Ecuadorian Men, Catcalls, & Machismo

Some of my inspirational students who don't deal with Machismo

One thing that I knew I would run into while in Latin America was Latin American MEN. Let me reiterate…Latino men are obnoxious. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of really good guys down here in Ecuador, but I can honestly say that I was sick of the catcalls from week 1. During my orientation they warned us about how Latin men are aggressive and straightforward. As I got adjusted to my time in Quito I realized exactly what they meant. Ecuadorian men will go out of their way to be ridiculous. Just today as I was walking down the main drag in Ambato (my home town in Ecuador). I was crossing the street when I was so rudely called back to reality from my own thoughts by a, “OYE!!!! Hiss, hiss, hiss” followed by kissing sounds from a nearby truck. Oye basically is like HEY! LISTEN AND LOOK AT ME! I always wonder what they are trying to get at because once they have your attention the only thing they have to say is more hissing, whistling, and cat calls. I wonder if any woman in Ecuador actually goes up to the guy and gives them their phone numbers. Does it work for any of them? I don’t know if it is programmed into their genes, but just about every Ecuadorian man does this. What is that? What is the purpose?

I know I am a gringa walking down the streets in my sweatpants and ‘just rolled out of bed look’ and apparently this is the most attractive thing they can imagine at the time. But really? Is it the gringa thing? Is it because I am tall and am incredibly white? On a usual basis I look around me and see many Ecuadorian women who are beautiful. They are dressed to a tee in their Ecuadorian fashion with full make-up and hair. Every woman is subject to catcalls in public in this country but being gringa calls a lot more attention. It is somewhat of an ego boost, but more than anything it is just obnoxious.

Another thing to be weary of is making eye contact with Ecuadorian men, in any context. More importantly if you are dancing with a guy and making eye contact they interpret this as encouragement and will try to kiss you. If you want to avoid this situation, you can dance with someone but don’t look him in the eye. They see it as a green light to make moves on you. Expect this from every type of man, even old men are subject to stop you and tell you how beautiful you are. I don’t know how many times I have walked by an Ecuadorian man and heard, “bella, bonita, preciosa, mi reina, princesa, hermosa, and so much more. It is almost too much to take. I have a friend who lives in Puerto Viejo on the coast and she happens to have blonde hair and blue eyes. A common nickname for people with light colored eyes in this country is gato/gata (cat). As my friend was walking through a main plaza a man actually stopped her and meowed at her. Yes, you heard me right, meowed. This just goes to show you that you can expect just about anything from Ecuadorian men.

The ugly truth is that Machismo runs rampant in South America, wherever you are and catcalls are part of this problem. Machismo is the belief that men should be big, strong, domineering, and sexist. It can range from anything including catcalls, domestic abuse, and rape. As a U.S. citizen it was a bit shocking when I first got here. Personally, I think there is a strong time between machismo and the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church pushes the macho stereotype. Have you ever thought about how women can never be priests and only nuns? They absolutely can’t move up in the system and are supposed to accept it and not question anything. Another thing they don’t permit is the use of contraception or condoms. Consequently, sexually transmitted infections are common, and there are tons of women and young girls with babies that they can’t support or want. I have adjusted to the idea of machismo, however I will never accept it as part of my life. Maybe it is because I am from another culture, maybe it is because I am a feminist, or maybe it was the way I was brought up. I encourage any woman traveler to ask Latina women about machismo and how they feel about it. Almost always, they don’t like it and want to change things, but don’t know how. Honestly, I don’t think many women have ever thought about machismo and how it affects their lives. This is a major problem and I challenge any foreign woman traveler to address the issue and make suggestions to struggling women in Latin America. So the next time you are meowed at, whistled at, hissed at, or yelled at, keep your head up and ignore the comment. Don’t give Ecuadorian men the satisfaction or fuel machismo, because you are better than that. Be strong, brave, and stick it to the man.

That's So Ecua: Transportation

Riding Horses in Vilcabamba

Over the past several weeks I have spent a copious amount of time on buses. Krishna (my co-worker and travel buddy) and I had a two-week break between our modules and decided to take a tour of the South of Ecuador and then the Jungle. We traveled to Cuenca, Loja, Vilcabamba, Saraguro, Machala, Zamora, and Tena. I am assuming we spent approximately 50 hours in transit between different cities. I had plenty of time to think and experience all things with Transportation in Ecuador. So, I am taking the opportunity to talk about Transportation in Ecuador. Enjoy. 

Vendors:

Without fail, no matter where you are, vendors will come onto the bus and try to sell whatever they have. These items range from street food (quite tasty, but not advisable to buy and eat), pan flute music (yes, I have heard The Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel), recipe books, cure all pills, and SO much more. On longer trips it is common to take pit stops for food, bathrooms, and picking up new people, animals, and things. During these breaks Vendors storm the bus with their tasty treats walking up and down the aisles screaming in their vendor voices. I know I have mentioned the “vendor voice” before…ALL vendors have the same voice. It is either a low guttural or high monotone voice that originates from the back of the throat that is quite loud. I am always in awe when a small child enters the bus selling items with their parents (or alone) and they have mastered the “vendor voice” as well.

