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Things I Will Miss and NOT Miss about Cuenca

My 3-month stay in Cuenca, Ecuador, is quickly coming to an end, and now is a good time to talk about the things I´m going to miss and NOT miss about being here:

NOT MISS – Teaching English to chicos/teens.  (See my previous blog article).

NOT MISS – Credit card cash advance fees of 5%, thus you´ll pay $30 in fees to get a $600 cash advance.

NOT MISS – Rain, rain, and more rain.  It has rained at least 50% of the days I´ve been here, and some days all day.  There has not been one completely sunny day the entire time, for there are always clouds lurking on top of the nearby mountains ready to roll in at a moment´s notice.  I´m sure I´ll have no problem giving away my 3 umbrellas.

NOT MISS – Hanging my clothes to dry.  My apartment has a washing machine but no dryer, which I thought was odd at first, but come to find out is the norm here.
NOT MISS – People standing in my way on the sidewalk, or cutting in front of me while I am walking.  I talked about this in one my previous blog articles, it´s not something I should be judgmental about but instead should accept as part of the culture.  However, I brought expectations here, and as a result, hardly a day went by that I didn´t get irritated with someone over their sidewalk etiquette.  Perhaps a bigger problem I had was thinking, “While in France, do as the French do,” so I began compromising my own values in an attempt to fit in … or perhaps as recompense for perceived slights.  Thus, with regard to the old lady walking down the sidewalk carrying several bags – to heck with you, walk around me!  Or to the disabled person in a wheelchair – to heck with you, too, I got here first so just hold your wheels!  And to the young mother nursing her newborn – get out of my way lady!  I exaggerate, but this entire issue how best to navigate the sidewalks has definitely been harder for me to overcome than I anticipated.  Fortunately, after 3 months of conditioning my attitude has improved significantly.

NOT MISS – 50 cent pieces.  Everyone hates them here, including me.  You may not know this but Ecuador converted their currency to the U.S. dollar a little over 10 years ago during a severe economic crisis.  (Coins remain a mixture of U.S. coins and the old Ecuadorian coins in denominations of $1, 50 cent, 25 cent, 10 cent, 5 cent, and 1 cent).  It sure makes it easy to travel here … you pay for everything in U.S. dollars, thus you don´t have to do a currency exchange in your head every time you buy something.  Want to know where all those golden Sacagawea U.S. dollar coins are being used?  Here in Ecuador, they love them here.  In contrast, everyone hates 50 cent pieces here.  I think it is because it costs 25 cents to ride the bus, far and away the most common form of transportation here, and the bus drivers will not make change.  Thus, and this may sound strange, but it becomes a game of hot potato everywhere you go here, sellers try to dump their 50 cent pieces on buyers, and buyers try to dump their 50 cent pieces on sellers.  One vendor tried to refuse my payment with a 50 cent piece, asking whether I had any other coins to pay with.  And when I have asked a vendor not to give me a 50 cent piece in change, they have been a little irritated.  Strange game of hot potato, isn´t it?

NOT MISS – Being apart from my wife and puppies and life in the U.S.

NOT MISS – Gringo prices.  There is a widespread practice here of charging us North Americans, us Gringos, higher prices for stuff than the local folks are charged.  Not everyone does it, but many do.  For example, I have paid $2.50 for virtually the same pad of paper that I later bought at a similar store for only 70 cents.  As a result, when I have just the slightest suspicion that someone has charged me an inflated gringo price, I never return.

NOT MISS – Panaderias.  These are the bakeries that are located in just about every block and that sell fresh baked bread and pastries.  You can pack on some extra pounds here if you are not careful.
Okay, enough about all the things I won´t miss about Ecuador, it´s time to talk about the things I´ll miss.

MISS – Panaderias.  Yes, you read that correctly … leaving the panaderias is going to be bittersweet for me, something I´ll both miss and NOT miss.  There´s nothing like walking down the block and suddenly having your nose infused with the smell of dough rising in the oven, and then having the opportunity to sink your teeth into a still-warm, chewy, roll of doughy goodness.

MISS – Almuerzos.  These are the $2.50 lunch deals that are all over town.  For that price, which includes the tip, you´ll get a bowl of soup followed by the lunch of the day (often rice, veggies, and a meat), accompanied by a bowl of popcorn and a glass of fresh juice, and topped off by a dessert.

