Hoy No Fue Mi Día

So, it’s expected that this one will be a little bit shorter of a blog, but then again I always think that so we’ll just see. Anyway, an update on my life so far…

            I started classes at USFQ today. Wow. I’m not really sure what to think, so I’ll just tell you and you can decide. First of all, the day didn’t start off great because as of last night I have finally gotten sick in Ecuador. I don’t know what it was exactly what I ate, but I was pretty much completely miserable last night (up and down a number of times) and this morning felt just about equally awful and very tired, even though I didn’t have to wake up till 8:00. But our maid gave me some hot water and oregano which amazingly does help calm your stomach. My friend Hilary and I were going to meet and take the bus together at 9 to make it to our 10 o’clock class on time, but apparently the bus works decided to go on a strike this morning (sort of). I guess they negotiated something for the moment because I think the buses were supposed to be up and running again right around 9. In any case, they were this afternoon. So, my family took me to school, but like lots of families, especially Ecuadorian ones, we were a little late…and traffic wasn’t the best. So, I got to USFQ right about 10 and then had to walk across campus and without too much trouble find my building and classroom, only to walk into the class room full of legitimately Ecuadorian students (my first class is supposed to be Intermediate Spanish Conversation… not too many Ecuadorians I wouldn’t think). Upon getting the syllabus I discovered no, I was sitting in a 200 level seminar course. Nice.

So I went to the Information desk to have them tell me that I needed to go to the Registrar if my class location had been changed. Then, conveniently, the person in the Registrar’s office told me I needed to go to room G302 to talk to them there. So I go up 2 stories (luckily in the same building) and discover that wow, there is no rm G302!!! Nope, there is 301 and 303 with a blank, locked door between them… but no 302. So I say basically “Fuck it. I’ll send the teacher an email later.” I went and found some friends from WU and used one of their phones to call Pete because he has that class with me. He said that the class was moved to the International Office temporarily because they don’t have a room for it yet and to go there on Tuesday. I met up with him and he showed me where it was and there was a sign on the doors saying class was canceled although really it wasn’t because the teacher just explained the basic goals of the course today. Pete kind of filled me in, although I had also read the syllabus online. In any case, I still sent the teacher an email this afternoon… It would be great, but I also feel like novel, if she got back to me.

Next, I had volleyball, which I also walked around a little bit trying to find the right place only to have (I think a basketball coach) tell me and a few other students that our professor wasn’t here and would be back Monday. Also lovely to know. So, I had nothing to do for about 3 hours so a few of us again just chilled together on the lawn… I think I took a short nap, I read a little, chatted a little. Didn’t eat anything because I still wasn’t feeling up to it.

            Finally, at 2:30 I had my art class, which was also a little difficult to find, but I managed to with not too much problem. There were only 7 of us in the class today, 3 international students from the US- one girl from UO who spoke very good Spanish… and also a blonde-haired, blue eyed guy named Jose Esperanza who spoke beautiful (probably native) Spanish too. I was a little bitter We waited about ten minutes for other students to show up, then we went over the basic fact that we are going to be learning basic drawing, and the materials we need. There were a couple missing from the list that I had to actually pay attention to make sure I wrote down the right word. Our teacher told us that he had studied/worked in the US, including in the Albuquerque and Santa Fe areas. I also learned today that we need to attend an hour a week of the open workshops on Fridays from 10:00am-4:00pm. So much for no class on Friday. Also, some of my other friends who are taking an art class said their teachers either said it wasn’t that important that they go every week or it wasn’t necessary to go the first few weeks because they’d have nothing to do… Also sweet. So after waiting 3 hours for my 20 min class I finally took the bus back to Quito. Exhausted, dehydrated, and basically just annoyed at this point I made a quick trip to ACLAS to use the computer & internet there where I did successfully download Skype onto one of their computers, although I’m not sure exactly how the call quality is because I didn’t have my headset to test it out. Hopefully tomorrow, sometime in the afternoon after our initial visit to the place we’re going to be volunteering.

There are about 5 of us doing our social work at an old-folk’s home not too far from ACLAS, and therefore my house. It’s called Therapy of Companionship, and we’ll be just talking, playing cards with, and occasionally helping with feeding of the people there. I am hoping to work on Wednesdays. So we’ll see how that initial visit goes.

Ummm, que más? Marco left back to the US finally today. We went out to dinner, and then drinks and dancing with him on Tuesday night. We had to dress up, although no one was quite as dressed up as he was in his pin-striped suit. But we did learn that it is very likely he will be coming back in about three weeks… He said his parents could use a bit of help right now so his plan is to take a leave of absence from WU, enroll at Chemeketa College (a community college also in Salem) and take online courses through there while he is here in Ecuador. Then, he would return to WU next semester with all of us. We all know it’s cuz he doesn’t want to leave us. But admittedly it would be really cool if he could pull that off. I guess we’ll wait and see. There are pictures from this night as well- I sent out the facebook address to a few people again, and if you did look at these pictures you will also have noticed that I pierced my eyebrow. It was a legit little place, very clean, and in total only cost $10 and about 5 min of my time. Didn’t hurt too bad at all. They do put this numbing stuff on the skin here where you are getting the piercing but for me all it really did was make my eye twitch. And then a little pinch on the way out with the needle and I was good to go. I had some sea salt left over from another piercing so I was ready with my salt-water cleanser right away. So far no problems and I love it and many have told me that it looks like I’ve had it my whole life. Except for my host mom who doesn’t like lip or mouth or tongue or eyebrow piercings, but loves belly-button piercings. Intersting.

No real plans for this weekend- at all. But we’ll first have to see how I feel and see if I’m even up to doing anything. I better find something productive to do or it will be a long four days till I have class again Maybe I’ll visit Marco’s parents (the best part is, I’m not joking.) :p

Oh, Lacy, Hilary, and Lacy’s 10 year old Ecuadorian niece who speaks both English and Spanish, and I went to see Batman on I think Sunday or Monday night. It was pretty good. Now I just have to see the one that came before this movie, Batman Begins We had to wait in line for a while and we were at the front so a couple of the boys who work at the theater were talking to us. Lacy thought that if we went and paid for a movie one more time then the next time we should be able to score some free tickets Yeah well, we’ll see. I’d probably be more excited if I could actually remember the last time before now I only paid $4.25 for a movie. :p I still feel like I’m getting a pretty good deal.

