Finally Getting Some Exercise!

Being in class 10 hours a day 5 days a week plus homework does not leave much time for, well, ANYTHING! Before coming to Ecuador I was able to find a Facebook group for Quito Ultimate. I was really excited to have found a group of Ultimate Frisbee players in Quito! I saw that the main place they played was at the large park not too far from my house. Unfortunately because of scheduling, I hadn't been able to go until yesterday. I saw they would be playing at 2pm, and I was so excited because I finally had a Saturday free of an essay (or really the essay just wasn't due until the following week...GOOD ENOUGH!).

It was a beautiful day yesterday, well except for the wind...but hey I wasn't about to be picky! I headed down to the park with Josh and Danielle, and we met Chelsea there (woohoo the TESOL trainees learn to play Ultimate :) )

Tossing in the park with Josh

The irony of the Jew hanging out in front of a HUGE cross...not too ironic in Ecuador...

There was a group of 10 of us that ended up gathering to play, Josh and Danielle went to explore the Botanical Gardens in the park while Chelsea stayed to learn to play for a bit. It was a great group with all skill levels and Americans, Ecuadorians, and even a Colombian. We had a really fun time and it was awesome to be playing again. It felt SOOOO good to exercise again, but today I was really feeling it. Also playing Ultimate for 2 hours at 10,000 was definitely a challenge for my lungs, but I figure i can return to the States with lungs of steel!

Playing some pick-up :)

field=to blithewood (for ankles...) view=to blithewood :)

Of course on my way home as I couldn't resist the cupcake shop I passed.

mmm lemon :)

It was a little dusty...

That's all for now. About to start my last week of training! Then I will be hopefully finding a job and getting a week or so to travel to the coast (I especially want to visit Canoa!)

A Bit About School (w/ some pictures of food of course)

I am sorry I have been absent for so long! It's because I am currently in the middle of my 4 week intensive TESOL training course!

A look into my day in class and teaching!

After the first few days of the course we began practice teaching in the evenings, which established our normal schedule. Our training starts at 8:30 am every morning where we reflect on the previous evenings lessons. Our class that we are teaching goes from 4PM-6:15PM, which gives time for two 1 hour lessons (we luckily worked up to that, first teaching a 20 minute lesson and then a 45 minute lesson). Our class is all ages (11- mid 50's) and all levels, which definitely creates an extra challenge.

After reflection we usually have a few short lessons taught by our two wonderful trainers Justin (from the bookstore) and Sophia. Sometimes it is about planning different kind of lessons. Sometimes it is a sample lesson where we are the students, and then we reflect on what was helped and what hindered the learning process. 

We have lunch every day at 1230. We decided that we were all experiencing a lack of vegetables, and have started to have "salad day" twice a week.

the end of our first salad, the second one was even bigger and better!

After lunch we typically have about 2.5 hours of what we call team meeting. In this time the two people teaching in our English class will present their lesson plans for the day. We go over the parts of the lesson and offer any help/suggestions to the people teaching, and then it becomes hardcore lesson planning time for everyone!

After class I go home and have dinner with my family and have homework every night, as well as essays due every weekend (they weren't kidding about INTENSIVE!)

Josh and my sushi feast to celebrate our first hour of teaching

Unfortunately all this work leaves little time for adventuring on the weekends (and therefore a lack of blogging material!) Hopefully more posts to come soon!

Weekend Adventure Pt. 3!!!

Our breakfast with fresh fruit salad, juice, crepes, coffee, ham, cheese...AND MOREEE!

(From left to right) Eduardo, Maria Ines, Me, Terisita, Josh, Juan, and Mia

 So this Sunday morning was similar to last Sunday morning...there were crepes (as I said, a new Sunday tradition), but this week it was a true family affair! Besides my family, Josh, Mia, and Juan came over for breakfast as well as my host father's friend Frank! Needless to say I had to make A LOT of crepes. After our breakfast Frank sang in the living room. He has an amazing singing voice and can sing in multiple languages (Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, and English).

After breakfast, which was really more like brunch, Juan, Josh, Mia, and I decided to go up El TelefériQo (as I mentioned previously we were trying to be as touristy as possible this weekend, though this is also a popular attraction for the locals). This is a gondola which you take from Quito up the Pichincha Volcano (the one I can see from my room). It is about 4,000 feet up (making the top elevation around 14,000 feet). The gondola ride takes around 8 minutes each way. Once you get up there are little cafes and hiking trails, and of course spectacular views! Of course being scared of height/any type of amusement park ride, I was quite nervous to go on it. Though it didn't go very fast, the height did freak me out a bit, and of course my knuckles were a bit white from gripping the seat when we reached the top.

