From 3 to 5 every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, you´ll find me at the Iglesia de Dios, teaching English to 22 kids from the community. We are writing books, ¨ABC¨ books for the younger kids who are about 6 years old and ¨The Story of _(name of each student)_¨ for the older kids who are about 8 and 9 years old. I have a collection of stickers, from Mylar animals to fuzzy animals, cars, hands and feet. I also have googley eyes. Today we played Hokey-Pokey with both groups. They really love ¨Put your nose in, put your nose out, put your nose in and shake it all about.¨ It´s good for teaching ¨left¨and ¨right¨. I am also using a CD by Raffi. ¨There´s a Spider on the Floor¨ is a big hit since the spider goes from the floor to the leg to the stomach to the neck to the head. Then it jumps back to the floor again and it starts all over again. Keeping the kids moving is the key. That and candy on the way out the door.
I hope we get to finish the books. It is sometimes slow going, but the art work the older kids are doing is amazing. They love using their colored pencils and the stickers. Tomorrow we will continue with letter E for the young kids and dialogues for the older ones.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Gyms in San Cristóbal
If you visit the Miconia restaurant across from the dock, you can rent bikes and use the gym.
I´ve been working out 3 days a week, using their weights and machines. I can take Tae-bo and aerobics classes there as well, but I haven´t tried them yet. I walked from the Liceo Naval to the gym today and spent about 1 1/2 hours there. Three guys were in there when I arrived, and I´ve seen students from the Liceo working out as well. Music ranges from the BeeGee´s to Reggaeton, the popular local music, so it´s easy to forget how hard you are working. The cost? Two dollars a session or fifteen dollars a month. I have to quit eating so much white rice, bread, potatoes, and ice cream!! I´m paying the price!!!
I´ve been working out 3 days a week, using their weights and machines. I can take Tae-bo and aerobics classes there as well, but I haven´t tried them yet. I walked from the Liceo Naval to the gym today and spent about 1 1/2 hours there. Three guys were in there when I arrived, and I´ve seen students from the Liceo working out as well. Music ranges from the BeeGee´s to Reggaeton, the popular local music, so it´s easy to forget how hard you are working. The cost? Two dollars a session or fifteen dollars a month. I have to quit eating so much white rice, bread, potatoes, and ice cream!! I´m paying the price!!!
Sunday, July 13, 2008
The Terán family
I am living with the Terán family which includes Luis and Martha, the parents, and their two sons, Lucho (Luis Jr.) who is 19, and Mario who is 17. Here they are at the airport in San Cristobal-
Luis, Luis Jr. aka Lucho, Mario, and Martha.
We live in San Cristóbal about a fifteen minute walk from the Malecon, the boardwalk/beachfront/park. It´s where we go so I can find the internet and post more blog info. Also, the best place to find ice cream cones for 80 cents.
Martha is a great cook and makes patacones, which are slices of green platano fried, then smashed a bit flat with a rock, ceviches from fish and lobster, and juices made from tomate de árbol (not like the tomatoes we put on pizza), guavas, limes, pineapple, coconut, and oranges. She also makes a sauce called “aliño” that is used in soup, chicken, and on meat. It can be used as a barbeque sauce. It´s made of red onion, green pepper, garlic, cumin, oregano, water, and a leafy green herb called “hierbita” which I have not seen in Oregon, but she substituted cilantro so I guess we can too. She puts it in the blender and it turns out thick. It´s stored in the refrig and it´s Martha´s secret ingredient.
Ceviche is made with fresh fish, bacalao or brujo, and lobster. She starts off slicing green pepper and tomato and red onion into fine slices. She rinses the onion in water to take away the strong flavour. Then she grates more tomato to get the pulp, leaving behind the skin and puts the rinsed onion, pepper and tomato into a large bowl. Then she debones, cleans and chops the fish into small chunks and adds it a bit at a time to about 4 cups of boiling salted water and cooks it for about for 1 minute, stirring it. She drains it, puts it in a bowl and adds the sliced raw vegetables, fresh squeezed orange and lime juice and salt to taste. She doesn´t add pepper. She serves it with popcorn and patacones.
We live in San Cristóbal about a fifteen minute walk from the Malecon, the boardwalk/beachfront/park. It´s where we go so I can find the internet and post more blog info. Also, the best place to find ice cream cones for 80 cents.