So, like I said, this one turned out to not be any shorter than the rest so I hope that you enjoyed spending just as much time reading it. I am just pleased that for all intents and purposes this day is basically over. And it’s days like this, sick, tired, irritated with the school system, and feeling stupid yet again because I wasn’t born fluent in Spanish, that I start to miss people… (Well actually I already missed them, but I guess now I can think about it a little more.) Probably because this is the first time since I’ve been in Ecuador I haven’t been busy. So I guess that’s a good enough excuse… In any case, I think I am going to take a nap/sleep till morning now. And I know tomorrow got to be at least a tad better.

Christmas Shopping in August

 

First off, YEA!!! I am officially done with my Spanish intensive classes at ACLAS! I think they finished up pretty well. My oral presentation on the responsibility of news stations to the public to broadcast accurate and clear news went well and I felt fairly decent about the written final exam. Did you know there are about 5 different types of subjunctive structures in Spanish??? Do you even know what subjunctive structure is in English…? Anyway… that finished up well and although my brain still can’t function fast enough to use all these tenses correctly in speech, I do feel a lot more knowledgeable about the Spanish language and a lot more comfortable in general speaking it. My real only fear now is that because we don’t have the classes at ACLAS anymore I am going to just plateau here with my abilities, but for that reason I’ve decided that I’m going to try to spend more time with the people who are interested in speaking Spanish continually these next 4 months. My friend Hilary and I are pretty good about it and try to speak to each other in Spanish as much as possible, and Pete and I speak in Spanish when we go running which for some reason I am convinced is more of a workout than running and speaking in English.

I looked up the syllabus and course description on my classes at USFQ as well and I’m actually pretty excited. There was no description for my Spanish Conversation class but I hope that that will be very helpful in continuing my Spanish learning… and I’ll probably meet more foreigners from all over because I doubt too many Ecuadorian students take that class I am also actually really excited about my art class. We do get to do figure drawing at the end of the class. And we do have a text, but it’s online and in English. I’m not taking basketball anymore because I didn’t want one class on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays and it looked like I was going to be the only one in the class. Hopefully I can just go into the gym when it’s free and shoot around. I am taking volleyball though still and I’m excited. It’s real volleyball and it sounds like the purpose is actually to learn the skills and play and not just to be a joke. We have our orientation on Monday for the whole school and then start classes on Thursday, WEE!!!

Anyway, as for this weekend… after our classes on Friday we took our group trip to Otavalo which is known for it’s indigenous arts fair. We arrived in the evening and checked into our hotel, ate, and then walked around the town a little bit but not much of anything else. The next morning a few of us got up early (5:45) to go see the people setting up for the market, then came back for breakfast then went back out to start the buying. It was pretty incredible actually. It was quite a hopping farmers market. Bartering is a huge part of the culture and it’s not rude in the least, it’s actually expected and part of the “game”. I hate doing it, but it really wasn’t too bad because it mostly consisted of you making an offer, them either accepting it of lowering their price a little, you sticking to your price and them either agreeing or sticking to theirs. Then if you start to walk away many times they will call you back and say ok. It’s quite comical actually- for me. These people really aren’t too proud to do any of it and it’s all just part of their business. So I didn’t have to work too hard and I got a pretty good collection of Christmas presents (and a few things for myself) for about $60. I was impressed with myself; although I might have to make another trip back later (it’s only a couple hours by bus). It was really incredible to see all the different work that was done… There was of course lots of alpaca wool blankets and ponchos and such (I got a really pretty yellow little blanket), lots of very pretty embroidered table cloth like pieces, and an endless supply of beautiful scarves of all sorts of different colors. I found so many that I liked but I ran out of people and places to by them for. They were impressive though and found myself wanting to buy all of them. Basically, this market was set up for people like my Mom, aunts Joanne and Kathleen, and my Grandmother. Grandma Pat would have been in heaven. I tried to take some pictures although they don’t do it all justice in the least. I also quite enjoyed all the elaborate wooden pips. It was a pretty fun experience.

At noon we took of and ate at Cuicocha (the lake when I had visited with my old host brother and his girlfriend). And then went to a town nearby that is known for all its leather products. A couple girls bought some pretty nice leather jackets for about $60 so… we’ll see how the rest of this trip progresses and I might have to make a trip back there too We stopped by the place I went before to get more biscochos before coming back to Quito. We finally got back about 7:30 but we were all sufficiently exhausted so it was no problem calling it an early night. My host family went to the beach this weekend so it was only my host brother and I last night and today, but it was good to have a relaxing time to do nothing.

This morning I slept into to the ridiculously late hour of 9:45 because this was the first day since I have been in Ecuador (including weekends) that I have not had to wake up early for something. Pretty crazy when you think about it. I went on a nice run today, took a shower and now am just relaxing before I have to get up SUPER early tomorrow to go to orientation at 8 am tomorrow morning. Bleh.

But overall, many purchases and less than $100 later I feel like this was a pretty productive weekend.

First Big Weekend Outside Quito

This weekend I took my first legitimate trip outside of Quito all by myself (with 19 other people) 15 of our group at ACLAS, our friend Marco (whom you all already know well from my pervious blogs), and 4 other students who are studying abroad at another university in Quito this semester all went to Baños this weekend. Baños is about a 4 hour bus ride south and a little East of Quito. (There is more to the name of the city that I can not recall at the moment but it is Baños de “someone”.)

-Just a little bit of extra information on why we had 4 other random kids with us before I continue… One of the boys, Adolfo (who is completely fluent in Spanish because his parents are from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic) is staying with the sister or my friend Pete’s host-father. So they are host cousins. If you followed that all I applaud you because I even confused myself the first time I said it. But yes, so Pete knows him, and through Pete Marco knows him and met the others. The go to a school called Keene State in NH. Anyway, they accompanied us to Baños this weekend and were a fun addition to the trip.-

We left right after classes on Friday and didn’t do too much exciting the first night in we were there. I and 4 others of our group went to an Italian restaurant for dinner that took forever but had good food. That night after we had all checked into our $12 a night hotel ($12 per person, but still a pretty good deal for the type of room we got) we went out to do a little clubbing. At this point, because some of our boys had bought a sufficient supply of Tampico orange juice and vodka for the bus-ride up, a few of our party were already un poquito buzzed but the rest of us went out and had a pretty decent time as well. In one bar we all received our first shot free- which was called a Bob Marley and consisted of three colors of alcohol stacked on top of each other (I will let you guess which three colors) and I’m assuming 151 rum (or an equivalent) on top because it was lit on fire. We took the shot with a straw. Not going to lie, the flaming bit at the end was a little hot After that Marco was more than kind enough to share his seemingly endless supply of Tampico and Vodka with all of us. Good man, that one. But we went to a discoteca in which we danced the night away. First experience dancing on a bar… Adolfo got some good pictures of that that are sure to appear on facebook… :/ But it was interesting. We also met 3 kids who go to USFQ so that was kind of cool to just know them beforehand. One had really good English and was quite a sweetheart- one of our group is thinking this could be her Latin lover. We shall see. Most of us called it an early night and went back at about 12:30 to get some sleep before enjoying the other aspects of Baños.