Another common occurrence is beggars coming onto the bus telling a very sad story asking for donations. Usually these stories include family members who were robbed, were in a car accident, or are gravely injured. They walk around to each person asking for any change that they have to help their families. A lot of the time these stories don’t make any sense or the person asking gets the story mixed up when he tells it again. Other times the injured people come onto the bus themselves showing their bloody and bandaged leg when they should clearly be heading to the hospital. Needless to say, it is always disturbing. Sometimes vendors won’t leave you alone until you give them whatever change you have.

Transport by my horse, Tornado.

I took the liberty of documenting all food items that were sold on a five hour bus ride to Tena in the Jungle from Ambato. This includes: chochos con cuero (lupine beans, toasted corn kernels, grilled pig skin, tomatoes, onions, and lime), helados (ice cream), aguas (water), sodas, various fruits, cake/caye de banana (banana bread), bon ice (otter pops), empanada de verde (meat filled empanada made out of plantain bananas), caña (sugar cane to chew on, as if that is good for your teeth), and pinchos (skewers of meat, vegetables, bananas, and potatoes). On this particular bus stop the skewers were pure chicken feet. Yum! It was rather humorous because the lady came on selling her chicken foot skewers and looked confused when no one purchased this delicacy. This is just a small sampling of what you can get on the bus. Usually there are full on meals available in Styrofoam containers or containers that look like mini garbage cans.

Personal Space, or Lack There Of:

After living in Ecuador for almost 9 months, I am still not used to the lack of personal space, especially on buses.  Ecuadorians have a bad habit of shoving as many people as possible on a bus. I always take a deep breath before getting on the bus. Sometimes there are seats, other times standing room only. More often than not I am pushed up against some random stranger while awkwardly trying to avoid eye contact, especially if it is a sleazy looking guy. If you don’t buy a ticket early enough for long distance journeys (more than an hour) there is a strong chance that you will be standing in the aisle with others as well. Sometimes you are lucky and they put plastic benches in the aisle to sit on. Living in luxury I tell you!


On buses you really need to be careful and watch your belongings. Several of my friends have been robbed on buses and it is advisable to put your valuables in your bra, or an inside pocket of a jacket or purse that has a zipper. There are tons of schemes to steal from foreigners in Ecuador and making you feel uncomfortable is only the beginning. If someone gets too close for comfort and won't leave you alone, get away from them as soon as possible. Or you can resort to screaming, "ladron!" this will most likely stop them in their tracks and give you an opportunity to get away.

Standing in the aisle after getting to the bus late

Reclining Seats: One of my biggest pet peeves is when the person in front of you decides to recline their seat…all the way so that they are basically sitting in your lap. This is incredibly awkward because a lot of the time they also put their hands up and over the seat, right in your face. There is no option except to sit extremely close to this person or push your own seat back and encourage the vicious cycle of reclining into your neighbor’s lap. The worst is when you drop something and can’t reach down to pick it up because the person in front of you is reclining so far and sleeping like a baby. Then what? This exact same thing happened to my friend Krishna when he dropped his cell phone and bent down to retrieve it but was stopped by the man in front. He was about to lose it and start screaming obsceneties, but luckily at the same time the married couple and their 3 kids in front of us got off the bus and I quickly wiggled out of my seat (seat still reclined in front) so Krishna could retrieve whatever he had dropped.

 Pushing and Shoving: One thing that Ecuadorians have mastered is pushing and shoving to get on and off the bus.  Several months ago I was going to Cotopaxi with some friends and some older gentleman put his arm RIGHT in front of me and began pushing his elbow into my chest and getting himself and his family to the front of the line. In the mean time, I was appalled that this sweet looking gentleman wouldn’t let me enter the bus. So, I did as any other Ecuadorian would and pushed back eventually making this man release his arm from in front of me and stop boxing me out as if he was trying to get a rebound from a tie-breaking basketball game. The real trick is if you are in the very back of the bus and are able to make your way to the front of the bus and get off at your stop. To get the driver to stop, all you have to do is scream, “Gracias!” This is pretty effective most of the time, but sometimes it doesn’t happen and you have to walk a little more than you anticipated. On longer journeys it never ceases to amaze me when both indigenous and mestizo people hop off the bus in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE to get to their destinations. They obviously know what they are doing, but sometimes I wonder if they possibly made a mistake and got off too early or too late.

Entertainment:

Bad Movies: When you are on a longer trip, most of the time a movie is put in. The only problem here is that Ecuadorians are unable to choose a decent movie. 90% of the time the movie is a really gory and bad action flick, usually with ninjas/martial arts/ and lots of blood. The other 10% of the time they put on a really stupid movie with no plot (my friends Anna, Will, and Amanda watched a special feature about attacking pterodactyls). I don’t know what it is about Ecuadorians but they really can’t pick a good movie. Also, they are usually of VERY poor quality and dubbed over in Spanish.

Dinner in Machala with Krishna and Amy!

