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.

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.

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.

I was going to blog today but then I started hating the world soooooo I've decided to postpone this entry because I really did have an awesome week/weekend and I don't want it marred by the fact that I'm hoping for an apocalypse.

Lovvvvvveeeeeeeee,
me

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.

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.

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!

So to explain my previous blog as best I can, without breaching confidentiality, I was essentially assigned to bust up a prostitution ring as part of my internship. That's really all I can say, but I assure you it's one of those instances where the real story is even better than anything you can create in your imagination. Fortunately(?) it got postponed until next week, so I haven't been 'taken' yet. Other than that little snag my internship is still going great! I'm still working primarily in the same room and I love the teacher I work with. It's so weird though, the difference between Monday and Wednesday, because after a weekend at home, with less rules, the kids return as MONSTERS on Mondays. They are the most horrifying, adorable, terrors in the world. I admire my teacher sooooo much. She is the most patient person in the entire universe.

School... well last week & this week the flu has been going around among the kids at my internship. So naturally, because I have the immune system of a premature baby I got it. I feel totally fine now but last week I was just tired and.. blah all of the time. THEREFORE, I thought I had a legitimate excuse to skip jewelry-making, even though it was sort of giving me an anxiety attack. I thought he would be really evil but I sort of had a stroke of luck. Yesterday there was a car accident and he was really late for class so everybody wrote their name on a list and left. BUT then he called me (as I was peeing in the bathroom) because he has my number from when I had to buy all of the supplies for the class and was like "where is everyone" etc etc. So I went back to class because he's psycho but because I was the only one there he was really nice to me and I got a lot done! For the next 2 weeks in Spanish class we have a substitute and she's Cuban and I can't understand anything she says which is hard, but that's about as exciting as that class is right now. I have my first essay due tomorrow (3 pages) but still don't have the rubric sooooo we'll see how that works out.

Yesterday I skipped aerobics to go for "a beer" with Carlos. I've decided, even though I love aerobics, that having that break for socializing is a lot more important. I feel like I don't talk to anyone all day when I just go from class to class to class TO CLASS. So anyway, I drank a liter and a half of beer, at 10am, and then had to go to my leadership class. It was awful/hilarious. However, on the bright (most likely humiliating as well) side I was volunteering to speak in Spanish in front of my entire Ecuadorian class. Definitely more humiliating, but luckily my memory is a little foggy. And tomorrow we're doing it again- yay!

Friday morning- Saturday night Liz, Lily, Andres, and I went to Mindo. It was really nice to get away because I hadn't really traveled in a while. Mindo is about 2 and a half hours away and supposedly gets pretty packed during vacation times but it was very relaxed when we were there. The first day we went ziplining and made "friends" with the guides. So later they met us in the town square where we were drinking rum and coke (only in Ecuador). So we went dancing, well I went jumping or whatever, and then they took us to go ziplining at like 1am! It was SO awesome in the dark! The one guy turned out to be a total creep/stalker though, seriously. My latest text message from today (after about 10 unreturned phone calls and 20 messages) said (in Spanish so it's even creepier sounding) "I would really like to go to the movies with you. I insist, even if I have to find you." So. I'm a little scared.
The next morning we had breakfast and I had my first cup of coffee!!! I literally mixed it half and half with milk and coffee and probably put enough sugar in it to kill a small child, but I would even go so far as to say I liked it. Then we went to this butterfly and hummingbird conservatory. It was beautiful! They are supposed to have really nice orchids too but I don't think they were in season. After that we took this cable car across a giant ravine to walk to these waterfalls. It was supposed to take 45 minutes, 30 if you're fast... well it felt like we were running but it took us over an hour. Must be Ecua-time. We reached this little waterfall and were all trying to pretend we weren't incredibly disappointed but then I spotted these natural steps that led to the most breathtaking waterfall ever. I had to stop myself from taking pictures because there was really no way to capture it. It was just this cavern/paradise...ahhh. I just had to.. soak it in. After a late lunch we caught the last bus back to Quito and all passed out.

Sunday I pretended to do homework and hung out with my family. Today I got my tattoo finally and while I agree I've felt better, the ribs weren't THAT terrible. My tattoo artist was awesome though. I'm debating getting another just to go talk to him again. Oh! I had the most crazy 'it's a small world moment.' So he is from Ecuador. When he was 18 he moved to NYC for school and then started tattooing in Philly. I was like "Omg I'm from Reading." Then he was like oh "So you've heard of Pottstown? I lived there for about 5 years." Whaaaaattt. That is bizarre. Bizarre.

This weekend is a FREE music festival in the park called Quitofest (http://www.quitofest.com/ --if you're interested). Friday has psycho bands like Dying Fetus and Lamb of God, but I'm DEFINITELY going Saturday. I'm really excited :) Oh last night mom finally booked the tickets and her and Johnnie are really coming!- for 8 days over Thanksgiving, so now I have to start making our itinerary! Well I guess I have some time actually... Also, in exactly 4 weeks I go to the Galapagos!

I know I say this every time but I'm really going to start blogging more. The week nights just turn into a blur after a while.
Ciao!

God is punishing me for saying I wasn't doing real social work. I am going to die.

I am so lazy.

Lalalalalala what happened last week? Monday, Wednesday, & Friday I have my internship, and working with children with learning disabilities is definitely not something that can be done hungover or tired, so I can't really go out during the week at all. Melany, the 2 year old I am in love with has really started to come out of her shell. It's amazing how much personality someone can show when they can't talk. She has started sticking her tongue out in retaliation a lot, but I told her next time she did it I was going to take it. Haha. She is terrified of me. Yesterday she started to stick it out and her eyes almost popped out of her head.