The next morning a large group of us (but not all) woke up and rented bikes to go on a bike ride to see the waterfalls that are a little outside of the city. We had a map that showed a 22 km ride but we are still not sure if we went the right way, or possibly a bit past where we were supposed to go. We saw some waterfalls from a distance but never got up close. It was still a good ride though- most of it was downhill or flat, but there were a few hills as well which were a sufficient workout, even thought Baños is at a bit lower elevation than Quito. There was a truck waiting for us at the end to take us back to the city- but we had to pay the driver $1.50 more than the $5 we paid to rent the bikes. Que lastima!! We had a little bit of time when we got back, enough to eat lunch, before we took off to go rafting. This lunch period was my first experience with chicken feet in soup. The soup was good, but the chicken feet were a little tough to handle. Kayla was going to try one but the sheer awkwardness of how they looked was just too much. It was eerie for sure. But after lunch we piled into a van/bus with 4 kids from France to head out on our rafting expedition. The French kids sang the whole way, and the whole way back and it was funny for a while, but then just got loud. On the ride back, our guides and drivers were fighting with them by continuing to turn up the volume on the radio. I laughed. But that’s because I was totally on the side of the guides. Anyway, there were 16 of us total who went rafting and we split up into 3 rafts. Pretty much, it was a ridiculously fun experience. The whole time I kept wondering why I had never done it before. We had some pretty nice waves and our guide was awesome. All of them were really- you could tell they loved their jobs. Part way through the trip we stopped at a random little place where we all got to do a little cliff jumping before we continued on. That was pretty cool too. After we finished up the rafting trip we went back a little ways to a restaurant where they served us dinner, also very good. Finally we returned back to Baños where the guides invited us to come out and party with them later. All that for $25 (although I decided to give them a $5 tip.) That night I completely crashed, although the others did go out and did end up eventually meeting up with some of the guides who proceeded to tell them that any time they wanted to come back rafting was free of charge. Sounds good right? Haha. Regardless of missing another eventful night, I felt great off my 10+ hours of sleep the next morning. We woke up and ate a huge breakfast, but very good because for $6 I didn’t need to eat lunch. Afterwards some of us went to check out the actual hot spring for which Baños is named for, but it was warm during the day, and the spring was ridiculously crowded. I didn’t feel like spending $2 to be uncomfortably and crowded just for the experience. We also decided that for $7 round trip on bus it was cheep enough to come back later. After, a couple girls went bungee jumping/swinging. I didn’t go watch because I stayed in with mi ñaño (Marco… this is the native Quichua word for brother. We spent the whole weekend calling each other by different forms of “brother” and “sister”. Sister is ñaña. Crazy concept huh?) Anyway, I watched part of the game with him and then Adolfo came by and asked if anyone wanted to go on a ride on the motorcycle/bike he rented. Our group signed wavers saying we couldn’t operate machinery here in Ecuador, but we never signed that we wouldn’t ride them, so I went with him. I think I could really get into motorcycles. They’re kind of fun. Anyway, we went along the same road we had ridden our bikes on, and a bit further and through some of the tunnels we couldn’t go through on bikes because they were long, dark, and wet. We also were able to go right up to another waterfall that I couldn’t before which was pretty cool. I took picture which will be posted on facebook soon. When we got back it was about time to catch the bus home. We took off at about 3:20 and managed to sleep a little bit on the bus. We finally got back to Quito probably about 8:00, más o menos. Finally got back to my house about 8:30, had me a bowl of cereal, a bowl of rice, and a glass of I think peach or apricot juice and called it a night. We managed to convince our two teachers to not give us homework so I had nothing to worry about coming off a vacation of a weekend. That was nice.

So overall, it was quite a nice little break from reality and school and I finally got to start feeling like I was on vacation here in Quito, because we all know that that was really the purpose of the trip… right? Anyway, last week of ACLAS and Spanish classes this week so we’ll see if I can survive all of this before… I start more school. Sweet.

Wow. Algunos Cambios…

So, I’ve had some very recent and drastic changes in my life. (Ok, only really one but still…) I changed my living situation today. Because of an unfortunate happening yesterday I no longer felt comfortable staying with my previous host family for another day. Thanks to Fernando’s (and Eugenia’s-via phone because she is not here at the moment) patience, wonderful support, and attentiveness I was able to get a new family this afternoon/evening.

            My new family (named Fiallo) lives still very close to the school (on the other side of the major street 6 de Diciembre) and actually pretty close to two other girls. Conveniently I can still walk to ACLAS in about 5 (maybe 7) min. My new family consists of my new mother Ximena, new father (who’s name I haven’t caught yet), and a brother who is older than I am but I am not sure by how much- working age, named Andres. They are the only ones who live in the house, but my family is a bit bigger than that. I also have an older sister, also named Ximena, who is married too…Alex..? maybe…? With maybe three children… a small baby who was very good the whole time they were here, a 3 year old son, and a little girl who must have been about 5 (I think she was their daughter too). It’s a very busy family and house, or at least it was this afternoon. A bit loud with crying children at times (not your perfect place Dad) but I think it will be alright. The kids are cute. And we have a dog! Named Betty (I think… that’s what it sounded like at least.) Ximena (the daughter) speaks English I know- she studied in Maryland, but I get the feeling that they all do a little bit. I know at least my host father lived in the US before. They speak very quickly, and all at once, but for the most part I understand. I took that as a personal accomplishment.

