A new day, a new adventure

This 3rd week was by far the toughest and most interesting week so far during my journey of moving to Ecuador.  The week started with Carnival.  I honestly have no clue what the reason is for this holiday, but it is awesome and we really need something like this in the US.  The holiday is officially 4 days long (Saturday-Tuesday), although most people celebrate it for a week, and the entire country shuts down for those 4 days.  Basically, the holiday consists of parades, people shooting water guns, throwing water balloons, eggs, flour at eachother, and playing with silly string.  So pretty much this is a giant food fight and it is the only time where no one is off limits- including the elderly.  Unfortunately, Quito isn't one of the main cities for this celebration so I wasn't able to get the full effect but here is a typical picture of Carnival. 

Pretty much nothing got accomplished Monday or Tuesday of this week.  So finally on Wednesday, I was on a mission to find an apartment.  During this experience, I knew there would be some tough days where I would question everything about this new dream of mine and Wednesday was one of those days.  I got a message from the girl that I was going to live with saying that she found an apartment that she loved and was going to take, but of course the owners absolutely would not allow dogs.  So now, I was back to square one in the apartment search since I wasn't ready to give up on the idea of having Dakota with me.  I also received an email from one of the schools that offered me a job and the pesky visa situation came back up.  So by the end of Wednesday, I no longer had a job offer and didn't have a roommate anymore.  On top of that, I moved into a room at the Pastor's church offices, which of course didn't have hot water.  Pretty much this day was awful.

Luckily, I woke up on Thursday with hope- due to all of the prayers I have received from y'all so thank you!!  I decided that I needed a mani/pedi because of the stress of the previous day, so I headed over to an area of town where I saw tons of salons.  I decided to walk around on my own and stopped into a coffee shop to have a cappuccino since it was rainy.  While I was in the coffee shop, I overheard some girls speaking English talking about teaching English.  Obviously, I interrupted them and asked where they worked, which happened to be right around the corner.  I decided to make that school my next stop.  I walked in and met the guy in charge of hiring and after an interview was offered a job on the spot.  However, I wouldn't be able to start until June-grrr.  I thought, can't hurt to keep the offer for now and maybe do private lessons until June?  

On Friday, I walked around another part of town some more and was able to look at a few apartments that had rooms available and didn't mind dogs.  I found one that I liked but it was a little further away from where I want to live.  I'm still contacting places to see if there are any other options before I settle on that apartment.

Since I haven't really had the chance to meet anyone, I posted a message in an Expats facebook group asking if there was anything going on over the weekend.  Tons of people responded inviting me to things including an sporting expat meet up at Parque La Carolina Saturday morning.  This seemed perfect for me, and there ended up being about 6 of us that showed up- this is a new group that was just started so it hasn't grown too much yet.  We decided to join some locals in a basketball game.  If you know me at all, you know that I am absolutely horrendous at basketball.  I didn't contribute much to the team, except moral support and commentary, but luckily no one was good and people just wanted to have fun. 

After being at the park for a few hours, we decided to get some lunch.  Then, one of the guys invited me to a BBQ (really a cook-out) at his boss' house.  I thought it would be weird since I don't work there but he said "oh no problem, there will be people you can meet."  I should mention that this job is at a language school, and as soon as I showed up and said I was looking for a job teaching English, the guy hired me right then and there!  The people that I met were so much fun and super nice, and spoke English!  Never would have thought when I woke up on Saturday morning, that I would end the day with new friends and a job, that starts on Tuesday-hopefully.

Just thinking about this past week is exhausting and having the support of everyone back home has helped more than you can ever imagine.  

Who knows what this next week has in store for me, but I hope it just keeps getting better.  And I finally start Spanish School, so I will finally be able to somewhat communicate with people here!

Searching for a Job

First off, I need to say thank you to everyone that read my 1st post.  I honestly thought my parents would be the only ones to read it. 

Now on to week 2:

Since my family had already left, it was time for me to find a job and do it quickly.  I was lucky enough to have a family to stay with that an old co-worker of mine knew.  This family is amazing and has accepted me as one of their own.  The dad and kids know English, so that has been very helpful.  I arrived in Quito at a somewhat unfortunate time because schools were starting a 2 week break and the national holiday Carnival was coming up- meaning nothing would be done quickly and its already a much slower pace here.

On Monday, I hit the streets and started going by the schools that I knew of already plus a few that the family recommended. I had a couple interviews, and the same question kept coming up: what is your visa situation.  Obviously, I had to enter the country on a tourist visa which allows me to stay in the country for 90 days.  I was told that a job could sponsor you once hired so you can get a different visa and can stay longer.  However when I told the schools this, they said "oh no we can't hire anyone with out a work visa, and we can't sponsor anyone for a work visa"  In my head, I'm thinking "ok you can't get a work visa without a job, and I can't get a job without a work visa. Am I the only one that sees an issue with this logic??"  Luckily, that night I spoke with some people from International TEFL Academy and they explained how to get around that issue and the choices that I had.

