Puente Cultural Service and Teaching Abroad Grant

Hello! We are back with another blog post, bringing everyone up to speed with our situation in this ever-changing world. On May 9th we celebrated being in Ecuador for 10 months, although these last few have not been what we planned for! We have now been in quarantine, with pretty strict regulations, for over two months (starting on March 12th). We still have a curfew of 2pm-5am, parks and business interiors are closed, wearing a mask and gloves in public is obligatory, travel out of the country and between provinces is still difficult and strictly regulated, and driving is heavily restricted based on license plates. In the morning until 2pm we are able to go out to get groceries if necessary, and some places have begun to operate with extreme caution (small tiendas are open but you cannot enter, you order from outside). Food delivery services are in operation until after the curfew begins, which has been very helpful to small businesses (and to us on days we don’t want to cook). Although parks are closed, I did get out to take a walk the other day, which was great for my mental health. In these times I’m definitely wishing we had a porch or terrace! For now I’m grateful for the sun that shines into my room from my little window.

The country has moved to a “stoplight” system, in which each province can choose to be in red, yellow, or green, with each color bringing a different level of restrictions. All provinces started in red, and as they slowly begin their attempts to return to normal, they can choose to go into a state of yellow and then to green. Cuenca has stayed in red since the announcement, and although this past week we heard some rumors that we might go into yellow on Monday, it was announced that we will stay in red until at least May 24th. Although this whole time we have understood the importance of protecting the community and staying inside, we did get our hopes up a bit that things might start moving forward.

Abandoned Plaza de las Flores, usually filled with vendors selling flowers

We have been keeping up with the news from the United States, and everything we see is telling us that for us, the best decision was to stay in Ecuador. We miss our families so much, but we have been very disturbed by the images from the U.S. Honestly, the protests against the stay at home orders seem so ridiculous to us, because in comparison to the restrictions we have had here for months the rules there are pretty lax. Here there have been some protests, but for a completely different reason, and they look very different. It was announced that government financial aid for university students was to be slashed drastically; and students have been protesting the threat to accessible education, but in a responsible fashion. Everyone has a mask, and not a single person is armed- unlike the protests we’ve seen from the U.S. As mentioned, we hope that soon we can move toward some more lenient restrictions in a safe way for everyone- with the heavy reliance on the informal economy here (street vendors, etc), many people and their families are struggling after going so long without work.

University students protesting

Another protest here in Cuenca- to symbolize killing the education of young people

That said, we are still spending just about all of our time at home. Now that we are almost halfway through the cycle, we have found a bit more of a rhythm with online teaching. At first it was really overwhelming having to learn multiple different platforms in a short time, and then in turn help our students learn what we barely understood, all before actually getting to the English part. Over time, though, it has gotten easier and we have been able to find new ways to make connections with our students, and new ways to make a class fun online. I am sure that these skills we are developing now will be useful in the future, for example engaging with technology in ways that we never had before! Although it has been nice to have something to do during the day, prepping for online teaching has proven to be more involved than for in-person classes, and though I was super productive at the beginning of the cycle, I am growing more tired as time goes on. As I’m sure many people can relate to, working from home is hard on us mentally; there is no clear line between work time/space and personal time/space. All things considered, we feel very lucky to have a job in such an unsure time for so many people.

How some of my classes look- my students are in the top right side of the screen!

Although we love our students at CEDEI, we definitely feel a hole in our lives here in Ecuador left by our inability to volunteer at our organizations. We find ourselves thinking about our students a lot, and hoping they are doing okay with all of the changes in daily life. For me, I am really missing my students from Calasanz. I was at the school with the students when the initial national 2 week suspension of classes was announced, and I never thought I would have to go this long without seeing them again. Of course the pandemic and quarantine is a disruption in the lives of everyone, but for students who are differently abled, such a massive disruption of their normal lives and schedules cannot be easy on them or their families. I have no way to contact or see them outside of the school, so I can’t wait for the first day that classes resume to go give each and every one of them a hug, and to see all of their smiles!

The absolute best part of this month was my birthday on April 27th. Of course since Jhoseline’s birthday, we had talked about mine and how we wanted to celebrate with all of the friends that we have made here this year. I even had a dress picked out! When quarantine started I, like many, didn’t realize how long it would last and hoped it would end in time for my birthday. Unfortunately it didn’t, but we still had the best day EVER, and I felt super special and happy, all thanks to Jhoseline! When I woke up that morning and went into the kitchen to make a coffee, as I do every morning, I was immediately greeted by the house absolutely COVERED in gorgeous balloons and decorations. It was all so colorful- there was a 23, FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS, a rainbow, hearts, and more multi-colored balloons. There was even a Coco table cover, my favorite movie! She was so thoughtful, and I couldn’t have ever anticipated having such an incredible person by my side for this birthday before I met her in the Cleveland airport in July. Throughout the day there were more surprises- she had bought my favorite wine and the face cream I use everyday but was basically out of (how she knew that, I have no idea). Then, she surprised me by ordering lunch (for delivery) from my favorite Mexican restaurant here in Cuenca. It has been so long since we’ve been able to eat there, and the food was even better than I remembered! Later, we received another delivery (another surprise), which was this incredible, decadent chocolate cake. Later, we put the candles on it, and just before we cut it and sang happy birthday, Jhoseline surprised me by having set up a Zoom call with my family so they could sing with us as we cut the cake! She truly thought of everything, and did so much to make the day special. All of the surprises were amazing, but the most meaningful part of it all was us making the day special together. She knew how excited I was, and went above and beyond to make it an amazing day! I didn’t feel like the day lacked a single thing- which is quite a seal of approval for a quarantine birthday. So many other friends reached out with sweet messages, so many that I didn’t expect, and I truly felt loved. Hopefully when this all starts to get back to normal we will be able to see our friends again to celebrate- whether for my birthday, or just life. Jhoseline and I have definitely experienced more than our fair share of ups and downs in our time here, but I couldn’t have even pictured in my mind a better person to experience it all with. I’m so thankful for her and this life we’ve created together here. Although it looks like it will be a process, we are excited to get back to that life we love so much. If you made it this far, thanks for reading!