Sunny Weekends

It’s incredible that when the sun comes out in Cuenca, everyone is happier and more activities are done. Also when the sun comes out, it reminds me of what I’m going to miss so much about this beautiful place. This past week I took on two extra tutorials, making my days busier and yet more enjoyable. My first tutorial in the morning was a 76-year-old man, learning English for the first time since high school. I have had almost two weeks of classes with him, and although it’s slow going, he’s a joy to work with. My other tutorial, that only lasted three days, was with a young man from the coast brushing up on his English. Doing tutorials reminds me of what I love about teaching English, the one-on-one time, and reaffirms my future choice to be a speech pathologist. And after a busy and full week, I had an even fuller and more enjoyable weekend. It started out well on Thursday night, when I had plans to go out for a bite to eat with two of my conversation class students. What I thought was going to be the three of us (speaking in English) turned into a large group, speaking quick and funny Spanish. We were myself, my two students, one of their friends, their friends’ parents, and a new Argentinean friend that was passing through Cuenca for a month. Not at all what I was expecting, yet wonderful. Friday morning I met with my 76-year-old tutorial, and afterwards met up with some friends for a Friday adventure: a trip to Turi. Turi is the lookout point of Cuenca, and although I’ve already been a couple of times, we went this time for the view as well as the Vega Studio, and the giant swing. Let me explain… So up at Turi is the studio and gallery of a famous potter from Cuenca, something that I have been dying to see. And even further up the viewpoint, there is a small “adventure park”, complete with a small “zipline”, a big slide, and a giant swing. The giant swing is pulled back by the operator, and for just $1, you can sit in the swing and be launched over a small cliff, an adrenaline rush for sure. Kelsey, Maggie, Kyle, Jeff, and myself took first a bus and then a taxi up to Turi, enjoyed the view, went up to the swing, and then stopped at Vega’s studio on our way down. It was a perfect and beautiful morning for Turi. After the Vega studio we taxied down, and I joined Maggie and Kyle for lunch while Kelsey got a traditional “cleansing”, which is supposed to rid one of the bad spirits in their lives. This cleansing consists mostly of getting beaten by herbs, getting water spit on you, and having an egg rolled on your body, which, when cracked open, tells you the state of your spirit. Very interesting. After lunch I went home and did some planning for my class, and then went to my second CEDEI dance class. I don’t know if my bachata and meringue abilities are getting better, but it was fun. After class, Laura, Molly and I went for ice cream, and I headed back home to shower and relax for the night, ended by a movie with the roomies.

         Saturday I started with conversation club again, going to another coffee shop with my group. They’re a great group of students, and I’m very thankful to have this kind of a class; no grading, no attendance, just relational conversation. After conversation class I came home and had lunch, graded papers, and took my laundry to Doris. By 2:30pm Annie, Kelsey and myself were leaving to meet some friends at Parque Paraíso for a game of Ultimate Frisbee. I hadn’t played Ultimate Frisbee since high school, and although I had forgotten most of the rules, realized it’s easy to pick up. We were about 20, mostly CEDEI teachers, and had an exhausting yet fun afternoon of running around in the sun, and getting competitive here and there. After Frisbee I went home, showered, and met up with some friends for a bit. I was exhausted from the long weekend, and when my friends saw me yawning, they suggested I take a little nap before going out for the night. Good idea. I came home, napped, and started my Saturday night. The roomies plus our friend Jessa hung out for a bit at the house, and then we headed out for a night of drinks and dancing. My Saturday night finally ended around 3am, meaning Sunday was spent sleeping, eating, or watching movies; the perfect Sunday to end such a full and fun weekend.               

