It’s been a different sort of a week!  A few ups and a few downs.  On Monday evening, I missed getting to my class:  I had gotten the start time wrong and realized I didn’t have time to walk it, got a cab but rush hour traffic meant that it took me longer than it would have to walk!  Cab driver couldn’t find the building as it had no address on it.  I was an hour late for class but my student was still there and very understanding!  We started class on Friday and she is great!  I already know that I’m going to love working with her.

On Friday, about 11:15 am, I was going through Parque la Carolina on my way to class.  A young _____ aggressively tried to sell me a poster while his partner stole my cellphone.  They are so skilled.  Inconvenient but not the end of the world.  My boss came with me today and I now have a very small, cheap cellphone.  It does not have much space on it but it will do what I need here and I’ll get a new one back in Canada.  Cellphones are very expensive here.

I got my glasses back today!  On Monday I took them in and they sent them away to get new lenses put in my old frames.  I am very happy with them.

On Wed., I went to a dentist and saw about getting the implants for my upper jaw.  He is going to get back to me sometime this week.  I already have the screws in place so it’s just the actual teeth.

After buying my new phone, I went out to lunch with my boss and one of the other teachers.  It was so much fun and we had a wonderful lunch.  It was really nice to get out and socialize a little.

Am missing home a bit and looking forward to Kim’s arrival!

Museo Mindalae, on the northern edge of the district Marsical.  Some of my favorites are the beautiful bowls made by the women, the photo depicting how panama hats are made (panama hats were sent from Ecuador to Panama while the canal was being built and became very popular).  The art of each region of Ecuador is distinctive.  The influence of the Spanish is most prevalent in the highlands (Quito) as the coastal and Amazon regions refused to accept the conquerors.  The museum was four stories high.  Each floor had a hole cut covered with glass and the light shone down to the very bottom floor.  Fortunately I was there midday and close enough to the equinox to see it near its brightest.  The big urns before the restaurant pictures:  prior to the Spanish arrival, it was traditional to keep these urns in the kitchen of the home; an urn would contain the mummified remains of an ancestor.  Family meetings and decisions would take place in the kitchen and the ancestor would be there in spirit to guide decision-making.  The Spanish conquerors viewed this as false gods and put an end to the practice.

Today’s lunch was at this restaurant, not much to look at but the food was good.  Price $2 American.  Soup, rice with beef and salad, pineapple juice.  On my way home through Parque la Carolina, I discovered this fenced off area for dogs.  Just outside the park, a statue of a politician, Eduardo Salazar Gomez.

Yesterday, I ordered replacement lenses for my glasses as mine have reached the end of life.  Friday, I’ll see how that turns out.  I also bought sunglasses as I forgot to bring mine.  The sun has been so bright lately that it’s been bothering my eyes.  Today, I went to a dentist to have my teeth cleaned and look into getting replacement teeth for my implants.  I go back sometime next week and I think they take impressions then.

This has been a busy week.  I am now up to 17 hours of teaching and that is all I’m going to take on.  My classes range from an hour in length to two hours, with my favorite being the 1.5 hours.  Classes range from beginner to advanced and ages are 7 years old to about 40.  Four clients are male and one is female.  I start my teaching week at 7:30 am Monday and finish at 7:00 pm on Friday.  I walk to and from all of my classes, so am racking up the steps!  According to my calculations, I do 17 teaching hours, 8 hours walking to and from work, and probably I’m down to 5 hours of prep time per week.  I get paid $7.35/hour American for the teaching hours.  It keeps me out of trouble!  The walking is good so far; I’m a little apprehensive about the evening walks alone.  I walk only on busy streets at night, avoid the park and one street with several bars on.  I carry no money or valuables (except for my cell phone which I need).  If I decide to, I can always take a taxi.  They are very reasonably priced here.

My Spanish teacher is wonderful!  She gives me three hours per week and Inlingua deducts my lesson cost from my paycheque.  I still meet with Santiago (of airbnb) as time and schedules permit.   He and his girlfriend just returned from the Galapagos Islands so he  has been filling me in on dos and don’ts.  He says the way to really see it is on one of the cruises.  They stayed on the main island and saw the sights on that island.

I have not ventured to the Marsical (old part of town) yet or tried the bus out.  I have been warned by many to avoid the buses because of the thieves.  I’ll see what the weather is like tomorrow!

Okay!  I got carried away at the Botanical Garden located in Parque de Carolina.  My favorite plant had to be the beautiful orchids, or all the cacti.  The bonzai section was impressive.  Carnivore plants-cool.  Coy pond.  The park was very busy today.  No matter how much I try to dress like the locals, I am still easily identified as a touristo, as evidenced today by one of the park performers when he picked me out from the crowd.  On the walk home, I watched a very competitive game of cricket in the park.  I walk by this bike every morning on the way to one of my classes.  Sometimes there are fresh flowers on it.  I think the quote at the bottom is “but love is stronger”.

Pictures:  Kinley and Boots!  I miss you guys!  Thanks everyone for the pictures, emails, and Whatsapp calls! The top right photo is one of the pieces of art in Parque La Carolina.  The park continues to entertain and amaze me.  Two shots from the walkway over Avenida Unidas Naciones, the second is of a school.  The last shot is of one of the street artists; there are a few buskers.  One of the most interesting ones was a juggler on a unicycle who entertained those in cars waiting at the stoplight.  He had things timed perfectly.  Did his thing, collected money, and was off the street just as the cars started moving.

