"Hola Niña!"

'Niña' means 'girl' in Spanish & seems to be fasting becoming my name. Southern Cross' cleaner, Lydia, always greeted me ith "hola niña" whenever she saw me & so Maria Elena has started doing the same. In shops where I live (Alborada) they do the same. It seems to be a general term for a young female. But I still find it strange being called 'girl'.

Lydia no longer works at S.C. however as Maria Elena & John (my boss) found that the one day a week she was cleaning at their house instead of the centre, she had been slowly stealing little things - nothing of great value, more pairs of knickers or a hair brush which seemed odd choices but nevermind. Anyway, once they realised - and she's been working for them without problems for about 5 years - she decided it was best if she left. Why knickers!?

Guayaquil

It averages at about 30ºC a day here at the moment - this is their winter. That being said, I've clearly been here to long as it as 24ºC this morning on my way into work & I had goosebumps. It's nice though as I go swimming about 3 times a week in a pool across my road and at night there is no need for the air-con anymore - it's actually very pleasant. Think I'll struggle with the British summer temperatures when I get home though!

I get the bus everywhere here as obviously I don't have a car. It's only 25c to go anywhere per trip and you basically just stand at the side of the road at wave your arm at a bus driving in the direction you want to go. Generally, I've had no problems - touch wood - though it can be rather cramped & if you end up too far down the bus you can't see out of the windows to know when to get off, let alone make your way to the door intime to actually get off. Most of the Ecuadorians here are shocked that I get buses, claiming they are horribly unsafe and that a young girl on her own especially shouldn't be getting the buses around the city.

Graham, my colleague, however, also gets the buses everywhere & - touch wood - has never had any problems or seen any problems & he's been here 2 years. Obviously, don't get an iPod out on the bus or travel with your passport in your bag but that's purely common sense if you ask me.

Blanchy claimed that the buses didn't work past 8pm in an attempt to make sure that I didn't use them. This is a lie. I have seen, & used them after 10pm. She also told me never to get in a taxi alone after dark. This I do understand a bit more as they can drive off more easily with you inside. However, as I don't finish work until after dark, I'm intrigued how she thinks I'll get home if I can't use a taxi & there's no buses (which of course there are). Her advice seemed a little unhelpful in a way!

Home is a bit of a mad house. Blanchy, Wilson & I live on the ground floor & Graham & Maria-Fernanda live upstairs in their apartment with their 9 month old son, Santino. He has learned to crawl since I've been here (yes, I was crawling around the living room with him) and grown his first to teeth much to Blanchy's delight. I find it all a bit much at times, however as I come from a nice quiet, two person house to a 5 person house, a baby & the rest of the the family constantly popping in & out for lunch or a chat, friends rapping on the door looking for people who I've never heard of, etc.

My Spanish is improving slowly. I can hold a basic conversation now, though I lack confidence with anyone outside of my host family.I also have 4 hours of Spanish lesson a week with a girl not much older than myself. So that helps a bit too. I find it strange how everyone just assumes I'm Ecuadorian! I'm a total milk bottle & yet they still seem to think that because I have brown hair & eyes, I must be South American.

Hola y Ciao

We've finally got another teacher working at Southern Cross. This would lighten the load a bit more if Bethan hadn't moved back to English this week. She's been here 3 years & her & her husband decided it was time to try life in the UK again which was a bit disappointing really as I'd only just gotten to known her/them.

It was her leaving doo last week, however, which was a good night out. Her friends were teaching me to Salsa - something I am still yet to master though they said there was hope for me, which was comforting... assuming they weren't just being polite. Hmm

Anyway, so we've lost Bethan who was the only full-timer working here. Laurence & I are both by the hour & the new guy, John, who has lived in Gquil for 15 years, doesn't yet have the CELTA (the qualification we all have & that you need to work at S.C.) so he can only have a limited amount of classes. And so the slog continues.