            They were also not ready for me, of course, but I got settled in pretty well, pretty quickly. That’s the nice thing about not having much stuff. Impressively, even without the stolen duffle bag (that was never replaced), I managed to fit all my stuff into the luggage I still had. Not quite, but the majority of it… I was impressed. I think I have as many shoes as I do clothes here. It was also easier because one pair of my stolen shoes hasn’t been replaced either so I had one less pair to worry about. But I’m all moved in now and it wasn’t much trouble.

            This house is bigger than the other- it is an actual house, not an apartment, and it’s nice. Looks a little more lived in because there are more things and stuff in it (including lots of toys, which the little boy, also named Andres, told me he had a lot of.) :p There is also a flatscreen tv (not sure if it’s plasma) but I was mildly impressed. Unfortunately, my one bit of bad news, there is no wireless. Duh-duh-dun….. Sad day, I know. So I will have to make my skype phone calls earlier during the day, and probably less frequent, and I won’t be able to facebook IM chat into the night. Alas, I think I will survive. I’m not sure if there is internet in the house or not, but I’ll find out soon I’m sure. I don’t think I’ll have any problem using the internet at ACLAS though.

            My new family has had many exchange students from ACLAS before but not for a few years because many things happened in the past few (the only thing I really caught was that the daughter got married.) But Eugenia called Ximena (la madre) and asked her to house me and she agreed. They were all very welcoming and accommodating too. I wish I knew more ways to say “thank you so much” in Spanish. I don’t think anyone understands how grateful I am for them taking me in. I will have to buy them something nice to show my appreciation (because yes, unfortunately, the books I brought from home are at the other house.) Also a beneficial fact, my family likes coffee very much (and not instant stuff) AND without sugar. They don’t use much sugar because it’s not as healthy. I like them. I will have to maybe think about taking some back (coffee, not sugar) to the US… we’ll see. Overall, I am just so happy to be here right now.

            I also learned today, amidst how unfortunate people can be, how great they can be as well. Pete was supporting me and there for me the whole day today with all the uncertainty, and every one of my other classmates I talked to offered me a place to stay at their homes for tonight if I didn’t have a home yet. Marco was very adamant and very excited and insisted I stay with he and his parents for the night… and then live there. He said his mother would love having a daughter in the house, and I could be his sister, and it would be great! He’s pretty much too cute. We decided that even if I didn’t stay with him (which is obviously what happened) when we both got back to school at WU we’d still call me his little sister… Good kid. Good people actually, all of them I am surrounded by. So even in a time of complete upheaval (ok, maybe not complete but still) I feel very blessed to have the people around me that I do. It’s the little things like that that work to restore my faith in the people in this world. And… NOW I HAVE A DOG!!! Estoy alegra ahora.

Independence Day Weekend…and Such

So, first off, in the last entry I said that August 10 was the independence of Quito, which is a complete lie. It’s the independence day for Ecuador when the first war for independence was fought…in Quito. Now that that’s settled I can continue.

Well, Friday night after I wrote the last entry, my friend Hilary and I went on a date (una cita) to the movies. That was a little adventure in itself. First, we took a taxi… to the wrong theater- the driver’s fault, not ours. So we walked a few blocks to find the right movie theater. That was surprisingly easy. But then once inside the shopping center we struggled to find the actually movie theater that was obscurely placed down some stairs at one end of the shopping center with no real signs that I could see. And of course we couldn’t ask anyone because it was kind of an accomplishment to be able to find it on our own. Although we did laugh at ourselves when we had to turn around and walk past a group of boys twice and imagined what they were thinking… probably the accurate “oh look at those two white chicks who are lost!” “Mira! Esas gringas están perdidos!” (Write that down, it’s an important line I’m sure you’ll need next time you visit a Spanish speaking country. Nonetheless, we found it and watch the movie The Ex (with Zach Braff) for $4.25… in English, but with Spanish subtitles. It was fun. I appreciate cheap movies.

The next day, Hilary, Cassie, Lacy, Stacy, and I went to the Centro Historico to partake in the many festivities of the weekend. We went into a few museums and a few churches, all were open and free with very quick tours just to give you a taste. We learned a little about the Sucre (Ecuador’s old money), Bolivar and Sucre themselves, and got to go down below into a catacomb of one of the churches. Also we hiked up a San Francisco type hill to get to the Basilica, and then proceeded to climb more stairs and ladders to get a view from the top, which was completely worth it for sure. Because there were so many people, I followed Fernando’s advice and didn’t bring my camera. We ate lunch at one of the plazas where Cassie and I discovered that in Ecuador “Nachos con Guacamole” is Doritos chips with guacamole. Very interesting… very disappointing. But hey, you learn something new everyday.

After, we met up with our friend Marco and went with him and his family to watch the light show in the Presidential Plaza and hear music and the national anthem. After, we were treated to pizza and of course Pilsner by his parents. Very generous people.

[Here I feel I need to clarify who Marco is. We met him at WU before we left last year. His parents are from Ecuador, he was born in theUS but moved back here when he was 5 or 8 or something, then joined the Marines, then moved back the US for school-WU. He is here in Quito visiting his parents till the end of this week, then he has to go back to school at WU. Anyway, his parents were very welcoming and his mom insisted that we come visit, stay, eat, or ask her if we ever needed anything- even once Marco is gone. I agreed. ]

Yesterday, we traveled into the valley East of Quito to have a BBQ at Marco’s parents’ other house as a bit of a going away party for him. The house was apparently Marco’s dad’s (also named Marco) dream home. It was pretty fantastic too. They go every Sunday after they close their shop at 2pm in Quito and we were invited to come back with them then too. Good people for sure! We could dwell on the fact that I ate 3 chicken legs and 2 pork chops for lunch yesterday, but I think we’d all prefer I didn’t.

So that was the weekend! Full, yet again.

Ok, now by request of the madre, I will attempt to give some description/insight into Quito. Although I cannot guarantee that I will come close to doing it justice.

