Wednesday, 5 June 2013
Final Blog Post
So this is it. I am sat in the exact same spot where I wrote my first blog post. Well almost. An overweight American tourist is currently tucking into a cheeseburger in my exact seat. I am one table along. But we can overlook that slight misfortune.
It feels very strange to think that 6 weeks has gone by so fast. No matter how cliched it is or sounds, it does feel like only yesterday I arrived on the Galapagos Islands. I've had the most amazing time. I could not have asked for a better family to live with. They emphasised on my first evening that as long as I lived in their house, it was also my house. If my family weren't as warm and hospitable my trip would certainly not have been half as amazing as it has been. Thank you for everything 'La familia de Loaiza'
On the flight over to the Galapagos, I frantically scribbled out lesson plans and stressed that I was in over my head. I only slept for 3 or 4 of the 13 hour flight, with my overhead light on the entire time no doubt infuriating my neighbour. Whoever you are, I apologise. However I soon realised that all my stressing and self doubt was totally unnecessary. We were assisted every step of the way and were given free reign to teach anything we wanted. Within reason of course. There was no restricting structure we had to conform to. For all the time I slagged off my students and threatened them with mental and physical violence, they were all actually great and I will definitely miss a couple of them. For the last lesson we had a little party as I said. I've never properly seen what over consumption of energy filled fizzy drinks does to a 13 year old boy until yesterday. It was mildly terrifying and I feared for my physical well being at times. At the end of the lesson one girl cried which almost set me off, but my manliness held back the tears. I was even given a letter by a couple of pupils, which will be framed on my wall, despite the fact they spelt my name wrong. Although I actually find that somewhat more endearing.
There have been so many highlights in the six weeks, but the one that stands out for me without a doubt is the snorkelling trip where I swam with sea lions, sea turtles, rays and Galapagos and hammerhead sharks. Although slightly horrifying at all times as sharks swam no more than 5 feet underneath me, it was the most thrilling experience of my trip and one I will definitely not forget. I just wish I had an underwater camera. Description alone does not even go half way to doing it justice. Another great moment was the night spent camping on the beach, despite the infamous and hideous dead leg, which almost permanently crippled me.
It's going to be strange for the first couple of days back in urban civilisation. I've settled into a way of life free of stress and for the most part responsibility. We've just about come to the end of this trip. I have an 11 hour overnight flight to Madrid followed by a final 2 hour hop over to London. I've been thinking about what might be presented as my first meal back. I'm slightly scared that in a sick, sick joke I will be presented with a plate of white rice. I will not be held responsible for my actions if that does actually happen. I'm growing slightly irate just thinking about it.
So this is it. Thank you for taking the time out to read my posts. It's been fun writing and who knows, maybe I will do it again. Unless you all beg me not to. Therefore one last time, until next time.
It feels very strange to think that 6 weeks has gone by so fast. No matter how cliched it is or sounds, it does feel like only yesterday I arrived on the Galapagos Islands. I've had the most amazing time. I could not have asked for a better family to live with. They emphasised on my first evening that as long as I lived in their house, it was also my house. If my family weren't as warm and hospitable my trip would certainly not have been half as amazing as it has been. Thank you for everything 'La familia de Loaiza'
On the flight over to the Galapagos, I frantically scribbled out lesson plans and stressed that I was in over my head. I only slept for 3 or 4 of the 13 hour flight, with my overhead light on the entire time no doubt infuriating my neighbour. Whoever you are, I apologise. However I soon realised that all my stressing and self doubt was totally unnecessary. We were assisted every step of the way and were given free reign to teach anything we wanted. Within reason of course. There was no restricting structure we had to conform to. For all the time I slagged off my students and threatened them with mental and physical violence, they were all actually great and I will definitely miss a couple of them. For the last lesson we had a little party as I said. I've never properly seen what over consumption of energy filled fizzy drinks does to a 13 year old boy until yesterday. It was mildly terrifying and I feared for my physical well being at times. At the end of the lesson one girl cried which almost set me off, but my manliness held back the tears. I was even given a letter by a couple of pupils, which will be framed on my wall, despite the fact they spelt my name wrong. Although I actually find that somewhat more endearing.
There have been so many highlights in the six weeks, but the one that stands out for me without a doubt is the snorkelling trip where I swam with sea lions, sea turtles, rays and Galapagos and hammerhead sharks. Although slightly horrifying at all times as sharks swam no more than 5 feet underneath me, it was the most thrilling experience of my trip and one I will definitely not forget. I just wish I had an underwater camera. Description alone does not even go half way to doing it justice. Another great moment was the night spent camping on the beach, despite the infamous and hideous dead leg, which almost permanently crippled me.
It's going to be strange for the first couple of days back in urban civilisation. I've settled into a way of life free of stress and for the most part responsibility. We've just about come to the end of this trip. I have an 11 hour overnight flight to Madrid followed by a final 2 hour hop over to London. I've been thinking about what might be presented as my first meal back. I'm slightly scared that in a sick, sick joke I will be presented with a plate of white rice. I will not be held responsible for my actions if that does actually happen. I'm growing slightly irate just thinking about it.