Late Nights & Early Mornings

My timetable is slowly killing me I'm sure. Each course is 4 weeks long and last week we started the second course. My Elementary class is now full and has a waiting list which is great but my Pre-Int still only has 4 people, though one of the difficult students appears to have dropped out & was 'replaced' by a very nice younger woman who doesn't question my linguistic background or whether I really am a qualified teacher. (That was a bad week.) Since all these problems with my Pre-Int group, I've gained a degree in English from Nottingham University & I'm now in my early 20's. Funny how life can age you!

At the end of the last course, my Pre-Int group wanted to take me for a traditional Ecuadorian breakfast to celebrate completing the course. I ate bolon - made from plantain and cheese, mushed into a ball. It was actually very nice & I've had it a few times since from the cafe next door to work. It's very filling & just complete carbohydrate but it tastes good!

In the photo, is (from left) Christian - probably the shyest & weakest student but he is always very kean - myself, Juan Carlos - one of the know-it-alls who actually doesn't know very much at all - Rossana who is so enthusiatistic she makes me look like a wallflower and Monica who can be a stoppy madam & thinks her English is amazing when in reality, she speaks real Spanglish.

Similarly, my evening Elementary class were very excited about finishing the first course and they wanted to take me out to dinner. Sadly, however, due to many having families, and it was one man's birthday that night, only three were able to come. They took me for a somewhat less traditional meal in the Sports Bar where we had margaritas & fajitas. It was goood!

In the photo is Karen - who took me to Montañita - Tania, Ruth, myself, Fabricio - probably the strongest student in the class though he does like to show off which annoys me - Gustavo who has dropped out as he found it all too difficult & Carlos who is probably the weakest student but so smiley & cheerful that no one really minds if it takes him twice as long to understand everything!

Also, with the new course, I'm now teaching an extra 4 hours a week with a private student for what's called the CPE - English Proficiency. It's the highest form of Cambridge English as a Second Language exams and therefore is very difficult - not only for the students either! Although I'm only teaching 4 hours a week, the amount of planning this course takes is a lot as you really have to challenge the students & make them into 'native speakers'. So we're doing speed speaking & fluency exercises every lesson, exam skills & preparation - how to write an essay, etc - & detailed language analysis. I've had to be honest with her & say, "your grammar is quite possibly better than mine in terms of technical knowledge, though I can probably use it better so together, we'll find out what to do." She's only 20 herself so she seemed cool with it - thank god.

Working at S.C. is certainly a CV booster. I've now taught most levels at some point over the last year & also, they're a Cambridge certified English Centre which means we teach for the Cambridge English exams, etc using their levels & methodology which will look great on my CV should I ever teach English again. So I may be lacking in a life or sleep but at least once I leave in 3 weeks I will have had 2 months of good experience.

(Right) the outside to my classroom, just off reception.

What next?

Speaking of leaving in three weeks...

I've finally got some concrete plans for what I'm doing after teaching in Guayaquil. I am heading off to Peru around July 15th and taking a bus from G'quil to the boarder where I'll spend a few days at a little beach resort called Mancora. I have it on good authority that there is good surfing - not that I surf... yet - cerviche - a seafood soup with almost raw shrimp, onions and ketchup which is surprisingly good though it can be a bit overpowering a taste for breakfast as they often eat it here! - and generally just a cool place. From there, I'm taking another bus to Lima where I'll be for a day or so & then meet with my Trek Group.

We spend 8 days touring from Lima, to Cuzco, the Sacred Valley where we also spend a night with an Indiginous Quichuan family which will be cool & finally, the Macchu Piccu. We finish up back in Cuzco where I'm staying for a bit more of a look around for 4 days. There's loads of Inca ruins around the area & also things to do in the city.

On August 2nd, I fly to Buenos Aires, Argentina where I'm meeting mom for 2 weeks though we don't really know what we'll be doing there yet. I fly home at midnight on August 16th & arrive at Gatwick on the morning on the 18th. So see you then!!

To see more photos of where I'm living & what I'm doing go to:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40300&l=7df30&id=500193915

Sandy beds & the timetable from Satan

I have finally started work here in Guayaquil. The centre opened for business only a week late in the end, which is rather good as we're still technically under staffed & Bethan who has been here or three years is leaving in 2 weeks to return to the UK for good... well, we'll see...


