A friend and I were walking along the river last Sunday & didn't know that our picture was taken for an article in the local newspaper, El Mercurio, about closing the road along the river to change the traffic pattern. The photo was on the front page! My friend & I didn't even know that another picture of us was also on the back page of the front section. Kind of by chance that I even learned about the photo as I do not buy the paper.
My classes are going so well. I adore my students. They're so bright, so motivated, so interested. What a pleasure. I do believe that all the work that I am putting in to make the classes fun, interesting, and a good learning experience is paying off. I often leave the school feeling high. A funny thing happened today in my morning class that has nothing to do with teaching: A fairly large spider was crawling on the table/desk that the students sit at & it crawled under one of my student's backpacks. This student is a young man, who appears to me to be about 20 years old. He looks quite strong and able-bodied, but when it came to the spider, he sort of freaked out, jumped up and away from the table. Yours truly, who is >3x his age, slipped off her shoe and dispatched the spider effortlessly. I think that everyone was surprised. I was even able to illustrate the use of an adjective clause after this feat of bravery: Claudia, who took off her shoe, killed the spider. Adjective clause is who took off her shoe.
Sort of by chance and knowing the right people, I spent a part of this morning with a man who is a friend of someone I recently met in Quito. He's a very nice individual who would like to get together with me regularly for me to help him with his English and he in turn will help me with my Spanish. That will be fun. He is a tour guide in Ecuador so knowing English is very important in his work. He wants to practice his English on me, which is quite fine by me. In fact, today he took me to a Panama hat factory, that I have never been to. It was a fascinating place. The hats are magnificent. He did most of the tour in Spanish, so I wasn't all that helpful with the Spanish, but we had fun and I think this may be a good opportunity for both of us. Before we went to the hat factory he treated me to a fruit salad--one of the best things I have eaten here---loaded with fresh fruit and wonderful yogurt. Mmmmmm.
This afternoon I went to Fundación El Arenal to learn about volunteering there. It's a special place very near one of the large fruit & vegetable markets that provides, among other things, enrichment experiences, help with homework, social skills, etc. for the children whose parents sell their fruits and vegetables at the market. Many of the children work selling produce at the market, but this organization provides other opportunities for the children. They need volunteers to do a number of things. They would like volunteers to work there 2-3 mornings or afternoons/week. For me, I think it's best if I can volunteer 1day/week. They will get back to me to let me know if day/week meets their needs or not. Regardless, it was heartwarming to see the good work that is being done there.
On my way back home from Fundación Arenal I got a phone call from one of my few Cuencana friends inviting me to go with her for the weekend to her beach home. I have not yet been to the coast, so of course I said yes. Should be a fun!
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