Teaching Logistics and Water Pumps

Well, I don't have anything interesting to say, but the day is approaching... so I'll give a few updates...

How does this whole teaching thing work exactly? As some people (Ashli!) observed, I haven't discussed the logistics much, but I figured they be boring. But here they are anyway.

Like anywhere else in the world, Ecuador has its share of American and European expats fleeing their First World comforts in search of... what? I don't know exactly. A purpose? A simpler life (a phrase often used, though probably not PC nowadays)? Take, for example, Bob, who Mark and I met in rural Mexico. He is a former US Marine who retired to the Mexican coast and now spends his days and some of his pension working with a local Mexican nurse just doing good, in general. They help fund school uniforms, they get their American friends to bring medical and educational donations when they come, they visit elderly people and give them food (like Meals on Wheels, but out of a 4x4 Jeep in the coastal jungle).

Salasaca has one of these friends; we'll call him R. R is an American expat who helps run and fund the small school in the village. He is, I assume, retired, and is just a do-gooder who wants to do something more than sit around sipping piña coladas. So he runs a school.

He has gathered materials to conduct English courses and already has developed his curriculum. I will just be assisting in English instuction with the materials and courses already provided by R.

The biology class I am designing completely. I was creating lesson plans using activities I found online, but I was then translating everything into Spanish, which was very tedious and unnecessary. I discussed with R the difficulty of developing a course and translating it all, which is not very efficient, so he agreed that I would continue the course development once I arrived in Ecuador. I will purchase a biology text in Spanish in Quito, and it will be more cost-efficient to make copies of the whole book than buy everyone there own copy. R will worry about the funding for the resources I need, so that is terrific for me! I only need to work on making a good class. The biology class will not start until later in the year, so I have some time to purchase a book in Quito and develop lesson plans (with no translating, yay!) while I am helping with the English courses.

I have been given a great opportunity by R and the community of Salasaca because they have welcomed me to teach and because R has been so generous in procuring any funding needed. Unlike a volunteer program which charges foreigners exhorbitant amounts of money to work, often with other foreigners or tourists, I will be working in exchange for room and board and Quichua lessons. I have been very fortunate in being given this opportunity, which is why I have worked hard to learn some Quichua (to show respect to the local culture) and to bring books (to help in R's appeal to build up the school library). (SPECIAL THANKS to parents and grandparents, who really helped get together a donation of 50 books in Spanish for children!!!)

An interesting story: R sent me an email inquiring as to whether or not I would be able to bring a water pump to the village. The pump that provides water has broken, and R has sent a new 30 pound pump to me so that I can bring it in my luggage. I hope it arrives soon! I'm getting nervous that it won't come in time. The sucker is 3 inches over the size limit for luggage, so I will have to wait til it gets here and mash it down somehow so I don't get slammed with an oversized luggage fee.

In most coutries in Latin America, you can only bring in items tax-free if they are for personal use, so it's going to be interesting if I get questioned! (Yes, customs officer, sir, I always carry around a water pump large enough for a village, you know, you never know when you'll need one! Just the other day, I was hiking in the Redwoods, and I had a desperate need for a village-sized water pump, but I had left it at home. So I told my friends, "I'm never leaving home without this baby again." Yep, personal use 30 pound water pump, sir.)

More posts soon...