First of all, we got our Spanish midterms back today and I GOT AN A!!!!! I really have no idea how that happened. None. But I'm soooooooo happy.
So. After the Galapagos.... We got back on a Wednesday and I had a test the next day so I slept/studied that afternoon. The next day Lily, Liz, Milton and I went out for Thai food and margaritas. I have been eating so much ethnic food here. I guess it's just because Etown is in the middle of nowhere but I'm mad I don't eat it more. Friday Liz, Lily, and I went to Mr. Bagel to do homework. I think I watched youtube links for a few hours. But, they have THE best tomate de arbol juice in all of Quito. I love it there. Oh wait also one of these days I tried a frozen coffee drink from El Espanol and really liked it. I feel a change in the air. Anyways that night we went to CoffeeTree in La Plaza Foch but I only had one margarita because I don't know I guess they actually put alcohol in theirs or something because it was disgusting. So basically we just sat and talked until 2am.
Saturday night Liz, Lily, Milton, Andres, and I went to a Liga game in Andres' suite. It was a lot of fun and they won! Afterwards we went to Milton's house to watch the Hangover because Milton has never seen it but the disc skipped like a full hour in the middle so it sucked. Sunday the BCA group went to Bomboli, an eco-friendly farm in the cloud forest. This adorable old man took us on this hike and just talked about nature and his life and everything. He was awesome. Also he taught me how to take this moss and put an orchid on it in the Y of a tree and then the orchid will grow and wrap all around the tree. But I had to kiss it first because it only grows with amor. Ahhh. They also make their own cheese and manjar de leche so we watched that- I bought some for my parents and supervisor at my internship, had an amazing dinner, and came home.
Monday! I left my internship with 5 other people to go on Manuela Espejo visits. Manuela Espejo was the first female nurse in Ecuador. The vice-president (who is a paraplegic) started this project under her name, after Cuba and Bolivia performed similar ones, where over a year ago people went door-to-door finding where every person with physical and/or mental disabilities live in Ecuador. Then they started this part where teams of social workers, therapists, nurses, etc. go to these homes with a pretty extensive questionnaire to figure out all the services they may need- therapy, wheelchairs, special beds, etc. It's actually been super successful and in 2 of the 6 homes I went to they had already received special beds and chairs.
The director, social worker, language therapist, occupational therapist, gym teacher, and me were chosen to separate into 3 teams of 2. The gym teacher, Santiago, is in his late 20s I think and obsessed with me because I'm a gringa and the only person under 50 at the school. So when we were separating he kept trying to say we should go together but finally I was just like I think a gym teacher and a girl who can't speak Spanish would be a pretty shitty team. I think he's still mad at me. I ended up going with Ruth, the occupational therapist. We went to 6 homes- 4 were kids 3 and under, a 19 year old boy, and a 69 year old man. It was so sad/interesting. The stories were amazing. I'm going to pretend like I'm just following confidentiality protocol but really I'm too lazy to elaborate right now. It was a really awesome experience for me though, in a social work aspect. Really awesome.
Tuesday Milton and I went to Clancy's this Irish Sports bar place. Oh and I had my midterm this day. And a leadership paper due. Stressful. Wednesday night I went to another Liga game with friends from my leadership class. This one was so amazing! The vibe was crazy. It was a win or die situation for the South American Cup. They won thank god but it was so intense. No one scored until like 70 minutes or something and there were a couple fights. FIGHTS! in soccer... It was a really fun night. Oh before the game I went to Nikki's place for a couple hours because her mom was throwing a surprise party for her birthday. It was nice. Almost everyone was there and we played typical Ecuadorian birthday games.
Thursday during my break, Anggelo and I bought over 100 popsicles and went to his mom's work. She runs a daycare for low-income families. Then we just hung out with about 90 kids 5 and under for a couple of hours. It was such a cool idea. He wouldn't tell me where we were going, but he knows about my social work, etc.... I was really confused when we were buying the popsicles. That night Liz, Lily, Milton, and I went for sushi but they had a buy 3 get 1 drink free deal going on so we stayed there all night. (I got a roll call Fuji, it's flambé... delicious.) I can't remember what I did all day Friday... there was something. Oh well. That night Lily, Milton, and I saw Due Date. There were some pretty funny parts I guess. Also- I have a tendency of reading the Spanish subtitles while I watch it and I learned that hijodeputa is one word. Interesting.
Saturday Liz, Lily, and I went to this convention in an arena in Parque Carolina where there were over 100 agencies serving people with disabilities. All the agencies set-up stands selling handmade crafts, foods, information, etc. I was so impressed by the organization and dedication. We also signed up for a sign language course. I really hope it happens before we leave. We were there for a few hours and then I went to Milton's and made him watch Amelie. He said he loved it, but maybe he's just saying that because I would punch him if he didn't. Afterwards Lily, Milton, and I saw Eat, Pray, Love... I don't really have any reaction to it. Sunday morning Liz and I went out for breakfast with Milton and his little brother. TGIFridays has breakfast here.... does it in the states? It was really good either way. Later Liz and I watched Agent Salt on my laptop and I pretended to do work. Per usual
Oh I just remembered last Wednesday at my internship one of the teachers didn't show up so I had to take over a class all over myself and there is SUCH a big difference in the behaviors of the "lower-functioning" vs "higher-functioning" groups. They were TERRORS. And by the end of the day I was just turning into one of those evil substitute teachers no one likes and making some of them do ridiculous busy-work because they were being so rude. However, 2 of the boys who sort of listened to me were rewarded by me teaching (or trying to) them to cross their eyes. Really productive day. Now whenever they see me they run up and hug and kiss me and alkdfjlds I love kids.
Monday after my internship Liz, Lily, and I went out to a Mongolian restaurant to celebrate Lily and Chris's (in absentia) 1 year anniversary. It was pretty good but it was a $10 buffet which is a lot here so I forced myself to eat soooo much to get my money's worth. But I STILL feel fat from it. Tuesday I don't think anything really happened at school but the night before, after we were out to eat, Lily dropped and shattered the screen of her mac. So she came over from like 6-11 to use my computer and stayed for dinner. I also informed my parents of all the plans I'm forcing them into next week when Johnnie and my mom are here... ahhh I'm so nervous. I'm making Liz and Lily come to everything to help bridge the enormous communication gap. Oh well... a smile is a smile the world around. That was really corny. But hopefully true.
Yesterday (Johnnie's birthday!) Liz, Lily, Milton and I went to the mall. Hmmm that's it. The rainy season has officially begun.. it's wet and freezing :( I'm sort of bummed because I can only assume it'll be like this next week too for mom and Johnnie but oh well. THEY GET HERE IN 2 DAYS!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited. Ok I have a meeting in a couple minutes and I'm not proofreading, so my apologies.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
I guess it's been long enough..
So... We ended up going to that Halloween party at Epica. We were futbol players because nobody felt like being creative or spending money on costumes. It was fine though- about half the people there dressed up and the other half were lame. There was a competition for best costume and the winner was.... drumroll...... a guy dressed up as a Chilean miner with 2 girls in wedding dresses.> I don't know if this story was as popular in the U.S. since we're a bit closer here, but after the mining accident 2 wives came forward for one of the guys and it was totally out of Law & Order. He had two families, kids about the same ages, etc. I wonder if that's all he was thinking about for those couple months. He must've known they found out about each other.< We stayed there until 1am and then went to Penthouse, another club, to meet up with Andres and Milton for a couple hours. The whole night was so much fun! Even though, as a consequence, I had to suffer from about 3 hours of sleep and a hangover on the way to the Galapagos.
