Well, I’m back in Canada after a wonderful time in Ecuador.
It was such a great experience, and I made friends that I will never forget. I’m
already planning a trip back in the future (hopefully with my sister this
time.) The end of the trip wrapped up nicely, although I did get pretty ill for
a few days which prevented some of the travelling I had planned. But in the end
it was ok, because I got to spend more time at the organization, which they had
asked me to do anyways when they found out I wasn’t headed back to Canada until
the 8th. One of the friends I made there even offered to escort me
all the way to the airport, which I didn’t realize how much I appreciated until
after the fact. (We had to take several different buses, and a taxi, and I
would likely have gotten quite lost.)
Hearing the news yesterday about the tragic Earthquake in
Ecuador really pulled on my heart strings. Not many people in the town that I
was in have internet (we were one of the only houses), so it was hard to get in
contact with people and make sure they were all okay! However, I’ve got
confirmation that everyone in Cosanga is alright. The photos they keep sending
me are so sad, but at least they are okay! It’s great that they keep in contact
with me. A few of them asked if they could have my e-mail before I left so they
could keep in touch. I agreed of course, but told them they would have to write
to me in English sometimes and not just Spanish! I’ve gotten a variety of
e-mails from the youths, that are always a pleasure to read. Some of them
really try to write in English, which is great. One of the Ecuadorians, Pedro, who
spoke the least English of all of them, and never attended the English courses
at the organization has been keeping in contact (mainly in Spanish, but there
is an odd English phrase or two in there as well.) I got an e-mail from one of
the other volunteers recently that said Pedro has started carrying around a
notebook and writing down English phrases in it. They’ve said they think that I’ve
inspired him to learn English, and that he’s trying to learn so that he can
e-mail me in English. It’s so nice to hear that being there had some sort of
positive impact on at least one person.
I was the only volunteer there at the time with any teaching
experience, and they want me to learn some Spanish and come back again. (I learned a surprising amount while I was there, and continue to learn in my attempts to reply to the e-mails from the Ecuadorians.) I’m
definitely considering it, depending where life takes me in the future!
It’s been a week of being back at Queens, and I’ll be
honest, the beautiful weather and the fact that there are only 2 weeks until I’m
done have left me struggling to find my motivation to finish all the assignments
I have. It’s been nice to see everyone, and hear about their practicum
experiences (especially the alt pracs!) I can’t believe how close we are to the
end. This week has been a lot of reflecting on our placements, and sharing
stories from our alt prac. It’s going to be sad to not see all the great people
I’ve met here in class anymore (especially our lovely little physics community.)
While I’ll be sad to see everyone all
the time, I’m excited to be done and to start the next chapter of my life. Of
course the pressure is on (especially from my parents) to find a full-time
teaching job immediately. They don’t quite understand how the system works
despite my efforts to explain to them that a full-time teaching job is a ways
in the future for me. So now it’s time to find some sort of work for the summer
that will hopefully add to my resume as I look for a teaching job. Cheers to
new experiences.
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