Feelin' Fine

Updates

Another lesson Ecuador has taught me—or at least has made that much more pronounced—is how transient relationships can be in this country. I mean, I had months to tell people and prepare for my original departure here. Everyone (well, for those of you who read this) knows when I’m coming home in April and when I’ll most likely be back for good. But here—perhaps it’s because people don’t always have the same amount of time to prepare—it’s different. Plans change on a whim. Nothing is “for sure,” not that it is anywhere, but I believe it’s much less so in Ecuador.

Peter will be gone in less than a week. We were going to hang out in the mountains over our last weekend together in the country, but seeing as he’s had to change his flight, that’s not going to be possible anymore. We’ve decided to spend the weekend in Guayaquil. I guess we’re going sometime this next Saturday morning. It’s so sad for me because the kid’s formed so much of my social and support network since November. I’m afraid I’m going to have to cope with loneliness all over again once he’s gone. Luckily, I do have a break from Ecuador coming up in April.

And yet, there’s always someone new too. The March volunteer, Adam, is a pretty cool dude. I might’ve mentioned this before, but he’s from Georgia and—yes, ma’am—he’s got a Southern drawl (some of the expressions he says are pretty ridiculously awesome too). He’ll be here for good before the end of the month, so that’s something to look forward to.

Teaching

Basic A, the class I’ve been teaching since the beginning of this month, is an awesome class. While I started off slightly terrified to be teaching four hours straight each day, it’s been going really well. They don’t even seem all that bored… for the most part. (I can tell because when things really start to drag, a bunch of them pull out their phones, hide them in their laps and begin to text their friends.) We have our first test scheduled for next week Monday, so we’ll see how well their doing academically at that point; but, judging from the quiz I gave them on Friday, they’re learning a lot. I think it makes a big difference having basic versus advanced students. Because everything is still knew to them and because so many core principles are being taught in basic, these students tend to be hungrier learners, which means that they also tend to pay more attention.

Teaching, however, has been hot! My room’s air conditioner has been broke since the very beginning. But, coincidentally enough, it just got fixed today. I couldn’t be happier about this. I’ve been sweating like crazy. And, to make matters worse, I forgot to put on deodorant before class one day last week. I had to jump past the fan in front of the room to keep my waves of stench from being blown right in my students’ faces. Ha! Not a good situation for them.

Anyway, all in all, Basic A is a great bunch of kids and I’m really happy with them. I’ve even adjusted to teaching in the morning. Can’t complain here!

Travel

Not much to report here seeing as I really haven’t gone anywhere since the last time I posted.

Adam came down this weekend, so I stuck around here. We ran a 10k race together in Salinas on Saturday morning. It went really well for me, other than the heat. Even at 7:30 in the morning, it must have been close to 80 degrees out. I don’t fare too well in the heat. Luckily, there were a lot of aid stations handing out water, which I almost invariably splashed on my head instead of drinking. It started off sunny, but eventually got cloudier while we were actually running the race. That was a big help too.

I wasn’t expecting quite the turnout for the run that actually came. Even in a pretty touristy place like Salinas, it doesn’t seem like that popular of a sport. For instance, I hardly ever see anybody out when I’m running. However, a lot of the people there (I think most of them drove in from Guayaquil) were very serious runners. Apparently, you weren’t anything special unless you were wearing a cool running jersey. Following this line of reasoning, Adam and I were nobodies.

Sarah, a close friend and volunteer living in Guayaquil, came to stay Saturday night as well. Peter, Adam, Sarah and I tried to have a night out in Salinas Saturday night, but after the club we were going to go asked us for $20 a head just to get in the damn place, we decided to hang out on the boardwalk and just have a couple beers. I was absolutely exhausted after having woken up early and run the race, so I made a quick night of it before retreating home.

On Sunday, Adam, Sarah and I hung out at the beach in Salinas. We played some soccer, swam a little and then just sat there for a really long time, discussing any and everything. After that, we went to a little restaurant and introduced Adam to ceviche (perhaps previously spelled cerviche, they are still exactly the same food). He liked it, which is good because you really can’t avoid it entirely on the costa.

Really, not too much to say at all. Just trying to relax and get some sleep.

Other News

Things are going fine. As always, Ecuador is a distinct set of ups and downs. I feel okay about most of the stuff in my life.

Shoot me an email if you get the chance! I could use it.