View heading up the mountain

Waiting in line

in the gondola on the way up!

looking down at Quito

amazing view of the city

I found El Jardin, the huge shopping mall about 4 blocks from my house...which means my house is down there somewhere (thanks to my camera with an AMAZING zoom!!!)

a church at the top

Llama!

beautiful clouds rolling in

next to the crater formed by lava

the crater

Cotopaxi in the distance

Cotopaxi once again thanks to my zoom!

Josh juggling of course

Horses for rent to ride even further up the mountain

Josh in the middle of his clap behind the back push up

one more view of the city before heading back down

on the way down

Basílica from the gondola 

Panecillo from the gondola

amusement park at the bottom

 We spent about 2.5 hours total on the mountain. The views were breathtaking, but it was considerably colder, mostly because of wind. We were lucky to go on such a clear day. We are thinking of going back maybe to watch the sun set another time. After we had a taxi take us to the Guayasamin Museum (of the famous artist Oswaldo Guayasamin), but unfortunately it had just closed. We were exhausted from all the walking/altitude change so we headed to get some food, and then all headed home early to prep for a bright and early class starting tomorrow!!

This was such an incredible weekend. I felt I got to know Quito much better, and saw some beautiful places around the city and shared the good time with some wonderful new friends!

Hasta Luego Calabaza (my new favorite word, thanks Josh!)

Weekend Adventures Pt. 2!

Yesterday (Saturday) was an absolutely AMAZING day. Since Josh, Mia and I will be starting intensive classes tomorrow (M-F 8:30am-6:30pm, with lots of homework!!!!) we have been taking full advantage of our last weekend of freedom. A few days ago Josh and Mia went out with some other people from EIL and met Juan in El Centro Historical. Juan is from Chicago, and is down here for a week on vacation (and off to another week in Peru!) Anyway, the four of us decided it would be the perfect weekend to cross many of the Quito tourist attractions off our list!

First we went to El Mitad del Mundo. This is the monument located on the Equator. We could catch a bus from central Quito, and the ride was only 40 cents each way!!!! It was nice because on the weekends most Ecuadorians stay in during the day with their families so there is much less traffic. It was only an hour ride (it can take up to 2 with traffic/current construction and we had a relatively empty bus both ways).

Mia, me, Juan and Josh in front of the monument

Josh juggling on the Equator
(you will see the juggling is a theme...)

 

all the countries on the Equator

from the top of the monument

You can walk up the monument and there is a museum inside about the history of Ecuador.

the touristy part with traditional music/dancing for show

Empanadas and beer for lunch at one of the
touristy restaurants

After we took the bus back to the center of Quito, Juan, Josh and I decided to walk to El Centro Historical ( we all agree it is probably one of our favorite parts of the city). We walked probably a few miles to first get to Basílica del Voto Nacional, a beautiful old church. 

Graffiti on our walk

a small cafe right next to the Basílica (called the Confessional Cafe)

The Basílica

awesome gargoyles of Ecuadorian animals

on the roof of the cafe

in the church yard

El Panecillo, a beautiful statue overlooking the city 

We next walked from the Basílica to the base of El Panecillo (the base of the hill because though it is on the edge of El Centro Historical, the walk up is very dangerous). We had to look for/wait for a cab for a while but eventually found one to take us to the top.

El Basílica from the top of the hill

the virgin of el Panecillo (I am completely entranced by this statue)

The taxi driver was nice, and waited for us while we snapped a few quick pictures, then took us back down to the base of the hill where we walked back 10 minutes towards el Basílica again for dinner at a great place Juan had found the day before! 

dinner a kebab of chicken, chorizo, potato, and plantain with rice and beans and some amazing sauce with a (real) coke for only $2! One of the most delicious meals I've had so far!

 After dinner we went back to La Ronda (the traditional street that comes alive at night) to explore.

La Ronda at night

We stopped in for some chocolate of course. I got one of the ones in the front right because it was made with quinoa!

showing us the chocolate making process

on La Ronda

Josh with the formally dressed military

El Panecillo at night

two traveling musicians (one from Chili and one from Argentina) who are couch surfing in the same apartment as Juan.

A musician that came into where we got drinks

our Canelazos ( a famous drink only available in La Ronda) a warm beverage with sugar cane alcohol and fruit juice and some spices (kind of tasted like hot spiced cider)

el Basílica at night

It was an incredibly long day with lots of walking, but we saw so many wonderful sights! This is definitely my favorite part of the city (both day and night!)