On to the Galapagos... I'm going to try to remember everything (Liz was supposed to email me the list she was making... lying little...). The first day we landed on Baltra around 1pm. Right away we took a ferry and crossed over to Santa Cruz, another island. It's probably the most touristy of all the islands. We checked into our rooms, ate lunch, and split into 2 groups. One group went to Tortuga beach (which I'm actually really sad we couldn't go to both because it's supposedly one of the prettiest beaches in the world) and the other group went on this hike over volcanic grounds, a salt mine (which was so pretty) and to this channel where we could snorkel and cliff jump. Per usual, my pride got in the way. There were several different levels you could jump from but I insisted on having to jump from the highest one, even though Daniel warned me that the previous semester only 1 person jumped from there, etc. When I got to the top I really do think I peed a little. It was terrifying! Right under the surface of the water were these 2 enormous rocks you had to clear. Well apparently when I finally did jump I long-jumped it or something because everyone watching said they were afraid I was going to hit the other side. Then because it was so high up you really start flailing and can't really control your body so I went in at a bad angle and literally physically bruised my butt and thighs. I thought I died.
2nd Day! We spent the morning on Santa Cruz before taking a two-hour boat ride to San Isabela, the most gorgeous place in the world. After breakfast we went through these ENORMOUS lava tunnels left over from when the gases after an eruption disappear. I don't know what I expected but they were big enough to fit houses in, underground. The designs in the rocks leftover were so amazing. After walking through them for about an hour we went to a tortoise farm. I know they're the "image" of the Galapagos but I'm far more impressed by the sea lions. (They call them sea wolves) We took pictures and walked around but they're sort of... slow. After the tortoises we had lunch and got on the boat for San Isabela. I barely made it off alive. I never thought I got sea sick but maybe it was just because it was such a small boat really in the middle of the ocean. Plus we were SO crammed. But for probably the last half hour I was sweating (even though it was wet and windy) and salivating in my mouth... terrible. By the time we settled into our hostels (we were split up) we just had a little bit of free time before dinner. This is when the gorging began. This is the last time I'll mention it (maybe) but I have never eaten so much as I did in the following 4 days. They stuffed us so full of food, a great idea for days spent in bikinis. It was disgusting.
3rd Day! Right after breakfast we took a boat ride to Tortuga Island (looks like a tortoise... supposedly). We drove around the whole island bird-watching and then got out to snorkel. All of the Galapagos are leftover volcanoes but you could really see it on Tortuga Island. The stratifications and the way the rock broke off was so cool looking! I still can't get over it. While we were snorkeling we saw a huge sting ray! (does that make it a manta ray?) I swam down to try to take a picture but it's sort of impossible to see through the eye holes in disposable water cameras. Also it expired 3 years ago so I have no idea if these pictures are going to come out. After that we went snorkeling at this other place and I saw a few sea turtles and sea lions. I was also body slammed by a sea lion that was "playing" with me. One of the girls in our group got swept away into some rocks and ended up getting stitches in her knee. It was free too!(socialized healthcare, ya know Dad?) After (an enormous) lunch we walked around this little island and saw tons of iguanas, reef sharks, and SEA LIONS. They're my new obsession. There were so many and they're so cute and I love watching how they play with each other. They're such a physically loving animal. Ahhhh. Iguanas- disgusting. I hate them. They scare me. Ok wow. We really did a lot this day. AFTER that we went to see the Wall of Tears- a monument leftover from an old prison, the original Alcatraz. It's also in the middle of a super deserty part of the island so they just assumed if anyone DID escape, they'd die anyway.
I really wish I could remember/had the energy to relay all the facts we learned and stuff because some of it really was SO interesting, but I'm too lazy.
4th Day! Despite being close to death on several occasions, this day was AMAZING! If I'm not exaggerating, we probably only hiked for about 6 hours, after breaks. First we saw la Sierra Negra, the 2nd largest active caldera in the world (after the one in Yellowstone that kills the world in that bad John Cusack movie). It was so weird. It was probably around 10-11 when we got there and it was covered in clouds so we were all super bummed and then within like 2 minutes it just COMPLETELY cleared up. It was the weirdest thing I ever saw. It was... awesome. After pictures our hike continued. We ate lunch under this awesome tree. Maybe 7 or 8 on an awesome scale, but when you're that hungry it just seemed all the more magical. Then the hardest part.... we crossed over first into a desert, then into like I don't know an effing lava field. We were walking on old lava rocks in an active area. The soles of my sneakers seriously started to smudge/melt like tar. I drank 4 bottles of water and a gatorade. No joke. I just kept thinking about being stranded in a desert like the Atacama. I would just lay down and die I guess. In the end we summited Volcan Chico, the most active volcano on San Isabela. The view.... I guess just add it to the list of things a photo will never be able to capture and I will never be able to describe to people who will have stopped really listening or caring an hour earlier.
5th Day! This day we had a long boat ride in the morning (we were separated into smaller boats) and it was so awesome. It was like flying... with turbulence. We saw a whole island FULL of boobies, blue-footed and Nazca, about 20 sea turtles and a school(?) of eagle rays, a type of sting ray. We went snorkeling a couple different places. I REALLY hope my underwater pictures came out, ugh. And this one sea lion swam with me for like an hour. It was so scary the first time it went by though because when you're snorkeling you're just in your own little world... everything is so quiet and then it just darted underneath me. Ahh I thought it was a shark.
Last Day :( We woke up at 4:30 to take that godforsaken boat back to Santa Cruz. I took two pills for seasickness though (1 is recommended and I NEVER take medicine) so I passed out on the floor of the boat using my life vest as a pillow. I think everyone else- sick and miserable, crammed in their bouncing seats sort of hated me. It was glorious. We got to the Charles Darwin research center around 8am and ran through it. We saw Solitary George and Diego, the two most famous tortoises in the world. Diego is from San Diego but they brought him to the Galapagos to mate so this one type of tortoise didn't go extinct and I guess it was a success because he has over 10,000 babies. Freak. Also, the whole Solitary George thing really disturbs me. Scientists apparently have tried masturbating him by hand and imitating female tortoises to "turn him on." Just leave him alone. There is only one flight out of Baltra per day so we had to be at the airport by 11:30 but we were late so guess what!!!! I got upgraded to first class :) Such a wonderful trip.
There really just is something so magical about the Galapagos. I don't know what it is and I don't know how to put it in words, but everything amazes you. For example, when we first saw the penguins Lily and I were just like isn't is so crazy how they rode the Humboldt the whole way here and just evolved, etc. And then we'd just realize that this is where that WHOLE theory came together. WE were on such a freaking big part of scientific discovery and its evidence was everywhere. It's almost pathetic the number of times I got goosebumps or started tearing up. When we went snorkeling on Tortuga Island we were literally IN a volcanic crater and it was alskdfjdsf beautiful. Siiiigggggghhhhhhh. The other really weird thing is how much the climate and geography changes within such a small area... you hit jungle, desert, lava, forest, and beach within 100 meters. It was crazy.
Okay I've decided that tomorrow (hopefully!) I'm going to write about everything since the Galapagos. I'm tired.
