Who knows the quote? Who knows the quote?!
Here at school... Kinda sick-ish today. Cold. Runny nose, sore throat, etc. But I'm ok. I took an hour nap over siesta time today. I'll be in bed early tonight.
Well, I'm off. Bye bye bye
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Hola, cola.
One of the rivers... Tomebama? I think.
Cow head
Yo, el Reed, y la Molly
El Valle
Mi cuartito
Hello everyone, things are going well. We´ve done a lot since my last post. We went out on the town Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Thursday was just me, Reed and Zander. It was just a relaxing night out to get a feel for the city at night. Thursday night is definitely the huge party night here. Friday night the whole group went out (minus Scott) and we went to a discotec! We danced for quite a long time... very hot, sweaty, and fun. Especially since I knew most of the songs (Lots of reggaeton, some molotov, mana, and other Mexican bands). I danced with one Ecuadorian boy. He was staring at me the entire time I was there. I would look up and see one unmoving head just staring at me... and he very slowly made his way over to where we all were dancing and then he finally asked to dance. It took him at least an hour. He tried to talk to me but it was just too loud and I can´t read lips in spanish, so I pretty much said a whole lot of no entiendo´s. It was really fun though. And I was in bed by 2,30 am, which is really early for young Ecuadorian standards. Saturday night, the group went out again and we went to a small lounge that the previous Lewis & Clark group frequented called "She". This place is really nice and calm and good for some cheap food (chips and guac, calzones, pizza, etc). The beer of choice here in Ecuador is Pilsener, which is a pilsner. Jajaja. It´s not too bad... James, you would probably love it. It´s better than Old German...
Anyways, Saturday was an early night, because I wanted to go to Mass the next morning with my host mom, Olga. She told me mass in the Cathedral started at 10am, and I got up nice and early, all showered and ready, and then I got to the kitchen and Olga and her daughter Silvana were both still in their pjs. Mass didn´t start until 11. I ate breakfast and then went back to my room to nap. Silvana woke me up and asked if I wanted to go with her to pick up her grandparents. I said sure, and off we went. The grandparents live in a little pueblito called El Valle, and it´s nothing but dirt roads going up and down really steep hills. There are a lot of scattered homes there in various stages of completion, and Silvana told me that many of the immigrants (to the US foremost, and Spain secondly) live there, and the homes are being built with remittances. This is mostly what we´re going to be learning about in our anthropology class... Anyways, mass was fine. We were really far, so if there were any food offerings or a shaman I didn´t see it. Pretty much a normal mass. Haha. I was hoping for something more spectacular.
What else, what else... I´m writing in my journal everyday. I´m sorry I´m not able to update this with everything that is going on, but it´s at least being recorded somewhere. I´m spending my weekday evenings at home watching Pequeños Brillantes (Ecuadorian kid verison of American Idol. It´s great.), America´s Next Top Model en español, and reading my english/spanish dictionary... Dictionaries are amazing.
Well, everyone else has already left home for lunch. I´m going to head home too. Today is our first day of Salsa classes. I´m excited. Hopefully I haven´t forgotten too much from when I took classes a year ago.
Oh! And Nana, yes I understand your email and comment in spanish, and please feel free to continue writing me in spanish, however I don´t have the most time to respond to individual emails which is why I have this blog.
love love love love
Friday, May 22, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Aqui en Cuenca....
Yesterday we arrived in Cuenca! It is a beautiful city. A lot like Quito, only smaller, and cleaner. Kind of like Portland vs Seattle. My family is great. My host mom´s name is Olga, and she has one son named Diego and two daughters. One of the daughters is single and supposedly ¨gorda¨and on a diet, but I met her this morning and she´s definitely thin. Anyways. The other daughter is married and lives in the floor above the mom and I with her two daughters. Diego also has a son. The kids are ages 5, 6, and 7. Quite a handful, but a lot of fun! The littlest is named Anabel, and she´s pretty wild. I was told that as long as you close your door you´ll be garanteed privacy... well, not with her. I was taking a nap yesterday after I first got in and she barged in and jumped on the bed and started playing with my hair. Hahaha.
