class wearing sunglasses at 7:00 in the morning. He thinks Cuenca is boring.Oh well, to each his own.
4. Conversation activity. As a class we brainstorm questions that one asks when meeting a person for the first time. The questions the classes come up are usually the same, "what do you like to do in your free time?" "how old are you?" etc. Rarely a student will throw in a different question like, "what kind of clothes do you like to wear?" or "do you like to ride on a motorcycle?" but after teaching the same class 20 times, I love the unusual questions. Once we have a list of at least ten questions we practice them. This is the tough part - getting students to get up and talk to people outside of their little groups. I tell them to have a 3-4 minute conversation with at least five different people but that's only successful when I have teacher support. I circulate the room and try to talk to most of the students. I ask questions from our list but always try to throw in a few others. I ask about brothers and sisters and what they always struggle with is when I ask if their siblings are older or younger. I tell them that it's okay to have to ask what that means. Sometimes we're conversing in a group and I'll ask other students to help the student who is struggling. If all else fails, I tell them the words in Spanish.

So that's my class! I have one more week of teaching this lesson and as I said, it will be to level one students so I'll work in more Spanish. We'll see how it goes. For the following week I'll be back with the level threes and I'll start a new lesson. I have some ideas but I'm keeping an open mind in case it flops. 

Teaching here is a challenge and it's tiring! I have so many students and I talk from start to finish in all of the classes. Talking for four hours a day is something to get used to for me. Even though I spend only a few minutes at the start of class talking to the whole group, I spend the rest of it talking to individuals and small groups, trying to engage them in a conversation. 

Teaching is fun, though. I love hearing about the students' families, their interests and overall I'm impressed with their abilities! I met a woman who prepares breakfast early in the morning for her family, gets them off to school or work, goes to school herself, returns home to fix lunch for her family, goes to work in the afternoon, prepares dinner in the evening and then spends much of the night caring for her mother who has Parkinson's disease and often wakes up three or four times in the night. Today I talked to a woman who is married and has a daughter studying medicine at the same university! No surprise, I have a special place in my heart for these impressive multitasking "non-traditional" students.

Well, I'm done with teaching now and have a few free days until I'm back at the university at 7:00 am on Monday!

2° 53′ 57″ S, 79° 0′ 55″ W

Last week marked the beginning of fall back at home. It starts me thinking about the changing leaves, the crisp and cooler air (sweater weather, my favorite!), watching V's of geese fly south, the cold-weather-hearty chrysanthemums, apples, butternut squash soup...I definitely have an idealized memory of autumn stuck in my head on repeat but I think I'm allowed that. Crunching leaves under feet, seeing your breath in the morning, kicking through piles of freshly raked leaves, turning the heat on in the car for the first time...

Okay, I'm done with that.

Cuenca is just south of the equator. It sits about 8,400 feet above sea level. The air is dry and cool most of the time. It rained almost every day last week, but never all day. The rain would start in the mid to late afternoon an last for a short time. It rained hard for hours only once this week, that was Thursday when I went to visit my newly found Cuenca knitting group.

The first couple of weeks were a big adjustment to the altitude, the dryness in the air, the previously unknown pollens and to the cooler than expected weather. A big bottle of body lotion and some generic allergy medicine helped get my body back in order. Time and swimming helped me adjust to the altitude. Honestly swimming is so far my favorite thing about my life here. I love swimming but felt too busy to go to a pool back in Minneapolis. I bought a swim pass for the pool at St. Kate's but used only about half the swimming sessions before it expired. I count myself extremely lucky that there's a pool a nice 25 minute walk away from me, it costs only $2.50 to use the pool and the water is clean and exactly the right temperature.

After a good swim my mind opens up. I was thinking about how an hour of swimming relates to culture shock and becoming integrated into a new place. At first it's strange and I have to think about the movements. Each laps stands out like an individual. Okay, first lap done, now on to the second...This is like my first couple of weeks in Ecuador. I have to think about things that in Minneapolis came automatically. Eat breakfast, take a shower, entertain myself in the morning somehow. The days crawled by and I remember writing that the first week felt like a month.

Once I warm up in the pool my arms and legs move automatically and through my goggles I look at the pool floor and I watch my arms move my body through the water like they're part of a machine. My thoughts wander, I think about how I'm grateful that I'm past the initial struggle but that I still have a long time to go. I think this is where I am mentally in Ecuador. I have a routine, I'm starting to meet more people and thank heavens I start teaching on Monday! I'm finding my rhythm but my goodness, I still have a long time ahead of me.

