Friday, October 26, 2007

Sometimes it takes me a little longer...

I think I thought that when I first got to Quito I would be overwhelmed with culture shock- that the Ecuadorian-ness, or South American-ness, or Latin-ness would be overwhelming, confusing, and exotic- and that eventually it would become normal to me. Maybe that's culture shock for most people- but for me, although there were definitely marked differences, I was most overwhelmed by the sameness. Many of you got emails in which I told you that Quito was just like any other city except the street signs were in Spanish and there were a lot of KFCs! Lately, the more used to Quito I get, the more Latin it becomes. Maybe as I learn and assimilate more, the small things are beginning to jump out at me. Today, for example, I was in a taxi coming home with all my school stuff, and the cab driver was playing salsa music. I told him where to go in Spanish and made some inane small talk-- and was struck by how NORMAL it felt!

Point being-- I love it here and I love my apartment and I love my job. On Friday, at school, I was overwhelmed by how much I love it here. I love being in Quito, but the city is dirty and really really polluted. I take a school bus every morning at 6:15 and we arrive at La Mitad del Mundo (i.e.-the Equator) at 7:30 or so. The ride is long, but it's so worth it to be out of the city. At Liga there are trees everywhere. Also- I don't know if I've mentioned before, but the school is affiliated with Liga University and the professional Ecuadorian football team- Liga. In fact, the pro team practices on a field right outside my classroom.. so between classes sometimes I head out and watch them play. It's AMAZING to watch!

Plus, the students are SO sweet. It's a sports high school, so the students wear Track Suits as their uniforms and the They call me "Teacher Margaret", "Teacher", or "Profe"- short for "Profesora". Everywhere I go, the students greet me. Even at lunch they greet us: "Buen provecho, profe." (Buen provecho = bon appetite! It's super polite here to say that whenever anyone's eating ever) I LOVE IT!

Also- on Friday I taught a lesson on contractions and we listened to the song "Breakin' Free" from High School Musical. Since about 70% of my students are boys between 12 and 14 there were a LOT of moans and groans, but one of my classes sang along enthusiastically. I also downloaded the new Juanes CD, so I put it on afterwards and the kids went nuts.

Man oh man- this entry took me the whole weekend to write, but I wanted to communicate my contentment. We spent this weekend in Banos. It was incredible. When I write my entry, you will not believe the things I did. I'll include pictures to prove it.

1 comment:

jl said...

so happy for you. =)