An Anniversary, of sorts

On Friday, July 19th I quietly and privately celebrated my one year anniversary of not working. That's right, an entire year has passed since I quit my very good job that I had been at for over 7 years to head out on this adventure. Hard to believe!

Of course I don't regret it one bit, but I often reflect on the old days of a busy schedule, early mornings, late nights, stress, too little vacation, intellectual challenges, interactions with people in my shared field of interest, that sense of satisfaction for a job well done, a great boss etc etc. I have immensely enjoyed this once in a lifetime opportunity to make my day my own for such an extended period of time and I am incredibly appreciative of all I've been able to do this past year including travelling, learning to cook, reading for pleasure, spending time with Spencer and Maia, working on myself.

I did start grad school 2 months ago, so I am slowly getting back into the arena that keeps me buzzing. I love it so far and am so excited to keep learning and earn my masters....finally! And, believe it or not, I really do look forward to resuming my career someday soon. Another item for the 'reasons we should go back to the US next June' list.

Not working full time hasn't been all rainbows and cupcakes this year, though, as I did feel the need to contribute in some way to our life down here, so in November I started teaching ESL (english as a second language) at the Language Center housed at Spencer's school. With zero training and qualifications other than being a native speaker, they put me in a room with Ecuadorians and said "teach", which I proceeded to do upwards of 20 hours per week some weeks for a meager $7 per hour (ouch, talk about a pay cut). Several students and many months later I can confidently say that teaching ESL is another calling I have not missed.  It's HARD! English is a stupid language!! It's full of irregularities and exceptions and can be painful to teach to anyone who has the propensity to ask "why?" when faced with some random exception (like me). I have a incredible appreciation for my friends in this field and will be sure to give them hugs next time I see them.

My favorite little anecdote from my teaching experiences this year came near the beginning when I subbed for a 4 hour Saturday class of 5 teenagers. Keep in mind this was very early on in my whole teaching / Ecuadorian experience. I was given very little instruction other than a teacher's guide and told that at some point during the morning I would have to do a cooking demonstration. "Excuse me, I don't cook. How can I teach someone else to cook."  No problem, she says and begins to write some notes on a card. A minute later she hands me the card and says "take this, you'll be fine" while ushering me out of her office with haste (I don't think she wanted me to ask any other questions). Once outside, I read the card and had a good laugh.  I've been meaning to share this since that day:

What more could I need?!?! I can't make this stuff up! Needless to say when this box was brought to my classroom mid way through the morning with a bowl of luke warm beans I did my best to "teach" teenagers how to make burritos in a classroom with no stove, no sink, no other supplies.

But, they were teenagers and they did not seem to notice or care one bit because they got to eat bean burritos and drink coke for a while in the middle of class.

One of the best things this adventure in Ecuador has taught me (or at least, reaffirmed) is not to take things too seriously. It'll work out.