Bad Luck

         This week was the week of bad mojo for Sucre House. It started Tuesday evening, when we returned home and realized two computers, a camera, iPod, money, and credit cards had been stolen from our house. The police were called, and it was a long night of tears, fear, and having almost 10 police officers in our house, asking the same questions over and over again. Although we don’t know exactly what happened, we have a hunch. The older dueños (landlords) of our house had come that Monday to stay in the adjacent apartment and take care of matters in Cuenca. Well, multiple times on Monday and Tuesday we would come home to our front door open, because they were either next door at the internet café or running an errand. Also, in the morning on Tuesday some man looking for a gringa (but not one of us) was let in by the dueña twice, thinking it was one of us he was looking for. The first time he was let in I told her nobody in the house knew him, which then baffles me why she let him in a second time. Well, in the afternoon while we were all in class (except Annie, who was probably upstairs), someone most likely entered through the open front door and made a quick grab of the valuables he could see in the rooms downstairs; we assume it was the same guy, who had had a chance to scope out the place when he was let in TWICE. Lucky for those of us that live upstairs, he didn’t have time to make it up there. Unluckily for Kelsey and Amanda, though, he swiped thousands of dollars worth of stuff. We were all upset, both by the robbery and because our space had been violated; we were very mad at the dueña, to say the least. After that the week continued as normal, but with an air of sadness lingering in the house. Our friend Clara tried to cheer the girls up by bringing us a puppy and a cake; I think for the moment, it definitely worked. By the weekend we had moved past the robbery, and were trying to enjoy Cuenca again and not be upset at what had happened there. Well, Saturday morning our friend John gave a free self-defense course to all the teachers at CEDEI, because it’s always good to have knowledge of self-defense when living in another country. And Saturday afternoon was incredible; I went on a long run with my friend Janet, and then met up with other friends by the river, sitting in the sun, eating food, and enjoying life. After the sun went down, we headed home, and got ready for our night. I am friends with an owner of a club here in Cuenca, meaning free entrance for my friends and me whenever. So Saturday night we had plans to head over to this club. We had some friends over beforehand, and then throughout the night I bothered the bouncer to get close to 20 people into the club. Everyone was having a good time, and my roommates and I stayed until closing time. I was going to wait to get a ride home with my friend, and then decided I didn’t want to bug him more, so the roommates and I started heading home. First I bought a nice piece of street corn, and then we waved down a taxi. Once in the taxi we asked how much to our house, and after quoting a high price, we decided no thank you, we’ll find another cab, and jumped out. We had walked less than a block from that cab, off of the main street just a bit, when all of a sudden I heard a commotion behind me. Someone was trying to steal my friend Kat’s purse, and had pulled her onto the ground in his attempt to get the purse. Kelsey had her mace on hand, and started pepper spraying the guy. Well, 30-seconds of chaos happened after that, with Kat grabbing the mace and spraying more, and Kelsey and Annie both ending up with mace in their eyes. I grabbed Kesley, who couldn’t see, and started yelling every Spanish curse word I knew at the guys. As we walked away from the situation, some guys continued to follow us, who may have been trying to help, but were essentially just freaking us out more. I ended up punching one in the chest who got too close. After the incident we found another cab, hailed it down and climbed in, a frightened and crying mess. The cab driver was certainly freaked out by our behavior, although we can only assume he saw some of what had happened. It was a terrifying night, and following the robbery so closely, made us feel very unsafe in Cuenca. Now, a couple of weeks later, we can all say, “things happen sometimes”, and have learned from these incidents to be more careful. Still, Sucre House has filed its quota of bad karma, and we looking forward to more months of amazing times from Cuenca.   

12 de abril

This weekend was Cuenca Foundation weekend, not to be confused with the bigger and better Cuenca Days that occur in November. Although none of the Cuencanos seemed to excited about it, us Gringas were just happy to a) have a day off, and b) have a chance to do some more Ecuador shopping. Thursday evening, what started out as a quiet night quickly transformed into a dance party at our house, a trip to a local club, and my friends enjoying a dance party in the street on one of the main streets of Cuenca. The next day, despite the fact that it has been colder and wetter recently here in Cuenca, we were greeted by a beautiful, sunny day. The roommates and I spent our day walking around vendor booths, eating lots of food, and taking in the sunshine. Friday evening Kelsey and I relaxed by making pad thai and watching the Godfather, a very necessary relaxing night due to the classes we had to teach the next morning. On Saturdays this cycle I am teaching a conversation class, which is a club intended for students to solely practice their listening and speaking. No attendance, no grades. This Saturday we had a fun class, practicing role-plays of situations of confrontation. After class, Annie, Kelsey and I ventured out of the Centro, to Good Affinity (an amazing vegetarian restaurant), La Cooperativa (a store filed with beautiful produce), and Supermaxi (the American-style grocery store). Although it doesn’t sound like much, we were exhausted after this little journey. Saturday evening I went to hang out with some friends, ate dinner, and then got ready to go to the club again. Saturday night passed with lots of dancing, fun, and friends. Sunday morning we all slept in, and had a relaxing day. I went back down to the markets for some final souvenir purchases, and came home and made my first-ever eggplant parmesan. It was delicious. From there I went on a little vuelta with a friend (essentially just driving around, without much of a destination), and came home later to watch Godfather 2 with my roommates. Great end to a great weekend.