Music: If there isn’t a movie, Ecuadorians tend to blast really cheesy and bad Ecuadorian romantic music. I don’t know what is worse, a bad movie or bad music. Another common occurrence is when someone on the bus decides that they don’t like the music playing on the bus and take it upon themselves to play their own music from their cell phones at full volume. AWESOME…not. Having two bad types of music playing at the same time is both annoying and aggravating.

Safety:

Seatbelts: It is true, 99% of the taxis in Ecuador don’t have seatbelts in the back seat. I am always pleasantly surprised when I get into a taxi and find a working seatbelt AND the part of the seatbelt that latches in for security. However, this is rare. I think this has happened to me 3 or 4 times the 9 months I have been here, Tops. Growing up with my parents using a seatbelt has always been instilled into my mindset from a very young age. It took some time to adjust to no seatbelts, and I can say one thing I am going to really love is using my seatbelt every time I get into my car. It is as if taxi drivers actively cover up or remove the seatbelts, making them inaccessible for the passenger. Ecuadorians don’t seem to mind all that much. It has been engrained in their brains that they don’t need a seatbelt and look at me strangely when I search for mine. Just yesterday I was sitting in the back seat with my host sister and her 11-year-old daughter when Mile (the daughter) looked at me with the most peculiar face as I asked her to move so I could secure my seatbelt. She told me, “You don’t need it Cata. You are in the back seat.” Oh right…duh. Stupid me. Ecuadorians are really strange about this. They act as if it is a burden to wear a seatbelt and only do it when driving past the police. After the police are out of view they throw the seatbelt back and use it only when they see another policeman. There are some exceptions, but for the majority of the time Ecuadorians don’t use seatbelts.

Family and Motorcycle Transport: In addition to not using seatbelts, I can’t tell you how many times I have seen small children running wild in the car with their parents just sitting and watching. I will be standing on the side of the road and see a car zooming past with 3 small children jumping up and down in both the front and the back seat. Car seats are a very foreign idea in this country and I don’t think it is changing anytime soon. The little kids would see it as punishment not something to protect their lives and keep them safe. Motorcycles are very common in Ecuador, and it is also common to see entire families on one motorcycle. Usually it is the father in front, children in the middle, and mother in back. Not to mention that only the father is using a helmet. I watch in fear and awe as a small family flies past me on a motorcycle. This would never happen in the states.

Me and women from Saraguro

In conclusion, the customs and traditions of transport in Ecuador are drastically different than those in the United States. Who am I to say what is right and wrong? I suppose it is all relative to your culture. Ecuadorian culture encourages vendors, no seatbelts, no personal space, bad movies, and a plethora of random issues and things. This is just one of the major differences I have noticed between Ecuador and the States. Stay tuned for more editions of “That’s So Ecua…” in the near future! Thanks for reading!

Abrazos,

Caitlin, Catalina, Cata, Teacherrrrr

Reaction to Osama Bin Laden's Death

As I sit her on my bed in Ambato, Ecuador I don’t really know how to react to the death of Osama Bin Laden. It is this man that was responsible for the death of approximately 3,000 American citizens on September 11, 2001. It has taken almost 10 years (9 years, 7 months, 20 days) to find him and hunt him down. Over the last 10 years there has been way too much bloodshed of innocent civilians all over the world. It is easy for us as Americans (myself included) to brush aside and ignore all the deaths that Americans have caused too. We have been in several wars, primarily Iraq with little purpose and unsuccessful results. Why do we have to kill someone to teach the rest of the world that killing is not okay? This seems so backwards and wrong.

It doesn’t seem right to celebrate the death of anyone. I am feeling a lot of mixed emotions towards this turn of events. It is a shame that one life has to be taken to get “revenge” for taking another life. Call me what you want: a liberal, pacifist, or “un-American”. I know I wasn’t directly affected by September 11, 2001 except for worrying about my uncles who lived and experienced the entire thing from their apartment. I don’t mean to sound insensitive and I do understand that for those that had loved ones killed by the Al Queda on this horrific date in American history are feeling some relief for their loss. But there has to be a way to end terrorism without violence and killing.

I remember September 11, 2001 quite vividly. Living on the West coast I was three hours behind and my mom shook me awake from sleeping to tell me, “there has been an attack on the United States in New York City”. Confused I woke up and stumbled into the living room to watch the two planes crash into the World Trade Towers and crash to the floor. I couldn’t believe it. Was this really happening? I remember thinking to myself, “Someday people will ask me where I was, what I remember, and what 9/11 was like” well, I suppose that time has come. I went to school and we didn’t have school the rest of the day. Instead we sat in our classes and watched the news listening and watching the live coverage of New York City, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon. What a horrible day in history.