I love working with all of them, but I am definitely doing more teaching/babysitting/occupational therapy... not really social work, definitely not the administrative part anyway, but that's fine. It's just so awesome how they've all opened up to me. There is another girl in the class I always sort of felt hated me, but now I have to force her to stop hugging me and do her work. I lovvvvve them all. The teacher in my classroom is also really great. She involves me a lot... maybe too much in fact, because the second she leaves to get coffee (which mysteriously takes 20 minutes) all of the kids go crazy. I literally have to stand in front of the door and beg/physically force them into their seats. But I definitely can't complain that I'm not getting enough responsibility. She also asks me a lot of questions about my studies, project, etc so it really helps with my Spanish.

Oh but one morning I worked in a different classroom for another hour just to see what it was like. It was horrifying. There is a boy in the class with Down Syndrome and EXTREME hyper activity. But whenever he won't listen and gets out of his seat the teacher threatens him with food. She literally takes out his lunchbox and starts giving all of his food to the other kids and is just like "Oh Stephen doesn't want to eat today." Ah it's so messed up, for the other kids too, because then they never actually get to keep the food she gives them.

What else. Wednesday I went to see the sketch for my tattoo and I LOVVVVVEEEEEEE IT! I'm waiting to find out when I can schedule the appointment but I want it like...now. Surprisingly, both of my moms really like it too. Well as a drawing at least, maybe not as a tattoo. Afterwards, Liz and I walked around and got ice cream at the best ice cream place in the world.

Thursday I was the only person who got to start making jewelry in our whole class! [But today I messed up and am starting over on Thursday haha] I think Thursday night Lily and Liz came over to watch a movie... oh yeah we watched Yo Robot. Friday I had my internship, tried to work on grad school applications, and then we went out to La Mariscal. We went to Strawberry Fields Forever, this bar where every drink is a Beatles song and there is paraphernalia all over the walls. It was cool but pretty much all tourists. At like 3am I had the best cheeseburger I have had since I've been here... or it certainly seemed so at the time. It was from a fast food joint named G-Spot. Hmm.

Saturday Liz and I went shopping and then at night we had a tour of the Historical Center with our program. The Historical Center is the really colonial looking part of Quito. It's beautiful and there's a lot to do at night. We had an actor, "el diablo," give the tour throughout different churches and sites in the center. After that we just walked around, shopping and eating. Sunday (early) morning some of the people from our group went to South Quito, which is the more poor "dangerous" part of the city. We did a tour and then volunteered in a daycare center for a few hours. The parents were there and we did a lot of activities together, which again was really cool because I used a lot of Spanish. We had arts & crafts together and made these AWESOME/hideous visors and had lunch together.

Other randomness: My leadership teacher told me he PREFERS my papers in English so that my ideas will be more developed. Score. Oh, strangely enough samples are really big here and in the super market this weekend they were giving out these things: crackers with dulce de leche, which is almost like a caramel spread, and mozzarella cheese on top. It is DELICIOUS. I don't know how but the flavors really work. I'm salivating just thinking about it.
Milk here doesn't need refrigerated. It scares me.

Last night I watched Johnnie do a back TUCK via skype :)

Ok I need to go stress over grad school applications or my honors project now. For those who are wondering I am applying to 3-4 of the following schools:
Columbia
Boston College
Temple
UMD
University of Texas- Austin
University of Denver

I've been here for over 2 months already :O

i wanna wag my tail

My family is amazing? Can I say that enough?

I went to the mail room looking for a postcard (which I still didn't get, Nickie!) and had 3 packages! 3 I tell you!

Among the EXTREMELY random items: Halloween socks, a puzzle, a year's supply of sweettarts, CRAISINS, 2 bloody Halloween fingers, 2 pairs of earrings, hideous old photographs of myself, 3 pairs of Victoria's Secret underwear, Goldfish, etc etc etc

Happy Birthday Dad!

I'm gonna go ahead and not explain this blog's title...

So what happened after the excitement of the mugging? Hmmm Monday and Wednesday (with the occasional Friday) are officially my internship days. I THOUGHT classes started Monday, but it was just an orientation for the parents, so instead I worked on some stuff for my honors project and had the director look over it. I got some really good feedback on my questionnaire so I'm pretty excited. My goal is to have it submitted to Etown's IRB by next week... pray for me. Tuesday was class... I can't remember anything too significant right now... And Wednesday I FINALLY met the kids! Like a true social worker, I have naturally already chosen all of my favorites :)

After Wednesday and Friday I'm still unsure of what my responsibilities will be, I was sort of just getting to know the kids. Both days I spent the first half of the school day with the "highest-functioning" kids and the second half with the "lowest-functioning". --The social worker at the center is also a teacher and this is how she introduced me to her students (in front of them), "So as you can see we have a little bit of everything. Down syndrome (points), mental retardation (points), hyperactivity (points)," and on cue the kid she pointed at jumps out of his chair and screams. Like talk about the labeling theory. It was bizarre. Especially because this was the "highest-functioning" group, with kids as old as 13.... like THEY UNDERSTAND YOU. Ugghhh. Anyway the "lowest-functioning" group has 7 students. None of them talk and 3 or 4 of them don't have control of their bowels. There's only one teacher in this room, so really she's more of a babysitter,.. and there's just barely any stimulation. It's so sad. But there is a little girl in this group, with Down Syndrome and I'm going to steal her before I leave. I'm sure of it. She is sort of the cutest thing in the world.

