Awkward Adventures Abroad

So, COVID19 is here

What I have been able to do while the world is ending:

1. Read more now that school is out. (Trying to read during online teaching is just a no-go.)
2. Hang out with Hades more. Sure, you can tell he is very confused about it. He keeps wondering when I am going to leave, so that he can do his Cat Business. As it stands now, though, he is stuck with my constant companionship. 
3. Maintaining a sweet mohawk. (I have wanted one since I was 15. Teaching online means my kids [and bosses] see me way less.)
4. Playing a lot of Minecraft with Daron. 
5. Feeling anxious about all the assholes in the world that can't manage to wear a mask. 
6. Cook all the recipes I have had pinned for months, but have been generally too lazy for it. Since there is literally nothing else to do, I have: made delicious bread, semi decent tortillas, and awesome carnitas.  
7. Caught up with people I don't normally facetime with, but, because talking to Hades is super boring, I have maintained while cooped up.

I am not super excited about going back to online teaching, but it is for the best. Since I have accepted my fate, I am spending my break watching long ass videos on how to make engaging power points. I get voted "lamest fucking power points" by my department every year. I guess it is time I learn how to branch out a little. I refuse to get rid of my "Attendance Cat" slide though. Hades, cuddling a bag of potatoes, is staying. Viva Hades. 

That time I began an accidental communist book club

This semester, one of our non-literary texts has been manifestos. As a result, we read parts of the Communist Manifesto and the Feminist Manifesto. This has resulted in a few things:

1. Some of my male students felt like I was failing them because they don't agree with my political beliefs
2. Parents in a parent chat absolutely losing their minds over my indoctrination of students
3. Parents of students I am not teaching this year defending me resolutely
4. My super smart and nerdy kids have started calling each other commies
5. Kids I taught last year have made some kind of mini-campaign to defend me against anyone that is mad

It has been a surprising few weeks.

Fast forward to 3 weeks ago when one of my students from last year asked me to run a book club. I really hesitated. I was so close to telling him no because the only day after school I have free is Friday. I caved and told him that I would, but he would need to recruit. He comes back 4 days later with a list of 5 students (and only one of which I am currently teaching.) I tell him "alright, we'll do it."

First day of the book club, my student comes in with a list of short stories for us to all read. We are going to use those until we can find a common book to read. As he is setting up the 'snack station', "all book clubs have snacks", some of the other nerdy kids that I love run into the room. They can't do the book club because they are in the 'Investment Club' at the same time. They take over our board writing, "Communist Book Club: books are for the proletariats". They then cover the whole board with communist symbols and run out of the room to their investment club. Yes, the irony is amazing. 

From there, we have decided that "since we share snacks, share our thoughts on books, and share in the reading load, we are surely the Communist Book Club."

This is now going to be the thing every week that helps me keep my sanity. Reading Poe, with all the lights off while it storms outside, eating snacks, and laughing at things that only super dorky people will find funny.

And that is how I accidentally started a communist book club.

Year 2: Brazil

I have finished my first year here, and I just dropped off my paperwork to continue teaching after the end of this school year. To say I am happy would be an understatement. I do get asked often, though, why I like Brazil. The answer is a bit on the complicated side. I am enjoying my South American adventure both because of how much I enjoy being at this school, this city, with these kids. Unfortunately, another aspect that I like is how much it is not the US. 

 

Here, I have the work load that makes reading 65 books in a year realistic and feasible. I have always preferred a stack of books, coffee, and a comfortable couch on a Friday night over anything else. Living here, and teaching only 65 students, means that I can have those nights. I can, now, get excited about something as nerdy as Book Week at school because it means that the 15 books I read won't simply sit on my shelf in silent judgement. 

