Interview

Five days after getting back from the States, I received an e-mail from a school I am applying to teach at in NYC next year. They asked if I could come to do an interview and teach a class. They helped pay part of the airfare so I came up on Saturday. I stopped off in Orlando and saw my parents for a couple days, and then came up to NY. When I got off the plane, the temperature was 9 degrees. I was not the most prepared for the cold. I stayed with my friend Lori from high school at her apartment in the city. The interview was this morning. I borrowed a suit from Lori (which was a skirt) and as I was on the subway it started to snow. I got off and I walked through the snow in high heels to get to the school arriving very early.

It was not the best interview I ever had. The class that I taught was a tough class and I kept having to stop because of some discipline issue. I did every classroom management technique I knew and they continued chatting/not paying attention (this is with the principal in the room). The interview itself was very informal. I will hear back next week if I am invited to the final round. I am not holding my breath. (Actually, just found out that I got invited to the final round of interviewing. I will be returning to NY in March to teach for a full day!)

So it has been a whirlwind last couple days in the United States. I fly back tomorrow and I’m excited to get back into my routine at the orphanage. I feel like I haven’t even been there for the month of January. I am now working as the Child Sponsorship coordinator which involves writing up the children’s reports for their sponsors. This is time consuming so I have a lot to catch up on. It is nice feeling connected to the sponsors and being able to write updates on all the kids. I am enjoying this new role.

I got to see some friends in NY! Stopover at Orlando Airport

Mis padres

Cuenca

Picture I took from the plane of a volcano and the sunset

A month or so ago, my roommate Sharon and I found cheap flights to a city in southern Ecuador. Since her sister was coming to visit and my friend Sarah is visiting, we decided to go on a mini trip to Cuenca. It is a beautiful colonial city, and it is the third largest city in Ecuador. All the buildings are different colors and there are cobblestone streets. It’s considered the gem of Ecuador. This is also where the Panama hat originated from. The Panama hat was misnamed when the Panama Canal was being built. People from all over Central and South America were contracted to work on the canal. Ecuadorians (specifically from Cuenca) made and distributed hats to protect themselves from the intense sun. The name Panama hat caught on as these types of hats were spotted all over Panama.

We went to a factory that makes the hats and got a nice personal tour from one of the workers. It is a very interesting process and it takes about 15 days to make one of the basic hats. These hats are then sold for between $13 and $15. There are more elaborate hats that take months to make and they are sold for about $1500. Besides the hat factory, we went to an orchid garden where we were showed many different species of orchids. We also went to a nearby town for the day to some hot springs. For $6 we swam, went in the steam run, and soaked up the sun. It was a most relaxing day. The ice cream in Cuenca is great and we went to the same ice cream shop each day that we were there. We saw beautiful churches, a museum, walked by the river, and enjoyed exploring this beautiful city.

Horse Therapy

Each Tuesday our special needs kids go to horse therapy. I was able to join them this past Tuesday. The farm is set in a beautiful area about 30 minutes from the orphanage. Some of these kids have been going to horse therapy for years. It is really soothing for them; they spend about 30 minutes on the horse walking in a big circle inside a big barn. I went with Rosa, one of the special needs girls that I work with daily. It was her first day going, she was nervous about being on the horse so she held onto my shoulder the entire time that she was on the horse. I got a free 30 minute shoulder massage as she bounced around. I was very impressed by this program and the volunteers that work there. I met some nice people from Germany who are currently volunteering there. A wonderful day at the horse farm!