The city basically runs north-south with the mountains and volcano Mt. Pachincha to the west and the valley (where Marco’s parents live and where Cumbaya is.) We all live in the Northern part of the city, and ACLAS in located here. Cumbaya is also in the North valley. The south of Quito is the poorer district, and the Centro Historico is in the South as well. It is a plan of mine to eventually take and put up pictures of the Historic district…sometime. But for now, it is just full of many churches and museums and little shops built into the walls as you walk down the streets. The streets here are also very narrow, which does not help with the chaotic and psychotic traffic. And no, this is not one of those things you can just say “it’s not bad, just different”, drivers here are insane, changing lanes constantly, turning from the wrong lanes, honking when they cut other people off, driving in the middle of the road, drifting into other cars, running red lights… fantastic stuff really. (I’m terrified.) Anyway, I digress. The city is evidently part of a third world country just because the buildings are older, more rundown, much like Mexico I think. Even in our part of town where it is richer, the neighborhoods still look like what we would consider slummy. The shopping centers on the other hand are like any other. Different shops and same shops. Same kinds of shops anyway. American brand clothing is more expensive here because it’s all sent from the US. But our teacher told us about another shopping center in the South of town that has all the same clothes, only cheaper because the people in that part of town cannot spend as much. We’re going to check it out sometime, then I can give more feedback. There are a lot of dogs in the streets as well, to accompany the many poor venders on the corners- mostly indigenous people, or the small children or old women who stand in the streets or in front of business doorways asking poor money with outstretched hands. It is definitely different from any place in the US, but surprisingly it is something you get used to very quickly. You also learn to just walk past people without a word too. It’s a little sad when you think about it, but that too is part of the culture as well.

Another kind of store here that is very popular is the SuperMaxi or MegaMaxi. It is like WalMart superstores in that they are all-inclusive, but more expensive. That is where many people do their food shopping though. Also, panaderias (bakeries) are pretty prevalent. There are also tons of little tiny corner stores all over. They told us that Ecuador was like the US about 50 years ago, and although I can not accurately make this comparison, it seems like in some respects it is accurate. In dress, it is much more conservative here, except for the times when women wear tight pants with calf high stiletto boots and tight shirts often showing midriff. Interesting extremes…

The buses are set up in different systems. There is one that runs north-south along only one street, and another that runs north-south on a street more west. There are also two systems that run all over they city in any direction, although I have not, and don’t plan/need to use either of these soon. There are other buses that go into the valley as well, which we will be using to get to USFQ. All the buses cost 25 cents a ride too. Not too bad. Taxis are a huge mode of transportation here as well and you can catch one very easily. During the day it is not too expensive, but at night they turn off the meters so you need to ask how much your ride to your destination will cost before you get in or you are likely to get ripped off. Not to say that they won’t still try after as well… but here, Taxi drivers are not supposed to be your best friend. It really is just as easy to use one of the trolleys if you have the time though. It can get quite ridiculously crowded sometimes in the trolleys, but you do save a bit of money. We really only take taxis if it is late at night.

I’m sure I will continue to learn more about the city as time goes on and I will be just as unable to accurately relate these things, but I will continue to try my best.

As for now, I have written basically a novel and I need either a nap or to start on some hw. I feel like we all know which will probably inevitably be executed first, but oh well. Siestas are probably still my favorite part of the Latin culture.

Ciao!!

Little Bit Before the End of the Weekend

So, I thought I’d just throw in a little bit about this past week before the weekend. Not that I’ll have so much more to write about after this weekend, but I’ll have a little.

This second week of classes went by much more quickly that the first as we proceeded to learn more vocabulary, direct and indirect objects, the future and conditional tenses (there are like 3 different applications), and today I had my midterm, a four page paper due, and a 10 min oral presentation. It’s been an “intense” week for sure. The classes live up to their name. I test was tough, but I felt pretty good about it. The paper too. The oral exam a little less. That was because I had more I wanted to talk about but I didn’t have enough time and so I couldn’t really wrap things up like I wanted. We will see on Monday though, how all that went.

I had a dream last night about doing my oral presentation in class today… but it started out me talking in English and then I realized it and couldn’t figure out why they were letting me speak in English…and then I started speaking in Spanish- then my alarm went off. I had another one today during my siesta (those exams wiped me out!) and I was speaking in Spanish but my host mom was speaking in English. Interesting. They say dreaming in another language is when you really know it, so maybe this means I’m actually learning it but not quite there. At least it’s progress.

I ran again yesterday and it went much better. I ran more slowly than the time before, and I think that must have helped because this time I could go for a little longer than just one time around the park. The time before I had to stop and walk a little bit. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m trying. I played basketball today instead. When I say played, I mean I shot around at a little park down the street from ACLAS with a not so good ball on a hoop with no net (which makes it much bouncier). But it felt good to have a basketball again. I do indeed miss it terribly.

Oh! My host mom, my friend Cassie, and I also took the buses to USFQ this week- to get the feel of it and find out what buses to take. For me, it will take about 20 minutes. The campus is pretty small, but pretty. There are also a lot of food places near by (lots of icecream shops) which I am excited about. Cumbaya is a richer part of Quito in general and that was pretty evident, so it will be a different experience yet again going to school there.

I am trying to speak a little more with my family too. I have my on and off days where I either feel really good about Spanish, or I feel like it’s a complete struggle. But I am trying. The other day I had a conversation with my host dad over “tea” (which consisted of mostly him talking to me- but I understood most of it!) about what happened to end my last relationship, and then about there not really being a point to life if you weren’t helping or sharing it with others. Also, he didn’t know why people were afraid to have kids, and he was interested in what I wanted to do after college. (All slightly cautious subjects in English :p but he is funny, so it was ok.)

This weekend, Sunday the 10 to be exact, is the 200 anniversary of Quito’s independence and there are going to be a lot of people and activities going on in the Centro Historico tomorrow. Fernando advised us not to take cameras, but I think some of us will go and just enjoy all that’s going on, and then I’ll write about it later. Tonight, I think that some of us might be going to a movie- not sure which one, but if it’s in Spanish it could be interesting…

More after the thrilling weekend I’m sure, although it won’t be quite a long.

I survived another week! That’s quite an accomplishment.

Week One (Officially in Quito)

So after about 2+ hours of homework (only because I did some yesterday) I decided to write another what is now a blog entry. I have officially finished my first week of Spanish intensive classes and I am thoroughly exhausted (even after the weekend-wtf?!) The first two hours of class are on grammar work- and a bit of conversation. The conversation in these feels a little more forced but I guess they’re going well enough. The third hour we have a different teacher, whom I really like, and that is the conversation and writing part. She knows English as well (our other teacher doesn’t) and for some reason I feel more confident speaking Spanish to her, maybe because I know that if I can’t manage to get it out in Spanish then she will still be able to understand me. She is also very supportive too. She taught us a few bad words in Spanish on Friday :p (I knew most of them, one from home… apparently it’s quite a bad word here although we throw it around very freely at home.) Differences.

