Livin' La Vida Loja

 It's interesting to think about that the State of Emergency has already been for a week by now. The mood has changed and shifted a lot: people around me became calmer, and although most foreign teachers at our school are still a bit shocked, things are slowly back to normal.  Keep your fingers crossed that we could return to the schools from Thursdays on.  My eyes aren't that sore anymore - I can keep up working in front of the computer for even 1O hours (8 teaching hours today, + 2 training hours). Life is back to normal, just my little grumpiness, and things I'm thinking about. Food and such. When to go for shopping. Need to get some eggs. Running out of oil.  Interestingly, our gas, which we bought like 4-5 months ago, still holds on... But, that's ok. Our oven is powered by electricity, and even the hot water is not connected to the gas tank, so I hope it still has some weeks in it. (My biggest fear is that I'm cold or super hungry, and I need to cook something...

 It is comfortable to be back in my introvert cave, besides, I also work a lot - though sometimes I'm too stressed to concentrate - I'm doing my best. Today, I had a 4-hour session and a couple of private classes (all online, of course). I have planned to attend my usual book club (online and it's even overseas) , but only for a very short time due to extended screen time.  My only real news in it that I found a corner close to my desk where I could put my computer on the shelf, so occasionally, I can also stand up. So, I don't need to be sitting the WHOLE day. I'll change my positions quite a few times from now on. (So interesting, right? xD livin' la vidaaaa at its best.) I made layered potatoes (the typical Hungarian dish :-) ), but really, nothing new to tell.  The outside noises are back to normal: even the trash car is operating again. I can hear the cars or trucks passing by.  Yesterday I got a message from the Embassy, saying that long-term busses aren...

As a teacher urgently left yesterday, I got new classes. Of course, I didn't have the books for the new class, so I had to go to school. I asked Fernando to pick me up, to give me a peace of mind (Pop was having his own classes at that time).   So, that also means that today was the first time I went on the streets. I must say it really doesn't feel different, though I was more alert.  Shops are already open, and the language institution was open too - the personnel was there, except for the students. It wasn't lively, but it was nice to see some familiar faces.  In the class, there showed up only one student. She told me that the rest of them had probably believed that it would be cancelled. Well... on Monday, we are going to have a test! So.... it's kind of a pity they weren't participating in the revision class. :-)  I'm not afraid or anything, it was nice to take a short walk in the sunshine, and it was good to chat with some colleagues, as well. But I'm...

 Just a bit on a side note and meandering on options.  The past 2 days made me realize how fragile those words like "security", "safety" and etc. are. I don't mean that I'm hell of a scared of the armed conflict happening now, I'm taking the necessary precautions (like not leaving my house EVER). But the fact that things can get out of control and spiral down in SUCH A SMALL TIME - that one is the scariest part.  Of course, I have a lot that I don't know. It's like a map of the jungle: a lot of white patches, undiscovered truths (whose truth is it anyway?), or species to which no attention was directed yet. All I'm doing is to read articles and dig myself into forums and discussions and discovering or realizing that Ecuador has a lot of ties with Mexican cartels is quite chilling to learn. Not in a relaxing way.  You can dig into it yourself too, as there are tons of information about it how the negotiations with FARC have affected Ecuador. I...

 I would lie if I said that I had a sound sleep. It was a heavy rain during the night and every time (once an hour) since 4 am, I woke up to the raindrops hitting the gutter hard, imagining, that a drug lord is trying to get into our flat, through our house.  But, luckily, that wasn't the case. I was also cold. Plus, everyone looked scared and shaken, especially after the attack of the TV station yesterday. But luckily, those attackers were captures. Let me show a couple of articles I was reading about the unfolding events:  https://www.eluniverso.com/guayaquil/comunidad/leves-precipitaciones-y-pocas-unidades-de-transporte-se-registran-esta-manana-en-guayaquil-nota/ https://www.eluniverso.com/noticias/ecuador/fiscalia-formulara-cargos-por-terrorismo-a-implicados-en-incursion-armada-en-tc-television-cuantos-anos-de-prision-pueden-tener-nota/ https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/10/americas/ecuador-macias-state-of-emergency-explained-intl/index.html And also some forums, I was t...

 I would have never thought that this was going to be my first blogpost in my favourite country of the world. Wheww.. What a day. And it's not over yet!  Last night, Mari, my landlady just sent me a message that from that night on, there would be a curfew and no one is allowed to leave after 11 pm. I was a bit like what? For what? Since, I'm normally oblivious to the environment around me. And, selfishly, my first thought was: but I was going to Brazil soon, I need to be on that bus that takes me to Lima! What would happen with THAT bus? With OUR flight? And my friend, who's coming soon. How are we going to go on trips we had planned?  But nevermind, it's Ecuador, the buses will run - or so I thought in the morning.  I searched Reddit and some news channels, where I found some info that 2 heads of drug cartels escaped from the prison. Prison and situations in prisons were quite problematic for a while by now. As far as I know, most drug cartel members are imprisoned,...