So, with this new knowledge, I went to even more schools on Tuesday and had more interviews.  I was given 2 job offers then, but since registration isn't over they weren't sure what hours I would be able to get.  The jobs would start at the end of February/ beginning of March.  I understood this was the situation but was glad that I at least had 2 schools that wanted me.  I also had several interviews I was waiting to hear back from, so things were getting better!  However, by the end of the day, I had already gone by every school I knew, so what now?

I was able to find an expats facebook group and asked if anyone knew of any other schools that I could apply at.  People are so nice and generous and gave me about 6 more places, so I sent emails immediately.  At this time during the week, I'm sure there wasn't much work being done due to the upcoming holidays, so I just had to wait.

With interviews done, it was time for me to get a local phone.  The family I was staying with helped me with this process and I got the most basic phone possible.  I was actually surprised that this phone has a color screen and a camera!  (Sorry mom, but this basic phone even makes yours look bad)  So now, I have a local number for schools to contact me and I started riding the bus with the family!  I'm starting to feel like a local now-minus the fact that I don't know Spanish. 

Through the facebook group, I was able to meet a girl that also needs a place to live, so we have been researching places and hopefully that will work out soon.  I am so grateful that I have a family to live with, but I am ready to be on my own! 

Hopefully, I will have a solid job and place to live in the next post!

Exploring Ecuador

I figured I would start this blog so anyone that wants to can keep up with my adventures in Ecuador.

My first week here in Quito was a fun, exciting week full of surprises.  The first full day was spent "relaxing" by Jackson family standards.  My family was here for Jackson family vacation 2015.  I was so happy to have them here to help me adjust to my new life.  Travel books had said that going up the TeleferiQo was a must, so of course we went.  This is basically a cable car that takes you up a mountain where you can see the city of Quito.  Once you are up there, you can hike further up the mountain, and let me tell you the mountain keeps going and going and going.  Quito is already over 9,000ft above sea level so just being at that altitude leaves you short of breath.  Then add hiking and we were absolutely exhausted.  After catching our breath, we decided to go to Historic Old Town to see the churches.  The basilica allows you to climb up the clock towers, which is again exhausting.  However, we did get to see some great views of the city and even more beautiful churches.

For Monday and Tuesday, we had a tour guide take us around some different cities.  First up was Otavalo, which has a market that we spent way too much money at, but got some great stuff. Next was a short ride to Cotacachi, which is famous for its leather.  After spending even more money, we decided that we should do some hiking.  Angel, our tour guide, knew this gorgeous waterfall that we hiked up to.  One thing I have quickly learned is that Ecuador has no shortage of green mountains and waterfalls.  Since the Jacksons have never found a zip-line that they don't like,  we had to go to Mindo in the cloud forest for this adventure.  It only cost $20 per person for 10 lines!  This was the best zip-line we have found.  Amazing views of mountains and forest along with flying through the air-can't beat it.

On Wednesday we took a bus to Banos.  One of the great things about Ecuador is how cheap the public transportation is.  The bus ride is about 3 1/2 hours and cost $4 a person!!  By far, this was the most interesting experience.  The bus will stop for anyone along the side of the road that wants to get on, meaning you don't have to be at a bus stop at all.  Sometimes, when the bus stops, vendors will come on and walk up and down the aisle selling whatever food they have.  I don't usually ride buses in the US, but I don't think this is a common thing in the states.  Banos was gorgeous and Dad splurged a little so we could stay at a nice spa resort for the night-which ended up being very useful.  After getting lost hiking and exploring the town, we decided to go to the hot (more like warm) tub at the hotel which overlooked the city.  Everything was great up until this night.  I have no idea what exactly it was, but when I woke up Thursday, I felt awful.  Both Mom and I were sick sick sick, so we stayed in the hotel and pretty much laid down all morning, while Chris and Dad went biking. We tried to walk around the resort a little, but I ended up having to climb through my bathroom window because I was sick-thank goodness for that window. We were supposed to take a 3 o'clock bus back to Quito, but I wasn't in good shape.  From not being able to keep anything down, I had become extremely dehydrated and was forced to go to the hospital in Banos.  The ER consisted of 2 rooms and 5 beds and very very little English being spoken.

I was put in the back room with an IV for about 2 hours before Dad got me out so we could take a bus back to Quito.  The entire bus ride is along a winding 2 lane road through mountains, and the roads are not the smoothest.  I don't think I have ever prayed more in a 3 hour time span.  At one point, a lady came on the bus and made what seemed like 10 laps up and down trying to sell empanadas, and if I actually had any strength, I would have thrown her off of the bus.  Let me tell you, that is not something you want to smell when you don't feel well at all.  Luckily, Mom and I survived probably the worst bus ride of our lives.

 Friday was a day of recovery for Mom and I.  We walked around some of the parks, but I had to stop and rest every 10 minutes or so because I still felt so weak.  Everyone needed some rest, so we took the day pretty easy and the family had to pack since their flights left early Saturday morning.

Thanks for reading this and I will keep y'all updated as this journey progresses!