The third phase of my swim passes so quickly. I don't think about anything really, just the water, breathing and movement. That phase is still months away for me, I believe.

I wake up in the final phase of my swim. My brain fires up and I start to see the end of the swim on the horizon. I begin to think about taking a long hot shower, changing into clean clothes and eating lunch. I pick up my pace for the last few laps and push myself to make the best of my long swim. When will this be, my last month?

When I start to write I have a plan but it seems that my plan always changes in the middle. I just go with it.

The next time I write I hope to be able to tell you how my first classes at the university went! I met with my faculty advisor last Monday, she gave me a list of my classes and asked me to create my schedule. I'll meet with a total of 39 sections over the course of a 3-week rotation. The first week I'll meet with the level 3 students. I've planned a lesson about introductions, stealing little bits and pieces of introductions at classes where I completed service learning and from first classes at Augsburg. I hope it all works out. I'll let you know!

Same world different world

The other day as I walked to the university for a swim peeking into stores, reading signs and learning as much as I can through observation of my new home, I noticed a sign that read, "se necesitan peladora de pollos con experiencia." It's a help wanted sign looking for an experienced chicken plucker. There's a job I'm seriously under-qualified for and I can't say I'm too upset about it.

This shop is close to one of the markets in town, I explored it on my first full day in Cuenca. It's like the farmer's market in Minneapolis but take all of the produce sold there  and condense it into a much smaller space, add an open-air meat market, a much greater number of prepared food vendors, clothes, shoes, and just about anything else you could possibly need. My favorite part was on the second level where women sat among piles of herbs and plants for cooking and healing. I could smell mint and parsley on top of dozens of other scents that I can't name. There were vendors that sell unroasted coffee beans (fascinating, but how would I roast them? with my flat iron?) and home made candies that tempted. Vendors would call out to me and ask me what I wanted, insisting that they could offer me whatever I needed.

The lower level had the meat market and it was unlike anything I've experienced. There you see that you are buying animal parts when you're selecting your meat, very much unlike the meat departments in bright and sterile US grocery stores. Oh, and while I'll leave out some of what I saw, I have to say that I did see a pile of skinned guinea pigs with heads, teeth, claws and all. Cuy is what it's called here and people are aware but seem surprised that North Americans keep guinea pigs as pets. I haven't tried it yet but I promise I will before I go!

On the day I saw the sign for the experienced plucker, I also saw wheelbarrows full of plucked chickens. I don't know if they were for purchase or had already been purchased.

Yesterday a friend and I visited the Feria Libre, a giant indoor/outdoor maze of a market that makes the first market I went to look like a convenience store compared with a suburban mega grocery store. My friend bought a big bunch of cilantro for $0.50 and I treated us both to big cups of fresh sweetened coconut juice. It was so delicious! Kids tried to sell us corn on the cob and the quantity of everything was overwhelming. The Feria Libre is near a major intersection and I believe every bus stops there so the exhaust from all the vehicles, especially the smoke ejecting buses was choking.

What I take from all this is that I am sensing a different "relationship" with food in my home and newly adopted cultures. At home we pay so much more for local, organic, free-range food and here I think that's what is the most easily accessible and economical. The eggs Rosita buys have big bright orange yolks and they're delicious. At about $1.50 a dozen they're a bargain by US standards!

I didn't intend on writing all about food. I am hungry and lunch will be served soon so maybe that's it. There's a young man in the house who tells me I'm the first vegetarian he's ever met. He seems to look at my plate with wonder at every meal. I'm quite happy with my big pile of vegetables over his rice and sausages.

I'm going to go down and see if lunch is ready yet. Hasta luego!

...you get what you need

Here I am, one week later. How can it possibly be that I've only been here for ten days?

In answer to a previous question, yes, I've been drinking the water and I've so far suffered no ill effects. The water does taste good, better than the bottled water I was drinking in Quito. I remember one of the bottles tasted sightly sweet, as if I'd taken an empty glass that had a residue of a sweet cola and refilled it with water. The bottle had been sealed but what I was drinking was purified water, not spring water. Enough about the water. It's safe to drink in Cuenca but rely on filtered or bottled water anywhere else in Ecuador.

The Fulbright program provides a stipend to cover living expenses but participants are responsible for finding their own place to live. Some of us get more help than others; we all have "tutors" or program advisers in our placement cities who are able or willing to provide assistance at varying levels. I was worried about where I'd live so I decided to be proactive. I looked at a few apartments (departamentos) last Sunday and they were all fine. Each was furnished and inexpensive by North American (I can't say "American" because Ecuadorians are Americans too, don't forget) standards but I would have been responsible for getting internet hooked up, buying and cooking my own food and washing my laundry. The guy who showed me the apartments said it's inexpensive (by US standards) to have a laundry service pick up dirty laundry and return it washed and folded but it all seemed very lonely.

