Week in the Life 2018 | Friday (Words + Photos)

Friday for the win. Who doesn't like a Friday?

Morning window view. This is really the only way to get the weather in Quito - look outside. The weather can change in an instant and the weather report isn't always so reliable, since the weather can be very different depending on where you are in the city. It's those microclimates!

Cloudy and overcast and looks like it will be cold and dreary today. I'd better go upstairs and grab a scarf.

Getting the car packed up for drop off. Nico's bag = green. Agustín's bag = white (we wondered if white would be a good idea, but it has stayed clean and is easy to wash and the white made him very very happy when he bought it). Kari's bag = blue (full of JUNK! Man, I need to travel more lightly - I rarely use anything in there but lug it to and from work every single blessed day). The other two bags are our lunch boxes - green Ikea for breakfast items and the blue CEC-EPN one for lunch. Today lunch will be a favorite of Andrés's (pot roast) but not of mine.

As we're leaving the sun came out! Oh, hello you beautiful star! I've missed you so much.

First one out of the house. This is usual. Nico often comes running down the stairs last. Funny thing is, Agus's bed is usually made and Nico's usually isn't. I don't really know what Nico does with his time in the morning.

Drop off. This morning we pick up Bati as he has "pico y placa" today so needs a ride into work. The boys are pretty psyched to see him so early in the morning.

Gorgeous view of Pichincha covered with snow. I love when the sun shines on the mountain.
This picture really doesn't do it justice.

Bati and I both try to get more pictures of Pichincha while Andrés battles that awful morning traffic - always worse on Fridays.

At work and I am sooooo excited to still be seeing the sun. No windows in my own office but I can come to the teacher's lounge in the morning and the sun shines right in. Some days I come in here and just sit like an iguana trying to soak up those precious rays.

Andrés needed a partner to accompany him to the bank. In this sunshine, I'll go anywhere! It's only a four-block walk, but the traffic is annoying.

Quick selfie on our walk. I can't get a good shot because it's so sunny and I'm afraid someone will come grab my phone away from me if I'm not careful.

Back at my desk, working on next week's workshop and demo lesson. Also passing grades to UTA.

Lunch time this week has been upstairs in the computer lab. Love looking out and seeing that the sun is STILL shining. This has seriously been the highlight of my day. I feel like a new person on days like these.

Around 2 pm a teacher came in frantic (in the photo below with a backpack on his back). Someone came into his room while he walked out for a second to get his students, and they stole his backpack, with his laptop in it. The thief (in a white shirt and tie below, talking to the secretaries) literally walked into the secluded area, acting like a student, then switched backpacks - left an empty one in its place and took the teacher's. This makes me absolutely sick. Basically, there are people who stand around, sit around and walk around all day long, pretending to be our students, then stake the place out and take any opportunity to steal anything they can.

The secretaries stopped him to ask him what they could do to help him, but he said he'd already been helped and was waiting.

Yeah. Waiting to rob the teacher.

Here he is, leaving the building with the teacher's laptop.

 It's such a bummer, but also, we are constantly reminding the teachers NOT to leave their things unattended in the classrooms, even when their students are there. This kind of thing is happening too often. But, unfortunately, the teachers don't always listen. Just this morning Andrés had sent an email out with pictures of some rooms where teachers had left their books and bags and CD players out during the lunch break (11-12). It's no wonder we and our students get robbed.

Still, pretty sick that people in this country are so quick to steal and take advantage of others. It is something I feel like I can never reconcile - how people here can be so nice and polite and friendly and generous, yet also corrupt and thieving and ready to take advantage of anyone. I guess that's why culture is an enigma. It certainly cannot be explained easily.

Getting ready to go. Heard from the boys, who are at home alone after school. They want to play on their Kindles and phones. I actually texted them that it was OK, but apparently they didn't receive my text. When we got home they were desperate to play.

Some of the little clay creatures we made yesterday for Nico's mangrove diorama. The whole family got in on the action.

The hawk was back to eat his meal from yesterday.

This is the perfect day to go for a walk. It was 5 pm and that means that even if there is some sun, the wind will start picking up, and the wind is always cold. But I HAVE to go anyways. So I did.