Southern Cross British Language Centre - finally open for business

I teach two Elementary classes a week, which cuts down on the planning time which is good as I simply repeat my 2 hour Mon-Fri (6-9pm) class on a Sat, which is a pretty touch morning as it's a 5 hour class (8-1pm).

I really enjoy my Mon-Fri class, we play a lot of vocabulary games and they are really kean to learn. But my Sat group is very small, only two people which limits how many games we can play & they are also much slower & take longer to grasp concepts which really aren't that hard so it can be a bit frustrating!

I also teach a Pre-Intermediate group with only 4 students, 2 of which are right know-it-all's which can be a little embarrassing when I'm not sure of some of the grammar such as in today's lesson, "why we use an auxiliary verb with object questions in the past simple tense but not with subject questions in the present or past simple tense".... exactly....

They used to be at 8-10pm which was a late shift but meant I got a lie in in the mornings & anyone who knows me, knows I am not a morning person. Sadly, however, my lovely Pre-Int's decided they'd rather have a morning class... by morning I mean truly unholy hours of the day which I didn't realise existed for work until last week. 7-9am. I was not impressed.

Sadly, the language centre isn't really in a position to turn students away at the moment as they are new in town & trying to build a name for themselves & so have to, in a phrase, bend over backwards to accommodate them to start with & once people realise we're good, then we can be less flexible.

We haven't had any huge problems as of yet - touch wood - though a student did have a wheel knicked off the back of their car outside the centre which is a little worrying as its actually in one of the nicer areas. But hey ho, that's Guayaquil for you - delightful as ever.

www.britishcentre.com.ec

Home Sweet Home

Speaking of thefts, on Saturday, I returned home from work to Blanchi telling me there was no water. The tap on the outside of the house which turns the water on & off had be stolen & we had therefore had to turn all the water off or it would have come gushing out, wasting all the water. Someone stole a tap - who does that - what good is a tap to anyone! Strange people they are here. Stealing taps indeed.

I get on with my host family - Blanchi & Wilson - very well. They chatter away to me in Spanish & I'm understanding more & more. We've developed a good system where by I have a little Spanish dictionary which often comes in handy for words like "safe" or "timetable" which we simply can't act out.

Blanchi has got the hang of speaking slowly & clearly (thank god) as in the south, where I am, they speak very fast & use a lot of slang which, obviously for me, would be near impossible to follow. Think of it as going to, for example, Liverpool to learn English (no offense to the family of course!)

Maria-Fernanda is determined to get me out of the house, however. She's been ringing her friends & trying to make arrangements for them to take me out. As sad as this is, however, when I have to be up at 5:30am for work, I don't really feel like going for a night out - especially when they don't even start until midnight or 1am her & teaching isn't really the type of job I can wing it on a hang over (or in some cases, still being drunk) with. Not in Quito any more!!

We live opposite a canal & I was walking home from the main street where the bus drops me on the way home from work (approx 10mins) & thus I passed the canal where I heard a rather strange noise. So I'm looking around thinking, "what the hell is that?" only to look down at my feet about 10ft in front of me & there's two iguanas, happily sitting in the grass, clicking away. I got the fright of my life, which the men in the mechanics shop across the road found highly amusing, & skirting quickly past the scene & into the house across the road. This is a very odd country... iguanas living on my door step & what not.


Mayhem in Montañita

One of my students, Karen, invited me to Montañita this weekend - which is a beach party town with the reputation for alcohol, surfing & not much else! I've wanted to go for a while (clearly) so jumped at the opportunity.

So, on Saturday, after my very long & slow class, we hopped in the car & drove the 4 hours with Jenny (her flat-mate/our receptionist) to the beach. We partied until around 3:30, 4am when I finally felt fit to drop. They could have kept going but wouldn't let me go back to the hostel on my own. So we all traipsed back through the crowds of intoxicated Europeans (who flock there like Pilgrims to the Vatican on Resurrection Day) & inebriated Ecuadorians (who merely want to oagle at the foreigners & try their luck mainly) to the hostel where we then couldn't actually sleep anyway for another hour or so as the music was thumping through the paper thin walls & vibrating the bed - which had sand in it for some reason.

