Monday, February 24, 2014

I'm hired!

My interview was scheduled for 11:00 this morning. Ten minutes into the interview I was hired. At 4:00 this afternoon I was teaching my first class. This is my first job teaching English as a foreign language. The class consists of seven thirteen year old tweens. Two boys and five girls. It was very encouraging to see how enthusiastic they are about learning. I think I got a good group as my first students. My new career has begun!


Sunday, February 16, 2014

Relaxing Sunday

Met new friends for lunch and then walked around the city. Enjoy a few pics from today. 






Saturday, February 15, 2014

Home!

So glad to finally be home in Cuenca!!  We are officially residents of Ecuador. In four years we will be able to apply for citizenship. At that point we will have dual citizenship with the US and Ecuador. Several interesting things I wanted to share ... Voting is mandatory for residents of Ecuador. If you do not vote your name is printed in the paper and you are subject to a fine. Young people here are very active in politics. If they are not happy about something then they take to the streets to protest. I think it's great. I often wondered why this was not the case in the US. My feeling is that in America the people fear the government. Here, the government fears the people. Isn't that the way it's supposed to be?  Most women here stay home and raise their children. Hence, men are often seen as cashiers, bank tellers, and clerks in women's clothing stores. Another interesting fact is that men are weavers. Women do not weave. And a final observation, male friends often put their arms around each other while walking down the street. No one stops to take a second look. In the US they would be looked at as "gay."  Also, men often greet each other with a kiss on the cheek. It's nice to be surrounded by people that show affection for each other without having to worry about others thinking they are freaks. 


Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Monday, February 10, 2014

Planetarium and visa update -

Another beautiful day in Ecuador...but then again they are all beautiful!

We visited the Planetarium here in Quito today. Much to our surprise there was no entry fee. It sits high on a hill and we can see it from our hotel window. We walked there and discovered a park, along the way, that included swings. We swung for a few minutes. Enjoyed the freedom of not caring what people thought about old men acting like kids. Actually, we were the only people there ;-)





Visa update:

We are scheduled to pick up our residency visas Wednesday. The final step will be getting our Cedulas. Hopefully, we will get the Cedulas Friday morning. Afterwards, we are free to travel. I am looking forward to getting back to our apartment in Cuenca. 






Saturday, February 8, 2014

Quito

We moved to the Mercure Hotel in downtown Quito today. No more taxis. Now we can walk to everything. Foch Plaza, the party district, is just down the street.  A city boy has to be in the city otherwise we become bored!  Can't have that can we?  


Friday, February 7, 2014

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Fun day playing tourist!

Today we visited the Presidential Palace and Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus, the church with seven tons of gold!






Monday, February 3, 2014

Immigration ...

Well, things did not go as planned at Immigration today. We were supposed to get our visas. It appears the laws have changed for 2014. We now have to wait until Wednesday to get a letter from Immigration that we then take to the National Bank of Ecuador and then return to Immigration and then wait 48 hours to get our visas. Then, after receiving our visas we wait another 48 hours to get our Cedulas. Glad I don't have any plans for the next week. The pictures below were taken in downtown Quito today. You can't see it but the ash in the air from the volcano eruption Saturday was horrible.