Anyways, my house is nice. It´s really big and has three complete apartments in it. The mom, and single daughter and I live on the middle floor. It´s on a really busy street so I´m going to have to be using earplugs this whole time. Good thing I brought some. I have my own bedroom and private bathroom, which is really nice. I´ll post photos as soon as I´m able. The card readers here don´t seem to work and I forgot my usb cable.
Anyways, on Tuesday, we had two lectures. One from Narcisa, our program coordinator (from Cuenca, not the lady from my school) about general things to know about Cuenca and our families. Later that day we had another lecture from an American woman who has lived in Ecuador since the 70´s. She was quite the radical (as are all the women associated with our school here, I think) and gave us a quick and dirty history of modern Ecuador. Interesting stuff. I wonder how it happens that most places in the world are so much more active and so much more democratic (in my opinion) than the states. You rarely see people take to the streets or really voice opinions. I´m not judging, because I don´t exactly do that either, but it´s just interesting... anyhoo, the group here is fun, I like everyone a lot. We might go out tonight since we don´t have to be at school until 3pm tomorrow. Some of our familys have young people who want to take us out. Should be fuuun! So far I haven´t had any trouble with guys here or anything like that, except for the short flight from Quito to Cuenca. An older business man sat next to me and talked to me the entire time. He was nice, but I was tired and didn´t feel like talking. But he was excited to talk to me in English and he made me respond in spanish... he asked about boyfriends I´ve had and said I had a face of a latin american but I was tall like an American... I told him he should meet my family. Hahaha.
Ok, I want to go munch on some chocolate and I need to call my host mom to pick me up sometime soon.
Later, skaters.
Anyways, my house is nice. It´s really big and has three complete apartments in it. The mom, and single daughter and I live on the middle floor. It´s on a really busy street so I´m going to have to be using earplugs this whole time. Good thing I brought some. I have my own bedroom and private bathroom, which is really nice. I´ll post photos as soon as I´m able. The card readers here don´t seem to work and I forgot my usb cable.
Anyways, on Tuesday, we had two lectures. One from Narcisa, our program coordinator (from Cuenca, not the lady from my school) about general things to know about Cuenca and our families. Later that day we had another lecture from an American woman who has lived in Ecuador since the 70´s. She was quite the radical (as are all the women associated with our school here, I think) and gave us a quick and dirty history of modern Ecuador. Interesting stuff. I wonder how it happens that most places in the world are so much more active and so much more democratic (in my opinion) than the states. You rarely see people take to the streets or really voice opinions. I´m not judging, because I don´t exactly do that either, but it´s just interesting... anyhoo, the group here is fun, I like everyone a lot. We might go out tonight since we don´t have to be at school until 3pm tomorrow. Some of our familys have young people who want to take us out. Should be fuuun! So far I haven´t had any trouble with guys here or anything like that, except for the short flight from Quito to Cuenca. An older business man sat next to me and talked to me the entire time. He was nice, but I was tired and didn´t feel like talking. But he was excited to talk to me in English and he made me respond in spanish... he asked about boyfriends I´ve had and said I had a face of a latin american but I was tall like an American... I told him he should meet my family. Hahaha.
Ok, I want to go munch on some chocolate and I need to call my host mom to pick me up sometime soon.
Later, skaters.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Quito
Hello everyone!