Another thing that has, to a larger degree that I would admit aloud, haunted me for a few years is my inability to put down roots. I suspect I have avoided it out of the hope that the next school would be the "right one". I didn't want to make an effort to settle down anywhere because I needed, wanted, and expected to eventually find my fit. Sure, a lot can change with the metaphorical changing of the guards (admin) from year to year, but, for now, I feel that São Paulo is a strong fit. Part of coming to that conclusion was to put down baby, threadbare roots. I decided to do that in the form of a new housemate. He throws my pony tail holders into the toilet when I am not looking, he pushes shit off tables, he leaves weird stuff in my shoes, but he is the best roommate I could ask for. Coming home to an empty apartment is a hard thing when you live away from everyone you have ever known. Coming home to this little friend, who waits at the door for me to unlock it and pet him (and get snacks) is the best choice I could have made.      Hades, the destroyer of Souls and the protector of Soles: 

One thing I should do more is to travel around the country. To be fair to myself, though, I don't really even do that when I am stateside. I make myself take a long weekend somewhere every few months, and one of these trips was to Curitiba. It was absolutely amazing. The first thing we did was roll on down to the botanical gardens/The Wizard of Oz. It was absolutely gorgeous! Sadly, my phone died shortly after taking sweet distance shots, so you will have to just take my word for it. We stayed there for 2 days, and then we headed to Ilha Do Mel (Honey Island), and it was breathtaking. It took a bumpy 2 hour ferry ride. Totally worth it.

 

Long story short: I am happy here, and I am finally in a good place. I think that is a lot of why I haven't posted as much. Things are (mostly) calm, and it is a fantastic feeling. 

I promise I am still alive

It has certainly been an adventure these last few months. A lot of it isn't hilarious the same way as some of my other places, so I think that is why I haven't run to my blog to update. I also, if I am being honest, just forget about it a lot. I think because I have swapped to documenting my life through instagram, this site is always lost. However, since the purpose of this is to show my family my life (and my students as well), I need to make a better effort.

A friend of mine asked me a while ago if I was ever going to just stay. He meant would I finally get to a stopping point and not skip cities and schools so much. I told him that I didn't just want to love my city (Quito) or love my school (Turkey), but that I wanted to love both. A rad city only goes so far, and a cool school cannot take away the feeling of sadness when you can't make local friends. Yes, it is a little early to make a judgement call, but, for now, this is the happy medium I wanted. This city is unbelievable. I haven't even really explored the country compared to literally everyone I know. And my school? I absolutely adore it. No school is perfect, but for this moment in time, this is the one I have been looking for. Sure, it can change literally overnight. For now, though, it has the happy balance of running a tight ship and having rad people. I absolutely adore my department, I work with amazing people, my kids are too cute for words, and I feel supported. For the first time in a while, I don't feel like admin just sees me as a warm body occupying a classroom.

(Picture 1) Because of all of this, I am finally making baby steps towards a less nomadic life. I have joined the rec league of the Ladies of Helltown. I am only at the beginner level, but I want to eventually make the team. This time around, it feels way more "doable" than when I was with the Atlanta Roller Derby. I am also making more of an effort this time to do 'off skates' work outs. I have hired a personal trainer, and I am working harder to be better at this sport. Something more semi-permanent is I am going to be getting a kitten soon. I have missed having a cat friend in the house, and really hesitated to get one in Ecuador. Here, though, I think I might be a while. I am going to go look at all the kittens my co-worker fosters next week to see which is the weirdest kitten and take them home.

(Picture 2) Mass Transit: if I were ever to compose a sonnet because my heart couldn't contain the love it felt-- it would be about mass transit. If you are reading this, you know I am a garbage driver. If you didn't know that, and have been in the car with me, I apologize. I also have absolutely no internal sense of direction. The unfortunate combination means I also have an undying love for mass transit. Sao Paulo has it in SPADES. You can take a bus, a bike, a taxi, or rent a bike on every corner. I LOVE it! I also appreciate Google for how they integrate Maps now. You can put in a destination, type (metro or bus), and it walks you through the process. It tells you which bus to hop on, tracks all of the stops you pass, and notifies you when to hop off. I could have cried the first time I actually used it. I am still nervous about getting hella lost in this city, so I am still adjusting to the process. It is easy enough to use though.