Thursday I had class again... Oh yes I remember the highlight of Tuesday. Since Liz dropped jewelry-making I'm the only gringa in the class.. The teacher is constantly calling me out like "Can you understand me?" but not in a reassuring way, in a like are you slow way... I kind of dislike him. So Tuesday he was "teaching" us how to use these measuring instruments that are pretty much identical to rulers. So he shows us like 6 different measurements, because we're idiots and every time he puts it right in my face and says, "do you see?" So finally I said(in Spanish), "yeessss... we use the same number system in English..." and everyone laughed and he's stopped treating me like a 2year old. yay

Back to Thursday... basically my leadership teacher is awesome but I'm too lazy to explain haha... Then after class we went to Andres' house and we all made ceviche/drank wine, super classy like. It was delicious. Friday I had my internship in the morning and then I met Liz and Lily for lunch in La Mariscal. Before I met them though, I stopped at the tattoo place, Diablo Loco. I've heard really good things about this place. There are 3 guys who run it and they seem awesome, the place is really clean, etc. BUT when he asked me where I wanted it and I said ribs, his response was "*intake of breath* do you have any other tattoos?"
"yes, two."
"Oh, ok good... because ribs are the worst..."
Then when I went back after lunch to put down the deposit another guy was in there and asked what I wanted and where. When I told him, his response was "you're brave.. really brave." So.... great. Vamos a ver. I go back Wednesday to see the sketch... I'm so excited!

So we ate lunch at this little outdoor cafe and guess what I ate. Guess!
Caprese salad!!a;sjfl;ajkdf It was wonderful. And the weather was just perfect... we sat out there for hours. Afterwards we walked around and got ice cream and shopped a bit. Then yesterday 5 of us from BCA went to Diego's house in Pifo for a U.S. vs Ecuador drinking competition... which was essentially boys vs girls. I had an awesome time, drank too much, etc etc. We ended up losing. Rude really... no mercy, even on the anniversary of September 11th. Oohhh we also made s'mores...sort of. We couldn't actually find real graham crackers, but when you're hungry enough...

Today I was supposed to do homework, but somehow accomplished NOTHING all day... Liz and I walked to the supermarket and that's pretty much all I did.

Mom and Dad,

I have some updates for you! This morning my sister got mugged. He had a gun, but don't worry! She gave him her backpack and he left. Where did it happen? Oh just at the bus stop I use...everyday...to go..everywhere. But don't worry! It was 6am.. She was out too early. I don't have to leave until 6:30am. It's much much safer then.

Don't worry, I'll make sure to carry no more than $100 on me :)

Oh and I'm getting a new tattoo this weekend.

Love from Quito,
me

blah.

I am NEVER going back to that stupid effing or... I mean Etown. I'm never going back to Etown.

I'm a continent away, right?
So why do I feel like I'm still there?

Another week flew by. Monday morning I went to my internship to review the files of some of the children I'll be working with (school doesn't start until tomorrow, so there wasn't much else to do). I told my director that I of course know everything is confidential and if she sees me writing anything it's just for new vocabulary, but she was like "no, no Daniel told me all about your project, take what you need." So that was super helpful. For those who don't know, I'm doing a senior honors project for Elizabethtown... After a few hours I pretty much decided on a needs-assessment for the parents, so I'm going to spend today writing up my questionnaire so my director can review it this week.

My friend Felipe has been telling me he had some "cool" place to show me, so we did that Monday afternoon. I thought for sure it was going to be some corny view of the city, a volcano, etc., so was a little skeptical... but he ended up bringing me to a used book store in Quito! It has the largest collection of English books in all of Ecuador. It was awesome, like when Beast gives Beauty the library. After that we went to eat at La Naranjilla Mecanica, this gallery/grunge restaurant that is famous for their French onion soup. It was delicious, in a I don't taste anything like French onion soup way. I've had it here a couple times now and it's something about the cheese... Anyway the menu was set up like a comic book, with its own story going on.... It was such a cool day.

Tuesday was my second day of class. I had my first actual aerobics class... I'm just now able to walk normally again. It was so intense. You know how most girls do the hover in public (I accidentally typed pubic at first) bathrooms? Well right after class I went to the bathroom and seriously half fell in the toilet. My "glutes" and thighs were just shot. But the class is also really fun. Since I don't have any break times throughout the day it's my stress reliever. Plus my teacher played a Lady GaGa techno melody the whole time :)

I talked to my Leadership teacher about maybe having a meeting time or something since the reading load is so intense and I couldn't understand um a lot of it. He was super helpful and told me where I could find most of the readings in English, so I'm really excited about that since it's the only class I actually need for Elizabethtown. Also, on Tuesday I officially won my battle with Etown's registrar. I'm pretty sure it had a lot more to do with not wanting to hear from me anymore than my actual argument but whatever. I have a Humanities. Hmm I can't really remember anything else on Tuesday... I helped my sister with her English homework a few times this week. It's so weird seeing the same bizarre exercises we used to have to do for Spanish, but in English. Also she needed me to explain when to use much vs many vs a lot of, and explain the difference between "few" and "a few".... It's like impossible.

