A day in the life of Leslie

To get some idea of what I do all day....

- Wake up at 6am.

- Don't get out of bed until 6:45am and end up being late. I thought this would change on coming to Ecuador, and I would magically turn into a morning person. Nope.

- Breakfast by myself at 7am because everyone else has been up since 4am. I now drink coffee because I'm realizing that although I could wake up at 6am and be ready for high school, being ready for teaching is a whole other story. I actually have to have energy. Hence, weird Ecuadorian coffee with lots of sugar.

- Run outside to help the other teachers clean the school and yard. This mostly involves either sweeping, picking up leaves, or watering the dirt. (When it's dry it gets really dusty if you don't water the ground.)

- The kids usually arrive between 7 and 7:30 so we're supposed to open the door for them and give them a kiss on the cheek.

- Basica starts at 7:30am with Profe. Raquel. I watch the rest of the kids play in the yard until 8am when their classes start. They always begin with "rompe de cabezas" (puzzles) and then lessons start.

- (I will use today, Monday, as an example of what a normal day is like because I think today has been the most normal day so far, what my day SHOULD be and not the messiness it has been. The mess is not completely sorted out--my fellow English teacher, Adriana, did indeed quit and we only found out yesterday, and there still is no main teacher for Pre Kinder--but today I tag-teamed with my host sister, Chabella, and it went super well. I would say stuff in English and some Spanish, and she would repeat stuff in Spanish when the kids couldn't understand the English.)

- At 8am, I start English with Pre Kinder. Today we had a great lesson about the family and made family trees. Normally, I'll be having 45 minute classes, but right now they only expect me to do 20-30 minutes. But! Chabella and I managed to have an entire 45 minute class anyway! Woot.

- At 9am, I start English with Primero de Basica. We talked about the neighborhood today and had an hour-long class! This class is so great to work with--they're easy to control, and I always have new ideas for things to do with them.

- Then, I helped outside with everyone's recess and snack. The kids all have to sit around a table, say "la oracion" or short prayer, and then when they're finished, put their own chairs away and put their trash in Senor Basurero (Mr. Trash--he's always hungry). All of this is a lesson in independence since we're not supposed to help them with any of it.

- At 11:15, it's time for English with Basica. We're working with fruits, so I read them "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle and talked about the fruits. Again, the class was a full 45 minutes! So I've realized that if I have a proper partner (Chabella was awesome), it can work out quite well. It's great to have help controlling the kids, keeping their attention, and repeating instructions in Spanish if the kids don't understand.

- At noon, I supervise dismissal. Pre Kinder and Primero de Basica begin to be picked up at noon. This is the time I get to just play with them. Our favorite games are "Comame" (meaning "Eat me" in which I'm a wolf and I run around saying I'm hungry and try to catch them) and the bus ride (where the kids each collect a handful of leaves, climb up the ladder to the slide, give me money and tell me where they want to go--"A Quito! A Puembo! A Guayaquil!" and then slide down the slide "Bien viaje!").

- Once all of the kids have gone (Basica leaves at 12:30), we clean the classrooms. I get to debrief and think about the day while I sweep, sweep, sweep the classes. It's a great part of my day.

- Then, if my host mom hasn't already started, thus begins the two-hour process of cooking lunch. I refuse to light the stove ever because the only way to do it is to stick your hand with the match into the burner (and the matches here are strange--they're made almost entirely of wax and are super bendy and super short), turn on the gas, and hope to god your hand doesn't go up in flames. You also have to wash EVERYTHING with soap and water, even the fruits. In the States, I've washed things with just water, but it's strange to wash with soap as well. You can't drink the water here, though, because you'll get sick. We have big jugs of water here that you use for drinking.

- After lunch is prepared, a grace is said (I'm waiting a bit longer before I break out the good 'ole Massicotte graces), and then we dig into a meal usually consisting of rice, meat, potatoes, and salad with a fruit salad slathered in honey and oatmeal for dessert. They really like sweet things here--juices, coffee, tea, and desserts are all incredibly sweet.

- You say "Gracias" when you're finished (and I'm always the last to finish eating; again, some things haven't changed) and then begin to do the dishes. No dishwasher of course.

- After that, we all sorta do our own things. Sometimes my host mom has classes or a meeting, my sister generally goes out with friends or her boyfriend, my brother has school until 4pm. I always shower at some point, which is always an experience. Actually, the entire bathroom situation is always an experience. To shower, I have to go to one bathroom, to pee I have to go to another, to use a mirror, I have to go another. So between the three bathrooms, I manage to get everything done, but it's a hike back and forth.

- Other times, I do some laundry. They only have a washer, no dryer, which means all my clothes are really stiff. And the washer doesn't really wash your clothes very well, just sorta twirls them around and takes forever doing so. When it finally stops, you have to hang your clothes on the fences and clothes lines to dry. Of course, my luck has been recently that the minute after I'm finished putting my clothes on the line, it starts to rain, and I have to run around crazy trying to gather them all up again. My host brother thinks this is the funniest thing in the world. He is wrong.

- Sometimes, I'll do more cleaning and sweep/dust my room. Or if I'm too lazy, I'll forget cleaning and take a nap. Or watch a movie, read, write blog entries, etc.

- Other times, I'll do some traveling. Maybe once or twice a week, I'll go to Quito to meet a friend and have dinner or something. Other days, I'll just walk down the street to the internet cafe.

- In the evening, I am generally making the lesson plans for the following day, eating a little something, and just hanging around with the family. Then it's bedtime at 9pm.