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Wrapping up 3 Months of Teaching English in Ecuador

The Christmas Party at my school was quite the event.  

The party was to start at 7:30 so we had decided to show up fashionably late, at 8:15.  The doors were just then unlocked at 8:15.  The place was decorated beautifully.  There were speeches, a prince/princess contest, and more speeches.  We sat at our tables patiently.


Although the school throws a great party,  there was nothing to eat or drink for 3 hours!  Not even water.  Just before dinner was served at 10:45, we got a glass of wine.  Dinner was fine and I thought we were going home.  But then they brought out the Johnny Walker Red.  We all grabbed one glass, then another, and the whole party changed from a subdued, well-behaved, polite party to a fiendish, crazed, dancing party.



We raged on until I think it was 1:30 in the morning?  Suddenly I found myself being whizzed away in a car driven by one of the partygoers.









On the way, we stopped in one of those secret places where you can buy booze through a little hole in the metal door.   Because we needed more alcohol, you see.  (Yeah, right...)  I think there's a secret code or special knock or something, the person opens up, you put the money in the hole, they put the bottle out the hole.  Very Speakeasy.



We drank vodka tonics in the car while driving over to someone's house far away.  It seemed to take forever to get there.    By the time we got to the house, I got the hiccups pretty bad, then felt sick.  All was OK but I do remember sleeping on the couch, wherever I was.  Luckily, I was among friends and they were looking out for me.

The next morning I woke up in my bed with someone's (a girl's) wallet and foot cream in my purse!  I knew I didn't put it there so I messaged my friend and told him, horrified, that I had someone's wallet with her keys and bank card inside!  Everything turned out OK but it truly wrapped up a crazy night.

The next week was my last at the language school.  It went by quickly, while I prepared for my next Ecuadorian destinations before flying back to the U.S.

Goodbye Loja, goodbye language school not-to-be-named.  I can't say I'll miss all of it particularly.  I will miss some of the people and some of my students and maybe after awhile, I'll remember the good and forget the not-so-good and the boring.  My dream of teaching English overseas has been realized and I'm looking forward to the next chapter:  traveling up the Andes of Ecuador, going to the Galapagos, then going home and starting life all over again.
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