I found out about Osama Bin Laden’s death through friends on facebook and skype. I watched the live streaming of President Obama’s speech las night and also saw the chilling footage of the World Trade Center attacks again and again. I ran and told my Ecuadorian mom that he has been killed and we watched the news together. I oddly felt the need to tell my family here and contact my family back home. I am feeling strangely patriotic, but what a shame it is that one life has to end to teach the world something. Will there ever be a day where we won’t have to turn to violence? Where we won’t have to kill to get revenge? Where people will be open-minded enough to realize the harm that killing and violence has on this world? A large portion of my friends statuses on facebook have been commenting on the death of Bin Laden. One of my friend’s statuses was disturbing. She claimed that if you don’t think Osama’s death was worth it, you are disrespecting the families, dead, and soldiers who have been affected. She also claimed that if you are in this mindset, that you don’t belong in America, are basically part of Al Queda, and a terrorist. It makes me sad that someone can make those sort of claims about people who just want to live in a peaceful world. I am not saying that Osama’s death was a mistake, but there are other ways to deal with this sort of thing.

Lets challenge ourselves to end violence with love. I am not celebrating, simply reflecting on the last 10 years and what events and wars have taken the lives of so many. Not only American, but innocent civilians from different countries. I strongly believe that two wrongs don’t make a right. Lets move on from Osama’s death with a newfound appreciation for peace, love and justice. All we can do is reflect, respect, and  honor all the lives that have been lost. 

Misahualli Paseo with My Students!

Made it out of the cave!

Last Sunday I went deep into the Jungle with one of my classes for a field trip. The first week of class they asked me, "teacher, can we have un ratito (complete with hand motion) to talk about a field trip?" What the heck? why not? I thought to myself. Little did I know that a couple of minutes would turn into half an hour of class. I have learned from this past two modules that if you ever run out of activities or games and you have a decent amount of time left, give your students time to talk about a field trip. The discussion quickly turned a debate of where to go. The beach? The jungle? What beach? Where in the jungle? What are we going to do? How are we getting there? How much does it costs? etc. etc. We FINALLY decided that we were going to Misahualli and settled on a date. Fast foward to last Sunday...

My class and I met at SECAP at 4:30am. There were only 7 of my students who ended up coming, but it was okay. One of my students brought her sister, cousin, and 3 year old daughter. On the upside, our tour guide was one of my students from the previous module who couldn't continue on this semester. It was great to see him and spend the time with him. He drove us to and from and knew all the cool places to go. On the way to Puyo many of us fell asleep seeing as it was very early in the morning. When I woke up and looked out the window, it was beautiful. The sun was rising and there were clouds hovering around the trees. It was breath taking. As we started going deeper and deeper into the jungle it started getting warmer. Carlos tried to put on the air conditioning but for 10 minutes it was the heat. It was getting toasty in the buseta and my students started making jokes about how we are pinchos (skewers) or asados (grilled meats). Eventually we got it figured out and cooled down. We stopped in Puyo for breakfast and got back on the road to Misahualli and Tena. 

Canoe Ride

We pulled into Misahualli around 10:00am. It is a small town that is right on the river. We changed clothes and the applied layers of oily sunscreen and smelling repellent. 2 days before I had bought the good spray on kind and my students lined up so I could spray them down. We went down my the river in a tree grove that was full of wild monkeys and tourists. They monkeys were really cool! However, if you aren't careful they will come down from the trees and run right up to you and steal whatever you have. My friend Cheryl was i the jungle several months ago and a monkey managed to steal her repellent and proceeded to drink it...Hope that monkey survived! Shortly after hanging out with the monkeys we went on a ride up a river in a giant canoe. Rest assured, there were life jackets and it was really fun. I sat next to Christian, my adorable 17 year old student who frequently confuses "good evening" and "good night" everyday when he comes into the class. Just recently he has finally gotten the hang of saying "good evening" when he walks into the class instead of "good night" and always has a look of accomplishment on his face. Christian and I started rocking the whole canoe by leaning side to side while the rest of the class squealed in delight/fear. 

Gonzalo's Speedo...

After the canoe ride we went swimming in the river. At first I was feeling shy, but soon enough I stripped down to my bathing suit and went got in the water. It was cold at first, but a nice break from the humid and hot weather and really refreshing. When we got out of the water we put our clothes back on...except my student Gonzalo. Gonzalo, my 47 year old student decided it was a pants optional sort of day and proceeded to wear his SPEEDO...ALL DAY. It was actually really funny. Several hours later I was sitting outside with Romel and Christian as Gonzalo walked by. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself when they asked me what I was laughing about. "Donde están los pantalones de Gonzalo???" We all had a good laugh as they told me they didn't know either.  It was hilarious. 

Tilapia al jugo para almuerzo

We went to lunch after a long debate and cruise around town looking for a restaurant.  First a restaurant, then the market, then another restaurant that was too expensive, and finally settled into a random spot.  I was going to order the cheap yet filling almuerzo option of chicken, but my students insisted that I get the tilapia. Before I knew it my order was changed to Tilapia al jugo (not fried...steamed maybe? with vegetables) and it was pretty good. They serve it whole, scales, fins, gills, organs, the whole shebang. If I can say one thing, Ecuadorians know how to eat meat. I always feel so picky because I won't eat scales, bones, tendons, cartilage, or other mystery body parts while everyone around me is picking/licking their plates clean. I had a huge pile of random fish parts on my plate while I compared my plate to students on either side. While we were eating lunch it rained...I don't just mean a light shower, but real rain. Jungle rain! It was fantastic. 

