Ecuador - Randi
Randi taught in a primary school in Lago Agrio, Ecuador.
Carnival
Carnival is a huge celebration in Ecuador but it is very different than in other South American countries from what I have experienced. Basically, it is a nation wide waterfight and it is SO FUN! We spent two days standing on the side of the road with buckets of water and soaking anyone that passed by whether they were in a bus or taxi or if they were on a motorbike or walking. Most people took it in good humor because hey! It was Carnival!
Class
The family I stayed with were extremely charitable people. Jorge and his mom set up a class to help those in their neighbourhood. Barrio El Cisne is a very tight community even though many people are very poor and uneducated. So, Jorge would take two or three days a week and teach a class for an hour or so on anything that anyone wanted to learn. The class would range from people learning high school math to people learning to read. I had the opportunity to teach English and even math to this class a couple of times as well.
Nina and Pancho
Here are Nina and Pancho, two of the children in the home I was living in. In this picture, Nina is eating a coconut from one of the many fruit trees they have right in their yard. Man, I miss the fresh fruit! Another interesting thing is that often they would use a seashell to scrape the coconut out of the shell of the coconut. YUM!
National Holiday
This is the school I worked at. On this particular day, there was a national holiday. They rehearsed for days this marching formation and then when the day came, they all marched and sang the national anthem. Every student from the seventh grade class took turns to kiss the flag as well. Later on in the afternoon, I went to watch the same ceremony at the college as well. They are a very patriotic people.
My Students
The school was made up of cement classrooms with tin roofs. When it would rain hard, it was impossible to hear the person next to you, so we would eat and take pictures. The students loved the camera! I could have taken pictures for hours if I wanted to! Here are some students in my grade four class.
Catching Chickens
Everyone that I knew in Lago Agrio raised chickens. They would wander around in the streets and pretty much everywhere else as well! I told my mom this and she bet that I couldn't catch one. So, that became a regular activity in the home I stayed in. And I am proud to say I did eventually catch one. In this picture though, I told Jorge and Ricardo that I needed a chicken. So, Jorge waited until they were sleeping and then caught me one. He then took a picture of me, Ricardo, and the chicken!
My "Family"
These are the three youngest children in the family I lived with, Abrahan, Nina, and Pancho. A couple of the teachers took me and some of the family out of town for the day. After we survived the crazy bus drivers and the windy roads, we had a picnic of rice and chicken, played in the river, and went to a "museum" to see the monkey and the anacondas. It was an awesome day, besides the motion sickness.
My friends from Barrio El Cisne
These are my friends from Barrio El Cisne. They seriously took me in as one of their community and became like family basically! This picture has a combination of students, friends, neighbours, and the family that I lived with. I lived in the same neighbourhood as the students I taught so I never went anywhere without seeing someone I knew. They would yell out of the bus windows, "Good Morning, Teacher!" Man, I love Ecuador!
Trip to Town
One day I took a bunch of my students into town with me. It was the funnest time I ever had going into town. We walked to the downtown area and they were my personal shoppers for the afternoon. Afterwards, we bought ice cream and then we went to this park. The park has recently been built in Lago Agrio and it is the cities pride and joy! I let the students take pictures with my camera and we ended up taking over 100. One girl, Fernanda, had never taken a picture before so she ended up holding it backwards and taking a picture of herself!
My Kindergarten Class
This is my kindergarten class. It was definitely the most challenging class to teach. They weren't able to read and write in Spanish so it was a gong show trying to teach them English! In the end, we sang a lot of songs and played a lot of duck, duck, goose with the vocabulary we learned. It all worked out in the end!
Bugs!
This is a big bug. It reminds me of the Lion King, but I guess I was living in the jungle so it was expected! I strongly dislike insects so it took some convincing to get me to put it on my arm. Later on that evening, I found this exact beetle in my bed. I just about had a heart attack! But, that is just how the family is, constantly laughing and playing jokes on one another!
Ugliest Fruit
This is the ugliest fruit ever. My friend in Quito described it as an alien's baby. It is also the sweetest best tasting fruit I had while I was there! It is called achotillo in Spanish.
Pancho and Me
Isn't he the most adorable child ever?! Pancho is three and he was given responsibilities like going down the street to buy bread, sweeping out the house, and helping to carry bricks for the fence they were building. Definitely a different culture than in Canada!
Grade 7
These are boys from my grade seven class. In my grade seven class, the age range was from 10 to 17. Most of the students in the class were very eager to learn and really became my friends by the end of the time I was there. It was really hard to leave.
Otavalian Girl
There were many different ethnicities in the school I was teaching at. This girl is Otavalian and would often wear the traditional Otavalian clothing. I also had an opportunity to visit Otavalo on my way back to Canada. That was a great experience. These people are very talented.
My Jogging Trail
For a period of time, I would go running, almost on a daily basis. I would run up this little dirt road for about 15 minutes and at the end of the road was La Lagoona. It was a beautiful view to take in while I attempted to catch my breath from running up and down hills. Ecuador is a very beautiful country.
Puzzling Students!
These are a couple of students putting together a puzzle. Afterwards, we all worked together to make puzzles. It is amazing how excited these children get when they are able to color. The majority of the students do not own crayons or anything other than a pencil, so the opportunity to color was very exciting for them. It really helped me to see how blessed I was growing up.
Miriam and Jorge
Here are Miriam and Jorge. Jorge is about to pour ice cold water on Miriam's head. Dinner time was seriously the most exciting time of the day. People spent more time playing jokes on each other than they did eating. If you turned to look at something behind you, you could be sure that when you turned back either your food would be gone or your entire plate! Haha! Oh, we had fun!
