Día del Maestro

This past Tuesday was Día del Maestro, or Teachers Day as we know it in the good old USA. However, here in Ecuador, the “holiday,” was a bit extended (to say the least). Instead of a few kids bringing in little treats for the teachers on the actual day of (as it is done in the US), both Monday and Tuesday school was cancelled. The Thursday before all the teachers from the school where I teach left school two hours early to have a special celebratory lunch in Baños. Then the following Wednesday (the day after the actual holiday) the student government and their parents prepared a feast (and I mean feast…about four different pieces of meat per person) for lunch. On Thursday (TWO days after the actual holiday) the board of school directors planned a day of “juegos populares” (games like toss the water balloon, pass the pencil nose to nose, etc.) and yet another feast, this time of the Ecuadorian delicacy, cuy (known in the U.S as GUINEA PIG). No further comment on that meal. Then on Friday, being that the teachers wanted to round our the week celebrating, the third grade teacher had a party at her house (at least the school day didn’t get cut short for this one…)

I actually missed out on Fridays festivities (can’t say I was too upset…I was a bit “Teachers Day-outted”) because I accompanied the seventh grade class on a field trip to go bird watching in a town about an hour away. We left at 4:30 am (not kidding) and spent the morning bird watching. Afterwards we went to a river water park (with two huge slides) and spent about three hours playing in the river water. Then we had a typical Ecuadorian lunch (packing full the little comedor), followed by a presentation by the local cuerpo de bomberos (fire department). After over 12 hours of “paseando” we arrived back to El Triunfo at 6:00. I went to bed at 8:00 ☺

***Library update:
-repainting the space this weekend
-hired carpenter to make bookshelves
-bought $200 worth of books in Quito last week
-going to a market this Monday to buy a table and rug