I enjoyed helping with this project because it gave the students a way to practice English outside of normal vocabulary and grammar lessons. Also, I liked reading the booklet because it taught me more about the city I’m living in. Now, I have more ideas about where to visit and what foods to try.
Last week, I asked my friends about gyms here in Ibarra, and one of them recommended a gym called the "IronBull Fitness Center". My first time, I met my friend there so he could show me around. I love staying active, so I was very excited to get back into an exercise routine. It’s about a 20 to 25 minute walk from my apartment, but I usually jog to the gym as a warm up, then lift weights or do other exercises when I get there and stay for about an hour and a half. Yesterday, I even saw one of my students from class there!
This weekend, I took a walk with my friend to Parque Bolivar, a huge park in the middle of the city. About 20 years ago, it was actually an airport. Then, the city decided to turn it into a public park with running and biking trails, patches of grass and trees and playgrounds for children. Because it’s such a nice park, there are many fruit and juice vendors eager to sell to people spending time with their families. After exploring for a while, my friend and I sat down in a little shop and ordered fresh jugo verdes, or green juices. They had celery, apple, pineapple, lime and some ginger. The juice was so good and so sweet, even though they didn’t have any sugar added! Fresh fruit and juice is something I will miss a lot when I go back to the U.S.
