This morning, we woke up and anxiously awaited our students so we could get started with our English lessons. Although we were aware that the kids could be trickling in anytime after 9, we were worried that they might not come since they were still on vacation. However, right before 9:30, the first two students arrived – we greeted Ismael (18 years old) and his younger brother Isaac (9, Christian (9), Bryan (11), Carla (who lives with her family here at the UBELONG volunteer center), and some other siblings and cousins. Since Isaac was much older and had previous English experience in high school, we decided to split into groups with two approaches – the first group (Lauren, Matt, Andrew, and Erik) worked with the younger kids and the second group (Justin and Ben) spent time with Isaac working on conversational English.
Matt cuddling with Chiquita before teaching the kids!
For lunch, we had rice, soup, and sausage in the common dining area. After some downtime, we decided to venture out for a day trip to the Ventura Mall in the Tumbaco area to see the “Minions” in Spanish. We had some difficulty locating the mall on our bus ride there, but we were able to figure it out after going one stop too far and walking back to the mall. “Minions” ended up being a really fun movie, and although only a few of us have studied Spanish before, the minions themselves weren’t really speaking Spanish to begin with, so it was pretty easy for us all to follow along! After the movie, we crossed the street to check out a bowling alley to satisfy some of our American activity withdrawals (Lauren, Matt, and Erik ended up beating Justin, Andrew, and Ben TWICE!), and went to a market nearby to get some items before heading home for dinner of lunch leftovers with a delicious tomato and green pepper salad.
“Para tu!”
In the evening, we joined some of the other UBELONG volunteers (Rosa from Germany and Emily from U-M) in the attic of the girls’ dorm to play “Shaniva,” a Norwegian card game that Rosa taught us. After a grueling game, only Ben and Andrew remained for the final showdown. Andrew was far and away in the lead, but Ben came back after hitting 100 points, which bumped him down to 50, but Andrew still ended up winning in a miraculous finish. Unfortunately, Lauren, Rosa, and Emily were so into the game that they accidentally broke the bed frame they were sitting on, but everyone was okay. Once the game was over, we said goodbye and briefly discussed some of our strategies for improving our English teaching on our second day before getting ready for bed.
EGL Family Abroad 