The Sound of Settling

After living out of a suitcase for a week I finally settled into a place. While small, it's beautiful and very nice. The shower is spacious and the view from atop the building is nothing short of spectacular. If my internet connection were stronger I'd upload a video but for now the photo will have to suffice.

I started teaching Monday, and my classes are great. They're also very small. I have 3 classes and about 10 kids total. It's almost more like tutoring than teaching. Anyhow, 2 of the three courses are upper level English classes called Comparative Cultures. We'll be watching films in English, reading short stories and writing a lot. There are no text books so I'm basically doing what I want as long as they fulfill a few writing requirements. This week the film is Into The Wild. One of my students, a 15 year old boy, cried. The film is heartbreakingly sad and the experience was pretty intense. As they left the classroom I promised that none of the other films we watch will be so heavy. I think we're watching either Supersize Me or Remember The Titans next week.

My other class is a medium level kids class. My students are around the age of 12. They're funny and a bit wild, but they seem to be decent language-learners. I've told them that the class is a No-Spanish Zone, and we keep tallies on the board of who speaks Spanish the most. The idea is that at the end of the day the person who has the most tallies has to stand in front of the class and sing a song. Yesterday none of them said a word in Spanish. I, however, did twice, so I sang Oklahoma! at the top of my lungs. Needless to say they enjoyed this thoroughly.

The idea of watching Supersize Me caused me to notice that there are actually no McDonalds in Cuenca. There is Pizza Hut and KFC, but no McDonalds. It's kind of nice, actually. The second day we were here the school ordered Pizza Hut for our meeting. It tasted peculiar, but I haven't had PH in a long time so that might be normal.

Today I'm going to the market to buy lots of fruits and vegetables. I have a couple friends who have been already and hopefully can keep me from being scammed. I really don't know the going price for a mango or potato and I'm sure I look like a lost Gringo. Hopefully this evening my kitchen will be stocked with produce. Later I'm heading to the Supermaxi, a woefully depressing supermarket that feels like a marginally executed version of Safeway. But many necessities (namely, olive oil, pasta, nuts, and libations) are not as readily available elsewhere.

That's all I've got. Tomorrow night I'm having other teachers over for dinner. We'll go up on the terrace, eat Italian food and drink wine. It's going to be great. I'll let you know how it goes...