First week in Tocachi

I´m in Quito for the day, so I figured it´s time to enlighten you all with my first week in Tocachi! It´s probably been one of the most entertaining/interesting weeks of my life. This is going to be a long post, so feel free to skim if you´re not all that interested in life in rural Ecuador!

I arrived on Tuesday morning about 9:00 and went straight to meet with the director of the school, a petite 50-something lady named Sonja with purple eyeshadow and deep red (dyed) hair. We decided that I will be teaching English to 5-7th grades, and working with the younger kids on "trabajos manuales", aka arts and crafts, and songs. I´ll be at the school everyday from 8-1...on the days there´s class, that is. There were no classes Wednesday-Friday, due to a teacher´s meeting. I get the feeling that class is randomly called off for no solid reason; however, it´s a reality that for many families the education of their kids is not a priority.

Tuesday night the whole fam (4 kids with me and the parents) hopped into the Mitsubishi van (which reminds me of the van in Back to the Future, the one that comes into the mall parking lot to kill Doc; I don´t know if that´s completely random or if it´s same van.. random side note) and headed to Cayambe, about 1/2 hour away. We had to buy flowers and a soccer ball for Heidy, my 11 year-old host sister, who was the beauty queen representative of the school at the county-wide parade the next day. We also stopped at a couple different comedores to try the local fare... Cayambe is "famous" for biscochos, which to me sounds like a parasite but is actually delicious buttery-tasting shortbread. I also had the privilege of trying tripe, or intestines. A little chewy for my taste, but hey, you can´t win em all.

My new host family makes me nostalgic for childhood; just jumping in the car with the fam to head who knows where, kids coming and going at the house, etc. I feel like a little kid with these people, it´s great! On Wednesday we packed into the bus that comes through town every couple of hours to go to Tabacundo for the parade. When we got there the parade had already started, so we ran to meet the group from the school in Tocachi, which consisted of the teachers and a random conglomeration of boys. Heidy was rushed to the front of the group...and so was I. It was super awkward, and highly entertaining. Everyone was in matching sweatsuits (and Ecuadorian), and there I was... the gringa walking next to the beauty queen in jeans and carrying my purse. I think the parade watchers wondered if I was lost. Nonetheless, the teachers seemed to think I should be in front with Heidy. I didnt´t really know what the occasion was, but all of the local schools marched in the parade until we reached the soccer field where the local officials inaugurated the new sport season.


To regress, Tuesday night my host dad Franklin (who works in the Foundation where I had classes) told me about a project they would like my help with. CIMAS (the foundation) has development projects in the county of Tocachi, and they would like me to work with a group of community members to teach leadership and capacitation in order to get the community involved in the projects and take charge of Tocachi´s future. Big job. Franklin and I went to the town meeting on Tuesday night to present the idea. We walked in to find about 25 men in their 20´s and 30´s which immediately intimidated me a little because of the presence of machismo. Franklin presented the idea, and pretty much all I recieved were stares. I shouldn´t generalize or judge, but I felt like the men were thinking, "This foreign girls is going to teach us leadership skills? Pfshhh". All they wanted to know was if I was single or married. So, it´s going to be a challenge. Franklin and I are going back on Tuesday to gauge interest and figure out more details. I don´t really feel that I have the knowledge to teach motivation and leadership to this community, and I don´t think they (the men at the meeting) give me much credit. So, I´m hoping it will be a (positive) learning experience for both sides.

To add to my other tasks, I´m giving English classes in the house every afternoon. Basically I´m teaching my host sibs, but there are a couple other neighborhood kids involved and it could definitely grow. I was indecisive about teaching English before I started my internship, because I wasn´t really sure why rural kids need to know it. It seemed a little colonialist to me. However, the kids from Tocachi that go to high school are incredibly behind because of the lack of English ed. in the school, so it really is a need.

In general, life moves at a much slower pace in Tocachi and I really like it. The views are incredible; I look out my window and see cows walking down the street, people carting wheelbarrows and the occasional tractor. The men of Tocachi all pretty much work in the flower industry (Ecuador is a huge flower exporter), so it´s an agricultural community. The other day I played soccer with my host brother and his friends, and there are always kids playing at the school. I eat rice and eggs for breakfast, and rice and chicken for lunch and supper. Ah, we also only eat with spoons which is interesting.

This coming week will be interesting because I will be at the school every day (given that there are classes), and will start to integrate more into my activities! There´s a lot of down time, so I´ve been reading and generally pondering my existence.... Hopefully more to come next weekend if I make it into the city!!

Hope all is well in the states, I just talked to Nikki and she said the snow has melted and that it´s a beautiful day!!

Chelsea (not as in the soccer team from England because that reference doesn´t work in Tocachi, my name has been given many creative attempts, few of which are successful. I suggested Maria, as in my middle name... I´ll keep you posted!)