On to the Galapagos... I'm going to try to remember everything (Liz was supposed to email me the list she was making... lying little...). The first day we landed on Baltra around 1pm. Right away we took a ferry and crossed over to Santa Cruz, another island. It's probably the most touristy of all the islands. We checked into our rooms, ate lunch, and split into 2 groups. One group went to Tortuga beach (which I'm actually really sad we couldn't go to both because it's supposedly one of the prettiest beaches in the world) and the other group went on this hike over volcanic grounds, a salt mine (which was so pretty) and to this channel where we could snorkel and cliff jump. Per usual, my pride got in the way. There were several different levels you could jump from but I insisted on having to jump from the highest one, even though Daniel warned me that the previous semester only 1 person jumped from there, etc. When I got to the top I really do think I peed a little. It was terrifying! Right under the surface of the water were these 2 enormous rocks you had to clear. Well apparently when I finally did jump I long-jumped it or something because everyone watching said they were afraid I was going to hit the other side. Then because it was so high up you really start flailing and can't really control your body so I went in at a bad angle and literally physically bruised my butt and thighs. I thought I died.
2nd Day! We spent the morning on Santa Cruz before taking a two-hour boat ride to San Isabela, the most gorgeous place in the world. After breakfast we went through these ENORMOUS lava tunnels left over from when the gases after an eruption disappear. I don't know what I expected but they were big enough to fit houses in, underground. The designs in the rocks leftover were so amazing. After walking through them for about an hour we went to a tortoise farm. I know they're the "image" of the Galapagos but I'm far more impressed by the sea lions. (They call them sea wolves) We took pictures and walked around but they're sort of... slow. After the tortoises we had lunch and got on the boat for San Isabela. I barely made it off alive. I never thought I got sea sick but maybe it was just because it was such a small boat really in the middle of the ocean. Plus we were SO crammed. But for probably the last half hour I was sweating (even though it was wet and windy) and salivating in my mouth... terrible. By the time we settled into our hostels (we were split up) we just had a little bit of free time before dinner. This is when the gorging began. This is the last time I'll mention it (maybe) but I have never eaten so much as I did in the following 4 days. They stuffed us so full of food, a great idea for days spent in bikinis. It was disgusting.
3rd Day! Right after breakfast we took a boat ride to Tortuga Island (looks like a tortoise... supposedly). We drove around the whole island bird-watching and then got out to snorkel. All of the Galapagos are leftover volcanoes but you could really see it on Tortuga Island. The stratifications and the way the rock broke off was so cool looking! I still can't get over it. While we were snorkeling we saw a huge sting ray! (does that make it a manta ray?) I swam down to try to take a picture but it's sort of impossible to see through the eye holes in disposable water cameras. Also it expired 3 years ago so I have no idea if these pictures are going to come out. After that we went snorkeling at this other place and I saw a few sea turtles and sea lions. I was also body slammed by a sea lion that was "playing" with me. One of the girls in our group got swept away into some rocks and ended up getting stitches in her knee. It was free too!(socialized healthcare, ya know Dad?) After (an enormous) lunch we walked around this little island and saw tons of iguanas, reef sharks, and SEA LIONS. They're my new obsession. There were so many and they're so cute and I love watching how they play with each other. They're such a physically loving animal. Ahhhh. Iguanas- disgusting. I hate them. They scare me. Ok wow. We really did a lot this day. AFTER that we went to see the Wall of Tears- a monument leftover from an old prison, the original Alcatraz. It's also in the middle of a super deserty part of the island so they just assumed if anyone DID escape, they'd die anyway.
I really wish I could remember/had the energy to relay all the facts we learned and stuff because some of it really was SO interesting, but I'm too lazy.
4th Day! Despite being close to death on several occasions, this day was AMAZING! If I'm not exaggerating, we probably only hiked for about 6 hours, after breaks. First we saw la Sierra Negra, the 2nd largest active caldera in the world (after the one in Yellowstone that kills the world in that bad John Cusack movie). It was so weird. It was probably around 10-11 when we got there and it was covered in clouds so we were all super bummed and then within like 2 minutes it just COMPLETELY cleared up. It was the weirdest thing I ever saw. It was... awesome. After pictures our hike continued. We ate lunch under this awesome tree. Maybe 7 or 8 on an awesome scale, but when you're that hungry it just seemed all the more magical. Then the hardest part.... we crossed over first into a desert, then into like I don't know an effing lava field. We were walking on old lava rocks in an active area. The soles of my sneakers seriously started to smudge/melt like tar. I drank 4 bottles of water and a gatorade. No joke. I just kept thinking about being stranded in a desert like the Atacama. I would just lay down and die I guess. In the end we summited Volcan Chico, the most active volcano on San Isabela. The view.... I guess just add it to the list of things a photo will never be able to capture and I will never be able to describe to people who will have stopped really listening or caring an hour earlier.
5th Day! This day we had a long boat ride in the morning (we were separated into smaller boats) and it was so awesome. It was like flying... with turbulence. We saw a whole island FULL of boobies, blue-footed and Nazca, about 20 sea turtles and a school(?) of eagle rays, a type of sting ray. We went snorkeling a couple different places. I REALLY hope my underwater pictures came out, ugh. And this one sea lion swam with me for like an hour. It was so scary the first time it went by though because when you're snorkeling you're just in your own little world... everything is so quiet and then it just darted underneath me. Ahh I thought it was a shark.
Last Day :( We woke up at 4:30 to take that godforsaken boat back to Santa Cruz. I took two pills for seasickness though (1 is recommended and I NEVER take medicine) so I passed out on the floor of the boat using my life vest as a pillow. I think everyone else- sick and miserable, crammed in their bouncing seats sort of hated me. It was glorious. We got to the Charles Darwin research center around 8am and ran through it. We saw Solitary George and Diego, the two most famous tortoises in the world. Diego is from San Diego but they brought him to the Galapagos to mate so this one type of tortoise didn't go extinct and I guess it was a success because he has over 10,000 babies. Freak. Also, the whole Solitary George thing really disturbs me. Scientists apparently have tried masturbating him by hand and imitating female tortoises to "turn him on." Just leave him alone. There is only one flight out of Baltra per day so we had to be at the airport by 11:30 but we were late so guess what!!!! I got upgraded to first class :) Such a wonderful trip.
There really just is something so magical about the Galapagos. I don't know what it is and I don't know how to put it in words, but everything amazes you. For example, when we first saw the penguins Lily and I were just like isn't is so crazy how they rode the Humboldt the whole way here and just evolved, etc. And then we'd just realize that this is where that WHOLE theory came together. WE were on such a freaking big part of scientific discovery and its evidence was everywhere. It's almost pathetic the number of times I got goosebumps or started tearing up. When we went snorkeling on Tortuga Island we were literally IN a volcanic crater and it was alskdfjdsf beautiful. Siiiigggggghhhhhhh. The other really weird thing is how much the climate and geography changes within such a small area... you hit jungle, desert, lava, forest, and beach within 100 meters. It was crazy.
Okay I've decided that tomorrow (hopefully!) I'm going to write about everything since the Galapagos. I'm tired.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
As usual I feel like I can't remember a lot of last week... the usual class & internship, I guess. Thursday we "learned" this ridiculous thing in Spanish class called perifrasis verbales... I think my professor made it up. I'm going to skip Spanish class today just to avoid doing my homework that's due. Gorgeous boy said hi to me twice. Well actually he said hola but same thing. I think we're going to get married. Hmmmm EDIT-- so I started this blog during my break on Tuesday before Leadership but guess what happened. I was standing outside of class waiting for the class before to leave and Gorgeous boy TALKED TO ME. He actually even touched my shoulder and then invited me to this Halloween party on Thursday night at this one club. LAlalalallalalalalalala Then we sat next to each other and he asked me on a date and kissed me..... well we really did sit next to each other anyway.
