Post Office and English Class

After weeks of checking the local post office for a package my parents had sent over a month before, I learned that it was most likely sitting in the Correos of the larger city, awaiting pickup on a Monday, the one day per week when the customs officer is present. I learned this fact last Tuesday.

I showed up diligently at 9:30 AM. After waiting in Line 1 to report myself present, I was promptly notified to go around the corner and photocopy my I.D., then wait Line 1 again. While waiting Line 1 the second time, I ran into two retired American couples who live in the town close to my site. Due to its forgiving climate, cheap cost of living, and custom-made leather goods (maybe?), this particular town has become a hotbed for retired folk.

Line 2 took much longer. Everyone with a package waited until their name was called, then the customs officer searched each package and declared an import tariff. Already a difficult system to hurry through, the customs officer spent over a half hour on each one. I chatted with the Americans for a while, and, after two hours, when their names were called, I stood waiting in the company of a large Ecuadorian family. During the 45 minute check of one American couple, the Ecuadorians began complaining. ¨¡Apurate!¨ ¨¡Vamos a estar tarde para recoger los niños a escuela!¨ ¨¡Todo la mañana por un paquete! ¡Qué bestía!¨.

I began joking to those around me that my wedding was at noon and the tuxedo was inside my package. ¨Oh, how angry my fiancé will be!¨ ¨Everyone is waiting, I can´t leave her at the altar!¨ The laughs kept going until the post office staff got wind of my predicament. The Ecuadorian family began calling me ¨El Novio¨, and used my situation to hurry along the entire process. I finally got called at 11:45, and with a few box cuts, tariff payments, and good luck wishes from the staff and my new friends, I was on my way.




English Class Update: I now teach English to sixth and seventh graders on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Although there is still some resistance to me as their teacher, the kids are warming up. Today was my first pre-planned lesson. (Previous impromptu ones have included saying our names and singing the Alphabet song.) I brought some fruits and vegetables into class to teach them the english names. After spending most of class throwing the produce to each other while saying the name, we played the game ¨Vegetable, Vegetable¨.

For those of you who have not attended HMI (and therefore learned this in the Colorado wilderness), it goes as such: 1) Everyone sits in a circle facing each other and chooses a vegetable. 2) Everyone covers up their teeth with their lips so they are not showing. 3) One person ¨calls¨ another using their vegetable names. For example: ¨Broccoli, broccoli calling swiss chard, swiss chard. 4) Swiss chard then calls another vegetable, all the while taking care not to reveal teeth. When you laugh, i.e. show your teeth, you are out.

They seemed to enjoy this game, and many others I have introduced, including Wah, Ninja, Ichi-Mini-Hoy, and Bumpety-Bump-Bump-Bump. I guess acting like a school kid and laughing over goofy games is a worldwide language.