The classes are a bit “intense” only because of the homework load and the sheer massive amounts of new vocabulary that is thrown at us everyday. But that is what I really need to get better. I feel like I am understanding better though- until someone asks me a question of course. :p It always seems like it’s then that I don’t get an important word. I wonder/feel like my host parents must get frustrated… and I also hope that I don’t come off as rude. These are my little feelings of stress for the moment. I just have to try to talk as much as possible… that’s really the only thing I can come up with. God I wish I had more vocabulary! :p My head hurts. (No really, it does.)

Ummm, well Pete and Gwen and I went running on Friday around El Parque de Carolina which is close to ACLAS and Quicentro the big shopping center. It’s about 4 km around I think and we just did one lap. Gwen was feeling a little rough, and Pete said he felt like he was having liver failure but could probably have gone another lap, or at least more. I personally didn’t feel like I got that extraordinary of a workout. I was a little disappointed actually. It’s probably because I’ve been eating so much here and had all this store calorie energy Hence why I need to get on this exercising thing again. But Pete and I are going to run again tomorrow (just the two of us) and I think we’ll go a little longer.

Friday night we went to a place in Quito called “Gringolandia” (the term “gringo” here is not derogatory, it’s just how they refer to white people), it is known as Mariscal as well though. It is a popular place for “gringos”, rich Ecuadorians, and really slummy Ecuadorians. Weird, I know. But there are lots of bars and dance places and places to eat… It was an experience. It’s more expensive than other places in Quito but still pretty cheap by American standards. The streets are very crowded with people (borracha) walking all over the place. A lot of English spoken too. It’s basically just a cities club scene are smashed together into a few blocks. It was fun though. The next morning I have to get up early though (8:30) and went with my host mom and her friend to visit the Palacio de Gobierno (like the capital building in D.C. except much smaller and with more religious adornments.) Of course I forgot the copy of my passport it took my host dad and I about 10 minutes to get to print out the night before. But my host mom was able to convince the people to let me in to the Palacio without it because I was with them. Yeah, I felt stupid. And even better, I totally forgot my camera too. I’ve decided you just should not wake me up early on a Saturday and expect me to be able to function. I think my host mom was un poquito frustrated. But it was interesting. Her friend was very cute and was talking to me about all sorts of stuff around the historic district of Quito and making sure I could see everything on the tour (and when we went to a museum near by)- of course I could see, the average height was probably about 5’5 at best. But she was cute. I did feel bad again because I couldn’t respond to as much of it as I wanted too. But thankfully the smile and nod and word “si” get you a long way. [Note my attempt to be optimistic!] When we got back I took a very large siesta and still have to force myself to get up around 6 and start doing some homework. The rest of the night was low key. I talked to MaRy for a little bit for 2 cents a min thru Skype, which was really nice.

Then this morning I woke up at 8:30 yet again (turns out earlier than I needed to because my host brother sleeps in a bit… kinda like my Brother where the alarm goes off 3 times before an real movement is show) but, eventually we took off and we went, with his girlfriend, to a place a little over an hour outside of Quito called the Laguna de Cuicocha. It is an active crater lake with two small islands in the middle. We took a short boat ride around and this time I definitely remembered the camera and got a few pictures. Then we ate in Ibarra (a huge meal at 4 o’clock) and then came home. I slept a little bit, or rather rested, on the way back. We stopped briefly for bizcochos- which are different here, not really sweet and normally eaten with cheese. Didn’t get back till around 7 tonight and then I started in on some more homework- had more food! (just soup though), took a shower, and then finished up the homework. And on a Sunday night I am yet again quite exhausted. And writing this blog at 12:00 at night.

So, things on Kerry’s to-do list: make a list of necessary things the day before I go anywhere/do anything, learn how to say no to all the food/be forceful about not wanting more or big portions, go to bed earlier, and learn Spanish.

We’ll start with the making a list thing.

Returning from the Galapagos…

So… I am back in Quito now, returned from my week long trip to the Galapagos. There really isn’t any way I can explain in words, written or spoken, how incredible an experience it was. I will put up pictures soon (on facebook, but I can share albums through email and I will do just that), but still pictures never do any place justice. (Just a forewarning, this email will probably be pretty long anyway trying to get in as much information as possible. You might have to read it as installments)

We were on the boat for all 8 days, sleeping, meals, traveling. There were others on the tour with us. For the first 4 days we had a family from Belgium, two brothers from New York, two sisters from New York, a couple from Australia, and a couple from Northern Ireland. The two sisters and the Australians stayed for the whole time, but the others did the shorter tour. When they left we got a couple from Columbia, and I think the parents of the man, another couple from the Us (don’t know where from though), a girl who had been studying for a month in Ecuador and her mother who was visiting her, and an Italian family. The grew liked it because normally they do not have a full boat and it was fun for them having us all there.

Rach day we would have about two “disembarkments”, either a wet or dry landing. We hiked around the different islands and saw all sorts of animals, and plants. (They have prickly pear cacti there… except they’re trees!!!) :p The wet landing involved going to a beach where we could snorkel and see all the underwater life. That was pretty cool. I wish I had had an underwater camera, but again it wouldn’t have quite the same effect still. But I saw a shark (little one), rays, turtles, sea lions and an abundance of fish on land there were more sea lions (be prepared, about half my photos are probably of sea lions), blue footed boobies, mocking birds, finches (Darwin’s no less), Frigate (sp?) birds, pelicans, hawks, other birds , tortoises, land and marine iguanas, lava lizards, crabs… I might be forgetting something, but I have pictures of everything so we’ll see then. Oh!!! Penguinos!!!!! How did I forget?!?! They were my favorite! I got so excited when we saw the first one! We didn’t see too too many, but they were pretty ridiculously cute when we did. I got far too excited Pictures of those too.