Throughout the semester we have to go to 2 small-group sessions with BCA, so I did my 2nd one Tuesday night. It was a discussion about public health and it was actually really easy in Spanish.. I feel like a lot of medical words are sort of the same you just add ia, or something like that. Liz went too so there was a lot of social work emphasis so it was pretty interesting. Wednesday night Liz, Lil, and I ate at Red Hot Chili Peppers, this 'famous' Mexican restaurant in La Mariscal. Thursday night we had a meeting about what to pack, etc for THE GALAPAGOS!!!! We leave Friday morning ahhhh I am sooooo excited.
Friday morning Liz, Lily, Milton, Andres, Carlos, and I left for Esmeraldas, a beach about 5 hours away. I drove with Milton and I just kept having these moments staring out the window like I am just road tripping in Ecuador and everything was so beautiful and perfect and I just don't want to come home. Ever. Also when Milton got tired from driving or whatever he made me sing to my annoying music. He actually wanted me to sing... out loud! That never ever ever happens. We got there while it was still light out and I played beach soccer with the guys. I don't know why girls never play pick-up sports like that. It was so much fun! After the beach we went back to our hotel where we were literally the ONLY guests, and hung out in the pool. We got this suite so all 6 of us were able to be in the same room so that was really nice. We drove to Atacames, a "city" about 15 minutes away for dinner but then no one really wanted to go out out so we just hung out in the hotel.
Saturday was a very lazy day. We just hung out on the beach alllll day. Lily and I went for a pretty long walk and guess what. There were sand dollars EVERY WHERE. Hundreds of them. I decided to only murder 10 but it was beautiful. I've always heard about beaches like that but this was the first time I actually saw one. Which reminds me... I don't know why but I did not take one picture the whole weekend. I just forgot about my camera I guess.
After the beach we hung out at the pool again and we started drinking this stuff called Nectar. It's some type of alcohol that literally tastes just like black licorice. It was feo. And for some reason, people mix it with straight up lemon juice so it's the most sour effing drink in the world and then STILL has a black licorice aftertaste. It was disgusting. I don't understand. We went to Atacames for dinner again and went to this seafood place. Thank god they gave big portions because I just ate Liz's and Lily's. I ordered this seafood pasta that literally tasted like someone had dropped it in the ocean. It was terrible. After dinner we went back to the hotel and just sang and danced all night. There were some really awkward horrible parts of this weekend which I've decided to just bypass altogether.
After my internship on Monday... oh no actually I just remembered a really sad story from my internship. There is one boy in my class, Juan, who is 14(the oldest in the class) and severely autistic and the most absolute sweetest boy ever. He can't talk at all and it's really hard to get him to focus on anything but he is always smiling and giggling. But on Wednesday in the first 5 minutes I noticed he was crying, not sobbing just tears running down his face. This went on for over 2 hours and it was just terrible because he has no way to communicate how he feels. The social worker came in and was asking him if this hurts, etc and he couldn't respond. It was one of the saddest things I've ever seen. I love him. My teacher said she thinks his mom might have yelled at him/hit him or something and his moods are obviously a lot more affected by things like that. :(
After my internship on Monday I went to the post office to mail some birthday packages (get excited!) and to the supermarket. I met Liz and Lily there and then we sat in an ice cream shop and just talked for a few hours. Hmmm so Tuesday I already said- Gorgeous boy and skipping Spanish but wait.... the best news ever.... ON TUESDAY MOM SAID I CAN CHANGE MY TICKET TO STAY OVER BREAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well technically it was one of those we'll talk about it deals because it costs $250 to change but I'm sure that she'll cough UNDERSTAND THAT I DON'T WANT TO REGRET THIS FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE, THE CHANCE TO SPEND NEW YEARS HERE AND SPEND A FEW MORE WEEKS WITH MY FRIENDS HAVING SOOOOO MUCH FUN BECAUSE THERE WON'T BE CLASS AND I'LL BE ABLE TO TRAVEL MORE AROUND THE COUNTRY & TO COLOMBIA AND ANDRES EVEN STARTED PLANNING OUR TRIP TO MONTANITA. I'm seriously never leaving Ecuador. I can't. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE
Anyway. Last night I had my first FIVE HOUR long guitar lesson with Milton. I didn't really feel like I was accomplishing that much because I can't hear music in my head and as soon as I pick a finger up it can't find it's way back to the strings... like seriously I can't even tell which finger is which, especially on D they're all spread out weird, BUT he gave me one of his guitars to practice with and I've been playing all morning and I can almost get the whole way through Jewel's You Were Meant For Me. He's a really big Beatles fan and has a whole book of just Beatles' chords so I'm going to take on one of theirs next.
This week is pirate week at USFQ and supposedly if your professors aren't dressed up as pirates on Thursday you can leave class so I'm pretty excited because there is no way any of my teachers are going to be pirates. I don't really understand the point of the whole thing but there is this giant ship in the lagoon so it seems like a big deal. Tomorrow is the Halloween party at Epica and Lily, Liz, and I are deciding between the Teletubbies and Powerpuff Girls... I really wanted to do the Ninja Turtles because Jakki found me this awesome homemade costume but they're boring and I guess it's not slutty enough for them, even though I've always felt green is my color. Then Friday morning THE GALAPAGOS GALAPAGOS GALAPAGOS..... yeaaaaaaah
I'm sorry my blogs are going downhill but it's really hard to write everything I've been thinking and feeling and also my English is getting a lot worse.
Mom, PLEASE let me stay.
Throughout the semester we have to go to 2 small-group sessions with BCA, so I did my 2nd one Tuesday night. It was a discussion about public health and it was actually really easy in Spanish.. I feel like a lot of medical words are sort of the same you just add ia, or something like that. Liz went too so there was a lot of social work emphasis so it was pretty interesting. Wednesday night Liz, Lil, and I ate at Red Hot Chili Peppers, this 'famous' Mexican restaurant in La Mariscal. Thursday night we had a meeting about what to pack, etc for THE GALAPAGOS!!!! We leave Friday morning ahhhh I am sooooo excited.
Friday morning Liz, Lily, Milton, Andres, Carlos, and I left for Esmeraldas, a beach about 5 hours away. I drove with Milton and I just kept having these moments staring out the window like I am just road tripping in Ecuador and everything was so beautiful and perfect and I just don't want to come home. Ever. Also when Milton got tired from driving or whatever he made me sing to my annoying music. He actually wanted me to sing... out loud! That never ever ever happens. We got there while it was still light out and I played beach soccer with the guys. I don't know why girls never play pick-up sports like that. It was so much fun! After the beach we went back to our hotel where we were literally the ONLY guests, and hung out in the pool. We got this suite so all 6 of us were able to be in the same room so that was really nice. We drove to Atacames, a "city" about 15 minutes away for dinner but then no one really wanted to go out out so we just hung out in the hotel.
Saturday was a very lazy day. We just hung out on the beach alllll day. Lily and I went for a pretty long walk and guess what. There were sand dollars EVERY WHERE. Hundreds of them. I decided to only murder 10 but it was beautiful. I've always heard about beaches like that but this was the first time I actually saw one. Which reminds me... I don't know why but I did not take one picture the whole weekend. I just forgot about my camera I guess.
After the beach we hung out at the pool again and we started drinking this stuff called Nectar. It's some type of alcohol that literally tastes just like black licorice. It was feo. And for some reason, people mix it with straight up lemon juice so it's the most sour effing drink in the world and then STILL has a black licorice aftertaste. It was disgusting. I don't understand. We went to Atacames for dinner again and went to this seafood place. Thank god they gave big portions because I just ate Liz's and Lily's. I ordered this seafood pasta that literally tasted like someone had dropped it in the ocean. It was terrible. After dinner we went back to the hotel and just sang and danced all night. There were some really awkward horrible parts of this weekend which I've decided to just bypass altogether.