MISS – The Catholic Cathedral.  It sits just outside my window, and I get to look at it´s architectural glory every day.  Indeed, as I write this blog article, all I have to do is lift my eyes to take in the Cathedral.  It spans half a block wide by a full block long, and you can spot it from virtually every vantage point in this entire city.  But as spectacular as it looks from the outside, it is even more spectacular on the inside.  The Catholic Church has always believed that church buildings should inspire adherents to reflect on the awesomeness of God, and being inside this Cathedral is definitely awe-inspiring.

MISS – Spanish speakers everywhere.  For someone such as myself who is working toward becoming fluent in Spanish, there´s no substitute for immersion in the language.

MISS – My Spanish tutor.  I don´t think I´ll ever find in the U.S. a Spanish tutor who is happy to be paid $8 an hour to give me one-on-one instruction.  Not only that, her undergraduate and graduate studies included a specialization in the teaching of Spanish to foreigners.  Moreover, her English is exceptionally good, and thus she can use her English to help us Gringos get unstuck during the process of learning Spanish.  As a result, I suggested that she offer her tutoring services via Skype, so if you are reading this message and are interested, let me know and I can connect you with Maria.

MISS – 25 cent bus rides.  The bus system is extensive here, and you can go from end to end, and to all points in between, for a mere quarter.

MISS – $15 doctor visits.  It´s not like I enjoy going to the doctor, but in Ecuador it is normal for doctors to spend 15-30 minutes in consultation with you for as little as $15 dollars.  In contrast, last year my wife and I had some flexible spending money to burn before the end of the year, so I visited a few doctors just to make sure all of my parts were still functioning normally.  One SOB doctor spent all of about 1 minute and 37 seconds with me before he rushed back to the nurse´s station to continue his conversation with the nurses … and for that, our insurance company was probably billed $100.  The U.S. healthcare system, for all its technological advances, has become something of a sham … where you can spend a lot of money for very impersonal care.  You´ll not find that in Ecuador.

MISS – Fruit packs.  In Ecuador fresh fruit is plentiful, including many types I had never heard of before coming here.  It is recommended that you thoroughly clean fruit here since the bacteria in the water is different from what North Americans are accustomed to, and indeed some travel advisors suggest that you not eat any fresh fruit that includes the skin (i.e., strawberries, peaches, cherries, etc.).  Nonetheless, I found in the freezer section of the grocery store these big fruit packs that are called “pulpa de fruta” and that are 100% fruit.  They only cost $1.75, and you can get them in mango, strawberry, mora, naranjilla, maracuya, peach, orange, pineapple, coconut, and many other flavors.  These fruit packs make great smoothies.

MISS – Ecuadorian chocolate.  In Ecuador they produce some of the finest chocolate in the world.  Granted, you can buy Ecuadorian chocolate in the U.S., but you´ll be paying the U.S. price that includes shipping costs.  In contrast, while you are in Ecuador you can pay the Ecuadorian price for chocolate that is from cacao beans that are grown and processed in Ecuador.  Kind of like, “fresh from the farmer´s field.”  And speaking of Ecuadorian chocolate, I think I have a bar (or bars) in the other room, so I think it´s time to stop writing and go have me a nibble (or nibbles).   

On Teaching English

I´d like to share with you a little about my experience teaching English in Ecuador, as well as talk about the business of teaching English in Latin America and abroad. 

I finished up my 3-month teaching cycle a few days ago.  I taught 3 classes, which I affectionately called my Niños, Chicos, and Sabados.  In my Niños class were two boys about 10 years old, there were three teens in my Chicos class, and my Sabados (Saturdays) class was mixture of niños, chicos, and two adult students. 

Most of my students called me “Teacher.”  Maybe that will be my new nickname, kind of like the boxers who have nicknames such as Joe “Sledgehammer” Wilcox, or Calvin “MessWithYou” Jones.  Now I´m Keith “Teacher” Kreuz … not really that menacing of a moniker, but a part of me always wanted an extra name that is surrounded by quotation marks. 

I have a newfound respect for English teachers, or for that matter all teachers.  Being a teacher is not only a lot of work for comparatively little pay, but it can also feel like a huge responsibility.  This may seem odd or comical to you, but sometimes I was concerned that if I did not clarify a specific grammar point or facet of the language, that I might negatively impact their progress.  Or, if I were too firm in establishing order in my classroom, such as in my Saturday class that included rambunctious chicos, would I discourage them from wanting to learn more English in the future?