(Picture 3) CARNIVAL! It has been happening for a week, but I haven't gotten out in it much. My friend and I went up to the big main section of town, and we saw a lot of people in costumes. I also went to one Bloco. They are basically block dance parties with a theme. They pop up all over the cities, and they are absolutely packed. I know I should go see more of them, but that is too many damn people. I might go people watch at the top of a SESC or something, but I just don't have any real strong desire to get out in the middle of those things. My friends want me to come out with them tonight.. but meh. I like the music, and I think the spirit of Carnival is contagious, but I also have never really enjoyed packed crowds. We'll see how that goes.

(Picture 4) Every year, the school has a week long option for students to go on a different educational trip by grade level. 7th through 11th goes all over Brazil to do something eco-educational. I went with the 9th graders, and we went to Extrema. We explored the recycling plants, talked about water tables for the big rivers in the valley, and hiked a lot. It kicked my butt, but it was so neat to see. Each trip has a different focus, and they mostly all go to them. I suspect it is a large part of why these kids, though extraordinarily well off, are fairly down to earth. The first day was rough because we hiked 3 hours down a hill. I didn't die, but I certainly contemplated throwing myself off the mountain about halfway down.

(Picture 5) Coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee. The end.

Around town

1. Beach times! I went to Beritoga with some co-workers for our 3-day weekend. It was gorgeous, sunny, and calm. Despite it being a major Holiday, we were all super surprised to see how few people (in comparison to regular beach trips in Brazil) there were. We played cards, lounged around on the sand, and generally were just beach bums. 
2. I. Saw. A. Picasso. FROM 1 FOOT AWAY! I joined a friend to go to MASP on a whim. When we got up to the second floor, it just opens up. As we were walking around, I started seeing familiar pieces. I thought, "Hmm, this is weird. No way this is a Rodan, or this is a Manet." The answer was a resounding yes. I actually got emotional the further we went through the exhibit. I mean, when would I ever be that close to a Picasso ever again? (Answer, never.) It was glorious, emotional, magical, and everything all at once. 
3. Just a super rad subway station. 
4. Koreafest! I ate all of the food my body could handle. It was everything I could hope for. This took place in Liberdade (The Asian side of town.) I made a list of all of the excelente food places to go back to. Yasssss

Brazil! I have arrived!

São Paulo is straight up amazing. I absolutely love it here, but it is certainly overwhelming at times. When people call it the "New York of South América", the name is pretty spot on. I know I should have updated this with the whole journey of how I got here and such, but we pretty much hit the ground running. 

 

A little about my school: they are great and everyone is hella welcoming. I thought maybe it was just going to be like that when they were trying to talk me into coming to their school, but it turns out they are just like that as people. Every single person on staff has been super excited to have me here, and they are all just so damn nice, too. The campus is also HUGE. It feels like it is in the middle of Jurrassic park with all of the trees and just the way it is laid out. 

A little about the city: it is so huge that the shortest walk to transfer subways is 20 minutes. For scale, it took 3 minutes in South Korea. I am honestly so damn excited about the notion of my 2 favorite things here: complete walkability and also MASS TRANSIT. omg. I can just get on a bus and go. I can also just get on a subway and go. It is completely magical. I also live in na adorable neighborhood where I can walk to a whole bunch of diferente places for food, drinks, meet up with coworkers, the Works. It is awesome! 

Pictures: 

1. Most of the food I have had so far is familiar to me. One dish in particular is basically red beans and rice, but instead of red beans.. they´re black. It is cooked very much the same and tastes eerily similar. It is the local tradition to have it at home with your Family, or out with your Family, on Saturdays. Most places that sell it only ever sell it on Saturdays because of that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feijoada
2. The very first thing I did when I discovered my balcony had hooks was to go to the Market and buy a hammock. I have not been disappointed. I like to make coffee and curl up with a book in it. My South American life is off to a grand start. 
3. This is the massive 2-story Market. It has every thing you could ever want and a bunch of stuff you don´t. It is bustling at all times of the day, so I am never going to be able to get decente pictures. Oh well. 
4. This city is SO DAMN PRETTY. Even in the middle of the city, in the most populated área, this is their park. (Well, they have many parks, but this is one of the big ones.) I just love the juxtoposition of lush jungle and main streets and businesses. It is rad as hell. 

