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.
1 comment:
Good words.
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