Martha is a great cook and makes patacones, which are slices of green platano fried, then smashed a bit flat with a rock, ceviches from fish and lobster, and juices made from tomate de árbol (not like the tomatoes we put on pizza), guavas, limes, pineapple, coconut, and oranges. She also makes a sauce called “aliño” that is used in soup, chicken, and on meat. It can be used as a barbeque sauce. It´s made of red onion, green pepper, garlic, cumin, oregano, water, and a leafy green herb called “hierbita” which I have not seen in Oregon, but she substituted cilantro so I guess we can too. She puts it in the blender and it turns out thick. It´s stored in the refrig and it´s Martha´s secret ingredient.
Ceviche is made with fresh fish, bacalao or brujo, and lobster. She starts off slicing green pepper and tomato and red onion into fine slices. She rinses the onion in water to take away the strong flavour. Then she grates more tomato to get the pulp, leaving behind the skin and puts the rinsed onion, pepper and tomato into a large bowl. Then she debones, cleans and chops the fish into small chunks and adds it a bit at a time to about 4 cups of boiling salted water and cooks it for about for 1 minute, stirring it. She drains it, puts it in a bowl and adds the sliced raw vegetables, fresh squeezed orange and lime juice and salt to taste. She doesn´t add pepper. She serves it with popcorn and patacones.
The parents have gone to the mainland for a week to see Luis´ father who fell off a horse. He´s still riding, or at least was, at the age of 82. Meanwhile, I´m staying with the two boys. Cooking is interesting. They called today ¨Survivor Man¨ Day 2. At least they liked my spaghetti.
Here is Lucho. He is great at figuring out how to use an I-Pod to copy stuff from my camera and the home computer (it´s much faster to write the entries at home and upload them at the internet cafes).
Here is Mario. Unfortunately, you can´t see his hair which he gels to the max. He looks like he has wings, but it really looks good on him. Check the painting of the sea lions (lobos marinos) in the background. Mario always has his cell phone and lives to play volleyball on the weekends with a bunch of guys of all ages, heights, and talents.
I teach at 7 am so we´ll sign off for tonight. Hasta luego from the Galapagos!!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
San Cristobal
July 2, 2008
When you arrive at the dock on the island of San Cristobal, you´ll see the Malecon, the ¨boardwalk¨ which overlooks the bay.
Right underneath the railings, you can watch the lobo marinos (sea lions) stretched out on the rocks, sleeping or jockeying for a better position among the group.
In the water, you can watch them swim.
Clinging to the rocks you´ll see sayapas, redcrabs with varying hues of red and orange. They seem to be disappearing from the islands, so they are protected. Even so, people will harvest them and eat them.
When you arrive at the dock on the island of San Cristobal, you´ll see the Malecon, the ¨boardwalk¨ which overlooks the bay.
Right underneath the railings, you can watch the lobo marinos (sea lions) stretched out on the rocks, sleeping or jockeying for a better position among the group.
In the water, you can watch them swim.
Clinging to the rocks you´ll see sayapas, redcrabs with varying hues of red and orange. They seem to be disappearing from the islands, so they are protected. Even so, people will harvest them and eat them.
At night, the lights on the dock illuminate the water so you can see schools of sardines and occasionally, a sea turtle slowing swimming.
San Cristobal is a beautiful island with lots to see and do. Here are some pictures taken by Luis and Mario Teran who are the sons of Martha Fiallos and Luis Teran with whom I am staying.
Both Luis and Martha are English teachers, so we spent a lot of time working on English, using a white board set up in the living room. During the day, we are all teaching, but we gather about one o'clock to have lunch. Nights, we eat about 8 or so and then take a ride around town to see the people and the lights on the water.
I am teaching at the Liceo Naval, the Navy prep academy, which is associated with the Naval base on the island. Kids wear white and navy blue uniforms. Casual dress is navy sweatpants with a white tee shirt. Dress uniforms are white with a blue cap. Sometimes you´ll see students wearing khaki uniforms as well.
There are about 250 students in the school which is private. I am teaching English to first graders and sixth graders as well as to older students in the high school. I work with the English teachers including Wilson, Veronica, Lucy, and Sandra. 
Here she is smiling at us.
Today, Wilson and I taught the parts of a house and the names for furniture. We use a work book that is meant for English as a Second Language learners, but it´s a real project to keep 25 kids on task when their proficiency varies widely.
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