More pictures and adventures to come! 

Visitors!

My second family has been here all week. Thank goodness, too, because I have really needed people around these last few weeks. They are here before my year is out, so they have to do most of the traveling by theirselves. However, we did spend a few days doing cultural things. On Sunday, we went to the hot springs. I have posted it before, but my pictures never do the place justice. We also rented a van this time instead of trying to planes, trains, and automobile it to get down there. Worth every single freaking penny honestly. The following day, we took a day trip to Otavalo. I really just wanted to go to grab a tapestry and get a camera strap for my dad. I got both! We also stopped on a few places on the ride up there that just blow away anything I have seen so far in this country. I am honestly going to miss it, but I think staying in South America will be good. It means I will be missing Ecuador, but I will still have a lot of what I loved about being here but in my new place. I think Brazil is going to be everything I love about Ecuador times ten. I am hella excited for the move. 

(Note, the last picture is the loom the artist uses to make the tapestry I bought. The owner says it was his grandfathers, and that it is easily a hundred years old.)

 

Beaaaacccch

One thing I have had a hard time with here is how nothing is really set in stone like it should be. For example, the national holiday calendar is apparently negotiable. This past Monday was originally on the national calendar for being a regular work day, but then 3 weeks ago, there were rumors it would be moved to the 1st. Sure. We all go back and forth with the school trying to get information that, to be honest, they never have. They don't know. We don't know. Limbo. All of us are trying to plan an out of town trip, but we have no idea if we have a 3 day weekend or not. Finally, we hear confirmation at 4:00 on Thursday that the holiday has been changed to Monday and Tuesday off. Thank the heavens. My friends and I had already planned a weekend trip that had to be changed once already, so changing it again was a hassle.

Background: We were originally going to go to Mompiche, which is up the coast of Ecuador. It is breathtaking and butts up against the Amazon. However, a week and a half before we go, this happens: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/13/world/americas/ecuador-journalists-killed.html . The embassy, the school, and our director send out a flurry of messages asking all of us that were traveling to the beach to reconsider where we travel. Thankfully we were able to change all of our plans, but I think that is the first time I have cancelled something on account of it being dangerous. (I know you are thinking there have been other moments I should have, but I like to keep my family on their toes.)

I am glad we changed because the sleepy town we went to was gorgeous. It was also nice to just sit on the beach, play games, drink fruity drinks, and eat a bunch of seafood. Since IB exams have started, the break was much needed. It was also a bit of a farewell party for all of my group of friends. Of the 7 of us, I am the only one staying abroad. Every one else is moving back to work on their second MA or the PHD program. It kind of makes me feel like a bum because I have not moved towards my own MA soon enough. I am 100% going to do it when I move to Brazil though because I will make better money than here.

And now: pictures!

Sao Paulo

I will be swapping South American countries in a few months, and I am SO EXCITED. I will be teaching Sophomore Pre-IB, and Junior and Senior IB Language. The curriculum is a little different than I teach now, but I really think it will be a good change. My principals also brought a copy of each of the books I will be teaching next year, so I have that going as well. Hopefully, I will be more active there than I am here. Mostly I am a homebody on the weekends. The highlight of any given weekend is downloading new books. I know it is lame, but that is just how it goes. 

 

I´ll update closer to IB exams (when I have more free time), and post some recent pictures. 

Galapagos

I have GOT to be better about updating this. I did for a while, but then school stuff hit. Teaching seniors is more than a full time job for sure.

 

Anyway, on to my glorious trip! First, I decided that if I was not going to take a traditional boat tour then I would stay in a beach view room. Honestly, for this view, it was only 10 dollars more a night than a room without the view. How many times can you say you had an ocean front room in the Galapagos? On top of it, it was in the middle of the island. I was about a 10-15 minute walk from any and every thing I could possibly want to get to. Even better was the fact that the ferry was about an 8 minute walk from me.

