Students, Temblors, and Being a Good Samaritan
Looks like I´m writing this just under the 2 week mark. Score!
There isn´t too too much to report. My teaching schedule is filling up--I had 3 students this past week on various days and 3 more are going to start this coming week. I think that should be enough to keep me busy and pay my bills. So far I really like my students. They´re 3 guys between the ages of 29 and 30-something. They´re all really nice. Mostly we just do lots of talking and I correct their errors and help explain bits of grammar here and there. I give classes out of my host family´s house when their restaurant´s off-hours, so I feel very comfortable and it´s not like I´m inviting strangers into my house, nor do I have to travel at all to go to work.
On Thursday night there was a ¨temblor¨ here in Quito that ranked 6.7 on the Richter Scale (note: temblor is definitely different from an earthquake--I guess it´s more or less like a tremor). However, I failed to even notice because I was super engrossed in a Skype conversation with a friend. So I guess it really wasn´t all that serious. The place in Ecuador that felt the tremor the most was a city called Cuenca, about 8 hours away from Quito, so I´m guessing we didn´t get the full force of anything here.
Today was a particularly busy day. Alejandro´s marketing class organized a community service project for street children from Quito, so I went along and participated. It was an all-day event: we played tons of games like soccer, freeze tag, Ecuavolley (basically volleyball with 3-person teams, 3 hits per side, and breaking lots of the official rules about how to hit the ball), sang songs, did face-painting, 3-legged and wheelbarrow races, tug of war, and other random games that I don´t know the names of as well. We also had a barbeque (I had a heads up and brought my own lunch). Basically it was a really good opportunity to connect with street kids and be good influences for them, even if only for a day. There were 2 little girls in particular that I talked with a lot--they were so cute and friendly! It was also nice hanging out with people my age from the university and networking a bit.
Now it´s time to watch the national team´s game against Paraguay. Ecuador seriously needs to win or else they´ll be in deep you-know-what. Here´s to staying optimistic!
There isn´t too too much to report. My teaching schedule is filling up--I had 3 students this past week on various days and 3 more are going to start this coming week. I think that should be enough to keep me busy and pay my bills. So far I really like my students. They´re 3 guys between the ages of 29 and 30-something. They´re all really nice. Mostly we just do lots of talking and I correct their errors and help explain bits of grammar here and there. I give classes out of my host family´s house when their restaurant´s off-hours, so I feel very comfortable and it´s not like I´m inviting strangers into my house, nor do I have to travel at all to go to work.
On Thursday night there was a ¨temblor¨ here in Quito that ranked 6.7 on the Richter Scale (note: temblor is definitely different from an earthquake--I guess it´s more or less like a tremor). However, I failed to even notice because I was super engrossed in a Skype conversation with a friend. So I guess it really wasn´t all that serious. The place in Ecuador that felt the tremor the most was a city called Cuenca, about 8 hours away from Quito, so I´m guessing we didn´t get the full force of anything here.
Today was a particularly busy day. Alejandro´s marketing class organized a community service project for street children from Quito, so I went along and participated. It was an all-day event: we played tons of games like soccer, freeze tag, Ecuavolley (basically volleyball with 3-person teams, 3 hits per side, and breaking lots of the official rules about how to hit the ball), sang songs, did face-painting, 3-legged and wheelbarrow races, tug of war, and other random games that I don´t know the names of as well. We also had a barbeque (I had a heads up and brought my own lunch). Basically it was a really good opportunity to connect with street kids and be good influences for them, even if only for a day. There were 2 little girls in particular that I talked with a lot--they were so cute and friendly! It was also nice hanging out with people my age from the university and networking a bit.
Now it´s time to watch the national team´s game against Paraguay. Ecuador seriously needs to win or else they´ll be in deep you-know-what. Here´s to staying optimistic!
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