So this is it. Thank you for taking the time out to read my posts. It's been fun writing and who knows, maybe I will do it again. Unless you all beg me not to. Therefore one last time, until next time.
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Penultimate blog entry
So it is my last day in paradise and sadly it is cloudy. That however shall not hinder my plans to have a great last day.
After my extraordinary performance on the football field on saturday, I was invited back to play on sunday. I felt it a duty to avenge my unfairly judged disallowed goal and so I planted myself up front and waited. I succeeded by scoring 2 goals. The first one I will admit was easier to score than miss but was a goal nonetheless. The second one however would have been a goal worthy of the great forgotten Arsenal legend, Jeremie Aliadiere. The ball was played over the top and bounced just in front of me about 20 yards from goal. I spotted the keeper was out of position and so I struck it early and by God did I strike it well. The ball was propelled forward to goal at alarming speed and the keeper could do nothing but stand and watch. We still lost 6-3, but it did not matter one bit.
Straight after the match a few of the volunteers and I were taken out on a boat by one of the locals who works on the sport volunteer project. We relaxed, listened to music and ate dinner. Despite the fact we did not get to see the sunset, the clouds cleared once nightfall had engulfed the island and we got a perfectly clear sky to watch shooting stars. It was at that point I realised how weird it would feel once back in London where I would not see shooting stars or sea lions sleeping on benches. We stayed on the boat for around 5 hours and decided to return once everyone had started to fall asleep.
Monday brought with it the stark realisation that I only had 2 full days and the feeling of how quickly time has flown by here. I prepped my last lesson of actually teaching them something as I promised that for today's (tuesday) lesson we would have a party, alcohol strictly prohibited naturally. After lunch with my host family I returned to teach. They were all, thank the lord, in a mood to work so the lesson went smoothly. After class I returned home for dinner with the family which is really nice. My spanish has improved to the point where I feel confident enough to engage in a group conversation without totally humiliating myself. They're all so nice and I'm definitely going to miss them all. After dinner I went out with a couple of the volunteers and played some cards before calling it a night.
Today feels strange. I'm definitely excited to get home but I've also settled into the lifestyle and I have to say it's pretty amazing. I'm going to return home for my final lunch with the family before coming back to school to have a right good knees up with the students. I'm pretty confident there will be no tears but you never know. Lots of photos to follow.
So this is the penultimate blog post. There will be a final one from Guayaquil airport tomorrow in the exact same spot I wrote my first entry. So stay tuned for that. Until next time.
After my extraordinary performance on the football field on saturday, I was invited back to play on sunday. I felt it a duty to avenge my unfairly judged disallowed goal and so I planted myself up front and waited. I succeeded by scoring 2 goals. The first one I will admit was easier to score than miss but was a goal nonetheless. The second one however would have been a goal worthy of the great forgotten Arsenal legend, Jeremie Aliadiere. The ball was played over the top and bounced just in front of me about 20 yards from goal. I spotted the keeper was out of position and so I struck it early and by God did I strike it well. The ball was propelled forward to goal at alarming speed and the keeper could do nothing but stand and watch. We still lost 6-3, but it did not matter one bit.
Straight after the match a few of the volunteers and I were taken out on a boat by one of the locals who works on the sport volunteer project. We relaxed, listened to music and ate dinner. Despite the fact we did not get to see the sunset, the clouds cleared once nightfall had engulfed the island and we got a perfectly clear sky to watch shooting stars. It was at that point I realised how weird it would feel once back in London where I would not see shooting stars or sea lions sleeping on benches. We stayed on the boat for around 5 hours and decided to return once everyone had started to fall asleep.
Monday brought with it the stark realisation that I only had 2 full days and the feeling of how quickly time has flown by here. I prepped my last lesson of actually teaching them something as I promised that for today's (tuesday) lesson we would have a party, alcohol strictly prohibited naturally. After lunch with my host family I returned to teach. They were all, thank the lord, in a mood to work so the lesson went smoothly. After class I returned home for dinner with the family which is really nice. My spanish has improved to the point where I feel confident enough to engage in a group conversation without totally humiliating myself. They're all so nice and I'm definitely going to miss them all. After dinner I went out with a couple of the volunteers and played some cards before calling it a night.
Today feels strange. I'm definitely excited to get home but I've also settled into the lifestyle and I have to say it's pretty amazing. I'm going to return home for my final lunch with the family before coming back to school to have a right good knees up with the students. I'm pretty confident there will be no tears but you never know. Lots of photos to follow.
So this is the penultimate blog post. There will be a final one from Guayaquil airport tomorrow in the exact same spot I wrote my first entry. So stay tuned for that. Until next time.
Saturday, 1 June 2013
Final Weekend in San Cristobal
So this is it. Down to my final 3 days in paradise.