OH! Thursday was my school's 22nd anniversary (I guess they celebrate every year) so there were no classes from 10-1. In our giant plaza thing there was an awesome band, free cake, and FREE, UNLIMITED CHAMPAGNE... only in Ecuador, actually probably just anywhere but the U.S. It was awesome. I don't do too well with self-control when it comes to champagne/wine, so Liz was babysitting me, but by the time we got to Spanish my professor was like "how many of you are drunk?" Thursday night my family went out to eat, which turned into like a 3 hour affair because we all started to watch the U.S. Open. The restaurant was like a step above fast food, but it was so nice, no amazing, to have a fattening, disgusting cheeseburger.

Friday I had to meet my jewelry-making professor in the Historical Center to buy my class's materials. It was really lame, but I got 2 hours towards my Friday labs, so that was awesome, since I can't make any of them because of my internship. Then Friday night Julie and Sachiyo taught my family how to make sushi. It was so much fun! Even though it seems pretty easy and I'm sure you could learn off the internet, it was a really cool way to learn. That took a while... and then after that mine and Julie's families played board games until like 1:00am. Anyone who knows me knows about my competitiveness, ESPECIALLY with Pictionary.... it was the must humbling experience having to play Pictionary, in Spanish. Nearly killed me.

Yesterday, Liz, Lily and I went to the Artisan's Market and had lunch in the city. Then I came home and had dinner with my family, and then my parents went out because they had a reunion. So Liz and Lily came over and we got schwasted and smoked a little.

That's a lie. We actually watched The Incredibles on my laptop and were all asleep by midnight.

I woke up like 4 times in the middle of the night because my throat was so scratchy and now today I have a really bad cold. It's miserable.

Holas!
Where to begin? School started this week, so even though it was a "slower" week per say, it was so busy. On Monday Lily and I ran some errands all over Quito, including mailing postcards finally. Apparently the internet has really cramped snail-mail's style here, so it costs $2 to mail an effing postcard. So, if you are lucky enough to receive one from me (in months I'm sure), Congratulations! And you owe me $2! Not you Gammy, you're exempt. Tuesday was orientation for all of the international students who just arrived, so even though we already heard most of it we went to meet the newbies. I'd say there are about 150 of us in total.

After the morning session Daniel brought me to see my internship site finally. The official title is "Instituto Educativo Psicotera Peutico del Nino." It's a government funded school for children with learning disabilities, so most of the students are from lower-income households. Their learning disabilities range from Down Syndrome to ADHD, and there are 50 students in total. The center seems really nice! On staff there is a full-time social worker, psychologist, and language therapist. But my favorite part is the panaderia. As a community project they have a full panaderia, kitchen and all, to teach the students practical skills such as baking, serving, applying math knowledge, etc. into work. It's completely run by the students. Tuesday night we went to Diego's and watched How to Train your Dragon, which I loved! Also, his brother brought out a bag of candy from the U.S. and there were SWEETTARTS in it! Ahhhh how I have missed thee. I have seriously seen Nerds, Skittles, Twizzlers, and so on, but the best candy in the world? No.

Wednesday I went back to meet the social worker at my internship, who was out on Tuesday. She seems really nice and was really helpful with my honors project, helping me find a suitable topic. After meeting her I went to the University to pick up a package from my AMAZING mom, which included Tastykakes, CRAISINS, gum, and..... my retainer! Fantastic. The rationing has been quite difficult, but I still have some left. That night Liga had a very important game (so my family told me) against a team from Argentina, so I watched part of that with my family.

Thursday was finally my first day of school! I am far too lazy to explain all the confusion with my credits but basically here is my schedule:
8:30- Jewelry-making
10:00- Aerobics
11:30- Theories of Leadership
1:00- Advanced Spanish
2:30- Ser y Cosmos (I don't really have translation for this)
My professor for jewelry-making is requiring 2 written exams, 1 six page paper, and a presentation which is kind of lame, but oh well. In aerobics my professor said "Hi, we start next Tuesday" and walked out. My leadership professor seems pretty tough and of course it is the only class I actually need for home, so great. Spanish is just for international students so nothing too exciting there. Ser y Cosmos seems so interesting! It's all about our role in the universe, as humans, and covers everything from pollution to extraterrestrials. Also, my professor is Ukrainian, so I totally got brownie points. All my classes are taught in Spanish and I go from 8:30-4:00 without a break so the days are long, but I'm really excited! In Ser y Cosmos and aerobics I'm the only gringa and in jewelry-making and leadership there are only 2 of us, so I'm looking forward to making Ecuadorian friends :) It's frustrating though because everyone speaks better English than I speak Spanish, so twice now when I was talking to Ecuadorians I sit next to they have switched to English. And even though it's easier I need to practice!

Friday Liz, Lily, and I had a picnic in La Carolina Park. It was really nice! Then that night my family and Julie's family (Julie is my "cousin" from my program because our moms are sisters) went to a motocross event at Plaza de Los Toros. It was insane! I had no clue I was going to like it as much as I did. It wasn't a race, just 6 guys doing crazy tricks off of this ramp. Some guy from the U.S. ended up winning... I forget his name. But there was a 17 year old participant from the U.S. and he crashed so bad, just completely missed his bike. It was terrifying, but I guess he's okay.. he hobbled back in at the end anyway. We had KFC for dinner at like midnight afterwards, but it was so different. It was with regular french fries. There are no mashed freaking potatoes or mac 'n cheese at these KFCs. BUT you can get chicken with rice, beans, and platanos, of course. Ugh, some things are better left unchanged.