Inside the cave with face paint and all

By this time it was around 3:00pm and we were ready to head to Las Cavernas de Jumandy (Caverns). This was my favorite part of the day, by far. We pulled into what looked like a water amusement type of park with pools, slides, and hot tubs.  I was slightly confused, but went along with it. Carlos told us to leave anything valuable behind and wear clothes we wouldn't mind getting wet. We found a guide and started walking to the back of the park to the entrance of a cave. SO COOL! We were all handed headlamps started our trek into the cave. I was surprised because as we started to walk there was a lot of water. I thought that maybe there would be puddles of water here and there, but there were pools of water and waterfalls. We had to climb up waterfalls and we were able to go swimming in the cave. It was exhilarating and a blast! We made our way through the cave swimming, climbing up waterfalls, and climbing over rocks. Inside the cave we painted our faces with mud and then posed for many pictures. There were also jokes about how the color of the mud on some faces was different colors and maybe they had smeared bat poop all over their faces. It was a good time. Lots of bending over, ducking, and climbing all while Gonzalo was STILL in his speedo.

Swimming! Check out Romel's Facial expression!

This day is another unforgettable day with my students. They are incredible and really take care of me.  The 3 year old, Adriana is incredibly cute. She has come to class before and knows who I am. She kept asking me throughout the day, "como te llamas?" and I responded, "tú sabes mi nombre...qué es?" in turn she answered, "teacher". Classic. Here in Ecuador, I am Catalina or Cata to my family, Caitlin to my American friends, and Teacher to my students and anyone they introduce me to. I have embraced the Teacher identity and really love it. I have even been called teachercita...the diminutive of Teacher which basically means my little teacher but with more affection. Ecuadorians love the diminutives. Half the time I don't know what they are saying when they add -ito or -ita to things. I have to stop and think about it, and then I get what they are trying to say. Aguita...a little water, Gordita....little fat one, ratito....a little moment. 

How adorable is she?

Another thing that I have found very amusing is when your students start imitating you or want you to do something for them. Sometimes you just have to do RIDICULOUS things to get your students excited or keep them entertained. I know I have mentioned the "vendor voice" before...the voice that vendors on the streets and buses use to sell their goods, usually food items. This voice is usually really obnoxious, very whiney, and loud. When we were doing food vocabulary I was reviewing fava beans...commonly referred to as Avas here in Ecuador. I impersonated a vendor selling Avas, "Avas, avas, avas, avitas, avitas" and my class laughed for 5 minutes straight. They asked me to do it again on the way to Misahualli and again, they were delighted and entertained to hear me embracing the "vendor voice". 

I have lots more to write about, but I will save it for subsequent blog posts. Thanks for reading everyone! I appreciate your love and support and hope you enjoy reading. Until next time!

Abrazos,

Caitlin, Catalina, Cata, Teacher, Teachercita, etc. etc. 

Carnaval Ambato Style...Fruit and Flowers Festival 2011

Ambato's Cathedral decorated with fruit, flowers, and bread

Every year in Ecuador, the whole country takes time off to celebrate Carnaval. If I could try to compare this to something in the states, I would have to say Mardi Gras in New Orleans. There are two locations in Ecuador that a majority of the people make a mass exodus to: Guaranda and Ambato. Luckily, I live in Ambato and let me just say, Carnaval was AWESOME.

            Ambato’s Carnaval is called the Fruit and Flowers Festival: FFF 2011 has come and gone. However, I felt it was necessary to write about this unique experience in Ambato. 2 of my students (a married couple) had left a schedule of events on my desk while I was talking to Krishna between classes. It read, From: Gonzalo and Vivian To: Caitlin, HAPPY PARTY. This made me smile and let me tell you, I used that schedule all throughout Carnaval. I was unaware of what a big deal this festival was until Krishna and I left work on a Thursday a week before the actual weekend started and ran into a 80s music concert that took place in front of the Cathedral in downtown Ambato. The streets were crowded as we struggled to squeeze into the crowd. I saw several friends and some of my students at this event as well. The stage set-up was elaborate and then the live music group started playing anything from Metallica to Michael Jackson. Random people walked through the crowd and sold boxed wine and beer and there were plenty of drunkards including one guy who danced for 10 minutes straight stripping off his jacket and showing us his crazy legs. Krishna got a good 5 minutes of footage of his dancing. I was thoroughly impressed by his drunken skills.

The real fun started the following weekend when all types of people made the trip to Ambato to celebrate Carnaval. After my Thursday class, several of my students wanted to go meet up with Krishna’s class at Playland Park, a mini amusement park that they brought to Ambato for FFF. I went with my students Romel, Elisa, and Elisa’s 3 year old daughter to this fun filled event. One thing about Ecuadorians, is their endless hospitality. Romel looked at me and asked, “teacher, want to go on a ride with me?” Of course. Anyone who knows me, knows that I love rides. The first ride we went on together was called, EVOLUTION. Romel wouldn’t let me pay for the ride so he bought us our tickets and we climbed aboard. It was a great ride. It spun in circles while it lifted us upside down and around. We went on several rides after that, but I have to say this was my favorite. I looked over at Romel, a man in his mid-late thirties and saw him smiling, laughing, and screaming like a giddy little boy. It was a blast. Apparently his wife won’t go on these rides with him, so it was quite convenient that I was there to take her place.

