New Family, Sick Round 2, and Teaching

I have a new family! It is a small and quiet household-- one woman (about 45 years old), and her father (roughly a million years old). She moved in with her elderly father when her mother died earlier this year. She is very soft-spoken and kind, reads a lot, takes care of her dad, and goes to bed early. The father doesn´t say much, but is hilarious when he does talk. Much, much more my style. The house is wonderful. I have a view of the bay, which boats cross all day and night taking people from the mainland to the island. Anita owns a small clothing shop which is directly below our house.

My new Mom is an amazing cook. Because of her dad´s health, she serves a lot of organic fruits and vegetables and goes easy on the oil. This is a rarity in Ecuador. Last night we drank organic hot chocolate, which her sister sends to her directly from a cocoa plantation in the country.

Unfortunately, I got sick.  My first night in my new house, I was embarrassed. I am trying to convince my host mom that it was not her cooking, I probably just swallowed some water brushing my teeth or something. It was seriously painful for 4-5 hours, but I got everything out and feel better.

Yesterday was also my first day teaching. The sex ed teacher that I am supposed to be working WITH (not for) did not show up. This is common, I feel like school is basically a giant babysitting service. Luckily I can think on my feet. My first class (9th graders, about 15 yrs old) went really well. The second (7th graders, 12 yrs old)... a little tougher. First we talked about why we were here, and established why it was important to learn about sex ed in the first place. It was very conversational, a lot of me asking for ideas on a topic and waiting for responses. At the end of class, I had everyone write their secret sex ed questions on little slips of paper and put them in a box. I don't think they have ever done anything like that, it is mostly just lecture on whatever the teacher knows. The questions are really interesting, kind of hilarious, and will give me direction for next class.

Things are looking up, I feel much better with my new living situation. Hopefully I will learn the vocab and information I need to teach better too.