For Thanksgiving, the school had a half day and a staff Thanksgiving celebration. Our host mom also made us all a wonderful meal and we all FaceTimed our families. It was hard being away from home for the first time on a holiday, but we all survived and videoing helped.

The first weekend of December we took a bus to the Otavalo market. The market was very fun and we all got our Christmas shopping done! I only spent $100 and I bought gifts for 11 people. While in the market you will need small bills like $5 and $10 and you will have to bargain with them. I am not much of a bargainer so I just would say no if I felt the price was too high and then they would drop it lower. Sunday we went to the interactive science museum and it was pretty fun, but going to a museum in a language you are not fluent in is a bit challenging. Almost all the museums in Quito are free on Sundays!

December 5th we had a half day that consisted of Quito Festival celebrations for the day. Then, Thursday and Friday we had no school because of the Festivals de Quito. We spent time in Quito seeing the festivities in the historical area of Quito. It was wild having a 5 day weekend practically and the students are a bit hyper today now that they are back, but it is to be expected!

The second weekend in December we went to Mindo! We stayed in a cabin in the mountains called El Eden. It was a bit challenging to sleep at night for two of us because of dust allergies, but we survived. During the day we did the tarabita for $5 which is a cable car that travels across the mountains. The cable brings you to the hiking paths that lead you to waterfalls you can swim in. I would suggest wearing your swimsuit under your hiking clothes and bring a lot of snacks and water. In total, we did about 6 miles hiking to each waterfall. Our favorite food place in Mindo was El Canaveral, it was cheap great food! They also have free wifi there! I would suggest to future travelers to stay at a hostel in the town area because being up on the mountain we were a 40-minute walk from town or a $4 taxi ride that was way overpriced. We stayed one night and did the waterfall hikes and the chocolate factory in one day. I would have loved to do the ziplining, but we were all SO exhausted after the 6-mile hike we were ready to leave by 5 PM that night. The bus ride there is 3 hours of travel on 3 different buses.  The buses were $4.10 in total and the chocolate factory was $8.

This week we have an almost full week of school and it is my last week teaching the students. I am settling in and gaining their respect at this point. Today as I greeted my students into my class for block 3 I realized I will miss my students! The time has gone by so fast here and I cannot believe we only have 9 days left here. I am very thankful for all the life experiences I have had here and the challenges. I have learned a lot about teaching my students in the ways that work for them.