So I have now been in Cuenca, Ecuador for almost two and a half days. It feels like I have been here for much longer because I have done so much in such a short time.
On Thursday, August 30th, I flew from Minneapolis to Miami, and then from Miami to Quito, Ecuador, the capitol city. LAN Ecuador, the airline I took from Miami to Quito, was very impressive. I do not fly internationally very often, so maybe this is not as impressive as I think it is, but there was a touch-screen screen on the seat back of every seat, so each passenger could watch his or her own movie, tv show, or listen to the music or play the game of his or her choice. Unfortunately, I became ill after eating the food provided by the airline, and I ended up vomiting in the airplane bathroom. Maybe there is another kind of mile-high club that I inadvertently joined. Anyway, I was still feeling pretty weak when we landed in Quito, but I was able to take a taxi from the airport to the hostel I had reservations at, as I had a 17 hour layover in Quito before my flight to Cuenca. Once safely at my hostel, I sent a few emails and promptly went to sleep. I will be honest, I had a lot of anxiety that night. I spoke to one of my favorite people in Chicago the night before I left, and he expressed a lot of concern about me travelling alone, staying in hostels, getting ripped off by taxi drivers, and basically being some kind of easy prey. Although I was aware of these things before, his words stayed with me during my travels and I was hyper aware, probably to the point of being unnecessarily skittish, for the first 48 hours of being in Ecuador.
I flew to Cuenca the next day, and checked into my hostel there with no problem. I was able to meet up with an international teacher from my school who is beginning her third year teaching at Cedei, and who also happens to be from Minnesota. She cooked me dinner and introduced me to some of the other international teachers with whom I will be working this year. So far I've met five international teachers (all of them are from the U.S.), though there are others. My first night we just hung out, drank a few beers, talked, and listened to music. To generalize, we are all twenty-somethings with bachelors degrees looking for some kind of adventure; we do come from a wide variety of background and experience levels, however. I also speak the absolute least amount of Spanish out of the group of us that I've met so far. Good thing I am teaching English to the older kids who already understand most English.
Yesterday, my first full day in Cuenca, I went with some of the other teachers to the school to see my classroom and get my teaching materials for the year. This was overwhelming. I got my class list and was able to take home some of the materials I will be using to teach my students. Many teachers were finishing up projects and preparing their rooms for the school year, but I was so overwhelmed I didn't do much. I am hoping to take time next weekend to spruce things up a bit. I am able to paint anything I want in my room, so I am going to paint two huge trees (This will come as no surprise to my MercyWorks Community) from which I will hang my students art and other projects as leaves.
School supplies are really, really expensive in Cuenca, so the school does not have much. There are two five inch stacks of construction paper which are meant to last the school the entire year. We have some paint, markers, crayons, etc., but like I said, what we do have is meant to last the whole year. This means I will be doing a lot to create "something out of nothing," which I'm convinced can be done with a little ingenuity. Hopefully I have enough to make it all work!
On a totally different topic, Cuenca is cold. Well, not cold by Minnesota or Chicago standards, but definitely colder than I expected it to be. It has been between 50 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit every day, but there is no heat in buildings so we all wear our jackets and many, many layers all day long. I sleep with lots and lots of blankets on each night, and it is the only time I am truly warm. My shower, at best, gets to luke-warm. I have consistently taken the fastest showers of my life so far. I am glad I brought three pairs of wool socks. I wish I had brought more sweaters, but I did bring about 6. And I brought a polar fleece and my nice Loki jacket, which is rain and wind resistant with a fleece lining. I will be wearing these daily.
I will write more again soon. My first day of class is tomorrow, and I am nervous but also so excited. I hope this school year starts off on a good note!
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