After my internship on Monday... oh no actually I just remembered a really sad story from my internship. There is one boy in my class, Juan, who is 14(the oldest in the class) and severely autistic and the most absolute sweetest boy ever. He can't talk at all and it's really hard to get him to focus on anything but he is always smiling and giggling. But on Wednesday in the first 5 minutes I noticed he was crying, not sobbing just tears running down his face. This went on for over 2 hours and it was just terrible because he has no way to communicate how he feels. The social worker came in and was asking him if this hurts, etc and he couldn't respond. It was one of the saddest things I've ever seen. I love him. My teacher said she thinks his mom might have yelled at him/hit him or something and his moods are obviously a lot more affected by things like that. :(
After my internship on Monday I went to the post office to mail some birthday packages (get excited!) and to the supermarket. I met Liz and Lily there and then we sat in an ice cream shop and just talked for a few hours. Hmmm so Tuesday I already said- Gorgeous boy and skipping Spanish but wait.... the best news ever.... ON TUESDAY MOM SAID I CAN CHANGE MY TICKET TO STAY OVER BREAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well technically it was one of those we'll talk about it deals because it costs $250 to change but I'm sure that she'll cough UNDERSTAND THAT I DON'T WANT TO REGRET THIS FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE, THE CHANCE TO SPEND NEW YEARS HERE AND SPEND A FEW MORE WEEKS WITH MY FRIENDS HAVING SOOOOO MUCH FUN BECAUSE THERE WON'T BE CLASS AND I'LL BE ABLE TO TRAVEL MORE AROUND THE COUNTRY & TO COLOMBIA AND ANDRES EVEN STARTED PLANNING OUR TRIP TO MONTANITA. I'm seriously never leaving Ecuador. I can't. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE
Anyway. Last night I had my first FIVE HOUR long guitar lesson with Milton. I didn't really feel like I was accomplishing that much because I can't hear music in my head and as soon as I pick a finger up it can't find it's way back to the strings... like seriously I can't even tell which finger is which, especially on D they're all spread out weird, BUT he gave me one of his guitars to practice with and I've been playing all morning and I can almost get the whole way through Jewel's You Were Meant For Me. He's a really big Beatles fan and has a whole book of just Beatles' chords so I'm going to take on one of theirs next.
This week is pirate week at USFQ and supposedly if your professors aren't dressed up as pirates on Thursday you can leave class so I'm pretty excited because there is no way any of my teachers are going to be pirates. I don't really understand the point of the whole thing but there is this giant ship in the lagoon so it seems like a big deal. Tomorrow is the Halloween party at Epica and Lily, Liz, and I are deciding between the Teletubbies and Powerpuff Girls... I really wanted to do the Ninja Turtles because Jakki found me this awesome homemade costume but they're boring and I guess it's not slutty enough for them, even though I've always felt green is my color. Then Friday morning THE GALAPAGOS GALAPAGOS GALAPAGOS..... yeaaaaaaah
I'm sorry my blogs are going downhill but it's really hard to write everything I've been thinking and feeling and also my English is getting a lot worse.
Mom, PLEASE let me stay.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
busy busy busy
I can't believe how much I did this week. Sometimes I really do feel like I'm on a 5 month vacation... School can't possibly be this fun. It's weird but I have officially gone to the movies more times in Ecuador than I have in my entire life. Monday I saw Wall Street (2 apparently, but I never saw the 1st). I guess I liked it... blows Letters to Juliet out of the water anyway. Then Tuesday night Liz and I went to Milton's house to watch the Liga match. We were the only girls in what was clearly a "boys' night" and then Liga lost making it more awkward/tense because they are all complete hooligans and can't live if Liga loses. After the match we watched some of the news on the miners. Oh and we watched 2ish hours of 2 and a Half Men which is seriously the most popular U.S. show here. I have no idea why but everybody watches it. Also I really can't believe I used to have an old man crush on Charlie Sheen. Like really.
After my internship on Wednesday I did homework all afternoon. It was really exciting! Thursday after class I got lunch with Laura, Kelly, and Erika- this super nice Ecuadorian. We finally ate at the vegetarian restaurant I've been DYING to eat at, so naturally it was a complete disappointment. That night Liz, Lily and I went to eat at El Pobre Diablo, mostly for the awesome live jazz music they advertise which never actually happened. Fortunately the food was good, but I'm still a little mad.. no a lot. Afterwards Carlos picked us up and we went to Aladdin (which you HAVE to pronounce Ah-la-DEEN), this bar/hookah place. It was really nice and some other people showed up later on. Today Lily came over at like noon because none of us ever have anything to do on Fridays. We did some homework but mostly wasted a lot of time talking. Liz came with us for dinner and we got Indian food in La Mariscal. We all got different dishes and split them.. it was delicious. Like I want to go back... now. Carlos joined us after dinner again and we all got ice cream and talked about our amazing camping trip for.... tomorrow! We're going (along with Andres, Milton, Felipe, Diego, and Kristen) to Cotopaxi- the tallest active volcano IN THE WORLD! I'm so excited. SO EXCITED! I don't think I've gone real camping-in-a-tent-and-everything since senior year of high school. I wish I had Mad Libs.
Oh Tuesday I got 2 old Spanish quizzes back and got a 19.5/20 and a 20/20 on the other, which I'm really excited about because I think I failed the quiz we actually took on Tuesday so that will help compensate. ALSO on Tuesday I got my leadership essay back and got a 96%! Granted it was in English but this professor is super tough. He speaks 4 languages fluently and studied/worked at Yale and Harvard, so I'm ecstatic. And in front of the whole class he congratulated me on my "superb" reflections and writing ability (muahahaha) causing GORGEOUS boy in my class, who absolutely never notices my existence, to look at me so it was a fantastic day. Que mas... on Tuesday I finished my first ring in jewelry-making and started a pair of earrings, so I finally don't completely hate that class since I have a finished product. Actually, with the exception of the teacher.. no as a result of the teacher I love all the people in my class. They've all taken me under their wings, even the brooding "cool" boy in my class. Tomorrow we have a test.. in jewelry making.. and it's just an in-class essay about what we've been doing but I'm really nervous because I don't really retain any of the words for the tools. Everything is just maquina to me... I think it's because I don't know the words in English even so I never have any idea what he's talking about.
My internship is still going really well.. challenging at times. Wednesday while the kids were at recess I was writing these reports for the parents with the teacher I work with and she just started telling me how pleased everyone there is with me, how they weren't sure if they were going to allow students to keep volunteering, I always show up and am so enthusiastic. It was really nice to hear buuuut I don't think she realizes I'm taking the internship for 6 credits so I'm sort of cheating. It's not just an at-will volunteer job like with a lot of the other students.
So clearly I did not finish this post. On to camping!!
Overall it was probably one of the best weekends of my life. Top-ten definitely. We left around noon for the 2 hour car ride. We were separated between 3 cars; I rode with Lily, Carlos, and Milton. We had the best Glee, Wicked, Beatles sing-along ever! When we got there Andres, Diego, and Felipe stayed at the site to set-up the tents and the rest of us went to climb part of Cotopaxi (the world's tallest active volcano). We only climbed to 15,780 feet but even that was so tough! I wasn't getting altitude sick but just breathing was so difficult. The view was definitely worth it though. That took a couple hours and then we met up with the other guys at this look-out by a lake to watch the sunset. It was gorgeous :) and the cheap boxed wine really heightened the experience.