Saturday Liz and I walked to this little sandwich place with really cheap, AMAZING sandwiches. It's my goal to become a regular there, like when you walk in and they know exactly what you want to eat. I have always wanted to be a regular somewhere, ever since Ali and I used to ride to that bagel place near Jacksonwald. Saturday night was the 6th annual Ruta de Las Iglesias, a 10k run. My dad ran in it so I went with my family to watch that. Liz and Lily met us there and then after we went out to La Mariscal. I only had 1/2 a drink because I forgot how much I hate vodka, but I salsa-d with some guys we met there anyway, which was both fun and embarrassing. Then we met this group of internationals whose program includes 1 month studying in Quito and 3 months studying in the Galapagos, so we talked to them for a couple hours.

Today I spent the day with mine and Julie's families. We went to Julie's house for lunch and hung out there for a while. Then all the girls went shopping. I bought a skirt for my internship and a bag of candy haha. After that we all had ice cream together. I'm so glad I spent so much time with my family this weekend. I just really feel like I'm part of the family :) It's awesome.

Tomorrow I'm officially starting at my internship, but school doesn't start until September 6th, so I'm just reviewing files tomorrow. Blah.

Oh and here is my mailing address for people who love me:
Montana Tamny
c/o BCA Quito
Universidad San Francisco de Quito
Campus Cumbaya (accent over the last a)
P.O. Box 17-12-841
Quito, ECUADOR

if you're bored :)

http://www.pennlive.com/editorials/index.ssf/2010/08/education_funding_is_a_state_p.html

I wrote this at my internship this summer and my old boss just forwarded it to me to let me know it was in the paper!
*To clarify, when writing op-ed pieces the author's(in this case, me) opinion is not nearly as important as their boss's opinion. That is all.

excremento no es malo, es bueno

Where did I leave off? I really can't remember what happened last Saturday night.. I think I just played ping-pong/pool with my family. Sunday Kelly, Lily , and I walked around and bought fresh fruit from this market. I have never had pears that amazing in my ENTIRE life. It's the little things.. That afternoon I watched The Hurt Locker with Liz, and that night I watched Viernes Locos with my family. It is even funnier in Spanish. So it was a relaxing day, but I didn't do all that much studying for my final exam.

Monday morning an United Statesian (sp?) came to talk to us about the Amazon and biodiversity in Ecuador. First of all, Amazon literally means without breasts, because the Amazonian women depicted in old literature/art had no breasts because they would shave them off para be more effective archers. I found this quite interesting/disturbing. Also I learned that Ecuador is ranked 4th as far as biodiversity, after Colombia, Brazil, and Indonesia BUT because of their small size, they're technically #1. Which means there's a lot of cool stuff here and I go on a week trip into the Amazon in December!!! Our final exam wasn't that bad and I'm sure I passed which is really all that matters haha.

Monday night we went to a party at Diego's but we had to be at the bus stop at 1am for our bus to the coast, so that was fun. I think the alcohol helped me fall asleep easily though which was awesome. A couple hours from the coast our bus broke down so we lost a few hours waiting for a replacement. We made it to Canoa, a little beach town, by 11 and had about 5 hours to sunbathe, eat, etc. Of course I've heard that you can actually get MORE burnt when it's overcast, but being the badass I am I though I would be able to take on some equator sun. I was wrong. And I still cannot sit due to the 3rd degree burns on my butt.

We arrived at Rio Muchacho, the organic farm, by dinner time. Food was one of my main concerns because I knew the farm was vegetarian, and being my father's daughter I didn't know how I could survive 4 days without red meat. Surprisingly though, or maybe not?, the food was awesome. They use a lot of ginger with drinks, salads, etc. and it was just so good. Like just after a few days I could feel the difference from having better food in my body. It was really cool. Unfortunately, a lot of the time was spent learning about organic farming, not actually farming. There was really only one day of hard work when I had to get up at 5:45 to shovel manure and feed horses, pigs, and cows.

One afternoon we hiked to this amazing tree (pictures to follow on facebook) that kills all the trees around it because its root system is so extensive. Another day we went on a 5km walk (some took horses, but I was too cheap) to Mama Jovita, a 97 year old Shaman. Along the walk there were 22 streams and rivers we had to cross. It was beautiful. We listened to her talk about her life, work, and family for a while she was so interesting. Behind her house is a "monkey forest," but clearly they use that term loosely because after a treacherous hike up this cliff there were 2 monkeys about 100 meters up in the tree. I had to pee really bad at this point and of course while I was squatting in the middle of the trail (this was no time to be concerned about privacy) the monkeys started throwing poop and peeing at us. So everyone is screaming at me because I'm blocking the trail but I couldn't just stop peeing! When nature calls..

A truck came to take us back but in typical Ecua-style it got stuck 3 times in the streams and we would all have to get out and push. Finally, after the 3rd time the driver caught on, but his new strategy included gunning it through every river. I guess I should be thankful we didn't have to push anymore but the bruises covering my body disagree. For lunch this day we cut down huge banana leaves, roasted them over the fire, put rice, some peanut concoction, cabbage, etc in it and then wrapped it up. By the time we got to the "monkey forest" everything had mixed together and the banana leaf works as an insulator. It was delicious.