My friend Amy came in from Machala on the southern coast to hang out with us Ambateños for FFF. The first night we hung out, drank some, and then headed out to a bar for the night. The second day we went to the Center and checked out the flowers, art, and cake exhibit. Some of us decided to go to a bull fight that night. I am not one to advocate for animal violence, but I wanted to check it out for cultural reasons. When in Ecuador right? How wrong I was. I hated the bullfight. The first matador did a poor job. He was on a horse and continually kept stabbing the bull until he started getting tired. He was bad because the last couple of jabs he didn’t put them where they were supposed to go, and they ended up in the Bull’s lungs. The bull was spitting up a lot of blood and making awful noises. I had to get out of there. I thought I could handle it, but I left immediately after this. Sorry to all of you who got phone calls exclaiming how awful it was. I just had to share with someone. I won’t go to another bullfight the rest of my life even if it was a good matador, I don’t approve and I think it is really quite cruel. After this, my friends told me the others were so much better and that they wished I had stayed, however it’s not going to happen. We ventured into the center again and walked around town. There was a concert going on and lots of people in the streets. During Carnaval there is this foam that they have called, carioca. People carry it around and randomly spray whoever they want. Needless to say, the group of gringas got attacked quite a bit.

The Queen of Ambato, Luisa

The next day Amy, Leslie, and I woke up and went to the early morning Parade in the center. This parade meant some serious business. People camped out the night before with seats lined up in the first row. I am always impressed by how passionate Ecuadorians are about their parades. We made the trek down to the center and Cevallos street was FULL. Thousands and thousands of people lined the streets. As we were walking all three of us weren’t very hopeful that we would find a spot to sit due to our late arrival. However, I spotted one of our friends Taty and her family. We went over to talk to her and say hello. She told us to wait a minute and then magically appeared with three stools in the 2^nd row of the parade! We had some of the best seats in the house with rowdy men screaming at the dancing girls and queens that passed by. Street vendors are taken to a whole different level at parades. They run around screaming in their vendor voices selling everything from fig sandwiches to beer at 7:00am in the morning. One particular beer lady wouldn’t stop harassing our section, passing out Pilsener after Pilsener blocking the view. The parade was legit. I was thoroughly impressed with the pageantry of the parade with various dancing groups, fantastic costumes and make-up and elaborate floats.

Fantastic costumes during the parade

That night we went out again and headed downtown. Once again the streets were full of people and full of the foam. There were tons of sneak attacks and I think I was attacked probably 10 times at least. So, I bought some foam as well and started attacking back. It was a blast. I had a great time getting in mini wars while we enjoyed the concert, partying, and dancing in the streets.

I have come to my conclusion, Ambato knows how to party. I am so happy I stayed here to experience, Fruit and Flowers Festival, Ambato style. I will be an Ambateña for life.

Give me a Keys...

Give Me a Keys…(kiss)

            Over the past several weeks I taught my students about minimal pairs. What is a minimal pair you ask? Well, a minimal pair is when two words sound similar to foreign speakers. For example: kiss and keys. If you ever ask a Spanish speaker to pronounce each of these words, you will find that it is very difficult for them to distinguish between the two. For a class I planned a lesson on minimal pairs in the English language. There is an extensive list including some of personal my favorites: kiss/keys, bitch/beach, hurt/heart/hard, very/berry, and bird/beard/beer. This all originated when one of my students was trying to say “the bird flies South for the winter”. Except, I thought she was sayiny, “the beard flies South for the winter”. As a teacher, I try to be as supportive and encouraging as possible. But when I heard a sentence about a flying beard, I honesty had no idea what she was talking about. Soon I realized what she meant to say and just started to chuckle to myself. I have a strict NO SPANISH policy in my classroom, but one of my students raised her hand and asked me, “teacher, How do you say, pajaro, oso, cerveza, aveja, y barba?” At first I was confused and had her repeat them so I could write them on the board: pajaro=bird, oso=bear, cerveza=beer, aveja=bee, and barba=beard. The gears in my brain started to click together. This was a matter of pronunciation.

            One night I went to a discotec in Baños, a small touristy town about an hour away from Ambato with friends for Christie’s birthday. Christie’s students (all girls) from Baños decided to show us around and take us to all the best discotecs. As the night progressed the girls started developing crushes on Krishna and Will, the two attractive gringos that they were hanging out with. They started making their moves on Krishna and his baby blue jeans he recently bought. One of the girls approached Krishna and with the English they knew, “Give me a keys!!!” At this point Krishna was thoroughly confused and pulled his keys out of his pocket for the hotel. I am not exactly sure what happened after that, but needless to say it was a fun night.