Once the sun went down we went back to the campsite to eat. It took between 2-3 hours to start the fire, SERIOUSLY. The wood was definitely not dry enough but finally it started. We just finished eating hotdogs and sausages when Felipe brought out this like 50 lb. piece of steak. mmmmm Oh! And Andres made canelazo, which usually I hate but I really liked the kind he made. It's this fruity alcoholic drink. It's served warm, which combined with the thick consistency is what throws me off I think but Andres' version wasn't thick and I really liked it! It was naranjilla flavored.
After dinner we started to drink/make s'mores and just talked around the fire for hours. At some point we started playing music from someone's car and dancing in the field and it was just amazzzzzzing. Milton finally accepted that I can't dance and settled for jumping/running around the field with me. Felipe bodyslammed Lily into a car while trying to pull-off their infamous "figure-8"... just a lot of stuff I guess you had to be there to appreciate. Around 1 or 2am some of us decided to climb this hill to see the stars, even though it was completely cloudy and raining a little. We finally gave up but then couldn't find the path so we just had to machete our way down this mountain. Also, I guess it was the fog or something playing tricks but the campfire looked like it was 5 miles away until we were literally 100m from the site. It was the weirdest optical illusion ever and we were all miserable and crying that we were going to die. Oh yeah also there were wild cows around us all night so we went on some adventures trying to capture them and ride them... I guess it seemed a lot cooler after so many rum & cokes at a high altitude.
Oh I almost forgot! So my mom gave me 3 sleeping bags for me, Lily, and Liz to use. I also brought 2 pillows- the only person to bring a pillow. When we decided to go to bed around 3:30ish I had no sleeping bag OR pillow. And no one would let me go look in the other tent or cars because they were being annoying and I was drunk. I have never been so frustrated in my life but also couldn't stop laughing to truly express my anger. Ahhh. So finally Lily and I "went to sleep" sharing a sleeping bag. It was the longest, WORST night's sleep of my life. At the best points during the night up to my thighs were in the sleeping bag. We had to sleep on our sides but I had no pillow so my head was at this god awful angle but I had all my clothes on because it was freezing so there was nothing to put under my head. Every 10 minutes or so throughout the whole night I had to flip to the other side... it was just terrible. When we woke up we discovered that Milton was in my sleeping bag, using his as a pillow in the other tent which no one would let me search. Liz was using one of my pillows(even though she had her own sleeping bag) and the other was in Milton's trunk. I could've killed someone. BUT it was all too much fun so I decided to spare lives.
Despite sleeping for MAYBE an hour and only having a 2 hour nap I forced myself to go to Nikki's on Sunday. Her mom offered to teach us how to make guaguas de pan y colada morada. Since we'll be in the Galapagos during Ecuador's version of the day of the dead we'll miss having those 2 things. Part of the tradition is to make these little breads shaped like dolls with manjar inside(I really don't know what a translation for that would be)and colada morada, a hot, fruity drink with a lot of chunks of fresh fruit floating in it = delicious! Then you eat these 2 things in the tombs of your dead ancestors... we skipped that part.
Today after my internship I continued to catch up on lost sleep with a 3 hour nap. Oh! And Pancho invited me to a party for this Ecuadorian magazine next Wednesday! I'm so excited to be able to dress up :) Even though I know everyone we meet through school, etc are super upper class it still feels weird to be invited to such a party.. Anyway that's all I can remember and I really never want to leave. Time is going too fast I can't stand it.
After my internship on Wednesday I did homework all afternoon. It was really exciting! Thursday after class I got lunch with Laura, Kelly, and Erika- this super nice Ecuadorian. We finally ate at the vegetarian restaurant I've been DYING to eat at, so naturally it was a complete disappointment. That night Liz, Lily and I went to eat at El Pobre Diablo, mostly for the awesome live jazz music they advertise which never actually happened. Fortunately the food was good, but I'm still a little mad.. no a lot. Afterwards Carlos picked us up and we went to Aladdin (which you HAVE to pronounce Ah-la-DEEN), this bar/hookah place. It was really nice and some other people showed up later on. Today Lily came over at like noon because none of us ever have anything to do on Fridays. We did some homework but mostly wasted a lot of time talking. Liz came with us for dinner and we got Indian food in La Mariscal. We all got different dishes and split them.. it was delicious. Like I want to go back... now. Carlos joined us after dinner again and we all got ice cream and talked about our amazing camping trip for.... tomorrow! We're going (along with Andres, Milton, Felipe, Diego, and Kristen) to Cotopaxi- the tallest active volcano IN THE WORLD! I'm so excited. SO EXCITED! I don't think I've gone real camping-in-a-tent-and-everything since senior year of high school. I wish I had Mad Libs.
Oh Tuesday I got 2 old Spanish quizzes back and got a 19.5/20 and a 20/20 on the other, which I'm really excited about because I think I failed the quiz we actually took on Tuesday so that will help compensate. ALSO on Tuesday I got my leadership essay back and got a 96%! Granted it was in English but this professor is super tough. He speaks 4 languages fluently and studied/worked at Yale and Harvard, so I'm ecstatic. And in front of the whole class he congratulated me on my "superb" reflections and writing ability (muahahaha) causing GORGEOUS boy in my class, who absolutely never notices my existence, to look at me so it was a fantastic day. Que mas... on Tuesday I finished my first ring in jewelry-making and started a pair of earrings, so I finally don't completely hate that class since I have a finished product. Actually, with the exception of the teacher.. no as a result of the teacher I love all the people in my class. They've all taken me under their wings, even the brooding "cool" boy in my class. Tomorrow we have a test.. in jewelry making.. and it's just an in-class essay about what we've been doing but I'm really nervous because I don't really retain any of the words for the tools. Everything is just maquina to me... I think it's because I don't know the words in English even so I never have any idea what he's talking about.
My internship is still going really well.. challenging at times. Wednesday while the kids were at recess I was writing these reports for the parents with the teacher I work with and she just started telling me how pleased everyone there is with me, how they weren't sure if they were going to allow students to keep volunteering, I always show up and am so enthusiastic. It was really nice to hear buuuut I don't think she realizes I'm taking the internship for 6 credits so I'm sort of cheating. It's not just an at-will volunteer job like with a lot of the other students.
So clearly I did not finish this post. On to camping!!
Overall it was probably one of the best weekends of my life. Top-ten definitely. We left around noon for the 2 hour car ride. We were separated between 3 cars; I rode with Lily, Carlos, and Milton. We had the best Glee, Wicked, Beatles sing-along ever! When we got there Andres, Diego, and Felipe stayed at the site to set-up the tents and the rest of us went to climb part of Cotopaxi (the world's tallest active volcano). We only climbed to 15,780 feet but even that was so tough! I wasn't getting altitude sick but just breathing was so difficult. The view was definitely worth it though. That took a couple hours and then we met up with the other guys at this look-out by a lake to watch the sunset. It was gorgeous :) and the cheap boxed wine really heightened the experience.
Once the sun went down we went back to the campsite to eat. It took between 2-3 hours to start the fire, SERIOUSLY. The wood was definitely not dry enough but finally it started. We just finished eating hotdogs and sausages when Felipe brought out this like 50 lb. piece of steak. mmmmm Oh! And Andres made canelazo, which usually I hate but I really liked the kind he made. It's this fruity alcoholic drink. It's served warm, which combined with the thick consistency is what throws me off I think but Andres' version wasn't thick and I really liked it! It was naranjilla flavored.