Oh we also had activities like making rings from palm seeds, cups from gourds, chocolate and coffee. I hate chocolate and coffee but the crafts were pretty cool.
Friday afternoon some of us were going to go to Puerto Lopez for whale-watching but the weather was terrible and nobody wanted to spend the money so we just came home instead. It ended up working out well though because Friday was Christian's going away part because he studies in the U.S. It helped me get my mind off of John Fuller a little and even helped cheer me up, because if there is one thing I'm sure of, John definitely would have wanted me to celebrate his life by drinking :) The party was a lot of fun but now we won't see Christian again until December :(

It was a little hard getting out of bed on Saturday but then Lily, Liz, and I spent the day making banana bread. The bread came out perfect as well and now my family wants me to make it again because they already ate it all. Today Liz, Lily, and I ate at an Italian restaurant in La Mariscal and went shopping in the mall. So after stuffing myself full of Italian I made a bag of candy in Entredulces and for the first time since I've been here my family decided to have fast food for dinner. I'm going to explode.

Oh! And I've been working out like a maniac to try to get in shape to summit Cotopaxi. By next weekend I think my hamstring will be ready to run outside but so far I've just been using my dad's elliptical. Cotopaxi is about 20,000 feet above sea level, it's an active, snow-peaked volcano and you need a guide and everything to summit it. I'm so excited!

guinea girl

I just found out that John Fuller died. Now I have to go try to explain to my parents why I have been wailing in my room with the door shut for an hour... in Spanish. This is the first time I feel a little homesick.

blame it on the a-a-a-a-altitude

So I lied when I said I was going to be better about blogging... Last Saturday a bunch of us ended up going to Diego's house in Pifo for a barbecue. It was a lot of fun, met more people and spoke SO much Spanish. Sunday, rather than study, Liz and I went on a pretty long walk around our neighborhood to gather our bearings. It helped a lot. Also, I found the most delicious granola at this one market. I'm going back for more tomorrow. Monday & Tuesday I had a ridiculous amount of work for my language class but everything ended up going really well... I guess. I mean I only need a 60% for my credits to transfer P/F so my standards seem to be dropping a bit. Wednesday we had a potluck where everyone had to bring in an Ecuadorian food and then Thursday was my last day. I can't believe class is over already. Everything is just flying by.

Tuesday night I went to my first real futbol game! My sister and I went to see Liga play... apparently they're pretty good. We "sat" in the cheapest section, with all of the diehard fans. It was a... new.. experience. Throughout the entire game there was literally NO sitting. Everyone has to stand. Also, everybody sings these 5 different songs/chants nonstop. Literally, nonstop. I really can't explain it. It was just insane. By the last 20 or so minutes the police were in our section pushing people back with shields, etc. Oh, and Liga won 2-0!

Wednesday night I saw Inception, or "El Origen" in Spanish with Christian, Emilio, and Juan. Liz, Lily, Kelly, and Diego came too but I never saw them because this movie theatre has assigned seats?! It was stupid. After, we went to Christian's for a little and I made it back by my 2:00 curfew, on the dot. Thursday, after class I went to get my Censo which is basically my id card saying I'm a student and am allowed to live here. I feel so cool now.

Then that night we (Liz, Lily, and I) left for Banos! (add a squiggly line over the n... I don't know how) So, our tickets were $3.50 for seats 39, 40, 41. However, upon boarding the bus we realized the last seat on the bus was 38. We were those gringas, getting totally taken advantage of, but it was the last bus of the day so we decided to rough it and sit/sleep in the aisles for the 4 hour ride. It was really cute though because all of the passengers took a liking to us and were screaming at the bus guy for ripping us off. Unfortunately, their screaming didn't get us a seat buuuuut oh well.

Banos is a lot like a beach town, mentality wise, but in the middle of the mountains. It has a lot of adventure sports/activities so it's a pretty cool atmosphere. Friday morning we went PUENTING! It was..... awesome, breathtaking, etc etc etc. It's similar to bungee jumping but there are cords on both sides of the bridge so somehow you start swinging. alskjdflkjds It was so cool. After puenting we rented bikes and rode for about 3 hours to see these waterfalls. Unfortunately, it rained basically all weekend but we made the most of it, ponchos flying in the wind. Either way it was beautiful. I've just never seen so much green. We decided we didn't want to bike back (a lot of hills) so we HITCHHIKED! It was really weird though. I don't know if it's just because it's here or what but it didn't seem like hitchhiking... it seemed really normal to just flag down a random truck with a middle-aged man in it. I can't explain it.

That night at dinner we took advantage of some cheap sangria and listened to this band (Pan de Agua... supposedly they have a myspace). We all fell in love. Ok I checked, they do have a myspace. This morning we were all really stiff, especially our necks, from puenting, so we treated ourselves to full-body massages and facials. It was only $20 and far more satisfying/legal than my Vietnamese massage last summer. Then after some wandering around the town we caught an afternoon bus back to Quito.

Monday is my "final exam" for class and then at midnight the whole group is leaving for Rio Muchacho. It's an all-organic farm on the coast where we're volunteering for a few days. So much to look forward to!

Oh! I almost forgot to explain my title. It's become a joke here that if you're out of breath, tired, etc you blame it on the altitude, but surprisingly it really does cause most of our issues here. But a couple days ago I received the worst news of all... it makes you gain weight! Something about metabolism, then you adjust, duh da daduh, according to my resident director I should expect to gain 10-15 lbs. gasp.

starting now

This week went by so fast! Two of our culture classes this week were on sexual relationships from an Ecuadorian point of view. They were...interesting. I learned that gringas are basically put into 1 of 3 categories: Buena- meaning good, married or committed, "Chulla"- meaning slut, and prostituta- meaning.. well guess. Not a lot of flexibility. We spent one entire language class working on prepositions, so after 8 odd years of Spanish I feel like I have finally mastered the difference between por and para. I am ready to take on the world. Our last, 2 hour long, salsa class was Wednesday and by the end I was actually pretty good. I swear. But Liz always made me be the boy so I don't know how practical this training was, for me anyway.