A lot of my trip was spent exploring Puerto Ayora, but on a few occasions I went out to the other islands. These adorable seals are from when I went out to Isabella Island. Something that took a bit of getting used to is how close you end up getting to seals and how often you see them. I could not go more than 20 minutes without coming across one or more. These seals were pretty calm, but, as you can see, they were blocking the path. I watched one couple try and cross them. The boyfriend made it with no problems, but his girlfriend was not so lucky. He tried to get her to walk up on the railing so that she didn't bother them. She decided, for whatever reason, she was going to slow walk... between them. One of the seals (far right in the picture) turned around and bit the hell out of her. I felt terrible because I immediately died out laughing. After it bit her, it moved over enough that the rest of us could pass by far enough away to not bother them.

The last afternoon I had there I decided to go swim in the lava tunnels. To get there, you had to take a water taxi across the lagoon, and then walk about 2 miles through the island. While you are walking, you pass some pretty unreal fauna. It looks like the setting for a Star Trek episode. About 20 minutes from the tunnels, I passed these bright pink salt flats. My phone did not do it justice in the slightest. They are almost pink flamingo pink. They are also still used on the regular by island inhabitants. From what I read, it has been used by the original islanders for hundreds of years to preserve their dishes. I actually think I saw a few places in town selling bags of it.

The only tour I ended up taking was to Isla Floreana. I chose this island for 2 reasons-- 1 is that it was both a hide out for pirates and a hot bed for weird ass island drama (https://gizmodo.com/the-gruesome-tale-of-the-galapagos-islands-nietzsche-fu-1743091190) and 2 because I, incorrectly, assumed this was the goat murder island mentioned on RadioLab (http://www.radiolab.org/story/galapagos/ ). I took a full day tour, and it was absolutely amazing. We did a fair amount of stuff considering it was only a day tour. As soon as we got there, we dropped off everything to go on a walking tour through the island. We got to see where pirates hid out and fought over the only water source. (The picture below is the entrance to their hide out. Personally, I do not find that to be terribly hidden.) We also walked into one of the pens for the big Floreana turtles. Each of the islands have turtles specific to that island. They have a pretty active re-homing turtle program that happens in the Darwin Center on Puerto Ayora. After the turtles reach a few years old, they re-home them to their genetically matching island. I think that is wildly fascinating, and I had no idea until I wander around the Darwin Center for 3 hours. After our tour, we walked out to the coast and went snorkeling. I have to be honest.. I almost drowned because I freaked out. We got in the water, and it was like a Disney movie. There were animals literally swimming with us. My freakout occurred when I swam almost into a 200 pound sea turtle. He was less than a foot from me. I have never seen anything to magical. We also saw tons of fish, manta rays, and the other things that look like manta rays but aren't. (I know, specific details there.) Afterwards, we headed back to our boat and went back to the mainland.

This is the lava tunnel I swam in. If you went all the way to the back, you could climb over a wall and drop into a pool with fish. Since most people never climb over, most of the fish are fine with you swimming alongside them. It was one of the neatest things I have ever seen. The water, though you cannot tell, is also crystal clear. You can see straight down to the bottom. I decided to try and climb the wall to test the "fish don't mind you around them" theory. Two things happened: I fell down on lava rock and smashed my foot and shin. I also swam with fish that did not mind that I was there. It was worth the bloody foot and shin for sure.

This was my favorite thing of the trip. It was so stinking cute! A guy was out with his dog on one of the piers, and the dog was swimming around. After about 5 minutes, a seal showed up. It was obvious the seal wanted to swim with the dog. The dog, however, started freaking out. The seal started following the dog, but gave up when it started barking. So then he climbed up on the stairs (only way out of the water) and trapped the dog out in the water. Poor little guy just wanted to play. I thought it was fasinating to watch the seal interact with the dog. I told a friend of mine this story and he said, "How cute. Water dog meets land dog" and I think that is a pretty sweet way to look at it.

All in all, I absolutely loved this trip. Never in a million years did I think I would be able to see this. I had always assumed it was one of those, "I wish I could do ________________" and it wouldn't ever actually happen. My trip to the Amazon was the same. I have things on my bucket list that, 5 years ago, I never thought would ever be a reality. This trip will stand out in my mind as being as important to me as when I got to see Troy.