Cuenca has a Fulbright student named Emilie who arrived in January. She returns home in October. She told me about the boarding house where she has been living. All meals are provided by the owner of the house and there's high speed wireless internet and a washing machine available for use by residents. When I read her email telling me about the place when I was back in the US, I was thinking that I'd prefer more privacy and was not interested in sharing a bathroom. However, shortly after arriving I realized that sharing a bathroom is not a big deal and that privacy is overrated when you don't know anyone.

I moved into the boarding house on Tuesday. I have a cozy little attic bedroom. The owner of the house, Rosita, jokingly calls it the penthouse. Rosita rents out nine rooms and currently I believe five are occupied. With classes starting soon, the other four will be rented within the next week or so. Rosita is an excellent cook, she attended culinary school. I was advised by Emilie to be careful about finishing everything on my plate because the next time I will find my plate even fuller.

Thanks to articles like this one or that one, Ecuador has been identified to North Americans as one of the best places in the world to retire. I have already met or seen several Canadians and US citizens who have taken the leap and moved here. There's a cafe in the center of town that I found on my first morning exploration. I've been there a few times already because it seems that the only place to get a nice cup of strong black coffee or an espresso based drink is in one of these places run by foreigners for foreigners, not that Ecuadorians are not welcome but the prices they charge are steep by the local standards ($1.75 for a cappuccino!). Otherwise, Ecuadorians seem perfectly content with instant coffee. I would do just about anything for a french press. I found one in Quito for $12 but silly me, didn't buy it. Oh, had I only known!

I visited the cafe this morning for a cup of coffee. It was nice to get out of the house. There are always English-speaking people there to chat with. Today was no different. I found out that on Thursdays the cafe hosts a knitting group! I was a little disappointed that I found out about it on a Friday, I was really bored yesterday afternoon. I will go next week.

The internet went down halfway through writing this post. It happened during the afternoon, which is the time of day when I feel most lost. I think it's always easy to stay busy in the morning - doing laundry, tidying my room or listening to the radio. It's just more difficult for me to fill up the morning. I ate lunch with the group and then after they all set out for whatever plans they had for the day I had to think about what I'd do. I decided to write and then the internet connection was lost. I ended up taking a long walk until the healing blisters on my toes started bothering me again. Upon my return the internet was back up and I felt better - like the connection I have to my friends and family was turned back on.

Arrived in my new home city

It has been a month since my last entry and although a lot has happened, I didn't think my preparations, packing and international flights would be of much interest to you readers.

I arrived in Ecuador on Tuesday. There are six of us English Teaching Assistants (ETAs) in the Fulbright program in Ecuador this year. We stayed in Quito for three days going to meetings, attending orientations and training sessions and taking care of business like setting up savings accounts. It was nice to be in a group but I was looking forward to going to the city where I will be living and teaching. I left the comfort of the group and the care of the Fulbright Commission this evening and took a flight alone to Cuenca.

The flight was uneventful and I was met at the airport by a driver whom the very helpful and kind program officer at the Fulbright Commission coordinated for me. The driver assured me that I would have a wonderful time in Cuenca and that I would be a great help to the students in my future classes. I was confused when he dropped me off because he seemed to be expecting something but I didn't know what it was. We'd just learned in our cultural training this afternoon that Ecuadorians are indirect and Americans are direct and this can be a cause of confusion. I experienced this within hours of the training and didn't know how to handle the situation. I emailed the program officer and I am sure she'll help clarify if I should have taken some kind of action (a tip or was I supposed to pay the guy? I thought that was taken care of when the reservation was made...) Anyway, I'm sure this is of no interest to you.

The hotel is great so far. I have my own little suite. There is a sign posted by the sink in the kitchen that reads, "DELICIOSA AGUA POTABLE DELICIOUS DRINKABLE WATER" but I'm skeptical. Tempted because my water bottle is almost empty but I don't think I'm ready to risk the tap water, however delicious it may be, quite yet.

On Monday I will meet with the people at the university who I will be working with. Until then I'm more or less on my own. That makes me nervous because here I am, thousands of miles from anyone who really knows me and I feel culturally clumsy and unfamiliar with nearly everything. On top of all that I have a recurring headache from the altitude and a bloody nose from the dry air.

