This more or less sums up my weekend...look I have friends! Plural!Chivas are The. Best. Invention. Ever. For $160 we rented a chiva discoteca bus for Saturday night to celebrate some birthdays. Basically, it's a big colorful bus with open sides and a dance floor in back, speakers, a DJ, and some ropes to grab onto when the driver stops short. We cruised around Quito for 2 hours, literally on a moving discoteca. AMAZING. We drove through the main part of the new city, through the Mariscal, then through the historic district, being incredibly obnoxious, yelling at people on the street and just loving life.
The price includes a huge container of canelazo, which is a hot drink made from sugar cane liquor. It's better if you're at a bar outside at night or something, but they gave us all little plastic cups on necklaces. It was so cool to drive around the Old Town and see all the buildings lit up because it can be sketchy at night. Chivas seriously need to be introduced to the U.S., it was so much fun.
This week was full of work for my grad class - I can't wait until it's over in October. I really like working at the colegio for my internship. Monday I had to sub for a 7th grade class for an hour, and they were little monsters. All 25 of them would NOT stop talking, no matter what I did or said in any language. I finally bribed them into being somewhat quiet by saying we could play a game after reading the story instead of doing questions in the book. They got vicious when I said we were playing hangman with vocab, because they wanted to go outside and play soccer. The other teachers laughed when they found out I had to cover the class - they all managed to avoid it. The kids are very friendly, there's just a lack of discipline in the school and I think a lot of the teaching methods are boring. Even my boss, Leti, said her sons went to a different school because she wanted them to respect adults. The staff is really nice though, and the kids are great in small groups.
The best part is the administration is letting me do more or less whatever I want. The English classes are straight out of textbooks, which I think is terribly boring, so have some ideas brewing. I didn't really want to work in a colegio originally but I'm happy with my placement.
We're catching a bus to the beach at 12:30 tonight, first time to the Pacific!
Chivas sounds way cool. I'm going to contact mi amigo, Byron ASAP. El de Quito ... if you know what I mean (and I think you do). Let's do the business - we'll start up in South Beach, Florida and expand from there. Tim, find out where we can get a bus cheap, you can then fix it up and also be the driver (think of the tips!) we'll get mTV cribs to film us and provide free marketing.
ResponderEliminarWow. For some reason, I thought only American children are spoiled! Interesting!
I was thinking of some games that might've worked with a tough crowd like that: Combat Bean Bag (play to kill - but don't hate the playa!); or "Blanket Party!"; "Dutch Oven" - or possibly something with a Rugby theme?
What fun you are having! Salude! Como se dice en espanol, 'See you later!?'"
Uncle K
See you later = "hasta luego", "nos vemos", or just "chau"
ResponderEliminarWe could make a KILLING with U.S. chivas! It was 5 bones apiece, I would pay 20 easily for the same thing. We have a plethora of vehicles on the Hain/Carey estate so I don't see why Master Mechanic Tim can't whip something up. Cindy can provide the decorations, Kurt can be the security guy, Uncle Paul on music, you've got the finances, and I'll bartend and make sure everyone has enough fun..sounds like a regular family biz!
Thanks for the game ideas, they sound age appropriate and language barrier-transcending!
Hi Bridhid,
ResponderEliminarFriends of Chris and Emily greet you from Cocoa Beach. We will be in Ecuador in December. Thanks for the tip on what is "new" in Quito. Sounds like fun!
Just wondering what "colegio" you are at? Some of those kids may be relatives!!! LOL
Rochelle
I work at the Colegio America Latina...it's very close to Río Coca where the Ecovia ends in the north. Any connections? They're actually nice kids until you try to sit them down in class and make them learn something, especially English!
ResponderEliminar