getting everything together

This is my first entry in my new Ecuador blog! I am planning on updating this much more than I did on my last trip/blog.

So I graduated from UMD this weekend and it feels great to be done with undergrad! I am excited to move on and experience more of the world. I am really going to miss Duluth though, well, the summertime. I am glad I won't have to endure any more Duluth winters! Most of all, I think that the transition from college life to "real world" life will be a challenge, especially not being able to see friends and classmates everyday. But, así es la vida...such is life.

Anyway, in case you are curious...I leave for Ecuador June 7th and return July of 2010. I will be living in Cuenca, the same town I studied in fall of 2007 through CEDEI. I essentially made a 13 month commitment, which for me is a big deal. I think that I will not only be able to teach my students a lot, but also learn a lot about myself--that's the plan anyway.

In order for me to teach in Ecuador for a year I must get a VIII Cultural Exchange visa. For this visa, the majority of documents that you need are going to be sent to you by someone who works (usually a lawyer) for the school to which you will be employed (if working as an EFL teacher). You have to then mail those documents along with a your passport, a doctor's note, and a background check. I will have to go down to Chicago for a meeting at the Embassy as I leave in 17 days...the plus side is that I will have my visa in hand before I leave the meeting so that cuts out a lot of stress of having to wait for it in the mail.

Here's the school's website that I will be teaching at (it hasn't been updated in a few years but you get the picture): CEDEI School. I will be filling in for a teacher that is returning back to the states for a little over a month and then doing some odd jobs until the school year starts back up again in September. The students are very young 4-7 and I imagine that it will be a sort of Ecuadorian "Club Care" (an after school/summer program that I have spent the past few summers working at with 1st and 2nd graders).

If you are interested in learning more about Ecuador, please visit these links:
you tube video: Ecuador, life at it's purest
wikipedia: Ecuador

That's all for now. Next time I update, I will be in Ecuador!

Cuidense todos (take care everybody!),
e.Lo