After dinner we started to drink/make s'mores and just talked around the fire for hours. At some point we started playing music from someone's car and dancing in the field and it was just amazzzzzzing. Milton finally accepted that I can't dance and settled for jumping/running around the field with me. Felipe bodyslammed Lily into a car while trying to pull-off their infamous "figure-8"... just a lot of stuff I guess you had to be there to appreciate. Around 1 or 2am some of us decided to climb this hill to see the stars, even though it was completely cloudy and raining a little. We finally gave up but then couldn't find the path so we just had to machete our way down this mountain. Also, I guess it was the fog or something playing tricks but the campfire looked like it was 5 miles away until we were literally 100m from the site. It was the weirdest optical illusion ever and we were all miserable and crying that we were going to die. Oh yeah also there were wild cows around us all night so we went on some adventures trying to capture them and ride them... I guess it seemed a lot cooler after so many rum & cokes at a high altitude.
Oh I almost forgot! So my mom gave me 3 sleeping bags for me, Lily, and Liz to use. I also brought 2 pillows- the only person to bring a pillow. When we decided to go to bed around 3:30ish I had no sleeping bag OR pillow. And no one would let me go look in the other tent or cars because they were being annoying and I was drunk. I have never been so frustrated in my life but also couldn't stop laughing to truly express my anger. Ahhh. So finally Lily and I "went to sleep" sharing a sleeping bag. It was the longest, WORST night's sleep of my life. At the best points during the night up to my thighs were in the sleeping bag. We had to sleep on our sides but I had no pillow so my head was at this god awful angle but I had all my clothes on because it was freezing so there was nothing to put under my head. Every 10 minutes or so throughout the whole night I had to flip to the other side... it was just terrible. When we woke up we discovered that Milton was in my sleeping bag, using his as a pillow in the other tent which no one would let me search. Liz was using one of my pillows(even though she had her own sleeping bag) and the other was in Milton's trunk. I could've killed someone. BUT it was all too much fun so I decided to spare lives.
Despite sleeping for MAYBE an hour and only having a 2 hour nap I forced myself to go to Nikki's on Sunday. Her mom offered to teach us how to make guaguas de pan y colada morada. Since we'll be in the Galapagos during Ecuador's version of the day of the dead we'll miss having those 2 things. Part of the tradition is to make these little breads shaped like dolls with manjar inside(I really don't know what a translation for that would be)and colada morada, a hot, fruity drink with a lot of chunks of fresh fruit floating in it = delicious! Then you eat these 2 things in the tombs of your dead ancestors... we skipped that part.
Today after my internship I continued to catch up on lost sleep with a 3 hour nap. Oh! And Pancho invited me to a party for this Ecuadorian magazine next Wednesday! I'm so excited to be able to dress up :) Even though I know everyone we meet through school, etc are super upper class it still feels weird to be invited to such a party.. Anyway that's all I can remember and I really never want to leave. Time is going too fast I can't stand it.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
I'm practicing blogging more often.
Yesterday after breakfast Liz, Lily, and I went to the botanical gardens in Quito. It was the perfect weather to just stroll around and of course everything was beautiful. The gardens are in El Parque Carolina and there were so many people out and so much going on. Ahh it was such a nice day. We ate a bunch of things from random vendors for lunch and then walked 500 miles to the mall. Quicentro has become "our mall" solely because there is the best ice cream place in the world in it, but we can't actually afford to shop there. All the malls here target the upper-upper class of Ecuador and everything is ridiculously expensive. I seriously don't know where middle-class families buy their clothes.
After dinner I had a really long gossip session with my Ecua-mom, sister, and cousin. It was such awesome family bonding :) I'm never leaving. Really.
It's weird(I don't know if that's the right word..) but I really like when it's just my mom and sister or just my dad and brother at dinner. I don't know if it's because when everyone is there so much conversation is going on that I can't follow, but when it's only like half the family I talk so much. This week my dad went to Peru on business for 3 days and the night he got back I had dinner with just him and my brother and we talked for seriously like an hour straight. It was amazing.
Last night 9 of us went to Tapas & Vinos, my new favorite place in the world. It costs $25 a person, which is ridiculously pricey for Ecuador, but you get UNLIMITED wine and food allllll night. We were there for over 4 hours. Ahhh the food was so good- they just bring out these plates of the most random assortment of everything one after another. Random vegetable assortments, breads, cheeses, sausages, quail eggs, empanadas, shrimp, Spanish omelettes, French fries... and your glass is literally NEVER empty. They refill it when it's like half-empty. Obviously it doesn't make that much sense to go there after dinner but I didn't know... Unfortunately though, as a result of the whole "unlimited wine" bit, I doubt I'll be getting all that much work done today. My head seems to hate me.
I love Ecuador.
Yesterday after breakfast Liz, Lily, and I went to the botanical gardens in Quito. It was the perfect weather to just stroll around and of course everything was beautiful. The gardens are in El Parque Carolina and there were so many people out and so much going on. Ahh it was such a nice day. We ate a bunch of things from random vendors for lunch and then walked 500 miles to the mall. Quicentro has become "our mall" solely because there is the best ice cream place in the world in it, but we can't actually afford to shop there. All the malls here target the upper-upper class of Ecuador and everything is ridiculously expensive. I seriously don't know where middle-class families buy their clothes.
After dinner I had a really long gossip session with my Ecua-mom, sister, and cousin. It was such awesome family bonding :) I'm never leaving. Really.
It's weird(I don't know if that's the right word..) but I really like when it's just my mom and sister or just my dad and brother at dinner. I don't know if it's because when everyone is there so much conversation is going on that I can't follow, but when it's only like half the family I talk so much. This week my dad went to Peru on business for 3 days and the night he got back I had dinner with just him and my brother and we talked for seriously like an hour straight. It was amazing.
Last night 9 of us went to Tapas & Vinos, my new favorite place in the world. It costs $25 a person, which is ridiculously pricey for Ecuador, but you get UNLIMITED wine and food allllll night. We were there for over 4 hours. Ahhh the food was so good- they just bring out these plates of the most random assortment of everything one after another. Random vegetable assortments, breads, cheeses, sausages, quail eggs, empanadas, shrimp, Spanish omelettes, French fries... and your glass is literally NEVER empty. They refill it when it's like half-empty. Obviously it doesn't make that much sense to go there after dinner but I didn't know... Unfortunately though, as a result of the whole "unlimited wine" bit, I doubt I'll be getting all that much work done today. My head seems to hate me.
I love Ecuador.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
A State of Exception...ally blown out of proportion politics
I probably should have blogged about last Thursday... like Thursday. For those of you who live under a rock and missed the big news- Ecuador's police force went on strike. I was sitting in Casa Tomate, the building for all the international programs, trying to find a quiet place to finish my paper which was due in about 30 minutes. I start overhearing a group of directors and students from the Boston University program talking about a police strike, not safe to be in Quito, etc. Finally, my curiosity could not be tamed and I called Daniel, our resident director. I explained what I had overheard and he responded, "Oh I'm actually sick and have been in bed all day. Let me make some calls and call you back." Then ten minutes later he called to tell me, "The police are on strike find any BCA-ers and tell them they are not to leave the campus." Eventually word starts getting around and Casa Tomate fills up because while everyone else's parents are picking them up or they're driving home, public transportation isn't safe for us so we're forbidden to leave. Over the next couple hours there were several rumors flying around- the president has been kidnapped, the president is dead, they tried to burn the president alive... Unfortunately it wasn't quite that exciting.
