I had to RUN (what a joke) and jump (an even bigger joke) to get on the bus

Last week Saturday, Billie, Ben, Darren (three of my fellow teachers), and I were invited by several of our students to go to their neighborhood for an Olympics. It was going to be a day of competitions (Ecuadorians are VERY competitive). My first thought? Great. A day of sports. What better way to make a complete fool of myself. Being the good sport I am (no pun intended), I decided to go.

The neighborhood that we went to is called Carcelén Bajo, and it is about an hour bus ride away. Henry (the poet) gave us directions to get there, so we were all set. Another student named Santiago was coming with us to serve as our guide from the center of Quito to Carcelén. Let me tell you: traveling with a native makes traveling MUCH less stressful.

The 5 of us all met up to get on the bus together to make our way to Carcelén. This bus experience was no better than my last one. It was different (as in no sweaty hand and being flung all over the place) but equally horrible. One thing about the buses in Quito is that they are always, and I mean ALWAYS, PACKED. Not just need-to-stand packed. You almost don't need to hold on to anything because you're squeezed in there so tight. I was standing, and holding onto the overheard bar thing. No problem, right? WRONG. The bus was VERY jerky, and I was not facing the front, but turned and looking out the window. As I'm being jerked around, I'm starting to get hot. And dizzy. And nauseous. I begin having minor panicky thoughts – Why isn't the Dramamine I took working? I've only been on the bus for 20 minutes, I have to stay on here 40 more? What do I do in the event that I pass out? What happens if I need to vomit? I need water. If I do not sit down, something very embarrassing is going to happen very, very quickly.

Billie had a seat, and bless her soul she let me sit down. Darren told me that I was white as a ghost, and I tried laughing it off, but oh man, there was NO laughing this horrible feeling off. I'm starting to think about how I can politely tell my friends that we need to get off this bus NOW otherwise there is going to be a PROBLEM, when Santiago says “This is our stop!” Thank GOD. We got off the bus, and the second I got in the the fresh air I felt better. What a close call.

Turns out that Santiago is not the tour guide that I assumed he would be, and we got off the bus at the wrong stop. But that's ok. Because if we HADN'T gotten off of the bus just then, I would have had to be carried off the bus, and that's just embarrassing to think about. We got on another bus and finally, FINALLY made it to Carcelén.

For the first day since I had been in Ecuador, Saturday it rained non-stop all day. So the Olympics were canceled (oh, darn, looks like I can't show off my soccer skillz), and we played ping-pong and cards all day. It was a wonderful time, and we all enjoyed the company of our students, especially seeing them in their home environment.

Around 7, we decided that we should probably get back to Quito. We were all waiting for the bus in the rain. When we saw our bus coming, Billie, Ben, Santiago, and I (Darren had to leave earlier) began saying our goodbyes to our friends. I was the last one in the departure line, and the other three had gotten on the bus. All of a sudden, the bus started pulling away, WITHOUT ME ON IT. Naturally, I started screaming, and despite the fact that Santiago was standing at the door OBVIOUSLY waiting for me, the bus driver did not stop. Thank GOD I didn't fall or anything (it was a miracle), because I had to RUN (what a joke) and jump (an even bigger joke) to get on the bus. I was literally screaming the entire time. The bus driver did not care. I just thank God that I didn't fall and get run over, because really? The bus still wouldn't have stopped. Don't worry, Mom, Ecuador is super safe! …

This past week was the last week of the TESOL course (thank GOD because it was INTENSE). Since I'm more comfortable in front of the students, I decided to try a game out of my students. There were two teams competing against each other, and let me just tell you that it resulted in everyone yelling (including me, but mine was “QUIET! QUIET! PLEASE! WE NEED TO BE QUIET!!” I'm a great teacher...), and I thought Henry was going to jump out the window because he was so into the game. I'm just glad that no one got hurt.

In other news, I got a job on Tuesday! It came as quite the surprise to everyone, and especially me! I'll be working as an 8th grade English teacher. I'll have 3 classes of 25 students each. I start already on Wednesday (yes, I start sweating just THINKING about it). I was interviewed by two people, in English (thank the LORD), and it was going really, really well. Until the following conversation took place:

John (interviewer): Well, Sara, we'd really like to see you do a practice lesson.
He pauses. During the pause I am thinking Oh Jesus no.
John continues: Could you do one for us?
Sara (I immediately break out into a sweat): A practice lesson? Right now? In front of students?
John: Oh! If you want to do it now, that would be so great! How about 10 minutes?
Sara (If I would have been standing, I would have fallen down): Oh yeah! Sure! I'd LOVE to! What do you want me to teach!?!? *insert nervous laughter here*
John: How about you review comparative adjectives?
(Comparativeadjectivescomparativeadjectives. For some reason my mind can't even process what sentence is, so what the HECK are comparative adjectives?)
John continues without skipping a beat: Like taller, more delicious, you know.
Sara: That sounds great! How about a game??
(internally FREAKING OUT)
John: Perfect. I'll see you in ten.

Ten minutes later, I found myself standing in front of about twenty five 13 year olds. Awesome. They are WILD, it was a zoo in there, and I was literally standing at the front of the room with my hands in the air, YELLING “BEEEEEEEEEEEE QUIETTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” It's going to be a good time! The students loved the game, and John must have thought that I did an alright job because when we walked out of the classroom he asked me when I could start. Well. THAT was unexpected. I accepted the position (It's not like I was getting any offers anywhere else), and went to talk about the logistics of the situation. So, surprise! I'm an 8th grade teacher in Ecuador, and I don't know that I've ever been more terrified.

Until next time,
Teacher Sara