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.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
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
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
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