After 4 lovely weeks of vacation, bouncing around from California, to Vermont, Boston, Bard and NYC, and seeing more people from all walks of life than I could have planned on seeing, I am back in Quito to continue teaching.
It was rough to get back into the swing of things at first, but I definitely feel like I have learned a lot since last cycle. I have recycled my lesson plans, while changing them in certain places to make them more effective. I have 3 new classes (so about 45 new students). It will be a new challenge, but I feel much more prepared!
Last weekend I went on a small adventure down to Guapulo, which is a small section of Quito set down a hill. One of the most famous parts of Guapulo is the church pictured below. From my apartment to the top of the hill where the road starts is about a 15 minute walk.
The walk down is a windy cobblestone road, but it is full of impressive graffiti at every turn. The road is lined with businesses. There are actually quite a few artists co-ops down this way. The walk back up was ROUGH. My lungs lost their 10,000 ft conditioning!
The church was closed to the public for the day, but the entry way was still open.
And alas, one of the best ways to remind me that I am back in Quito is that THE FRIDGE IS BROKEN AGAIN!!!!!! By now I have become a master, and here is a creation of a lentil stew/soup with zucchini, purple sweet potato, and tomatoes. It got covered in sriracha sauce, which is one of the few food items (including maple syrup and earl grey tea) that I brought back with me because it was simply too hard to live without.
what a trooper! with all that good food......... you soldier onward!
ReplyDeletelove mammallama
p.s. thanks for all the shameless promotion