Happy Shield Day

I had really intended to write this blog update last weekend. If I had, it would have been filled with the excitement and anticipation of taking the small business training course through CIDE. As it is, you are getting the update from after me finishing the course, so I just spoiled that ending—I in fact completed the course.

Two weeks ago was a pretty typical week of programs. The only major thing that stands out was art. One of the comments Holly made in her transition report was that in the future it might be good to try having projects that take more than one day to complete. We attempted that this time with picture collages. The students were supposed to cut out pictures from magazines to glue together to form a new picture. The results varied, from series of animal pictures cut out in boxes glued next to each other in no intelligible sequence to the profes’ art, which looked like what I had originally planned. However, the project did last two days, with some students actually splitting the time between two days to make a more complete project. Bottom line, the project was a mixed success but leaves room for us to try more two-day projects later (issues with regular attendance and latecomers at least currently limit what kinds of projects we can do on a daily basis).

Erik also got a call from CIDE Thursday morning asking if we could come in for a meeting about our upcoming course that afternoon. We can’t ever meet in the afternoons, so we scheduled a meeting for Friday morning instead. With such a last minute meeting before a class that was supposed to start on Monday, I assumed they were calling us in to talk about how we couldn’t have the class next week. Boy was I wrong. We ironed out the last minute details, were given a huge shopping list of supplies, and told the room number where the class was going to be held on Monday. It was a TON of last minute work for us, but the class was going to start on Monday. It was pretty exciting to think that Erik and I were finally going to get trained to teach small business classes in the community. I also cooked alone Friday, because Haley and her novio were off exploring Ecuador! It went well, except for the facts that 1) we had no Tupperware in the house so I had to use pots and pans for all of my prepping needs, and, 2) I had to turn everything off and leave the house a 5:40 for a 20 minute paseo (fieldtrip) because we had no vegetable broth and walk all the way up to the Tia because all the tiendas between here and there didn’t have anything but chicken (we use maggi-brand bullion cubes for all our broth needs. Thanks, maggi broth).

Last Saturday was a blast. Mike and I had a soccer game at 2pm, and we were short on players this time. We both started and I played the whole game. That is so, so much harder than it was in high school for so many reasons: I’m out of shape; I’m no longer at 50 feet above sea level; The field is much bigger; the halves are longer; and, even in high school as a starter you would be subbed in and out so others could get playing time. All those reasons aside, I made it through the whole game and had a lot of fun. I had an assist for a goal, my first in all my years playing soccer (I play outside mid here rather than defense like I did in Texas), knocked a bunch of players down because I am a giant, and even forced a yellow card on someone.

After the game, Mike and I rushed home, showered, and headed over to a birthday party in the community. Emelia, one of the cutest girls ever, turned 5, and we were invited to her birthday party. The main feature of the party was a clown. Yes, clowns are still popular here, and with all age groups. He “entertained” us for probably two hours, with all the Ecuadorians rolling in laughter. The part I enjoyed most was when he had some adults sit on the floor (again, including me and Mike), and had us scoot on our butts to the other side of the room in a race. First prize went to Mike, and first prize was a whole bottle of whiskey. Sadly, because of our no drinking in community policy, we didn’t get to taste the fruits of victory, but it still makes for a story.

I also pulled off the triple crown of chores on Sunday. I went to Aki (the grocery store) after 9:30 mass, to the markets with Erik after lunch, and cooked dinner with Sonia.

My eventful weekend was followed by an eventful week. We had to be at ESPE, EScuela Politecnico del Ejercito, or the military polytechnic college, at 8am for classes. That meant I was up at 6 and out the door 7ish. Even trying my hardest, it was impossible to go to bed before 10:30. We had to bring the coffee maker from our house (along with a lot of other supplies each day), walk a mile up to the highway, and grab a crowded bus. CIDE (centro de innovación y desarrollo emprasario) had promised to bring some students as well, but we had a smaller class than we expected. It was Erik, myself, Marina, Wilson’s (from EPV, the microfinance organization we work with in Rumiloma) daughter, her cousin Tatyiana, and Carlos, the one CIDE recruit. Remember, this was a 25 hour class designed to certify us to train small business class instructors. It was totally in Spanish, and really for people who are fluent. The first project we did after introductions was one that involved following verbal instructions-we had to make paper cups. At one point, Erik, who is basically fluent, raised his hand and said, “Lo siento, pero no tengo este vocabulario,” to which Maribel, who was leading this exercise, just smiled and continued. They class was like that all week. The concepts themselves were not complicated (that’s the point of the class), but the Spanish was brutally hard. We had class five hours a day, and with only five students I was expected to (and did) participate fully, adding commentary, following directions, and presenting segments. This class was GREAT for my Spanish. I understand a large majority of what is said to me, and I can now respond for the first part with making notes beforehand.

