word of the day

manguera: [man gheh ra] Spanish tubing or hose

Today I went to the hardware store to buy a new manguera for my gas stove. (It connects the propane tank to the stove.) They don't teach this type of necessary vocabulary in high school Spanish class.

lost in translation

When my students ask if they can have a piece of tape, they usually say, "Can I have some Scotch?" It caught me off guard at first, but now I have to fight the urge to respond with "I have some nice vodka in my desk if you'd rather have that."

Something tells me they wouldn't get the joke.

major accomplishment

Today I had to give a workshop in the music department (we are all required to do so) and so I decided to talk about ways to incorporate writing into the music curriculum. However, most of my department speaks only a little English, and so I felt I had two options:

1. Give a really fantastic presentation in English and chance that most people won't understand it.
2. Give an average presentation in Spanish that everyone will understand.

I chose option two. I wasn't able to go as in-depth as I would like, but I felt good that everyone pretty much understood what I said. Also, I think I earned some much-needed brownie points by doing the whole thing in Spanish.

be still my heart

I should be sleeping, but I stumbled upon this and have now watched it 5 times. Had I known about this sooner, you better believe I would have sold my right kidney to be in attendance. Josh Groban singing "Anthem" from Chess--just about the best thing ever. (Even with the slightly pitchy first note, I still love him and the song!)

yum?

Here in Ecuador, the main meal of the deal is typically eaten at lunchtime, and usually consists of soup, rice, vegetables, an entree of some variety, dessert, and juice. Our school cafeteria serves a really nice lunch everyday, with all of the aforementioned items for $2.00, and the food is really good. (Note: our school cafeteria actually cooks food, unlike most of the cafeterias in the States that now just heat-up or deep-fry.) I try to take advantage of the good meals several days a week. Tuesday, when I went in for lunch, I noticed the two choices were fried fish and guatita. As I'm not a big fried fish-fan, I opted for the unknown other choice called guatita. My roommate, Andrew, was in line behind me, and when he saw my plate, he said, "You got the guatita? Do you know what that is?" I replied that I didn't, but that I didn't really like fried fish. Then I asked him what it was. He refused to tell me, but said that he does eat it from time to time, and that I should tell an Ecuadorian today that I ate guatita. Feeling a little paranoid, I ran into another friend as I was leaving who has been here before and knows a lot about the culture. I asked her if she knew what guatita was, and she replied, "um, yes, it's intestines." I did not eat my entire lunch that day.

low point

I had my ridiculously horrible class today, and they were especially bad. I told several students to stop whining, and that I would only listen to their requests to go to the restroom if they would use their grownup voices. (Imagine a 2 hour chorus of "Alleezon Alleezon" in the whiniest voice you can think of...that was my afternoon.) By the end of the class period, I surveyed the damage to the room and saw that a student had graffitied my marker board with "Addison Addison Addison We love Addison She rocks!" It took me a minute to understand that the girl was referring to me.

They can't even get my name correct. Wow.

my name is...

So I've started to forget what my name really is. Everyone here--all of the Ecuadorians--pronounce my name with a Spanish (Ecuadorian?) accent, so now my name has two parts (Allee-zon) rather than the three syllable North American pronunciation (All-i-son). I hear this all the time, especially as my students call me by my first name. (It's a school tradition to address teachers by their first names.) So now I find myself introducing myself as Allee-zon. It's kind of a problem.