The hostel was very rustic, but that's to be expected. All that I cared about was it had a bed, a bathroom & a shower - which had hot water so actually, you could argue that it was better than home where we only have a cold water supply so I wasn't complaining!

It was a fun night out though - except for my potential stalker who was at least 35 years old & wouldn't leave me alone. He kept trying to speak to me in Spanish & no matter how many times I said, "soy inglese, no entiendo, no hablo español" he still kept on - another reason for my wanted early departure in the end!

What was worse that the next afternoon when we finally surfaced for a breakfast of giant chocolate & banana pancakes (heaven!) & coconuts with a straw in the top, he appeared at our table talking, yet again! I was horrified, though he seemed totally oblivious to this. Karen & Jenny told him I wasn't Latino & didn't speak Spanish at which point he turns around & exclaims, "No! Where are you from!? I thought you were Latino!" In very good English. Idiot.

We wanted to go to the beach that afternoon but it was only 20ºC & the sun was hiding behind some rather dull looking clouds accompanied by a rather strong breeze which was making even me feel chilly! So we decided to head home after a quick stroll down the beach, on which I got attacked by a wave & my shorts got all nice & wet for the car journey home... Greeeat.

I was exhausted after being awake for nearly 24 hours on Saturday & was ready to come home & simply fall into bed for my 5:30 wake up call on Monday morning but Graham & Maria-Fernanda were having a BBQ upstairs & insisted that I had to eat something - though personally I favoured sleep.

She lives!

I'm really sorry it's taken me over a month to write another post! I've got back to Guayaquil in the last week after a month of partying in Quito (I never made it to Cuenca in the end!)

I managed to improve my Spanish quite a bit in Quito - but then considering I was coming from nothing that wouldn't exactly be difficult would it!? I did four hours a day Monday to Friday & although I changed teacher 5 times in 3 weeks, I seemed to make pretty good headway, especially considering I was often in lessons after only a few hours sleep or with a hangover!

From peace to pandemonium!

I arrived in Quito on the Friday to find a very empty hostel - my plan to meet people while I was there was already failing...

I went to a market town, Otavalo, about 2 hours away from Quito early on the Saturday morning - somewhat surprisingly, I managed to find my way there on the bus & back all on my own. I bought some breakable things which will be interesting to try & transport home in one piece & had a nice day walking around this giant market of brightly coloured clothes, pictures and the like.

I find I enjoy travelling on my own as I can pretty much choose what I do & when I do & if I fancy changing my plans at the last minute, I can do without a second thought generally. However, walking around the market, it would have been nice to have someone to chat to or confer about purchases with & if nothing else, have someone to rub sunblock on my back as it was scorching sun & I burn like old lady on a sunbed!

On the Monday, however, three Brits turned up in the hostel - Mike, Lux & Ned - and we got pizza and watched DVDs. I'm not gunna lie, I was happy to have people to talk to!

And that's when the peace turned into pandemonium...

Mike & Lux were the leaders for a gap year expedition group of nineteen other people on gap year who arrived over the next few days - let the fun begin! I ended up becoming an honorary member of the Quest group for the few weeks I was there. Half way through my first week, my school in Cuenca emailed me & said they were doubling their prices so I decided not to go as I was having so much fun in Quito.

The Quest Crew were, well, mental to say the least - I met a girl I'm going to Uni with next year & another who lived in the next village along from me which made the world feel really quite small.

We became regulars at a bar called Patatus ("heart attack" in Spanish which was really quite fitting it turned out at times!) There was a bar area you could dance on - on which we had at least 15 of us once or twice & off which I hurt my foot when I jumped on the final night to the point where I can't walk some days if I jump off the bus at the wrong angle now... woops!

Put it this way - Quito gave me a bleak insight into the Uni years ahead of me - heavy nights of partying till the wee hours of the morning only to have to get up at unholy hours of the mornings for classes the next day... or same day as the case may be!

