“What is your name?” -“S-S-S-Sara?”

Sunday is family day. My first family day was a bit overwhelming, as you may recall, traveling all over Quito, but mostly sitting in the car with Grandma. My second family day, however, was very exciting.

The day started with church (we went to a different church with a disturbingly massive Jesus Christ hanging from the ceiling positioned like Superman when he takes off into flight) and lunch with some aunts and cousins and Grandma, of course. After lunch, I was very excited to learn that we were going to travel to the Centro Historico (historic downtown) for the afternoon. We were going to be returning to Aunt Mary Elena's house after our little excursion, so I assumed that Grandma would stay at the house. No. Grandma was in tow. I was a little curious as to how she was going to get around downtown, as slow as she moves, but my curiosity was quickly satisfied.

On our way to the Centro Historico, we made a stop at a little place called Panecillo. I'm not quite sure what the significance of this place was, but I got to climb up a statue thing and have a beautiful view of all of Quito. Aunt Rosita came along and acted as my tour guide (which I was especially happy about since my host mother told me that she didn't know anything about anything). When we arrived at Panecillo, I jumped out of the car, as did everyone else. Everyone except Grandma. She sat in the car. For 45 minutes. Isn't that illegal in most states? Not Ecuador!

Our next stop was downtown. To give a brief description of the roads: the two way streets are as wide as an American one way street; the one way streets are as wide as an American sidewalk; and the sidewalks are as wide as an American gutter. As Lupe (my host mother) is WHIPPING around the streets trying to get downtown, everyone is yelling different directions at her (NO LEFT!!! NO YOU SHOULD HAVE GONE RIGHT!!!!!!!!! TURNTURNTURNNOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!), and I am feeling very, very ill. ESPECIALLY because Quito is in the mountains, so at points I thought we were about to drive off a CLIFF, and at other times I am thinking that the car isn't going to make it up the mountain that it has to climb. I thought last Sunday was bad... This was much worse! And, to put the icing on the cake, in Quito we are going through a drought. The power is all hydraulic, and the reservoir is getting low, so they turn off the power to small parts of the city at a time. The power was out in the Centro Historico while we were driving. Do you know what that means? NO STOPLIGHTS. Horns were blaring, fingers were waving, and I was about crying. Very traumatizing.

We made it to the Centro (alive, praise Jesus positioned like Superman), and again, all hopped out of the car. Gram stayed in the front seat. This time, for an HOUR. I was so worried about her the whole time we were out! Serious jail time can be served for stuff like that in the US! I really enjoyed seeing the historic downtown, and I think that my host sister and I are going to return this weekend so that I can go into the President's Palace and some of the famous churches.

After an eventful Sunday, I started my TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) course on Monday. It is going to be a very intense four weeks, but I am really enjoying it so far. On Tuesday, we were able to meet the students that we will be practice teaching on (poor things!!), and on Wednesday, we taught our first lessons. Tuesday, when we met the students, we were observing how the class is taught. The lesson that we were observing was about using adjectives to describe people. The students had to describe someone else in the class (in secret), and then someone else had to guess who was being described. My initial thought was: Huh. I wonder how this is going to go – everyone has black hair and brown eyes.

When everyone was done writing their descriptions, the teacher switched them around and said “OK! Find who the paper is describing!!” I was sitting there, minding my own business, kind of daydreaming, and what do you know. Some guy walked up to ME. Now, as a side note, this was not the assignment. I am NOT a member of the class, so this was NOT what I was expecting. I immediately start sweating and can feel that my face is on fire. I look a this guy, Gandy (pronounced Ghandi), and he says “What is your name? You are who I need.” JESUS. I don't know why I doubted that his description was in fact of me – I was the only blonde in the room – but I read it anyways: “The person who I am describing has blonde hair, green eyes, and is very, very tall. She is wearing a pink and white striped shirt and jeans.” I respond “S-S-S-Sara?” (because I don't know my name? Smooth...), and he smiles, writes it down (probably thinking “OH MY GOD THIS GIRL IS GOING TO BE MY TEACHER?!?!”), and walks back to his seat. Meanwhile, the other people in my course, who are also observing, are LAUGHING and laughing. Great.

At the break, the other observers and I all congregate and discuss the unpleasant event that just occurred. We're trying to figure out who would have written about ME, and someone makes the comment that they did in fact notice several of the students staring at me. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for giving me the blonde hair that makes me stand out so much in South American countries. I've never appreciated it more... A few minutes later, Justin, the teacher, came up to me and said, “Sorry to put you on the spot like that, but I was the one who described you (Well I didn't see THAT ONE coming). A student came in late and didn't have the chance to describe anyone, so I described you because, well, let's be honest, you're easy to pick out of the crowd.” THANKS. Later, during another activity, Gandy (the guy who had my description), asked me if I wanted to climb a mountain with him this weekend. Do I LOOK like I want to climb a mountain? If he saw how I almost die every morning on my way to school walking uphill the whole way, I'm sure that he wouldn't have asked me. Needless to say, I declined his invitation as politely as I could.

On Wednesday, after three days of my teaching course, I became a teacher! I only taught a half hour lesson, but I was a teacher none the less. I taught about vocabulary about being sick/going to the doctor, and my lesson was well-received by the students. It included a game of charades (which they didn't know what it was, so I had to act it out... Yes, they laughed at me.), and then role play in which one person was a doctor, and the other was the patient who had to describe their symptoms. Overall, it was a good lesson, and I am excited to be able to continue learning and teaching.

Until next time,
S-S-S-Sara?