Tuesday night Liz, Lily, Kelly, and I went to Diego's house for a party and we were able to meet a lot of new people. Which is awesome because right now nobody but the people in my program are at the University, so we haven't really had too many opportunities to meet actual Ecuadorians. Then last night I had 2 birthday parties. The first was my (great) Aunt Vickie's. Some background information on Aunt Vickie: she is in her mid 70s, she randomly blurts out inappropriate sexual comments, the first time I met her she had on a red cowboy hat and was dancing by herself to no music. Yesterday, when she arrived at my house I saw her squeeze everyone's butt as a greeting, but she barely knows me so I didn't expect anything. Wrong. And not like a pinch "hey", like a grab. And then shouted "Oh Montana has a nice butt!" About an hour later she made everyone come into the living room for a strepteeeeese. We were not disappointed. She proceeded to unbutton her pants, take off her shirt and throw it at her 15 year old nephew, who looked on-horrified. However, in her defense she was trying on new clothes. For older birthdays, instead of smashing the pinata with a bat there are strings you pull to rip the bottom off. She opened her shirt to catch all of her candy. Ahhh I wish any of these descriptions could do her justice. She really is just one of a kind.

Earlier that afternoon Liz came over and we decorated for my Aunt and baked cookies for Alejandro's birthday, a guy we met Tuesday at Diego's house. We went there around 10. At first it was a little awkward but people warmed up and we all used an incredible amount of Spanglish. I spent a lot of time talking to this one guy who is a really big Neil Gaiman fan. I probably shouldn't, but I found this very surprising.

Thankfully, there was no afternoon activity planned today so I took a 3 hour nap to recover from last night. Lily and Liz are coming over soon to watch a movie/do homework. Tomorrow the 10 de Agosto, Ecuador's Independence Day, celebrations begin, so this weekend should be pretty fun. Ciao.

bang & slash

Unfortunately, today seems to be a Costa Rica relapse. As soon as I got to school I felt really nauseous and continued to feel bad all day, but I made myself eat some lunch. Then during salsa lesson(AGAIN- shoot me.) I started feeling hot so I went outside for a little. I don't know why I bothered coming back, but as soon as I did the instructor grabbed me as his example partner and basically I completely blacked out and started sweating profusely, like I could NOT see- there were spots (what's bigger than spots?) everywhere. So I tried to sit down and sort of kind of missed the chair. The instructor and Liz helped me outside, which included one bruised knee and scraped foot, and I threw up like 3 times. I felt really good until I got home.. and threw up again. But now I really think I'm better.

This weekend was amazing! Nobody went out Friday night because we all had to wake up really early Saturday. I decided to stay in and watch a movie with my family, but of course they picked a horrible, 3-hour long movie, so I still didn't go to bed until after 1am. Our first stop was the the Pyramids of Cochasqui. Our director described them as "overgrown," but essentially they were hills that supposedly had something important underneath them. Either way, there were some really nice views and I've now had my life's supply of llamas so I guess that's good. I always hated those nagging desires to feed a llama. After the Pyramids we went to the Mitad del Mundo!!! It's the only official equator monument. A bunch of important scientists chose Ecuador because it is the only country over the equator that is clear and high. It was really cool, but while trying to take a corny cartwheel picture I hurt my hamstring again... but only for a few minutes haha :) After lunch we went to the Otavalo market. It's one of the biggest, most popular indigenous markets in Latin America. In 3 hours I managed to spend over $100; however, I was able to cross several people off my list so I consider it a success. That night we ate at a pizza place but then watched this indigenous music group for over an hour. They were...awesome.

Sunday we woke up early and started with a hike to the Cascada de Peguche, or waterfalls. The hike wasn't bad, and at the end we could swim behind the big one to a smaller one! The water was freezing because no sun hits it obviously, but it was so cool!!!! Next we went to the Parque Condor, this reservation where birds are rescued or donated and then trained to go back into the wild. This isn't really my type of thing BUT there was a very exciting moment during the bird-show when a Blue Hawk saw another bird, flew away, and never came back. I guess he wasn't trained very well. Also I met(yes, met) Hedwig and Errol from 2 of the Harry Potter movies.... which sort of makes me famous. Lunch consisted of Qui(sp?), in other words, guinea pig. It really, not to be overly cliche, did taste like chicken, but it involved a lot of work for not so much food so I gave up. After lunch we went to this house to see this adorable old couple weave in the old indigenous style. On the way home we stopped at Cuicocha, a GORGEOUS lake. Just gorgeous. Somehow almost everyday I see something more beautiful than the last. After hiking around that we came home to Quito, dirty and exhausted.
All in all, not a bad weekend.

Freedom is a willing enslavement to what you love most

My Spanish(or lack thereof) is going to kill me. Last night we went out for the first time to the Mariscal, which Lonely Planet defines as notorious for "gringo hunting." Anyway I decided to try this drink which loosely translated to "Expect to be on the floor" and contains vodka, rum, gin, and tequila. It was repulsive. And when I tried to ask for change she misunderstood and brought me a second. However, it did give me enough courage to salsa at this one club. Unfortunately, I somehow ended up dancing with a salsa instructor who proceeded to correct me non-stop. I got home around 2:30 and had to wake up today at 7:00 for a city-wide gynkana or "scavenger hunt." It was so much fun and my team won! and I almost know my way around very select parts of the city hahah.