The City

I didn't only party, however. I did manage to do some sight seeing whilst in Quito & I have to say, it felt as though I have drawn the short straw with Guayaquil! Quito is much easier to navigate as its smaller & more pedestrian friendly. Guayaquil was burnt to the ground in a series of fires in the nineteenth century (so I'm told) but was built up as a concrete jungle instead with 8 lane wide roads (which I have to cross when I get off the bus from work to get home!) and so on.

Quito has an Old Town which is very quaint in parts. It has countless amounts of churches, a cathedral which in my opinion was no great shakes considering the Catholic faith is meant to be all about the showy religiousness. However, one church, La Compañia is solid gold leaf inside; nothing is covered in anything less & that was really quite impressive to see.

My favourite, however, was the Basilica - a great Gothic style church which I happened to come across by chance in the pouring rain one day. I bought my ticket to go inside (more to shelter from the downpour than anything else) & a group of women in black suits & gleaming name badges all pointed me in the direction of a door, which I assumed was the entrance. So I started up a set of stairs, which I thought it was odd you had to go up to go in but carried on. And I kept walking. And then there were more stairs. After what felt like forever (and was feeling a little out of breath by this point) the stairs finally finished & I looked up & I was behind the tower clock! There was a rickety old spiral staircase in one corner which, against my better judgement, I decided to go up & at the top of that I was faced with a very wet, iron ladder with only thin rungs to take me higher.

At this point I stopped & thought, 'no one knows I'm up here... I could slip and plummet to my death through these wet wooden floor boards at any point & no one would know. I could lie there for a day before I'm found...' Quite why not being found seemed more of an issue for me than the dying itself I don't quite know but that was the thought process anyway. So I stepped up the ladder & climbed higher than the bells.

The funny feeling in my bottom was certainly worth it when I saw the view. I could see the entire city pretty much from the top of the tower. It had stopped raining as well which helped though by the time I made it back to the hostel about fort-'five minutes later, I was a drowned rat! I hadn't dressed for my mini adventure at all - but then you could argue that the impromptu ones are aways the best!

I also climbed the highest active volcano in Ecuador, Cotopaxi, to the first refuge (4000meters or so) one weekend with some other girls from the school through hail that felt like small shards of glass hitting us in the face - it was a pleasant day out!

I went up the TeleferiQo in Quito as well to the top of the mountain at the side of the city which was very nice. And someone at the top thought I was Ecuadorian rather than English which is always interesting - though when he realised I wasn't, he wanted to practice his English & I couldn't shut him up which was rather annoying as I had been enjoying the peaceful view over the city in the cool mountain air... but then a cloud engulfed us & it was just plain cold so I went back down.

And so the wanderer returns...

I came back to Guayaquil last Wednesday & moved in with my host family - Blanchi & Wilson. They are actually a colleague of mine's in laws. They are very nice, though they speak no English so I'm hoping my Spanish will improve considerably. We've managed to communicate thus far successfully, though Graham & Maria Fernanda live in an apartment upstairs with their 8 month old son, Santino - the happiest baby I have ever met - so if I have any problems, there are English speakers not too far away which is handy!

Blanchi is very concerned that I eat - she keeps asking about my timetable (which I don't know for sure yet) at the institute - dude to open on May 5th but it has been delayed another week due to teething problems - as the tradition here is to have your main meal at lunch & come home for it. I'll be surprised if I'm not as fat as a house by the time I leave Ecuador the amount she wants to feed me!!

The institute - Southern Cross - is looking good. We just need some students & we're good to go. I've been there helping out for the last few days, unwrapping tables & chairs from plastic, sorting out the timetable & also just sitting around in case a potential student walks in & wants to book a class. My days have been enthralling as you can imagine!

Thus I don't have much more to report. I've felt a bit flat the last week as it was strange living with 21 other people around my age, having a laugh 24/7 and then coming back to Guayaquil to a quiet house and a relatively uneventful time. But things are getting back to normal now & I start work on Monday (hopefully) which is going to be very busy as one of our teachers haven't showed up so I'm covering part of his timetable as well as my own!

The way I see it, I'll work really hard for just over 2 months then have pleanty of cash to go traveling with for a month & a bit & have a blast - roll on the good times!!

photos of Quito etc can be found at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=34486&l=6ce44&id=500193915
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=34988&l=82bcc&id=500193915

love
xx

It never rains, but it pours...