 

Totally worth it.

Another long awaited update

 

Dang, I have not updated in a good long while. Mostly it is because I have not done a whole lot that would be classified as exciting. We have had a few long weekends lately, but since I am saving up for my awesome Galapagos trip, I have stayed home. Upside is that I have been burning through books. It is so nice to have the spare time to actually read anything I want.

Since I use this blog largely to track my surroundings, I'll post a few recent (and one older) picture.

This one is one of the big murals by a local artist called Apitatán. His work is all over, and he frequently uses art to comment on Ecudor and its various social issues. Of the about 10 prolific artists, he is absolutely my favorite.

 

I went and got a massage last weekend, and my friend suggested I check out the little artisanal bakery across the street. Great call! The coffee was, as always, delicious. They also had a huge collection of local goods (chocolate, bread, marmalade, desserts, art, and Andean fabrics.) I bought a gorgeous bag for myself, and I snagged 3 lovely table runners for family.

The picture below my glorious breakfast is a beautiful wall hanging that I bought in Otavalo a while back. It is hand stitched and has something to do with marriage. It was just so cool looking that I had to have it. Sure, I got some weird looks probably because it is a marriage quilt, but it was worth every penny.

Beneath that is the view in Centro Historico. The whole downtown area is composed of basiscally churches and hills. We grabbed a few drinks at a hostel near the top, and we walked all the way to the bottom to grab some pizza. This shot is a good picture to show just how many stairs exist in your every day life here.

Upcoming

This past weekend, we had a three day weekend. Pretty much all but 3 of us went out of town. I decided to check out about 10 books, do laundry, and lounge around. I thought afterwards that I would be just insanely jealous of everyone else´s vacation come Monday. That didn´t happen though. Yea, a long trip to Peru, or around Ecuador would have been awesome.. but I have a pretty awesome trip coming up soon to make up for it. 

 

In 11 weeks, I am going to the Galapagos! I am not doing the boat version like a lot of people, and I think that is going to be a way better choice for me. I am staying in a fancy hotel that will be overlooking the bay, and I will be a water taxi away from a ton of things. For my trip, I have 2 goals-- swim with penguins and see sharks. For the latter, I am going to go snorkeling between the cliffs of Kicker Rock. From there, you can see all types of sharks, fish, and corals. I cannot even begin to describe how stoked I am for it. I am also going to take a day trip to one of the islands to see the penguins, huge turtles, and land lizards. It is going to be glorious. 

 

The picture I have included is what Kicker Rock looks like. (Only 11 more weeks!) 

Otavalo-- take 2

This past weekend was needed in a big way. It was also the second time around that a huge group of us went up to Otavalo. Last year, I decided to just slum it up in the big dorms with the shared bathroom. That was pretty much the worst. The showers had no hot water (and since this place is in the mountains, it is hella cold). It was also just in a big ass room. For the second time around, I decided to splurge and get my own room. That was pretty amazing because I had my own fire place, it was cozy, and my view looked out to the mountains. It was very much worth every penny. I did not do much different this year though. I shopped, had delicious food, and played games with coworkers. It was a good trip all around. 

Pictures-- the view from my room, the city of Otavalo, and the hostel owner´s horse. 

Break is over

My break is now over in a multitude of ways. 1) I have a new laptop that has a working keyboard. That is going to make actually updating easier. 2) My summer break is over, and my kids come back on Monday. 

A lot has happened since my last entry. 

First-- Daron came to visit me! It was so nice having her here, and we pretty much just shopped and relaxed. She got here right after the school year ended, so I really needed the break. Since she came to see me, and not some normal person, we had some adventures for sure. I am sure her parents would not want to read this next part though. 