The early wake up yesterday was unappreciated and it did not help that it was to paint. However I had more fun than I expected. It's actually quite satisfying painting walls. No fine detail is required, just a roller and a bucket of paint. A lot of the kids from my class were at the high school we went to which was nice as I ended up getting them to do the painstaking job of sanding graffiti off the walls. We painted for 4 hours and by the end I was covered in blue paint as a result of a pre-meditated paint attack from two of the people working for Projects Abroad. Don't worry, I got them back. Legally of course. At 12 O'clock, looking like William Wallace in Braveheart, I returned home. I was slightly tempted to charge in the front door of my host family's house screaming 'FREEDOM', but I wasn't sure to what extent the work of Mel Gibson has permeated the Galapagos Islands, so I restrained myself. That afternoon in class only half the class turned up because it was 'Children's Day' here and I wondered why the UK hasn't cottoned onto this. I may have to introduce it. Anyway as a result we just played a couple of games and then I let them go 20 minutes early, which they were very grateful for.
Today I played football for probably the first time in 6 months. In the morning I helped out with a couple of the other volunteers with the trials for the local football team. They then told me to come back at 4 when the locals had a match. I duly did so. I was slightly fearful that the standard would be pretty high, but my fears were quickly washed away. And I will have you all know I actually played alright. I see myself as a Paul Scholes type player, just sitting in the middle of the park pulling all the strings. After about an hour or so, the scores were tied and we suddenly hit them on the break. I flew down the right wing and cut in, the ball was played through to me... I was through on goal... time seemed to slow down... the stage was set... head down I decided to put my foot through the ball and did so. Fabulously struck, the ball flew into the back of the net leaving the keeper red faced and I turned round triumphantly. Only to find they had called it offside. They hadn't called a single offside the entire match up until that moment. I could have broken down in tears, but I did not and carried on. In my head, I scored a legitimate goal, and that's all that matters. Humour me please.
This evening I'm going out with the other volunteers one last time, which should be fun. Then tomorrow one of the football coaches invited a few of us to go out on his boat in the afternoon which I'm looking forward to a lot. I will let you know how it all goes. Until next time.
Thursday, 30 May 2013
One Week Left
This time next thursday I shall have swapped rice for every other food available other than rice, as I will be back in London.
With a little under a week left of my trip I am going to enjoy every last moment I can. The students in my class want to add me on Facebook and I've been thinking about it and have come to the conclusion it's probably not a good idea as they would then be able to find this blog and if they translate every post, they will find out that I have spent more time slagging them off and threatening them with violence than I have praising their linguistic abilities. I may create a second name to give them and send them on a wild goose chase. I haven't quite decided yet. I also find it greatly amusing that a few of the kids are getting colds now because it's now officially winter here. The temperature has literally changed from 28 degrees to 25 degrees and they're getting sick. They shouldn't come to England then in December, they'd drop dead the moment they left the aircraft.
I've been thinking about what I would still like to do and I'm pleased that I haven't thought of anything major, other than checking out a couple of beaches I'm yet to get to. I wouldn't like to go back not having done something which I will regret not doing. Yesterday in class I gave them another test, this time on adjectives and the names of European countries. I realised half way through the class that I had failed to take down a huge map of the world but after having marked the tests, it's clear they weren't savvy enough to remember it was there. A couple of students have got really bad marks in all 4 tests and I would feel bad alerting the director of the project if they try in class, but they don't, so I don't mind. I've only got 4 more lessons with them now and for all the complaining about them, the vast majority of them are all good kids and eager to learn.
Tomorrow morning all the volunteers are meeting at 8 AM to go and paint walls in a high school nearby. Art was my worst subject at school and so if it requires a steady hand and attention to detail, I will probably take a step back and shout motivational slogans at the rest of the volunteers. They will love me for it.
Thats all I have for you for now, but I will let you know how much my dire art skills have regressed since year 9. Until next time.
With a little under a week left of my trip I am going to enjoy every last moment I can. The students in my class want to add me on Facebook and I've been thinking about it and have come to the conclusion it's probably not a good idea as they would then be able to find this blog and if they translate every post, they will find out that I have spent more time slagging them off and threatening them with violence than I have praising their linguistic abilities. I may create a second name to give them and send them on a wild goose chase. I haven't quite decided yet. I also find it greatly amusing that a few of the kids are getting colds now because it's now officially winter here. The temperature has literally changed from 28 degrees to 25 degrees and they're getting sick. They shouldn't come to England then in December, they'd drop dead the moment they left the aircraft.
I've been thinking about what I would still like to do and I'm pleased that I haven't thought of anything major, other than checking out a couple of beaches I'm yet to get to. I wouldn't like to go back not having done something which I will regret not doing. Yesterday in class I gave them another test, this time on adjectives and the names of European countries. I realised half way through the class that I had failed to take down a huge map of the world but after having marked the tests, it's clear they weren't savvy enough to remember it was there. A couple of students have got really bad marks in all 4 tests and I would feel bad alerting the director of the project if they try in class, but they don't, so I don't mind. I've only got 4 more lessons with them now and for all the complaining about them, the vast majority of them are all good kids and eager to learn.
Tomorrow morning all the volunteers are meeting at 8 AM to go and paint walls in a high school nearby. Art was my worst subject at school and so if it requires a steady hand and attention to detail, I will probably take a step back and shout motivational slogans at the rest of the volunteers. They will love me for it.
Thats all I have for you for now, but I will let you know how much my dire art skills have regressed since year 9. Until next time.
Wednesday, 29 May 2013
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