So happy I made time for this. I really love this 3-km loop.

Final stretch - I can tell I am out of shape because the hills are absolutely killing my legs and knees. I feel like I might not make it. But I trucked on. There's no other way to build stamina than work through it. But it sure is painful in the meantime.

Got back and was happy to do dishes in the last sunlight of the day. 6 pm and it will be dark soon.

This rag from grandma is used often, but it has definitely seen better days.

Then the usual flurry of activity set in  - dinner prep, complaints from the boys about having to wake up early tomorrow (their school has an event), dinner clean up, and then a few minutes to rest on the couch. My phone died and this was my last picture of the night - the boys joining me to rest for a bit on the couch and tell me about how much they do NOT want to wake up early tomorrow morning.

The bedtime routine remains consistent - around 9 pm (no evening showers tonight since they'll be taking them in the morning before school) Nico and I read from Harry Potter and Agus listens to music. Then "peluche talk" and bedtime.

Me, always trying to get some reading in but usually waking up a few minutes later and realizing it is is useless.

Hope you had a happy Friday!

Week in the Life 2018 | Thursday (Photos + Words)

I can't believe it's already Thursday. This week has gone by so quickly, and we haven't even had that much going on.

Decided again to wear a nice fuzzy warm sweater this morning. It's been cold and at work they open the door so I sit and freeze all day. I'll be happy to be wearing this warm layer this morning.

The morning view. Ten minutes before this it's dark out and the street lights are on. Dawn is quick on the equator.

Happy news when I get to work - I won a free Kindle book in a giveaway! We'll see how it is - I don't join many giveaways so it's not like I sign up for everything I see. There must have been something I liked about this particular book. Still have a few books in my queue but looking forward to digging into this one. Should be a quick read.

Also ended up bringing this book - The Teacher Coach - to work. A teacher-student gave it to me last year in Guayaquil. I figure I should at least make an attempt to read it since I'll be going back to that university in a few weeks. (I was suppose to be there this week, but they canceled due to some internal conflicts.)

Decided to hunker down and just get started on my workshop. I got the activities chosen, the basic idea planned and drafted. Now I need to sit down and decide on the exact exercises, make copies, etc. that I will use. It used to take me hours to plan these things (and believe me, I loved every minute - planning classes is fun!), but now I can usually crank them out in an hour and then spend the rest of the time putting together the worksheet or the materials I'll be using. I enjoy the process, so I don't know why I've been procrastinating so much.

Finally got around to putting that stack of books away that I found while I was cleaning out my desk drawer.

Today was Workshop 2 day. One of our instructors (and an ex-TEFL student of mine) has been volunteering to put together and host these. It's nice to get new faces in the mix - Andrés also gave one this cycle. It's also nice to sit back and be the student/observer. And she does a great job. (Of course, so does Andrés, but that's a given.)

Biding my time before lunch. I usually eat with Andrés, but he usually isn't interested until after 2 pm. I'm usually famished by then. Unusually quiet downstairs, but it's test day so I suppose that's why.

Lunch time in the computer lab again. Today was leftovers from last night. We'll often do that - cook extra so we have lunch the next day. I abhor heating food up in the microwave at work, so Andrés usually gets stuck doing it.

It was getting dark and then BOOM! Huge thunderstorm and torrential rainpour. Tons of lightning and thunderclaps that sounded like they were right above our head.

Back to my office and then all heel breaks loose, so to speak.

This is the face I have to make when I hear about the crazy, dumb, utter nonsense that transpires almost daily from the office authorities. I mean, really? I feel like our department is being sabotaged. I don't really care much what they think or say (they have a lot of opinions, only negative apparently, of what we do here in the English and language department), but when they start questioning procedures or academic rationales it really gets my goat. They don't know anything about teaching EFL, but act like they are experts. Without even knowing the language. We have almost 8000 students. We bring in millions of dollars a year. We have grown and would continue to grow if we were allowed. And then they question our work, the quality of our work, the outcomes of our work? Ummm, no. We wouldn't have over 6000 PAYING students (the rest are university students who don't pay and must take English as a requirement), if we didn't ROCK. We have students who finish ALL of our levels and then go back to the Academic levels and START THEM OVER AGAIN because they enjoy our classes, our teachers, our methodologies, and they LEARN and want to practice their English. So please don't question our motives or our strategies or our procedures. And do NOT question the academic part.

