I'll try again next week somewhere else

Sunday morning I headed off for la Iglesia Cristiana, Sendero de la Luz, which I hoped would be a nice protestant church. Turns out it's a pentecostal church (not bad in and of itself, because the one I loved in Venezuela was also Pentecostal), with the craziest pastor's wife you'll ever meet. All the Ecuadorians were nice and normal enough, but there was something about this woman that seemed to me arrogant/hypocritical/scary/cultish. And just my luck, not only did she lead part of worship (I did actually really like learning spanish worship songs), but she gave the sermon, too! I ended up not even staying through the whole service because I had an 11 a.m. meeting with my supervising teacher, John. I thought I'd have enough time to stay for the whole 9 a.m. service, but she was only on her 3rd of 5 points when I left and they were going to have communion, too!


Anyway, John picked me up with his wife Nancy and two kids, Robby and Maya, in the back, and we drove to his house in Tumbaco. It's huge and has the most amazing views of the surrounding mountains! We then went to a pizzeria with outdoor seating and a playground for the kids. It even had a pen with rabbits and ducks! We chatted about travels, teaching opportunities (I've officially entered the international circuit), and his many life experiences, and I'm more and more impressed. He successfully competed and then coached high level rowing in England, has been cycling competitively for decades, used to do mountain marathons, has spent most of his life in Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Colombia, and now Ecuador. Some things are strange/not impressive, such as his perpetual tardiness (though he demands punctuality from everyone else) and his forgetfulness (though I suppose he does cover it up pretty rapidly). Nonetheless, it was a great afternoon.

By 3:30 I was doing what the whole point of the afternoon was: looking through all the textbooks, past exams and papers, and other resources John has at home that are too numerous to bring into school. I found some good stuff, but because I still don't know exactly which topics I'll teach some of the classes (it depends on where he leaves off), I lacked direction in my searches and will most likely have to return.

I returned home just in time to see that the Bears were winning, but after watching Bailando por un Sueño with Monica (dancing couples are eliminated each round and the winner gets money to fulfill his/her dream), they had lost to the Colts. Sorry, Dad. Maybe next year.