 I loved my chicos, but I am not going to miss a single one of them.  Teens are teens the world over.  I hope they all have happy and successful lives, and I´m praying that I never have to teach teens again … ever. 

The niños were great, too.  They were not nearly as disruptive or challenging as the teens were, but in a heartbeat niños can go from being on task … to building castles made of erasers, pencils, scratch paper, etc.  They can be very resourceful in finding building materials.  One of my niños, during the final exam no less, decided to see how many pockmarks he could put in his eraser.  With my niños I felt like a farmer with a cattle prod who constantly had to poke them to keep them going in the direction I wanted them to go. 

My adult students were a lot like me, they were looking for the magic key that opens the door to fluency.  But that key does not exist, for the only way to become proficient in a new language is through consistent effort over a long period of time.  Sometimes I put my adult students through drills such as  … say this … now say it again … now say it in a slightly different way … now say it in the negative, etc.  However, they quickly tired of such drills, and in spite of the fact that they still didn´t fully understand the specific point I was trying to teach them, and in spite of the fact that I know that these drills are helpful, they were ready to move on to something else.  I´ve actually searched for a Spanish teacher who will drill me like that, who will pound into my head in a fun and creative way some foundational blocks I can build upon.  But not all students are alike, and where pounding seems like it would help me, each of my adult students of English can have a different learning style.  All any teacher can do is their best to guide and inform each individual student.

With regard to teaching English abroad, it seems that many of the teaching positions for pay are in schools or businesses that cater to the rich and privileged class, that cater to this extremely small segment of society.  (At least that appears to be the case in Latin America).  And in spite of the fact that this is the clientele, teacher pay remains relatively low.  (Someone is banking the money somewhere).  So then it becomes a game of how cheaply can you live in order to make teaching abroad worth your time and effort. 

In strictly business terms, this opportunity to teach English in Ecuador has not been profitable.  My wife and I invested much more money in this opportunity than we got back in return.  But we knew that would be the case, and we were willing to make this investment in order to learn something about the business of teaching English internationally … and we were also investing in a South American vacation together.

I´ve already decided that if I´m going to teach English to the privileged class in the future, I´m going to seek better pay relative to the cost of living.  I think that private, for-profit, business schools would be the way to go.  The other option is to pursue opportunities to teach English to the marginalized, to the less fortunate, to the poor … and expect to receive little or no pay. 

The ability to speak English as a second language can be a powerful tool that gives someone more opportunities, better job prospects, higher pay … who knows, it could even lift someone out of poverty.  And if it could lift one person out of poverty, perhaps it could be a hand-up to an entire village. 

Do you think that you might be interested in teaching English?  If so, I have some advice for you.  The business of teaching English is a HUGE industry, and getting bigger by the moment.  It seems that everyone wants a piece of the pie.  There are also competing certificates, and one can be overwhelmed by the amount of choices available when wading into this business.  I did a lot of research on the industry, and decided that since I already have my college degree that the TEFL certificate was the one I could get the quickest and without too much expense.  (TEFL stands for Teaching English as a Foreign Language).  The TEFL certificate is widely accepted throughout the world, and paired with a college degree it makes you an even more desirable candidate.  The problem is that you will find hundreds of TEFL certificate providers when searching the internet, including lots of fly-by-night providers that will gladly take a lot of your money and give you a crappy experience in return for a piece of paper.  Again, I spent a lot of time researching the industry, and I narrowed my choice down to 2 very well-known and respected TEFL certificate providers.  One is called i-to-I TEFL, which is based in the UK … and the other is based in the United States and called BridgeTEFL.  I might sound like a North American snob for saying this, but I opted not to go with i-to-I in spite of the fact they were a little less expensive; after watching i-to-i videos and completing their initial assessment, I decided I did not want to be trained by people who spoke with heavy British accents.  Thus, I chose BridgeTEFL. 

BridgeTEFL provides local classes in several cities across the United States; however, the upcoming classes in Salt Lake City were booked when I tried to enroll.  As a result, I opted to do all of my training online at their online site www.teflonline.com.  I went with the 120-hour “Master Diploma,” and it cost about $420.  It took me about 8 weeks to complete the course, and I was very pleased with it.  Something else you should know is that completing the course was not a walk in the park, which I was also pleased about.  They don´t call it a 120-hour course for nothing, for that is the amount of time it takes to finish it.  You will have your own tutor that grades your assignments and is available via email to answer any questions you might have, but other than that you just read the information on the web site and watch the videos and then complete the quizzes and do the writing assignments (that your tutor grades).  When you complete the program you receive an access code that enables you to download and print your certificate, and each certificate issued has a unique number.  You can also give out your access code and certificate number to any school that might want to hire you, and they can go to the Bridge website and verify that you indeed completed the BridgeTEFL program.  Like I said, I was very pleased with BridgeTEFL, and doing it all online was very convenient. 

