Penne Rosa

Today I gave my Quinto (4th grade) students Applebee's menus as a way to learn how to use quantifiers for count and non-count nouns (these nouns being the food).  Aka, we were learning how to use a/an, some, a few, and any in conjunction with food.  My students were completely and totally engaged. It was one of those great, rare moments in my teaching career when I felt like I had figured out a great lesson. This lasted until my students found the pasta section, which boldly highlighted a dish called Penne Rosa.  In Spanish, pene is the word for penis, and rosa is the word for pink.  So, no matter that penne the pasta has two "n"s; my students quickly abandoned their desire to investigate the menu for a fit of giggles, laughing and pointing, and rolling on the floor in exaggerated laughter.  They the two girls who found this dish first chanted "pene rosa" enough times to make all of my male students turn red. I eventually got the students back on track, but I continued to hear whispers of "pene rosa" throughout the afternoon.

December Recap and New Year's Resolutions

December was a very busy month and I should've posted more, but obviously I didn't. We had a lot going on at school between the Christmas program, end of the grading period, and Christmas workshops for the kids.  As per usual at school, I did a lot of work planning my part of the workshop based on the direction given to me by the national teacher I was working with, only to have him change his mind so that all my plans became useless. Then I did slightly less work to create a new plan based on the new direction, but again none of this work was used.  I was pretty frustrated with this, but it definitely teaches me to let go. Actually, every day at school provides a lesson in learning to let go in one form or another.

Aside from school work, I also decided to home-make gifts for all my gringo friends, which was very time consuming. In true Becca-fashion, I am not quite finished yet (even two weeks after Christmas), but the gifts are turning out quite nicely, and I don't think my friends mind too much. 

I was also able to go home, which was the best Christmas present I have ever received. It was so refreshing to be with my mom, dad, sister, and grandma for nine days, and then to be with my friends in Chicago for seven days. It was wonderful to not worry about my sentence structure, pronunciation, or word choice.  It was wonderful to be with people that know who have known me for so long that our relationships only require maintaining, and not building. It was wonderful to sleep.

After a two week refresher course in all things United States, I returned to Cuenca on the fourth. It was really late and I immediately went to bed.  But, yesterday I was able to spend really intentional time returning to my life here.  I  immediately began speaking my very broken Spanish with my roommates, unpacked and settled back in to my apartment, Skyped with my sister and a good friend, and went to the market. I also spent some time reflecting on the last four months. They have been hard but good, and have provided many opportunities for me to learn about myself. I also realized that while I am not yet comfortable here the way I am in Minnetonka or Chicago, I am much more comfortable here than I was even a month ago. And that thought in itself is comforting. Moreover, now that I have reached a base-level of comfort, I have decided it is time to really live this adventure to its fullest. It is time for me to explore Ecuador, which I have done disappointingly little of thus far. And so my New Year's resolution for this year is born.

With this attitude, my friends and I hit the town last night. We went out for dinner and went to two of our favorite bars.  It was good to be with them again. I didn't realize how much I had missed them until we were reunited. I was also reunited with my love of dancing, which I hadn't done much of in the last month or so.  I danced a lot of salsa, but eventually the DJ switched to 80's pop music. My very silly roommate and I closed down the club with our interpretation of 80's dance moves. It was a great way to return to Cuenca, my friends, and my life here.