Five Weeks Teaching + FIESTAS DE CUENCA!

Feria tents near La Catedral

It's party time for the next few days in Cuenca, as it's Fiestas de Cuenca season, which celebrates Cuenca's 198th year of independence from the Spanish on November 3. Ferias, fiestas, and food are in the lineup for the weekend, as well as the Ricky Martin concert on Saturday, and I'm so excited. Today is only day one, so I have yet to see even a glimpse of what's going on for Fiestas, but I have visited some of the ferias where local, national, and international artisanal goods are sold. The streets are lined with white tents where people sell their goods, anything from jewelry to masks to kitchen utensils. I haven't bought anything yet, but it seems like a good time to get my Christmas shopping done.

Coloada morada y guagua de pan

Instituto Jose de Calasanz also had some festivities this week to celebrate both Fiestas de Cuenca and Día de los Disfuntos (All Souls Day), which is on November 2nd. We had guagua de pan (bread babies) and colada morada, which is a sweet, purple drink that has chunks of fruit in it. The guaguas de pan commemorate the souls of our loved ones who have passed away. I've actually had guaguas de pan and colada morada quite a few times because it's sold all over the place around this time of year. It's a delicious combination. Calasanz also had a vaca loca and castillo, which are traditionally fireworks displays in the street. The vaca loca is a paper mache cow that is set off, and a person dances around as the vaca loca while the fireworks are going off, and castillos are castles made of fireworks that are usually around 4-6 levels high. Calasanz didn't have the real fireworks for obvious reasons, but they had cardboard versions, and music, and a student dancing as the vaca loca. It was fun to watch, and I hope I get to see the real thing in the next couple of days.

La vaca loca  and el castillo at Instituto Jose de Calasanz

While Fiestas de Cuenca is meant to celebrate Cuenca's independence, for me it also celebrates 2 months volunteering at Calasanz and 5 weeks teaching at CEDEI. It's the halfway point for the first cycle, and while it's been a challenge I've learned a lot about teaching and the English language. My favorite part of volunteering and teaching is getting to know the students on a more personal level. It took time, but it's made teaching a lot easier. I still struggle to find a balance between making sure my students are ready for their exams and trying to make their classes relatable and meaningful. I'm hoping to observe some other teachers in the next couple of weeks to get ideas, and we do get a lot of support from the English program in terms of getting resources and answers to questions. Sometimes I have to remind myself that it takes time and experience to be a good teacher, and that I have to struggle and make mistakes to learn what does and doesn't work.

Painting ceramic nativity scene pieces

My volunteering work is easier in that I don't have to be responsible for planning classes, but they sure keep me busy! I have a fun time every time I go in, and we're doing a lot of cool things in the workshops. Right now in sewing and ceramics the students are working on Christmas projects. I help out by drawing out faces for sewing projects, teaching students how to do the stitches that they need, and helping out painting ceramic parts for nativity scene wall-hangings. The students are participating in a parade of artisanal goods on Monday. It gives the students a chance to show off what they've been working on, so I'm very excited for them to participate.  We switch workshops in the middle of November, so I'm looking forward to trying out a new workshop and getting to know different students a little more.

Me trying on the apron made for the artesanal parade.

Overall, I'm having a great time here in Cuenca. I'm definitely busy, but I find a lot of my work rewarding. Let's see what happens in the next month when I switch workshops and pick up a new intensive class!

Chao chao for now!
JOSSEL FRANCO