I've said my piece but this place could be the death of someone who gives AF. They gave my coworker a heart attack last year for Pete's sake. And to what purpose? Just to bug and bother. TAUNT as Nico would say.

This is why Andrés is not so amused most days. lol All the BS can sure put you in a foul mood.

By the time we left work the sun was shining and Mother Nature looked innocent. The puddles were already starting to dry. And there was NO traffic. Wow!

Of course, we quickly "caught up" to the traffic and got stuck in lines of cars making three lanes into incoming traffic because of a stalled vehicle in the middle of the road.

We arrived around 4:30 to the grandparents' house to pick up the boys. Wondering what the homework situation will look like.

This is the face Andrés makes when he adjusts his tie. I told him I wanted a picture so he said he needed to adjust it. Then Nico opened the door and I didn't get my picture.

 Sitting around catching up a bit before we take off. They say there is no homework.

Bati came while we were talking. Gaby is in Bogotá this week so he's been hanging out with us and his parents much more than usual.

A sinkhole has opened up at the end of the street in our conjunto. They expect to start work on it soon, but the rain has probably deterred them.

A different view of our house from an angle we don't usually see. The kids are inside getting their bags and lunch snacks ready for tomorrow. We told them to come out to look at the sinkhole but it started to drizzle so they opted out.

Despite the rain I decided to chop off the geraniums in the window boxes that were dead (the majority of them). Our house looked like the Beetlejuice house with dead plants everywhere. We'll replant at some point, but for now the boxes will be empty.

Suddenly it is so dark. It feels more like 6:30 pm than 5 pm. I miss the sun.

5:15 pm // getting in a quick round of Candy Crush Soda while I sit on the couch and listen to the rain. It's really starting to come down. How is it that a half hour ago it was sunny?

Nico is obsessed with playing Minecraft. I have this sneaking suspicion that he isn't doing his homework well because all he wants to do is get in his Minecraft time before he has to go to bed. I enjoy his enthusiasm but of course always wonder if we shouldn't be encouraging other types of activities. But then I have to remind myself, that between the weather, the traffic and distances to get places, the lack of time, the fact it is pitch black by 6:40 pm every day, doing something might not be possible. Well, it will soon be summer and we'll be in MN and there we will have to find other ways to entertain ourselves that are not so digital related. (So I say...we'll see when the time comes. They don't like the bugs and bees, remember.)

 Andrés found a dead bird outside. We have a hawk in the area, and now this is the second time in a month (and about the fourth or fifth time in the last few years) we find a dead bird in our yard. This one seems to be missing its head. It's raining so clean up will be tomorrow. My father-in-law usually comes over to help Andrés clean these things up.

The weird thing is I put the picture of the dead bird on SnapChat and almost immediately my friend Jenny sent me a picture of a dead bird in her yard (hers wasn't missing any body parts). Strange.

The meat Andrés took out last night is STILL frozen (I am not joking when I say it's been cold). He quickly reassesses the dinner situation and decides on French toast, bacon and scrambled eggs. I am happy because the meat was going to become pot roast (not a fan). The pot roast will have to be for tomorrow.

Laundry on the couch. Always laundry on the couch. Nico is "too busy" with Minecraft to put it away. Tomorrow is Friday so I guess he can do it then. I'm a pushover, but at the moment the folded laundry on the couch is not the biggest mess in this house, so I let it go.

Bed time. What you don't see in this picture is that as I started to read, Nico wrapped his arm around me and buried his head in my "aleta". What a sweetie. Agustín is off on his own in his room under the covers (it's so cold) listening to music. I miss these days with him as well, but still have some left with my sweet Nico.

Chapter 12. They're finally at Hogwarts. We are meeting Professor Umbridge. About two weeks ago Nico and Agus "made me" watch the movie, so we know what will happen, but Nico doesn't care. Every night it's "One more chapter!" or "Nooooooo! Read more!" when I shut the book.

