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
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
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!
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!
Friday, August 20, 2010
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.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
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.
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.
Friday, August 6, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, August 2, 2010
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.
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.
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