Other things from this week: Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, after class, I had salsa lessons. Surprisingly, I can almost hear the beat/tempo, as long as the teacher is clapping, but once he stops it sort of goes downhill. And by downhill I mean when the song ends I am the only person facing the opposite direction. Tuesday night Liz, Kristen, and I went to Diego's house and watched a movie. Wednesday I already had my first presentation in Spanish!!! It was about child exploitation in Ecuador... I guess it went fine. Hmmm Wednesday we went to a museum and that night I went with my whole family to La Ronda for dinner. I should probably not wait until the end of the week to recap, but that's everything significant I can remember.

Even though I have been using the altitude as an excuse for absolutely EVERYTHING apparently people generally do require more sleep here. I haven't gotten 8 hours of sleep in forever and am exhausted. Now, siesta.

Last night I finally moved in with my family! Clemencia y Luis are my parents, I have a little sister, Estefany, and a little brother, Nico. Yesterday was Nico's 15th birthday (Estefany is 18) so as soon as I got to the house we all left to go to my "aunt's" house for his party. One of the girls from my group, Julie, is living with her... so I guess we're cousins. They wouldn't even let us speak English to each other, which is great but brutal. I was exhausted last night from all of the Spanish. Oh I have two dogs- a yellow lab(ish) named Spunkie and a beagle(ish) named Agustina. Somehow, Agustina makes Tiki seem calm; it's bizarre. I have my own room, including a bed bigger than my bed at home home... oh they also gave me a cell phone that a previous student left with them and saved me around $50! The number, including country code, is 593083192965, which probably only applies to my family. Oh and Liz lives about 50 yards from me, in the same gated/guarded community! It's very convenient. We're so close to the airport that it is honestly terrifying watching the planes go by. We're also really close to Diego apparently which is also awesome. All-in-all I am soooooo happy with my host family! Everyone seems really nice but genuine, not forcing fakeness down my throat. My parents don't speak ANY English so it's finally the real thing ahhh

This morning was the first day of our language and culture pre-semester course. It starts at 9 so my papa, Liz's mom, Liz, and I left a little before 8. It is about a 5-10 minute walk to the bus stop, a 10 minute ride, then a transfer to another bus which is about 25 minutes and that bus stops right by the Universidad San Francisco de Quito. We rode the last bus without our parents, but there were a lot of other people from our group there at the same time. Tomorrow we all fend for ourselves. During orientation we had several talks about safety/security and using our "spidey-sense." So as soon as Liz and I sat down on the last bus this guy switches his seat from one side of the bus to the seat right behind us. We immediately looked at each other and said spidey-sense, but of course we both had our bags securely on our lap so it wasn't a big deal. Less than 5 minutes later I felt something on my hip/love handles and I looked down and the guy had reached his hand between the wall and my seat! As soon as I looked down he pulled his hand back really fast but I saw it, and it was so terrifying in that horror-movie-hand-with-no-arm sort of way. And now all hopes of naps on that bus have vanished and my paranoia has increased tenfold. Ugh.

The culture portion of our class is from 9-10:15 and we have a different person, often a professor, presenting almost every day. After a little break we have the language portion from 10:30-1:00. We are divided into 4 groups based on our Spanish level. The time is split almost 50/50 between conversation and grammar. There are only 4 of us in my group and our profesora is Claudia. She's awesome. For the first time I don't feel like an idiot when I'm corrected (which is a lot). I think having such a small group helps too. We did a lot of introductions, en espanol, of course and a couple exercises. She also taught us a new phrase "tirar con" which means to fuck with. Hahahahaha. I already got a homework assignment for tomorrow. Yay!

Hola Mom y Corey!
So I have already failed at blogging apparently. Liz and I arrived 2 days before the rest of the group so we stayed with Diego and his family. Wednesday Diego brought us to La Basilica where we proceeded to climb some 300 odd steps to see the view from the top... from both sides. I am blaming my extreme out-of-shapeness on the altitude, of course. Later that night we went to El Panecillo to see the Virgin of Ecuador at night. It was beautiful but a little chilly. I definitely did not pack for the weather. His mom gave us a tour of the Historic Center of Quito and we tried canelazo, this (disgusting) alcoholic, syrup drink that is supposed to warm you up. Then we went with his whole family for pizza at midnight. We slept at Diego´s house and left for his farm house the following morning. We did some hiking and spelunking (I have always wanted to use that word!) It was a lot of fun but exhausting. We all took a nap and then Diego brought us to the hotel to meet the rest of the group! There are 20 other people, 19 girls and 1 boy. I can´t decide if he´s the luckiest or saddest guy in the world... The first day together we went through some orientation stuff and then went for a tour of USFQ, where we will all be going to school. We had dinner in the Mariscal, a very big tourist/bar area. Yesterday we did more orientation things and then went back to El Panecillo and the Historic Center as a group. Tonight we meet our families, finally! Hopefully I have internet..

I'm so high!

Liz and I arrived safe and on time after the best flight ever. They gave us so much food, free wine and beer, and I got to choose between watching The Office, Flight of the Conchords, True Blood, and Glee! Bliss. Diego picked us up and we're staying at his house now. Tomorrow he's giving us a tour of Quito :)
Ohh I also found out that I'm over 9,000 feet above sea level!

I still can't believe I'm here!