Alone?

This week was my first solo excursion in a few ways. As I wrote in an earlier entry, I love my children. As the week progressed, they started testing my boundaries, but we had fun & they learned a lot about the history surrounding "A Raisin in the Sun" & we took a look at "A Dream Deferred," but that didn't go as well as I'd hoped. I'm still trying to figure out how to do the sharing thing when I put the kids into groups because they seem to get bored when a group presents in front of the whole class, even when it takes 3 minutes. They only want to hear themselves talk...not sure what to do about this.

I also had the 7th graders on Friday because my teacher took a sick day. In other words, I was alone in the class all day with every class. I was so excited & the day started off great with the first 7th grade class. My teacher didn't leave any lesson plans because she does the same thing every day: read & discuss. Since they are reading "Flowers for Algernon," I thought we could do more with the allotted 90 minute class period. We read & talked for the first 40 minutes, then I had them draw what they thought two of the characters from the story looked like. After they were done, some of them showed off their pictures and explained why they gave so & so glasses or why Charlie was bald, etc. I thought they were great & they really wanted to read some more. After we got to a particularly interesting part in the book, I made them stop. I thought that this would make them more eager to read on Monday. Then we did a "chalk talk" with the word "Intelligence." I skewed this one a little by asking them which words they thought Charlie has, was going to have, or would never have. They were really into it & some of them asked to read more before class ended instead of playing the game they asked to play at the beginning of the day. CRAZY RIGHT!?  Since there were only 5 minutes left in class, I let the ones who wanted to read read & the others play mafia mainly because they had been so awesome with me & I'm not even their teacher.

As for the 8th graders, I want to continue to do group work with them because they enjoyed the prezi & 2 truths & a lie learning stations we did (below).

Lorraine Hansberry "2 truths & a lie" station

Civil Rights Movement prezi station

In other news, this weekend was the birthday of one of the girls in the program (Brittany) so we all went out Saturday night to celebrate her birthday. Basically we danced until around midnight & we were all tired & sweaty. Us 5 chicas pretty much danced & sang to all the songs in English & pretended to know what all of the others were saying. We jumped, we got balloons, we eyeballed my weirdos...but we've mastered turning down weird Ecuadorians who want to dance: we bring one of our host brothers or cousins & he is our bodyguard. I really love the girls in the program & it's nice because we're all so different, yet we're all teachers so we like to have fun & get a good nights rest. 

Today my body HURT. I did yoga & so much dancing yesterday so my legs & back felt so stiff, but Carol, Kat, & I walked a million miles today so I expect to be even more sore tomorrow :] We walked all the way to the Southern most part of Quito where all of the churches, museums, & Virgen Mary statues are. There are also a lot of amazing restaurants down an alley on that side of town called La Ruba. We had lunch in a small place with lots of windows & fresh air, good smelling food, plants, a spiral staircase, everything one would want in a teeny tiny lunch spot. I got llapangachos because they're my favorite Ecuadorian dish with plantains, avacado, & some tender pork. Carol got some really good lamb & kat got seabass with a delicious mushroom sauce. I have also taken to getting Jugo de Guanabana at every meal (especially after a day of walking) because it's one of my favorite fruits here & all the juices are like smoothies. All of this for $7 & a sunburn, a small price to pay for some yum & buildings that are beautiful at the old age of 500. 

I've also noticed that I really want to venture in any sanctuary or museum not because I feel especially compelled to pray or read about the history of Ecuador in a language I don't understand, but rather because Quito has started making my body ache for isolation. Yesterday I started planning my trip for Isla de Plata, the "poor man's Galapagos." It's cheap ($8 bus ride to the coast, $32 round trip boat ride to the island & $4 a night at a hostel vs. $2000 Gallapagos...decision made). I saw pictures of the huge rocks, waves, blue footed boobies, & humpback whales. As scared as my parents are for me to go alone, I couldn't be more excited. There is no such thing as being "alone" in Quito. Saturday I did a little yoga in the dining room & I tried really hard to only listen to my head, but the constant car alarms & shouting outside creeps always creeps in. Even when I'm in my room I'm never alone because I can always hear my family shouting from upstairs to downstairs or they'll come in without warning while I'm reading or writing or just relaxing. It's part of the culture, a part I definitely could do without. I don't mind the personal bubble part because I like getting a kiss on the cheek everytime I say hello or goodbye, but when I get home from school I just want to be alone in my own head & that's nearly impossible in Quito & in my home. 

sanctuary

simplicity. patience. compassion.

Laurennnn