I am in Quito and it´s wonderful. I can´t get my camera to connect to this computer though, so photos will have to wait. Yesterday we had a great tour of the city and went to the middle of the world and a museum about the people of Ecuador. The group is also really great. Four guys and two girls (myself included). We went out last night together to a TexMex restaurant of all places, but it was really good and we got a few rounds of margaritas which were delicious. So far so good in terms of getting sick. I definitely felt the altitude immediately, the air just felt thicker and like I wasn´t getting as much air as I normally do, but I feel perfectly fine now. I ate some chicken yesterday for the first time in 6 years and it was rather tasty. I also had choclo, which is corn on the cob on steroids. The kernals were so big! And we had sopa de locro, a potato soup with aguacate y queso. Muy rico. Yyyy que mas... our director has pointed out that I seem to know the most spanish (yay!), so that´s good...
Tomorrow we leave to Cuenca after visiting a Guaysamun museum, he is the most famous artist out of Ecuador apparently. The few pieces of his work that I have seen are Dali-ish. My host mother´s name is Olga, she has two daughters, one of which has two little girls who I´m really excited to meet! I bet I´m going to learn a lot of spanish from them.
That´s all for now! We just finished a meeting and almuerzo is coming up, so I´m going to let Molly get a chance at the computer. Ps, lunch is the biggest meal of the day here, and it´s oooo so good. And we´re drinking a lot of juices because the tap isn´t very good here. So far I´ve had jugo de mora y jugo de tomate de arbol... and mango. Oh! I also had two exotic fruits yesterday, they were both spikey, one was deep red and the other yellow. I think the red one might have been liche. It tasted and looked like it.
Anyways! Love to all. Please feel free to leave comments and ask questions.
I am in Quito and it´s wonderful. I can´t get my camera to connect to this computer though, so photos will have to wait. Yesterday we had a great tour of the city and went to the middle of the world and a museum about the people of Ecuador. The group is also really great. Four guys and two girls (myself included). We went out last night together to a TexMex restaurant of all places, but it was really good and we got a few rounds of margaritas which were delicious. So far so good in terms of getting sick. I definitely felt the altitude immediately, the air just felt thicker and like I wasn´t getting as much air as I normally do, but I feel perfectly fine now. I ate some chicken yesterday for the first time in 6 years and it was rather tasty. I also had choclo, which is corn on the cob on steroids. The kernals were so big! And we had sopa de locro, a potato soup with aguacate y queso. Muy rico. Yyyy que mas... our director has pointed out that I seem to know the most spanish (yay!), so that´s good...
Tomorrow we leave to Cuenca after visiting a Guaysamun museum, he is the most famous artist out of Ecuador apparently. The few pieces of his work that I have seen are Dali-ish. My host mother´s name is Olga, she has two daughters, one of which has two little girls who I´m really excited to meet! I bet I´m going to learn a lot of spanish from them.
That´s all for now! We just finished a meeting and almuerzo is coming up, so I´m going to let Molly get a chance at the computer. Ps, lunch is the biggest meal of the day here, and it´s oooo so good. And we´re drinking a lot of juices because the tap isn´t very good here. So far I´ve had jugo de mora y jugo de tomate de arbol... and mango. Oh! I also had two exotic fruits yesterday, they were both spikey, one was deep red and the other yellow. I think the red one might have been liche. It tasted and looked like it.
Anyways! Love to all. Please feel free to leave comments and ask questions.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Saturday, May 9, 2009
El Paso
Right now I'm home. It's been way too long. You know you're in the right place with the right people (family) when you're able to stay up until 5am after you've had two nights of little sleep and a mean typhoid shot a few days before.
Tomorrow is Mother's Day, but my family is celebrating today at my tio Pancho's house...
I leave El Paso for Quito on Sunday, May 17th. On July 3rd I'm taking a bus by myself from Guayaquil, Ecuador to Lima, Peru. Then from Lima I'm flying to meet my sister in Guatemala on July 8th, and we're traveling south from there to Costa Rica and leave there for home on August 6th. After that I'm hanging low and working in El Paso until the beginning of September when I leave for Baja to live with my Nana until the new year.
All this craziness is why I decided to create this blog. For others to keep up with me, but mostly for myself to remember where I've been and what I've seen.
Up and out
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