I have been busy with classes and preparation this past week.  It is a bit of work preparing for the classes so that they run smoothly and I get enough accomplished.  I think that this will improve as I become more familiar with the program.  My farthest class is a 30 minute walk from home and the closest is at the Inlingua office which is a 5 minute walk from home.  I have been doing lots of walking so that’s a good thing.  My youngest client is a 7 year old boy and my oldest is a man of approximately 40.  The adults are all business people who need English for their work and they are highly motivated.  This week, I will be teaching about 17 hours and that will be about as much as I will take on.

Great experience to date.

Teaching has started!  This week I have four different students, they are starting me off slowly which I don’t mind at all.   I teach a middle-aged man Mon. to Thurs. from 7:30 to 8:30 in the morning.  It’s a 10 minute walk across the park.  Mon. and Fri. evenings from 6pm to 8pm, I teach a young man (30ish).   Tues. and Thurs. I teach a seven year old boy.  The last two classes are at the Inlingua office.  All of these are beginner classes.  The fourth class is with my airbnb host and his girlfriend.  We are trading English lessons for Spanish lessons.  We will do this on an informal basis.  Next week, I add another student who is at the advanced level.  Today was my first formal Spanish lesson; I will take these twice a week for a total of three hours.  Right now, I do about as much prep as actual teaching time, but that should ease off as I become more familiar with the courses.  All in all, it’s enough to get me interacting with the people and not so much that I feel like I’m back on the working treadmill.

Fruit and vegetables are very cheap here.  So far I’ve been buying at the store but I’m very tempted to start buying them from the people on the street.  Anything manufactured is very expensive; I paid $3 something American for a small box of Kleenex.  American dollars are the currency here.  I think it was in 2000 that they made the switch as a way to help stabilize the economy, and from what I gather it has worked for them.

Till next time!

The first picture is the party that took place 8 floors below yesterday, and they did shut the music off about 8pm!  The second photo-the long strip of green in the middle of the front section of Quito is Parque de Carolinas.  I live just a block the far side of about the centre of the park.  The large circular structure above the left end of the park is the big soccer stadium.  I took the TelefiriQo  up the flanks of Volcan Pichincha to the top of Cruz Loma (4100 m) and hiked a little ways up Rucu Pichincha.  I kept stopping and going just a little farther.  In the 2nd smaller picture, you can just make out the snow covered tip of Mount Cotopaxi, the tallest mountain in Ecuador.  It was absolutely gorgeous and I got out into nature for a full day.  That’s me on the swing.

Today I stayed in all day and binge watched Netflix-I justified it by watching Undercover Law-in Spanish with English subtitles!  The pictures are of my one bedroom apartment and the view from the living room.  The people are my landlady as she was showing me the apartment and Santiago (my airbnb host) and his girlfriend who helped me negotiate a deal.   Tonight there is very loud music going on in the building next door.  I hope the party ends soon or they turn the outdoor speakers off.  I think it’s a birthday as many guests were dressed in costumes and there were games going on this afternoon.  Interesting but I’ve heard enough for today!

Thanks everyone for following my blog, and your emails.  They mean a lot to me.

Quite an experience yesterday evening!  It was almost over before I realized what was happening.  I was talking on the phone when the room around me began to shake and tremble.  The whole building was swaying.  I adjusted my glasses and when that didn’t work, the thought crossed my mind that maybe I was going to be sick…no…earthquake.  By then it had subsided somewhat and I was able to show Blake, Kinley and Rebecca my vibrating water bottle on the counter!  I peered out the window and life seemed to be going on as normal on the street below, so I wasn’t too worried.  Santiago thoughtfully sent me a message saying that it was a tremor and the last one here of that magnitude was about a  year ago.  It was 6.2 or 6.3 on the Richter scale and the epicentre was a few hundred kilometres south of here, east of Guayaquil and just north of Cuenca.

I taught my first English lesson yesterday.  Next week I will be teaching 12 hours.  I’m also starting Spanish lessons.  I will be taking formal classes at Inlingua on Tuesdays and Thursdays as well as Santiago and I are going to trade English and Spanish lessons on an informal schedule starting today.

It is so nice to be in my apartment!  It has been challenging by times.  My landlord speaks only Spanish so Santiago and his girlfriend Pamela, were instrumental in negotiating the terms.  I was able to get a 6 month lease, paid $800 damage deposit, $400 rent/month and $104/ month condo fee.  Power will be about $50/month and internet about $25/month.  This is in American dollars.  Of course, I don’t carry that much cash on me so it was an experience to get that amount of cash up front.  I was able to get some on Visa, and Kim sent two transactions with Western Union (which we had never dealt with before).  Cash is the preferred way to do business here but it’s a little scary carrying around that amount of cash.  I use my backpack here but carry everything else in a small purse that I wear in front of me.  I thought I would be taking the bus more but too many people have warned me about the skilled pickpockets so taxi it is when I have to travel far.  Fortunately, all my work and everything I need on a daily basis, is within walking distance.  The internet was hooked up yesterday-hopefully by the time I have to pay the bill, my Spanish will be good enough to figure out where and how to pay it!

I’m off to another new experience…laundry day!

The first three pictures on the left are from yesterday.  Me straddling the equator.  Two shots of Pucara de Rumicucho (the Inca and pre-Inca ruins).  The rest of the pictures are from the nearby Parque la Carolina.  Today I found the paddleboat loop, the walking track, and the statue of Ecuador’s only Olympic medal winner (something like speedwalking I believe).  I also got the keys to our apartment and will move in tomorrow.  I may not be able to post for awhile as I have not got the internet hooked up yet.  I will do a demonstration teaching lesson on Wednesday, and then my first teaching lesson will be from 7:30-8:30 am on Thursday.