Travel isn't all excitement and adventure. There's downtime, confusion, discomfort, and times when you find you'd really rather be someplace else. I'm on the verge of really good times, I can feel it. I'll start meeting people soon and making new, maybe even lifetime friends. For now I'm sitting alone in a hotel room and for better or worse, all I have is an internet connection. I'm tired, haven't eaten since lunch and it's my bedtime. I promise the next blog entry will be more positive.

Preparing

I have my visa! Ecuador granted my visa request very quickly - the process from end to end took about a week and a half. It's such a relief to have my passport back in hand.

My life has really turned upside down. Two months ago I was in school, stressed out trying to finish spring trimester and the overlapping summer session I class I took. I was working and living in my condo, driving my little blue Toyota around. Now my condo is rented, school is out, my car is sold and I quit my job as of Friday. I'm staying at a friend's house and driving a borrowed car. What furniture I didn't sell is at my dad's house and the rest of my things are packed up in boxes in the house where I've been staying for about a week and a half.

I said school is out but that doesn't count the online biology course I'm taking through the University of Minnesota. In the morning I read, listen to an online lecture or submit an assignment for that class. Yesterday's excitement involved taking my cat to the groomer to be shaved and then to the vet to address a (hopefully) minor issue. Today I have an expanse of time before me that I'm not sure yet how I will fill. I have a few options. Tomorrow I move to my dad and step mom's house for a day before heading out to Montreal.

After a busy year - two years really - of working  full-time and taking a more than full course load to finish school faster, I thought it might be nice to take a breather, a little personal vacation, gather my energy for my time in Ecuador.

I will probably be in Montreal the next time I write. I will go there on Friday to spend three weeks with Abi before I leave for Ecuador.

A big change!

The Venezuelan embassy did not act on my visa request in a timely manner so it was retracted and I have been reassigned to Ecuador. I don't know much more at this time. I am awaiting to find out what city I'll be in and the institution where I'll be teaching! I'm still wrapping my head around this major change.

I have to request a "cultural exchange" visa for Ecuador. I'm working on assembling the many requirements for that. It's like a scavenger hunt. This morning I went to City Hall for a clearance letter stating I have no criminal record.

I will post more information as I learn where I'll be! I promise things will get more intesting in upcoming weeks.

Brief update - little to report

I have my medical clearance, a necessary step in the process. I'm almost done with my rounds of vaccines; there is just one left to go. I mailed my visa request to the Venezuelan embassy a week ago.

I have a lot to do to get ready but I have to focus on school for the next three weeks. It's frustrating, because when I get home after work I feel torn between sitting down and reading and working on homework and cleaning, packing and decluttering. Myron has been sick, too. He spent a night at the animal hospital this week. So now between homework and preparing for my long time away from home I'm also trying to ply my cat with fluids and delicious treats filled with needed medicine. I get caught up in everything and try to remember that I need to take care of myself too and spend time with friends and family members while I'm still here but unfortunately I only have a little time here and there when I feel like I can relax and take a break.

I tell myself all the time that if I can make it through the next three weeks and finish up three of the four classes I'm taking now that life will get a little easier. We'll see. I'll let you know.

Good and other news

I arrived home last night after spending an evening with family and read an email from the Fulbright program. I learned that I have been placed in Mérida! I am excited about this because this is where I was hoping to go! Mérida is a beautiful city up in the mountains in Venezuela.

If all goes well, I will be teaching at CEVAM - el Centro Venezolano Americano de Mérida - an organization "dedicated to the promotion of friendship and understanding between the people of North America and Venezuela through social, cultural, philanthropic and educational activities. 


Sounds wonderful to me! 

I found this website that has several good photos of Mérida. Scroll down to the photos under "Los Chorros de Milla," I think I paddled around in that pond 20 years ago! Shortly after I first arrived in Venezuela as a high school student studying abroad, my host family took me to Mérida because my host sister had been accepted to the University of the Andes and was attending her orientation to the university.

My host family and I lived in Valera, if you look at a map it doesn't appear to be far from Mérida but I think it took at least four hours to drive there by car. The road winds up and down mountains (mostly up) and they're frighteningly narrow. My host mother honked her horn around every corner because we never knew when a truck or another car would be come flying down the road from the other direction. It was really scary! 