On the second day she was in town, I decided to take her to the hot springs. Papallacta is easily the most magical place I have been to in Ecuador so far. I have only gone with a group of people every time I have been though. For our solo trip, I asked a friend of mine the best way to get there. She told me I would take a bus down to a little city (about 45 minutes), and then we would catch a taxi and go to the springs. Sounds easy enough, right? LOLOLOL. The reality was that the bus ride was about an hour and 15 minutes. Over the course of this bus ride, someone tried to sell us chickens and a guy strolled in with a mic. He then serenaded the whole bus for about a half hour. We finally make it to the "little town", which is actually just a 4 lane highway we got dropped off at. I just pray that we get a taxi because, otherwise, Daron will probably never visit me again abroad. Thankfully, we do in fact get a taxi. This part was supposed to be really easy. Spoiler- it wasn´t. The ride was about 35 minutes longer than I thought it would be. Once we get there, the driver then tells us it will be 50 bucks. (My friend had told me the cost would be an industry standard of 25.) Our driver tells us, "Yes, it is 25. 25 a person." Yes, that is as stupid as it sounds. I lean over and tell Daron, while praying our driver doesn´t speak English, "I am going to hand him 30 bucks and you need to jump out ASAP in case he starts a fight." -- Our relaxing day is off to a great start.-- He takes the money, and says nothing when it is half the amount he was asking. We get out and stroll into the super fancy spa. We are there for about 3 hours, and it was absolutely gorgeous, amazing, and relaxing. 

Then-- it is time to go home. That is where the real adventure awaits, apparently. I request a taxi at the desk, and Daron and I wait outside. About 5 minutes later, a truck pulls up. Fun fact: a taxi can be a regular taxi, or a truck that looks like it is 50 years old and is probably held together with duct-tape. The man in the duct-tape truck is our "taxi." Daron, understandably, is like "no, this is a bad idea." However, we are about an hour from the nearest city and there is very little guarantee that we will get another taxi. We decide to take the Macguyver truck. We hop in and start driving off down the road. I think maybe 5 minutes in, our driver pulls over and stops. He either says, "my spouse" or something else, and walks inside. He comes back out with a spare tire. Oh yes. That is about as horrifying as you can imagine. We take off back down the road to town. The ride itself isn't too bad because our driver is about 85 years old but drives about 45. His driving is not our concern though-- the sound his truck is making is the concern. It 100% sounded like either the back end of the truck would fall off or the wheel. Considering that we picked up a spare wheel, that is the most likely scenario. Daron and I are trying not to just lose our minds, but it is pretty horrifying. After about an hour, though, we FINALLY make it to our bus. We hop on and head back. 

Why hang out with anyone else when you can have a questionable adventure with me, right? 

After Daron and I head back to Atlanta, I then have about a dozen more mini-adventures courtesy of the greyhound bus system. I dont have enough hours in the day to even type out all of those. If you want a good idea of what it was like, just picture 20 of the weirdest people you know, trap them in a small space with spotty wi-fi, and make sure at least 6 of them have had the worst day of their lives. Add in 8 hours, and you will have my journey across the south. 

Now that school is back, and I have a working laptop, I promise to start posting a little bit more often. 

Mindo and things

This last weekend was our End of the Year Teacher gathering. We went to Mindo, and I was so freaking excited about it. I have been dying to go since I moved here, and I just haven´t been able to get my act together enough to go.

The drive is only about 2 hours, and we all bused together. I think roughly 35 people ended up going in total. We got there around 7ish, and then had trivia. One of my friends was the host, and I think she is going to take over the local trivia we all go to once a month. My team, the self-proclaimed "Not Any Ringers" actually placed second. Our prize; chocolate and Captain America toys. Our lone Canadian co-worker was forced to wear the Captain America mask, and was awarded the USA Map puzzle. His reply, "Guess I need more American things in my life, eh". We, being the bastards that we are, thought it was hilarious. 