So things aren't quite going according to plan. The local government has turned round this week & said that they are delayed students going back to school for another month (ie, May instead of April) due to floods in the surrounding area. Therefore, many students can´t get too school & rather than some going & others not, they've simply said, "no one goes".

It´s unusual that the rainy season should have lasted this long apparently, though its not quite an El Niño... yet...

For the kids, this is great. We all love to hear that the summer holidays have been extended, even the teachers do at times. However, this is not the case for me as it means that I am out here for a full month with nothing to do, not earning money & eating into my savings. Also, the city I´m in, Guayaquil, is relatively boring. It´s an industrial city and there´s really not a lot here bar a Coca Cola bottling factory, various car factories, etc etc. So I have nothing to do if I´m not working.

Thus I have decided to leave - temporarily. Seeing as I´ll have to eat into my savings anyway, I might as well do this by traveling round the country, seeing a bit more & learning Spanish as I go.

So, on Friday, April 4th I will be jetting off to Quito, the capital of Ecuador for 2 weeks where I´m booked into a Spanish school with a linked hostel. Hopefully this will mean that I will also meet some people!

After this, I´m going to Cuenca in the south for a week (also to learn Spanish) which has Inca ruins near by, etc so hopefully it´ll be an interesting place to be.

Both Quito & Cuenca are apparently more historical and cultural than Guayaquil and have retained much more of their original, colonial feel (though as ever there is the modern quarter etc etc as well).

I´m looking forward to my trip as I wanted to see more of Ecuador anyway, it´s just a bit annoying it´s under the circumstances of not having a job!

Salinas - a day at the beach

On Friday, John, Maria Elena, Adriana & her cousin & I went down to Salinas to have a look around and a day at the beach.

(Salinas is the town I would have been working in if I had been able to start work next week).

It was a very hot day & I had forgotten how strong the equator sun is. Sadly, despite having sun block on, I got quite badly burned. We went for a little boat ride around the beach & we were allowed to jump of the boat for a swim, etc which I don´t think helped. It was very pleasant though & the water was very refreshing in such sticky weather!

We also saw Blue-footed Boobies (a type of bird, not something a bit odd!) which is found in the tropics. Essentially, they were just brown seagulls with blue feet but they were quite funny to see. (It's a shame, I don't think you can see their feet in this photo very well.)

I quite liked Salinas but I think after a month or so there I would have got quite bored to be honest - though living on the beach would have been very nice!

My weekend of walking around Guayaquil

This weekend, Adriana (Maria Elena´s 19 year old niece) was enjoying being my tour guide of Guayaquil. As I said, there´s not loads to see but she took me to one of the 7 or so shopping malls her (which looked just like every other one to me).

I was in shorts as it was 30°C and a blisteringly hot day. However, I ended up having to go home & change as the men were blowing me kisses out of trucks an so on which made me feel uncomfortable. Sadly, all I had with me at Adriana´s house were a pair of jeans for that night & so I nearly passed out for the rest of the afternoon in this heat!

We went to Cerro Santa Ana in the afternoon, a hill in the centre of the city on the banks of the Rio Guayas. It used to be quite a dangerous area of the city but in the past few years its undergone serious regeneration and it´s a nice little area now with quaint, more classic looking houses & cafes winding up 444 steps to the top where a small chapel and lighthouse are. The buildings are all painted different colours as well which is very pretty (though when you get up close some look as though they could do with a bit of TLC). Also, on the edges are great big gates and iron fences to keep out the slums on the next hill along which sort of take away the picturesque feel that is so nearly achieved!

When you reach the top of the hill though, you can go to the top of a little light house & look across the whole city. It wasn't until I got there (where there was a much welcomed breeze!) that I realised quite how big Guayaquil is!

That night, Adriana took me out with her friends to a bar. The night doesn't start till around midnight here, however, unlike many other Latin American countries there is a curfew of 3am when police patrol the streets to make sure every bar has shut & no one is left hanging around in an attempt to try & reduce the crime in Guayaquil. (In previous years, there's been a lot of trouble.)