Because he wants to stay up? Maybe. But with that cute face staring at me as I read, I don't care. :)

Halfway through the project!

Week in the Life 2018 | Wednesday (Photos + Words)

I can't believe it's already Wednesday. This week has been going by very fast, although the days seem slow.

Another cloudy, cold morning. No rain.

I've been taking coffee with me in the car for much of this week. I like to hold the warm mug in my hands (since the heat isn't allowed on most days). Cold.

Last night we ran out of gas. Lately it is happening during the week, so we leave the tank on the stoop and give the money to the guard. When we get home - voila! a new tank is waiting. Of course, with this system we (Andrés and Agus) have to bring it in ourselves (it's heavy when full).

Our view from Andres´s parents´house. Snow on Pichincha this morning. The evenings have been cold.

Getting the bags in the car before they go in and have breakfast and get ready for school. They will leave with their grandmother around 7:15 for school.

Agus has been "scolded" for not saying goodbye properly in the mornings. So lately he likes to come up to the window and stick his head and hands in and wave directly in your face. Funny kid. (Love the Nico photobomb!)

Ernesto came over for a while this morning to talk about some of the changes that were made regarding the books. The contract was terminated a few weeks ago and he had just found out. Nice to talk to him as he was very supportive. We'll see what happens.

In the meantime, the sun comes out and it looks like we might finally get a sunny day.

Reading over some of my notes while Andrés is in a meeting with the tech people about online appointments for placement exams. We share an office, so I usually get to overhear the details.

Didn't get around to breakfast until almost 10 am when the office got a little quieter. What I've been having lately = cereal + Greek yogurt and a piece of fruit.

Quiet around here. Placement exams probably won't pick up until next week or the week after.

Listening to videos. I gave my office headphones to Nico for Galapagos and haven't gotten them back. These only work in one ear and are too low. 

 Signing class registers. And signing. And signing. And signing...

Morning treat from Andrés - orejitas.

He has something to say. I listen. Then I go back to my desk.

Lunchtime - up in the computer lab again, where it's relatively quiet. Looks like rain (but it's not raining, even though there is a lady with an umbrella. Hmmmm).

Dark clouds. Pichincha looks so ominous in this type of weather.

A little work after lunch. Or, rather, it probably wasn't work work. Although I did have to contact some prospective teachers to set up demo classes next week.

Leaving work. 3:45. It's started to rain. Again. Luckily it's a light rain and stops the further north we get, so traffic is manageable.

Yesterday our Roomba had some issues docking and charging and I spent sometime looking up possible causes. So many people said you had to take it apart and rewire it. Finally I found a video that said you just need to clean the sensors well, even if they don't look dirty. It worked! I also decided to take this time to clean out all the parts and change filters as recommended. It's like brand new.  What a relief.

I sat on the couch crocheting while Andrés got supper ready. He made this chicken enchilada casserole. Very tasty. (Agus, strangely enough, was not a fan. He says he doesn't like melted cheese + chicken or any type of casserole. He had to choke it down.)

During dinner the highlight was Nico teaching Agus the word "taunt". Apparently this is something you can do on Minecraft to lure other players.

I made a light snack with the leftover tortillas while we waited for dinner to be ready. Nico really likes guacamole. Agus not so much.

After dinner Andrés and I did clean up and some prep for tomorrow's breakfast/lunch/dinner (I feel like all we do at home is prep food lately). The kids took their evening showers and I sat on the couch to work on a crochet project while Andrés snored away.

45 degrees. At 9:15 I went upstairs to read with Nico. Agus proceeded to play with SnapChat filters with Daddy.

Kids were in bed around 10 and then I decided to read (finally). I'm reading The Alice Network. It's ok. I had started it a week or so ago and had a hard time getting back into the story and trying to remember what was going on. It's very unsatisfying to read on the Kindle, but I love being able to have access, through the library, to so many good books for free. Three weeks usually isn't enough for me to finish a book in anymore, however.

I fell asleep and woke up about ten times during my chapter, but got stubborn and decided I needed to finish it. The second I did it was lights off - probably around 11:15.

Hasta mañana!