Tuesday, we had a second orientation at ACLAS in the morning, just going over some last minute details and details of our trips. The guy who talked about our trips only spoke in Spanish....he knows English, but the rule at ACLAS is that we are not really supposed to speak English. That way we can practice our Spanish and really start to learn it. However, since I don´t speak much, there were several times I didn´t understand what he was saying, but for the most part, I got the gist of it. After orientation we went to the Equtor. On the way we ate lunches that our host parent´s had packed for us. In mine I had these chips that were pretty much like potato chips, but were made from plantains. They were delicious! We had a tour guide lead us around and talk about various things. There were a couple different kinds of sundials that were pretty neat to see. When it is noon, the sun is straight up in the sky and creates no shadow when on the Equator. There was also a challenge to ballance an egg on a nail head. I successfully balanced the egg and got a neat little certificate. In one of the little huts we toured through there, there was a pin with a bunch of guinea pigs running around--babies and bigger ones. We asked the tour guide if they were for eating and she said yes, so then we asked "even the babies?" She responded with "Sure....guinea nuggets."
After we got back from the equator we went back to our host houses. My host parents invited me to watch a movie with them. Now, something about Ecaudor is that the main hang out spot in a lot of houses is the parents bedroom. This was the case with my family. So, we all went into their room and selected a movie called the Sentinel. My host dad handed me the remote and said "language?" And I replied with "Español of course!" We also had the Spanish subtitles on, so being able to see and hear as well as have the picture to follow, I actually understood most of the movie.
Wednesday was my first day in the schools. I am in a private school first called Tomas Moro. It is a good distance away from my house, so I take the school bus in the morning (the stop is right across the road from my house) and then mine or James´s (another guy in the George Fox program) host parent will pick us up at noon. It´s been interesting so far. For the most part the teachers move classrooms, not the students. I´ve been mostly involved in the English classes, but I´ve also been involved in a Science class (which was also taught in English) and a Spanish class (where the kids were working on learning their Spanish). I´ve observed many things that are different than in the US. The teachers at this school wear more casual clothes than most teachers in the US and the relationship between them and their teachers is less formal. In the states the teachers are most always Miss or Mr. something or Professor or Dr. something. Here, it´s often a first name basis. The kids are so cute and I love interacting with them. I´ll be in this school for 5 days (so I have 3 more left) then I´ll be at another private school called LeTort which is fairly close to Tomas Moro.
Wednesday night a bunch of us went to a cultural dance performace type thing called Jacchigua. It was really interesting, but we were all so tired, it was hard to stay awake despite how interesting it was.
The food here is very good. So far, most lunches at my host house consist of a soup (usually a vegetable soup of sorts, but not like the veggie soups you might think of in the US, they´re a little different), then a meat such as chicken, pork, or fish along with some sort of veggie platter and also with rice. Some days we will have dessert as well, such as gellatin or something. Oh, and at my house, at lunch we have a freshly squeezed juice. So far, I´ve had orange juice, papaya mixed with orange juice, kiwi juice, and mango juice all freshly squeezed. They are so good, I don´t know how I´m going to go back to the processed and bottled juices in the states.
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