Anyway, after my day of lots of walking in the exhausting heat, I was quite tired. Her friends were very nice & they were able to speak really quite good English. Sadly, they chose not to & so I felt a little out of it all night. I don't blame them, who wants to think after a beer or two when they can just warble on in their own language. They've invited me out to a 'discoteque' again soon though which once I speak a bit more Spanish, I'm sure will be more fun!

On the Sunday, Adriana & her family took me to the Guayaquil Parque de Historico (Historical Park of Guayaquil). It was very nice & a bit cooler as it was drizzling (thank god). As you can see, its a series of wooden walk ways through this mock rain forest style park and you look down into various enclosures with different animals. It's actually very nicely done, though its quite small which I felt sorry for the animals a bit. At the end, we saw traditional houses which were as colourful as Cerro Santa Ana. Apparently, Guayaquil all used to be like this, made of wood. However, they suffered many fires about 100 years ago & now, only one original house remains in the city amidst the ever increasing concrete jungle. (I haven't seen it yet though).

We also saw a little show with people in traditional dress, etc. It seemed very funny, though I didn't understand a word (bar "Hola!" when it very first started!) Everyone else was howling away though.

Going solo...

So; next time I write I'll be coming to you from Quito, the country's capital (which is significantly smaller than Guayaquil).

I'm really looking forward to seeing a bit more. Although Maria Elena & John have been very welcoming & I get on with them really well, it will be nice to have a bit of my own space & a bit more freedom for a while. As we're a bit out in the sticks here, I always have to rely on them for lifts into town which isn't great as sometimes I want to go in when they aren't or whatever & don't feel I can put them out after they've been so kind to let me stay for 2 weeks.

Anyway, I'll be staying in quite central locations in both Quito & Cuenca in hostels. Will upload photos as soon as I can but until then, if you'd like to look at more photos from my first week or so in Ecuador, you can go to the link below!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32111&l=57359&id=500193915

Wish me luck!

xx

Hola!

I have arrived

After a rather stressful week and a 15 hour plane flight, plus a very boring 4 hour stop over in Texas where I could barely keep my eyes open, I finally arrived in Guayaquil, Ecuador around midnight on Sunday evening. John (my boss) was thankfully there to meet me - though there had been some question as to whether this would be the case as he had stopped replying to emails. I have since found out this was because he´d gone away for Easter weekend.) Anyway, I am currently staying with him & his wife, Maria Elena.

They are both very welcoming and Maria Elena has even taken to helping me learn a bit of Spanish. (She is actually an English professor at the University here, but she taught Spanish for a while a few years ago when they lived in the UK for a few years). Today we did numbers, meeting people... and I can cook Spaghetti Bolognaise in Spanish! Of all the useful things I could know!


First Impressions

By now, most of you know the story of when John first rang me for an interview;

Jenni & I were sat in the kitchen laughing & joking as we usually do. We´d been discussing my time in China, for whatever reason, when the phone rang. So, for a joke, I answered the phone in a Chinese accent saying,

"Herro, yoo haf reached da Sheara´ househol´ how can I help yoo?"
"Hello, this is John Warren calling from Ecuador for Amie Shearer?"

It´s safe to say I was stunned into silence & totally mortified that this should be the one phone call that I should answer in a stupid voice.

Anyway, luckily, it didn´t hurt too much as I´m here in Ecuador. However, on Sunday night, my plan was to take a quick shower & go to bed for a much awaited sleep. Nevertheless, as I got into the shower I managed to pull down the shower curtain rail which, if it wouldn´t have been embarrassing enough, made a tremendous crashing sound. John called through the door,

"Amie? Are you ok?" Cursing at this point that I could possibly do something so stupid, I call back rather sheepishly,

"um, well, actually, er, I´ve sort of pulled down you´r shower railing..." (I didn´t know what else to say!) He explained that it was actually on suckers & happened all the time (thank god!). All was well - until I pulled it down again getting out of the shower, though at least now I knew how to put it back up - & I went to bed.

There is only one upside to this that I can think of; I have possibly given the worst first impression possible after all this & so things can only go up... touch wood.


