Quito Round 2

I know, I know. It has been months and months since I have updated this blog. I guess there just reaches a point in your life abroad when you settle in, things aren't so new, and your life resembles a life you would be leading in the States. Exciting things don't happen all the time. The language is less of a mystery and so are the different places in the city or country. I have my bearings and find it harder and harder to find interesting things to write about. I want my readers to be wowed and mesmerized by everything I tell them about living in Ecuador, but most of my life is not so wow-worthy.

I spent an enjoyable summer in the States seeing pretty much every member of my family and extended family and many friends still living in Huntsville. I also had one of my best friends, Sun, visit me for a week in Ecuador. I meant to write a blog about it, but just never seemed to get around to it.

I have now officially started my second round of Quito. The beginning of the school year has come and gone and I am leading a life similar to many of yours (consisting of work, grocery store, and home). This school year is proving to be much easier than last school year. The learning curve is much, much smaller. Thank goodness! I have been getting to know my students and hopefully they are learning a lot in class. With a smaller learning curve, I feel I can focus a lot more on my teaching and things I can do to improve myself as a teacher. It makes me feel a little sorry for my students from last year because I could have been so much of a better teacher if I wasn't worried about learning about Quito, Spanish, the school, and the school's curriculum. There was just too much on my plate last year and not enough time to hone my skills.

I am still contemplating the future but I am fairly confident that I will be spending another year here in Quito. I would like to start my masters degree; however, I am afraid that if I leave Quito after only two years and enter grad school in the States, that my Spanish will not be strong enough to survive not having regular exposure to it. I would really like to greatly improve my Spanish this year and solidify it even more with a third year. It also seems like a nice idea to go a third year without having to change everything in my life again. Maybe I'm getting too old for the constant changes (I did just recently turn the big 3-0, yikes!).

I am looking into schools with a masters program for literacy. I would like to one day become a literacy coach. I feel I could make a greater difference working with a smaller number of students and with students who really struggle with learning how to read or understand what they read. I am only in the research stage. I am looking into schools in Colorado and some northern states. We'll see how it goes.

I have really been getting into yoga lately. There is a woman who has a channel on YouTube named Adriene. I have done two different 30-day programs that she has for yoga. I find that it really helps me focus on the positive things in life, it helps me to de-stress, and meanwhile it helps to continually stretch and tone my body. I recommend her videos if you are interested in yoga. I think making time for it every day really helps you to de-stress and relax more in life.

That's about it for now. I am looking forward to a visit from my brother Shaun for Christmas. He is going to be the very first member of my family to visit me while I have been living abroad! It only took about 7 years, but someone is finally taking advantage of my living in another country! The trip should be fun and hopefully I won't kill him before it's over. ;) Maybe a blog will have to be made about the experience.

I hope you are all doing well and are happy in your individual lives!