It was amazing how close we could actually get to the animals. Even the birds. The sea lions swam right with us and loved it. I kept getting water in my mask the first time because I couldn’t help but smile… :p It was definitely an experience. The fish too… We could get so close. A much better experience than in the great barrier reef (no waves at all). Saw some of the same fish though, I think… And I think I found Nemo (or Marlin)… although there was only ever one of what I thought looked like a clown fish. We saw lots of babies of animals too. That was pretty neat. Mostly birds (and crabs), but we saw some very very recently born sea lion pups. They were adorable and by the end every one of us wanted to take one home with us. We visited beaches with red, white, yellow, and black sand… and got a little bit of it my hair and ears and such :p Got a little tan too (not burned), but enough of a tan to make me feel a little better about myself

The crew was pretty fantastic too. We all made friends with (or rather he made friends with us), the bartender on the boat, Galo. He was, as any bartender should be, very friendly, and flirty, and very happy to have so many young ladies onboard practicing there spanish with him. He was a sweetheart though. He will be in Quito in September sometime so he said he’d go dancing with us- but we need to find more guys because he can’t dance with 20 girls. :p Which is a good segway into the next thing, we got some brief salsa and merenge lessons from some of the crew. Danced the last two nights away. Muy divertido! Galo told me a I danced and moved my hips well. A compliment from a Lantin person is pretty much the best thing I could ask for in that category so I might just have to stop here. The guy in charge of the whole tour group was quite a good dancer and by the end of the trip a few of us had a crush on him :p (he wasn’t even especially attractive, haha), but my friend Kayla (who was also my cabinmate for the trip) and I completely fell in love with his pants. Awkward, I know. But they were those light white yacht pants…and they fit him very well, but for whatever reason we both established we liked them a lot. Haha. (I’m sure it’s much funnier to us). The rest of the staff was very good as well. When our toilet overflowed horribly, they were very very good about it all :/ [[background: most toilets in Ecuador have very small pipes so you put the toilet paper in the trash so they don't get clogged. Although there are still other ways for it to happen I guess and ours did...]] The food was very good too. I think I gained weight. We had three meals a day and there were almost always two deserts at both lunch and dinner and of course I could never just choose one. But it was all pretty good. I even at fish and veggies… All sorts of stuff! There were many a cocktail too. And Galo was pretty good about keeping our glasses (or at least mine) refilled… free of charge. But slightly surprisingly and very conveniently, I was never “borracha” (drunk), or “chuchaqui” (hungover). And I’ve decided so far that in Ecuador, when in doubt, put rum in it to make a mixed drink. They seem to put it in everything, even ice cream… At least on Galapagos tours. I took a nap almost everyday too… that was always nice :] Me gustan sieats muchas!!! The trip was a really good time to get to know all the other kids from Willamette too. Made some friends with some pretty cool people I never really talked to before. Found another buddy to go to baseball games with next semester too (a girl of course)

I am back in Quito now and start with the spanish intensive classes tomorrow. 8:30-12 everyday with about 3 hours of homework. But everyone says this month of schooling at ACLAS really helps. So here’s hoping, and then maybe I wont look like as much of a lost American when I start at USFQ (the university where I will be attending school for the semester). Tomorrow we are also registering for our Censo cards. They are Ecuadorian id’s so we don’t have to carry our passport everywhere. And then in the afternoon we are taking a tour of Quito. Very needed although I’m sure I’ll just be confused, haha.

A little bit of unfortunate happenings, when I got back I found out that when I was gone my host family got robbed. They were at the hospital and they think the burglars thought everyone was on vacation. They took my host father’s and brother’s computers, two pairs of shoes from my brother, money from my mother, and my big duffel bag, basketball shoes, and my new running shoes. It is indeed materialistic of me, but I can’t help but be sad about the shoes- brand new and probably only worn about a total of 7 times :p Lucky bastards! But, I was very lucky in that before my host mother saw my computer out and put it in a drawer and so my computer didn’t get stolen. Now, that’s lucky. My family insisted on paying for everything so I went and got new shoes tonight. They are also cool (and expensive) :/ and I will chain them to my bed whenever i leave now My host family didn’t know about the bball shoes so I will be able to buy those on my own (or, on my parents’ own but… yeah) So, like Leslie’s friend’s stroke of luck, I had a little bit of my own.

Now, I am quite tired. And seeing as I’ve written quite nearly a novella I think I will probably turn in. Have to start waking up at 7:30 now… Muy temprano y no me gusta! :p But, I guess the whole 5 months here can’t be all fun and games Only most of it… On which note, you can go ahead and feel jealous now

7/28/08

Después de el primero día…

My first full day in Ecuador was just a day of observation… for the most part. I began the day by eating breakfast with my host family- juice, coffee, granola- and then went to ACLAS (the school where I will be doing my first month of Spanish intensive study). It is only a few blocks away from my house which is very convenient. We had a little bit of an orientation and then took a written Spanish test for placement purposes (I’m admittedly a little rough) and we had a brief interview in Spanish in which the woman said I communicated well… interesting, but I guess that’s a good sign.

I’ve discovered tat I do in fact understand a bit more than I expected, but this is only if someone is speaking directly to me and not very quickly. Sometimes though, I am still lost. And of course, my responses are usually very brief. After my session at ACLAS, my host mother (Consuelo) came and got me and we walked to a large mall/shopping center just down the street to buy fruit. First thing I noticed when I walked in was that the very first vender booth was selling hookahs and the second was that a man was sitting at a table in the food court with his dog sitting on the chair next to him. I couldn’t help but smile a little. After getting the fruit we walked back to the house but, did not use the crosswalk this time and ended up standing in the median waiting for a lull in traffic so we could jay-walk for about five minutes. But jay-walking is the most common thing in Ecuador, although it often turns into jay-running. Traffic is ridiculous. You probably couldn’t pay me to drive here. Streets are one way which is a good thing because cars are constantly trying to swerve around each other and pass on turns (with my host brother-Ramiro- and his girlfriend-Danielle- we were passed on a left turn). Pedestrians have no right of way, even when traffic has a red light, which cars regularly drive through. You hear short car horns beeps all over but as I discovered when driving with Ramiro and Danielle it is not so much a show of aggression but a warning sign to those who might be running a red light on a cross street that you are approaching. Very interesting. One last note about driving that I found interesting was that cars park on sidewalks, which is normal, but unlike in the US there is no break in the curb that they can drive up on, but rather all cars must jump a normal sized curve to park in these places.

For lunch we again reconvened as a family had a rice, carrot, pea soup, rice, fried shrimp, green beans, and flan for dessert. Along with the meal we had a really good juice that I don not know the name of and I tried for the first time a cherimoya which was delicious. The whole meal was quite a tasty lunch, that we ate at about 2 pm. After lunch I fiddled around on the internet (my host family conveniently has wireless) and then proceeded to take a three and a half hour siesta, which was magnificent.