Guayaquil

John & Maria Elena live on the outskirts of the city in a modern ´compound´ type place. You wouldn´t think we were 10 minutes outside a 3 million people city as it´s surrounded by luscious green rolling hills covered with trees, ivy and other random looking vegetation I will never recognise!

The city itself is vast. I haven´t been in the centre yet but from what I have seen, it seems to me like a city which has had another ring of roads and building built every few years and so it´s sort of like an onion... for want of a better analogy! Where we were on Monday is simply mall after mall after mall of shops and restaurants. I suppose it´s the coolest way to shop here but that´s all there seemed to be!

We went to see Maria Elena´s niece who is also 19, Adriana, on Monday too and she lived in ´the 70´s area´ apparently. This was smaller white buildings with little multicoloured balconies, though it looked like it needed a bit of TLC. Also, the giant two-story high gates bolted shut in front of every house were particularly welcoming...

Adriana is very nice, and speaks reasonable English which is good as until I learn some Spanish, conversation would be a bit stilted otherwise! She´s actually invited me out this weekend to her cousin´s birthday in a club, or ´disco tech´as she calls it. (I didn´t like to say that a disco in England is for 11 year olds!) Apparently here the main type of music in clubs is ´reggae-ton´ which sounds like RnB with reggae beats, which I can cope with :) It´s more the sound of the style of dancing which I´m worried about! I think it´ll be an interesting night anyway!


Will keep you posted

I don´t have a whole lot to report as of yet as I haven´t started properly teaching yet & obviously haven´t seen a whole lot either. I´m teaching a class of ´false beginners´today (which means they have basic understanding & that´s about it) but that´s partly just to fill my time and also filling in for John as I have nothing better to do.

Once I have more to say I´ll be back!

Love to all,
xx

A Disappointment Before it Even Begins

Just a quick note to say that I am no longer going on the trek as unfortunately, they didn't have room in the accommodation for me even though there was a space on the trek. It's safe to say I'm pretty bummed out by this. I might do it at a later date, maybe at the end of my stay in South America. 

Instead, I'm now looking to enroll in a Spanish course for a week maybe to get me started (as I speak literally no Spanish as it stands) but we'll see what happens. 

Will keep you posted, as ever,

xx

The Adventures begin again...

Hello all once again!

The time has (finally!) come for me to be off on my travels again. 

In January-February, I qualified as an Teacher of English as a Foreign Language after 4 grueling weeks of sleep deprivation & a lot hard work lesson planning & writing my assignments. I've been working in London where I trained for a few weeks to gain some experience. However, this week, I have confirmed a position in Ecuador & I leave on March 23rd. 

Everything feels as though it's happening very fast but then again, if life wasn't fast paced I'd

 get bored!

So what exactly will I  be doing?

This is a very good question - I don't have many details myself yet! I'll be living & working in Ecuador's main beach holiday destination, Salinas. This is approximately two hours away from Guayaquil, one of Ecuador's bigge

st cities. 

I've been told that I'll be working in a public school & a private school though this is all I know at the moment. I'm also hoping to learn Spanish whilst I'm out there (to some level or another). It has been said by some *shifty eyes* that I only made a half hearted attempt to learn Chinese so what will be different about Spanish? Well, to start, Chinese was a completely alien language & I it took me a month to learn 1-10, let alone anything of much conversational substance! (And I can already count to 10 in Spanish, so I'm one step ahead of my Chinese skills!) Also, I learnt French at school which has some (though not many) similarities to Spanish which I'm hoping will help a bit. 

However, before I start work, I will be in Peru for 8 days. I have signed up to do the Lares Trek from Cuzco, through the Inca region to the Machu Picchu. I'm very excited as I've never really done anything like this before but the Inca region seems a very interesting place, not to mention the rich history behind it. You can see the route we'll be taking below on the map & afterwards, I'll upload all my photos of "breathtaking beauty and scenery". 

After the trek, I'll fly back to Guayaquil (April 5th) to begin work on April 7th in Salinas. 

I'm assuming I'll be able to update the blog regularly as I did when I was in China, but obviously I don't quite know what to expect at the moment. 

Wish me luck!

xx