            This makes me stop and think about all the things that I mispronounce in Spanish. My Spanish is good, really good. It is at a point where if I make a mistake Ecuadorians don’t really take the time to stop and correct me unless it is a catastrophic mistake. However, this doesn’t happen often.  During my last year of high school I was a teacher aid in a Spanish 1 class. It was the first day and the students were practicing saying in spanish, “when is your birthday? My birthday is on…”. The word “birthday” in Spanish is cumpleaño. The ñ sound is vital and instead students were saying, cumple ano. Mrs. Franssen, the teacher and native Spanish speaker stopped the class altogether and told them, “No, no, no. Do you know what you are saying? Happy butthole, not Happy Birthday”. The class burst out in laughter before correcting themselves and moving on. This also reminded me of a time when my mom, sister, and I ran into a Spanish speaking man looking for the hospital. My mom stepped forward confidently and told him, “continue en este calle y cruz una puta. El hospital es en la derecha.” The man, just stopped and looked dumbfounded and started to laugh. My sister and I both looked at each other and started laughing as well. Basically Mom told the guy to continue on this street and cross the bitch. The hospital is on the right. She was rather pleased with herself until we told her that she said bitch instead of bridge (bitch=puta, bridge=Puente). I commonly confuse the difference between dollar and pain here. That is always embarrassing when I ask the taxi driver, “one pain?” instead of one dollar? But it is okay to make mistakes. If I could give advice I would just say laugh at yourself when you make a mistake, correct it, and move on. If my students accidentally say, “give me a keys (kiss)”, “where is the bitch (beach)?”, “I loaf (love) you” I just smile and pronounce the word for them again. Being a teacher takes a ton of patience, and I just tell them it is okay and to move on. This is definitely a highlight of teaching. I tell them about all the mistakes I make in Spanish, laugh at myself and move on.

Personal Shopper:

A couple weeks ago I asked the secretary at SECAP where she buys her business clothes because I am running low and needed some. Without hesitation, Elizabeth told me to come to SECAP at 9:00am sharp to go shopping with her. Not so bad huh? A personal shopper and new friend. We ended up going to a giant market. It was crazy. There were rows upon rows of random clothing items, food, electronics, basically you name it and they have it. I was overwhelmed with everything around me. Elizabeth guided me through the aisles and aisles of clothing. We stopped at a bunch of different stands to try to find pants. However, I am clearly a giant in this country. It was really hard to find clothes big enough for me. Ecuadorians in general are small people so it was quite difficult to find a pair for me. After several hours we found several pairs of work pants! I got a pair of purple and black plaid (yes, I know) and some dark gray pants. I am pleased with my selection. Ecuadorians also have a thing for wearing stretchy tight pants. This is something I need to get used to I suppose…

So Ridiculous…

Last Tuesday I was in my class teaching when there was an urgent knock on the door. I went to open the door and the secretary was there telling me she needed me to do something right now. It is very important and for the administration. “Ahora? Estoy enseñando mi clase ahora”, “Si, ahora.” So I told my students I would be right back and headed downstairs. Elizabeth had handed me a flash drive and a sticky note with illegible instructions. When I came into the office no one knew what I was talking about. They looked at me with blank faces until Elizabeth showed up again. She opened up the document where I was supposed to be answering questions. I started to read what I thought was a very important document for the SECAP administration. Turns out that it was the director of SECAP Ambato’s English homework. I thought to myself, “You have got to be kidding me. Really? This is not okay.” I asked Elizabeth what this was, and where the director that has chosen to ignore me for the past 5 months was and why I was doing his homework. She told me to wait while she went to get him. He came over and I explained to him, that I should not be doing his homework and that he interrupted my class and that my students were waiting for me. Did he expect me to do his homework? He explained that he didn’t want me to do his homework, but to explain the directions of what he was supposed to do. I thought to myself, “well why didn’t you just come ask me instead of sending the secretary?” This whole situation was so incredibly awkward. I didn’t really know how to react, except to tell him to come and ask me in my class with my students. It was inappropriate to expect me to do his homework. I couldn’t help but sit there exasperated for quite some time. It was so crazy.

Class in Revolt!

Not against me however. Last module I was stationed on the 5^th floor of SECAP in the Auditorium. I like to call it the “pent house”. This really isn’t a classroom at all, but I think they thought it would be good for my class of 40 students that never happened. The first week I had class with my 8 students in the auditorium but then we started moving around because SECAP was having some sort of conference and needed the Auditorium. My class was placed in 6 different classrooms before my students had enough. We were told one room was permanently ours, but then they couldn’t find the key and we had to use a different room anyways. I was annoyed, but I think my students were even more outraged. I suggested that we go and talk to the guy in charge half jokingly, and they agreed! We marched down and claimed we were on strike until we had our own PERMANENT classroom. Our new guy in charge, Fabian is a reasonable guy and made it happen. So, now we have our classroom. Caitlin and Students: 1 SECAP Administration: 0. Go US!