I also remember that car ride is where I learned to ask how much something costs. Tiny farms line the road between Mérida and Valera, on our way home, my host mother called out the window to these farmers with tiny stands at the side of the road, "A como la cebolla?" "A como el tomate?" "A como el ajo?""How much for the onion...tomato...garlic?" She bought a long rope of garlic bulbs braided together that she hung over the door to the kitchen. I thought the rope with dozens of garlic bulbs would last years but I think she managed to use it all within just a few months. 

Anyway, back to the present day. I have started the long and nail-biting process of requesting a visa for the 10 months I am expected to be in Venezuela. I was warned that it's not guaranteed that I will be able to get a visa. There are alternatives but I'll keep that under my hat for now. I'm hoping for the best! 

Well, hello, Blog! How's it going?

This is my first post. If you are reading this you may be wondering who I am, why I'm doing this and why you should keep reading.

You also may be related to me or you like me so you feel you have to read this, in which case thanks for the support!

I am going to pretend you have no idea who I am, that may make writing easier.

My name is Rose. I am 36 years old. I'd worked in a cubicle (it's not that bad, it's pretty roomy) for more than a decade when I finally figured out what I want to do when I grow up. I decided that I wanted to be a teacher. Maybe someday I'll write about that a little more but for now I'll keep moving on.

I started graduate school in fall 2010 at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Augsburg has a weekend college program that allows me to work full time in my roomy cubicle during the week and attend classes on the weekends and some evenings. Sounds easy? It is not!

Not long after the 2011-2012 school year started I read about the Fulbright program in the Augsburg daily email. I thought, "Sounds cool, why not give it a shot?" I knew there were many reasons to not apply - I have a loving boyfriend who I don't see close enough of as it is, a faithful cat, a good job that will keep me going up until student teaching, a condo, a car lots of stuff, I'm a Big Sister - it's a relationship I value deeply and a responsibility I take seriously - friends, family...so on and so forth. However, I thought, how can I not at least apply and see what shakes out.

I decided to apply for an English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) in Venezuela because I studied abroad in that country when I was in high school and still keep in touch with some of my friends there thanks to the good old Facebook. Venezuela is a beautiful country, the people are wonderful and the culture is much more relaxed - my style.

For all those who are interested in applying for a Fulbright scholarship, you should pay attention to the next part. It took me a month to compete the application process. The process included a 12-page application, full transcripts from every college or university I've ever attended, a Spanish proficiency test, three letters of recommendation, a grant proposal, a statement of grant purpose and an interview in front of a panel of five professors and staff from Augsburg. I think that was it. Augsburg provides a lot of support throughout every step of the way and I can't thank them enough for all they did. I submitted my application on the deadline - I believe that was October 17th.

And then I waited. I expected to hear by January 31st if I was selected or not. I thought every day that passed and I didn't hear anything was a good sign - either that or they lost my application. On January 23rd I received an email from the Institute of International Education informing me that I had made the final pool of potential grantees and that I should give myself a high five and keep waiting. That was not what I'd expected to hear. I also learned that I could expect to know more sometime between February and mid-May or possibly June. I'm serious, that's pretty close to the frustratingly vague language they used.

Up until this point I'd told very few people that I applied because I never thought I'd be selected. Once I got the January email I did start telling more people because it really was an honor to have made it that far. The bad part was that then the people I told kept asking me if I'd heard yet. That made the waiting worse. I waited all of February, all of March and all of April. For some reason March was the hardest. By the end of April I'd given up thinking I'd hear anything until June.

On May 3rd I was surprised to learn that I had been selected. After nearly hyperventilating and throwing up, I panicked. Now what am I going to do? What did I get myself into? 


I'm going to fast forward because this post is already way longer than I planned. 


Two and a half weeks have passed since I got the email. I've known for awhile that I'd go if I were selected. I had some moment in winter when I realized that no matter how hard it would be to shake up my life, change everything and get on a plane and go to South America for 10 months, I'd do it if given the opportunity.

Some things have become easier. I don't have to buy the jumbo pack of toilet paper at Costco, I just need enough to get me through until early August. Other things are amazingly difficult, I'll let you imagine in your own head what those things might be but I'll give you a hint - do a ctrl-F search for "reasons not to apply" and there's your reminder.

I focus on the smaller tasks for now. On Friday I had a physical and got vaccinated against hepatitis and typhoid. I also had a TB skin test, I go back to the doctor's office tomorrow to have that test completed. I'll have more vaccinations on Friday and then one more in June (That's the three-part Twin Rix for all of you who know your vaccinations.)

That's it for my first post. Way too long, wouldn't you say? Stick with me, I think things are going to become more interesting as weeks pass. My intention is to get this blog set up and keep it going in Venezuela. For now, good night!