Hello all! We´ll post more info tomorrow, but we just wanted to let you know that we´re safe and sound in Quito. We finally got some free time to get to an internet cafe and look at recent comments. It´s nice to hear from people. It´s 6:12 right now and the sun´s starting to set so we want to catch the bus before dark. The weather has apparently been pretty bad for Quito — cold (50-60 degrees) and a little cloudy. But of course, we like this stuff.
We’re all still safe, holed up in the Fairfield Inn Mariot. The hurricane hasn’t been too strong here and we’re hoping it will hurry up and move on so we can fly out of here soon. Right now Tim and I are in a group scheduled to leave on a flight on Monday evening so hopefully that will pan out. We’re still bonding with the fellow volunteers, but we’re ready to get to Quito. take care.
Our trip to Ecuador has started off quite excitingly. Yesterday, our flights from Milwaukee and Chicago went resonably smoothly. We had an hour-long delay coming into Miami, but made it there with plenty of time to make our connection to Quito. Unfortuantely, Frances scared the bejeebus out of the airlines and our flight was canceled. It isn’t abundantly clear why our flight was canceled, since there was another flight to Ecuador that successfully left within a half and hour of our flight and the weather is just now (11:46am) starting to deterriorate. But at any rate, it looks like we will be bonding in Miami with the other WorldTeach volunteers for a few days. We’re set up in a hotel in west Miami and according to the weather channel, we shouldn’t be in the hard-hit zone. As far as flights out of Miami, currently we’re scheduled to leave on Sunday, but it’s hard to know when the airport will begin functioning again. So, we’re trying to make the most of it. And Tim and I feel pretty lucky, first of all to be safe, and second to have all of our luggage! Unfortunately, quite a few of the volunteers are missing some of their baggage. We’ll try to keep this blog up to date as long as we have hotel internet… Hopefully we’ll soon be writing from Ecuador!!!
We miss all of you already
1) Guidance counselors at West High School will alert Keesia Hyzer (the English Department Chair) to the large number of students lamenting “Mr. Storm’s” absence. Students will bombard the guidance office rescheduling lines in attempts to get the second best English teacher.
2) After a month of so, the English teachers at West High School will finally put their finger on why this year seems so strange: Tim Storm isn’t here!
3) Cashiers at Bagels Forever, Whole Foods, The Sushi Box and a half-dozen other Madison establishments will, sometime in October or November, turn to one another and say, “Wait, you remember that one guy?” (the others will know immediately) “He hasn’t come in in a while.” Conversations detailing Tim’s best qualities will ensue.
4) Tim’s high school friends will forgive his years-long negligence in keeping in touch and, growing curious about his whereabouts, will descover through googling and the grapevine, that he is to be admired anew for his purely selfless act of volunteering in Ecuador for a year.
5) Upon arriving in Ecuador, Tim will immediately draw attention from the 30-some other volunteers and program coordinators for his cool demeanor and quick wit. Over the course of the four-week orientation, Tim will dazzle attendees of social gatherings with his newly acquired guitar virtuosity and his captivating stories and jokes.
6) Tim’s Spanish will come back so naturally that after one week of the orientation Spanish classes, he will be withdrawn and given private lessons by an Ecuadorian college professor.
7) The Ecuadorian owners of the one or two internet cafes Tim frequents will be so impressed with his gregariousness, his Spanish fluency, and his computer skills that they’ll allow him free internet access, and they’ll greet him with an enthusiastic Norm-from-Cheers-like salutation every time he walks through the door.
8) Tim’s English classes in Ecuador will require little planning. His students will be delighted at all times with their expert teacher. The whole experience will be stress free for Tim.
9) Back in “the states,” Tim’s friends and family will read his website fervently. They will love it. They will tell their friends.
10) Upon arrival back in Madison, Tim will have more friends than when he left. They will greet him at his Madison home and help him move back into his house. It will take one day.
Tim has done some last minute work on the website check it out and let us know what you think.
We are leaving Madison tonight. We’ll drive down to Mequon, WI to stay with Tim’s mom tonight and tomorrow. Our flight leaves at a painfully early hour on Thursday morning. Flying from Milwaukee to Chicago to Miami and finally to Quito, we’ll get in to Quito pretty late Thursday night. The first night we are going to stay in a hotel and then Friday we’ll move in with our host family.
Tim and I are excited to finally be on our way. We’ve been planning for this year for so long it’s weird to think we’ll actually be on the plane in two days.