Very shortly after waking up I went out with Ramiro and met up with Danielle and her friend she works with, Jeromie to go get dinner. Jeromie is a 32 year old, gay Canadian video game designer. Danielle is just starting in on this work. Jeromie of course speaks English, and Danielle speaks it very well. Ramiro speaks some as well. For the majority of the night we spoke in English because of myself and Jeromie. We went to a restaurant on a hill overlooking Quito called café mosaico. We waited at least an hour for our food, but we shared a bottle of Chilean merlot until the food arrived. I had empanadas. Jeromie’s friend Alesandro, also a gay man although they were not together, met up with us at the restaurant too. They were all quite a kick, talking about Kelly videos (if you’re terribly interested look him up on YouTube), the Simpsons, and South Park. We ended up speaking a little about politics, Ecuadorian but mostly American. Turns out none of them were too big of Bush fans. I knew I’d like Ecuador.

The view from the restaurant was pretty crazy as well, the lights of Quito spread out on all sides. There were also a few fireworks being set off, for what no one was sure. After dinner, about 10:30pm Ramiro and Danielle took me a little bit around the historic district of Quito and I saw, from the car window, a multitude of churches, statues, and the presidential plaza. Danielle said that there were so many churches because the Spanish put one up every place there was an Incan temple. We stopped and walked down a long street that, had it been earlier in the evening would have had live music being played on the streets, but now the music was moved inside. There were many many venders of a drink called canelazo which is a hot mix of fruit juice, cinnamon, and aguadiente (fire water)… It was good, but strong. Reminded me a little of hard apple cider.

We finally returned to the house and Ramiro and Danielle dropped me off about a little after 12 am. By this point, even with the nap I was exhausted. Luckily nothing was planned for today so I was able to sleep in a bit. Tonight I am going with Ramiro and Danielle to Jeromie’s house warming party. Then tomorrow morning I am heading off the Galapagos for 8 days!!!! I will undoubtedly have lots to write about that when I return as well.

7/19/08

Initial thoughts, feelings, and freaking out-edness… :)

I’m currently on the flight heading to Quito, guessing we have about an hour, maybe a little less left of the flight. Just finished watching Fools Gold- half without sound because I was too lazy to plug in the headphones. There are probably about 9 or 10 of us on this flight actually (I discovered today there are actually 17 in the whole program from Willamette). I am sitting next to a girl from my school actually, Cassie, and we’ve been chatting. Pete is also just a row behind me. We all sat together in the Huston airport before boarding this flight and talked about (in English) how completely terrified/nervous, scared shitless we are. (Indeed, direct quote.) One girl did seem to have a little more info than the rest of us and knew that tomorrow morning we have an orientation at ACLAS and our host family will go with us on the bus routes to the school so we know how to go about doing that. Beyond that though, we still don’t know anything.

Sitting on the flight from El Paso to Huston I had quite a few emotions fleeting through me. It was quite ridiculous actually how I could feel really nervous one second and then really excited the next. But I have definitely started becoming more and more excited as the trip has progressed. Now I’m back to the completely nervous stage, I think because I will actually be in Quito, Ecuador and meeting my host family in a matter of less than a couple hours. That’s a big deal!!!

Sadly enough, I’ve had cell phone withdraws already. Only minor ones though, where I hear a phone beep, or want to check the time, or just check my phone in general, or randomly text someone. It really is like a lifeline in a way… I felt so disconnected. :p I didn’t even have another watch or form of alarm. But Pete had a little alarm clock he is letting borrow at least till I get one (he still has his phone that he said he could use).

I read my lonely planet guide on the flight from El Paso to Huston so I felt a little more prepared for at least the area and such. I got a few ideas of places to go and where they are in relation to each other. Turns out there’s a lot of places for hiking, which some of you will be very pleased to hear Even better, I think I will be trying to utilize them quite a bit- at least during the actual school year. I will have my classes keeping me busy Tuesdays & Thursdays but I will only have one on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays… I’m starting to worry I will not be kept busy… So I will do my best to seek out things to keep me positively occupied. This first month I know will be very packed full of…everything (even if I don’t know what all that is yet).

It still hasn’t quite set in that I will be spending the next 5 months of my life in a country speaking mostly Spanish. It is weird that I left my parents today not to go back to Oregon but to an entirely different country. It is weird to think that the friends I’ve been seeing all summer I actually won’t see tomorrow, or any time soon. It’s weird to think that I won’t be seeing the ones from college either. In whole, it feels different because I know I am going away from home and to school but it is not in the same respect that I have become accustom to the past two years. My equilibrium is thrown off, if you will

It’s weird how no matter how many times you leave a place or people or what excitement and adventure and experiences you are leaving it for, you still inevitably feel a little sad. Even though I am going to be having an experience of a lifetime that most don’t ever get in a lifetime, I still had a few tears escape me at the airport. (Don’t tell anyone.) Part of it is probably because it’s a bit scary- up and leaving your comfort zone always is. Up until about yesterday I had spent the summer not putting too much thought into the fact that I was going to be leaving the country for 5 months. In a way, it was just easier to not think about it and go about my summer as if there was nothing drastic in my near future. Some would argue that this may not have been the best approach but honestly, I can’t say if I think it was or was not. I am currently listening to my summer music mix from this year (yes Mama, the one with the song Tonight on it that you so love you can listen to it now whenever you miss me.) It’s my way of easing my way into the whole thing…? Maybe. But it is true that now I am certainly thinking about it all. Thoughts and emotions are a mess and all over the place!

It will all take a little getting used to. And that will all begin in the next few hours. But I can very confidently say that I am ready for this trip/expedition and in no way feeling like I needed maybe a couple more days. No better time than the present! Basically I just have to go into it knowing that things will not go as planned but they will turn out fine, that I will forget and then learn all the Spanish I already know and more, and that it will be a fantastic and unique experience when I look back on it 5 months from now. Basically all I can do now is to take it a day at a time and just kind of go with it and have faith that it’ll all work out.

Hoping to write often and meaningful things…and again soon. I’m sure I will have so much more to actually tell and want to talk about than I could ever write, and I wish every single person in my life could share this experience, but we’ll make do with what we can and I’ll try to help share it all with writings and a “plethora” (hehe) of pictures.

7/17/08