The next day, I went on a chocolate tour with some friends. It was a surprisingly low-budget process. They also grow everything they put in the chocolate there, and I think that is just rad as hell. Since I do not have enough in my life, I bought a pound of coffee and a bunch of chocolate bars. I also got some kind of cocoa bbq sauce. (I just made a pulled chicken bbq sandwich last night, and it was divine.) We then went and got lunch at a place next door. Mindo itself is in a cloud forest, so the view from the restaurant was just breathtaking. We ate way too much and then ambled back to our hostel. Thank heavens we didn´t have anything to drink because the route home is over this rather questionably safe bridge. Granted, it is maybe 5 feet off the ground. However, I had no desire to fall into the stream because I would 1100% have cracked my head open. After we got back, we played a rousing game of "play until someone gets hit in the face" Volleyball, in the rain, and it was glorious. I can say, for a first time, that I was not the one that got hit in the face. Huzzah! 

Then, the evening gathering began. We had an "awards ceremony", but it was most of a roast for a lot of my coworkers. Each of us got an award, and a little speech before it. Apparently, my coworkers think I am hilarious, smart, and self deprecating. Lies! All of it. I won the "Smash Galifianakis" award for both my ability to skate upright and for having the most self-directed jokes. I am cool like that. 

We all headed to bed at varying times depending on our levels of "old lady." My level is 10pm, so I crashed earlier than most. We then got up, scrambled to grab breakfast, and then hopped back on the bus. All in all, I think it was a much needed break from the city. 

Pictures: 

1. The drying rack for the cocoa. They use all parts of the seed (pod, outer pulp, seed, bean) 

2. Danger Will Robinson 

Alive

It dawned on me that I have not done a whole lot in the way of updating. Mostly that is because I have not had frequent adventures. Granted, simply living here is an adventure in and of itself. The school year is more or less winding down, so I have kept pretty close to home base. However, since school is winding down, a lot of "End of the year!" gatherings are happening. One is going to be in Mindo, and I am SO FREAKING EXCITED. Mindo has been on my list for a while now. It has birds, waterfalls, chocolate shops, etc. A huge group of us are going in about 2 weeks.  It is going to be awesome. 

 

Since I am going to use this for years to come to show my students all of my adventures, I am going to include some pictures and little anecdotes. 

1. I walk to the market every Sunday to get all of my fruits and veggies for pennies on the dollar. It is about a 45 minute walk. Honestly, that is one thing I love the most about living here. Before the move, 45 minutes would have felt like such a long damn walk. Now though, it is just leisurely. It really helps that this country is breathtakingly gorgeous. My Sunday market walk is the highlight of my week both for the perpetual 70 degree temperature, but also for the scenery. There are about 6 blocks before I get to the market that I get to see ever-changing murals. This one is my favorite, and my phone does it no justice. I am going to try and go back and take a real picture of it before my move/before it gets covered up. 
2. This is me! (Duh) I am finally growing out my pixie. And, I must say, the stage between "long, flowing locks" and pixie is hella awkward. It is absolutely the worst on every level. There is nothing you can do with it, it might be a mullet, and it just looks generally goofy. I have spent this whole in between stage praying for longer hair. This time next year, though, it should be shoulder length. 
3. I don´t have a cool story about this. It is just an apartment near me, and I laugh every single time I walk by it. 
   
   
   

Baños

Aidan has been in town, and we have pretty much just been wandering around and buying stuff. 

 

One thing we did do was go out to Baños to see some waterfalls. We got rained on pretty much the whole time, and the entire bike ride was basically in traffic. That was a little nerve-wracking. All I could think was, "It would be my luck to get hit by a car with Aidan in town. That would be just swell." Thankfully, we did not get side-swiped by cars, and were able to see amazing views. I think I want to go back when it is not rainy season and try and get some better pictures with my real camera. And honestly, these pictures dont even do the views any justice. The trip was 100% worth the 3.5 hour ride to get there. I am also glad I got to see it with Aidan for the first time. Now when I go back, I have the memory to accompany


me. 

My job is the best

This week has just been kind of a crap one at work, and it has been a struggle. Today I was just in a cranky mood across the board. 

My favorite class told me they had sent me a "very super important email" and I needed to check it right then. However, my computer was not working, so I told them I would check it later. Today, after my totally crap morning, they reminded me again about the "super important emergency email" they sent. After class was over, I finally got my computer to work. I open up my super important email, and I see that it is completely empty except for a single picture. And this picture is why I love both my kids and my job.