Cotopaxi:

At the first Refuge: 15,780 ft 

Last weekend I conquered a mountain. Well, not quite, but close. One of Krishna’s students asked me if I wanted to go with her to Chimborazo. I wasn’t really sure what she meant. Were we going to just hike around? Climb the mountain? Do nothing? I kept asking for more information but received nothing. Being the flexible person that I am, I decided to put my apprehension behind me and just go for it. I showed up at Parque Cevallos and met up with Pris, her cousin, and his friends. It turns out we were going to Cotopaxi instead of Chimborazo and that it was a big group going and we were just going to be walking around. We took the bus to Cotopaxi and then started climbing the mountain. We made it to the first refuge at 4810 meters or 15,780.6 ft. It is safe to say, that this is the highest I have ever been in my entire life. It was s cool.

Día de San Valentín:

A couple of students from my first class

Valentine’s day this year was the best yet. My students decided to have a party in both classes. My first class technically has 10 students, but 7 students showed up. If my students know how to do something, it is throwing a party. They brought cake, chicken, fries, rice, sandwiches, chocolates, colas, marshmallows, and various candies. We just sat, ate ate, and talked for several hours. It was a great time. My next class did not disappoint either. My students brought streamers and all sort of things to decorate and started the festivities. They brought lots of food and music. There were several speeches, and then they presented me with some really nice earrings they bought for me as a class. It was so sweet, I didn’t really know what to do, except say thank you and give a nice long speech emphasizing that they were my family and how much I loved them. It was fantastic!

So this is what being a teacher is all about…

Showing off my SECAP Sweater

So I started teaching my second module at SECAP Ambato last Monday with more wisdom, knowledge, and a module of teaching experience under my belt. I was ready and prepared to start my classes. The only problem was that when I showed up for the first day of classes, I had 3 students in my first class. This was drastically different from the beginning of the first module where the SECAP administration tried to put 40 people in my second class. What was the deal? And the same thing happened to my coworker and friend Krishna who was teaching two floors below me. When I approached the people in charge they told me that they hadn’t put any publicity in the newspaper because they didn’t want the same thing to happen again where I had 40 people in my class. I tried to understand this, however I had no students. If there is one thing that I have learned here in Ecuador is to be patient and flexible. I clearly was annoyed, but in this country the only thing you can do is breathe and go with the flow. So we didn’t start our classes. The following week we gave placement tests after SECAP advertised English classes in the newspaper and finally, we started our classes for (real this time) two weeks late. I had some of the same students and a couple of new faces. I was excited to start teaching.

The module started out pretty slow with students trickling in each day. I have been thinking a lot lately about how I can improve upon my teaching experience from last module and I have been giving it more time, invested in a book (thank you Azar), and asked the students what they wanted to learn. After almost 2 months of vacation it has been somewhat difficult getting back into the swing of things. I teach two basic II classes and teach them the same thing everyday. This is the reason why it amazes me how different my two classes can be. Last Thursday I put together what I thought was  killer lesson plan on Prepositions of location (on, in, between, behind, next to, etc.). 

My awesome SECAP drawing

I had expertly drawn a map of SECAP for my students and included some vocabulary. Then I had the bright idea to do a Scavenger Hunt with my students by hiding clues around the building. I spent hours writing the clues, making the cards for each team, and then placing the clues around SECAP. The only real problem was that I didn’t really think this process through. Scavenger hunts are intense, complicated, and confusing. As I was setting up the clues for my first class I realized the complexity of a scavenger hunt. I did get it set up for my students and they loved it. They sprinted all over SECAP, reading the clues that included prepositions of location and worked as a team. Despite the confusion with the hunt, my students had a great time.

The real SECAP Ambato

I expected for my second class to be just as excited as my first about my SECAP drawing and scavenger hunt. However, while I was teaching prepositions of location I kept hearing snickering and laughing. I ignored it at first, but then stopped what I was doing and asked, “what are you laughing at?” My students were laughing silently and one of them finally was brave enough to say, “teacher, pizza”. Needless to say I was not amused. I lectured my students for a while saying that it was disrespectful to be trying to order pizza during class. It just put a damper on my mood. I was excited for the scavenger hunt portion of the class. Between classes I had set up a grid for the different clues and locations for the scavenger hunt to avoid confusion. During the break I took the clues and my grid around and was trying to set everything up. Somehow, I confused myself even more. I was trying to get all the clues in the right places for 25-30 minutes before I decided to just give up all together. By this point I was so annoyed with my second class I sent them home. When I came back into the room and told them that we were done, they sat their stunned for a couple of minutes. They could tell I was annoyed and upset about the stupid scavenger hunt and pizza fiasco that was my class. Soon I started to hear my students make comments like, “Teacher, don’t worry be happy”, “it’s okay teacher”, “be calm teacher”.  When I get annoyed or upset I don’t yell or scream, it is more of a silent thing. Although my class crashed and burned, it made me appreciate the struggles teachers go through each day. To all my teachers out there, I just wanted to say thank you for all that you do and sorry for all the difficult students that you have to deal with. What a crazy and chaotic life you lead. I have a better understanding of what you do and know how difficult, but rewarding it can be.