Wednesday night President Correa had signed off on a bill that would cut Christmas bonuses and lengthen the service time to gain promotions. So the next morning all the police went on strike and confronted Correa at the presidential palace where he stupidly came out yelling "If you want me, take me. Here I am! Kill me! Kill me!" He's really theatrical. So they threw tear gas at him and hit him with some clubs, but the military intervened and got him to a hospital. Also at this point the police had managed to shut down the airport and close all highways going in and out of Quito. So while all of this was going on we were just stuck at USFQ, but it was actually kind of cool because there is a really big culinary program at USFQ and there is a cafe where the students usually sell what they make but they were just giving it all out so it wouldn't go to waste! Also I was almost hoping we would have to sleep there because the whole experience sort of reminded me of The Prisoner of Azkaban when Sirius Black is in the building.
Alas, after a few hours we were allowed to go home but still no public transportation, so directors were taking some students home and the Embassy sent some cars as well. Then for the rest of Thursday and Friday morning we weren't allowed to leave our houses. Thursday I basically just sat with my family watching the news all day. The president did end up being kidnapped, in the hospital, and held hostage, so there was a shoot-out (on tv) between the police and the military and eventually they got him out alive. The State of Exception ended yesterday so everything is "normal again." Ten people were killed and Quito and Guayaquil(the biggest city in Ecuador) were seriously looted- ATMs just pulled out of walls completely.
On Friday Liz, Lily and I ventured out to a cafe to do some homework. Really the only thing I noticed was that the streets were a little more deserted but I didn't feel in danger or anything. That night Carlos joined us for a movie- Letters to Juliet. I would really like my $2.50 back, seriously. It was pathetic. Saturday Quitofest was cancelled because of the strike :( so a bunch of us went to Diego's for a party and it was so much fun. Basically we played flipcup for 3 hours straight(Ecuadorian's are obsessed with flipcup for some reason) but the girls finally won. I managed to pull myself out of bed by 2pm on Sunday, went to the grocery store, and watched Ironman 2 with my family. So... those grad school apps are still waiting for me..
This week I had a ton of work due so it was sort of horrible. Thursday I went to lunch at Carlos' because my last class was cancelled. He has this gigantic garden with a ton of different fruit groves. Apparently, what we consider limes Ecuadorians say are lemons. Lemons and limes are both lemons. A lime is a completely different fruit that is actually sweet. It was so good, whatever it was. Then he 'helped' with my Spanish homework. Thursday night Liz, Lily, Carlos, and I went to La Mariscal and met up with Andres and David. We were trying to find sangria but "the best" sangria place in Ecuador closed early for some reason so we settled for cheap wine.
Yesterday I went with Liz to the post office, which is conveniently a 45 minute trip, to pick-up a package from her dad. Afterwards we stopped for lunch at some random little Ecuadorian restaurant. While we were eating a man came up to us and tried to give us our money back because we were friends of "Ivan Maldanado." I don't know why we didn't just take the money, but we were like we have no idea who you're talking about. "You don't know Ivan? He owns this place and he just called and described you two and said you were to eat for free." Then it got really tense and all the employees are looking at us, pacing, making phone calls. It was bizarre. Ivan must be a scary man whoever he is. Then last night Liz, Lily, and I saw Personal Effects, which I guess I'm just indifferent to.
The weekend of the 17th we were supposed to go to a cloud forest, Bomboli, but our director moved it to the weekend after the Galapagos, so we rearranged some of our trips and I have realized that this weekend is my last free weekend until.... I leave :( Time is going to fly. Tonight we're going to Diego's house in Pifo for a party and sleeping there (It is going to be freezing). Next weekend we're camping, the following weekend is the beach, and then the Galapagos! Words cannot really express my excitement for that. Oh and mom and Johnnie officially bought their tickets to visit, so they're coming for 8 days over Thanksgiving :)
Breakfast time!
Wednesday night President Correa had signed off on a bill that would cut Christmas bonuses and lengthen the service time to gain promotions. So the next morning all the police went on strike and confronted Correa at the presidential palace where he stupidly came out yelling "If you want me, take me. Here I am! Kill me! Kill me!" He's really theatrical. So they threw tear gas at him and hit him with some clubs, but the military intervened and got him to a hospital. Also at this point the police had managed to shut down the airport and close all highways going in and out of Quito. So while all of this was going on we were just stuck at USFQ, but it was actually kind of cool because there is a really big culinary program at USFQ and there is a cafe where the students usually sell what they make but they were just giving it all out so it wouldn't go to waste! Also I was almost hoping we would have to sleep there because the whole experience sort of reminded me of The Prisoner of Azkaban when Sirius Black is in the building.
Alas, after a few hours we were allowed to go home but still no public transportation, so directors were taking some students home and the Embassy sent some cars as well. Then for the rest of Thursday and Friday morning we weren't allowed to leave our houses. Thursday I basically just sat with my family watching the news all day. The president did end up being kidnapped, in the hospital, and held hostage, so there was a shoot-out (on tv) between the police and the military and eventually they got him out alive. The State of Exception ended yesterday so everything is "normal again." Ten people were killed and Quito and Guayaquil(the biggest city in Ecuador) were seriously looted- ATMs just pulled out of walls completely.
On Friday Liz, Lily and I ventured out to a cafe to do some homework. Really the only thing I noticed was that the streets were a little more deserted but I didn't feel in danger or anything. That night Carlos joined us for a movie- Letters to Juliet. I would really like my $2.50 back, seriously. It was pathetic. Saturday Quitofest was cancelled because of the strike :( so a bunch of us went to Diego's for a party and it was so much fun. Basically we played flipcup for 3 hours straight(Ecuadorian's are obsessed with flipcup for some reason) but the girls finally won. I managed to pull myself out of bed by 2pm on Sunday, went to the grocery store, and watched Ironman 2 with my family. So... those grad school apps are still waiting for me..
This week I had a ton of work due so it was sort of horrible. Thursday I went to lunch at Carlos' because my last class was cancelled. He has this gigantic garden with a ton of different fruit groves. Apparently, what we consider limes Ecuadorians say are lemons. Lemons and limes are both lemons. A lime is a completely different fruit that is actually sweet. It was so good, whatever it was. Then he 'helped' with my Spanish homework. Thursday night Liz, Lily, Carlos, and I went to La Mariscal and met up with Andres and David. We were trying to find sangria but "the best" sangria place in Ecuador closed early for some reason so we settled for cheap wine.
Yesterday I went with Liz to the post office, which is conveniently a 45 minute trip, to pick-up a package from her dad. Afterwards we stopped for lunch at some random little Ecuadorian restaurant. While we were eating a man came up to us and tried to give us our money back because we were friends of "Ivan Maldanado." I don't know why we didn't just take the money, but we were like we have no idea who you're talking about. "You don't know Ivan? He owns this place and he just called and described you two and said you were to eat for free." Then it got really tense and all the employees are looking at us, pacing, making phone calls. It was bizarre. Ivan must be a scary man whoever he is. Then last night Liz, Lily, and I saw Personal Effects, which I guess I'm just indifferent to.
The weekend of the 17th we were supposed to go to a cloud forest, Bomboli, but our director moved it to the weekend after the Galapagos, so we rearranged some of our trips and I have realized that this weekend is my last free weekend until.... I leave :( Time is going to fly. Tonight we're going to Diego's house in Pifo for a party and sleeping there (It is going to be freezing). Next weekend we're camping, the following weekend is the beach, and then the Galapagos! Words cannot really express my excitement for that. Oh and mom and Johnnie officially bought their tickets to visit, so they're coming for 8 days over Thanksgiving :)
Breakfast time!
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