Progress!

After the first week of official Peace Corps training, the introductions are out of the way and we are already starting to make some legitimate progress! The past few days have been filled with a variety of initial interviews, one to assess our Spanish skills for language classes, one to review our medical history, and one to meet with the TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) staff so that they can learn about our technical skills and begin to decide on the sites where we will be placed in ten weeks. In a standard display of me not having the best idea of what’s going on, I got confused about which interview was being held on which day and assumed that I was being led to my language interview on Wednesday afternoon. When I entered the room, the panel of people seated in front of me (this definitely should have been my first clue) asked if I would prefer to conduct the interview in Spanish or English, I answered matter-of-factly that Spanish was fine, thinking wow, is there really an option to not do my Spanish language interview in Spanish? To my credit, I got through almost the entire interview in Spanish before realizing that the panel was trying to gauge my experience as an English teacher rather than my ability to speak Spanish. Unfortunately, my actual language interview the next day didn’t go quite so smoothly, considering the fact I was asked multiple questions that I wouldn’t necessarily be able to answer in English, including “can you explain the me the history of liberalism in San Francisco?” and “what are some of the problems facing the poorest people in Rio’s favelas?” Somehow I managed to end up in the advanced language class despite the blank expression on my face during the interview, so all’s well that ends well I say.

Yesterday was by far the coolest day thus far. Each language group within the TEFL program visited a different school in the outer-Quito area to ask students, teachers, and administration about the most important issues in the public school system, particularly in English classes. Upon arriving at the school, a boy’s primary school in Tumbaco, we dove into the mass of playing and shouting 6-to-14-year-olds during their recess hour and informally interviewed different groups. Apart from being just plain interesting, this was one of the funnier experiences I’ve had in Ecuador so far. I would approach a small cluster of two or three students and within five seconds find myself completely bombarded by fifty little boys simultaneously yelling their responses to my questions, along with some inquiries of their own (one of my fellow group members was asked repeatedly if she knew Superman). By the end, I had signed at least thirty autographs (first time I’ve ever been asked) and just about lost my voice, but it was worth it for both the craziness and the enlightening answers we received. When the chaos subsided, our group split up to make a community map of important locations in Tumbaco and to conduct some more informal interviews with local residents to get a sense of their daily schedules, both tools used to assess community need for various programs and classes. All in all, both an intriguing first glance at my future job as an English co-teacher and a great way to get a better sense of the community so that I can finally stop getting lost on my way to the bus stop!

For the better part of the past week, Rocio has been filling our Saturday schedule with various womanly activities. We began bright and early this morning at bailoterapia, which as far as I can tell is basically Jazzercise, Ecuadorian-style/one of the world’s best-kept secrets. It. Is. So. Fun. Being both the only American and the only one under 45-ish besides the instructor, I stuck out more than a little bit with my signature gringa moves featuring a lack of ability to shimmy, but I’m thinking that if I can make it to classes as much as I hope to, I might just be able to hang with the Ecuadorian ladies at the clubs by the time I leave Tumbaco. After bailoterapia, it was time to have a go at washing my clothing on la piedra (yes, that’s a rock). Outside of big cities, many Ecuadorians scrub their clothes with soap and water on a big, flat stone contraption in the backyard and hang them up to dry. Allegedly, this process is “not too hard” and “doesn’t take that long,” but in my experience, these are lies. I am not exaggerating when I say that the washing and rinsing process took a full two and a half hours, and I still have little detergent marks on some of my clothes. For as long as I must depend on this method, I will truly think twice before washing any article of clothing and I worry that I may find myself re-wearing more than may be socially acceptable. In short, I have failed as an Ecuadorian housewife, but at least my biceps got a decent workout and my host mother had a good laugh. Rocio must have understood that I was not the biggest fan of la piedra, because our next activity was pretty much guaranteed to put a smile back on my face. That’s right – empanada time. Who knew that with the right technique, it is actually quite easy to make well-formed, beautiful empanadas in your very own home?! I won’t include the step-by-step for brevity’s sake but I am happy to share with those interested.

Rocio isn’t the only one doing the teaching – I in turn have thus far introduced my host family to both PB&J and Mean Girls. Hellooo, cultural exchange! Trying to see Mean Girls through the eyes of my host parents with the help of Spanish subtitles was an fascinating lesson in the crudeness of American culture, especially seeing lines with particularly offensive insults translated to something considerably softer along the lines of “no me gustas tu!” In any case, they thought Lindsay Lohan dressed as a zombie bride was downright hilarious. As for PB&J, both Rocio and Pedro were surprisingly weirded out – apparently, mixing peanuts with something sweet is just the strangest thing here since peanuts are always served savory in Ecuadorian cuisine, in soups or as a garnish for meat. The suggestion of adding sliced bananas incited even more nervous laughter and bewildered looks. I think they may slowly be warming up to the idea, but for now I’m not going to complain if I’m the only one in the house dipping into the peanut butter.

That’s about it for now – I’m including some photos from the limited few I’ve taken so far. More to come and lots of love to all!

My beatiful little room!

Peace Corps Ecuador training center