Off to the community

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After being in Otavalo for three weeks, I told the volunteer coordinator that I would like to begin teaching. She´s obviously apprenshive in that I still only speak broken Spanish (a charitable description), however if I spend another week in Otavalo, I will be taken out of Ecuador in a straight jacket. Furthermore, my Spanish teacher has been sick, so even if I were to stay in Otavalo, I wouldn´t be taking any classes. Actually, the past week I was sick too, so Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, classes were a bit subdued in that we both wanted to be in bed.

However, I think that going to the community will be the best thing for my Spanish, because that will be my only means of communicating, so I will be forced to use it. Plus, I will have plenty of free time to study more and digest what I have already learned.

On Monday morning I will move to my community of Ucsha. Once there, I will meet my host family and start teaching. The organization does not seem to stress introductions, or training all that much (in fact, it hasn´t been mentioned at all). However, the other volunteers are quite willing to answer questions and help out. I really have no idea what to expect: I don´t know the host family, I am not sure of the age of the kids, I don´t know how big the class will be, I don´t know what the supplies are, etc. I do know is I will be teaching two English classes and a computer class. The one perk is that the former volunteer (who was here about a month ago) was Canadian, so at least my accent will be similar. The other good news, is that the kids most likely have forgotten what the former volunteer taught, so I can start with anything I would like.

I have planned very rough lesson plans for the classes, but am keeping everything very flexible so that I can change plans as I learn more and more.

Hope this does not sound completely negative, I am actually quite excited to start something new, and I look forward to figuring out things as I go along. As for the Spanish as my teacher would say - practico, practico, practico.


STRANGE COINCIDENCES

1. When I first got to my host families house in Otavalo, I noticed a book on the shelf - Wisconsin: A Photographic Tour and a Wisconsin mug. Turns out the person to stay in the room before me just graduated from University of Wisconsin.

2. My Spanish teacher is Ecuadorean, and her brother lives in Chicago. I raced against her brother in Ironman Wisconsin 2005

3. While working in Wyoming this summer, I became friends with somebody from Oklahoma. In Ecuador I work with a German who studied in the US for a year in Oklahoma - turns out went to school with friends of my friend (still trying to figure out if they went to school together).

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Comments

[Rich K.]

Guinea Pig
What a coincidence! I just came back from a Rollout Meeting in Minnesota and we are adding Guinea Pig Sorrentino to the menu. Your last blog had me in stitches. I am glad to hear that you are doing alright and hopeflly you'll find una mujer bonita muy pronto. Cuando se tiene amor todo esta bien. Muy buena suerte...we miss you at the Mac Shack. Rich

[Mom]

10,000 People
As I have told you many times, there are only 10,000 people in the world. If there were really 6 billion, you wouldn't constantly run into people you know or who know someone you know.

[Claudia]

Oklahoma
Haha, you mentioned Oklahoma as well... P.S. Note that I'm reading your blog from end to beginning P.P.S It is sooo weird to read all this after such a long time..