rosario

 
 

Profesora Blanca is truly a hero for teaching thirty five students grades one to seven herself without any assistance.  Obviously my help was much appreciated and welcomed by her , the students, and the parents. I taught English to the students Monday to Thursday´s and on Fridays taught Physical Education.  This was much more challenging than my other experiences teaching students English in Asia.  I taught four classes a day with two grade levels each class, and grade seven alone.  Class sizes varied from four to eleven students. The vast array of skill and knowledge in these classes was huge and one of the challenges. Some of the students remembered things from previous volunteers like it was taught yesterday, others didn´t remember anything at all. Energy and motivation of the students also varied a lot. I focused most of my teaching on speaking English and tried to get the kids speaking as much as possible and also when possible, movement.  The school is very simple, a few classrooms mainly only one is used with all the desks of the students divided by chalkboards. I used one of the other classrooms which had a rolling whiteboard and desks and chairs. Outside there was a little dirt square where we would occasionally play games or have parts of the lesson outside. This is also where PE was held. My classes started at 7:40 and finished at 1:15 with a break from 10:20 to 11:00 for lunch, and I used as planning time. My host family sent me with fruit and I ate lunch when I got back home from school. I chose to teach classes everyday but the schedule is really up to you. They appreciate whatever you can give.  Classes generally went really well. Sometimes kids lacked motivation and really seemed to only want to play games. PE was definitely a favorite of the students. I struggled a bit the first week wishing they had some balls of some sort to teach sports with, but ended up doing a lot of coordination exercises, jumping, relay races, and in general just getting them up and moving around.

I lived with Aida and Alfonso and their grown son up on top of a hill with the clouds in Rosario. You can´t find Rosario on google maps, but it is nestled in the mountains about twenty kilometers from the village of Cuellaje lined with three different rivers, trees, endless scenery, farm animals, and a tiny dirt road.  The thirty five homes in the community are scattered everywhere from on road to the top of mountains, everyone knows one another. . I was always greeted me with Buenos dias, or friendly Hola´s, I felt so welcomed and safe there.  From Aida and Alfonso´s house it was about a forty minute walk to school down below. I helped occasionally on their farm milking cows or picking some tree tomatoes with them. They are pretty shy but Alfonso went out of his way to try and communicate with me in the beginning and make sure I had what I needed. Meals were always plentiful and delicious. A few odd things for a westerner every now and then, like trout for breakfast or a plate of peas for lunch. But mostly tons of fresh fruit juices and veggies with an occasional freshly plucked chicken.  Breakfasts could be anything from rice and boiled veggies with a fruit juice, or cheese empananadas, or potato cakes. Lunches were generally some sort of variation of rice, beans, fresh salad, and fruit juice. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and dinner was always a delicious soup. Meals were never the same during the week which was awesome.  Aida also asked if I wanted to try cuoy or guinea pig and together we bought and prepared them. I am definitely not sold on them but it was quite an experience to see it from start to finish. Aida also makes a variety of breads in her wood fire oven, as well as fresh cheese!  

My room in the house was perfect for what I needed; a little dresser, light, electrical outlet, and comfy bed to lay my head. The room is separate from the other parts of the house and my room could be locked with a key. Aida gave me fresh sheets every week to use and there were plenty of warm blankets on my bed for the chilly nights. The showers are frigid but I would generally take a shower mid-day so the water had a tiny bit of heat from the sun and would do so after a climb up the hill. The rainy or colder days I would boil water and use that.  The farm has tons of tomate de arbol, or tree tomatoes which are quite different than your standard tomatoes. They are extremely sour and you don´t eat the outside tough skin. This is the main plant on Aida and Alfonso´s land. They also have some corn, potatoes, granadillos or passion fruit, avocados, lime, naranjillos, and mandarinos which are similar to oranges in taste. They also have some cows and a beautiful plot of land overlooking a forest reserve. Chickens, a dog, two roosters, a pig, chickens, and some rabbits also reside around the house.

There was definitely a lot of down time during the day which I spent reading, studying Spanish, watching downloaded movies, sometimes hanging out with the family, or resting.

 Aida and Alfonso´s daughter lives in Cuellaje, which is where we would hang out on Sundays. Some Sundays we would watch their son play football when he had games in the stadium. Sunday is also the day where I would use the internet in Cuellaje and get a little bit back in touch with reality.. but only a little. To get to Cuellaje from Rosario we would take a milk truck with a bunch of the others from the community for 50 cents. To get back to Rosario we could take these same milk trucks or the bus goes at 4pm, also 50 cents. There is a very small store at the bottom of the hill to get to Aida and Alfonso´s but generally you should come with everything you will need to last through the week until Sunday.

The weather did get chilly up at the house being so high with the clouds and when the rain came and was nearly constant on and off for ten days straight it made things really interesting and the hike to the house a bit slippery! The rubber boots I borrowed from Aida and Alfonso were so helpful during the rain. I promise you eventually get used to the look of them and learn to love them.  If you are coming during winter know there will be rain, perhaps LOTS! Generally though it rains in the afternoon and evening and the mornings had some sunshine. 

I came with nearly zero expectations and unsure how long I would make it so disconnected from the world.  I ended up really loving it and staying for five weeks instead of three. My Spanish improved a ton. I went from being able to speak very slowly with mistakes to thinking in Spanish most of the time and many less errors in my speech. For the first time in my life I hand washed and air dried my clothes. It is a very very different lifestyle than what I grew up with but I really enjoyed my time in Rosario and learned a lot about the mountain Ecuadorian way of life. It was yet another experience in my life where I really truly appreciate how easy things are in my life. I get to drive to my house in a car (as opposed to hiking 25 minutes), drive to the grocery store when I want, use google translate in a millisecond, and throw my clothes or dishes into a machine and they come out clean! My work at the school was greatly valued and the students seemed to enjoy and learn a lot in my time there teaching.  I will miss the simple life in Rosario when I leave for sure!