Regarding pay, English teaching positions in Asia generally pay better because several governments are funding the programs in order to make their people more competitive in the world markets.  I´ve heard that you can make $20K per year in Asia, and in addition receive an apartment and return airfare.  But for me, I don´t have any interest right now in going to Japan, China, Thailand, Cambodia, or any of those other places over there.  My interest is in going places where I can also work on improving my Spanish, so Latin America and Spain are my target areas.  In Spanish speaking countries you can earn enough to cover all of your expenses and bank some cash as well, especially if you can live frugally and hold the line on expenses.  As for my wife and I, we are not so much looking to make this a lucrative venture as we are looking to fund adventures.

Native and Fluent Speakers May Read Silently

You can write an email message in only a few of the languages.

Why?  Because most of the languages that have ever existed are spoken languages, and they have never taken on written form.  Humankind was communicating verbally for thousands of years, and in hundreds of different languages, long before anyone figured out how to use written symbols and letters to communicate.

Indeed, I expect that the majority of languages in existence today are verbal languages and have never been written down.  (Not sure about that because anthropologists have for many years been working furiously to document and code in written form the world’s remaining languages to prevent any more from disappearing).

The point is that language, our means of communication, has always been first and foremost nonverbal (womb, warm, hugs, kisses, milk) and verbal (hear sounds, make sounds, hear words, make what sounds like words, hear words, say words, and so on and so forth).  I was participating in conversation just fine for about the first 4 years of my life before someone stuck a pencil in my hand.  (I remember those early pencils, it seems that I was made to write for days, and those pencils would wear a groove in my middle finger between the first and second knuckles).

That brings me back to the title of this blog article:  Native and Fluent Speakers May Read Silently.  That is, they are the only ones who are permitted to read silently.  For the rest of us schmucks that are learning another language and are not yet fluent, we should not be reading silently.  Wherever and whenever possible, we should be reading ALOUD the language we are learning, and we should be saying ALOUD the language we are learning.

Say it ALOUD, and hear yourself saying it ALOUD, in order to accelerate your progress at learning a new language.  And when you’re tired of talking to yourself, or when you think you’ve been talking with yourself too much, or when society is concerned that you’ve been talking with yourself too much, get out there and talk with someone else in your new language.  You need to hear it and speak it, ALOUD, to best train your ear to hear it, and to best train your tongue to speak it.

Remember!  If you are a native or fluent speaker, you may read silently.  If not, let’s hear you!

Bike B-Gone

In January I bought a bike here in Cuenca.  I rode it home from the bike store to my apartment, and that was the last time I ever rode that bike.  In a flash it was gone … stolen … no más.

I can’t say that I was not at all bothered by the theft … I was looking forward to touring the area on that bike.  But really, I was over it quickly.

It was only a $60 used bike, and perhaps that is why I was hardly bothered.    It looked like it had been pieced together from various other bikes, and I was just hoping that it would last the few months I am here.  I had even done the responsible thing and locked it to a steel pole with a heavy duty chain, moreover it was out of site except for those who live or work in my building.  But alas, my Master lock was not sufficiently heavy duty enough to hold back the implement that was used to pry-open the lock.  The bike is gone, the lock is destroyed – but hey, I still have the heavy duty chain that was left there on the ground.

Would I be more upset if the bike was worth more … or if something of greater value was stolen from me?  A few days ago one of my fellow teachers told me that his MacBook was stolen, and he was pretty upset about it.  He had been on a Skype call with his mother, and his MacBook was in a case next to his feet.  Evidently, some thief sat next to him, and when the thief’s accomplice created a brief diversion, the MacBook disappeared.  Surely that theft was more upsetting than the theft of my used bike.  As a result, and if I might make a general statement about all of us, it seems that our degree of disappointment is directly proportional to the amount of loss.

What is there to learn from this?

First of all, realize that for every act of unkindness in the world, there are probably thousands of acts of kindness.  Refuse to focus on the bad, but instead focus on all the good.

And secondly, we would do well to be less attached to stuff, and more attached to storing up true treasures in our hearts that no thief can steal.