I have some other anecdotes from the class. The lesson Monday was all over teaching styles, learning styles, the role of the instructor in this class (Fundador), and the specific teaching style we use: Metaplan. I don’t know if this exists in English, but all information is put up on colored strips of construction paper, everything is written in caps with no more than 3 lines of text and 10 words per card, and using colors that stand out. At the end of class on Monday, we were given a little time to read over the descriptions of four different types of teaching styles in our HUGE binder and then told to each act out a teaching style. The whole class did poorly. But even with my broken comprehension of what I read and said while performing, Giovanna at least had (wrong) guesses for what Erik and I acted out, but didn’t even have a clue for what the Ecuadorians acted out. That was one difficult Spanish-based activity.

The first thing we did Tuesday morning was take an 80 question quiz to determine what learning style we have. Again, this was brutally hard. The questions were up on a projector, and we had about as much time to answer each question as it took for Maribel to read them aloud. This exercise was wickedly fast. It turns out that Spanish Chet is a reflexivo teóratico (reflexive theorist, or possible reflective theorist). The most important questions for my learning are ¿Qué? and ¿Por Qué?

Wednesday was probably the hardest day, because it was the day we started going into college classes and teaching units in Spanish to the students. I’m not sure, but I think it was borderline the kind of stuff you would have to get a waiver signed for in the States. Erik and I taught a unit on business organization. I had to teach an hour and 15 minute unit on basic organization, with a taller. There were some problems, and we were crunched for time even ending half an hour late. Overall, it went better than the other taller on markets we had that morning. It was also an invaluable learning experience. You think public speaking is hard? Try it in a language you don’t speak over a subject you know almost nothing about (Erik loved this, as a business major this stuff was right up his alley). After all of these, we had retroalmientación, or feedback, which was just another example of the kind of language proficiency I had to use on a daily basis; I had to say what went well and what could have gone better about everyone’s group.

Thursday was the start of units of production, with a very involved Taller on production “ensalada de frutas.” We spent half an hour making a fruit salad in front of a class of students, pretending that it was an international cooking show. I had the easy role; as a famous international chef I had to cut up fruit and talk in English with my assistants. Erik had the worst job; as “his show,” he was supposed to translate everything I said (and I was told to talk the whole time) into Spanish for the class. Then, we had a lesson on fixed and marginal costs, and figuring out exactly how much to charge for your product (fruit salad). This was Econ 101 stuff, so I knew all of it, even in Spanish. Supply and Demand can transcend even a language barrier, and I loved it. However, I had Spanish lessons at 2pm in Rumiloma, 45 minutes away using a 3 bus system, and we straight up walked out a 1:40. Needless to say, I was half an hour late to class.

On Friday we had my favorite project, again on production. We were split up into two teams, and each given the same assignment about a small marmalade factory that we were supposed to mathematically analyze, say what the factors limiting production were, and then redesign the current factory layout. I basically did everything between me and Tatyiana, which was fine because it was easy. Then, when we started presenting first, I was met with a new surprise. Maribel, who was playing the role of the company owner, treated it as a business presentation! She asked us for our fake credentials, would interrupt and ask why we did that or how much it would cost, and other things that made it more of a simulation and less of a presentation. Luckily, it was Friday and I was much more comfortable with my Spanish. At one point, I told Maribal “you have to spend money to make money” (well, technically, I said “you have to pay money to create money”). I could barely keep from laughing after that. Tatyiana and I won, and Erik was so pissed. He raised his hand and asked why we won, and then during break he and I had a longer conversation in English about the merits and flaws of his plan. But, at the end of the day, the Econ major beat the Business major at his own game.

In addition to the difficulty of having 25 hours of class in Spanish, the early mornings and busyness added a lot of extra strain to my normal workload. It was hard to both prepare both a one hour unit on business organization and a lecture and worksheet about the past perfect continuous verb tense for the same day. It was hard to get up at 6 everyday. One thing we were in charge of was bringing snacks (and coffee) everyday. I used 5/6 of a pound of coffee for 5 pots, and there were no complaints. I will say, problems or obstacles that seemed much more challenging before this week seem smaller now. I am also much more indifferent to tasks that used to annoy me more (hopefully that will stay). I guess I know what a “real job” would be like now.

Happy Shield day From Ecuador. Remember, Correa prohibited public celebrations on Halloween (yea, the article is in Spanish, but it will be good practice for you, the reader, especially since you can probably guess what it is saying.) It is the start of a four day weekend here, so tonight we are all taking night busses to Canoa, a sleepy beach town about 8 hours away. Mike and I have a soccer game soon; hopefully we will win again.

Until something else exciting happens,

Chao,

Chet Polson
Fundador de Fundadores

Song of the Blog: “Bigger than my Body,” by John Mayer