What Ecuador has Taught Me

I can sum this post up in one word.  Patience.

By the end of March I will have spent three months working and living in Puerto Ayora in the Galapagos Islands teaching English to kindergarten children. It's a far cry from the fast paced cities of my native England and the more relaxed yet bustling cities of Australia where I lived for most of 2013. In fact the pace of life in the Galapagos is so slow even the giant tortoises who frequent the Islands move faster, and for anyone who is interested their top speed is five miles per hour.

I mean don't get me wrong, I was expecting life here to be different but there are some fundamental differences I just wasn't prepared for.  For example,  your air conditioning is broken.  You call the repair man who says he will arrive in an hour,  but what he actual means is he isn't coming at all.  See Ecuadorians have a problem using the word 'no', so instead of telling you that elusive word they simple fob you off.  The issue is that you never know when you are being fobbed off or when they actually mean what they say.  Cue hours of frustration for a variety of situations,  including broken air conditioning,  asking for directions and scheduling any kind of appointment with anyone.

The Ecuadorian sense of time also differs from my British sense of punctuality, where eight actually means seven forty five.  Here arranging to meet someone at eight actually means they will be arriving between nine and ten and of course will neglect to let you know.

This South American lesson in learning to go with the flow of life is further compounded by my chosen profession whilst in this slice of equatorial paradise.... teaching.  Mind you,  not only teaching but attempting to impart a new language to children between the ages of two and five.  Incidentally out of the fourteen children in my school less than a quarter spoke any English and my Spanish was limited to about ten words when I first arrived on the island.  I'm happy to report it has much improved since.

I remember my first day at school vividly, it was a combination of energetic screaming children running around in a somewhat kind of organised chaos looking at me as if to say 'who the hell are you'? The ones that ventured over to play with me soon got frustrated or lost interest when they realised our languages were incompatible,  for my first few days I really did wonder what the hell I had done.

However, I am a big believer that every country you visit teaches you something and I will be forever grateful to Ecuador for what it has taught me as it's been something I have sorely lacked in my whole life.  Patience. Now rather than clock watch whilst waiting for a friend I enjoy my drink and the view, read a book or just soak in the moment.  I manage to count to ten and breathe before tackling the group of five year olds that think it's hilarious to sit with their backs to me in class. Perhaps most importantly I have learned to go with the ebb and flow of life,  and realise that those things in life I thought were catastrophic, such as broken air conditioning and the lack of a repair man are actually mole hills and not mountains.  I am pleased to say patience is now a much bigger virtue in my life.

Oh and for those of you who were wondering what Australia taught me,  that is a whole other post.... or twenty.